Many students can get a lot of answers in A-level statistics right. But some of the ideas behind the calculations are somewhat subtle. Some of the subtleties are occasionally brought out in examination questions, usually those requiring verbal or discursive answers; unfortunately answers to these questions tend to be poor. Such questions are often dismissed as ‘waffle’ by strong students, while weaker ones generally try to avoid issues of understanding by memorising what they hope will be relevant slogans. Even respected textbooks are open to criticism. This is all very sad as I think it is here that much of the interest of the subject lies; ignoring the subtleties risks reducing the subject to a series of meaningless formulae. There should be time to focus on what is actually happening, as well as on mere technique. This article looks at some common problem areas.