The drawing question
Every one of the four sample papers — two Higher, two Ordinary — puts drawing at the centre of the written examination. But the drawing task has changed character. This page sets out what the sample papers actually ask for, what the new format rewards, and how to prepare students for it. It is written for teachers of the new subject: the analysis is for planning, and the method, conventions and practice sections are designed to go straight to the classroom wall.
From drawing a section to completing one
The old Construction Studies drawing question asked candidates to produce a full construction detail from scratch, typically a vertical section at Scale 1:10 — a rehearsed drawing reproduced under time pressure. The Construction Technology sample papers do something different.
A blank space and a specification. The candidate draws the whole vertical section from scratch at Scale 1:10.
What it rewarded: a well-memorised standard detail and the drafting speed to reproduce it.
A partial vertical section is given, at the larger Scale 1:5. Using drawing equipment, the candidate completes it, labels each added component, and adds the detailing that keeps moisture out or heat in at the junction.
What it rewards: reading the given drawing, continuing every layer correctly through the junction, and understanding what each component is for.
What the format rewards
A memorised full section no longer fits the task, because the given drawing sets the terms: its scale, its wall build-up, its conventions, and the exact point where each layer stops. Four abilities carry the marks.
The given half of the section is information: what the build-up is, which conventions are in use, and where the drawing has been cut. The answer starts with reading, not drawing.
Every layer that arrives at the edge of the given drawing — structure, insulation, membranes, finishes — must continue correctly through the junction. Junctions are where continuity is tested.
Added components must be labelled. A candidate who cannot say what a part is for cannot place it or name it — component function is drawn knowledge, not recall.
The final instruction is consistently the same: show the detailing that prevents moisture getting in, or heat getting out, at the junction. Protection is the point of the detail.
Two wall systems, for now
There are many structural systems available and in use in Ireland — masonry cavity wall, timber frame, insulated concrete formwork, light-gauge steel, and a growing family of modern methods of construction. The sampled question 1 details, however, are all drawn on concrete block cavity walls, with timber frame appearing elsewhere in the papers.
For question 1 practice, this page therefore limits itself to two systems: the concrete block cavity wall and the timber frame cavity wall (timber frame inner structure with a masonry outer leaf). Until the examination takes us somewhere else, these two carry the practice load.
What each sample paper asks for
Paraphrased from the four SEC sample papers. In each Higher paper the complete-the-detail task sits inside the compulsory 80-mark question; drawing then runs right through the optional questions in other forms.
A partial vertical section through the abutment where a lean-to porch roof meets an external wall of 400 mm cavity blockwork with a full-fill insulated cavity. With drawing equipment, at Scale 1:5: complete the detail, label each added component, and show the detailing that keeps moisture out of the roof–wall junction.
The given drawing: the lean-to roof and the external wall arrive at the abutment and stop — the junction between them is the answer. Extract from SEC sample paper, Higher level sample 1.
Sketch-and-note answers on entrance access designed for lifetime use, and on how an airtightness test is carried out on a dwelling.
A well-proportioned sketch of a chosen site showing house position, orientation, entrance and driveway, with justification; an annotated layout of an on-site wastewater treatment system with three typical dimensions; a single-line diagram of a heating and hot-water system built around an air-to-water heat pump, with pipe sizes to the manifold; and an annotated high-performance external wall showing insulation position and three typical dimensions.
The annual cost of heat lost through a ground floor — working from U-value, floor area, temperature difference, heating hours, the heat pump's coefficient of performance, and the electricity tariff.
A partial vertical section through a 450 mm full-fill cavity wall and a triple-glazed fixed-frame window. With drawing equipment, at Scale 1:5: complete the construction detail, label each added component, and show the detailing that keeps rainwater out at the sill.
The given drawing: triple glazing above, cavity wall below — the sill, frame, head and the closing of the cavity are the candidate's to draw. Extract from SEC sample paper, Higher level sample 2.
