You’d be forgiven for thinking that the title of this post is some horrendous typo on my part but it does in fact form the basis of the advice I regularly give learners, particularly those undertaking their first assignment. What I’m saying is that there’s more to answering a question than simply doing just that. And in this post, the first of a study skills mini-series, I will explain why.

Answer the question

Have you answered what the question is asking of you or have you answered the question you want to answer? This may seem basic but there is a tendency to read a question, think you know what it’s asking you and to then trot off a response demonstrating all you know about the topic. Or it may be that you’ve come across a really good source (or number of sources) that you want to include.

Most subjects are pretty wide and have a number of different angles so make sure you really get a hold on what this question is asking of you. For example, for that question on business transfers (TUPE) are you being asked to explain what it is, when it applies, how to do it, or the rights protected?

The question may also have more than one part to it, which leads me on to…

Have you answered the question?

Have you answered the whole question? Often questions have more than one part, either you are being asked to cover more than one topic, or multiple aspects of the same topic, or you are asked to do more than one thing. For example, you may be asked to summarise the main principles of lawful capability and conduct dismissal (two topics there) or to outline the principles and apply to a real life situation (one topic but two tasks). And I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that to address the question successfully you need to do everything you are being asked. I also suggest you give sufficient focus to each part of the question and this will be affected by…

You need to answer the question

The third aspect is to address what you are being asked to do at the right level. What you’re looking out for here is the action verb (the doing part) of the question. Typically this will be affected by the level of qualification you are studying, with foundation-level questions asking you to define, discuss and explain, associate-level assess, analyse and evaluate and advanced-level justify, propose and critically review. When approaching the question, make sure you understand what this means as doing it will determine whether you have a positive outcome. For example, explaining elements of two organisational analysis tools won’t address a question that is asking you to provide an evaluation of the tools.

Related to the previous point, some questions may ask you to do more than one thing, and this will determine the space you allocate to each part. For example, a question may ask you to define something before going on to assess its practical application. In this case, you should aim to keep your definition quite short, as this is lower level action, and give more space to the assessment part.

Seriously, answer the question!

This final point relates to why you are answering the question in the first place. The assessment has been set to enable you to demonstrate you can meet the learning outcomes and specifically the assessment criteria for the unit. It’s therefore worth taking a look at the related assessment criteria along with the indicative content. This is especially useful if you’re not sure what you are being asked to do or what to include.

Next time – my tips on what to do if you’re stuck.