Design and Technology GCSE

Overview

AQA Design and Technology will prepare students to participate confidently and successfully in an increasingly technological world. Students will gain awareness and learn from wider influences on design and technology including historical, social, cultural, environmental and economic factors. Students will get the opportunity to work creatively when designing and making and apply technical and practical expertise. This course allows students to study core technical and designing and making principles, including a broad range of design processes, materials techniques and equipment.

Qualification Type

GCSE

Details

The subject is split into 3 key areas: Core technical principles, specialist technical principles and designing and making principles. Learners sit a 2hour written exam to assess their knowledge. The exam is a mixture of multiple choice, short answer and extended answer questions. At least 15% of the exam will assess maths skills and 15% will cover science skills.

Learners will also undertake non-examined assessment where they will be assessed on their ability to identify and investigate design possibilities, produce a design brief and specification, generate design ideas, develop design ideas, realise design ideas and analyse and evaluate their work. Work must be completed on the contextual challenges released by the exam board annually.

How will it be delivered?

Externally Assessed Examination – 50% of final grade.

Non-Examined Assessment (NEA) – coursework – 50% of final grade

Course Specification

The course specification can be found at:

AQA | GCSE | Design and Technology | Specification at a glance