OCR A-Level Art and Design the Personal Investigation and related study overview quiz quiz

80 marks, 40 percent

60 marks, 30 percent

200 marks, 100 percent

120 marks, 60 percent

A practical portfolio and a related study of at least 1000 words

A timed written exam paper and a separate timed practical exam

Two extended written essays submitted on different set themes

A working sketchbook together with a final supervised written exam

A simple list of all the materials and the equipment that were used across the whole project

The visible thread of decisions connecting a starting theme to a resolved outcome

A particular type of observational drawing used early in the project

The published exam timetable that the centre has to work to each year

Long, colourful, neat and tidy

Fast, cheap and large in scale

Focused, sustained and visible

Copied, repeated and labelled

Simply making every single one of the pieces exactly the same size

Restricting the whole sequence to one single medium throughout

Finishing the whole sequence of pieces as quickly as possible

Connection: each stage answering the last and posing the next

1000 words

500 words

2000 words

There is no minimum

Referring to far too many different artists right the way across the whole related study

Writing a descriptive biographical survey instead of arguing a focused question

Including a full bibliography of the sources used at the end of it

Linking the related study closely to the candidate's practical work

Purely in order to make the related study come out somewhat longer overall

So that the candidate can avoid having to do any observational drawing whatsoever at all in the whole project

Because the two elements are 'linked', so the writing and making illuminate each other and share a concern

It does not actually need to connect to the practical work in any way at all

Simply be the single largest piece anywhere in the whole portfolio

Faithfully copy a famous existing artwork exactly, right down to every last small detail of it

Be made as quickly as it possibly can be in the time available

Realise the project's intentions and connect its elements, as a personal, meaningful response

Because AO4 rewards a culmination that realises intentions; a fresh, disconnected piece does not, and the outcome should be traceable back through the project

Mainly in order to save on the cost of the materials used to make the final outcome itself

Because introducing any genuinely fresh ideas at the final outcome stage is completely banned by OCR and is always heavily penalised by the moderator when it is seen in a portfolio

Purely so that the final outcome can be made noticeably bigger than the earlier studies were

Any topic at all, so long as it has been chosen directly by the teacher rather than by the student themselves

Personal, rich enough to sustain a long project, and connected to both artists and practical possibilities

A theme made as narrow and restrictive as it can possibly be from the very start

A theme made as generic and impersonal as it can possibly be from the very start

The single overall colour scheme that runs across the whole of the component from start to finish

The physical size and page count of the sketchbook used throughout the whole of the component

The focused line of enquiry, which the theme generates, the practice develops, the study illuminates and the outcome resolves

The sheer total number of different named artists that the candidate actually manages to study across the whole of the component