Practical project and portfolio work
What the domain tests
Practical project and portfolio work tests whether you can plan, make, record and evaluate a product. Expect a design brief and specification, time and resource planning, cutting lists, risk assessments, quality checks, evidence of making, testing against criteria, client feedback, and an honest evaluation of limitations.
Core rules and concepts
- Plan backwards from the deadline: research, concept development, prototyping, making, finishing, testing and evaluation. A simple Gantt chart or flow chart shows dependencies.
- A cutting list gives material, quantity and finished dimensions; add allowance for saw cuts, planing and jointing.
- Match quality checks to tolerances: check squareness, dimensions, surface finish and function at stages, not only at the end.
- Keep evidence as you work: dated notes, annotated sketches, test readings, changes and reasons. A portfolio assembled afterwards is weak evidence.
- Risk assessment identifies hazard, who is affected, likelihood, severity and control. Update it when the process changes.
- Evaluate against the specification and user feedback, then state what you would change.
Worked example
A candidate plans 20 desk organisers from pine. The cutting list gives 20 bases at 180 × 120 × 12 mm and 40 dividers at 120 × 60 × 12 mm, with 3 mm allowance per saw cut. A jig sets the divider position so all units match. A go/no-go gauge checks the slot width. Ten units are dry-assembled and tested with typical pens and rulers; two slots are too tight, so the jig is adjusted and the change is recorded. The evaluation reports that 18 of 20 met the tolerance after adjustment and identifies inconsistent sanding as the remaining issue.
Traps that cost marks
Do not invent test results or leave evaluation to “it worked well”. Missing risk assessment, no evidence of iteration, dimensions without tolerances, and a portfolio that shows only perfect final work all cost marks. A change without a reason is not evaluation.