This study investigated how students used information provided in given energy questions while answering these questions. Participant students were taking at least one college-level introductory science course and were asked to respond to two-tiered format (multiple-choice question and short written response question) energy questions addressing different scientific situations. Students' written responses were analyzed using text analysis techniques to extract terms and phrases. The terms and phrases were then subjected to analysis to identify key ideas aligned with students' choices in the multiple-choice components. The study revealed that students who focused on surface-level features of the given questions failed to answer correctly, while students who used the underlying energy concepts were more likely to answer successfully. The findings from this study can inform teachers and researchers about students' difficulties in understanding of energy concepts and applying energy concept to a certain situation.