SBA Topic Examples & Inspiration

Stuck for a topic? Here are battle-tested SBA themes grouped by elective combination.

For 2A + 2B (most common combo)

Topic	What you build	Key tables
School library	Loan / return / overdue reports	Member, Book, Loan, Fine
Inventory manager	Stock in/out, low-stock alerts	Item, Movement, Supplier
Restaurant reservation	Tables, time slots, customer view	Table, Reservation, Customer
Class homework checklist	Per-student task list with deadlines	User, Task, Subject
Personal weight tracker	Daily logs with charts	User, Log, Goal
Mini e-shop	Catalogue + cart + order	Product, Cart, Order, OrderItem
Voting system	Candidate, vote, results	Candidate, Voter, Vote
Movie review site	Reviews + ratings + comments	Movie, User, Review, Comment
Sports event registration	Events, participants, results	Event, Participant, Result
Volunteer hours log	Recording and approving hours	Volunteer, Activity, Hour

For 2A only (database-focused)

• Membership card system with renewal cycles
• Hospital appointment scheduler with conflict detection
• Bus route + fare lookup with multi-leg journeys
• Hotel booking with seasonal pricing rules
• Class teacher's parent-meeting slot booking

For 2B only (web-focused)

• Static personal portfolio with a backend contact form
• Bulletin board for class announcements
• Mini blog where teacher posts and students comment
• Lightweight survey tool with public sharing link
• Live poll for school events using AJAX

For 2C only (algorithm-focused)

• Maze solver using BFS
• Tic-tac-toe with minimax AI
• Quiz game that randomises questions from a CSV
• Sensor data logger that detects threshold breaches
• File de-duplication tool that hashes files

How to choose

1. Pick something you actually care about. 30 hours of work is too long for a topic you find boring.
2. Match your skill level. A small system done well scores better than a large system half-broken.
3. Ensure data exists. If the topic needs realistic data, can you generate at least 30 rows yourself?
4. Talk to your teacher. They know what the moderation panel rewards.

Topic clichés to avoid (or differentiate well)

• "Pet care app" — done to death. Make yours unique (e.g. focus on vaccination reminders).
• "Music library" — Spotify exists. Add a clear classroom angle.
• "Calendar" — overlaps with Google Calendar. Show a feature Google doesn't have.

Sample database for SBA brainstorming

Below is a tiny dataset you can paste into SQL Books right now to test query ideas:

CREATE TABLE Member (
  member_id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
  name      VARCHAR(50),
  joined_on DATE
);

INSERT INTO Member VALUES
  (1, 'Alice', '2025-09-01'),
  (2, 'Bob',   '2025-09-15'),
  (3, 'Carol', '2025-10-03');

CREATE TABLE Activity (
  act_id   INTEGER PRIMARY KEY,
  member_id INTEGER,
  topic    VARCHAR(50),
  hours    DECIMAL(4,1),
  on_date  DATE,
  FOREIGN KEY (member_id) REFERENCES Member(member_id)
);

INSERT INTO Activity VALUES
  (101, 1, 'Tutoring', 2.0, '2025-10-05'),
  (102, 2, 'Cleanup',  3.5, '2025-10-08'),
  (103, 1, 'Library',  1.5, '2025-10-09'),
  (104, 3, 'Tutoring', 2.0, '2025-10-12');

-- Report: total hours per member
SELECT m.name, COALESCE(SUM(a.hours), 0) AS total_hours
FROM   Member m LEFT OUTER JOIN Activity a ON m.member_id = a.member_id
GROUP  BY m.member_id, m.name
ORDER  BY total_hours DESC;

Run that in SQL Books to see your first report come alive. Iterate, then port to your PHP app.

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