How to write Short Answer Question

The maximum score per SAQ is 9 marks.

 You will have approximately 20 minutes to write each SAQ (one hour to answer all
three SAQ's)
 Short answer questions are not exactly short.  One answer should be about 300 words,
or about the length of 1 - 1.5 handwritten pages
 A SAQ should contain a detailed description of one research study

Here is the assessment criteria for a SAQ:

If you compare the criteria for a mid-range answer (4-6 points) with an excellent answer
(7-9 points), you will notice that there are three key differences:

 Focusing on the question, and meeting the command term requirements.  Your

response has to clearly answer the question, without straying off topic.  In
addition, your answer has to meet the requirements of the command term.  The
command terms will be discussed in more detail below.

 Accuracy, relevance and depth of knowledge.  Your answer has to be accurate

(no making thing up!), and contain knowledge that actually answers the question.
 Moreover, you need to demonstrate a certain depth of knowledge to get a top
score.  

 Explicitly linking research to the question.  Every SAQ should discuss one
research study.  But its not enough just to describe the research.  You need to
explain why this research study is relevant.  In other words, what does this study
tell us that is important or worthy of discussion?  How do the results of this study
help to answer the question?

SAQ Command Terms

The command term is the first word that appears in the question.  Depending on the
command term, your answer needs to be written in a different way.  Meeting the
requirements of the command term is necessary in order to reach the top mark band of
7-9 points for your SAQ.

Here are the command terms you will come across for SAQ's:

The command terms may seem quite vague, and that is because the same command
terms are used across all of the IB subjects.  Nonetheless, there are a few points to
notice:

 Breaking ideas down into parts:  For the AO2 command terms (Comment,
Explain, and Suggest), you are required to break ideas down into parts.  That
means that you should identify complex ideas, and see how these ideas can be
 broken down into smaller pieces.  For instance, the idea of Social Learning is
quite a complex idea; it occurs in a number of steps, and each step should be
explained further.

 Describe vs. Explain:  Both of these command terms require you to give a

detailed account, but Explain also requires that you give reasons or causes - in
other words, to explain Why?  To give a simple example, imagine you are asked
to describe a bride's wedding dress.  You would answer by focusing on the
fabric, the color, the cut and the design of the dress.  But if you were asked
to explain the bride's dress, you would also need to articulate why the bride is
wearing such attire.  You could do so by explaining why brides, in this culture,
wear this particular style of clothing.

Structuring your SAQ Answer

There are many possible ways of answering a SAQ.  However, one format that works
well is to write an answer consisting of two well developed paragraphs.  Each
paragraph should be around half a page in length, or around 150 words, for a total of
300 words.  The first paragraph involves general knowledge of the topic, while the
second paragraph applies a research study to support your answer.

Paragraph 1 - General Knowledge

 Define any key words / concepts in the question

 Provide as much general knowledge on the topic as you can 
 Explain concepts in detail, breaking down each big idea into smaller ideas or steps

Paragraph 2 - Supporting your knowledge with research

 Identify a research study, explaining its significance in answering the question (Link

into the study)
 Describe the research study in detail, including the aim, procedure, findings, and
conclusion
 Explain why the results of this study matter.  What does this study tell us? (Link back to
the question)

Exam Tip

When you are writing a SAQ, imagine that are writing for an audience who has never
studied the subject before.  A person with no knowledge of Psychology should be able
to read your answer and clearly understand it.  So every time you use a Psychology-
related term such as schema, stereotype, or attribution, make sure you explain the
meaning of these terms, in as much detail as you can.
 It may seem silly to explain these terms when you know that the examiner is likely to
already be familiar with them, but this is a great way to demonstrate detailed and
accurate knowledge to the examiner, and get the best possible results.

Sample SAQ Outline

The best way to prepare for an exam is to write detailed outlines in advance for all of
the possible questions.  Of course, you won't know exactly what questions will be
asked, but the syllabus will give you a pretty good idea of what to expect.  There
shouldn't be any surprises on exam day.  

You will need to adapt your answer for different command terms, however, so be
prepared to "tweak" your outlines to meet the requirements of the command term.

Here's an example of what a SAQ outline could look like.  

