How to break down the question

The verb that tells you what kind of thinking the marker wants: here it is analyse. This one word sets the shape of the whole essay. Analyse and discuss ask for different responses, so if you misread the directive you can write beautifully and still answer the wrong question. Underline it first, every time.

The idea you have to explore: the ways individuals respond to challenging experiences. Notice the word ways, which quietly tells you the question is about how a response is represented, not just what happens. This idea belongs in your thesis, in the question's own words, and in every topic sentence.

The limiting words that fence in your answer: make detailed reference to your prescribed text. That tells you to use one text and to back every point with close, specific evidence. Skip a limiting word and you answer a question that was never asked, so box these and check your plan against each one.

Analyse

NESA defines it as: “Identify components and the relationship between them; draw out and relate implications.”

What it means: To analyse is to take something apart to see how it works. You break the text into its moving parts, its techniques, structure, characters and choices, then show how those parts create meaning. The important word in NESA's definition is relationship: naming the parts is not enough, you have to show how they connect and what that connection implies.

How to apply it: Never stop at naming a technique. For every quote, climb four steps in the one sentence: name the technique, explain the effect it creates, connect that effect to the idea in the question, then say why the composer wanted it there. A sentence that ends at 'this is a metaphor' has identified something; it has not analysed it. If you find yourself retelling the plot, you have slipped out of analysis.

Assess

NESA defines it as: “Make a judgement of value, quality, outcomes, results or size.”

What it means: Assess is very close to evaluate: weigh something up and reach a judgement about how well it works or how much it matters. The judgement is the point, so a neutral description will not satisfy it.

How to apply it: Weigh the strengths and the limits of what the question names, then commit to a verdict and hold it across the essay. Think of yourself as reaching a considered decision and using the text as your evidence for it, rather than listing everything you noticed.

Compare

NESA defines it as: “Show how things are similar or different.”

What it means: To compare is to hold two texts side by side and draw out both what they share and where they part, then say what the pairing reveals. This is the heart of Module A, where the whole task is the conversation between two texts.

How to apply it: Run the comparison point by point, not text by text. A paragraph that covers one text and then the other is really two mini-essays sitting next to each other. Instead, take one shared idea and move between both texts inside the same paragraph, always landing on what the similarity or difference shows.

Contrast

NESA defines it as: “Show how things are different or opposite.”

What it means: Contrast is the sharper cousin of compare: here the focus is the differences. You set two things against each other so the gap between them stands out.

How to apply it: Use contrast to make an idea visible. The difference between two characters, two moments or two texts should reveal something about the question's concept, so always finish the point by naming what the difference means rather than leaving it as a list of opposites.

Critically analyse

NESA defines it as: “Use interpretation and reasoning to assess a range of evidence and make judgements based on detailed analysis.”

What it means: The word critically trips a lot of students up: it does not mean criticise or find fault. It means judge. You analyse closely, as always, and then take the extra step of reaching a reasoned position on what your evidence shows.

How to apply it: Do everything analyse asks, then add a layer of judgement on top. After you have shown how a technique makes meaning, weigh it: is this the composer's most telling choice, does it complicate the question, what does it prove. Analysis with a clear view attached is what critically asks for.

Describe

NESA defines it as: “Provide characteristics and features.”

What it means: To describe is only to set out the features of something: the what, not the how or the why. It is a lower-order task, and in an essay it is where marks quietly stall.

How to apply it: If a question genuinely says describe, give the features, but do not stop there. Push each point toward analysis by asking how and why, because an essay that only describes stays in the lower bands. Treat describe as a floor to stand on rather than a ceiling to reach.

Discuss

NESA defines it as: “Identify issues and provide points for and/or against.”

What it means: To discuss is to weigh an idea, not simply defend it. NESA asks for points for and against, which means the marker expects you to see more than one side before you settle your position. A discuss question is really testing whether you can hold complexity without losing your line.

How to apply it: Name the tension in the statement early, then argue a clear path through it. You are not writing a debate that ends in a draw; you still need a firm thesis. The skill is showing the marker you considered another reading, then explaining why your reading holds. A sentence like 'while the text first appears to suggest X, a closer reading reveals Y' is the discuss move in miniature.

Evaluate

NESA defines it as: “Make a judgement based on criteria; determine the value of.”

What it means: To evaluate is to judge how well or how effectively something is done. The words based on criteria are the ones to notice: a judgement only earns marks when it rests on reasons, so an opinion with no grounding underneath it will not count.

How to apply it: Decide your verdict first, then build the case for it. Treat the text's techniques and their effects as the evidence that proves how effectively the composer achieves what the question names. Every paragraph should be adding weight to that judgement rather than describing the text neutrally.

Examine

NESA defines it as: “Inquire into.”

What it means: To examine is to look closely and in detail. It is an invitation to go beneath the surface of the text rather than skate across it.

How to apply it: Slow down and look hard at how meaning is made. Examine rewards depth over coverage, so choose fewer moments and dig into each one, rather than mentioning everything and analysing nothing.

Explain

NESA defines it as: “Relate cause and effect; make the relationships between things evident; provide why and/or how.”

What it means: To explain is to make the how and the why visible on the page. NESA wants the connections spelled out, so nothing should be left for the marker to infer.

How to apply it: Show your working. Link each technique to its effect and its meaning inside the same sentence, so the reasoning is right there to read. If a marker has to fill in the logic between your points themselves, you have described a relationship rather than explained it.

Justify

NESA defines it as: “Support an argument or conclusion.”

What it means: To justify is to give the reasons a position holds. You are usually handed a statement and asked to defend it, so the marker is watching for a case that is built rather than asserted.

How to apply it: Build the argument deliberately, point by point. Each paragraph should hand the marker a fresh reason to accept your line, grounded in the text, so that by the end the conclusion feels earned. Ask of every point: does this actually support the claim, or am I just restating it?

Explore

What it means: Explore is an open invitation. It asks you to follow an idea and see where the text takes it, without forcing a strict for-and-against verdict. It is the most common word in Common Module questions, precisely because the module is about the richness of human experience.

How to apply it: Treat it as analyse and discuss combined: open the idea up, trace how the text develops it, and let your thesis capture what the exploration reveals about human experience. The freedom is real, but you still need a clear line, so decide what your exploration concludes and build toward it.

To what extent

What it means: This phrasing asks you to measure. It is not a yes or no question; it is a how far question. The statement is usually deliberately strong so that total agreement would be too simple.

How to apply it: Argue a degree: largely, in part, in some ways but not others. Name the point where the statement stops holding true, and give both what supports it and what qualifies it. Think of it as an evaluate question with a ruler built in, and make your thesis state the measurement plainly.

How / In what ways

What it means: The word ways is the giveaway. The question is about method: the techniques and choices a composer uses to create the effect or meaning it names. It is asking for craft.

How to apply it: Build each paragraph around a technique or structural choice and the meaning it makes, rather than around an event. If you catch yourself retelling what happens, you have answered what when the question asked how. The ways are the answer.

Represent / the ways texts represent

What it means: The Common Module lives on this word. When a question asks about the ways texts represent human experiences, it is telling you to treat the experience as something made, shaped by the composer, rather than something that simply happens in the plot.

How to apply it: Analyse the construction, not the events. Ask how the composer wants you to see this experience and which choices steer you toward that view. Once you see representation as a deliberate act, every technique becomes evidence of a choice, which is exactly what the marker rewards.