{"id":10837,"date":"2018-05-17T10:24:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T01:24:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ibpsych.themantic-education.com\/?p=10837"},"modified":"2018-05-17T10:24:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T01:24:31","slug":"exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Exam Review: Why I&#8217;m pleased I didn&#8217;t teach the command terms (Paper 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I realize that critiquing the inconsistent use of command terms in IB Psychology assessments is like shooting very confused fish in a very small barrel, but I just can&#8217;t help myself.<\/p>\n<p>Was anyone else surprised to see the command term &#8220;Explain&#8221; in Paper 2 this year for the Abnormal Option? Here&#8217;s the question in question:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Explain, with reference to psychological research, <strong>two<\/strong> etiologies of <strong>one<\/strong> anxiety, affective or eating disorder.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Explain is an A02 command term, which according to the IB requires &#8220;application&#8221; and &#8220;analysis&#8221;, but\u00a0<em><strong>does not\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>require &#8220;synthesis&#8221; or &#8220;evaluation.&#8221; So how are students going to be graded for this essay? Where do they score marks for &#8220;critical thinking?&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I suppose they couldn&#8217;t ask &#8220;Discuss&#8221;, since they wrote themselves in a hole in the guide by using &#8220;Analyse&#8221; for the Learning Outcome, which is also AO2 so couldn&#8217;t be raised to AO3 (e.g. Discuss). But for me this just highlights the complete irrelevance of command terms when it comes to essays.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The IB <em>does<\/em> consider application and analysis to be critical thinking (or at least they do in this old curriculum but they no longer do in the new one), so there is some opportunity for students&#8217; work to be scored as critical thinking. But I&#8217;ve asked the question for years, <em><strong>&#8220;how do you show knowledge and understanding without analysis or application?&#8221;\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>So I come back to my original question &#8211; what is &#8220;critical thinking&#8221; going to look like in a student response to this question?<\/p>\n<p>Can they evaluate the studies? Well, I&#8217;d say that actually this seems pretty irrelevant to the question since the focus is on\u00a0<em>explaining\u00a0<\/em>the <em>etiologies<\/em>. If the command term were to &#8220;discuss&#8221; the etiologies, I would think that evaluating studies would be more relevant because it helps to provide the &#8220;balanced review&#8221; and the question requires &#8220;reference to psychological research.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The only way I can see for students to show relevant critical thinking in this response is for them to do one or both of the following:<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>(a) Explain etiologies from two differences approaches (e.g. biological, cognitive or socio-cultural)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>(b) Explain how the etiologies are not isolated factors, but rather they interact with other factors to cause symptoms of the disorder.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>So this is why I&#8217;m pleased I didn&#8217;t teach the command terms, but rather I just taught how to structure an effective essay:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Introduction<\/li>\n<li>Central argument<\/li>\n<li>Evidence<\/li>\n<li>Counter-argument\n<ol>\n<li><em>(optional + evidence)<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<li>Conclusion<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>If my students followed my advice, when writing about PTSD for this question they would have identified a core etiology (perhaps low volume in the vmPFC which affects abilities to cognitively reappraise stimuli) and they used this to explain symptoms associated with arousal and memory. They could have then used Urry et al&#8217;s research to support this explanation. I would also hope that in this explanation they&#8217;d make it clear that it&#8217;s not just\u00a0<em>one\u00a0<\/em>isolated factor, but the brain and cognition are inextricably linked.<\/p>\n<p>And then they would know they had to have a counter-argument, which I encouraged them to use details from different approaches to their central argument (i..e if you use biology or cognitive as a central argument, then counter with socio-cultural). So if they followed this advice, they would have gone on to use the socio-cultural differences in prevalence of PTSD that we prepared for that question to explain social and cultural factors and how they may affect symptoms. For example, why people from lower socio-economic groups are more at risk of developing PTSD after traumatic events because of increased post-trauma stress causing incidents, and then they could have used a study we looked at about a Hurricane in Florida (Garrison et al. 1995).<\/p>\n<p>So even though the IB has for some unknown reason thrown an &#8220;Explain&#8221; curveball in Paper Two, and I don&#8217;t know what will be considered under Criterion B or C in the rubric, I am confident that my students were well-prepare to write excellent answers because throughout the two years of the course we focused on <strong><em>structure<\/em><\/strong> and <em><strong>content<\/strong><\/em> of the essays, not the silly, little, untrustworthy command terms.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color:#ff0000\">I&#8217;ll hasten to add here that my purpose in this post is not to boast or do anything of that sort, but to encourage other teachers to stop worrying so much about the command terms, especially for essays. I do this because the CTs were the bane of my teaching for about 6 years in IB Psych&#8217; and that&#8217;s time, effort and wasted potential from students that I can&#8217;t get back, so I want to help others from falling into the same trap.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>Examining season starts soon, so the proof will be in the pudding. I&#8217;ll be sure to report back later how they did.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Can anyone else see where am I coming from on this one, or is this just me wearing a tin-foil hat, yelling into the wind?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I realize that critiquing the inconsistent use of command terms in IB Psychology assessments is like shooting very confused fish in a very small barrel, but I just can&#8217;t help myself. Was anyone else surprised to see the command term &#8220;Explain&#8221; in Paper 2 this year for the Abnormal Option? Here&#8217;s the question in question: Explain, with reference to psychological &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-assessment-ib"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Exam Review: Why I&#039;m pleased I didn&#039;t teach the command terms (Paper 2) | The IB Psychology Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the irrelevance of command terms in IB Psychology essays and how to effectively structure your answer for the Explain command term. Stop worrying and start preparing your students for success. #criticalthinking.