April 2016 Paper 2 question 5(iii)

[Alibaba]

This question asked to "Discuss the merits of Option A in terms of meeting the government's objectives".

The definition of the word merit is "A good feature or point." The ASET solutions say that this is a discuss question so you should be looking at how option A both meets the State's objectives and possible reasons why it may not.

Is it always the case that the word discuss implies both pros & cons, no matter what other words are being used in the sentence?

 

[jon93]

Hi there

The IFoA website has a list of command verb definitions which you might want to check out? "Discuss" is defined as meaning "Write about in some detail, taking into account different issues or points of view." So yes, some "Discuss" questions are going to be looking for pros and cons (like, say, "Discuss this proposal" type questions) but not all of them - it will depend on the context. Here, it feels like they are looking for different points of view.

Although one definition of "merit" is good features, there are other contexts where the word "merit" can be interpreted more widely. For example, in law if you talk about the "merits of a case", that means the inherent rights and wrongs of the case, i.e. both sides, not just the good bits?

 

[Alibaba]

I don't think the specific context of the question was that open to interpretation, and even if it was the use of an ambiguous word there is at least misleading.

If discuss depends on the context, I don't agree that the context here was clear on looking for different points of view, and the other student actuaries I've discussed this with in person have all agreed with me. I think the fact that the common interpretation does not align with the intended meaning shows how unclear a question this was and I'm just wondering if there's a rule we can apply to questions like this where clarity is lacking, i.e. does the common meaning of "discuss" (pros and cons) trump other words in the question as per my original question.