Did you know that the design project contributes 70% of G1 Design and Technology? For 2027 SEC school candidates, G1 D&T uses K124. The subject connects everyday needs with ideas developed through designing and prototyping.
The one-hour written paper contributes 30%; the individual design project runs for 20 weeks from question-paper release, excluding school holidays. Start by confirming the school’s offer and project arrangements, then discuss whether the student enjoys investigating how a proposed solution could work.
Want the examination details? Go to the assessment table. Choosing the subject? Read the fit questions. Ready for a small next step? Try the study routine, or open the all-subject G1/G2/G3 directory.
Scope: 2027 SEC school-candidate syllabus, checked 10 October 2026. Confirm the school offer and the correct examination-year document for your cohort. Practice examples are our suggestions, not official specimen questions or placement tests.
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Understand the subject · Chapters 1–3
Choose and study · Chapters 4–5
Write down G1 D&T, K124 and the examination year. A Posting Group does not name every subject syllabus. If the labels are unclear, use the Posting Group guide.
For other D&T routes, read the G2/G3 comparison. Their paper weights and requirements differ, so take practice instructions from the registered level.
Ask the school about selection criteria, supervised practical work and access to facilities. Bring the subject-combination form and the student’s weekly commitments. Clear arrangements help the child understand what the course will involve.
For a child entering Secondary 1 in 2027, obtain the school’s current teaching programme. A 2027 national-examination syllabus refers to that examination cohort; use the correct graduating-year specification when it becomes available.
| K124 component | Duration and format | Subject weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Paper 1: written examination | 1h; 50 raw marks | 30% |
| Paper 2: individual design project | 20 weeks, excluding school holidays; 70 raw marks | 70% |
The written paper includes design application and technology questions on mechanisms and electronics. The project comprises a Design Journal and Presentation Board; mock-ups and the resulting prototype are submitted as part of the journal.
Source: the official K124 syllabus. Use the teacher’s project guidance and full submission instructions.
Ask for the actual school milestones. A calendar period is different from a count of working hours. Identify when the student should clarify the need, develop an idea or review progress, and which stages require school facilities.
Ask the student about a small inconvenience they noticed. Can they describe who experiences it, where it happens and what would be better? That gives a design idea a specific purpose.
Then ask what they would need to find out before proposing a change. The answer might involve the user, available space or the way an object is handled. Listen for curiosity about the situation, not only enthusiasm for building something.
This suggested conversation is not a selection test. Ask the teacher how the child currently handles sketching, explanation and practical organisation, and which skill should develop next.
Discuss willingness to revise. A first idea may look promising while leaving a practical problem unresolved. The learner needs room to notice that difficulty and make a reasoned change. Parents can encourage curiosity when an attempt reveals something unexpected.
Here is our illustrative independent exercise: sketch a place to keep a fictional student’s school bag beside a desk. Define the need: easy access while keeping the walkway clear. Keep this separate from examination coursework.
Draw two arrangements. On each, mark the desk, chair, bag and walkway. Ask whether the person can move between the chair and the walkway without the bag obstructing the route.
Now alter one condition: the bag is larger than expected. Which arrangement still fits the stated need? The learner can revise a sketch and explain the effect without using workshop tools.
Record the decision: what changed, why it changed and which question remains. This connects an observation with a next action. Follow the teacher’s guidance for any practical modelling or tool use.
Help the child maintain a short list of dates, questions and next actions. A helpful entry names the task and what would count as completion. “Finish the project” is too broad to guide the next lesson.
For independent study, use a teacher-approved question and pair a labelled sketch with a brief explanation. Check whether the labels and explanation refer to the same parts and functions.
Ask what the student learned from an attempt. Keep assessed decisions and production with the learner, following the teacher’s rules on assistance. Organisation support can be useful without rewriting their journal or making the prototype.
If progress stalls, identify whether the difficulty concerns the need, the representation, the technology or the plan. Use the syllabus-reading guide to connect that question with the current component.
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- What Is G1 Computing in Secondary School?
- What Is G1 Art in Secondary School?
- What Is G1 Nutrition and Food Science?
See every G1, G2 and G3 syllabus · Compare SEC elective choices
Official sources
For the learning approach behind this series, read Secondary 1 Mathematics Tutor Clementi · Small Groups Tutorials. It explains why identifying the precise learning gap helps a student build a stronger next step.