How to get a Distinction in the Junior Cycle Applied Technology Exam

By John Nisbet - 18 minute read

John has over twenty years of teaching experience and will go through the steps needed to get a distinction in your applied technology exam.

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Introduction

Applied technology is a problem-solving subject. You won’t be stuck in a textbook, instead, you will use drills, hammers, electronics and your own creativity to design and build solutions to everyday problems. You will design new products and structures that improve on things that already exist.

If you like Lego building, jigsaws and working with your hands, applied technology is for you. If you like sketching, drawing and improving on the designs of others, then applied technology is for you. If you look at any business, shop, farm, school or home and think, "I could do that better", then applied technology is for you!

You will learn a little of everything, from working with materials like wood, plastics and metals to making electric circuits, learning about 3D design and coding. You will learn the skills to put them all together to make a ‘thing’ or artefact that really works. 

Key areas

Some of the key aspects of the applied technology course are:

Health and safety

You will learn how to make sure that everything you do in the technology room won’t hurt you or anyone else. This is vital when working with hammers, drills, knives and power tools.

A process of design

How do people come up with a new type of toy, car or game? This process will help you to turn research into ideas and new inventions. Most importantly, you will learn how to communicate your ideas to others.

Materials

What do you choose to make your product? Wood, metal, plastic or composites? You will learn about these and other materials and how and when to use them.

Mechanisms 

How can you get the robot’s head to move or a door to open and shut when you need it to? You will also learn how the gears on your bicycle work and how to make them work better.

Energy and electronics

From the offshore wind farm to your kettle at home. From the AA battery to the automatic heating system. All of this is explained in energy and electronics.

Follow this guide to help make sure you get that distinction.

How is it assessed

Applied technology is very different to any of the traditional subjects. It is much more like what you might call woodwork (wood technology) or metalwork (engineering). There is a final written exam in applied technology and a large piece of coursework that takes up a lot of your 3rd year.

There are also two Classroom-Based Assessments (CBAs). The CBAs do not contribute to your final grade in the subject but you are given a ‘descriptor’ for them which rates how well you did. This will appear on your ‘statement of results’ which is like a report of how you did at Junior Cycle.

Important

The final exam is worth 30% of your final grade and the project is worth a whopping 70%. This 70% is further broken down into 30% for a written project called ‘my design journey’ and 40% for the actual thing that you make. This can be confusing but it is explained later.

CBA 1

Exploring the application of controlled systems in a local context

This project involves examining a controlled system and figuring out how it works and what it is used for. A controlled system is one that takes inputs like buttons, light sensors or temperature and uses them to produce outputs like motors, heaters or ventilation. Imagine your house alarm or a car park barrier in a shopping centre near you or the electronic bell in your school. You are asked to investigate your local area, school, town or home and pick a system. You can also suggest that a new system is put in to fill a gap.

How do I present my CBA?

You can work as a team or as an individual but you must produce a report or ‘learning log’ at the end that is your own work. You are allowed to make a model of it or produce an artefact that operates like it to help your description. Your explanation of the system can be presented in many forms such as: 

  • A written report with pictures

  • A video

  • A piece of audio

  • Something you built (artefact)

How do I start my research?

You should use lots of different ways to research the system such as real-life photos or videos, questionnaires for users of the system, internet research and research of the sub-systems or input-process-output parts of the system. Some really good internet resources are:

If you are picking an appliance in your home, you can often get the electronic version of the manual for it on www.manualslib.com as this will often have nice diagrams of the device that you can use and adapt. You should evaluate the system and suggest ways to improve upon it.

How to structure your point

  • 1

    Research

    First, you research the system. Say what it does and what it can do.

  • 2

    How it works

    Then, communicate how it works. How does it do what it does and what are the inputs and outputs?

  • 3

    Evaluate

    Evaluate what you have learned about the system and the place it is in and the impact it has on the users and that place. Does it help? Is it worth the money? Is it environmentally friendly or does it use a lot of energy?

  • 4

    Presentation

    Finally, find an appropriate way to present this information (see some examples below).

Presenting your point

There are many ways you can present your point, including:

  • PowerPoint or Google Slides;
  • a written project using Work or Docs;
  • you could record a video of you presenting the project with screenshots and text using a screen recorder like Loom (www.loom.com);
  • you could write it like a magazine and give it a glossy front page.
Top tip

The deeper you can research and analyse the system, the better you will do in this CBA. Use as many ways as you can to explore the system (photos, drawings, user experiences). You should take some photos of the system in operation and even better if you can take a video.

