The Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) in Design and Technology consists of one externally-examined paper and one non-examined assessment component.
Non-examined assessment 50% of the qualification 100 marks Content overview There are four parts to the assessment:
- Investigate; This includes investigation of needs and research, and a product specification
- Design; This includes producing different design ideas, review of initial ideas, development of design ideas into a chosen design, communication of design ideas and review of the chosen design
- Make; This includes manufacture, and quality and accuracy
- Evaluate; This includes testing and evaluation.
● Students will undertake a project based on a contextual challenge released by us a year before certification.
● This will be released on 1st June and will be available on the Edexcel website.
● The project will test students’ skills in investigating, designing, making and evaluating a prototype of a product.
● Task will be internally assessed and externally moderated.
● The marks are awarded for each part as follows.
1 – Investigate (16 marks)
2 – Design (42 marks)
3 – Make (36 marks)
4 – Evaluate (6 marks)
Written examination: 1 hour and 45 minutes 50% of the qualification 100 marks
Assessment overview
The paper consists of two sections. Section A is assessed on the core content and Section B is assessed on the material category students have chosen.
Section A: Core
This section is 40 marks and contains a mixture of different question styles, including open-response, graphical, calculation and extended-open-response questions. There will be 10 marks of calculation questions in Section A.
Section B: Material categories
This section is 60 marks and contains a mixture of different question styles, including open-response, graphical, calculation and extended-open-response questions. There will be 5 marks of calculation questions in Section B.
