The qualification for this Design and Technology GCSE is linear which means the students will have their exams at the end of Year 11.

This GCSE is divided into two assessments, one paper exam and one non-exam assessment.

Your paper exam will be assessed on the core technical principles, specialist technical principles, then designing and making principles. Additionally, to your design and technology skills, there will be maths (15%) and science (10%) involved with your assessment. The written exam will take 2 hours, earning up to 100 marks and this will be worth 50% of your final GCSE.

Finally, your non-exam assessment is practical. This will be 30-35 hours of practical work approximately. Your final outcome of your time studying design and technology, will be to produce a prototype and a portfolio of evidence.

The assessment criteria for the subject will be:

• Identifying and investigating design possibilities
• Producing a design brief and specification
• Generating design ideas
• Developing design ideas
• Realising design ideas
• Analysing and evaluating

Even though this will not be a written part of the GCSE, you will still be able to achieve 100 marks for the prototype and the portfolio. This will be worth 50% of your final GCSE.