A half-section through a partially drawn cut roof: add and label the structural members — collar tie, strut, purlin, hanger, runner — with typical dimensions, then classify members as in compression or tension. And a vertical section through a closed-string stairs, also at Scale 1:5: complete the bottom steps with drawing equipment, showing steps, string and balusters, with labels and typical dimensions.
On a given ground-floor plan, position the mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) unit and draw a ducting layout with the airflow direction marked, then explain how the system works.
Annotated sketches of an insulated foundation system suited to firm clay ground; a detail showing how first-floor joists are supported at a timber-frame wall; sketch-and-note answers on weather resilience, harmony with the site, glazing technology and photovoltaic panels; and a roof U-value calculation built from a resistance table.
The compulsory question centres on a flat roof: a vertical section through the eaves and cavity wall is given with five components labelled — name each one and give the function of four of them. The drawing is read and explained rather than produced.
The given drawing: a completed flat-roof eaves with five components flagged A to E for naming (answer spaces removed). Extract from SEC sample paper, Ordinary level sample 1.
At a wall–window junction, identify the labelled components and state their functions, then sketch the detailing that keeps rainwater out at a circled point on the drawing.
Sketch a shower area, toilet, wash basin and grab rails onto a given bathroom plan designed around a user with limited mobility — labelling each item and justifying each position. Complete a heating drawing so that pipework, pumps and valves connect a wood-pellet stove to radiators on two floors.
An annotated alternative wall build-up with two typical dimensions, accessible entrance features, an easy-use tap design, PPE items, safety around machinery, and a design modification to improve garden access.
The compulsory question gives a partial vertical section of a dwelling with a 400 mm full-fill cavity wall. Complete the insulated ground floor from the compacted hardcore up to the finished floor, label each added component, and show the detailing that limits heat loss where the floor meets the wall. The paper states it directly: the detail is not to scale, and the completed work should be in proportion to what is given. That is the Ordinary level register — proportion and correctness, not scaled drafting.
The given drawing: wall and foundation stand ready; the floor build-up from compacted hardcore to finished floor is the candidate's to complete — in proportion. Extract from SEC sample paper, Ordinary level sample 2.
Mark the position of steel reinforcement on a given strip-foundation drawing. At a trussed-rafter and wall junction, identify the labelled components, state their functions, and add high insulation at ceiling level, specifying type and thickness. On a stairs section, match components to labels and add a detail that prevents creaking.
Complete a site map with the house position, entrance and driveway, justifying each; draw a single-line hot-water pipework diagram with all necessary valves; and arrange a kitchen layout on a given plan with each position justified.
Answering a complete-the-detail question
The task has a reliable internal order — the same order the instructions themselves follow. Teach it in this order and have students answer in it; the four steps are written to be projected as they stand.
Identify every component already drawn, the scale, the conventions in use, and the exact point where each layer stops. The given drawing is the specification for your answer.
Take each layer that arrives at the edge — structure, insulation, membranes, finishes — and carry it correctly through the junction. No layer simply stops; each one continues, returns, laps or is closed deliberately.
Every added component is named. Labelling is where component knowledge becomes visible to the examiner — and where a correct drawing without names leaves marks behind.
Add the detailing that keeps moisture out or heat in at the junction, and annotate what it does. The protective detail is not decoration; it is the reason the question chose that junction.
The details to practise, from the ground up
Worked in this order, the details build a complete dwelling from foundation to roof — each one a junction where layers meet and performance is decided. Set each one as a family of tasks for your students: give a partial section — complete it, label it, protect it.
Strip foundation, rising walls and the insulated ground floor from hardcore to finish — damp-proofing and heat loss at the base of the dwelling.
The level-access threshold — DPC continuity, thermal bridging and drainage where the floor meets the door.
The glazed opening in the cavity wall — keeping rainwater out at the sill, carrying loads at the head, continuity around the frame.