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exam Review: Why I&#039;m pleased I didn&#039;t teach the command terms (Paper 2) | The IB Psychology Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover the irrelevance of command terms in IB Psychology essays and how to effectively structure your answer for the Explain command term. Stop worrying and start preparing your students for success. #criticalthinking.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The IB Psychology Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/themanticeducation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-17T01:24:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/05\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"4135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"3621\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Travis Dixon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Travis Dixon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Travis Dixon\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827\"},\"headline\":\"Exam Review: Why I&#8217;m pleased I didn&#8217;t teach the command terms (Paper 2)\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-17T01:24:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":837,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1\",\"articleSection\":[\"Assessment (IB)\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Exam Review: Why I'm pleased I didn't teach the command terms (Paper 2) | The IB Psychology Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-17T01:24:31+00:00\",\"description\":\"Discover the irrelevance of command terms in IB Psychology essays and how to effectively structure your answer for the Explain command term. Stop worrying and start preparing your students for success. #criticalthinking.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1\",\"width\":4135,\"height\":3621,\"caption\":\"Yet again I find the IB has made a mockery of their own explanations about the relationships between command terms, critical thinking and assessment requirements. I'm pleased I ignore them.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/17\\\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Exam Review: Why I&#8217;m pleased I didn&#8217;t teach the command terms (Paper 2)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/\",\"name\":\"IB Psychology\",\"description\":\"by Themantic Education\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Themantic Education\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/them-ed-logo.png?fit=1465%2C1858&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2019\\\/06\\\/them-ed-logo.png?fit=1465%2C1858&ssl=1\",\"width\":1465,\"height\":1858,\"caption\":\"Themantic Education\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/facebook.com\\\/themanticeducation\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/youtube.com\\\/c\\\/themanticeducation\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827\",\"name\":\"Travis Dixon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Travis Dixon\"},\"description\":\"Travis Dixon has been teaching for over 20 years and is an experienced IB Psychology, History and English teacher, author, workshop leader and examiner\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/author\\\/tdixon\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exam Review: Why I'm pleased I didn't teach the command terms (Paper 2) | The IB Psychology Blog","description":"Discover the irrelevance of command terms in IB Psychology essays and how to effectively structure your answer for the Explain command term. Stop worrying and start preparing your students for success. #criticalthinking.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Exam Review: Why I'm pleased I didn't teach the command terms (Paper 2) | The IB Psychology Blog","og_description":"Discover the irrelevance of command terms in IB Psychology essays and how to effectively structure your answer for the Explain command term. Stop worrying and start preparing your students for success. #criticalthinking.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/","og_site_name":"The IB Psychology Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/themanticeducation\/","article_published_time":"2018-05-17T01:24:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":4135,"height":3621,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/05\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Travis Dixon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Travis Dixon","Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Travis Dixon","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#\/schema\/person\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827"},"headline":"Exam Review: Why I&#8217;m pleased I didn&#8217;t teach the command terms (Paper 2)","datePublished":"2018-05-17T01:24:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/"},"wordCount":837,"commentCount":3,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/05\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1","articleSection":["Assessment (IB)"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/","name":"Exam Review: Why I'm pleased I didn't teach the command terms (Paper 2) | The IB Psychology Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/05\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1","datePublished":"2018-05-17T01:24:31+00:00","description":"Discover the irrelevance of command terms in IB Psychology essays and how to effectively structure your answer for the Explain command term. Stop worrying and start preparing your students for success. #criticalthinking.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/05\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/05\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1","width":4135,"height":3621,"caption":"Yet again I find the IB has made a mockery of their own explanations about the relationships between command terms, critical thinking and assessment requirements. I'm pleased I ignore them."