Computer Science

The Computer Science specification will above all else be relevant to the modern and changing world of computing.

OCR 2 Year A Level The specification will:

• Focus on programming, building on IGCSE

Computer Science and emphasise the importance of computational thinking as a discipline.

• Have an expanded maths focus, much of which will be embedded within the course. • Put computational thinking at its core, helping to develop the skills to solve problems, design systems and understand human and machine intelligence.

• Allow you to apply the academic principles learned in the classroom to real-world systems in an exciting and engaging manner.

1. Computer Systems

• The characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices • Software and software development • Exchanging data

• Data types, data structures and algorithms • Legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues

Mix of question types: including short-answer, longer-answer, and banded mark-scheme-type questions. 2. Algorithms and Programming

• Elements of computational thinking • Problem solving and programming • Algorithms

Section A: Traditional questions concerning computational thinking. Section B: Scenario/task contained in the paper, which could be an algorithm but will involve problem solving.

Mix of question types including short-answer, longer-answer, and levels of mark-scheme-type questions. 3. Programming

Project

• Analysis of the problem

• Design of the solution

• Implementation of the solution

• Evaluation

Candidates and / or centres select their own user-driven problem of an appropriate size and complexity to solve. This will enable them to demonstrate the skills and knowledge necessary to meet the assessment objectives.

Assessment

Component 1. Computer Systems 2. Algorithms and Programming 3. Programming Project Assessment Externally marked question paper Externally marked question paper Internally assessed, externally moderated

% 40% 40% 20%

Marks and Duration 140 marks / 2 hr 30 min 140 marks / 2 hr 30 min 70 marks