QCE Engineering past exams 2020–2025, by year and topic

The rest of the syllabus

Question-level mapping for these areas is still being verified. Every official paper covering them is in the year table above.

• Unit 3 Topic 1 — Civil structures in society (internal assessment) — The problem-solving process in Engineering applied to a complex open-ended structural problem involving truss structures · The scope of civil engineering across coastal, construction, environmental, water resource, structural and transport engineering sub-disciplines · Engineering innovation in civil structures: smart structures that cool, warm and reduce power consumption; composite building materials that reduce weight while maintaining strength; simplified and safer building techniques · Technological developments affecting the sustainability of structures in communities experiencing environmental extremes (cold, heat, tropical storms, drought, flood): 3D-printed buildings, micro-modular housing, prefabrication and on-site assembly, smart structures, intelligent structural systems, automation · Common construction and processing materials used in civil structures: timber, rock, earth, brick, concrete and steel · Environmental implications of common building materials: loss of habitat, erosion, extractive industries/mining, demolition including recycling and disposal · Ethical issues for sustainability, reliability and the environment applied to structures · Corrosion: corrosive environments; dry, wet and stress corrosion; corrosion protection by galvanising, sacrificial anode and coatings · Life cycle effects on society and the environment for timber, concrete, composites, glass, bricks or plastics across materials acquisition, processing, manufacture, transport, maintenance/operation and reuse/recycle/disposal
• Unit 3 Topic 2 — Civil structures and forces (internal assessment) — Beam reactions at pin and roller supports for vertical, horizontal and angled forces · Simple truss frame forms: actions (loads), reactions at supports with horizontal, vertical and angled loading considered · Method of joints and method of sections, using both graphical and analytical methods · Bending stress induced by point loads: the concepts of shear force and bending moment · Construction of shear force and bending moment diagrams for vertical point loads only (at the end or the middle) · Factor of safety = yield stress / allowable working stress
• Unit 3 Topic 3 — Civil engineering materials (internal assessment) — Material properties (toughness, hardness, brittleness, ductility, tensile and compressive strength) of glass, bricks, wood vs timber, laminates (LVL, plywood, fibreglass), polymers, concrete and steel · Stress (sigma = F/A), strain (epsilon = deltaL/L, a unitless ratio) and Young's modulus (E = FL/A deltaL = stress/strain) · Factor of safety and ultimate tensile strength (UTS = maximum load / original cross-sectional area) · Stress-strain diagrams for timber (softwood and hardwood) and low-carbon steel: shear, compressive and tensile stress; yield stress, proof stress, toughness, resilience, ductility, stiffness and elasticity (Young's modulus), proportional limit (Hooke's law) and UTS · Tension, compression, transverse and shear tests contrasted · Materials testing: tension, compression, hardness, transverse, shear, impact, fatigue and torsion · Engineering materials in civil structures: concrete composition, concrete reinforcement, pre- and post-tensioning
• Unit 4 Topic 1 — Machines in society (external assessment scope) — The problem-solving process in Engineering applied to a complex open-ended machines and mechanism problem involving machines, mechanisms and control technology · The scope of knowledge required in engineering careers involving machines and mechanisms: mechanical, mechatronic and biomechanical engineering · How engineers use expertise and knowledge of technology, mechanics, materials science and control technologies to benefit communities
• Unit 4 Topic 2 — Machines, mechanisms and control (external assessment scope) — Function and purpose of basic machines: bicycle, car jack, crowbar · Four types of motion: linear, rotary, oscillatory and reciprocating · Mechanical advantage MA = load/effort = FL/FE and velocity ratio VR = dE/dL; VR of screws = circumference/pitch = 2(pi)r/P · Inclined planes and screws; levers (first, second and third order); simple pulley systems (fixed and moveable, one continuous rope) where MA or VR equals the number of ropes supporting the load · Belts (flat and V) connecting a driver and driven pulley: VR = driven/driver dimension = input speed/output speed · Spur, worm, and rack and pinion gears: GR or VR = driven/driver (radius, diameter, circumference or number of teeth) = angular movement of driver/angular movement of driven · Work done W = Fs and power P = W/t · Energy sources and conversions: total mechanical energy = KE + PE, KE = 1/2 mv^2, PE = mgh · Energy efficiency eta = useful output/input x 100% = MA/VR x 100% · Equations of uniformly accelerated motion in one dimension: v = u + at, v^2 = u^2 + 2as, s = ut + 1/2 at^2 · Friction as a force opposing motion; coefficient of friction, normal force and angle of repose: mu_s = tan(theta), Ff = mu FN · Static versus kinetic friction: Ff = mu_s FN and Ff = mu_k FN in integrated linear motion problems · One-body systems in motion on an inclined plane, at uniform velocity and uniform acceleration · Logic control: AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR and XOR gates, standard symbols, and truth tables (logical true, false, identity and negation) · Logic gate circuit diagrams and corresponding truth tables for specified conditions, e.g. traffic lights, boom gates, thermostatically controlled systems, sun-tracking solar panels, solar-powered devices · Series circuits: R_total = R1 + R2 + ..., V_total = V1 + V2 + ..., V = IR · Parallel circuits: 1/R_total = 1/R1 + 1/R2 + ..., I_total = I1 + I2 + ..., V = IR · Electrical power P = VI and energy E = Pt · Electrical power efficiency eta = Pout/Pin x 100% and electrical energy efficiency eta = Eout/Ein x 100%
• Unit 4 Topic 3 — Materials (external assessment scope) — Lead-tin thermal-equilibrium phase diagram: eutectic reaction (composition and temperature), single- and two-phase regions, chemical composition of the phases, hypoeutectic and hypereutectic compositions · The lever rule for binary alloys with complete solid insolubility and partial solid solubility, used to find percentages and compositions of solid and liquid · Microstructures of the steel portion of the iron-carbon equilibrium phase diagram (approximately 2.1% carbon or less): austenite, cementite, ferrite and pearlite for eutectoid, hypoeutectoid and hypereutectoid steel · Plain-carbon steels and their applications: low-carbon steel 0.07-0.30% C (automobile body parts, wire products, structural plates and sections, seamless tubes, boiler plate); medium-carbon steel 0.30-0.60% C (shafts, axles, gears, crankshafts, stampings and forgings, train rails, wheels); high-carbon steel 0.60-2.0% C (springs and wires, cutting tools, punches, dies, industrial knives) · Effects of processing on ferrous grain structure: hot and cold working (rolling, forging), full and process annealing, normalising, hardening (water, oil, air and furnace cooling; the martensitic reaction and rate of cooling for eutectoid 0.83% carbon steel) and tempering to tempered martensite · Engineering plastics: ABS, polycarbonate (PC) and polyamide (PA6/nylon 6) — their mechanical properties and current uses