What is Component 1, and how do its two parts work?
Component 1 Portfolio (overview): the controlled-assessment portfolio worth 60 percent and 120 marks, made of Part A Exploratory Portfolio and Part B Investigating the Creative and Cultural Industries.
A CCEA GCSE Art and Design overview of Component 1, the controlled-assessment portfolio worth 60 percent. Covers Part A the Exploratory Portfolio and Part B Investigating the Creative and Cultural Industries, the 120 marks, the four assessment objectives, and how a portfolio is built and presented for marking.
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What this dot point is asking
This is an overview of Component 1, the portfolio. Component 1 is a controlled-assessment (coursework) component worth 60 percent of the qualification and carrying 120 marks. Because it is a practical body of work built up over the course rather than a timed exam, this page sets out its structure and how it is marked, not a list of facts to memorise. Component 1 has two parts: Part A the Exploratory Portfolio and Part B Investigating the Creative and Cultural Industries.
The shape of Component 1
Component 1 is the larger of the two components and the place where most of your sustained work lives.
Both parts are marked against the same four objectives (develop, refine, record, present), so the principles from the rest of this module apply throughout. The portfolio is built up during the course under your teacher's supervision and submitted for marking and moderation by CCEA.
Part A: the Exploratory Portfolio
Part A is the Exploratory Portfolio, a sustained body of practical work. It takes one or more starting points and works through the creative process, recording from observation, developing ideas from sources, experimenting and refining with media, and realising personal responses. The point of Part A is breadth and depth: it should show you can sustain a project, take creative risks, and evidence all four objectives across connected work rather than a single image.
Part B: Investigating the Creative and Cultural Industries
Part B, Investigating the Creative and Cultural Industries, links your practical work to the wider world of art and design. It asks you to investigate artists, designers or craftworkers and the creative and cultural industries they belong to, and to let that investigation inform your own practice. Part B deepens the contextual side of AO1: it is not a separate essay bolted on, but research and response that connect your work to real practitioners and industries.
How the two parts fit together
The two parts are designed to connect. The contextual investigation in Part B feeds the development in Part A, and the practical work in Part A gives the investigation something to respond to. Together they make a single 120-mark component. Because the portfolio is built over time, the strongest submissions show a clear journey from starting point to personal response, with annotation that makes the thinking visible.
Try this
Q1. What is Component 1 worth, and how many marks does it carry? [2 marks]
- Cue. Sixty percent of the qualification, marked out of 120.
Q2. Name the two parts of Component 1. [2 marks]
- Cue. Part A the Exploratory Portfolio and Part B Investigating the Creative and Cultural Industries.
Q3. Why should Part B connect to your practical work rather than stand alone? [2 marks]
- Cue. Part B is investigation that informs your practice; connecting it deepens AO1 and links the two parts into one component.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of CCEA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Component 1 (structure)8 marksDescribe the two parts of Component 1 and what each asks you to do.Show worked answer →
A structure question on the portfolio. The skill is showing you understand that the portfolio has two linked parts.
Part A Exploratory Portfolio: a sustained body of practical work that records, develops, refines and realises ideas from a starting point, evidencing all four assessment objectives across a project or projects.
Part B Investigating the Creative and Cultural Industries: a task that connects your practical work to the wider creative and cultural industries, investigating how artists, designers or craftworkers and the industries they work in inform your own practice.
Judgement: explain that both parts are marked against the four objectives and together make up Component 1, worth 60 percent of the qualification. A top answer links the two parts rather than treating them as separate.
Component 1 (preparation)12 marksExplain how you would build a strong Component 1 portfolio over the course.Show worked answer →
A preparation question rewarding an understanding of process and balance across the objectives.
Coverage: make sure the portfolio evidences all four objectives, with rich preparatory work (recording, developing, refining) behind any final pieces, because those three objectives carry three quarters of the marks.
Sources and context: investigate artists and the creative industries so AO1 and Part B are evidenced through critical understanding, not copying.
Presentation: organise the portfolio so the journey reads clearly, with annotation explaining decisions, and select work that shows your strongest development.
Judgement: conclude that a strong portfolio is a connected, well-evidenced body of work that shows growth from starting point to personal response, presented so a marker can follow it. Breadth of process beats a few polished images.
Related dot points
- The four assessment objectives (AO1 develop, AO2 refine and explore media, AO3 record, AO4 present a personal response), each worth 25 percent of every component.
A focused CCEA GCSE Art and Design guide to the four assessment objectives. Covers what AO1 develop, AO2 refine, AO3 record and AO4 present each reward, why every component is marked against all four equally, and how to evidence each objective in a portfolio or externally set assignment.
- The creative process: recording, developing ideas from sources, experimenting and refining with media, and realising a personal response, evidenced through a sketchbook journey.
A focused CCEA GCSE Art and Design guide to the creative process. Covers how to move from a starting point through recording, developing ideas from sources, experimenting and refining with media, to realising a personal response, and how to evidence each stage in a sketchbook that meets all four assessment objectives.
- Component 2 Externally Set Assignment (overview): the CCEA stimulus paper, the preparatory period of investigation, and the final personal response made in a 10-hour supervised period, worth 40 percent.
A CCEA GCSE Art and Design overview of Component 2, the externally set assignment worth 40 percent. Covers the stimulus paper released by CCEA, the preparatory period of recording, developing and refining, the 10-hour supervised period for the final piece, and how the four assessment objectives are met.
- Critical and contextual studies: analysing artists, movements and artworks, and developing your own ideas from sources rather than copying, to evidence AO1.
A focused CCEA GCSE Art and Design guide to critical and contextual studies. Covers how to investigate and analyse artists, movements and artworks, how to use context and the visual elements, and how to develop your own ideas from a source rather than copying it, to evidence AO1 and Part B.
- The formal and visual elements: line, tone, colour, shape, form, texture and pattern, used both to create work and to analyse it.
A focused CCEA GCSE Art and Design guide to the formal and visual elements. Covers line, tone, colour, shape, form, texture and pattern, what each contributes to an image, and how to use the elements deliberately when making work and precisely when analysing artists and your own pieces.
Sources & how we know this
- CCEA GCSE Art and Design assessment — CCEA (2017)
- CCEA GCSE Art and Design specification — CCEA (2017)