How do you respond to the ESA paper and use the preparatory period well?
The Externally Set Assignment paper and preparatory period: the broad thematic starting points released on 2 January, choosing a starting point, and building a preparatory portfolio that covers all four objectives.
How to respond to the Edexcel GCSE Art and Design Externally Set Assignment paper and use the preparatory period: the broad thematic starting points released on 2 January, choosing one, and building a preparatory portfolio covering all four assessment objectives before the supervised period.
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What this dot point is asking
The Externally Set Assignment (ESA) is Component 2, worth 40 percent, and it begins with a paper of broad thematic starting points and a preparatory period before the supervised making. Edexcel releases the paper on 2 January, and centres run their own preparatory period. This page covers responding to the paper, choosing a starting point, and building a preparatory portfolio that covers all four objectives ready for the supervised period.
The ESA paper and its starting points
The ESA paper is the externally set part of the course, but it is deliberately open.
Choosing and focusing a starting point
The first decision is which starting point to take and how to narrow it.
Building the preparatory portfolio
The preparatory period is where most of the ESA marks are earned, because it covers all four objectives.
Why the preparation decides the ESA
It is tempting to think of the ESA as the 10-hour supervised exam, but most of the work, and most of the marks, are in the preparatory period, because the ESA is marked on all four objectives across the preparatory work and the final outcome together. This is why the preparation must be a balanced project in its own right: research, experimentation and recording all happen before the supervised period, and only the final outcome is made under supervision. The single most important move is to focus the broad starting point to a personal, source-rich angle, because that is what makes deep investigation and a clear line of enquiry possible, exactly as in the portfolio. From there, the discipline is the same as any project: build the line of enquiry, run the explore-review-select-refine cycle, record first-hand, and plan the outcome from the strongest threads. The ESA is synoptic, meaning it draws together everything learned in the portfolio, so the skills practised there (drawing, the formal elements, media, contextual research, development) all feed it. Planning the final outcome in the preparation (with composition studies and a trial piece) is essential, because the supervised period is for making, not deciding, and there is no room to improvise. A well-prepared candidate enters the supervised period knowing exactly what they will make and how.
Try this
Q1. When is the ESA paper released, and what does it contain? [Knowledge recall]
- Cue. It is released on 2 January of the final year and contains broad thematic starting points, from which you choose and focus one.
Q2. Explain why most of the ESA marks depend on the preparatory period. [Short explanation]
- Cue. The ESA is marked on all four objectives across the preparatory work and the final outcome together, and research, experimentation and recording (three of the four objectives) all happen in the preparatory period, so the preparation, not just the supervised making, determines most of the marks.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of Pearson Edexcel exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Edexcel 1AD0 ESA18 marksComponent 2 Externally Set Assignment, preparatory work. From a broad starting point such as Boundaries, plan a preparatory project that covers all four assessment objectives. Assess what a top-band preparatory portfolio would contain.Show worked answer →
The ESA is marked out of 72 (18 per objective) on the same grid as the portfolio, across the preparatory work and the final outcome together.
Choosing a focus. From the broad starting point Boundaries, the candidate narrows to a personal, source-rich focus, for example "fences and thresholds in my own neighbourhood photographs."
AO1. Critical research on artists who suit the focus (say, Andy Goldsworthy's natural boundaries and Rachel Whiteread's cast thresholds), each ending with a decision.
AO2. A reviewed run of media experiments testing ways to represent boundaries (frottage of fences, monoprint, collage), selecting the strongest.
AO3. First-hand recording: observational drawings and the candidate's own photographs of real boundaries, with insights.
AO4 (planned). Composition studies and a trial piece planning the final outcome to be made in the supervised period.
Markers reward a focused starting point and balanced preparatory work covering all four objectives, ready to resolve in the supervised period.
Edexcel 1AD0 ESA6 marksExplain when the ESA paper is released and how the preparatory period works.Show worked answer →
A short explanation needs the release date and the nature of the preparatory period.
Release. Pearson releases the ESA paper, a set of broad thematic starting points, on 2 January of the final year, and it may be given to students as soon as it is released.
Preparatory period. Centres devise their own preparatory period of study before the supervised period. In it, students develop a preparatory portfolio responding to a chosen starting point, covering all four objectives, ready to make a final outcome in the supervised 10-hour period.
Markers reward the 2 January release and the idea of a centre-devised preparatory period producing development work across the objectives.
Related dot points
- The 10-hour supervised period: producing the personal response unaided under exam conditions over a maximum of four sessions within three consecutive weeks, with reference to preparatory work.
How to produce your personal response in the Edexcel GCSE Art and Design 10-hour supervised period: working unaided under exam conditions over a maximum of four sessions within three consecutive weeks, with reference to your preparatory work, and how to plan, pace and resolve it.
- Building a line of enquiry: turning a theme into a question, using mind maps and starting points, and connecting each decision so the project reads as a developing journey.
How to build a line of enquiry for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: turning a theme into a focused question, using mind maps and starting points, and connecting each decision so a moderator can follow the project as a developing journey from theme to outcome.
- Developing a final outcome: planning from the strongest threads, composition studies and trial pieces, realising intentions and connecting the outcome to the project for AO4.
How to plan and resolve a final outcome for Edexcel GCSE Art and Design: drawing on the strongest threads of the project, composition studies and trial pieces, and connecting the resolved outcome to the whole project so it realises your intentions for AO4.
- AO1: develop ideas through investigations, demonstrating critical understanding of sources, by building a line of enquiry from primary and secondary sources.
How to satisfy Edexcel GCSE Art and Design Assessment Objective 1: develop ideas through investigations, show critical understanding of primary and secondary sources, and keep a visible line of enquiry through your sketchbook, scored out of 18 in each component.
- Balancing AO1 to AO4 across a project: covering all four objectives in each component, avoiding a strong-skill bias, and tracking coverage as the work progresses.
How to balance AO1 to AO4 across an Edexcel GCSE Art and Design project: cover all four equally weighted objectives in each component, avoid neglecting research or refinement in favour of a strong skill, and track coverage so the portfolio is even.
- Selecting and presenting the Personal Portfolio: choosing the strongest work that covers all four objectives, editing out the weak, and presenting it as a coherent, well-organised body of work.
How to select and present the Edexcel GCSE Art and Design Personal Portfolio: choosing the strongest work that covers all four assessment objectives, editing out the weak, and presenting it as a coherent, well-organised body of work for moderation.
Sources & how we know this
- Pearson Edexcel GCSE (9-1) Art and Design (1AD0) specification — Pearson Edexcel (2016)