At A Level you will complete the following units:
Unit 1: Computer Systems 2.5 hour written paper (40% of A Level) This component will introduce you to the internal workings of the Central Processing Unit (CPU), the exchange of data and will also look at software development, data types and legal and ethical issues. It is expected that you will draw on this underpinning content when studying computational thinking, developing programming techniques and devising your own programming approach in the Programming project component (03 or 04).
Unit 2: Algorithms and Programming 2.5 hour written paper (40% of A Level) This component will incorporate and build on the knowledge and understanding gained in the Computer systems component (01).
In completing this unit, you should:
Understand what is meant by computational thinking Understand the benefits of applying computational thinking to solving a wide variety of problems Understand the principles of solving problems by computational methods Be able to use algorithms to describe problems Be able to analyse a problem by identifying its component parts.
Unit 3 Programming Project: Non-Exam Assessment (20% of A Level) In this unit you will be expected to analyse, design, develop, test, evaluate and document a program written in a suitable programming language. The underlying approach to the project is to apply the principles of computational thinking to a practical coding problem. You are are expected to apply appropriate principles from an agile development approach to the project development. While the project assessment criteria are organised into specific categories, it is anticipated that a final report will document the development process and that elements for each of the assessment categories will appear throughout the report.
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