The May/June 2019 CSEC Technical Drawing Building Drawing Paper 02 is a 2-hour-40-minute practical examination with two compulsory tasks: a 1:50 working drawing of a single-storey house floor plan and a proportional pictorial sketch of a straight-flight staircase. Candidates may use traditional drawing instruments or computer-aided drafting (CAD). The paper copy available for review is an indexed third-party copy rather than an official CXC-hosted scan.
What the 2019 Building Drawing Paper 02 contains
| Question | Marks | Required work |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 90 | A single-storey house floor plan drawn at a scale of 1:50, with building conventions, fixtures, openings, labels and dimensions. |
| 2 | 30 | A neat, proportional pictorial sketch of a straight-flight staircase with a handrail on one side and labelled parts. |
The 90- and 30-mark figures are the allocations printed in this examination paper, not general statistics about the subject. Candidates must answer both questions.
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Question 1: the 1:50 house floor plan
This is the paper’s main working-drawing task. You are given a single-line plan of a one-storey house and must convert it into a finished building drawing. The instruction is to use appropriate building conventions and apply judgement where a detail or dimension is not directly shown.
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- Exterior and interior wall thicknesses.
- Windows, doors and correctly drawn door swings.
- The kitchen countertop, upper cabinets, stove, sink and refrigerator.
- The bathroom face basin set in a counter, toilet and shower.
- Stairs with a handrail.
- Every room’s name and room sizes.
- Two overall building dimensions.
- A suitable drawing title and the 1:50 scale.
The supplied paper includes dimensions for walls, doors, windows, counters, the sink, stove, refrigerator, bathroom counter, stair treads and handrail. Details that are not explicitly dimensioned are left to the candidate’s reasonable judgement. Geometrical construction lines should remain visible, as directed on the paper.
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What a 1:50 scale requires
At 1:50, one unit on the drawing represents 50 of the same units in the building. Keep the scale consistent for the plan and use a metric scale rule or CAD drawing units carefully. Do not change scale between the overall plan, fixtures and openings unless the question expressly requires a separate detail.
Building conventions to apply
Use clear line hierarchy so the plan reads as a building drawing: walls should be unambiguous, openings should read as openings, door arcs should show the direction of swing, and built-in fittings should be recognisable without becoming heavier than the structural information. Place room labels and sizes where they remain legible and do not obscure walls or fixtures.
Question 2: the proportional staircase sketch
The second task asks for a neat pictorial sketch of the shown straight-flight staircase, including a handrail on one side. It is a communication drawing rather than a fully dimensioned construction plan.
Labels required
- One riser
- One tread
- The nosing
- The handrail
- Two landings
Keep the repeated steps visually consistent, maintain a believable rise-and-run relationship, and attach labels with clean leader lines. The handrail must be shown on one side, as specified by the paper.
Choosing traditional drawing or CAD
The examination permits either method, so preparation depends on the method available to you and the method you can execute accurately within the time limit.
Traditional-method equipment
The paper calls for two sheets of drawing paper, drawing instruments, a drawing board and T-square, and a metric scale rule. CXC syllabus guidance additionally lists a drawing board or suitable drawing desk, half-imperial T-square, set squares, protractor, scales, French curves, drawing clips, a drawing instrument set, hand towel or cheesecloth, eraser, and HB, F, H and 2H pencils.
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A technical drawing instrument set is a practical search term when assembling traditional equipment, but the sources do not endorse a particular manufacturer or set, and CAD candidates do not need this purchase.
CAD-method equipment
For CAD, the paper specifies a personal computer with monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer and computer-aided drafting software. Each answer must also be saved electronically. Confirm in advance how files will be named, where they will be stored and how a printed copy will be produced, because a correct drawing that cannot be retrieved or printed creates an avoidable risk.
A preparation and time strategy
- Practise the 1:50 workflow. Recreate a small residential plan from a single-line layout, converting every supplied dimension before drawing.
- Build a convention checklist. Check wall thicknesses, openings, door swings, fixtures, stairs, labels, room sizes, title, scale and two overall dimensions.
- Practise the staircase sketch separately. Draw a straight flight repeatedly until the risers, treads, nosing, landings and one-sided handrail can be labelled neatly without erasing the structure.
- Allocate time by marks. Question 1 carries three times the marks of Question 2, but both are compulsory. Reserve enough time to finish and label the staircase rather than leaving it incomplete.
- Do a final legibility check. Confirm that construction lines remain visible where required, labels can be read, dimensions are complete and the selected method has produced the required saved or printed answer.
How this paper fits the CSEC subject
Technical Drawing covers geometric construction, descriptive geometry, engineering design and graphics, and drafting applications in electrical, mechanical, manufacturing and construction contexts. CXC describes the subject as developing spatial visualisation and technical communication, with applications including architecture, surveying, civil engineering, interior design, construction and manufacturing. The Building Drawing option applies those skills to a residential plan and a staircase rather than to the Mechanical Drawing option.
For official preparation, use CXC’s Technical Drawing syllabus, specimen paper, mark scheme and subject reports, together with its general examination-support materials. Supplementary revision books and practice papers can help, but check that they match the Building Drawing option and the required method.
Bottom line for candidates
Prepare for two different kinds of accuracy: disciplined scale, conventions and annotation in the 90-mark floor plan, and proportional visual communication in the 30-mark staircase sketch. Decide early between traditional drawing and CAD, practise the exact equipment workflow you will use, and treat labels, dimensions, title, scale and saved output as part of the answer rather than finishing touches.
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