PW runs 28 weeks in groups of 4 to 5, is marked half on the group and half on the individual, and its grade is banked before the A-Level written season even starts.
By Marcus Toh · 2026-02-19
Project Work is the A-Level's coursework subject: groups of 4 to 5 students spend 28 weeks, a recommended 60 to 75 hours, addressing a real world problem or opportunity, working either on a set theme or an area the group chooses, with a Marketplace of Ideas offering real problem statements to draw from. Every candidate is assessed both as a group member and as an individual.
| Component | What it is | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Paper 1a: Project Summary | A group written summary of about 1,200 words, documenting the problem, proposed ideas, analysis and research | 30%, group mark |
| Paper 1b: Individual Reflection | A personal written reflection of about 400 words, analysing the group's ideas or the candidate's own learning | 20%, individual mark |
| Paper 2: Oral Presentation | Each member presents part of the project, then the group fields the assessors' questions, up to 25 minutes for groups of 4 and 30 for groups of 5 | 50%: 20 group, 30 individual |
Read the weights carefully, because they answer the question every JC1 student asks: what if my group is weak? Half the total mark is individually earned, the reflection and the individual portion of the presentation, so a strong candidate in a struggling group still controls 50% of their own outcome, and the oral presentation alone carries as much weight as everything written.
PW is typically carried as an H1 unit inside the standard 10 to 12 unit load, and because it is assessed through the coursework year, its grade is effectively banked before the November season begins. That is why it never appears in the A-Level exam timetable, and why the students who treat the weekly 2.5 hours seriously buy themselves a lighter JC2.
PW is the subject students respect least and complain about most, and both come from the same misunderstanding: they grade it against the exam subjects and conclude it is a distraction. Flip the frame. PW is the one A-Level grade a student can secure through pure consistency, no exam nerves, no October crunch, just 28 weeks of showing up, and the oral presentation is the closest thing to a job skill the A-Level certificate carries.
My honest advice for the group anxiety, because every JC1 has it: pick teammates for reliability over brilliance if you get a say, agree the meeting rhythm in week one, and remember the design protects you, half the marks are yours alone. And parents, when your child grumbles about PW meetings eating a Saturday, that grumble is the sound of a grade being banked early. It is the cheapest A on the certificate for the student who simply keeps turning up.
Two documents: the group's Project Summary of about 1,200 words, with sources acknowledged, and each candidate's Individual Reflection of about 400 words. The assessed criteria are named in the syllabus: critical thinking, inventive thinking and information skills for the summary, and critical and inventive thinking for the reflection.
A syllabus feature: groups working on either the set theme or their own area may draw project ideas from real world problem statements made available through the Marketplace of Ideas, which grounds projects in problems that actually exist rather than invented ones.
The syllabus caps it at 25 minutes for a group of 4 and 30 minutes for a group of 5, covering each member's individual segment plus the group's responses to the assessors' questions, and it carries half the subject's total marks.