NSSCO Woodwork 6190 common mistakes
NSSCO Woodwork 6190 · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
When asked to identify a timber from a description or sample-based data (colour, grain, hardness, weight), candidates name a species from memory without linking each named property to the evidence given, so a dense dark hardwood is labelled 'pine' or a pale softwood is labelled 'mahogany'.
Species are memorised as isolated names rather than as a property profile, and candidates match on one familiar cue (often colour alone) instead of checking hardness, grain pattern, porosity and typical use together. Many have handled only two or three species in the workshop, so unfamiliar names get guessed.
What to do instead
Build a one-page comparison grid for the species on the syllabus: colour, grain, texture, relative density/hardness, durability, typical uses, and whether it is a softwood or hardwood. Practise by covering the name column and identifying each species from the remaining columns only. In the exam, write the reason next to the name (e.g. 'oak - open grain, hard, durable') so the answer carries its own evidence.
Candidates state that manufactured boards are 'weaker than solid timber' or 'made from waste' and then cannot say why a particular board suits a particular job, giving the same generic answer for plywood, blockboard, chipboard, MDF and hardboard.
Manufactured boards are learned as a list of names with a single shared definition. The structural idea - that grain direction, veneer cross-lamination, particle size and resin content each change strength, stability, screw-holding and edge finish - is not connected to the products.
What to do instead
For each board, learn four linked facts: what it is made from, how it is built up, its key property (e.g. plywood is stable because adjacent veneers cross at right angles; chipboard has poor screw-holding at edges; MDF takes a smooth painted finish and routed profile), and one named application. Answer board-selection questions by naming the property first, then the board.
On tool-identification and tool-use questions, candidates describe a plane, chisel or saw by name only and cannot state the correct setting-up or maintenance action (e.g. how to check a plane iron is square, how to flatten a waterstone, what a saw set does), or they describe using a chisel to lever or a file without a handle.
Tool knowledge is revised as a labelling exercise - name the tool - while the exam asks what the tool does and how it is kept working. Workshop time is spent watching a teacher set up tools rather than doing it, so maintenance steps have never been performed or observed closely.
What to do instead
For each core tool write a three-line card: purpose, setting-up check, maintenance action. Physically carry out each check at least once (square the iron to the cap iron, check the sole for flatness, test a chisel edge on end grain, clean and set a saw). In answers, use the correct component names - iron, cap iron, frog, sole, kerf, set, bevel, bolster - because marks are awarded for these terms.
Candidates describe machine operations in the wrong order or omit the safety-critical steps: they feed timber into a circular saw or planer without mentioning the guard, push stick, riving knife or correct depth of cut, or they describe cutting a rebate on a spindle moulder without stating the cutter guard and hold-down.
Machine questions are answered from a remembered diagram rather than from a sequence of actions. Candidates revise the machine's function but not its set-up sequence, so the guard, the fence setting and the feed direction are treated as optional detail rather than the marks-earning content.
What to do instead
Learn every machine as a fixed sequence: isolate power - set fence/guard/depth - check the timber for nails and loose knots - set feed direction against cutter rotation - use push stick or jig - switch off and wait for the cutter to stop. Write this sequence out for the circular saw, planer/thicknesser, router and mortiser. Feed direction and guard position are almost always worth marks, so never leave them out.
When asked to select or describe a joint for a given situation, candidates choose by habit (always a mortise and tenon, or always a dowel) and give no reason, or they draw the joint with the wrong proportions and no setting-out lines, so the drawing cannot be read as a joint at all.
Joints are learned as pictures to be copied. The link between the job (frame or carcass, load direction, timber thickness, whether the joint will be seen) and the joint choice is not practised, and candidates rarely draw joints with the marking-out lines, waste areas and shoulder lines that make a joint drawing meaningful.
What to do instead
Classify joints by function first: frame joints (mortise and tenon, halving, bridle), carcass joints (dovetail, comb, rebate, housing), widening joints (rub joint, loose tongue). For each, learn one typical use and one reason. Practise drawing three joints with full setting-out: face side and face edge marks, gauge lines, shoulder lines and cross-hatched waste. In the exam, state the reason for the choice in one sentence.
