The written exam is half the grade, separate from your project

GCSE Design and Technology is split roughly equally between a practical, project-based non-exam assessment and a single written exam paper — the exam component is what this guide and ExamPass.ai's practice papers focus on. AQA, Edexcel and OCR each set a single written paper covering core technical principles, material categories, and the design process, even though specific topic emphasis varies slightly by board.

Material categories — breadth across all of them

The written paper draws on knowledge across multiple material categories (papers and boards, timbers, metals, polymers, textiles, electronic systems) rather than just the one or two you focused on for your own project. It's a common and costly mistake to revise deeply only the materials used in your NEA work and assume the exam will mirror your own project — it tests the full specification, not your personal focus area.

The design process and iterative design

Questions on the design process — identifying user needs, generating and developing ideas, evaluating and iterating a design — reward specific, technical vocabulary (such as named modelling or testing methods) over generic descriptions of "designing something." Learn the specific terminology your specification uses for each stage of the design process, since vague descriptions are marked down even when the underlying idea is correct.

Maths and calculation-style questions

Some questions require calculations — costing, scale drawing, or simple structural calculations — where method marks apply just as they do in other technical subjects. Show your working and check that units are consistent throughout a multi-step calculation.

Common content traps

  • Only revising the materials relevant to your own NEA project, leaving gaps across the rest of the specification.
  • Vague design-process answers without the specific technical terminology the mark scheme expects.
  • Mixing up properties of different material categories (e.g. confusing thermosetting and thermoplastic polymer properties).

Revising GCSE D&T with ExamPass.ai

ExamPass.ai generates GCSE Design and Technology mock papers and quizzes matched to your exact board, covering the full range of material categories on the specification — not just whichever one your own project happened to use — with instant AI marking of written answers.