A short-answer question is short, and that is the trap. Students either write two lines and lose marks for no development, or write a page and lose time they needed for the essay. There is a shape that fits, and it works for almost every SAQ you will meet.
📘 What you need to know
Section A SAQs are worth 4 marks and come from the content areas, with no scenario.
Section B SAQs are worth 6 marks, come from the contexts, and always give you a scenario.
In practice, Section A most often uses Describe or Explain.
Describe (AO1) wants a detailed account, not a simplified outline.
Explain (AO2) wants reasons and causes: why and how it works.
Examiners want knowledge, development and examples, and examples may be hypothetical.
In Section B, every mark is application. If you do not use the given scenario, you cannot score well.
The four-mark shape
Four marks does not mean four sentences bolted together. It means one idea, opened up. This sequence works whether the question is about neurotransmission, schema theory or conformity.
Row four is where students run out of steam. The question is always about human behaviour, so finish by saying what the thing actually does to people.
Describe questions
If a question says describe, it wants a detailed account rather than a one-line outline. Three things get you there.
Detail. Use the proper terms. For classical conditioning that means unconditioned stimulus, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response and extinction, not just “you learn by association”.
Effect. Say what the theory produces in behaviour.
Example. Make it concrete. A specific case does more than a second abstract sentence.
Explain questions
If a question says explain, description alone will not score. It wants reasons and causes.
Do not just state what the theory is. Say why and how it works.
Show a clear cause-and-effect chain: this leads to that, which produces this outcome.
Make it explicit how the theory accounts for the behaviour. Do not leave the link for the examiner to fill in.
The difference in one line
Describe = what it is and what it does. Explain = why it happens and how it produces the behaviour.
Section B is a different animal
The two extra marks in Section B are not for two extra facts. They are for tying what you know to the situation in front of you.
🧩 A six-mark Section B answer, in three moves
Give the detailed account, linked to the scenario. Name the technique or theory and say what it did in this study.
Give reasons or possible causes. Why did that result come about? What might explain it?
Show how it applies to behaviour. What does this tell us, and where could it be used?
Worked examples
WORKED EXAMPLE
A Describe answer, Section A
Describe the role of one chemical messenger in human behaviour. [4 marks]
1. Say what it is
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter: a chemical messenger released at the synapse that carries a signal from one neuron to the next.
2. Say how it worksIt is central to the brain’s reward pathways, being released when something rewarding happens and making that behaviour more likely to be repeated.
3. Give an example
A student who gets praise for finishing homework early experiences a reward response and is more likely to do it again.
4. Say what it does to behaviour
So dopamine helps explain motivation and habit formation, and imbalances in it are linked to conditions affecting movement and mood.
Four developed points, one examplea hypothetical example is fine here — you do not need a named study
WORKED EXAMPLE
An Explain answer, Section A
Explain the role of classical conditioning in behaviour. [4 marks]
Define, but move quickly
Classical conditioning is learning by association between two stimuli.
Say why it happensA neutral stimulus is repeatedly paired with an unconditioned stimulus that already produces a reflex response.
Say how that produces behaviour
After enough pairings the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus and triggers the response on its own, now a conditioned response.
Anchor it in an example
A child who chokes on a button may later feel fear at the sight of buttons alone, because the button has become the conditioned stimulus.
Cause and effect made explicit at every stepthe words why and how should be visible in your sentences, not implied
💡 Exam tip
Four marks, roughly seven minutes, roughly four developed sentences. Do not write an essay.
Use the technical vocabulary of the topic. It is the cheapest way to show detail.
Always include one example, even a made-up one. Answers without examples cap out low.
End on behaviour. The question is always about people, not about the theory in a vacuum.
For Section B, mention the scenario in your first sentence so the application is obvious immediately.
Studies are optional but useful. One well-known study used briefly gives your answer a firm foundation.
⚠️ Common mix-up
Treating Describe and Explain as the same. One wants detail, the other wants causes.
Writing everything you know. Unfocused length costs time and gains nothing.
Describing a study instead of answering the question. The study is the example, not the answer.
Ignoring the scenario in Section B. Application is the only skill being marked there.
Assuming you must memorise study details. Hypothetical examples are explicitly acceptable.
Evaluating in an SAQ. Section A and B are not asking for strengths and limitations.
Up next: Writing a Strong ERQ in Paper 1 — the 15-mark question, and how to plan one in five minutes.
Want this explained one-to-one?
Book a free session with an experienced IB Psychology tutor and get your trickiest topics made simple.
