Computer Science

Specification: OCR

GCE A Level in Computer Science

Computer Science requires students to have good mathematical and problem-solving skills and will develop their computational thinking, including:

• Thinking recursively

• Thinking procedurally

• Thinking logically

• Thinking concurrently

• Thinking abstractly

Unit 1: Computing Principles

• Characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices

• Software and software development

• Data types, data structures and algorithms

• Exchanging data

• Legal, moral, ethical and cultural issues

Unit 2: Algorithms and Programming

• Elements of computational thinking

• Problem solving and programming

• Algorithms

Programming Project (Coursework)

Carried out and completed in Year 13, we work with students to select their own user-driven problem of an appropriate size and complexity to solve.

Examinations

Both exams are 2 hours long and are worth 40% of the final grade. The coursework is worth 20% of the final grade.