EuraStudy
RevisionRevision / N11UK · A-Levels
Design and Technology
A-Level Design and Technology is a design-engineering subject in which students apply knowledge of materials, processes and technical principles to design and make prototypes that solve real problems for real users. It is set against the Department for Education GCE AS and A level subject content for design and technology and delivered here through the AQA Design and Technology: Product Design (7552) specification, anchored on the broad D&T title. The theory (technical principles and designing and making principles) blends a substantial body of knowledge - materials and their properties, manufacturing processes and scales of production, forces and stresses, modern and smart materials, sustainability, ergonomics and anthropometrics, quality and tolerance, health and safety, and the protection of designs - with the iterative design process of exploring, creating and evaluating, and with genuine quantitative work (material and cost calculations, tolerances, mechanical advantage and gear ratios, and simple stress). Above all it rewards students who can justify a design, material or process decision against the needs of a context and evaluate it honestly.
0/77 Texts18 Chapters~264 min total
AQA 7552 3.1.1DfE GCE D&T - materials and their applicationsAQA 7552 3.3.1DfE GCE D&T - timbersDfE GCE D&T - metalsDfE GCE D&T - polymers+96 moreFoundationStandardAdvanced
Table of contents · 18 ChaptersT·18
- Materials and their applications
- Performance characteristics of materials
- Enhancement of materials
- Forming, redistribution, addition processes and finishes
- Modern industrial and commercial practice
- Digital design and manufacture
- Requirements for product design and development
- Design communication
- Design methods and processes
- Critical analysis and evaluation
- Tools, accuracy and project management
- Feasibility studies and enterprise and marketing
- Health and safety
- Protecting designs and intellectual property
- Design for manufacture, maintenance, repair and disposal
- Technology and cultural change
- Design theory and history
- Responsible design and standards
- Paper 1 - Technical principles (AQA 7552/1)
- 2 hours 30 minutes, 120 marks, 30% of the A-Level. A written paper on the technical principles: materials and their properties and enhancement, forming, redistribution, addition and finishing processes, forces and stresses, modern industrial and commercial practice, digital design and manufacture, health and safety, protecting designs, and design for manufacture and lifecycle. It is a mixture of short-answer questions, some multiple-choice, and extended-response questions, and it carries most of the qualification's quantitative and calculation content (material, cost, tolerance and mechanical calculations). It principally assesses AO4 (knowledge and understanding of technical principles) with some AO3 (analysis and evaluation).
- Paper 2 - Designing and making principles (AQA 7552/2)
- 1 hour 30 minutes, 80 marks, 20% of the A-Level. A written paper in two sections. Section A, Product Analysis, is up to six short-answer questions (30 marks) based on visual stimulus, requiring analysis of unseen commercial products. Section B, Commercial Manufacture, is a mix of short-answer and extended-response questions (50 marks) on design theory, the design process, enterprise and manufacturing. It principally assesses AO3 (analyse and evaluate design decisions, outcomes and wider issues) and AO4 (knowledge and understanding of designing and making principles).
- Non-exam assessment (NEA) - the substantial design and make project
- Approximately 45 hours, 100 marks, 50% of the A-Level, internally assessed and externally moderated. A single substantial design-and-make project - a portfolio of roughly 45 A3 pages plus a working prototype - responding to a context of the student's choice: identifying and investigating a genuine need, writing a specification, generating and developing ideas, modelling and prototyping, making a final prototype and testing and evaluating it against the specification with third-party feedback. Uniquely, the NEA assesses all four assessment objectives: AO1 (identify, investigate and outline design possibilities), AO2 (design and make prototypes fit for purpose), AO3 (analyse and evaluate) and AO4 (apply knowledge and understanding).
- Assessment objectives, the mathematical requirement and grading
- The four assessment objectives are weighted across the qualification approximately as follows: AO1 identify, investigate and outline design possibilities (about 14%); AO2 design and make prototypes fit for purpose (about 22%); AO3 analyse and evaluate design decisions, outcomes and wider issues (about 26%); and AO4 demonstrate and apply knowledge and understanding of technical and of designing and making principles (about 38%). A minimum of 15% of the total marks across Paper 1 and Paper 2 assess mathematical skills at Level 2 or above (percentages and percentage change, ratios and scales, areas and volumes, costings and break-even, tolerances, material quantities and waste, and mechanical calculations such as mechanical advantage, velocity ratio and gear ratio). The two written papers are sat at the end of the linear course; with the NEA the qualification is graded A*-E (U below E).