Computer Science
Head of Department
Mr S K Sisulu
Qualification
A Level
Exam Board
OCR
Entry Requirements
5 in English Language 6 in Computer Science or 7 in Maths without a Computer Science GCSE
Why study this course
Computer Science is both an applied and an academic subject that teaches skills valued in the Computing industry – an industry that seems to continue to grow and is still suffering a skills shortage. Skills including - Artificial Intelligence, cyber security, systems analysis and systems development. Students will develop their computational and programming skills to a point were they can make useful software in an extended project that can showcase their acquired skills. Projects developed in the past include board games with AI machine-learning stock trade systems, and robotic control systems.
Computer science is often studied by learners that are interested in Science, Maths and Engineering. The skills learned can help them access university degree courses in these subjects as they often contain programming units.
If you enjoy a challenge, are resilient and have good analytical skills Computer Science may be for you.
Course Overview
The course consists of 3 components.
Component 1 - Computer systems
An externally assessed written paper worth 40% of the course, taking 2 hours and 30 minutes (no calculators allowed)
Content includes:
- 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
Component 2 - Algorithms and programming
An externally assessed written paper worth 40% of the course, taking 2 hours and 30 minutes (no calculators allowed)
Content includes:
- Elements of computational thinking
- Problem solving and programming
- Algorithms to solve problems and standard algorithms
Component 3 – Programming project
An internally assessed controlled assessment project worth 20% of the course, taking 2 hours and 30 minutes (no calculators allowed)
Exam Specification
Computer Science Specification
SoW
Enrichment
Learners get to be creative with code in many different ways e.g. robotics, AI. There is a school trip to the National Museum of Computing for year 12 learners. We recommend students support computer clubs in the school.
Future Pathways
A large proportion of Computer Science students go on to go to red brick Universities to study Computer Science Degree courses, or other related courses (e.g. Cyber security). Others may take higher-level apprenticeships in a related field. Other learners may not take the subject further but are likely to revisit it in Degree optional units in Science and Engineering courses.
Those that take the subject further can look forward to well-paid, future proof careers in fields that are highly in demand, for example:
Penetration testers, network engineers, systems developers, systems analysts, systems testers, AI developers, robotics engineers...to name but a few.