Clarification details
Updated December 2016. This document has been updated in its entirety to address new issues that have arisen from moderation.
Flow Diagrams
A flow diagram that shows the interactions between processing operations and tests needs to be created and executed. The inclusion of feedback loops (that allow for modifications) and the parallel execution of operations will support the complexity expected at this level.
Students should modify the flow diagram in response to testing feedback. During processing, students could annotate their flow diagram to show evidence of corrective responses to testing procedures and ongoing modifications.
Health and Safety plans
Students are required to develop and implement a health and safety plan – this is described in Explanatory Note 10. Such a plan could include the details found in a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan.
The health and safety plan could also recognise considerations such as the correct clothing to be worn for processing, personal hygiene procedures and personal safety. It could also describe the necessary safe storage conditions and shelf life of the completed product.
Yield and Financial Costs
Students should be calculating yield and financial costs. Yield is based on the quantities of ingredients/materials that are combined to make the product.
Students should calculate actual financial costs (See Explanatory Note 9) per unit of finished product. For Merit, students need to predict costs and compare these to the actual costs on a ‘per unit of finished product’ basis.
Quality Assurance Plan
At this level, students should be interpreting the desired properties of the end product and determining appropriate processing operations, tests and responses to ensure success.
Replicate measurements
Replicate measurements are tests undertaken to measure item-to-item variation. To replicate measurements, randomly selected samples need to be tested for the desired properties, and then the same tests need to be repeated during an identical but different processing run. Testing for desired properties in a single sample or a set of randomly selected samples from the same production run or consecutive runs does not allow this happen.
Merit and Excellence
Assessors are required to make judgements about the application of techniques and testing procedures. Teacher attestation, annotations, and/or verification are ways for the assessor to confirm judgements around independence and accuracy (for Merit), and working in a manner that economises time, effort and materials (Excellence). These annotations could be derived from classroom observation and/or discussions with students. Further information is available in the implements clarification.