Describe 

(a) Structure

For Describe questions you are being asked to clearly detail how you carried something out. Your aim should be to create a clear picture of how you did the task so that whoever reading your answer will be able to complete the same task. In order to do this, you should include:

• Who – Who was involved in the task.

• What – What equipment was needed to carry out the task.

• Where – Where the task was carried out.

• When – When the task was completed and how long it took.

• How – How the task was completed successfully.

You may not need to include all parts of the describe structure in your answers. Focus on the key characteristics of what you are describing in order to access all available marks in the question.

(b) Factors

A question may ask you to: Describe your strengths and development needs of the emotional factor (2).

An appropriate answer could be:

• I have good confidence when playing rugby. As the teams goal kicker, I am confident that I will score points whenever I take a penalty or conversions, helping build my teams score effectively.

• However, I have poor anger when playing rugby. If my team give away a penalty I often get annoyed and argue with the referee, leading to me being sinbinned, making my team be a player down for 10 minutes.

(c) Methods to Gather Data

A question may ask you to: Describe how you completed a method to collect information on your performance on the physical factor (4).

An appropriate answer could be:

• I used a general observation schedule to collect information on my skills in badminton. I played a competitive match against an opponent up to 21 points. We also had an observer each at the side of the court, who had a copy of the general observation schedule. This included a table of shots such as: low serve, high serve, overhead clear and drop shot. Each time we played a shot the observer would decide if the shot was ‘very effective’, ‘effective’ or ‘not effective’ and put a tick in the appropriate box. At the end of the game, we tallied up each shot and their effectiveness, working out the percentages for each one to find out strengths and weaknesses.

(d) Approaches to Develop Performance

A question may ask you to: Describe how you carried out an approach to develop social factors (4)

An appropriate answer could be:

• I used team building exercises to develop team dynamics. We completed a task called ‘bridge across the river’, which we did in groups of 6. The teacher set up a bench at either end of the gym hall to represent riverbanks. We had to get from one end of the hall to the other without touching the floor. The equipment we had was five tyres and two planks of wood. We had to communicate effectively and pass equipment carefully to ensure all members could move across the river without touching the floor, making sure we took all equipment with us. If we did touch the floor we had to go back to the start of the task.

(e) Methods to Monitor and Evaluate

A question may ask you to: Describe how you monitored performance development throughout your mental factor PDP (2)

An appropriate answer could be:

• I used retesting of the SCAT to monitor development of my level of arousal. I completed the SCAT test before the start, halfway through and at the end of my PDP. I compared the results of the tests each time to see if I continued to improve my level of arousal as I went through my PDP.

Explain

(a) Structure

Explain questions require you to give reasons behind the relationships between things. This is done by highlighting the cause and effect; what happens because of the concept you are explaining. In order to do this, you should use the structure:

• Point – Introduce the concept you are going to explain. Steal the words from the question to do this. 

• Example – Give a clear example of the concept.

• Explanation – Explain what impact this has had. Using the words ‘this means’ are important to doing this successfully.

(b) Factors

A question may ask you to: Explain the impact of improvements in social factors can have on your overall performance.

An appropriate answer could be:

• Improving my communication will have a positive effect on my performance in netball (point) as I will be able to let my teammates know when I am in space easier when in attack. (example)

• This means I can receive the ball when I am not being marked, helping me score more goals due to not being pressured by a defender. (explanation)

(c) Methods to Gather Data

A question may ask you to: Explain why you chose this method to gather data on emotional factors.

An appropriate answer could be:

• I used the emotions in sport questionnaire to gather data on my happiness/sadness as it is a written record of my strengths and development needs. (point)

• Since it is a written record, I can refer to it at any point. (example)

• This means I can always check back to remind myself of what I need to improve on, helping focus me during my PDP sessions. (explanation)

(d) Approaches to Develop Performance

A question may ask you to: Explain possible challenges a performer may face when carrying out an approach to develop mental factors.

An appropriate answer could be:

• It is challenging to complete visualisation to lower my level of arousal before taking a penalty in football. (point)

• As there is lots of distractions around me when performing visualisation making it difficult for me to concentrate on the task. (example)

• This means I could struggle to lower my level of arousal, making me more nervous and potentially hitting the penalty wide. (explanation)

(e) Methods to Monitor and Evaluate

A question may ask you to: Explain why it is important to monitor performance development of physical factors during a PDP.

An appropriate answer could be:

• It is important to monitor my heart rate when improving my CRE as it allows me to see if my heart rate is within my training zone. (point)

• If I see my heart rate is too low I can increase my pace so that I get back to working at the correct intensity quickly. (example)

• This means I am able to get back to working in my training zone, allowing me to make effective improvement of my CRE in every session. (explanation)

Evaluate

In the exam you may be asked to Evaluate something. This involves making a judgement or verdict based on evidence. 

 (a) Structure

For Evaluate questions you are being asked to make a judgement on how effective something is. You are looking to find the positives and negatives in something and back up the impact of this with evidence. These can be your own personal opinions on what you have been asked to evaluate.

In order to evaluate effectively, you should use the structure:

• Judgement – What are you evaluating and does it have a positive or negative impact?

• Value – What happens because of this that makes it positive or negative?

• Impact – what is the overall impact for the performer, giving evidence of this?

Within a multiple mark answer you can give answers outlining both the positives and negatives of something. For example, in a 4 mark answers you could give 3 positives and 1 negative of what you have been asked to evaluate.

Some words that can help you when answering an evaluate question include:

Below are examples of 1 mark Evaluations: 

“Before I could not do an overhead clear, which meant I could not push my opponent to the back of the court. Now, due to my shadow practice and positive feedback I now hit the shuttle with a straight arm everytime, giving more power which puts pressure on my opponent” (1 mark)

“The Illinois agility test, was ineffective as the final cone was positioned fairly close to the wall. This forced me to slow down early meaning I got a slower score than I should have.” (1 mark)

“The observer of my observation schedule did not understand the marking criteria. Therefore he ticked effective when sometimes it should have been fairly effective meaning my results were slightly inaccurate. (1 mark)

“A limitation of my plan was that is was squashed into a small box, this meant I found it difficult to read and understand. Therefore I did not follow exactly what I wanted to do on that day disrupting my overall training schedule (1mark)