Question 14
Explain how a mechanical engineer might use the problem-solving process to develop a solution for automotive components in a production line to be automatically pressed and moved. Support your response with two areas of engineering expertise the engineer could draw on.
The press line is built phase by phase, and three phases plus two areas of expertise make five marks
Watch the engineer take the line from a problem to a working, tested press. The tally on the right fills one box for each phase the guide rewards, then one for each area of expertise.
The syllabus names four phases. The guide pays for explore, for develop or generate, and for evaluate or refine, so three phase sentences and two expertise sentences cover the five marks.
Build the answer one sentence at a time and watch the marks
Tap a sentence to add it to your answer, and tap it again to take it out. The marking guide ticks each dot point your answer earns. The 2026 syllabus allows up to 150 words per question, so the counter keeps you honest.
Nothing written yet. Start with the explore phase.
appropriately explains how a mechanical engineer might use the problem-solving process, using wording that indicates
Work through the solution one mark at a time
Write your own sentence for each step before you reveal it. The quoted wording is QCAA’s sample response.
All five marks sit under one dot point: “appropriately explains how a mechanical engineer might use the problem-solving process, using wording that indicates” the items below. The Notes add: An appropriate explanation conveys an understanding of the concepts and principles involved in the explanation, using the required indicative wording.
Use the word explore, or wording that plainly means it, and attach it to this production line.
“A mechanical engineer might explore similar problems involving machines that automatically press and move components from one location to another in the automotive manufacturing industry.”
Marker: phases of the problem-solving process in engineering … explore
One mark covers either develop or generate, so one sentence that moves from ideas to a prototype is enough.
“They would determine solution success criteria to develop, test and evaluate ideas and a prototype…”
Marker: phases of the problem-solving process in engineering … develop or generate
Close the loop. The solution is judged against the success criteria and improved.
“A solution to the problem would then be manufactured and refined after evaluation of its function using success criteria.”
Marker: phases of the problem-solving process in engineering … evaluate or refine
The sample’s first area is materials science, tied to what happens to the metal in the press.
“…using knowledge of how metal is plasticly deformed into components…”
That is QCAA’s spelling. Write plastically.
- mechanics, e.g. forces, velocity, friction
- material properties, e.g. tensile strength, toughness, stiffness
- control technologies, e.g. automation, electronics, robotics
- other suitable response consistent with a reasonable understanding.
Marker: one area of engineering expertise
The second area has to be a different one. The sample uses control technology.
“…and how movement sensors control the function of automated stamping machines.”
A mechanical engineer might explore similar problems involving machines that automatically press and move components from one location to another in the automotive manufacturing industry.
They would determine solution success criteria to develop, test and evaluate ideas and a prototype, using knowledge of how metal is plasticly deformed into components, and how movement sensors control the function of automated stamping machines.
A solution to the problem would then be manufactured and refined after evaluation of its function using success criteria.
Five marks in 80 words. The two areas of expertise sit inside the develop sentence, which is efficient but easy to miss. Separate sentences make each mark easier to find.
Marker: another area of engineering expertise
Each phrase of the question gave you something
The question names a process and a context and leaves you to join them. It tells you nothing about how the line should work, so you have to invent the engineer’s path through it. QCAA did not publish a band for this question. It reads as complex unfamiliar because the 2023 subject report says some written questions were complex unfamiliar, and this is the written question that gives the least to work from.
If I had to guess where you might lose marks, it would be describing the press line and never naming the phases. The marks are for “wording that indicates” explore, develop or generate, and evaluate or refine, so use those words. Running the process is internal assessment work and stays out of the exam, but explaining how an engineer would use it is still examinable in 2026, and the revised Topic 1 now opens with it.
Only mark this done when you could do it without help. Reading the solution does not count.
Question wording, any figures and marking-guide steps are from the 2023 QCAA Engineering external assessment, © State of Queensland (QCAA) 2023, licensed under CC BY 4.0, and have been adapted, except where a third-party source is named. Tangent Tuition is not affiliated with the QCAA.
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