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/17\/exam-review-why-im-pleased-i-didnt-teach-the-command-terms-paper-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Exam Review: Why I&#8217;m pleased I didn&#8217;t teach the command terms (Paper 2)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/","name":"IB Psychology","description":"by Themantic Education","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#organization","name":"Themantic Education","url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/them-ed-logo.png?fit=1465%2C1858&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/them-ed-logo.png?fit=1465%2C1858&ssl=1","width":1465,"height":1858,"caption":"Themantic Education"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/themanticeducation\/","https:\/\/youtube.com\/c\/themanticeducation\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#\/schema\/person\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827","name":"Travis Dixon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6ee7465953db9edfb653802c2423ee0be4456f3cf73a4ae4032bdda760a9a5e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Travis Dixon"},"description":"Travis Dixon has been teaching for over 20 years and is an experienced IB Psychology, History and English teacher, author, workshop leader and examiner","url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/author\/tdixon\/"}]}},"yoast":{"focuskw":"ib psychology","title":"","metadesc":"Discover the irrelevance of command terms in IB Psychology essays and how to effectively structure your answer for the Explain command term. Stop worrying and start preparing your students for success. #criticalthinking.","linkdex":"","metakeywords":"","meta-robots-noindex":"","meta-robots-nofollow":"","meta-robots-adv":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","opengraph-title":"","opengraph-description":"","opengraph-image":"","twitter-title":"","twitter-description":"","twitter-image":""},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/05\/bigstock-147536405.jpg?fit=4135%2C3621&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1324,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2016\/10\/25\/command-terms-and-definitions\/","url_meta":{"origin":10837,"position":0},"title":"Command Terms and Definitions","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"10\/25\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Updated Aug, 2020 The command terms are the verbs at the start of IB exam questions. While they be important, they are actually far less important than many people think.\u00a0 Command terms in SAQs Short-answer questions (SAQs) may use one of three command terms in IB Psychology exams: outline, describe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Assessment (IB)&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Assessment (IB)","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/assessment-ib\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image: Bigstock.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/03\/bigstock-Reading-Furniture-Instructions-266024611.jpg?fit=900%2C601&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/03\/bigstock-Reading-Furniture-Instructions-266024611.jpg?fit=900%2C601&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/03\/bigstock-Reading-Furniture-Instructions-266024611.jpg?fit=900%2C601&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/03\/bigstock-Reading-Furniture-Instructions-266024611.jpg?fit=900%2C601&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14477,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2021\/11\/09\/the-command-term-conundrum\/","url_meta":{"origin":10837,"position":1},"title":"The Command Term Conundrum","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"11\/09\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Allow me to explain the IB Psychology command terms: \u00a0Explain means explain if it's in Paper 1, but not if it's in Paper 2, unless of course it's coupled with another level three command term (e.g. discuss), then it does mean explain. And outline doesn't really mean outline, it means\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Curriculum&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Curriculum","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/curriculum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/upset-g247ff93b6_1920.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/upset-g247ff93b6_1920.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/upset-g247ff93b6_1920.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/upset-g247ff93b6_1920.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/11\/upset-g247ff93b6_1920.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14999,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2025\/02\/19\/5-things-to-love-about-the-new-ib-psychology-curriculum\/","url_meta":{"origin":10837,"position":2},"title":"5 Things to Love About the New IB Psychology Curriculum","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"02\/19\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"My natural disposition is to be a bit of a jumped up pr*#k who's a bit too full of himself, so I\u2019m trying to be more Jonathan Haidt and less Jordan Peterson these days. With this in mind, I recently went on a mental gratitude walk through the new guide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Curriculum&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Curriculum","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/curriculum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/bigstock-Hand-up-with-open-palm-on-blue-55370618.jpg?fit=900%2C602&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/bigstock-Hand-up-with-open-palm-on-blue-55370618.jpg?fit=900%2C602&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/bigstock-Hand-up-with-open-palm-on-blue-55370618.jpg?fit=900%2C602&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/bigstock-Hand-up-with-open-palm-on-blue-55370618.jpg?fit=900%2C602&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14655,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2023\/04\/02\/5-best-study-tip-for-ib-psych-ignore-command-terms\/","url_meta":{"origin":10837,"position":3},"title":"#5 Best Study Tip for IB Psych: Ignore Command Terms","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"04\/02\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This tip is sure to cause a stir amongst some IB teachers as the command terms are like IB Gospel. In my early years of teaching I thought so, too. I had these plastered around the wall and thought they were the most important thing to know about the IB\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Revision and Exam Preparation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Revision and Exam Preparation","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/revision-and-exam-preparation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/bigstock-170524445.jpeg?fit=900%2C591&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/bigstock-170524445.jpeg?fit=900%2C591&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/bigstock-170524445.jpeg?fit=900%2C591&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/bigstock-170524445.jpeg?fit=900%2C591&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10815,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/05\/16\/how-to-go-beyond-describing-and-into-application-of-studies\/","url_meta":{"origin":10837,"position":4},"title":"How to go beyond &#8220;describing&#8221; and into &#8220;application&#8221; of studies","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"05\/16\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the most common mistakes IB Psychology students make is they don\u2019t explain studies, i.e. they don\u2019t apply the study to show how the study is relevant to the question. Instead, students summarize aims, methods and results and that\u2019s it. This is description. What's missing? An applied conclusion. 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I'm referring to the SAQ from the cognitive level of analysis: Describe one study investigating the reliability of one cognitive process. 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