| Exam Board | AQA |
|---|---|
| Module | Further Paper 3 Discrete (Further Paper 3 Discrete) |
| Session | Specimen |
| Marks | 7 |
| Paper | Download PDF ↗ |
| Mark scheme | Download PDF ↗ |
| Topic | Critical Path Analysis |
| Type | Effect of activity delay/change |
| Difficulty | Moderate -0.3 This is a straightforward critical path analysis question requiring standard forward/backward pass calculations and identifying which critical activity to reduce. Part (b) only requires testing activities on the critical path, and part (c) asks for a standard limitation discussion. While it's Further Maths content, it's a routine application of the CPA algorithm with no novel problem-solving required. |
| Spec | 7.05a Critical path analysis: activity on arc networks7.05b Forward and backward pass: earliest/latest times, critical activities7.05c Total float: calculation and interpretation |
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
| Correct earliest start time for each activity | B1 | |
| Correct latest finish time for each activity | B1 |
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
| Evaluates effect of reducing duration of one activity on project completion time | M1 | Reducing activity \(E\) duration to 1 hour reduces project completion time to 14 hours; all other activities reduce it to 15 hours or more |
| Compares effects of reducing each critical activity on project completion time | M1 | |
| Activity \(E\) clearly identified | R1 | From correct reasoning |
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|---|---|---|
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
| Correctly identifies a limitation in context of the project | B1 | e.g. time between one activity ending and the next starting not accounted for, as workers may need to travel to a different location |
| Explains how the identified limitation affects project in time or monetary terms | E1 | e.g. travelling time will cause subsequent activities to be delayed, increasing project completion time |
## Question 3(a):
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|--------|-------|----------|
| Correct earliest start time for each activity | B1 | |
| Correct latest finish time for each activity | B1 | |
---
## Question 3(b):
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|--------|-------|----------|
| Evaluates effect of reducing duration of one activity on project completion time | M1 | Reducing activity $E$ duration to 1 hour reduces project completion time to 14 hours; all other activities reduce it to 15 hours or more |
| Compares effects of reducing each critical activity on project completion time | M1 | |
| Activity $E$ clearly identified | R1 | From correct reasoning |
---
## Question 3(c):
| Answer | Marks | Guidance |
|--------|-------|----------|
| Correctly identifies a limitation in context of the project | B1 | e.g. time between one activity ending and the next starting not accounted for, as workers may need to travel to a different location |
| Explains how the identified limitation affects project in time or monetary terms | E1 | e.g. travelling time will cause subsequent activities to be delayed, increasing project completion time |
**Total: 7 marks**3 Deva Construction Ltd undertakes a small building project. The activity network for this project is shown below in Figure 1, where each activity's duration is given in hours.
\begin{figure}[h]
\begin{center}
\captionsetup{labelformat=empty}
\caption{Figure 1}
\includegraphics[alt={},max width=\textwidth]{88669bc0-9d3f-431a-8939-8aef2682412b-04_844_1428_552_395}
\end{center}
\end{figure}
3
\begin{enumerate}[label=(\alph*)]
\item Complete the activity network for the building project.
3
\item Deva Construction Ltd is able to reduce the duration of a single activity to 1 hour by using specialist equipment.
State, with a reason, which activity should have its duration reduced to 1 hour in order to minimise the completion time for the building project.\\
3
\item State one limitation in the building project used by Deva Construction Ltd.
Explain how this limitation affects the project.\\[0pt]
[2 marks]
\end{enumerate}
\hfill \mbox{\textit{AQA Further Paper 3 Discrete Q3 [7]}}