Defining words in questions

[Tragesty]

Hey guys quick question - just got my sac back today on the employment cycle, only marks I lost (12% worth) were from not defining words. On a 3 mark evaluation question I put 2 strengths 2 weaknesses, lost a mark for not defining the thing to be evaluated. On another 3 mark question asking analyse, I did so in depth but didn't define the word, rather making 3 distinct points answering the question.

My teacher showed me the solutions to the sac (they use the VCTA Compak sacs which I never liked for any subject) and it said there was 1 mark for defining - I argued that while defining adds structure and shows greater knowledge, marks shouldnt be allocated to define words on 3 mark evaluation questions when the question itself didn't say define, and they told me that it's just something you have to do.

I'll be defining all key terms in the future but my main question is, should you define key terms in small mark questions? Eg. 3 mark analysis or 3 mark evaluate, or 2 mark 'explain' questions - I'm a bit bothered I lost marks for not doing something the question didn't specifically ask. Is this just expected knowledge?

[JCurmi]

The teachers at my school say the exact same thing. Whilst I agree that it does add a nice structure and depth to the question, in some circumstances I doubt that it is necessary. However, to the best you possibly can, just follow a structure (1. Define key term 2. Answer question 3. Provide example where possible).

[observer7]

Define the key word at every single opportunity you get