Cambridge AS Level Design & Technology: Exam Revision Guide

This revision guide helps you prepare for the Cambridge AS Level Design & Technology exam (9705/01 Written Paper 1). This material covers the new Cambridge syllabus, examined for the first time in 2025 and acts as a digital textbook. It links to detailed explanations and sample questions to help you learn this material.

Examination Format

The AS Level Written Paper is 2 hours 15 minutes long.

There are 100 marks available and you must answer all questions.

Based on the sample exam provided, it is organised into approximately the following sections:

	Description	Marks
1	Materials & Components	8
2	Communication / Drawing methods / CAD	8
3	Graphic products	20
4	Hard materials	20
5	Electronics / energy / emerging technology	20
6	Inclusivity (design modification)	12
7	Cultural, economic, environmental, social factors, including design movements, fashions/trends (essay)	12
TOTAL		100

The examination is worth 50% of your final AS Design & Technology grade.

Revision Guide

To prepare for this exam, revise the 12 separate topics listed below, working through each link on this page.

1. The design process

• How key stages in design thinking lead to the design process.
• The iterative design process, and why this is beneficial.
• The meaning of intuitive design and why we should aim to achieve this.
• Why specifications are written and how these help.
• The definition of primary and secondary research and how to use different market research tools (observations, interviews, questionnaires).
• The importance of modelling including what a prototype is used for.
• The difference between destructive and non-destructive testing and why it is important to test a product at different stages.
• How to evaluate a product (discussing pros and cons, linking to the user needs and the specification) in terms of function, aesthetics, ergonomics, materials, production processes, target market, cost, health & safety, quality control, societal impact, environmental impact / sustainability.

2. Design principles

• What is meant by Dieter Ram’s concept of “Good Design“.
• Key features of common design movements (Art Deco, Arts & Crafts, Bauhaus, Scandinavian, Minimalism, Modernism, and Postmodernism) and how these influence the design of products.
• The difference between a fashion and trend, and how these impact product design.
• Different scales of production (individual/one-off, batch, mass production), when these are suitable, and why they are chosen.
• How different economic factors influence material and production costs, including the availability of materials and the impact of new manufacturing technologies.
• How changing customer requirements, cultural changes, and other social factors influence design (including ways that design can have a positive impact on society).

3. Communication

• Common drawing methods, including exploded drawings, sectional views, isometric (including the construction of arcs and circles), orthographic projection / working drawings (including first angle and third angle and their symbols), one- and two-point perspective, assembly drawings, and planometric (45/45), and understand when these drawings may or may not be appropriate.
• Rendering to enhance drawings to represents, materials, surface, colour, and tone (light and shadow) – particularly rapid rendering methods suitable for an exam.
• Be able to draw nets, including fold lines, glue tabs and mechanical joining methods required to form prisms, cones, cylinders, and pyramids.
• Appropriate symbols and conventions including dimensioning and use of scales.
• Common planning charts including Gantt charts, flow charts, and cutting lists.
• The impact of digital technology used to communicate including CAD software packages such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Teams and Mirovideo conferencing.

4. Design and technology in society

• The impact of design & technology on society and vice versa, including whether products are inclusive or exclusive for certain individuals (such as children, elderly, or those with particular needs such as visual impairment, hearing impairment, neurodiverse requirements, mobility or physical support needs) or different groups (different locations, religions, ethnicities and cultures).

5. Sustainable design

• Why designers and manufacturers have a responsibility to ensure products are sustainable, including legal requirements.
• Factors that impact sustainability, including type of materials (locally sourced, recycled, biodegradable materials), amount of materials, reduction of waste (offcuts, packaging), method of processing raw materials, energy consumption across the lifecycle (included during manufacturing processes, maintenance, and reducing transport costs, such as by flat-packing), ease of repair, ease of replacing parts through use of standardised components, and ease of disassembly and disposal).
• Labelling materials to aid separation for recycling (with the use of recycling symbols).