CBA 2

Student self-analysis and evaluation

This CBA is a real confidence boost. In it, you will select a task or several tasks that you carried out in 1st and 2nd years and think about what skills you have gathered as a result.

  • Do you know how to build a circuit?
  • Do you know how to shape and form materials?
  • Do you know how to pick the right material for the job?
  • Can you join materials and put circuitry or mechanisms inside them to make the thing work?

Here are some things to consider:

  • Using evidence

    You will use evidence like photographs or sketches or reports from previous projects to build up proof of your work and the skills that you have developed and learned.

  • Knowing your skills

    You will think about how good you are at each skill and think about how you could improve if you need to. You can also think about how to use these skills in your final Junior Cycle project.

  • Gathering your thoughts

    You will be surprised at how much you learned from your work in 1st year and 2nd year and it is a good opportunity to gather your thoughts before doing the ‘big project’.

  • Submitting your own work

    You can work on this project in collaboration with others but the skills and tasks you consider must be your own and the final report or ‘learning log’ must be your own work.

Presenting your work

Again with this CBA, you can communicate it in any way you like (video, audio or written presentation). Just like the last CBA, the more detail you go into the better you will do.

You can present your work in any order you want. You could group your skills into projects and write about the skills and learning that you picked up from each stage of the project. You could pick specific skills like working with wood or acrylic and write about how you used and developed those skills in the different projects you did.  

Whatever method you choose, I suggest you brainstorm with your classmates to make sure that you don’t miss any of the learnings or skills and for each one, make sure you include the following:

  • What the skill is (description).

  • What you used this skill for (text and pictures of your previous work)

  • How you developed this skill through all the projects you made.

  • Think about what went wrong and what went right when you were using or learning this skill and what you learned from both.

Some examples:    
  • Drawing and sketching 
  • Marking out
  • Cutting and drilling
  • Filing and sanding
  • Finishing
  • Soldering
  • Coding
  • Joining and fastening
  • Reporting and evaluating

Again, you can use Powerpoint or Word but you can also do a photo essay or video or even a podcast where you interview yourself about the skills that you have developed. All of this is done in the classroom over a three-week period and presented.

Top tip

Make sure you keep copies and photos of all your work from 1st to 3rd year as it will make this CBA much easier. This will make presenting your work much easier too (especially the photos).

The applied technology project - coursework

It's 70% of your final grade in applied technology and you can take plenty of time with it. It is worth putting lots of energy and work into this part of the course because you can walk into the exam with up to 70% already in your back pocket.

Important

The brief is published around the October mid-term break and the deadline is the end of April.

There are two parts to the project:

  • The artefact itself (the thing you build).

  • The report on it which is called ‘my design journey’.

It all starts with a choice of 3 briefs. The brief will be a short description of a problem or situation and an instruction to build something to help solve that problem. Every detail of the brief is important as your solution must follow the brief exactly. You are allowed to be as creative as you like but your work must meet the brief.

Top tip

Pick the brief that interests you the most as this will mean you will stay focused on it rather than picking one that you think is easy and not enjoying it.

Example from 2023 

"A toy can be a source of entertainment, learning and development for children. Electro-mechanical toys are popular with children of all ages. These toys often feature secondary motion mechanisms.

Design and make an electro-mechanical child’s toy. The toy should include at least one of the following secondary motion mechanisms: a crank and slider, a treadle linkage, a quick return mechanism or a rack and pinion. Your solution should incorporate a control system of your choice and should be aesthetically pleasing".

You then set out to design and build your artefact using all the skills you have built up over the past two and a bit years studying applied technology.

My design journey

The 'design journey' process is broken up into the following stages which are the headings for your 'design journey’ report or folio and are also the steps that you take to design and build. While it can be a step-by-step process, there is no problem jumping backwards and forwards in the process. It doesn’t matter as long as it is all your own work. Let's look through each of these in more detail now to get a better understanding.

Step 1

Explore and investigate

Once you have decided on which brief to do, you start your research. The internet is a great source for research but you must be careful to use other sources too and make sure that you keep a record of where you get your information from as you will need to put that in.

