RUAE
Understanding Questions
STARTER – IN YOUR OWN WORDS…
Change the following words to a different word or phrase
with the same meaning.
1. Nice
5. Intelligent
2. Silly
6. Outrageous
3. Stupid
7. Observant
4. Furious
8. Anxious
We are:
We can:
Exploring the different types of
RUAE questions
Identify the different types of
RUAE questions
Extending our knowledge of
understanding and ‘in your own
words’ questions
Use the steps provided to
answer an understanding
question
Applying our knowledge to
answer understanding type
questions
Change the writers words into
our own words while still making
sense
CLOSE READING QUESTIONS - RUAE
There are three types of close reading question:
UNDERSTANDING
ANALYSIS
EVALUATION
UNDERSTANDING QUESTIONS
These are usually the most straightforward question to
answer
They simply want to make sure that you understand what
the writer is talking about
You need to be able to show that you have grasped the
writers message and that you are comfortable talking
about it
UNDERSTANDING QUESTIONS
Most understanding questions ask you to use your own words in
your response
That means that you need to try and explain what the author is
saying without using the same key words that the author has used
You should never use a quote when answering in your own words
You should never use the exact same words that the author uses
If you do either of these things you will get 0 marks, even if you
have given the ‘correct’ answer
UNDERSTANDING QUESTIONS
How to answer an ‘in your own words’ question:
Step 1 - Check the number of marks available.
Step 2 - Underline or highlight the correct answer.
Step 3 - Change it into your own words.
EXAMPLE 1 – UNDERSTANDING
While younger children should not be on platforms where 13 is
the minimum age, it is neither practical nor desirable to imagine
a world in which teenagers are prevented from accessing the
platforms and messaging systems that the adults around them
use to organise their lives.
In your own words, explain why the author thinks that young people
should be allowed to use social media? (1)
EXAMPLE 1 – UNDERSTANDING
While younger children should not be on platforms where 13 is
the minimum age, it is neither practical nor desirable to imagine
a world in which teenagers are prevented from accessing the
platforms and messaging systems that the adults around them
use to organise their lives.
In your own words, explain why the author thinks that young people
should be allowed to use social media? (1)
EXAMPLE 1 – UNDERSTANDING
In your own words, explain why the author thinks that young people
should be allowed to use social media? (1)
‘the adults around them use to organise their lives.’
Older people they know rely on it to keep their schedules
EXAMPLE 2 – UNDERSTANDING
While there is nothing new about teenagers being unkind to
each other, there is a world of difference between whispered
rumours and Photoshopped images. Feeling excluded or
unpopular has always been painful, but it didn’t use to be
possible for children to torment themselves – or others – with
feeds featuring pictures of their peers having a wonderful time.
In your own words, explain how social media is allowing teenagers
to be more unkind to their peers? (2)
EXAMPLE 2 – UNDERSTANDING
While there is nothing new about teenagers being unkind to
each other, there is a world of difference between whispered
rumours and Photoshopped images. Feeling excluded or
unpopular has always been painful, but it didn’t use to be
possible for children to torment themselves – or others – with
feeds featuring pictures of their peers having a wonderful time.
In your own words, explain how social media is allowing teenagers
to be more unkind to their peers? (2)
EXAMPLE 2 – UNDERSTANDING
In your own words, explain how social media is allowing teenagers
to be more unkind to their peers? (2)
‘Photoshopped images’
Pictures that are digitally changed/altered
‘feeds featuring pictures of their peers having
a wonderful time.’
Images that show their friends having fun without them
ACTIVITY – IN YOUR OWN WORDS
Rewrite the following sentences
in your own words.
You don’t have to change every
single word
Identify the key words that you
should avoid and work back
from there
1. He was an experienced chef.
2. Johnny was a pro at football.
3. They used whatever they could
lay their hands on.
4. The classroom was a dingy and
shady place
5. The town was not a place to
hang around at night.
6. The bus was consistently late on
a Tuesday.
ACTIVITY – IN YOUR OWN WORDS
1. He was an experienced chef.
1. The man was a highly skilled cook
2. Johnny was a pro at football.
2. The man was very skilled at sports
3. They used whatever they could
lay their hands on.
3. The people utilised everything that
they could get
4. The classroom was a dingy
and shady place
4. The classroom was very dark and
unkempt
5. The town was not a place to
hang around at night.
5. The town was a bad location to
spend the evening
6. The bus was consistently late
on a Tuesday.
6. The bus was frequently not on time
during the week
NOW IT’S YOUR TURN!
The next few slides are all in your own words
questions.
Use your notes and the steps from earlier to help
you answer them
Write out the answer in your jotter using bullet
points
ACTIVITY 1
Girls’ much-higher rate of depression than boys is closely linked to
the greater time they spend on social media, and online bullying and
poor sleep are the main culprits for their low mood, new research
reveals.
As many as three-quarters of 14-year-old girls who suffer from
depression also have low self-esteem, are unhappy with how they
look and sleep for seven hours or less each night, the study found.
In your own words, explain two factors that contribute to young girls
suffering from depression. (2)
ACTIVITY 2
It found that many girls spend far more time using social media
than boys, and also that they are much more likely to display
signs of depression linked to their interaction on platforms such
as Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook.
In your own words, explain why girls are more likely to display
signs of depression than boys? (1)
ACTIVITY 3
Like gambling, which physically alters the brain’s structure, social
media use has been criticised and its potential to have an adverse
psychological impact on users cannot be overlooked or
underestimated.
For instance, phone dependency, driven by high social-media usage,
can lead us to think our phone is vibrating, or that we have received
a message, even when we haven’t.
In your own words, explain two ways phone dependency can impact on
our brain structure. (2)
ACTIVITY 4
There are other reasons for the rising incidence of depression in
young people, with increasing pressure to succeed in education
and in life more broadly – to be famous, beautiful, rich – often
cited as a source of unhappiness or anxiety which can, if
aggravated by other factors, and not managed, tip into ill
health.
In your own words, explain three other factors that can cause
depression in young people. (3)
ANSWERS
1. Not getting enough sleep
Overusing social media sites
Harassment and abuse on
social media
Poor body image/body
image issues
2. They use social media sites
more frequently
3. Makes us hear noises from
our phones
Makes us think we are
receiving notifications
4. To be well known
To be very good looking
To have lots of money
THINK PAIR SHARE
What do you know now that you
didn't know at the start of the period?
You have 30 seconds to tell your partner something
and then you will swap and they will tell you
something.
You cannot interrupt your partner during their 30
seconds.
We are:
We can:
Exploring the different types of
RUAE questions
Identify the different types of
RUAE questions
Extending our knowledge of
understanding and ‘in your own
words’ questions
Use the steps provided to
answer an understanding
question
Applying our knowledge to
answer understanding type
questions
Change the writers words into
our own words while still making
sense