The pitched roof at the wall plate — ventilation, insulation continuity and the closing of the cavity at the top of the wall.
The flat-roof build-up at the wall head — component names and functions through the deck, insulation and covering.
A lean-to or flat roof meeting a rising wall — flashings and moisture protection where the roof plane meets blockwork.
A vertical section through the bottom steps — steps, string, balusters and newel, with labels, dimensions and regulation awareness.
Level distinction: at Higher level the completion tasks specify drawing equipment and Scale 1:5. At Ordinary level the demand is a completed detail in proportion to the given drawing, with correct components correctly labelled.
Drawing conventions for the completed detail
A completed detail should read at a glance, and it reads through two systems of convention: colour and hatching. These are the conventions used throughout the book, and they are worth making habitual in your classroom from the first practice detail.
Lineweight: two weights, both thin
Two lineweights are all a completed detail needs, and the contrast between them comes from the grade of pencil, not from a thicker line. All lines stay thin — a 0.5 mm lead is ideal.
Hatching is drawn light, with a hard pencil. It identifies the material without competing with the lines that define it.
Outlines, components and labels are drawn at normal weight with an HB. The eye reads the construction first, the material second.
Colour: three lines, everything else in pencil
Colour is information. The three coloured lines are the three continuous barriers every junction must carry — and chasing each one through the junction without a break is precisely the discipline the complete-the-detail question examines.
Every damp-proof line: the damp-proof course in the walls and the damp-proof membrane under the floor. Red must run continuous, lapped where course meets membrane.
The airtightness line: plaster, membranes and tapes that close the envelope against uncontrolled air leakage. Trace it around the whole section without lifting the pen.
The weathertightness line: breather membranes, roofing membranes and felts that shed wind-driven rain while letting the construction breathe.
Structure, insulation, finishes, labels and dimensions all stay in pencil. If a line is coloured, it is one of the three barriers — no exceptions.
A note on colour generally: the given drawings in the sample papers are printed in generous colour — a presentation choice that helps a printed paper, but not a model to imitate in an answer. A completed detail is stronger the more disciplined its colour: three coloured lines that mean something, and everything else in pencil.
Hatching: one convention per material
Each material in a section carries its own hatching, so an unlabelled area still identifies itself. The twelve conventions used in the book:
Quilted insulation
Masonry
Reinforced concrete
Rigid insulation
Sand
Hardcore
Soil
Planed timber
Rough timber
DPC / DPM always in red
Airtightness layer always in blue
Weathertightness layer e.g. roofing membrane — always in green
The other drawing genres
Complete-the-detail is the flagship task, but it is not where most of the drawing marks live. Across all four papers, drawing takes five recurring forms.
The dominant format on every paper, at both levels. Access features, airtightness testing, wall build-ups, weather resilience, safety practice, design proposals — the sketch carries the explanation and the note completes it.
MVHR unit and ducting on a floor plan, heating pipework with pumps and valves, single-line hot-water diagrams, site maps with house and driveway positions, and room layouts placed and justified.
A well-proportioned sketch of a chosen site with house position, orientation, entrance and driveway — judgement drawn and then justified in words.
Strongest at Ordinary level: name the labelled components on a given section, state their functions, classify members as in compression or tension. Understanding a drawing is assessed as directly as producing one.
At Higher level, the drawing sits alongside numbers: a roof U-value built from a resistance table, and the annual cost of heat loss through a floor. The detail drawn and the performance calculated are the same knowledge.
Prepared July 2026. This analysis is based on the four published SEC sample papers for Leaving Certificate Construction Technology (Higher and Ordinary level), the new subject arriving in schools from 2026. Sample papers indicate intent; live examination papers may differ in format, junctions sampled, and emphasis. All question descriptions above are paraphrased; the drawing extracts are reproduced from the SEC sample papers for teaching purposes and remain © State Examinations Commission.