Question 1

What is NCEA AS 91045 about?

Accepted Answer

This standard asks you to use planning tools (like Gantt charts, mind-maps, or action plans) to guide your work as you develop a technological outcome—either a design or a prototype—based on a brief you've been given or created. You need to show that you can establish stages, plan actions, and identify the important decisions you'll make along the way.

Question 2

What do students need to do for AS 91045?

Accepted Answer

1. Establish key stages for your project and identify what resources (time, materials, tools, information, skills) you'll need at each stage 2. Create a planning tool that maps out the specific actions you'll take within each stage of development 3. Identify and document the key planning decisions you need to make as you work towards your outcome 4. Use your planning tool to guide your actual technological work—show that you're following the plan and adjusting it as needed 5. For Merit and Excellence: add review points into your plan and explain how you'll revisit your decisions; for Excellence specifically, identify which review points are critical and prioritise your resources to ensure completion

Question 3

What's the difference between Achieved, Merit, and Excellence for AS 91045?

Accepted Answer

Achieved: You use a planning tool to map out the stages, actions, and key decisions for developing your technological outcome, and you follow this plan. Merit: You use planning tools to manage your development by building in review points and actually reviewing your key decisions as you work, showing the plan is helping you stay on track. Excellence: You identify which review points are absolutely critical for each stage and actively prioritise your resources to make sure the outcome gets finished, demonstrating sophisticated project management.

Question 4

What mistakes do students typically make in AS 91045?

Accepted Answer

1. Creating a planning tool but not actually using it—the plan must genuinely guide your work, not just exist as a separate document 2. Confusing stages of development with a simple to-do list—your stages need to show how the project breaks into meaningful chunks, with resources clearly allocated to each 3. Failing to identify or justify the key planning decisions—examiners need to see evidence that you've thought about what choices matter and how you made them

Planning tools

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