Get stuck in

By getting stuck into the practical stuff, you’ll learn and remember information about materials, tools, processes, components, mechanisms, electronic circuits and safety. The act of 'doing things' will also make your classes more fun. Make sure to ask questions throughout the process.

Use your textbook

There’s lots of useful, readable stuff in the book as well as lots of practice questions. It will give you information on topics you didn’t know or have forgotten about and it has tips and examples on how to do your project and project folder.  

Know the basics

If you get familiar with basic mechanisms and basic electronics circuits, the project and many exam questions will get easier for you. 

Practice free-hand sketching

If you can get good at drawing, it will help you in the exam and it will also help you do the sketches and drawings for your project folder.

Plan ahead

Plan it out and start early. You can get close to 50% before you sit the exam which frees you up to study to get more points from the exam (more on this later).

Your project folder

Your project folder is worth the same marks as your project model so start it early and fill it out as you go along (not at the end). Use a project folder template provided by your teacher and fill out every section. You can view some sample folders on the T4 website here. 

Practice exam questions

This is the number one way to get to know the material for the exam. If you don’t know something, you can go back to the book and look it up. Studyclix, the technology book and examinations.ie are good for this.

Option topics

You have to answer two option topic questions in the exam. If your teacher has covered only two option topics, you will have no choice but if your teacher has covered more than two option topics, revise the two you are strongest in. 

What stage/activity you should be at. Ask them to review your plan.

Your design ideas and how you’re going to build it

Your choice of materials, components and processes. Ask them what is available in the technology room and what needs to be ordered in.

Your project folder as you are assembling it.

Your project build (artefact) as you are building it.

Neat presentation.

Describe your understanding of what the project brief is looking for. Think about what else might be required such as who might use it, what else they might want and what else might be important in the design. Provide a list of more detailed requirements for the project.

Provide a plan for the whole project. Show the timeframe for each stage (e.g. research, design, building, testing, improvements, etc.). Mention any critical paths in the project (e.g. ordering parts) and how you managed them. Describe how much workshop resources you had available and how much money you could spend on parts.

Describe the types of research you carried out and the materials, processes and ideas that you might use in your project, e.g. internet searches, interviews, surveys, libraries and real customers.

Give reasons why you chose one particular design idea over the other two. 

Describe three different annotated design ideas in your project folder. Each design idea must include a circuit or mechanism (or both) and you must include sketches/drawings for all three design ideas. 

Show that you considered environment and safety impacts in the design. 

Provide detailed manufacturing drawings for the chosen design idea, including wiring diagrams for electronics. 

Provide a detailed list of parts and prices.

Provide a list of steps of how to make the parts and how to assemble all the parts. Provide drawings of how to assemble the parts.

Provide photographs of different stages of the product and the final product.

Describe how you tested the product against the requirements. Discuss what didn’t work and what had to be changed.

Provide a written evaluation of the built product and include what worked well and what you would do differently next time, etc.

Provide a written evaluation of the project planning and use of time including what stages had enough time and worked well and what you would do differently next time.

Does it do what was asked for in the project brief?

Does it show originality and creativity in the design (and is not copied)?

Does it use good materials for the design? 

Does it use a range of materials?

Does it use appropriate component parts in the design?

Does it show that you were able to use a variety of manufacturing and assembling techniques to make it? 

Does it show high-quality manufacturing and finish?

Does it show that environment, health and safety were taken into account?

Are appropriate parts labelled (e.g. power, switches)?

Does it work (i.e. functions, moves, lights, does what it was designed to do)?

Section B

This section has long questions which are taken from across all the core topics. You have some choices within some questions but you don’t know which topics are going to come up.

Section C

This section has 5 long questions (one question on each option topic) and you need to answer 2. You will only have a choice in Section C if your teacher has covered more than two option topics in class.

Short questions

Do the short questions (Section A) first as you can pick up lots of marks here. If you go over time or are not sure about some short questions, move on and you might have time to come back to them later.

Long questions

Be really careful about the 'or' words in the instructions as these tell you which questions you can choose between. Select the questions you are most familiar with. If you get stuck, move on to the next question and come back to it later.

Option long questions

You’ll know beforehand which two questions you’ll be doing as you’ll have studied those. If you’ve studied 3, quickly read the three and decide which 2 you’ll do the best in. Only do the 3rd if you have plenty of time at the end.