6. Health and safety

• Common health and safety procedures in a school workshop, including wearing appropriate PPE (goggles / welding goggles, visor, face mask, gauntlet, spats, gloves, apron or lab coat), tying up hair, rolling up sleeves and removing loose clothing. keeping workspaces tidy, using the correct tool for the job and using tools safely (safety guards, training before use, working under supervision.
• Standard risk assessment processes in design and manufacture, including identifying hazards and making risk assessments and understanding what to do if an accident occurs.

7. Aesthetics and ergonomics

• The importance of aesthetics (line, colour, shape, light, shade, surface finishes, proportion and form) and how these affect visual and tactile senses.
• The balance of form and function.
• The importance of ergonomics – designing environments, products and systems to fit the people who use them – including an understanding of common anthropometric measurements, including weight, height, knee height, sitting height, body mass index (BMI), body circumference (arm, waist, hip and calf) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and how this can be interpreted.

8. Materials and components

• The meaning of material properties (hardness, ductility, toughness, brittleness, elasticity, malleability, dimensional stability, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, corrosion resistance).
• The working properties, stock forms and sizes, common uses and environmental impact of:
  • Paper, cardboard, and other lightweight materials (copier paper, card, corrugated card, bleached card, mount board, duplex card, moulded paper pulp, foamboard, foil-backed and laminated card e.g. Tetra Pak^®).
  • Modelling materials (extruded polystyrene foam, e.g. Styrofoam™, balsa wood, polymorph, plaster of Paris).
  • Wood and manufactured boards (softwoods, hardwoods, manufactured boards).
  • Metals (ferrous metals and their alloys).
  • Polymers / plastics (thermoplastics: acrylic (PMMA), nylon, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), high and low density polyethylene (HDPE) (LDPE), high impact polystyrene (HIPS), polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET); thermosetting plastics: polyester resin, melamine formaldehyde (MF), urea formaldehyde (UF), epoxy resin; and elastomers: neoprene, silicone, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE); fibre reinforced materials: glass fibre reinforced plastic (GRP), carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP); bioplastics: starch-based, sugar-based, cellulose-based).
• Examples of composite materials and why these are made.
• Examples of ‘smart’ materials (including polymorph; pigments: phosphorescent, photochromic, thermochromic; shape memory alloys (SMA): nickel, titanium; hydrogels; shape memory polymers).
• Examples of ‘modern’ materials.
• Examples of biodegradable materials (the working properties, common uses and environmental impact of polylactide (PLA), polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) e.g. BIOPOL^®, plastic made from corn/potato starch).  
• Recognise and identify electronic components and symbols.

9. Stages in materials processing

• Common production stages (marking out from working drawings; cutting, shaping and forming of materials using appropriate tools and methods; joining and assembling; selecting and applying a finish which is appropriate for the material used and the product design).
• Common adhesives and suitable uses.
• Temporary and permanent joining methods for paper and card (tab and slot etc)
• Temporary and permanent joining methods for wood (including ways to strengthen structures, such as brackets, flanges, ribs, and bracing).
• Temporary and permanent joining methods for metal.
• Hand and machine cutting, shaping, and drilling methods: wastage cutting with hand and machine tools including laser cutter, vinyl cutter, drilling (hand drill, powered and press drills), turning (wood lathe and centre lathe), milling and routing, abrasives,
• Plastic forming methods including vacuum forming (including the design and construction of formers) and line bending.
• Approaches to fabrication (addition of parts and components), including adjustable designs and flat-pack.
• Printing methods (digital printing and screen printing)
• Finishing methods (paints, polymer coatings, varnishes, including UV and spot varnishing).

10. Energy and control systems

• The main sources of energy and why and how they are used in manufacturing products : fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal (finite); water, wind and solar (renewable).
• Different forms of energy: kinetic, potential, thermal, electrical, chemical.
• Practical methods of energy conversion from one to another through simple mechanisms, machines, engines, turbines and electric motors. (This content is discussed in the sustainability article).
• Basic principles of manual, semi-automatic and automatic control using input, output, feedback and amplification.

11. Technology

• The benefits of CAD (Computer Aided Design) for storing data and manipulating images.
• Common features of CAM (computer-aided manufacture), particularly in the control/operation of machines.
• How emerging technologies impact on designing and manufacturing products (understand the terms invention, innovation, and evolution), including 3D printing, rapid manufacture, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and virtual reality (VR).