How the 85 marks of A2 Nutrition and Food Science split between the compulsory question and your chosen essays, why named examples beat general themes, and the regulatory terms candidates keep mixing up.
読了時間 3 分更新日: 2026年9月3日
試験の概要
試験数
1
満点
85
制限時間
2時間 30分
出題形式
8
試験
時間
配点
問題数
配点比率
出題形式
A2 1: Food Security and Sustainability, or Food Safety and Quality
2時間 30分
85
4
30%
Short structured outline (Section A part a), Extended structured response (Section A part b), Extended synoptic essay, choose 3 of 4 (Section B)
評価段階
A*ABCDEU
電卓の規定
Calculators are permitted for this paper. Most of the marks are in extended writing, but where a question gives you data to interpret, for example a table of food waste, contamination or cost figures, the standard JCQ rule still applies: no retrievable information stored in the calculator, including saved formulae, notes or programs. Clear your calculator's memory before the exam and switch on exam mode if it has one.
AO1: AO1: knowledge and understanding of the specified content (20%)
AO2: AO2: the ability to apply knowledge, understanding and skills in a variety of situations and to analyse problems, issues and situations using appropriate skills (50%)
AO3: AO3: the ability to gather, organise and select information, evaluate acquired knowledge and understanding, and present and justify an argument (30%)
目的: Get the percentage change between a before and after figure, such as food waste tonnage before and after an intervention, without a separate written formula.
使う場面: For questions giving before-and-after figures and asking for a percentage change.
手順
When a question gives you before-and-after figures, such as food waste tonnage before and after an intervention, key the calculation as one sequence: new figure, minus, old figure, equals, divide, old figure, multiply, 100, equals. This gives you the percentage change directly without needing a separate written formula.
試験での注意: Perform this live from the figures printed in the question. No formula, template or prior working may already be stored in the calculator when the exam begins, which is a JCQ rule that applies across all CCEA exams.
Live proportion calculation
目的: Get what proportion of a total a figure represents, such as the share of a population affected by food insecurity.
使う場面: For questions asking what proportion or percentage of a total a given figure represents.
手順
To find what proportion of a total a figure represents, for example the share of a population affected by food insecurity, key the part, divide, the whole, multiply, 100, equals, as one continuous sequence rather than estimating.
試験での注意: This is a live, on-the-spot calculation from data given in the exam. Nothing may be stored in the calculator's memory beforehand, including saved figures or formulae, under CCEA and JCQ rules.
よくあるミス
1high影響する配点: 8Food waste and sustainability
Covering only one side of a two-part essay stem, for example detailing the environmental impacts of food waste while barely mentioning the ethical issues the same question asks for.
回避方法: Plan both required elements as two labelled sections before you write, and check your word count is roughly balanced between them once you have finished.
2high影響する配点: 4Food safety and quality
Writing a Section B essay on chemical or microbiological safety without naming a specific example, such as the mycotoxins patulin or ochratoxin A, or the additives aspartame or MSG.
回避方法: Learn two or three named examples for each major topic in your option and use their proper names in your essay rather than describing the category alone.
3medium影響する配点: 2Chemical contamination
Confusing the regulatory terms Maximum Residue Limit, Acceptable Daily Intake and Tolerable Daily Intake when discussing chemical safety limits.
回避方法: Fix each term to what it actually limits: MRL is a residue level in a specific food, ADI is a daily intake judged safe over a lifetime, TDI is the equivalent for a contaminant rather than an intentional additive.
4medium影響する配点: 3Food sustainability
Giving a superficial, descriptive answer instead of an analytical one, for example stating that monocropping harms the environment without explaining how it causes soil erosion and nutrient depletion.
回避方法: After every claim, add one sentence explaining the process that causes it, not just the fact that it happens.
5medium影響する配点: 2Allergens
Treating food allergy and food intolerance as the same thing, when an allergy is an immune-mediated response and an intolerance is not.
回避方法: State the mechanism whenever the distinction matters: allergy involves the immune system reacting to a protein, intolerance does not.
6medium影響する配点: 3Controls and legislation
Assuming Environmental Health Practitioners only carry out reactive restaurant inspections, missing their broader statutory duties in drinking water surveillance, food sampling and outbreak tracing.
回避方法: Learn the full range of a named body's statutory duties, not just its most familiar role, before you use it as evidence in an essay.
7high影響する配点: 4Paper technique
Treating Section A part (b), worth 15 marks, as a set of brief notes rather than an extended, coherent piece of analysis.
回避方法: Write Section A part (b) in full paragraphs with the same structure you would use for a Section B essay, since it carries almost as many marks as one.
8high影響する配点: 4Quality of written communication
Losing Level 4 marks through poor structure, repetitive points and a lack of precise, subject-specific terminology in the 20-mark essays.
回避方法: Plan each essay in named paragraphs before you write, and use the correct technical term the first time a concept appears rather than an everyday substitute.