What do you want from me?

1. Session three What do you want from me? LO: what strategies can I use to help me identify and understand the questions in the exam?

2. Types of Questions Sometimes it can be difficult to work out what the question is in the maths examination. To help you understand what the question is, and what it is asking you to do, it is worth knowing a little about sentences in the English Language. • There are four main types of sentence: • declarative (or statements) e.g. Maths is very hard. • Exclamatory (expressions of emotion) e.g. Great! • Interrogatives (questions) e.g. How much is A? • Imperatives (commands) e.g. Stop writing. The questions in your exam will either be interrogatives (questions) or imperatives (commands).

3. Types of Questions cont… Here are some examples of the two types of question: • Traditional questions (interrogatives) • Will the box be big enough? • What is the total amount? • How much has John spent? • Modern questions (imperatives) • Estimate the size of the box. • Work out the total amount. • Give the figure John spent. You will notice that the traditional questions have question marks, whilst the modern questions do not

4. Tip one Modern Questions • In many exams the questions do not have question marks: they are imperatives or commands asking you to do something e.g. estimate, work out or give. • These types of sentences: • Will be (mild) requests for you to do something • Will be the last sentence in the question details • Will usually be the first word or words in the sentence • Have the second half of the sentence connected to the maths information required: • - work out the mean temperature • - write down the mode

5. Imperatives Here are some examples of imperatives taken from recent examination questions

6. Tip two Pronouns A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun (person, place, thing) e.g. he, she, it, they. Pronouns are used to avoid repeating the same words e.g. Stuart has a pair of trainers. He(Stuart) takes them (the trainers) home. • Keeping track of information in longer questions: • always be clear what word a pronoun is replacing • cross out pronouns and replace with original noun • colour all pronouns the same as original noun Some questions require you to juggle lots of information at the same time, so make sure you understand the details fully.

7. Find The Lady Find the lady is a card game in which the victim is tricked into betting money if they can find the Queen among three face-down cards. Some questions are a bit like Find the Lady, although examiners are not trying to trick you. You must keep track of the information (or Lady). Example: Martha books a 14-night holiday. She (Martha) books for two people. She books it (the holiday) online. Explain clearly why the total cost (of the holiday for two) will be £990. Identifying the pronouns will help you to keep track

8. Tip three Pronouns cont… Another function of some pronouns is to ‘point’ to things. When we speak we often say words like this and these to help our listener understand what we are referring to. The same is true in writing, particularly with longer questions. • Pointing words help guide you: • some pronouns are directing you to key information • sometimes they direct you to important information e.g. this table; these graphs; this pictogram • sometimes they direct you how to use this information e.g. use this table to…; complete these graphs using..

9. Your turn Activity: read through the questions and: highlight the imperative (the command) in the space provided explain what you need to do