Answering the Describe question: using recalled knowledge to make a set number of separate, developed points of factual description, with the mark allocation signalling how many points to make.

What this dot point is asking

The Describe question is one of the recall-based question types in SQA National 5 History. It appears in every context of the question paper, Scottish, British, and European and World, and tests one skill: whether you can use your own recalled knowledge to give accurate, developed points of factual description about a topic. No source is provided for a Describe question, so every mark must come from what you have learned. The command word "describe" tells you the task: state what happened, who was involved, or what something was like, without explaining why or giving an opinion.

The Describe question is among the most reliable marks on the paper because it rewards a single repeatable method: read the tariff, then make that many separate, developed points. A candidate who has revised the content and knows how the marking works rarely drops these marks, which makes the Describe question the first skill worth securing.

The answer

A Describe question rewards a set number of separate, accurate, developed points of factual description, drawn entirely from your own knowledge. The method has three steps. First, read the mark allocation, because SQA marks these point by point and the tariff tells you how many points to make: a 4 mark question needs four points, a 5 mark question needs five. Second, recall distinct, relevant facts and check they are genuinely separate rather than the same idea reworded. Third, develop each point so it carries specific detail, because a bare assertion earns nothing while a point with a name, date, place or concrete action earns the mark.

Read the marks before you write

The mark allocation is the most useful clue in the question. SQA marks Describe questions point by point, awarding one mark per accurate, developed point, so count the points you make against the tariff. A 4 mark question wants four points; a 5 mark question wants five. This stops you under-answering, which leaves marks unclaimed, and over-answering, which wastes time you need for the longer source questions later in the section.

Develop each point

A point scores only when it is developed, meaning it carries specific detail rather than a vague generalisation. "Conditions were bad" is not a point; "many families lived in crowded, single-room housing with no clean running water" is, because it adds concrete detail the marker can credit. Naming a person, a date, a place or a precise action is the surest way to develop a point. Aim for one developed sentence per mark.

Describe, do not explain

The command word controls the task. "Describe" asks you to state what happened or what something was like; it does not ask why. If you start writing "this was because" or "this led to", you have drifted into explanation, which a Describe question does not reward. Save cause-and-effect for the Explain question. Keep Describe answers factual and concrete.

Examples in context

Suppose a Scottish-context Describe question asks you to describe the difficulties faced by a group during a period of change. A weak answer offers vague generalities: "Life was hard and many people struggled, and things were difficult for everyone." That is one idea repeated three times with no specific detail, so it scores at most one mark and probably zero.

A full-mark answer makes four separate, developed points: point one, a named group "faced eviction when landowners cleared the land for sheep farming"; point two, "many were forced to move to coastal areas or emigrate overseas"; point three, "those who stayed often took poorly paid work in new industries"; point four, "families were frequently split up as younger members left to find work". Four distinct facts, each developed, four marks.

Try this

Q1. A Describe question is worth 5 marks. How many separate points should you aim to make, and how should each be written? [2 marks]

• What the marker wants. Five separate points, one per mark, each developed with specific detail rather than left as a vague generalisation.

Q2. Rewrite the bare point "the town grew" as a developed point that would earn a mark. [1 mark]

• What the marker wants. A developed version such as "the town grew rapidly as thousands of workers arrived to take jobs in the new mills", adding specific cause and detail.

Q3. Why does explaining causes earn no marks in a Describe question? [2 marks]

• What the marker wants. Because the command word "describe" tests recall of what happened, not analysis of why; cause-and-effect is rewarded only in the Explain question.

A note on sources

This guide is AI-written and not individually human-reviewed. Question wording and mark allocations follow the published SQA National 5 History format; verify current paper structure and question types against the SQA National 5 History course specification and marking instructions at sqa.org.uk.