Choosing Among the Five Externally Set Themes

The choice is already the exam

On the second of January the themes are released, and there are five of them. Each comes with starting points, written or visual or both, and you pick one. Almost everybody treats that morning as a preliminary: read the list, notice which one appeals, and start work. That is the single most expensive habit in this component, and the reason is easy to state. Comparing the five themes IS investigation, and investigation is assessed. Working out what each theme could become, what materials and processes each would need, and which one connects to work you can already do, is exactly the thinking the first assessment objective rewards. So a learner who takes the first theme that appeals has not simply chosen in a hurry. They have skipped an assessed activity and started from behind. There is a second reason to slow down, and it is practical. Once the supervised time begins, your preparatory work is locked: nothing further can be brought in, and you work under formal conditions with the material you already have. A theme chosen because it sounded interesting, and then found to need something you cannot do or cannot get, cannot be swapped. This module is about making that choice well. How to use the supervised hours once you are in them is a separate topic with a module of its own.

Five words for this component

These are the words the task itself uses. Knowing them exactly saves confusion in January.

Which reasons hold up?

Which choice is best reasoned?

Four learners explain how they picked their theme. Which has reasoned it best?

• I sketched a possible response to three of the five, then chose the one where my ideas kept going
• I read all five carefully and chose the one I liked most
• I chose the hardest theme, because harder work scores higher
• I asked my teacher which theme I should choose

What January actually looks like

Two stages, and they work by completely different rules. Knowing which you are in matters more than anything else in this component.

Choose a theme in this order

Five moves for the days after the themes are released. Put them into the order that makes the choice evidence rather than a guess.

• Read all five themes and their starting points, without deciding anything yet
• For each one, note two or three directions it could be taken in
• Sketch or trial a possible response to the two or three that look strongest
• Check what each would need in materials, processes and time you can actually get
• Commit to one, and record why you chose it over the others

What the choice has to survive

A theme has to work under the conditions of this component. Which THREE questions must your chosen theme survive?

• Can I actually make my response with materials and processes I can get?
• Can the final outcome be realised within the supervised hours available?
• Will everything I need exist in my preparatory work before it is locked?
• Is this the theme most other people are choosing?
• Does the theme sound impressive when said aloud?

Nothing comes in once the clock starts

This is the rule that catches people out, and it is worth understanding rather than just remembering. The moment your supervised time begins, your preparatory work is locked. You work under formal conditions with what you already have, and nothing further may be brought in: no extra photographs taken that weekend, no material bought on the way, no page added afterwards, no advice sought. Everything your final piece will draw on has to exist before that moment. Two consequences follow, and both belong to the CHOICE rather than to the making. First, a theme that needs something you have not yet got is a risk you are taking with a deadline you cannot move, so the materials question belongs at the choosing stage and not later. Second, the preparatory period is the only part of this component where you can change your mind, ask for help, or start again, which is exactly why rushing the choice wastes the most forgiving time you will have. There is one more thing worth knowing about the supervised time itself, because it shapes what kind of outcome is realistic. The ten hours may be split into several sessions, and at least one of them must be two hours or longer. That is a specification requirement rather than a suggestion, which means you can count on having one substantial block. Planning what goes in those sessions is a separate topic with its own module; what matters here is choosing a theme whose outcome can actually be reached inside them.

Complete the component sentences

One of the five released titles is called _____. The written or visual stimulus offered alongside it is _____. The time between release and the supervised sessions is _____. The state your preparatory work enters once supervised time begins, after which nothing further may be brought in, is _____.

One January, worked through

Here is the first week done properly. The themes appear on the second of January and there are five. The learner reads all five and writes nothing down for an hour, which is deliberate: first impressions are about appeal rather than potential. Then, for each theme, they note two or three directions it could be taken in, which produces fifteen possibilities and immediately shows something useful. Two of the themes produce only obvious directions. Three produce something the learner had not expected, and those three go forward. Next comes testing. Rather than choosing between the three by thinking about them, they spend an afternoon making a small response to each: a page of drawings for one, a set of photographs for another, a quick material trial for the third. This is the step that changes the decision, because two of them run out after twenty minutes and the third keeps opening up. Then the practical check on the one that is winning: what would the final outcome need, can those materials be got before the work is locked, and can it be realised in the supervised hours available. Finally the learner writes half a page explaining why this theme over the other four, referring to the trials. That half page took twenty minutes and it is not admin. It is investigation evidence, it is dated before the locking, and it is exactly what the first assessment objective asks for.

Find the choice that was reasoned

Five learners explain their theme choice. Tap the ONE whose reasoning would count as investigation evidence.

• I chose this theme because it was the one that interested me most when I read the list.
• I chose this theme because the others looked harder.
• I trialled small responses to three themes, and this was the one where each attempt suggested the next, so I could see where a final piece would come from.
• I chose this theme because most people in my group were doing it.
• I chose this theme because I already had some materials at home.

Record why you chose

Recording the choice turns it into evidence. Choose the option in each gap.

The component two run

Five quick questions on the externally set task. Three lives.

The first week of January

The five themes were released on the second of January. It is now the fourth, and you have not committed to one. Two of your group chose within an hour of the release. Work through three decisions.

• You feel behind. What do you do?
• Three themes still look possible. How do you get from three to one?
• One theme is clearly winning, but its likely outcome would need a process your centre may not have. What now?

Plan your January

The five themes have just been released. Write a plan for how you will choose between them and record the choice. Do not plan the artwork itself.

• Explain why the comparison itself matters for your marks
• Say what you would do with all five themes before deciding anything
• Explain how you would narrow the field, and why trialling beats predicting
• Name the practical checks the winning theme has to survive, and why they belong now rather than later
• Say what you would record about the decision, and why that record is worth making