7 sentences for a 7?IB Example Answers - SAQs

Just how much do we need to write for the SAQs? This is a common question. Thankfully, the IB’s provided marked example answers to give us guidance. I was quite surprised to see that one such answer scored 3/4 (75%) with just 7 sentences. Let’s see how such a brief answer scored so well. 

The question: “Describe how one chemical messenger plays a role in one human behaviour.”

The answer

“Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a big role in pleasure and motivation. It affects the brain’s reward system and this makes us feel good. When we fall in love with someone, dopamine levels increase. Our brains release a lot of dopamine, especially in areas like the VTA and the nucleus accumbens. This makes people feel excited, happy, and focused on the person they like. Just being around that person can cause a burst of dopamine, making time with them feel extra special and rewarding. Because of this, people in love often want to spend more time together and feel more connected. As the relationship continues, other chemicals like oxytocin become more important. But in the beginning, dopamine is what drives the strong emotions and attraction that bring people together in a romantic relationship.” (From MyIB).

The perceptive among you have noticed that’s 8 sentences, not 7. I know. But the examiner comments for this answer said the “…reference to oxytocin is not relevant to the response.” This means you could take that sentence out and the mark would stay the same. Plus 7 sentences for a 7 just had a nicer ring to it.

How’d they do it? An analysis

To score a 7 in IB Psych you should aim for about 70-75% overall. This example SAQ does that. In fact, I think 3 out of 4 is a good goal for the SAQs (read more). But how can such a short answer (at just 138 words) score so high? Let’s look at three key things this SAQ does.

1. Defines the term
2. Uses key terms
3. Explains the why 

Define the term: Defining the key term in the question shows knowledge. This answer begins with defining dopamine. I personally recommend defining the topic term (in this case “chemical messenger”), but where appropriate this can be swapped with a more specific topic term.

Use terminology: The answer shows more knowledge of the biological approach by including the VTA (ventral tegmental area) and the nucleus accumbens. No doubt this specific terminology helped elevate the answer into the top mark band. In studying for SAQs, come up with three key points about the topic that will show your knowledge. If you can have 2-3 key terms included, even better!

Explain the why: This answer says what dopamine is and how it affects pleasure (makes us feel good when we spend time with the people we love). But I think it goes further – it gives a reason why dopamine release influences pleasure when people are in love. Personally, I think regardless of the command term (describe or explain), an explanation for why the factor influences behaviour can show your understanding beyond surface level knowledge. This is shown in the mark scheme which says: “The description of the role of the chemical messenger may include how the chemical messenger interacts with the brain or nervous system and how this affects a specific human behaviour.” In my opinion, showing how a chemical messenger influences the brain or nervous system and how that affects behaviour is explaining why the chemical messenger is influence behaviour. Maybe that’s just me.

So let’s see what this answer looks like if we replace these three sentences.

The Weaker Answer

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a big role in pleasure and motivation. It affects the brain’s reward system and this makes us feel good. When we fall in love with someone, dopamine levels increase. Our brains release a lot of dopamine, especially in areas like the VTA and the nucleus accumbens. This makes people feel excited, happy, and focused on the person they like. Just being around that person can cause a burst of dopamine, making time with them feel extra special and rewarding. Because of this, people in love often want to spend more time together and feel more connected. As the relationship continues, other chemicals like oxytocin become more important. But in the beginning, dopamine is what drives the strong emotions and attraction that bring people together in a romantic relationship.

If you read the answer without the key sections, it’s drastically different. That’s because these three key phrases show knowledge. By removing specific terminology like the VTA and nucleus accumbens, removing the definition of dopamine and by making the reason given for dopamine’s role less clear, this answer would now score a maximum 2/4

The Good News

I like the IB included this answer and gave it a 3 out of 4. I have a hunch this was deliberately done to show that you don’t need pages and pages to score good marks in the SAQs. However, their 4/4 examples were closer to 250 words. That’s closer to what I’d expect for top marks.

This answer also shows you don’t need studies, either. The 4/4 examples also include an answer without studies.

My Opinion? I’m Skeptical

I can’t help but be a bit skeptical about this response. Personally, it’s not something I’d be using as an exemplar. If my student submitted this answer I’d give a 2 out of 4. Here’s why:

1. No example? I can’t see where the explanation of the topic ends and the example begins. Can you? In fact, the word “example” doesn’t appear in the answer. I would expect a more specific scenario or study to support the explanation.
2. Lack of focus: The question asks about one behaviour. This answer identifies two – pleasure and motivation. The mark scheme says “if a candidate refers to more than one chemical messenger, credit should be given only for the first chemical messenger.” This means the examiners were marking this on the description of dopamine in pleasure. Personally, I’d expect then this behaviour to be mentioned more than once in the response. If nothing else a final sentence linking the example specifically to the behaviour should be included. The final sentence of this answer seems more about motivation than pleasure.
3. Weak reason: I also think the “why” behind the role of dopamine is rather limited. You could argue that the question is “describe” and not “explain,” so a reason or cause is not needed. Even so, I still think a deeper understanding is shown with a clear reason.

My big takeaway from this analysis is that less is more when it comes to the IB SAQs. In other words, as long as you’ve got specific and accurate knowledge for each topic you’ll be well on track to gain top marks.