Question: Explain how one hormone may influence one human behavior

Paragraph 1 - General knowledge on testosterone

 Explain what a hormone is, and how it affects behavior

 Identify testosterone as a hormone, explaining how it functions in the body
 List some of the behavioral effects of testosterone
 Discuss how testosterone may play a role in status-seeking and aggression

Paragraph 2 - Research study: Dabbs

 Link into the study - explain why Dabbs' research aim is relevant to the question
 Aim, procedure, findings, conclusion of Dabbs
 Link back to the question - explain what Dabbs' findings tell us about how testestrone
influences behavior

Sample SAQ Answer

The following sample answer is based on the outline above.  Try to "match" each bullet
point on the outline with the corresponding sentence(s) in the answer below.

Question: Explain how one hormone may influence one human behavior

Hormones are a particular class of chemical that affect human behavior.  Hormones are
produced in the human body by glands that make up the endocrine system.  Hormones
are then released into the blood stream, where they can influence behavior.  One such
hormone is testosterone.  Testosterone is a sex hormone, produced in the male testes
 and the female ovaries.  Although both males and females produce testosterone, the
quantity in males is approximately ten times that of females.  Testosterone has been
linked to status-seeking and aggressiveness.  People with higher levels of testosterone
may be more competitive, more likely to take risks, seek higher positions within a social
hierarchy, and are more likely to respond with aggression in order to secure their place
in the social pecking order.  This may be both advantageous or destructive, depending
on the context.  For some people, high levels of testosterone can boost healthy
competitiveness in fields such as sports, law, and the banking industry, where success
often involves dominating and outwitting your rivals.  On the other hand, high levels of
testosterone, expressed in the wrong contexts, could also lead to aggressive behavior
and violence, including criminality.

A research study on the role of testosterone in aggression and criminality was carried
out by Dabbs.  The aim of the study was to investigate whether testosterone levels may
influence the type of criminal activity committed by prison inmates.  The study involved
a large sample of 692 inmates in a prison population.   Saliva samples were taken of the
inmates, which were used to measure testosterone levels.  The criminals record of each
inmate was also analyzed, and inmates were categorized according to whether they
had committed violent or non-violent offences.  Results of the research indicated that
prisoners with higher levels of testosterone in their saliva were more likely to have
committed violent crimes, such as rape, assault or murder, while prisoners with lower
levels of testosterone were more likely to have committed non-violent crimes, such as
fraud or income tax evasion.  Based on these results, Dabbs concluded that
testosterone may influence the types of criminal acts that people are likely to commit. 
This study supports the link between testosterone and violent aggression.  Higher levels
of testosterone may have been a factor that led some criminals to act violently when
their status or social position is threatened.

Exam Tip

Many students lose marks on SAQ's because they don't read the question carefully,
discuss irrelevant knowledge, or fail to understand what is required for an SAQ answer.

Here are the top tips to make sure you don't fall into some of the common SAQ traps!

 Don't evaluate research in an SAQ.  The mark scheme for an SAQ does not include
any points for critical thinking, so don't bother evaluating research.  The examiner will
ignore any evaluation in your answer, and you will have wasted precious exam time.

 Stick to answering the question - no more, no less.  Suppose that, for the SAQ
previously answered on hormones, you actually know two hormones very well -
testosterone and oxytocin.  Surely, giving detailed knowledge of two hormones will give
you more points than just one?  Actually, nope.  Since the question asks you to discuss
just ONE hormone, the examiner is only allowed to give you points for the first hormone
you discuss.  Anything you write on a second hormone will be ignored.  Worse still, if
you mentioned testosterone first, but then spent the rest of you SAQ discussing
 oxytocin, you will score very low, since anything you've written on oxytocin will not be
graded

 Stay focused on the question (writing a quick outline helps!)  On your exam, its
normal to be very nervous, and to feel like your brain is exploding with all of the
knowledge you've studied.  One of the biggest mistakes to make on an exam is to lose
focus on the question, and write pages and pages of knowledge - that has nothing at all
to do with the question!  To make sure this doesn't happen to you, its a great idea to
spend a minute or two to write down a quick outline of your answer before you get
started.