{"id":14477,"date":"2021-11-09T15:15:41","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T06:15:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/?p=14477"},"modified":"2023-01-11T06:12:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-10T21:12:05","slug":"the-command-term-conundrum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2021\/11\/09\/the-command-term-conundrum\/","title":{"rendered":"The Command Term Conundrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Allow me to explain the IB Psychology command terms:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Explain 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 describe, unless the question (or mark scheme) is actually asking for analysis and\/or application, in which case it really means explain, but that can also change if it’s coupled with another command term, in which case it can mean outline. And there’s no critical thinking in Paper 1 short answers, except for analysis and application, which are considered critical thinking in essay rubrics, but not considered critical thinking if the command term is level one, but they are if it’s level two (e.g. explain), and so sometimes students have to show “critical thinking” in short answers to gain full marks but if they show the wrong kind of critical thinking (e.g. by evaluating) they can lose marks because they’re not focusing on the question by going beyond the requirements of the command term.<\/em><\/p>\n

Simple, right? Wrong. The above paragraph shows how absurd and illogical the IB command terms in assessment are when put into practice.<\/p>\n

These command terms aren\u2019t as important as many people think because they do not<\/strong>\u00a0guide students to writing better answers. As shown above, they make things worse. Let\u2019s keep it simple. There are four \u201ccommand terms\u201d that are used for IB Psychology essays.<\/p>\n