CCEA GCSE Double Award Science: Practical Skills unit overview

The Practical Skills unit is the seventh unit of CCEA GCSE Double Award Science. It assesses practical work rather than being an ordinary written paper: you carry out prescribed practicals across Biology, Chemistry and Physics during the course, and the unit tests the working-scientifically skills behind them. This page maps the practicals and the skills, and links to a focused answer page.

What this unit covers

Prescribed practicals and required skills. The full list of prescribed practicals across the three sciences, the variables and a fair test, accuracy, precision and errors, and how to record, analyse and evaluate results. See Prescribed practicals and required skills.

The prescribed practicals

CCEA sets a list of prescribed practicals (commonly given as 18 across the course) spread across Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Examples include food tests and using a microscope in Biology, rates of reaction and titration in Chemistry, and measuring density and investigating circuits in Physics. Many of these connect to the written units, so practising them supports the whole Double Award. Useful linked answer pages include Nutrition and food tests, Rates of reaction and collision theory, Density, kinetic theory and changes of state and Charge, current, voltage and resistance.

How it is examined

The Practical Skills unit assesses practical work through the prescribed practicals and a practical task or booklet, rather than a standard written exam. It contributes to the two GCSE grades of the Double Award alongside the six written units. Expect to apply working-scientifically skills: identifying variables, measuring accurately, recording and presenting data, and analysing and evaluating results.

How to study it

Learn each prescribed practical as a method you can recall and explain, including the variables, equipment and safety points. Practise identifying independent, dependent and control variables, the difference between accuracy and precision, how to reduce random and systematic errors, and how to draw and read graphs. Be ready to evaluate a method and suggest improvements, then finish with the module quiz.