Try to use other research methods like surveys and questionnaires. Can you find a similar thing to the brief in real life and take some pictures of it to include in your report? Toy and gadget shops can be a great source, just make sure you ask permission before you take any pictures though.

Step 2

Generate

This is where you take the research that you have done and use it to come up with ideas. The best way to generate ideas is to draw loads of sketches. Try and imagine the best version of the thing you were told to build. What features will it have? How will it work? Who will use it? What colour should it be? Talk to others in the class who are doing the same project and see if you can exchange some ideas.

At this stage, don’t worry too much about what will be easy to make and what won't, you can sort this out in the next section. You need about 3 fully sketched-up ideas with an explanation of what they do, what they are made from and their rough sizes. Make sure the features all match the brief.

Step 3

Solution and justify

This is a much easier section where you have to pick which idea you are going to make and explain why you have chosen it instead of the other two. It's a good idea to list all of the good things about the ideas and then list all of the bad things. The winner is the one that has more good things and the fewest bad things. Think about the following:

  • Do you like the idea?
  • Does it meet the brief?
  • Does it look good?
  • Can you build it?
  • Is it too complicated or too basic?

You can ask your classmates, family and friends and include their opinions too. Their opinion should count as remember, you might not be the user of the artefact, it could be a child or an older person.

Step 4

Detail

Once you have selected the idea you are going with, you have to produce some detailed plans for its manufacture. This means a full set of drawings showing elevations and complete measurements (think about a set of drawings for a house). You also need to make a plan for the electronics and how they are going to fit in. If you are using mechanisms, you need to include them too. This should end up with a big list of all the things you need and a plan to put them all together.

Step 5

Manufacture

This is the step-by-step process of how you build it. Take as many photos as you can of your work so that you can use these photos instead of endless explanations. Show the details of your techniques. Think about the instructions from a Lego set which doesn't have any words at all or a piece of furniture from IKEA. Soldering, joining and finishing are all very important and the more skills you show the better you will do.

Top tip: if you need to change things during the manufacturing process, make sure you take a record of it so you can include it in the report and get credit for it.

Step 6

Evaluate and reflect

This is probably the most important section of any report. You have to ask the big question: how did it go? Things to include here are what went wrong and what went right. Explain what you learned in the process and how you applied your skills.

Top tip

For the artefact itself, it is important to look at the marking scheme. Pay attention to the big mark sections like the manufacture section which awards the most marks for the way you build it. Examiners are looking for several different manufacturing skills and a very high-quality finish. Use as many materials as you can and join them together properly (don’t use superglue).

The written exam

This should be the most straightforward of all your exams. It is only 30% of your final grade so the pressure for three years of work resting on one exam paper is reduced. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to cover a fair bit of material though, as the applied technology course has a lot of little bits and pieces.

The exam lasts for 1 hour and 30 minutes. You have no choice about which questions to answer so you have to answer everything if you can. There is not that much writing but lots of short answers and some drawing. This means there is no waffle, just facts.

Top tip

You will need to draw and maybe measure so bring a full maths set with a ruler and compass and a small pack of colouring pencils.

You have plenty of time so the most important thing you can do is read the questions carefully and answer them fully. Pay attention to the words used in the questions. Make sure to learn the following:

Explain

You need a couple of sentences.

Describe

You need to clearly explain how it works.

Distinguish

You need to refer to two things and how they are different.

State

You just need to give a name or a sentence.

You need a couple of sentences.

Remember

If the question asks for two examples then you must give two different examples.

What you should know

You should have a good overview of the whole course. There is no choice on the exam and you have to answer all of the questions. It's a lot to cover but lets break it down a bit more. 

Key areas

Here are the key areas you should know:

  • Health and safety equipment and signs.
  • Names of the hand tools, power tools and the technology room machines that you have used and when to use them.
  • How to draw an isometric sketch, a development and a set of orthographic drawings. Make sure that you know what an exploded view is as well.
  • Plastics, metals, woods and composites. You should also be familiar with the common types and uses for each as well as some of the key ways to work with each material.
  • Mechanisms such as pulleys, gears and gogs, especially worm gears, rack and pinions.
  • Mechanical advantage and velocity ratio.
  • The different types of forces such as triangulation, corrugation and how to make a structure rigid.
  • Different types of energy and how to make electricity in a green way.
  • Electronic circuits from turning a motor in two directions to the standard sensor transistor circuits.
Types of questions

The questions in the exam tend to follow a particular project and ask about different aspects of how the project could be made. All of the above topics will be asked and it is important to think about how you might make a project and follow a step-by-step approach to answer every aspect of the question. The best guide to the type of questions that are asked is the past examination papers.