Candidates measure with a steel rule from the end of the rule or from the wrong end of the workpiece, mark with a pencil where a marking knife and gauge are required, and do not carry a face side and face edge mark through a job, so joints and dimensions are inconsistent from one stage to the next.
Measuring is treated as a trivial step and is done quickly under time pressure. Candidates have not been taught that all subsequent marking is referenced from the face side and face edge, so they re-measure from different faces and accumulate error. Pencil lines are also too thick for fine joint work.
What to do instead
Adopt one routine for every job: plane and mark the face side and face edge, then take all sizes from those two faces only. Use a marking knife for joint lines and a mortise gauge set from the chisel, not from a rule. Practise reading a rule to the nearest millimetre and checking a dimension twice before cutting. In calculation questions, show the working and keep units consistent.
On turning and shaping questions, candidates describe the tool rest position, lathe speed and gouge presentation vaguely or wrongly - for example, leaving a gap between tool rest and work, presenting a gouge above centre, or omitting that the lathe must be stopped before adjusting the rest.
Turning is often demonstrated rather than practised, so the geometry of bevel contact, centre height and rest clearance is not internalised. Candidates answer from the general look of the operation and miss the small positional facts that carry the marks.
What to do instead
Learn three fixed rules and apply them in every turning answer: set the tool rest close to the work and just below centre height, present the bevel first and then raise the handle to engage the edge, and stop the lathe before moving the rest or changing speed. Learn the difference between a roughing gouge, spindle gouge and skew chisel and one named use for each. For shaping, link the tool to the grain direction.
In project planning and costing questions, candidates produce a cutting list with no waste allowance, no allowance for planing and sawing, and a cost total that omits consumables, adhesive, finish, or labour, or that mixes linear-metre and per-board prices.
Costing is attempted as a single multiplication of timber volume by a price. Candidates do not separate the steps - net sizes, allowance for machining, wastage percentage, then material, consumables and labour - and are careless about units, so the arithmetic is right but the answer is wrong.
What to do instead
Use a fixed costing template: part name - finished size - number off - allowance for planing/sawing - total length or area - waste percentage - unit price - cost. Add separate lines for adhesive, abrasive, finish and fixings, then labour at an hourly rate. State units on every line and check that all lengths are in the same unit before multiplying. Show the calculation, since method marks are available even when the total is wrong.
Safety answers name a hazard but not the control, or give a control that does not match the hazard - for example, 'wear goggles' as the answer to a dust hazard, or 'be careful' as the answer to a machine-guard question. Candidates also ignore workshop organisation points such as waste removal, cable routing, storage of sharp tools and clear walkways.
Safety is revised as a list of personal protective equipment rather than as a hazard-control pairing. Candidates write the first control that comes to mind instead of identifying the specific hazard (dust, noise, flying chips, entanglement, fire) and the matching control.
What to do instead
Answer safety questions in three parts: name the hazard, name the specific control, name who or what it protects. Learn the matches - dust extraction and face masks for dust, guards and push sticks for cutters, ear protection for noise, isolation and lock-off for maintenance, correct storage for sharp edges. Add one line on housekeeping (clear floor, waste bin, cables routed away) because organisation marks are commonly available.
On practical and applied questions, candidates describe a making sequence that would not work in the workshop - machining all parts to final size before jointing, applying finish before assembly, or gluing up a carcass without checking for square - and they cannot state how the job would be checked for square, flat and true.
Making is remembered as a list of operations rather than as a sequence with dependencies. Candidates have not been taught the standard order (prepare timber, mark out from face side and face edge, cut joints, dry assemble and check square, glue up, clean up, then finish) and do not know the checking tools.
What to do instead
Learn and use the standard sequence for every project: prepare, mark out, cut joints, dry fit and check diagonals for square, glue and clamp, clean up, then finish last. Name the checking tool for each stage - try square, winding sticks, straight edge, diagonal measurement. When asked to describe a process, write it as numbered steps with the check built in after the step that needs it.