Four Directions, Ten Hours
An externally set assignment paper is released on 1 February. The candidate has eight weeks of preparatory time and a ten-hour supervised timed outcome in April, split over two days of five hours. With five weeks remaining, they have 31 preparatory pages covering four possible directions: a response to a local fish market, a series of portrait heads, a textile pattern based on nets, and a sculptural installation using driftwood. Each direction has one or two studies. The candidate has not tested any idea at the size of the final outcome, which must be 50 x 70 cm or an equivalent three-dimensional piece. They are most confident with watercolour but the fish-market idea needs mixed media and collage. They have a tendency to over-plan and then freeze in timed conditions. Their teacher has advised them to 'keep options open' until the exam week.
1. Should the candidate keep all four directions open until exam week? Advise them on choosing a direction and justify the criteria you use.
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No. Keeping four directions open until exam week is a risk, not flexibility. With five weeks left, the candidate needs time to test at final scale and rehearse the ten-hour structure. Four directions each with one or two studies is not enough evidence for any one of them.
The choice should be based on five criteria: strength of primary research, potential for sustained development, feasibility in ten supervised hours, material confidence, and risk management. The fish market has the strongest local primary research and the richest potential for composition, but it also carries the biggest material risk because the candidate is confident with watercolour while the idea needs collage and mixed media. The portrait heads are more controllable but may lack the same development potential. The textile pattern and driftwood installation are less tested at scale.
A defensible decision is to choose the fish market only if the candidate commits to two full-scale material tests in the first ten days. If those tests fail, they should switch to the portrait heads, which offer a lower-risk timed outcome. The teacher's advice should be reframed: keep one backup, not four options. The candidate should write a one-page decision sheet with reasons and a deadline, so over-planning becomes a bounded act rather than paralysis.
2. Plan the remaining five weeks so that the candidate is prepared but not over-planned for the ten-hour outcome.
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Week 1: decide and test. Choose the fish market or the portrait heads by day three. Make two material tests at 20 x 30 cm, one combining watercolour with collage, one using a simpler watercolour-and-dry-media approach. Record drying times, adhesion and colour behaviour.
Week 2: composition. Produce four small compositional studies from primary research, each testing a different crop or viewpoint. Annotate which decision is being tested and which is strongest.
Week 3: full-scale rehearsal. Make a 50 x 70 cm test or a half-scale maquette. This is the week to discover problems with paper stretch, collage edges or drying. Write a materials list and a contingency plan.
Week 4: timed rehearsal. Run a five-hour mock under exam conditions, stopping at the five-hour mark. Review what was unfinished and adjust the plan. Do not add new research unless it solves a specific problem.
Week 5: consolidate. Refine the strongest studies, prepare boards and materials, and write a single-page ten-hour plan with checkpoints. Leave one session free for unexpected problems. Over-planning should be replaced by a short, tested plan that allows spontaneous mark-making within a known structure.
3. How should the candidate structure the ten supervised hours to protect both control and spontaneity?
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The ten hours should be split into two five-hour days with visible checkpoints. On day one: 30 minutes setting up and checking materials, 3 hours establishing the main shapes and tonal structure, 1 hour laying in the first material layers, and 30 minutes reviewing against the plan. The candidate should not try to finish on day one.
On day two: 3 hours developing the dominant areas, 1 hour resolving secondary areas and edges, 45 minutes on final adjustments, and 15 minutes cleaning and checking the outcome against the intention. A checkpoint at hour two and hour seven should ask: what is working, what is unresolved, and what must be left alone?
Spontaneity should be planned for, not hoped for. The candidate can reserve one area, such as a collage passage or a loose watercolour wash, to be decided in the exam rather than pre-drawn. A contingency material should be packed in case the main technique fails. The aim is a tested structure with one or two deliberate open decisions, so the candidate does not freeze or overwork.