Practical Work, Project and Viva Voce
What this domain tests
This is the internal and practical component: your record book, the jobs you actually perform, the project report, and your ability to answer short technical questions in the viva.
Core rules and concepts
- Record book: each job written as aim, tools and materials, procedure, precautions, observation and result, with a neat freehand sketch. Jobs typically include a half-brick wall corner, plastering a patch, casting and testing a concrete cube, a mortise-and-tenon joint, a PVC pipe joint and a simple wiring board.
- Project report: title, need, site or data collection, drawings, quantity estimate, rate analysis, photographs or sketches, conclusion, references. An estimate of a two-room house is the classic choice.
- Viva: expect short definitional and "why" questions - why 10 mm joints, why curing is 7 days, what slump indicates, what a queen closer does, why cover is needed, what a water seal is.
Worked example
Viva question: "Why is a queen closer used in English bond?" Answer: in a header course the corner must start with a header, but the next brick would leave a joint over the stretcher joint below; the queen closer (a brick cut to half width along its length) is placed beside the quoin header to shift the joint and keep the bond. Giving the reason, not just the name, earns full marks.
Traps that cost marks
Copying a project from a book; record entries without procedure or precautions; sketches without dimensions; answering the viva with definitions only; ignoring PPE during the practical job.