OCR EPQ Guide
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Phase 3 of 6

Plan the outcome

Decide exactly what you are producing, work out everything you need to produce it, and get it written into your PPR before you start making it.

Assigned as
Task 8: Identifying resources required
Earns marks in
AO1 Manage, AO3 Develop and realise
Your route

AO1 covers designing and planning the project, and AO3 covers using your skills to achieve what you planned. Both depend on a plan specific enough to work from. This is also where the Initial Planning section of your PPR is completed, at a meeting with your supervisor, so it is evidence a moderator will definitely see.

Do this now

  1. Confirm what you are producing

    OCR allows four kinds of outcome: a report of findings from an investigation or study, a dissertation of about 5,000 words, an artefact, or a performance or event.

    1. Write one sentence naming your outcome exactly. "A 5,000 word dissertation answering my question" or "A board game plus a 1,000 word report".
    2. Check the writing that goes with it. A dissertation is the writing. Every other outcome also needs a piece of extended writing of about 1,000 words, and the PPR describes that as a minimum.
    3. Check it still matches the title and aim on your Verification of Topic and Title form. If it has changed, record the change and the reason in your log.
    4. The dissertation guide of about 5,000 words is a guide. You are not specifically penalised for going over it.
  2. Dissertation route

    Plan the shape of the outcome

    1. Write your question at the top of a page, then list the sections that will answer it.
    2. For each section, write the point it makes and the sources that support it.
    3. Plan where you deal with the arguments against your view. A dissertation that never meets the other side cannot reach a supported judgement.
    4. Plan the conclusion last, and make sure it answers the question you asked rather than summarising the topic.
    5. Keep your decisions, problems and reflections out of the dissertation. Moderators list "a dissertation is a report on the EPQ journey" as a misconception. Those belong in your PPR and log.
  3. Artefact route

    Plan the shape of the outcome

    1. Write your brief at the top of a page: what you are making or running, who it is for, and what it must achieve.
    2. Break the making into stages, and say what "finished" looks like for each one.
    3. Plan at least one prototype, test or rehearsal before the final version, and decide who will test it.
    4. Plan the written piece of about 1,000 words now, not at the end. For an artefact, performance or event, moderators say it works best as a report on how you managed and developed the project.
    5. If your outcome is a report of an investigation or study, plan the investigation first, then the sections of the report.

  4. List every resource you need

    This is where "identifying resources required" is done properly. Go through your plan stage by stage and write down what each stage needs.

    1. Information: the sources, databases or archives you still need, and anything you must pay for or request.
    2. Equipment and materials: everything physical, with a rough cost and where it comes from.
    3. Software and tools: including anything your centre must install or license for you.
    4. People: supervisors, experts, interviewees, testers, an audience, or anyone whose permission you need.
    5. Places and time: rooms, workshops, labs or venues you have to book, and when they are free.
    6. For each item, record four things: whether you already have it, how you will get it, what it costs, and how long it takes to arrive or arrange.
    7. Write a backup for anything that could fail. If the interview falls through or the material does not arrive, what do you do instead?

  5. Check the ethics and the risks

    1. If people are involved, plan informed consent: tell them what the project is, what you will do with their contribution, and that they can withdraw.
    2. Keep personal information confidential, and do not collect anything you do not need.
    3. If anyone under 18 or any vulnerable person is involved, agree the arrangements with your supervisor first.
    4. Write a risk assessment for anything physical: tools, equipment, locations, events, or working alone.
    5. Record what you decided and why, even where you decided there was no risk.

  6. Plan how you will judge the finished outcome

    You have to evaluate this project in Phase 6, and that is far easier if you decide the test now.

    1. Write down how you will know whether each objective was met.
    2. Decide what evidence you will keep as you go: photographs, drafts, test results, feedback forms, screenshots.
      • Dissertation routePlan the drafts, and plan what each one is for. Moderators find drafts that only correct typos less useful than drafts that change the argument.
      • Artefact routePlan what you will measure when you test, and record the result each time, including the failures.

