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AQA DT: Product design (3D) - PROD 3 A2 exam, June 8th -- Revision thread --

anyone memorising as many products, processes, movements and designers as they can for the upcoming A2 exam? :lol: I'm laughing because I know I'm not ready :pinch:

Let's share our revision methods and discus questions! :biggrin:

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Any idea what topics would come up this year? :/
Aqa don't seem to stick to a style of questions over the years for design which is so annoying -.-
how are you guys revising for this exam?
I have no clue on how to start and the teacher we have is useless :/
Original post by fully_caffeinate
Any idea what topics would come up this year? :/
Aqa don't seem to stick to a style of questions over the years for design which is so annoying -.-


I invested in a couple texts books in AS last year which were really helpful, so got the 'AQA design and technology: Product design (3-D Design)' earlier this year. It tells you exactly the topics you'll generally need for an A2 exam, so I hope this picture of it helps :biggrin: DSC_0001.jpgchapters 1,2 and 3 is AS and 4,5,6 is A2
Original post by imdumbuneedhelp
how are you guys revising for this exam?
I have no clue on how to start and the teacher we have is useless :/


tbh I'm clueless myself .. i guess I'll do as many past papers as I can to make myself familiar with exam type questions and in terms of content, I hope the textbook will come to good use. Do you think programs like 'How it's made' are any good?
Original post by Hatsune Miku
I invested in a couple texts books in AS last year which were really helpful, so got the 'AQA design and technology: Product design (3-D Design)' earlier this year. It tells you exactly the topics you'll generally need for an A2 exam, so I hope this picture of it helps :biggrin: DSC_0001.jpgchapters 1,2 and 3 is AS and 4,5,6 is A2


ahh thank you! :smile:
Original post by Hatsune Miku
I invested in a couple texts books in AS last year which were really helpful, so got the 'AQA design and technology: Product design (3-D Design)' earlier this year. It tells you exactly the topics you'll generally need for an A2 exam, so I hope this picture of it helps :biggrin: DSC_0001.jpgchapters 1,2 and 3 is AS and 4,5,6 is A2


Oh I know what topics to revise, I meant like if you had any guesses for specific topic :^_^: But that's the text book I'm using this year too!
Original post by imdumbuneedhelp
how are you guys revising for this exam?
I have no clue on how to start and the teacher we have is useless :/


As well as past paper q's and stuff, I think applying what you know in real life helps to remember things better - so like picking up a random object in your house and asking yourself what it's made from, using what process and why that material in particular. Also noticing what design movement an object/architecture could fit into to familiarise yourself with their individual styles.

I don't know if that'll help you but that's how I tend to learn things: making abstract knowledge more physical :smile:
Original post by fully_caffeinate
I meant like if you had any guesses for specific topic :^_^:


that's a gamble, no one knows for sure :frown: one thing worth noting, the head of our product design department has close contact with the chief examiner of our school and I'm not sure what kind of information they exchange but ever since a couple weeks back we focus heavily on questions like:
''How is ICT used in the development and innovation of products'' and ''Explain how the use of CAD effects x, y, z''
idk this could be me just overthinking stuff but I'll definitely revise areas to do with ICT and CAD, I strongly advice you should too :biggrin:
never thought of this idea, thanks ill give this a try aha im pretty bad at memorizing things so i hope this idea helps :smile:
Original post by fully_caffeinate
As well as past paper q's and stuff, I think applying what you know in real life helps to remember things better - so like picking up a random object in your house and asking yourself what it's made from, using what process and why that material in particular. Also noticing what design movement an object/architecture could fit into to familiarise yourself with their individual styles.

I don't know if that'll help you but that's how I tend to learn things: making abstract knowledge more physical :smile:
Original post by imdumbuneedhelp
never thought of this idea, thanks ill give this a try aha im pretty bad at memorizing things so i hope this idea helps :smile:


I hope it does help! Good luck :smile:
Original post by Hatsune Miku
that's a gamble, no one knows for sure :frown: one thing worth noting, the head of our product design department has close contact with the chief examiner of our school and I'm not sure what kind of information they exchange but ever since a couple weeks back we focus heavily on questions like:
''How is ICT used in the development and innovation of products'' and ''Explain how the use of CAD effects x, y, z''
idk this could be me just overthinking stuff but I'll definitely revise areas to do with ICT and CAD, I strongly advice you should too :biggrin:

Alrighty! Cheers ^_^
glad to see im not the only one confused by this exam,have you guys prepared any case studies? we were told we should but then not given any ideas for them :L
Original post by janderone
glad to see im not the only one confused by this exam,have you guys prepared any case studies? we were told we should but then not given any ideas for them :L


yes, even at the end of last year after the AS exam we prepared an online blog that contained various products and the making of it so throughout this year we built on top of that and now it's actually a pretty good revision tool but I don't want to solely rely on that hence I'm trying other techniques :biggrin: Would you ''make up'' products in your exam and pretend it's real so you can talk loads about your imaginary product? :laugh: a friend of mine suggested this and I thought it was clever
What sorts of product did you use? And I'm not so sure, if you think that It will be a technology teacher reading your essays they're sure to notice if you just made up a product, I think you're supposed to use "iconic" products anyway
Original post by janderone
What sorts of product did you use? And I'm not so sure, if you think that It will be a technology teacher reading your essays they're sure to notice if you just made up a product, I think you're supposed to use "iconic" products anyway


We mainly focused on products from the modernist era like The Barecelona chair and other bauhaus products and we looked at designers like, Lovegrove, Dyson, Arad, Hadid etc. oh and also the lighting industry like we made a timeline of the evolution of light. You're probably right, I'm sure the examiners know their stuff but I think what my friend was saying was that sometimes they'll ask you how you think this product is made and give examples, and then you can elaborate on that using your imagination lol :wink:
Anyone any predictions for the exam? There is so much to remember :-)
Hi,

Does anyone have a sort of 'revision checklist' that explains 'candidates should be able to....'?

Would be good to have a final check before the 8th!
Reply 18
I just don't even know where to start to be honest
You can get a condensed specification from the Aqa website to use as a checklist but it's still slightly vague :/ and how are people actually revising for this? Notes or past papers or....I'm really struggling for how it should be done

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