Command words are the verbs at the start of a question: state, describe, explain, calculate, suggest, evaluate. Each one asks for a different kind of answer, and writing a good answer to the wrong action earns little.
This coach lets you practise reading the action first. You pick a syllabus code and command word, decide what the answer should do, then compare a weaker and a stronger response with the reason.
How do you use it?
- Choose your syllabus code from the list. Confirm the code and the exam year with your school or exam centre first.
- Enter the exam year as four digits, for example 2026.
- Type a command word. The hint under the box lists the words reviewed for that code.
- Optionally add your own short task, written or rewritten in your own words. Do not paste exam paper text.
- Press Start exercise, choose the action you think the answer should take, then press Check and show examples.
Reset returns the default settings.
How do you read the result?
You are told whether your chosen action matches the reviewed reading of that word for that code. Below that you see the expected action, a weaker response, a stronger response and a one-line why.
Focus on the why. The pattern matters more than this one task: weak answers usually do a different job from the one asked, or do the right job too thinly.
Example walk-through
Leave the defaults as they are: code 0625, year 2026, command word explain. The practice task is: Explain why a metal spoon feels colder than a wooden spoon at the same temperature.
Choose “Give a reason, linking cause to effect” and check. The weaker response is “The metal spoon is colder.” It repeats what you notice and is also wrong, because both spoons are at the same temperature.
The stronger response builds a chain: metal is a better thermal conductor, so it carries heat away from your hand faster, so your skin cools more quickly and the spoon feels colder. The linking words so and because are what turn a statement into an explanation.
Now change the word to describe and start again. The task is about a ball rolling down a ramp, and the stronger response only reports the pattern: speed increases steadily with time. Giving gravity as a reason is a different action, and the coach shows why it does not answer describe.
Try a word the coach has not reviewed for that code, such as evaluate under 0625. You get a verification notice, not a guess.
What are the assumptions and limits?
- Only the code and word pairs in the coach’s small reviewed set are covered. Anything else returns a notice to check the syllabus.
- There is no universal one-sentence definition of a command word that applies to every subject. The coach works per code and does not claim otherwise.
- The examples are original and in English, because the assessed language is English.
- It does not mark your writing and does not tell you what a real mark scheme would reward.
Where can you go next?
Command words meet content in the answer itself. Use the answer-evidence planner to check that an explain or evaluate answer actually links evidence to a claim. The English-BM-Chinese concept bridge helps when the confusion is a subject term rather than the verb.
For exam-route questions, see the exams guidance. If command words keep catching you in a subject, a teacher can set questions live and correct the action before the content, for example in online one-to-one Mathematics tuition or the subject you sit. More tools are in the learning tools directory.