Episode resources:
 

TRANSCRIPT:

You're listening to the Parents of Hardworking Teens podcast, episode 147, where we're going to be talking about how to actually add more detail, whether that is in an exam question, an essay, an extended response paragraph, or any kind of report, inquiry, or assignment. So if your teen has ever had that feedback of "add more detail," then listen in to hear how they can add the right detail in the right ways.

Hey VIPs, I hope you and your teens are doing really, really well. I have been really, really excited to make this particular episode for you because this whole topic or issue of "add more detail" versus "adding the right detail" has been heavily on my brain for a long time now.

I know it is a common cause of students losing marks and it's common feedback on students' work with red pen scribbled alongside maybe a paragraph or an exam response saying "add more detail," or "take this further," or maybe verbal feedback like "can you go deeper with that point?".

And it's not just in teacher marking that this is happening; it's in external examinations across all subjects and across all exam boards as well. This is definitely something I've been looking at as the external examiner reports from the 2025 exams have been released over these past couple of months.

Here's one example from an HSC examiner report from the 2025 English Advanced exam. For Question 1, it says in "better responses," students were able to explain how specific examples in the text are used to celebrate the process of creativity. They were also able to explain the effect of the examples from the text.

Below that, it says that areas for students to improve on include going beyond identifying the process of creativity, as in just stating or naming some of those things. Students need to improve their explanations of the effect of the examples rather than just paraphrasing or commenting on the examples. They also need to ensure clear links between the evidence they present and the idea that is being asked about in the question.

In the 2025 Biology VCE examiner's report, under Question 8a, it says lower-scoring responses simply listed information from the article without a connection between the information.

This whole idea of "going further" is not "tell me more information". It is not state more facts, it is not give more quotations; it is make connections, give explanations, analyse, evaluate, and show the significance.

There are many ways that students are trying to add more detail or take their points further that are not the right ways. They are often giving more information, or they're saying the same information in different ways, but they are not giving more depth. They are not operating or responding at the levels of cognition that describe the explain, apply, analyze, evaluate, or create.

At high school levels of years 10, 11, and 12 (or 11, 12, 13 in NZ/UK), it is not enough anymore to just know the subject content. Students need to be able to apply that information, analyze it, evaluate it, make decisions based on it, and then justify those decisions.

I'm going to be delivering a brand new live student workshop on this exact skill set. I’m running it for all of my coaching member students, and I'm making tickets available to any non-members currently to attend if they feel it would be useful. It’s happening on Sunday, the 1st of March 2026.

What the Workshop Covers:

  • The Difference Between Info and Detail: Why "more stuff" isn't "more marks".

  • The "Waffle" Trap: How to recognize when you've drifted into repeating yourself and how to get back on track.

  • The Detail Upgrade: How to expand answers with depth and precision, not just breadth.

  • Analytical Writing Technique: A three-step technique that move responses up the marking guide.

  • The Fail-Proof Formula: Moving from statement to explanation to impact to significance.

  • Marking Guide Insights: How adding one word or just two letters can be more powerful than adding a whole sentence or paragraph.

     

All of this is to give students the understanding of how exams and assessments work and give them the skills to be able to deliver those requirements with confidence.

If you'd like to grab a ticket for your teen, you can go to www.rocksolidstudy.com/detail. The ticket also comes with three special bonuses and includes access to the full recording.

Have a brilliant rest of your week, and I'll see you back here on the podcast next week. Take care. Bye!

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