Answering Questions In PE

Within Higher PE the questions you will be asked will challenge you to think for yourself. The knowledge you gain during the course through classroom lessons, practical experiences and your own research should be applied when answering questions. During the course you will develop the thinking skills required to deal with the questions you will be asked.

Understanding the Question

Command words Questions in PE will contain a command word. This command word is what tells you what thinking skills are required to answer the question. The command words in PE are; Describe, Explain, Analyse & Evaluate. The command word is critical to the question as it will determine the information you need to give in order to pick up marks.

Command Words

‘Describe’ Questions A describe question is looking for information about what you did or/and about what something looks like. A description should include lots of detail. When describing try to ensure that the person reading your descriptions could re- do/recreate what it is you are describing.

Common Describe Questions Describe 2 different methods that could be used to collect information about Mental factors that impact on performance. Select one Physical factor that impacts on performance. Describe an approach you could use to develop this factor. Describe how you monitored and evaluated the Social factors that impacted on your performance.

Example of Describing An approach I used to develop a physical factor was a repetition practice. In this practice I started at base and had a partner play a high serve to the back of the court. I then chassed to the back of the court and played an overhead clear. I did this 3 sets of 10 reps of this practice and I had 1 minute rest between each set. During the practice I focused on transferring my weight when I contacted the shuttle and I set myself a target of getting 7 shuttles out of 10 into the tramlines at the back of the court.

‘Explain’ questions When answering these questions you should give reasons why. The reasons given should be detailed. Key word – because This was effective because….. I did this because…. This was a difficulty because….

Common Explain Questions Explain why it is important to gather data on Emotional factors before starting a development plan. Select one Physical factor that impacts on performance. Explain one approach to develop this factor. Explain the difficulties you might experience when monitoring and evaluating the impact of Mental factors on performance.

Example of Explaining I used a repetition practice because it allowed me to practice my weak skill over an over so that I would perform the correct movement automatically when during a game. I used a repetition practice because I could practice my weak skill outside of a game. This removed distractions such as an opponent or the score and allowed me to focus solely on performing the correct technique.

‘Analyse’ questions When answering an analyse questions you should: Break what you are analysing into different parts and explain the relationship each part has to what you are doing. This could be viewed as explaining your reasons or giving reason for your reasons. This is a deeper level of thinking than explain.

‘Analyse’ questions Key Phrases As a result of this….. This meant that…. This shows that….

Common Analyse Questions Analyse the appropriateness of two methods for collecting information on Mental factors impacting on performance. Select one Physical factor that impacts on performance. Analyse one approach to develop this factor.

Example of Analysing I used a repetition practice because it allowed me to practice my weak skill over an over in order to groove the movement into my muscle memory. As a result of this the correct movement be automatic in games allowing me to focus more on game tactics such as the area of the court to play the shuttle to. This response would be worth 1 mark

‘ Evaluate’Questions When evaluating you are being asked to look at the positives and negatives of something. When answering this question you should: Make a judgement about what your evaluating (positive or negative) State what in your opinion is positive or negative about what your evaluating State what makes it this way State what advantages/disadvantages this has for the performer.

‘ Evaluate’Questions If you are simply asked to evaluate something you must give positives and negatives However it may be that the question makes it clear to evaluate an advantage or a disadvantage. When asked to evaluate something you should make an overall judgement on the effectiveness of what you are evaluating.

Common Evaluate Questions Evaluate the effectiveness of one method you have used to collect information on the Social factor. Select one approach to develop the Physical factor. Evaluate one advantage and one disadvantage of applying this approach prior to a performance. Evaluate at least one advantage and one difficulty of using one method to monitor and evaluate performance within the Mental factor.

Example of Evaluating An advantage of using a repetition practice was that I could direct the feeder where to play the shuttle to. This meant that the shuttle was always played to the correct spot so that I could work on the technique of my weakness. This will improve my accuracy and consistency of my overhead clear so that I can move my opponent about more effectively during games A disadvantage of using a repetition practice was that if I performed the practice for too long without a break this will result in me getting tired and losing concentration. This may cause poor technique to be practiced. If this is done over and over again I will learn incorrect technique and this will be difficult to reverse. This may lead to me performing the skill poorly in games making the shot less effective and often resulting in me making errors.

The Number of Marks

The number of marks that a question is worth lets you know how many points you need to make. In marking instruction the following phrase is used: “1 mark can be awarded for each relevant point, or development of a point of explanation” The underlined word changes depending on the command word i.e it could be description, analysis or evaluation. The key thing to note in this example is that you only start to pick up marks when you start to explain. No marks are awarded for describing.

Development of a point A development of a point (of description, explanation, evaluation or analysis) will provide further related information and might include exemplification of the point. – SQA Marking Instructions Can you go into more detail and can you give examples

Read the Question Carefully SQA questions are carefully thought out. Every word in the question has a purpose. Make sure you read the question very carefully and answer exactly the question that is asked.