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Paper 1 is the first examination you'll encounter in your IB Design Technology assessments. In this post, we will provide a thorough breakdown of IB Design Technology Paper 1 according to the new requirements for the first assessment in 2027, exploring the questions you may encounter and offering valuable tips on how to tackle them effectively.
IB Design Technology Paper 1
Paper 1 accounts for 20% of the total grade at SL and 25% at HL.
SL students have 1 hour to complete the assessment, while HL students have 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Paper 1 is composed of multiple-choice questions covering material from design in theory, design in practice, and design in context.
Each question is worth 1 mark.
SL students answer 30 questions, while HL students answer 40 questions.
The use of calculators is permitted for this paper.
Typical SL questions may look like the following:
Which of the following is a physical property of a material?
A. Flammability
B. Reactivity
C. Density
D. Corrosion resistance
Which of the following is a physical property of a material?
A. Flammability
B. Reactivity
C. Density
D. Corrosion resistance
Which stage of the design process involves creating a problem statement to define design intentions?
A. Empathize
B. Defining the project
C. Ideation and modelling
D. Presenting a solution
Typical HL questions may look like the following:
What is the term for a ratio of a structure's absolute strength to its allowable load?
A. Young’s Modulus
B. Safety Factor
C. Yield strength
D. Ultimate strength
Which DfM strategy specifically considers how components of a product can be separated at the end of its life?
A. Design for process
B. Design for assembly
C. Design for disassembly
D. Design for manufacture
Which electronic component is used as a programmable integrated circuit to carry out various processing tasks?
A. Operational amplifier
B. Capacitor
C. Microcontroller
D. Transistor
How to succeed in Design Technology Paper 1?
This paper tests a broad range of knowledge across the three pillars of the course: design in theory, practice, and context. Students must be familiar with principles and terminology, as questions are designed to test understanding and application of course content.
Because the paper includes questions on "design in context," students should be prepared to stay informed about emerging technologies and respond to questions that test syllabus-based knowledge within a changing technological world. Furthermore, the paper requires students to demonstrate conceptual understanding, such as identifying examples of a concept or using conceptual understanding to predict outcomes and justify conclusions. Regular practice with multiple-choice questions is essential to ensure you can efficiently identify the correct response and manage your time within the limit.
We hope you found this post helpful in learning more about IB Design Technology Paper 1. For more useful materials associated with the IB, check out the wide variety of IA, EE and TOK exemplars available at Clastify and other guides available on our blog.
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