  7. Complete the PPR Initial Planning section

    1. Take your plan, your resources list and your updated time plan to your initial planning meeting.
    2. Complete the Initial Planning section of the PPR with your supervisor. It is one of the five required meetings. The PPR and activity log shows where it sits among the other sections.
    3. Remember your supervisor can discuss the plan with you but cannot give written feedback on it, so write down what was said yourself.
    4. Write up the meeting in your log on the same day: what you discussed, what you decided, and what changed.

  8. Update your time plan

    1. Add every stage from this plan to your time plan, each with its own deadline.
    2. Add the lead times you found in step 3. Ordering, booking and arranging take longer than students expect.
    3. Leave time before the deadline for the presentation and the final evaluation, which are separate pieces of work.
    4. Save the new version and keep the old one, so the change is visible.

Record this for the marks

What a moderator needs to see from this phase, where it goes, and the assessment objective it counts towards.

PPR, Initial Planning
completed at the meeting with your supervisor, and signed.
AO1
Outcome statement
one sentence naming exactly what you will produce, plus the extended writing if your outcome needs it.
AO1
Outcome plan
the section plan or the making stages, with what each stage produces.
AO1 AO3
Resources list
what you need, whether you have it, how you get it, what it costs and how long it takes.
AO1
Ethics and risk
consent arrangements, permissions and any risk assessment, with your reasoning.
AO1
Success measures
how you will decide whether each objective was met, written down now.
AO1
Time plan, new version
dated, with the old version kept.
AO1
Activity log
the planning decisions, the problems you expect, and your backups.
AO3

Worked example

A resources list a moderator can use

Invented for this guide to show the technique. It is not real student work.

Weak list

Books, the internet, my laptop, art supplies.

Stronger list
Need Have it? How I get it Cost Lead time
Two academic articles behind a paywall No Request through the college library Free Up to 2 weeks
Card, dice and counters for two prototypes No Order online, or the design department About 25 pounds 5 days
Year 7 testers, six of them No Ask Head of Year 7 for permission, then a form tutor Free 2 weeks, plus consent letters
A room for testing, twice No Book through reception Free 1 week
Design software Yes Already installed at home Free None

Backup: if the Year 7 testing is not approved in time, test with two adults and a Year 9 group instead, and say in the evaluation how that changed the result.

The stronger list can be acted on. It shows what has to be arranged, what could go wrong, and what happens if it does.

Common mistakes

What OCR's moderators report going wrong at this stage, and what to do instead.

  • Deciding on an artefact late

    Moderators say artefacts "need to be planned for from the beginning of the project" and "cannot be substituted at the last minute without proper planning".

    Instead decide the outcome now and plan the making in stages.

  • Forgetting the writing that goes with the outcome

    Every outcome except a dissertation needs about 1,000 words as well.

    Instead plan it now and write it as you go.

  • A resources list that says "books and the internet"

    It shows no planning and cannot be acted on.

    Instead list specific items with cost, source and lead time.

  • Ignoring how long things take to arrange

    Permissions, orders and room bookings are the most common reason a plan slips.

    Instead write the lead time next to every item and build it into the time plan.

  • Leaving ethics until the day you collect data

    Instead agree consent, confidentiality and any risk assessment with your supervisor before anything is collected or built.

  • No way of judging the outcome at the end

    If you never decide what success looks like, your Phase 6 evaluation becomes an opinion.

    Instead write the measures down now.

  • Dissertation route

    Planning chapters that describe rather than argue

    A set of summaries cannot reach a judgement.

    Instead plan each section around the point it makes and the evidence for it.

  • Artefact route

    Planning to make it once, perfectly

    Instead plan a prototype or rehearsal, plan the test, and plan time to change it afterwards.

Sources: OCR H857 moderators' report, Summer 2023, OCR H857 moderators' report, Summer 2024, OCR H857 moderators' report, Summer 2025

Checklist before you move on