Master slide vs slide layout
A master slide is edited ONCE and applies to every slide built from it: heading/subheading styles, bullet symbols, background colour, an automated slide-number field (updates itself, never re-typed), slide header/footer text, and the placeholders available. A slide layout is only one arrangement of those placeholders (e.g. "Title Slide", "Title and Content") chosen for a single slide. Editing the master changes every slide; changing its layout changes only that one.
Objects you can insert on a slide
The syllabus names a fixed object set: text, images, video clips, animated images (a looping GIF, not a video), charts, tables, audio, symbols, and drawn lines, arrows and callout boxes. Two features attach to objects: a hyperlink jumps selected text to a slide, file, website or email; an action button is a ready-made shape with a built-in navigation action. Alt text describes an image for a screen reader; a screentip is the hover tooltip on a hyperlink.
Presenter notes, transitions and output
Presenter notes sit in the Notes area for a slide -- seen by the presenter or printed as Notes Pages, but NEVER shown to the audience. A transition is the effect between two WHOLE slides; an animation is an effect on ONE object within a slide; both should be used consistently. Output the show as a looped carousel (last slide back to the first, unattended) or presenter-controlled, or print it as full-page slides, presenter-notes pages, or handouts.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Slide header ≠ page header
When identification details must appear on every slide, set them once in the presentation's slide header/footer so they apply to all slides. Do NOT type them onto one slide by hand, and do not confuse the slide header with a page header from a word-processed document, which is not part of a slideshow at all. Check any slide added afterwards still shows them.
Id details required on the slide header of every slide, not a page header (w23 P02 Q23/Q24).
Presenter notes belong in the Notes area
"Add presenter notes" means typing into the slide's dedicated Notes area, not making the text part of the visible slide. As an extra bullet or text box ON the slide, the audience sees it; as a general document comment, it is not attached to the slide and will not print on the Notes Pages. Confirm with a Notes Pages preview that the text sits beneath the slide image.
Speaker notes must be produced as notes, not a slide comment, extra bullet, or typed on the slide (s23 P21 Q30).
Hyperlink only the exact words named
A hyperlink task names the exact words to carry the link and the exact target. Linking the WHOLE line fails even if clicking works -- the mark scheme checks which characters are the active (underlined/coloured) link. The target must be exact too: the correct slide, or an email address WITH any required subject line. "Close enough" on the words or the target loses the mark.
Hyperlink the exact two words to the correct target (slide/email + subject), not the whole line (w23 P02 Q30, s23 P21 Q31).
Master slide ≠ slide layout
The master slide is the ONE template controlling all formatting; a slide layout is only the placeholder arrangement for one slide. Editing the master changes every slide; applying a layout changes that one. Asked what the master controls, name specific elements (styles, bullets, background, numbering, header/footer, placeholders); the vague word "formatting" does not score.
Hiding a slide ≠ deleting it
Hiding a slide keeps it saved in the file but skips it during a normal run-through -- it can still be shown manually or unhidden later. Deleting a slide removes it permanently. When a task says a slide should be skipped but kept, use hide, not delete; deleting loses the slide (and any later requirement to reveal it), which cannot be undone once the file is saved.
Transition ≠ animation
A transition is the effect that plays between two WHOLE slides; an animation is an effect applied to ONE object within a slide (e.g. a bullet flying in). Naming the wrong one loses the mark. The syllabus also expects both to be applied consistently across the presentation -- varying the effect on every slide is treated as poor practice, not creativity.
Alt text ≠ screentip
Alternative text describes an image's content for a screen reader, or shows if the image fails to load -- an accessibility/fallback description attached to the image. A screentip is the short tooltip shown when the mouse hovers over a hyperlink before it is clicked. They attach to different objects and serve different purposes, so do not use one to define the other.
Work a table task as a checklist
Table tasks bundle several requirements, so tick each off: exact rows × columns (3×6); exact row height (2 cm, via the row-height property, not dragged); named cell effects (merge, rotate, white-on-black); a PLAIN style so gridlines show; and print only the specified slides.
Import from the text file, do not retype
To create a presentation from a supplied text file, import it so each heading becomes a slide title and the indented text becomes that slide's bulleted list, rather than retyping every slide by hand. Retyping wastes time and risks transcription errors the mark scheme penalises.
Unattended run needs loop AND timings
For an unattended looped carousel, set TWO things: loop continuously (last slide back to the first) AND automatic slide timings so it advances itself. A presenter-led run advances only on a click/keypress and does not loop. Naming only one setting is incomplete.
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