Are students required to draw on their own experiences when designing an investigation for the research methods paper?

Yes – students must relate their investigations to their own experience if they want to access the top band. Their answers must address all the bullet points given in the exam paper (these are called Required Features (RF’s)), relate the investigation to their own experiences, and justify their choices – this could be strengths and weaknesses, giving context as to why those choices are the most appropriate.

Candidate exemplars are available on Teach Cambridge under Assessment, Candidate exemplars.