Technology Grade 9 Term 2 Question Paper May 2026

She whispered, “Bottom chord: tension. Top chord: compression. Diagonals: depends on load direction. But you got the triangle part right, right?”

was a mixture of short answers and diagrams. Question 2 showed a cross-section of a simple hydraulic press with two cylinders—a small master cylinder and a larger slave cylinder. The diagram was unlabeled, and the question read: “Identify parts A, B, and C and explain how force is multiplied in this system.” technology grade 9 term 2 question paper

With thirty minutes left, Thabo went back to the questions he’d skipped. He reread the bridge structural member one. Transfer loads. Yes. He filled it in. He checked his gear train diagram and added a label for the idler gear. He counted his marks: if he got half of Section A, half of B, most of C, a few in D, and full marks in E, he might just scrape 55%. A pass. She whispered, “Bottom chord: tension

He knew the answer: triangles are rigid. A rectangle can collapse into a parallelogram, but a triangle cannot change shape without changing the length of its sides. He wrote that down. But identifying tension and compression? He guessed. Top members = compression (pushing together). Bottom members = tension (pulling apart). He added a small note: “I think.” But you got the triangle part right, right

The final section, , was a wildcard. It showed a photograph of a broken wheelbarrow—one wooden handle cracked, the wheel bent, the tray rusted. The question: “List five improvements you would make to this wheelbarrow using modern materials and mechanisms. Justify each improvement.”

Thabo, meanwhile, was stuck on . There was a diagram of a roof truss—a complex web of triangles. Question 9 read: “Identify which members are in tension and which are in compression. Explain why triangles are used in trusses.”