{"id":2042,"date":"2017-02-18T12:50:11","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T12:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ibpsych.themantic-education.com\/?p=2042"},"modified":"2021-01-25T16:16:09","modified_gmt":"2021-01-25T07:16:09","slug":"short-answer-responese-writing-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"SAQ Writing Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Updated Jan 25th, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve spent over ten years trying to devise good advice for students about how to write exam answers. You&#8217;ll see below an original post I wrote a few years ago (in 2017) with an attached &#8220;SAQ Writing Guide&#8221; as a word.doc that I thought would revolutionize teaching of SAQs. I was wrong.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve learned that specific frameworks are more important than abstract concepts. This is why I&#8217;ve developed things like &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2019\/07\/29\/7-simple-steps-to-better-exam-answers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The 7 Steps to Perfect SAQ<\/a>s&#8221; and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2018\/07\/12\/essay-writing-tips-three-rules-of-three\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;Three Rules of Three for Essay Writing.&#8221;<\/a> Perhaps in a few years I&#8217;ll look back on these ideas and as critical of these as I am of my word.doc below. But that&#8217;s how progress happens.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2019\/07\/29\/7-simple-steps-to-better-exam-answers\/\">How to answer an SAQ<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2019\/08\/20\/exam-answers-localization-sar-in-7-simple-steps\/\">Exam Answer: Localization Short Answer Response<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2021\/01\/14\/all-saqs-in-just-22-studies\/\">All SAQs in just 22 Studies<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_13684\" style=\"width: 222px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/store.themantic-education.com\/collections\/example-answers\/products\/ib-psychology-exam-answers-paper-one\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13684\" class=\"wp-image-13684 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/10-Example-Answers-2nd-Draft-2nd-Ed.-_Page_01.png?resize=212%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"212\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/10-Example-Answers-2nd-Draft-2nd-Ed.-_Page_01.png?resize=212%2C300&amp;ssl=1 212w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/10-Example-Answers-2nd-Draft-2nd-Ed.-_Page_01.png?resize=724%2C1024&amp;ssl=1 724w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/10-Example-Answers-2nd-Draft-2nd-Ed.-_Page_01.png?resize=768%2C1086&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/10-Example-Answers-2nd-Draft-2nd-Ed.-_Page_01.png?resize=1086%2C1536&amp;ssl=1 1086w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/10-Example-Answers-2nd-Draft-2nd-Ed.-_Page_01.png?resize=100%2C141&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/10-Example-Answers-2nd-Draft-2nd-Ed.-_Page_01.png?resize=906%2C1281&amp;ssl=1 906w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/10\/10-Example-Answers-2nd-Draft-2nd-Ed.-_Page_01.png?w=1191&amp;ssl=1 1191w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 212px) 100vw, 212px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-13684\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">See more example exam answers with our digital downloads available <a href=\"https:\/\/store.themantic-education.com\/collections\/example-answers\/products\/ib-psychology-exam-answers-paper-one\">here<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p>In the very odd chance you&#8217;re wondering, I&#8217;ve gone back to calling them SAQs (and not SARs), because despite SAR being a more accurate descriptor, I don&#8217;t really want to hear more about SARs any more than is necessary in these coronavirus days.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>The Original Post<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>February, 2017<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve had some good feedback for this <a title=\"saq-writing-guide\" href=\"https:\/\/101psychcom.files.wordpress.com\/2017\/02\/saq-writing-guide.docx\">short answer response writing guide<\/a>\u00a0so I thought I would post it here.<\/p>\n<p>This was one of my first resources I created after &#8220;cracking the code&#8221; of the IB Psychology assessments and it was in the midst of my creation of the themantic model of curriculum design.<\/p>\n<p>Just quickly, I want to offer two alternative definitions of describing and explaining that we use:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Describing:\u00a0<\/strong>providing accurate summaries of individual units of information. A description might include definitions, identifications, statements and outlines.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Explaining:\u00a0<\/strong>communicating understanding of significant relationships in response to a question or problem. An explanation will\u00a0require description to provide context, but will clearly show how two or more individual units of information are related.<\/p>\n<p>For example, many students\u00a0<em>describe\u00a0<\/em>studies in great detail. But they fail to\u00a0<em>explain\u00a0<\/em>them; that is to say, they fail to convey the significant relationship that they demonstrate.