AQA A Level Art & Design: Fine Art specification (7202)
Understanding the exam specification is key to doing well in your AQA A Level Art & Design: Fine Art exam. It lays out exactly what you need to learn, how you'll be assessed, and what skills the examiners seek. Whether you're working through the course for the first time or revising for your final exams, the specification helps you stay focused and confident in your preparation.
We've included helpful revision tools to support you in putting the specification into practice. Wherever you're starting from, you'll find everything you need to feel prepared, from the official specification to high-quality resources designed to help you succeed.
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In the next section, you'll find a simplified summary of the official AQA A Level Art & Design: Fine Art specification, along with a breakdown of key topics, assessment structure, and useful study resources. We've also included links to topic-level guides and revision tools to help you put the specification into practice.
Contents
Disclaimer
This page includes a summary of the official AQA A Level Art & Design: Fine Art (7202) specification, provided to support your revision. While we've made every effort to ensure accuracy, Save My Exams is not affiliated with the awarding body.
For the most complete and up-to-date information, we strongly recommend consulting the official AQA specification PDF.
Specification overview
AQA A-level Art & Design: Fine Art encourages students to develop personal, imaginative, creative, and intuitive capabilities through investigative, analytical, practical, technical, and expressive work. The course aims to foster independence in refining and communicating ideas, with an emphasis on enjoyment and engagement with the subject. Students gain experience with a range of media, understand the interrelationships of art, craft, and design, and explore real-world contexts and the creative industries. They also investigate historical and contemporary art in social, cultural, and ethical contexts, developing critical judgment and aesthetic understanding in preparation for further study or creative careers:contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}.Subject content breakdown
3.4 Fine Art
- Introduced to a variety of experiences exploring fine art media, processes, and techniques, using both traditional and new media.
- Explore drawing for different purposes, with a variety of methods, media, and scales.
- Practical and critical/contextual work must demonstrate understanding of styles, genres, and traditions from European and non-European art, craft, and design.
Areas of Study
- Drawing and painting
- Mixed-media, including collage and assemblage
- Sculpture
- Ceramics
- Installation
- Printmaking (relief, intaglio, screen processes, lithography)
- Moving image and photography
Skills and Techniques
- Record images by observation, analysis, expression, imagination.
- Awareness of audience or purpose.
- Understanding figurative/representational and abstract/non-representational genres.
- Master techniques like underpainting, glazing, wash, impasto, modelling, carving, constructing, assembling, welding, and print processes.
- Understanding pictorial space, composition, rhythm, scale, and structure.
- Appreciation of colour, line, tone, texture, shape, and form.
Knowledge and Understanding
- Convey meaning in images and artefacts.
- Study historical and contemporary developments and different styles/genres.
- Understand social, environmental, cultural, and ethical contexts.
- Recognise continuity and change in styles and traditions.
- Use specialist terminology relevant to fine art:contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}.
Assessment structure
Component 1: Personal Investigation
- Practical investigation with a written element.
- Focus identified by the student, leading to finished outcomes.
- Must demonstrate sustained reasoning, research, critical/contextual understanding, and development of ideas.
- Written work: 1000–3000 words, structured, with correct terminology and bibliography.
- Non-exam assessment (60% of A-level), marked by centre, moderated by AQA.
Component 2: Externally Set Assignment
- Choice of eight starting points provided by AQA on 1 February.
- Preparatory period followed by 15 hours supervised time.
- Outcome(s) produced under exam conditions.
- Non-exam assessment (40% of A-level), marked by centre, moderated by AQA.
Assessment Objectives (equally weighted)
- AO1: Develop ideas through focused investigations.
- AO2: Explore and select resources, refine ideas.
- AO3: Record observations and reflect critically.
- AO4: Present a personal, meaningful response.
Marking and Weighting
- Both components marked out of 96, scaled (Component 1 ×3; Component 2 ×2).
- Total scaled mark out of 480.
- Assessment based on evidence of meeting all four objectives across both practical and written work:contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}.
Key tips for success
Doing well in your AQA A Level Art & Design: Fine Art isn't just about how much you study, but how you study. Here are a few proven tips to help you stay on track
- Start with a clear plan: Break the subject into topics and create a revision schedule that allows enough time for each. Start early to avoid last-minute stress.
- Focus on understanding, not memorising: Use our revision notes to build a strong foundation in each topic, making sure you actually understand the material.
- Practise regularly: Attempt past papers to familiarise yourself with the exam format and timing. Mark your answers to see how close you are to full marks.
- Be strategic with your revision: Use exam questions by topic to focus on weaker areas, and flashcards to reinforce important facts and terminology.
- Learn from mistakes: Whether it's from mock exams or practice questions, spend time reviewing what went wrong and why. This helps prevent repeat mistakes in the real exam.
- Stay balanced: Don't forget to take regular breaks, eat well, and get enough sleep, a healthy routine makes revision much more effective.
With the right approach and consistent practice, you'll build confidence and improve your chances of exam success.
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