The Student Room Group

Year 10 NEA Design And Technology

So the teacher sent us a powerpoint of the NEA stuff, and she has sent us some examples of how it should look.
I look at the examples of what other people have made, which they have used materials such as wood and MDF.
My question is that I have chosen textiles, so can I make something to do with the fashion, because I don't really know how to with materials, like wood other than fabrics and stuff.

I want to make a jacket for 'teenage lifestyle', is that ok? Or so I have to make something out of wood and stuff?????????????????
You can use whatever materials your school can facilitate for (metal, plastics, etc). Just make sure you are able to follow all the requirements e.g exploring ideas, showing development, interviewing a possible customer. I’m on the app so can’t link it at the minute but there is a thread on here called ‘DT NEA megathread 2021 cohort’ (or something like that) where current and past students help each other and give advice :smile:

Also make sure you something you enjoy, as you will spend a lot of time on. I absolutely loved doing my NEA and ended up getting a grade 9
(edited 3 years ago)
ooooof. teenage lifestyle? If you're doing AQA and they gave you that context then that sucks a bit. What other contexts do you have?
I did my NEA this year and we were shown examples of what higher grade portifolios should look like in class. the quality was purposely bad so we couldnt read any information which really sucked. But hey, it seems you've got full examples so you've got a nice advantage.
As for your question, I would advise you not to pick textiles. About four or five people picked it in my class and decided to make environmentally friendly bags. The prototypes they made were trash- the actual prducts were creative but you need to realise that to make something decent in textiles, you need a lot of experience and specialist machiney which youre school probably will have, but it won't do the job. Their prototypes looked awful.
ALso, please do not make a product made of 70%+ of metal- it's extremely difficult to work with and doesnt really produce good aesthetics.

Also, i dont want to scare you, but the NEA was painful....seriously. I had to spend a good 150-250 hours on it, sometimes doing work about 15 hours a day in the days before the final deadline and regualarly doing about 5-6 per week before. Its difficult. But, if you put work into it at the start and make a good/ unique product, it'll be much easier.
Finally- my teacher was an examiner and she told us to make sure that our clients are REAL people. Dont make them up!! Just ask your friend who doesnt do DT to be you're client
If you PM me and tell me all the contexts AQA offered this year i may be able to help a bit more :wink:
Yes you can make your practical project out of fabric :smile: Different schools have different DT specialisms so whilst most do the traditional wood approach others do textile or graphic projects under the design and technology specification. This is why traditionally (I say traditionally as post 2019 papers may have changed their formats) on DT exam theory papers there are a range of choice questions you can do between wood, paper, fabric etc as the same paper is given to all students so needs to have questions to suit all. That doesnt mean you cant select a question about wood from a section, just that you might be better off picking a fabric based question if that is your schools specialism and thus what you have learned most in depth about. I only mention the examination content as although people equate DT with wood based projects the exam board has in the past facilitated pupils who have knowledge of other materials through multiple choice Q's and their spec for the NEA content allows for this too :smile:

The specification for your DT NEA only stipulates a 'Substantial design and make task' which as mentioned above fabric projects can fulfill even if you are doing the DT spec and not the Textile Design course (which is a different course to 8552 design and technology GCSE). People often make fabric bags/sleeves etc for their wooden products if they finish a bit early which again goes to show that you can use a mixture of different materials or just one if you prefer :yep:

The most important thing regardless of the material you are using is to hit the assessment criteria:

Identifying and investigating design possibilities

Producing a design brief and specification

Generating design ideas

Developing design ideas

Realising design ideas

Analysing & evaluating



People on the below thread will be happy to help you if you become stuck on the above :smile: have a read through as a lot of people like yourself are doing teenage lifestyle as their theme.