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve found that students&#8217; lack of explanation isn&#8217;t out of laziness, it stems from a lack of understanding of significant relationships in the first place. I think we&#8217;ve drastically underestimated how much processing time students require in order to grasp significant relationships (e.g. between particular variables and behaviours) and we&#8217;re doing them a disservice by burdening them with too many <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/19\/building-blocks-the-foundation-of-the-themantic-model\/\">building blocks <\/a><\/strong>and not enough time to understand<strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/19\/relationship-chains-the-framework-of-the-themantic-approach\/\">relationship chains<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>Our themantic units attempt to remedy this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated Jan 25th, 2021 I&#8217;ve spent over ten years trying to devise good advice for students about how to write exam answers. You&#8217;ll see below an original post I wrote a few years ago (in 2017) with an attached &#8220;SAQ Writing Guide&#8221; as a word.doc that I thought would revolutionize teaching of SAQs. I was wrong. I&#8217;ve learned that specific &#8230; <\/p>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13736,"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":[4,9,11,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-assessment-ib","category-curriculum","category-general-interest","category-revision-and-exam-preparation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SAQ Writing Guide | The IB Psychology Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the key to writing perfect SAQs with our effective frameworks and proven strategies. Get ahead in your exams with our downloadable resources!\" \/>\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\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SAQ Writing Guide | The IB Psychology Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Discover the key to writing perfect SAQs with our effective frameworks and proven strategies. Get ahead in your exams with our downloadable resources!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/\" \/>\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=\"2017-02-18T12:50:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-25T07:16:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\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=\"2 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\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Travis Dixon\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827\"},\"headline\":\"SAQ Writing Guide\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-18T12:50:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-25T07:16:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":446,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1\",\"articleSection\":[\"Assessment (IB)\",\"Curriculum\",\"General Interest\",\"Revision and Exam Preparation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/\",\"name\":\"SAQ Writing Guide | The IB Psychology Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-02-18T12:50:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-25T07:16:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"Discover the key to writing perfect SAQs with our effective frameworks and proven strategies. Get ahead in your exams with our downloadable resources!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/3\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Find links to helpful resources in this updated old post.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/2017\\\/02\\\/18\\\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.themantic-education.com\\\/ibpsych\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SAQ Writing Guide\"}]},{\"@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":"SAQ Writing Guide | The IB Psychology Blog","description":"Discover the key to writing perfect SAQs with our effective frameworks and proven strategies. Get ahead in your exams with our downloadable resources!","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\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"SAQ Writing Guide | The IB Psychology Blog","og_description":"Discover the key to writing perfect SAQs with our effective frameworks and proven strategies. Get ahead in your exams with our downloadable resources!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/","og_site_name":"The IB Psychology Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/themanticeducation\/","article_published_time":"2017-02-18T12:50:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-01-25T07:16:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Travis Dixon","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Travis Dixon","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/"},"author":{"name":"Travis Dixon","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#\/schema\/person\/de20f76afd22df7d71e141ab515c0827"},"headline":"SAQ Writing Guide","datePublished":"2017-02-18T12:50:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-25T07:16:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/"},"wordCount":446,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1","articleSection":["Assessment (IB)","Curriculum","General Interest","Revision and Exam Preparation"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/","name":"SAQ Writing Guide | The IB Psychology Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1","datePublished":"2017-02-18T12:50:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-01-25T07:16:09+00:00","description":"Discover the key to writing perfect SAQs with our effective frameworks and proven strategies. Get ahead in your exams with our downloadable resources!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/02\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1","width":900,"height":600,"caption":"Find links to helpful resources in this updated old post."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/02\/18\/short-answer-responese-writing-guide\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SAQ Writing Guide"}]},{"@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":"saq writing","title":"","metadesc":"Discover the key to writing perfect SAQs with our effective frameworks and proven strategies. Get ahead in your exams with our downloadable resources!","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\/2017\/02\/bigstock-Yellow-Legal-Notepad-Paper-Wit-354945641.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15799,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2026\/02\/17\/the-saq-pitfall\/","url_meta":{"origin":2042,"position":0},"title":"The SAQ Pitfall&#8230;","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"02\/17\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been writing a few SAQ revision resources lately and I've discovered a potential pitfall. In this post, I'll explain the pitfall and one simple idea that might help.\u00a0 The Pitfall Every SAQ needs an explanation of the topic\u00a0and\u00a0a supporting example. I think some students might get caught in a\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\/2026\/02\/4cc042d5-61f5-4e61-b4c6-6f7bde75d4a0.