1. Art and Design National 5

2. New changes mean that all course work is now sent away to be marked by the SQA and must meet National 5 standards. There is no longer an option for ‘unit only’ passes.

3. The course has three units – Expressive, Design and Critical Studies
The course has three units – Expressive, Design and Critical Studies. Each unit is marked separately by specialists in that particular field. Both Design and Expressive units are marked holistically.

4. Units are marked as follows: Expressive, 100 marks (40%) Design, 100 marks (40%) Critical (written exam), 50 marks (20%)

5. 1. The Expressive Unit –Drawing, painting, pastel and other media are used to show the pupil’s ability to work from a theme of their own choosing. Pupils must produce a minimum of: * Three single images * Four group compositions * A final piece ( a larger, finished composition) * An evaluation of the unit It is essential that pupils work with a variety of media.

6. 2. The Design Unit – Focus on pupil ability to problem solve, to produce creative responses to a design brief, to develop their ideas and produce a design solution. Pupils will go through the design process of: Research - Collecting relevant images, objects and materials to inspire their design. Development - Thinking of design ideas and experimenting with one line of enquiry. Solution – Producing a design solution which meets the requirements of the brief. Evaluation – Writing about their design unit giving their thoughts on successes and learning opportunities, thinking of ways in which the design could be improved etc.

7. 3 The Written Exam – Pupils study the work of two artists and two designers and, through written responses, show their understanding of the work giving justified opinions on elements such as composition, colour, tone, mood/atmosphere, target market, ergonomics etc. The only change from previous year is the ‘prepared’ questions which have an option of gaining extra marks by discussing social and cultural factors which impacted the work – pupils will know which artists/designers to discuss. The ‘unseen’ questions are similar to what has gone before in previous years. These can be prepared for using past papers. Specimen papers can be found at This link can also be found on the school website.