GCSE Computer Science builds on what you have studied in the first three stages (from starting Primary School) to give you the grounding so that you can pass formal examinations at the end of Stage 4 (GCSEs). The content of this stage cover the current UK National Curriculum content for Computing. First, we start with a question ...
| Examination board links |
Use these links to help you to get to know what is required for each UK specification.
OCR Computer Science : J276 (2016) Homepage / Specification
OCR Computer Science : J277 (2020) Homepage / Specification
AQA Computer Science : Homepage / Specification
WJEC Eduqas Computer Science : Homepage / Specification
| Ready to start? |
Before you start studying for your GCSE in Computer Science, you need to get organised! You will need ...
- Notebook / Exercise book
- Access to a computer at home
- Intrinsic motivation to learn (you can't get that from this website however ...)
Each section in the course has lots of activities for you to complete and an assessment which your teacher will give you after you have completed the section to measure how much you have understood.
| Course structure |
I've split the course into three years. There is a lot to cover during this time and you will very likely be asked to complete some of the work outside lessons. Each topic has a topic presentation, series of learning tasks, various revision activities and links to extension work.
First Year Fundamentals CS01 Computer systems Introduction to computer systems CS02 Dealing with input How to get data into a computer system CS03 Naming data How data is stored in computers CS04 Quantifying data How we measure data quantity CS05 Character encoding Character encoding schemes CS06 String manipulation How to measure and manipulate strings Lists, dictionaries and records CS08 Mathematical methods How computers to maths like us CS09 Logical methods How computers make logical decisions CS10 Comparative methods Computers are great at comparison Using selection routines in programming Using looping routines in programming CS13 Dealing with output How to get data out of a computer system You will also spend this year learning Computational Thinking skills, undertake an introductory programming course on a website like Code Studio and starting to learn to write programs in the Python programming language. Summer internal examination | Second Year Handling data using databases Sorting and searching algorithms Software design CS17 Modelling Techniques for real world modelling Login systems Flowcharts and pseudocode CS21 Break it up Functions and procedures CS22 OOP (WJEC) Programming with objects Formal testing strategies CS24 An algorithm a day Algorithm practice Graded programming challenges CS26 Systems development Techniques of system development At this point, you will likely do lots of recap activities and some coursework / extended programming tasks to test your programming skills. Summer internal examination | Third Year
Data representation CS27 Number bases How to count like a computer How to do maths like a computer CS29 Painting pictures How computers store images Compression techniques
Hardware and software RAM and ROM CS33 The CPU Operation of the central processing unit CS34 Computer software System and utility software CS35 Operating systems How operating systems work Networking - NOT PLANNED YET CS36 Connecting computers Networks, LANs and WANs CS37 Communication Communication techniques CS38 The TCP/IP stack The 4-layer protocol stack Threats to networks Keeping networks secure and safe The wider world - NOT PLANNED YET
CS41 Wider consequences
Impact of computers on the world Final examinations
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| eSafety Briefings |
| Revision |
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