A Level Course Guide 2024

C O M P U T E R S C I E N C E

Computer Science AQA

Computer Science teaches you how to solve problems in the real world using technology. It is a core discipline in itself, but has an extremely broad application to a number of industries such as finance, entertainment, medicine, communications, management, consulting, sport and manufacturing. The skills you will learn can be transferred to many disciplines and will be of great benefit in other degree courses such as engineering, physics, mathematics or any type of business or design course to name a few. When taking Computer Science you will learn not only how to program in a variety of languages, but also how computers work and how they communicate with each other. You will learn about the process of writing software and how to develop an idea into a working application for different devices and markets. You will have the chance to design your own software as part of the non examined assessment. • This paper tests a pupil’s ability to program, as well as their theoretical knowledge of Computer Science. Students answer a series of short questions and write/adapt/extend programs in an Electronic Answer Document provided by AQA. AQA will issue Preliminary Material, a Skeleton Program (available in Python) and, where appropriate, test data, for use in the exam. Paper 2 (40%) What’s assessed? • This written paper tests a pupil’s ability to answer questions from subject content, both in the form of short answer and extended answer questions. Non-exam assessment (20% i.e. Coursework) What’s assessed? • This work assesses pupil’s ability to use the knowledge and skills gained through the course to solve or investigate a practical problem. Pupils will be expected to follow a systematic approach to problem solving. Programming languages No prior experience of programming or knowledge of a particular programming language is needed for the A Level course. Over the two-year course, the core language will by Python along with a multitude of different additional libraries. The course is designed to teach the principles of programming which remain applicable to any programming language. Further opportunities for other languages and experience of different platforms are offered through the Programming Club with robotics, encryption, Raspberry Pi and computational thinking competitions entered throughout the year. The course consists of the following components: Paper 1 (40%) What’s assessed?

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