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Phase 4 of 6

Build it and log your decisions

This is where most of the marks are won. Produce the outcome, and record every decision and problem while you are still in the middle of it.

Earns marks in
AO3 Develop and realise, AO1 Manage
Your route

AO3, Develop and realise, is 24 of the 60 marks, twice as much as any other objective. It covers using your skills and solving problems to make decisions and achieve what you planned. The decisions are the marks. A finished outcome with no record of how you got there throws away most of this phase, which is exactly what OCR's moderators report seeing.

Do this now

  1. Start, and work in the order you planned

    1. Take the stages from your Phase 3 plan and put the next one in front of you.
    2. Work in sessions with one goal each, and write the log entry at the end of the session while you still remember it.
    3. If you are stuck on where to start, start with the stage you understand best. Momentum matters more than order.

  2. Keep a decision log

    This is the single most valuable record in the project. Every time you make a choice, write four things.

    1. The problem or choice: what you had to decide, and when.
    2. The options: what you could have done, including the ones you rejected.
    3. The decision: what you actually did.
    4. The reason: why, and what evidence or advice it was based on.

    Do this for small choices too: a source you dropped, a section you reordered, a material you swapped. Moderators cannot credit thinking they cannot see. The toolkit has a full weak and stronger decision record side by side.

  3. Dissertation route

    Write in drafts that change something

    1. Write a full rough draft before you polish anything. A complete weak draft is more useful than two perfect chapters.
    2. Give each draft a job: one to get the argument down, one to test it against the sources, one to fix the writing.
    3. Save each draft as a separate dated file, and keep them all. The changes between drafts are your evidence of development.
    4. After each draft, write in your log what you changed and why.
    5. Keep the dissertation about the arguments, ideas and evidence. Your decisions, problems and reflections belong in the PPR and the log, not in the dissertation.
  4. Artefact route

    Make it, test it, then change it

    1. Build the prototype or run the rehearsal you planned, even if it is rough.
    2. Test it with real people where you can, and write down what actually happened, including what failed.
    3. Change the design in response to the test, and record what you changed and why. An artefact that never changed is an artefact that was never tested.
    4. Photograph or film each stage as you go. You cannot go back for this evidence later.
    5. Write the piece of about 1,000 words as you go. For an artefact, performance or event, moderators say it works best as a report on how you managed and developed the project.

  5. Use feedback, and record it

    1. Ask your supervisor to talk through your progress. They can discuss it with you, but they cannot give you written feedback, and they cannot mark or annotate your drafts.
    2. Ask peers or people with expert knowledge for their view. They must not give written feedback on your drafts or final work either.
    3. Write down what was said yourself, on the day, and record it in your PPR.
    4. Say what you did about it. Feedback you ignored is fine if you say why you ignored it.

  6. Complete the PPR Mid Project Review

    1. This is the third of the five required meetings with your supervisor.
    2. Go in with your progress against the time plan, the problems you have hit, and what you propose to do about them.
    3. Complete the Mid Project Review section of the PPR at the meeting. Every PPR section is explained in the toolkit.
    4. Write up the meeting in your log the same day.

  7. Change the plan when it is not working

    1. Check your progress against the time plan every week.
    2. If you are behind, decide what changes: the scope, the order, or the deadline for a stage.
    3. Record the change and the reason. Candidates who did less well "stuck to topics and plans even when they weren't on track".
    4. Never quietly drop an objective. Either meet it, or record why it changed and what replaced it.

  8. Reference while you produce, not afterwards

    1. Add the citation at the moment you use a source, every time.
    2. Keep the reference list growing in the same file as the outcome.
    3. Cite ideas you have put in your own words as well as quotations. Plagiarism is malpractice and can lead to a mark of zero.

  9. Keep the evidence as you go

    1. Save dated versions rather than overwriting one file.
    2. Keep test results, photographs, screenshots, feedback notes and failed attempts.
    3. Put them somewhere organised now, with names that say what they are. Phase 6 is much faster if the portfolio is half built already.

Record this for the marks

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

Decision log
each significant choice, with the options, the decision and the reason.
AO3
Drafts or stages
dated versions kept in order, so the development can be seen.
AO3
Problems
what went wrong, what you tried, and what finally worked.
AO3
Feedback
who you asked, what they said, what you did about it, recorded in your PPR.
AO3 AO4
PPR, Mid Project Review
completed and signed at the meeting.
AO1
Time plan changes
each change dated, with the reason.
AO1
References
added as you produce, in your chosen style.
AO2
Artefact routeMaking evidence
photographs or film of each stage, test results, and the written piece as it develops.
AO3

Worked example

A log entry that earns AO3 marks

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

Weak log entry

3 February. Worked on chapter 2. Went okay.

Stronger log entry

3 February. Chapter 2, second draft. Problem: my argument relied on Source 4, and when I checked its method it only sampled two supermarkets, so it cannot support a claim about the whole sector.

Options: drop the claim, soften it to "some supermarkets", or find a wider study.

Decision: searched for a wider dataset and found Source 11, a government release covering nine retailers. I have rewritten the claim around Source 11 and now use Source 4 only as an example.

Why: the point is central to my conclusion, so it needs evidence that covers the sector, not two shops. Next step: check whether Source 11 changes anything in chapter 3.

The stronger entry shows a problem, real options, a decision and a reason. That is what AO3 credits, and it takes about four minutes to write.

Common mistakes

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

  • Producing the outcome and writing the log afterwards

    Diaries "should not be drafted and improved". A tidied log reads as invented and cannot show real decisions.

    Instead write each entry on the day.

  • Recording activity instead of thinking

    "I read two articles. Success: reading two articles." is the weak example moderators quote.

    Instead add what you decided, why, and what you will do next.

  • Sticking to a plan that has stopped working

    Instead change it deliberately and record the change and the reason.

  • Asking for written feedback

    Your supervisor must not give written feedback or annotate drafts, and neither may peers or experts.

    Instead ask for a conversation, and write up what was said yourself.

  • Hiding the failures

    A test that failed and a section you rewrote are evidence of development.

    Instead record them, and say what you changed as a result.

  • Dissertation route

    Drafts that only fix typos

    Moderators find these less effective.

    Instead give each draft a purpose that changes the argument or the structure.

  • Dissertation route

    Turning the dissertation into the story of the project

    Moderators list this as a misconception.

    Instead keep the dissertation about arguments and evidence, and put the journey in your log and PPR.

  • Artefact route

    Making it without recording the making

    The finished object cannot show the decisions behind it.

    Instead photograph the stages and log the choices as you make them.

  • Artefact route

    Leaving the 1,000 word piece until the end

    Instead write it alongside the making, while you still remember why you did things.

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

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