Sorry if that was a bit waffly, bit sleepy :colondollar:

Original post by Becca216
there is a thread on here called ‘DT NEA megathread 2021 cohort’ (or something like that) where current and past students help each other and give advice :smile:

Here you go :biggrin:
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by coolchem
ooooof. teenage lifestyle? If you're doing AQA and they gave you that context then that sucks a bit. What other contexts do you have?
I did my NEA this year and we were shown examples of what higher grade portifolios should look like in class. the quality was purposely bad so we couldnt read any information which really sucked. But hey, it seems you've got full examples so you've got a nice advantage.
As for your question, I would advise you not to pick textiles. About four or five people picked it in my class and decided to make environmentally friendly bags. The prototypes they made were trash- the actual prducts were creative but you need to realise that to make something decent in textiles, you need a lot of experience and specialist machiney which youre school probably will have, but it won't do the job. Their prototypes looked awful.
ALso, please do not make a product made of 70%+ of metal- it's extremely difficult to work with and doesnt really produce good aesthetics.

Also, i dont want to scare you, but the NEA was painful....seriously. I had to spend a good 150-250 hours on it, sometimes doing work about 15 hours a day in the days before the final deadline and regualarly doing about 5-6 per week before. Its difficult. But, if you put work into it at the start and make a good/ unique product, it'll be much easier.
Finally- my teacher was an examiner and she told us to make sure that our clients are REAL people. Dont make them up!! Just ask your friend who doesnt do DT to be you're client
If you PM me and tell me all the contexts AQA offered this year i may be able to help a bit more :wink:

Hi, and thanks for the advice. :smile: The other two contexts are Environmental Living and Multi Functional Living.
Thnks for all the advice. One more question: When is the deadline??
We weren't told...
Original post by starshine1155
Thnks for all the advice. One more question: When is the deadline??
We weren't told...

Usually some time around april :yep: Often schools will have their own internal deadlines so they can collect everyone's work in before they send off the stuff to the exam board for the actual deadline :smile:
Original post by starshine1155
Thnks for all the advice. One more question: When is the deadline??
We weren't told...


Your school will most likely set and internal deadline (most schools set it around Easter holiday time but I know some schools have set it as early as feb half term). You may see a later deadline on the AQA website but this is an external deadline (this is when your teachers need to have all your coursework marked and sent off by).
Original post by coolchem
ooooof. teenage lifestyle? If you're doing AQA and they gave you that context then that sucks a bit. What other contexts do you have?
I did my NEA this year and we were shown examples of what higher grade portifolios should look like in class. the quality was purposely bad so we couldnt read any information which really sucked. But hey, it seems you've got full examples so you've got a nice advantage.
As for your question, I would advise you not to pick textiles. About four or five people picked it in my class and decided to make environmentally friendly bags. The prototypes they made were trash- the actual prducts were creative but you need to realise that to make something decent in textiles, you need a lot of experience and specialist machiney which youre school probably will have, but it won't do the job. Their prototypes looked awful.
ALso, please do not make a product made of 70%+ of metal- it's extremely difficult to work with and doesnt really produce good aesthetics.

Also, i dont want to scare you, but the NEA was painful....seriously. I had to spend a good 150-250 hours on it, sometimes doing work about 15 hours a day in the days before the final deadline and regualarly doing about 5-6 per week before. Its difficult. But, if you put work into it at the start and make a good/ unique product, it'll be much easier.
Finally- my teacher was an examiner and she told us to make sure that our clients are REAL people. Dont make them up!! Just ask your friend who doesnt do DT to be you're client
If you PM me and tell me all the contexts AQA offered this year i may be able to help a bit more :wink:


Hi, I know you did your gcse a while ago now, but I’ve just found your thread. I’ve just been given my nea contexts and have been told to come up with some ideas - I have no idea where to start! Would it be possible to help me please?
Original post by Loulabelle75
Hi, I know you did your gcse a while ago now, but I’ve just found your thread. I’ve just been given my nea contexts and have been told to come up with some ideas - I have no idea where to start! Would it be possible to help me please?


Hi, I can help. PM me with the three contexts, what you've come up with so far etc etc. I might be able to show you my initial ideas page if I can find my portfolio.

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