Exam timing

Thankfully, the timing for the applied technology paper is straightforward. There can be different numbers of questions each year so simply read the paper and divide the time between the number of questions.

Read each question carefully from beginning to end as different parts of each question will have clues to the other parts. Then, start to work through the questions which will have sections from lots of different aspects of the course.

There is plenty of time so use it to the fullest and make sure your answers to every question are full with your drawings perfect.

Study tips

Study Tips

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Practice: drawing and sketching

The quicker you can draw and sketch the better. Make sure you do lots of practice before the exams and for your project. Have a sketchbook in your school bag. Try drawing your desk, chair or phone as the more you draw the better you will get.

Always use a pencil to draw or sketch. Check that your elevations line up and that your curves are drawn with a compass when possible. Use a ruler for a straight line and use some coloured pencils (no need for more than 4) to enhance your sketches.

Lastly, make sure you know the difference between an elevation, a drawing, a sketch and a development.

1

State, explain, distinguish

  • When asked to state, you just need to give a straightforward answer.
  • When asked to explain, you need to give at least two sentences.
  • When asked to distinguish, you need to explain the difference between two things. Never say something is cheap or strong or tough. Instead, say what it is cheaper than, stronger than and tougher than.
2

Clarity

Write clearly and use the extra space if you need to. Clearly state which question you are answering.

3

Technical words

Technology is full of special words for materials, mechanisms and techniques. It is important to know them all. Make a list of the words from your notes, textbook and exam papers and use these words when writing your answers.

4

Step-by-step

Write out a step-by-step for all of the techniques you used in your projects (working with metals, wood or plastics). Make sure you know which tools to use and when.

5

Safety procedures

Make sure you know what safety procedures to use with the most common tools. Some will be very specific like ventilation for soldering or using adhesives.

6

Materials

Know at least two examples for each different type of material and what they are commonly used for.

Past papers

The very best way to study is to do the previous sample and mock exam papers. The first time, you can do them with the textbook or the marking scheme. For the second time, do them without the book or scheme and see how well you get on.

Some study tips

for your Junior Cycle Applied Technology Exam.

Practice: drawing and sketching

The quicker you can draw and sketch the better. Make sure you do lots of practice before the exams and for your project. Have a sketchbook in your school bag. Try drawing your desk, chair or phone as the more you draw the better you will get.

Always use a pencil to draw or sketch. Check that your elevations line up and that your curves are drawn with a compass when possible. Use a ruler for a straight line and use some coloured pencils (no need for more than 4) to enhance your sketches.

Lastly, make sure you know the difference between an elevation, a drawing, a sketch and a development.

State, explain, distinguish

  • When asked to state, you just need to give a straightforward answer.
  • When asked to explain, you need to give at least two sentences.
  • When asked to distinguish, you need to explain the difference between two things. Never say something is cheap or strong or tough. Instead, say what it is cheaper than, stronger than and tougher than.

Clarity

Write clearly and use the extra space if you need to. Clearly state which question you are answering.

Technical words

Technology is full of special words for materials, mechanisms and techniques. It is important to know them all. Make a list of the words from your notes, textbook and exam papers and use these words when writing your answers.

Step-by-step

Write out a step-by-step for all of the techniques you used in your projects (working with metals, wood or plastics). Make sure you know which tools to use and when.

Safety procedures

Make sure you know what safety procedures to use with the most common tools. Some will be very specific like ventilation for soldering or using adhesives.

Materials

Know at least two examples for each different type of material and what they are commonly used for.

Past papers

The very best way to study is to do the previous sample and mock exam papers. The first time, you can do them with the textbook or the marking scheme. For the second time, do them without the book or scheme and see how well you get on.

Hope these help - happy studying!

Good luck in your exam! You will be great.

By John Nisbet

With over 20 Years of experience teaching Technology at JC level, John teaches at St. Mary’s College Rathmines.

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