The NEA as an Asset
How the A-level Geography Geographical Investigation and the A-level History Historical Investigation are chosen, chunked, supervised and submitted. Both give a fifth of the marks to independent work with no clock, on a question the learner chooses, drafted over months. For a learner whose strengths are depth, precision and sustained interest, this is the most favourable assessment format they will meet. The risk is not the difficulty of the work but the openness of it, and this guide closes the openness without touching the independence.
1. What the Specifications Require
The two investigations side by side, and the rules that govern what teachers may do.
Geographical Investigation
- 3,000 to 4,000 words; 60 marks; 20% of the A-level.
- Student-defined question linked to the specification and investigable through the learner's own fieldwork data.
- Introduction and context; methods; presentation; analysis; conclusion; evaluation.
Historical Investigation
- 3,500 to 4,500 words; 40 marks; 20% of the A-level.
- Student-defined question spanning around 100 years, not duplicating Components 1 or 2.
- Introduction; historiographical context; source analysis; interpretation analysis; substantiated conclusion.
What teachers may and may not do
- May guide the choice of question, methods and expected structure, and give general feedback on a first draft.
- May not edit, correct or write any part, or give detailed feedback on how to improve specific sections.
- Learners sign a declaration of authenticity; any AI use must be acknowledged; unacknowledged use is malpractice.
2. Barrier Matrix: Requirement to DDP Method
Why an open-ended project is the hardest kind of task for executive-function differences, and the DDP method for each failure point.
The Blank Question
Traditional Barrier: Choose your own question is an open field; learners either freeze or pick something too big to finish.
Interest, specification link, evidence check, question form. Completed on one sheet with the teacher present. The interest stays; only the size changes.
Four Thousand Words at Once
Traditional Barrier: A single deadline months away and a word count in the thousands, with periodic reminders to keep going.
Six dated gates. Each section has a word budget and its own document with a visible count. A bad week costs one section, not the project.
Open-Ended Reading
Traditional Barrier: Read around the topic has no finish line, and a chapter faced whole is a wall.
Every item read is logged as source, argument, evidence, use for my question. Six entries before the title is approved. Long texts are chunked with text-to-speech and a plan for which parts matter.
Composing Under Load
Traditional Barrier: Drafting by hand or typing from a blank page while also holding the argument in mind.
First drafts may be dictated; editing afterwards is the learner's own work. A reference manager is set up in week one so citations never become a final-week panic.
3. The Six Stage Gates
Walk the year in order. A learner who finishes a section early moves on; a learner who is behind has the plan adjusted with them, never by removing sections.
The Six Stage Gates
Budgets are guides so the learner always knows how much is expected; the only hard limits are AQA's word ranges.
4. Reference Tables
The funnel, the reading log entry and the tools that keep the work bounded.
| Step | Question asked | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Interest | What do you want to spend a year with? | Written in the learner's own words, however broad. |
| 2. Specification link | Which section does this belong to? (History: about 100 years, not examined content.) | Section named; span checked. |
| 3. Evidence check | What could you measure, where, on what days? Or: which sources and historians can you actually read? | Six items listed before approval. |
| 4. Question form | To what extent, how far, assess the view, how significant? | Title in a permitted form, signed off and recorded. |
| Tool | What it does | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| Reading log entry | Source, argument, evidence, use for my question. | Converts open reading into a bounded task; produces the bibliography. |
| Speech-to-text | Dictate first drafts of any section. | Dictation is a method of writing, not assistance; editing is the learner's own. |
| Reference manager | One citation format set up in week one. | Referencing is never a final-week panic. |
| Fortnightly check-in | Ten minutes, fixed agenda: which section, what is blocking, what before next time. | Stays within permitted guidance; no editing, no section-specific fixes. |
| Visual tracker | Stage gates shown as complete or not. | Progress visible; comparison between learners never shown. |
| Authenticity file | Planning sheets, log and dated drafts kept. | Evidence of authorship; AI use recorded and acknowledged as AQA requires. |
5. Personalised NEA Stage-Gate Record Builder
Toggle the adaptations in place for a learner's investigation and copy the record into their DDP.