AQA GCSE Art & Design: Fine Art specification (8202)
Understanding the exam specification is key to doing well in your AQA GCSE 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 GCSE 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 GCSE Art & Design: Fine Art (8202) 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 GCSE Art & Design: Fine Art provides students with a dynamic and flexible framework that encourages creative exploration and engagement with a variety of media, processes, and techniques. It nurtures their ability to investigate and respond to ideas, themes, and issues of personal significance while fostering imagination, experimentation, and risk-taking. The course supports the development of critical understanding, practical skills, and knowledge of art, craft, and design in both historical and contemporary contexts. It is designed to build confidence and creativity, preparing students for further study and enabling them to express personal ideas through visual language:contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}.Subject content breakdown
3.5 Fine Art
Focuses on exploring ideas, conveying experiences, or responding to personal themes or issues.
Areas of Study
- Drawing
- Painting
- Sculpture
- Installation
- Lens-/light-based media
- Photography and moving image
- Printmaking
- Mixed media
- Land art
Knowledge and Understanding
- Study sources relevant to social, historical, cultural, environmental, and ethical contexts.
- Explore aesthetic, intellectual, and conceptual responses.
- Communicate through:
- Figurative representation, abstraction, stylisation, simplification, expression, exaggeration, imaginative interpretation.
- Visual elements: colour, line, form, tone, texture, shape, composition, rhythm, scale, structure, surface.
Skills
- Techniques and processes:
- Mark-making, printmaking, assemblage, construction, carving, film, video, digital methods.
- Media and materials:
- Charcoal, pastels, pen, ink, crayons, pencil, various paints, found materials, clay, wood, metal, digital imagery, different papers and surfaces:contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}.
Assessment structure
Component 1: Portfolio
- A sustained project showing creative development from initial engagement to realisation.
- Includes further work such as experiments, workshops, responses to visits, or independent study.
- Must evidence all four assessment objectives.
- No time limit, worth 96 marks (60% of GCSE).
- Assessed by the centre and moderated by AQA.
Component 2: Externally Set Assignment
- Choice of seven starting points provided by AQA.
- Preparatory period starting 2 January, followed by 10 hours supervised time.
- Must show a personal, meaningful response with evidence of all four assessment objectives.
- Worth 96 marks (40% of GCSE).
- Assessed by the centre and moderated by AQA.
Assessment Objectives (equally weighted)
- AO1: Develop ideas through investigations.
- AO2: Refine ideas by exploring and experimenting.
- AO3: Record observations and insights with annotation.
- AO4: Present a personal, meaningful response.
Marking and Weighting
- Each component marked out of 96, scaled (Component 1 ×3; Component 2 ×2).
- Total scaled mark out of 480.
- Quality of making underpins all assessment objectives:contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}.
Key tips for success
Doing well in your AQA GCSE 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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