STUDY SKILLS GUIDE

How to Answer Questions

In Middle School (Collège), students are required to manage several different kinds of activities, and it is important that they recognise what is being asked of them. When answering questions, it is important to distinguish between questions requiring factual answers and questions requiring a more creative response.

Example: “What is the name of the capital of Germany?” is a factual question which requires a simple answer – “The capital of Germany is Berlin.” However, “Why do you think writing was such an important development in human evolution?” requires you to give an opinion, based on facts.

Steps to Successful Answers:

• READ the question!!!! It is important that you read and UNDERSTAND what is being asked of you. If there are any words you do not know, look them up before trying to answer the question.
   

• Underline the important words in the question. These can be keywords telling you what to think about, but also words like “How”, “Describe”, and “Why” which tell you what type of answer to give.
   

• Think about where to get your answer from – this can be from your brain, from the notes in your file, your textbook, a reference book or the internet.
   

• On a rough paper, write your answer. Re-read the question to be sure your answer really does answer the question!
   

• Proof-read your answer, checking for factual errors, spelling and grammar mistakes, and language errors.
   

• Write out a clean, LEGIBLE copy to hand in to your teacher.

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