Brief Explanation
The technical solution marks are actually awarded based upon two distinct aspects. There are 15 marks available for the 'Completeness of solution' and 27 marks available for the 'Techniques used'.
The key evidence that you need to provide for this section is your commented program code. Good commenting and the use of self-documenting techniques for programming, such as meaningful identifiers, will make this section easier to assess.
When including the program code, it is helpful if it is broken down into titled sections and perhaps indexed to aid the identification of evidence. You are free to include any other evidence that might highlight the technical quality of the work completed.
Completeness of solution (15 marks)
Marks are awarded based upon how much of the system you have actually created yourself. Anything that has not been made entirely by you should be adequately referenced. To enable this section to be assessed, it is of vital importance that you have produced a sound and detailed set of objectives in the analysis and that appropriate testing has been carried out to evidence the achievement of the objectives. This is marked on the basis of how complete your project is according to your objectives. Do not be fooled into thinking that if you complete all of your objectives then this will be a high mark, as the quality and difficulty of your actual objectives are also taken into account.
Techniques used (27 marks)
This section assesses the technical skills demonstrated in the solution you have created. Most of this will be deemed simply by looking at the commented code, however some other sections will also impact on this mark:
- The design section should include evidence of the data structures and algorithms that you intended to use.
- Comments should be included in the program code to highlight where you have used specific techniques.
- You should make the skills obvious to a marker in one form or another. You could produce a skills list as part of the technical solution to sit alongside your commented code as evidence.
Mark Scheme (Completeness of solution - 15 marks)
Mark Scheme (Techniques used - 27 marks)