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/4cc042d5-61f5-4e61-b4c6-6f7bde75d4a0.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/4cc042d5-61f5-4e61-b4c6-6f7bde75d4a0.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/4cc042d5-61f5-4e61-b4c6-6f7bde75d4a0.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/02\/4cc042d5-61f5-4e61-b4c6-6f7bde75d4a0.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15095,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2025\/03\/23\/traviss-ib-psychology-course-outline-for-first-exams-may-2027\/","url_meta":{"origin":2042,"position":1},"title":"Sample IB Psychology Course Outline (for first exams May 2027)","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"03\/23\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a sample course outline that shows how you can cover everything in a logical order. The units are from this textbook.\u00a0 Sample IB Psychology Course Outline - HL Only This is a Two Year HL course mapped onto a Northern hemisphere timetable (from St Maur, Japan's schedule).\u00a0 YEAR\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\/03\/bigstock-School-Planner-On-Board-Doodl-389277781.jpg?fit=900%2C506&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\/03\/bigstock-School-Planner-On-Board-Doodl-389277781.jpg?fit=900%2C506&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/bigstock-School-Planner-On-Board-Doodl-389277781.jpg?fit=900%2C506&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2025\/03\/bigstock-School-Planner-On-Board-Doodl-389277781.jpg?fit=900%2C506&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14646,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2023\/03\/09\/7-best-study-tip-for-ib-psych-5-minute-practice-exams\/","url_meta":{"origin":2042,"position":2},"title":"#7 Best Study Tip for IB Psych: 5 Minute Practice Exams","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"03\/09\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Practice makes permanent. The only problem is that the IB Psych exams are 3-5 hours long, so they\u2019re very difficult to practise. There are also over 50 different topics to study, but only a few will be asked on the exam. So while it might be great doing a couple\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-Close-up-Of-Red-Pencil-Marking-350704259.jpeg?fit=900%2C600&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-Close-up-Of-Red-Pencil-Marking-350704259.jpeg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/bigstock-Close-up-Of-Red-Pencil-Marking-350704259.jpeg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2023\/01\/bigstock-Close-up-Of-Red-Pencil-Marking-350704259.jpeg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3813,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2017\/07\/28\/travis-ib-psychology-course-outline-new-syllabus\/","url_meta":{"origin":2042,"position":3},"title":"Travis&#8217; IB Psychology Course Outline &#8211; Old Syllabus","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"07\/28\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"You can see more outlines on these two posts: IB Psychology HL in <180 Hours IB Psychology SL in <125 Hours Download my course outline here. You can also find other teachers' outlines that have been posted on our facebook group for teachers. Feel free \u00a0to post any questions about\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\/2017\/07\/bigstock-hour-glass-on-calendar-concept-149892269.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/07\/bigstock-hour-glass-on-calendar-concept-149892269.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/07\/bigstock-hour-glass-on-calendar-concept-149892269.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/07\/bigstock-hour-glass-on-calendar-concept-149892269.jpg?fit=900%2C600&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14090,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2021\/08\/09\/wheel-of-fortune-biological-approach-exam-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":2042,"position":4},"title":"Wheel of Fortune: Biological Approach Exam Questions","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"08\/09\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Click the \"Wheel of IB Psych Exam Fortune\" below to generate a random SAQ for the Biological approach. Scroll down to see some possible uses for this wheel.\u00a0 \u00a0 Ways to use this wheel: Find an SAQ to practice writing exam answers. Click the wheel and say the study you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Biological Psychology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Biological Psychology","link":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/category\/biological-psychology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/rsz_adobestock_2414389.jpeg?fit=720%2C405&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\/08\/rsz_adobestock_2414389.jpeg?fit=720%2C405&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/rsz_adobestock_2414389.jpeg?fit=720%2C405&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/rsz_adobestock_2414389.jpeg?fit=720%2C405&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13933,"url":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/2021\/03\/17\/quizlet-the-saq-additional-terms\/","url_meta":{"origin":2042,"position":5},"title":"Quizlet &#8211; The SAQ Additional Terms","author":"Travis Dixon","date":"03\/17\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"There are 17 possible \"SAQ only\" terms. At first these might seem daunting, but nearly all of these can be easily combined to the existing topics. One of the best ways to show knowledge of these topics (and earn marks in exams) is to offer precise and concise definitions of\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\/2021\/03\/1024.ce363eb63469f80.png?fit=1024%2C1024&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\/03\/1024.ce363eb63469f80.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/03\/1024.ce363eb63469f80.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/03\/1024.ce363eb63469f80.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2042"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13737,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2042\/revisions\/13737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themantic-education.com\/ibpsych\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}