Visual Arts syllabus, dot point by dot point

The design portfolio: the practical coursework overview - responding to a design brief, investigating and developing design ideas through the design process and the handling of materials, and producing a resolved design solution fit for its function and audience, with an evaluation, assessed out of 100 marks (38.5% of the course).

The expressive portfolio: the practical coursework overview - investigating a chosen theme or stimulus, developing ideas through expressive work and media handling, and producing a resolved expressive piece, with an evaluation, assessed out of 100 marks (38.5% of the course).

Analysing design work in Section 2 (Design Studies, 30 marks): writing a critical analysis of how a designer has used materials, techniques, the visual elements and design concepts to make a design fit for its function, target audience and brief, including the mandatory Question 7 requiring detailed knowledge of one studied design, and justifying a personal evaluation with evidence.

Analysing expressive art in Section 1 (Expressive Art Studies, 30 marks): writing a critical analysis of how an artist has used media, techniques and the visual elements to create mood, meaning and impact, including the mandatory Question 1 requiring detailed knowledge of one studied artwork, and justifying a personal evaluation with visual evidence.

Answering the question paper: its structure (Section 1 Expressive Art Studies, 30 marks, and Section 2 Design Studies, 30 marks, for 60 marks in total), the mandatory questions and the questions of choice, managing time across the paper, and writing developed point-evidence-effect analysis with a justified evaluation rather than description.

Influences on artists and designers: how social, cultural, political, religious, economic, technological, environmental and personal factors, art and design movements, and the demands of a brief or client shape the work artists and designers produce, and how to use this contextual knowledge to support critical analysis in the question paper.

The visual elements (line, tone, colour, shape, form, texture, pattern) and the design concepts and principles (composition, balance, contrast, proportion, scale, rhythm, emphasis, harmony, unity, function): the specialist vocabulary used to analyse how expressive art and design works, and the effects each can create.