AO2, Creative making, refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes: trying media purposefully, reviewing what each attempt teaches you, and selecting and improving towards a stronger outcome rather than repeating one safe technique. AO2 is one of four equally weighted objectives (25 percent each).

What this dot point is asking

AO2 is the second of the four assessment objectives, headed Creative making by WJEC. This dot point is about what AO2 rewards, how refinement through experiment differs from repetition, and how to select and improve towards a stronger outcome, because AO2 is a quarter of every mark and is where the practical, hands-on quality of the work is judged.

What AO2 rewards

AO2 rewards refining work by experimenting with media, materials, techniques and processes. In practice that is trying things with a purpose, seeing what each medium or method can do for your idea, and using what you learn to improve. The objective is not satisfied by producing a lot of work in one safe medium; it is satisfied by exploring, selecting and refining so that the work gets stronger. The experimentation is the practical engine of the project.

Refinement versus repetition

The single most important distinction in AO2 is between refinement and repetition. Repetition is producing several pieces in the same medium, in the same way: it shows time spent, but the work does not get stronger. Refinement is trying a medium or technique, reviewing what the attempt achieved and what it did not, and using that judgement to select and improve the next attempt. The chain of experiment, review, selection and improvement is what AO2 rewards.

Choosing appropriate media

AO2 asks for appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes, which means chosen to suit the intention, not chosen at random. A delicate observational idea might call for fine pencil or pen; a bold, textural idea might call for impasto paint, collage or print. The experimentation should also connect to the rest of the project: an artist studied for AO1 suggests a technique to try for AO2, and a successful experiment feeds the recording in AO3 and the outcome in AO4. Experiment that sits on isolated pages, unconnected to the enquiry, is weaker.

Selection is the link

The word that ties AO2 together is select. Selection is the decision, after reviewing an experiment, about what to keep and what to drop. It is the bridge between experiment and refinement: without it, experiments pile up and nothing improves; with it, each experiment feeds a stronger next step. Strong AO2 shows visible selection (a chosen technique carried forward, a rejected one explained), so the moderator can see the work getting better on purpose.

Try this

Q1. State what AO2 requires and how it is weighted. [Knowledge recall]

• Cue. AO2 (Creative making) is refine work by exploring ideas, selecting and experimenting with appropriate media, materials, techniques and processes. It is one of four equally weighted objectives, 25 percent of the GCSE.

Q2. Explain how to show refinement rather than repetition. [Short explanation]

• Cue. Try media with a purpose, review what each attempt achieved and what it did not, select what worked and drop what did not, and use that to improve the next attempt, so the work moves towards a stronger outcome; repetition produces more work without making it better, so it shows no refinement.