GCSE · Art & Design

GCSE Art & Design: how each board marks it

AQA · OCR · Pearson Edexcel. A separate book for each

The assessment objectives below are worded almost identically whichever board you teach. What differs is the weight each one carries, and that is what decides where a department spends its time. Each book quotes its own board’s specification word for word, and the first 8 pages of each are open to read here. Most staffrooms just say “GCSE Art”, not the full qualification name.

Teaching art & design lower down the school? Art & Design scheme of work

Want the whole department covered, not just this qualification? Skilled Artists, Confident Schools

The assessment objectives

AO1 Develop Investigate sources and let them change the work
AO2 Refine Experiment, then decide — and show the deciding
AO3 Record Draw and annotate while the thinking is happening
AO4 Present Resolve an intention the student actually owns

Read off the GCSE Art & Design specification. The weightings, the mark scheme levels and what separates a middle answer from a top one are set out board by board inside each book.

How it’s assessed

All three boards split it the same way. Component 1, a portfolio built up across the course, is 60% of the grade. Component 2 is the other 40%: AQA and Pearson Edexcel call it the Externally Set Assignment, OCR the Externally Set Task, and all three mean the same thing: a live, largely unaided response to a released starting point. The objectives above apply equally to both components; what changes between them is the conditions the work is made under, not what it is marked against.

3 books, one per board

GCSE · 45 pages each · the first 8 pages open

Art & Design · GCSE · AQA £4.99

AQA GCSE Art and Design Assessment Objectives — Exam Preparation

AQA only: AQA GCSE Art and Design (8201–8206). Every specification statement is quoted verbatim and sourced. Nothing here is paraphrased from memory or invented.

AO1 Develop Investigate sources and let them change the work
AO2 Refine Experiment, then decide — and show the deciding
AO3 Record Draw and annotate while the thinking is happening
AO4 Present Resolve an intention the student actually owns

AQA GCSE Art and Design (8201–8206) · 45 pages, six parts ·For teachers, heads of department and SLT. Not a student revision guide

Preview · first 8 pages

🔒 37 more pages unlock on purchase

One purchase covers the school that buys it · PDF straight after payment · Refunds

Art & Design · GCSE · OCR £4.99

OCR GCSE Art and Design Assessment Objectives — Exam Preparation

OCR only, for OCR GCSE (9–1) Art and Design (J170–J176). Every specification statement is quoted verbatim and sourced. Nothing here is paraphrased from memory or invented.

AO1 Develop Investigate sources and let them change the work
AO2 Refine Experiment, then decide — and show the deciding
AO3 Record Draw and annotate while the thinking is happening
AO4 Present Resolve an intention the student actually owns

OCR GCSE (9–1) Art and Design (J170–J176) · 45 pages, six parts ·For teachers, heads of department and SLT. Not a student revision guide

Preview · first 8 pages

🔒 37 more pages unlock on purchase

One purchase covers the school that buys it · PDF straight after payment · Refunds

Art & Design · GCSE · Pearson Edexcel £4.99

Pearson Edexcel GCSE Art and Design Assessment Objectives — Exam Preparation

Pearson Edexcel only: Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) Art and Design (1AD0 and endorsed titles). Every specification statement is quoted verbatim and sourced. Nothing here is paraphrased from memory or invented.

AO1 Develop Investigate sources and let them change the work
AO2 Refine Experiment, then decide — and show the deciding
AO3 Record Draw and annotate while the thinking is happening
AO4 Present Resolve an intention the student actually owns

Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9–1) Art and Design (1AD0 and endorsed titles) · 45 pages, six parts ·For teachers, heads of department and SLT. Not a student revision guide

Preview · first 8 pages

🔒 37 more pages unlock on purchase

One purchase covers the school that buys it · PDF straight after payment · Refunds