Computer Science

Level 3 Pathway - In order to enrol onto our Level 3 courses, students must have achieved a minimum of 5 grade 4s at GCSE Level across 4 different subject areas; this should ideally include a Grade 4 for English Language and Mathematics.

It is important that students also pay attention to any individual subject entry requirements.

It may be that a small number of students are recommended to sit AS qualifications at the end of Year 12 in order to inform decisions about progression into Year 13, however these AS examinations are standalone and do not contribute to the overall A Level qualification.

Why?

Computer Science is a practical subject where students can apply academic principles learned in the classroom to real-world systems. This is an intensely creative subject that combines invention and excitement which will help students to develop the skills to solve problems, design systems and understand the power and limits of human and machine intelligence. This Computer Science qualification will be the best preparation for students who want to go on to study Computer Science at degree level and will also provide a good grounding for other subject areas that require computational thinking and analytical skills.

Course Structure

The course consists of the following units:

Computing Systems (40%) - Assessed by an examination (2hr 30 mins). It will cover the characteristics of contemporary systems architecture and other areas including the following:

• The characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices
• Software and software development
• Exchanging data
• Data types, data structures and algorithms
• Legal, moral, ethical and cultural issues

Algorithms and Programming (40%)- Assessed by an examination (2hr 30 mins). There will be a short scenario contained in the paper, which could be an algorithm or a text page-based task, which will involve problem solving. Areas covered include:

• Elements of computational thinking
• Problem solving and programming
• Algorithms to solve problems and standard algorithms

Programming Project (20%) - This will be a portfolio based assessment. Students will choose a programming problem to work through according to the guidance in the specification for which they will need to develop a solution using an appropriate programming language (for example Python). Students will need to analyse the problem, design a solution, implement the solution and give a thorough evaluation.

Extended Learning
Students will need to devote a significant amount of time out of lessons to progress with their programming skills which is critical to their success. This will involve completing both online and workbook tutorials. In addition there will be a range of extended learning tasks that will include research activities and practice exam questions.

Ideally Grade 5 GCSE Computer Science (or equivalent) plus Grade 6 GCSE Mathematics