Design and Technology GCSE
Built-in Obsolescence
What Built-in Obsolescence means in Design and Technology GCSE, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of Built-in Obsolescence
Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.
A manufacturing strategy where a product is deliberately designed to have a limited useful life, forcing the consumer to replace it.
Designing a product with an artificially limited useful life.
Topics that use Built-in Obsolescence
- Systems: Design contexts (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
- Systems: The sources, origins, physical and working properties of components and systems and their social and ecological footprint (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
Related terms
- Surface Mount Technology (SMT)
- Microcontroller
- RoHS Directive
- System
- Through-Hole Technology (THT)
- WEEE Directive
- Analogue Signal
- Digital Signal
Using Built-in Obsolescence in the exam
Definition questions usually carry one or two marks, and examiners look for the precise wording. Write the definition from memory, check it against the version above, and then use the term in a longer answer on the same topic so it sticks.
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