How to prepare for AQA COMP1 Exam?

What is the best way to prepare for this exam and what do I need to know for it exactly? Is it best to put most of my focus on the program we've been given?

Reply 1

sagederby

[INDENT]

Original post by will2348

What is the best way to prepare for this exam and what do I need to know for it exactly? Is it best to put most of my focus on the program we've been given?

You need to revise the theory side as well. Only about 1/3 of the marks are for making amendments to the skeleton program.

Reply 2

dying-divinity

I've just been revising all the theory behind programming and then making changes to the skeleton programme, which is what they will ask you in the exam on the code.

I've also been practising writing simple programs which is what they will ask in the exam.
For example:
Write code where a user inputs a number and the program then outputs that number of stars(*).
If the number is even then output that number of hashes (#)
Don't think they'll ask us for much more complicated stuff than that (I hope!)

So basically:
- Learn theory (data types, procedures and functions, loops etc.)
- Practise simple programs... you could do section Section B of past papers which can be found here: http://web.aqa.org.uk/qual/gce/ict/computing_materials.php?id=04&prev=
- Go through the skeleton program making sure you understand what every subroutine does! Make changes to the code where you think improvements could be made (for example, when the player makes their move the menu does not accept lower case letters, eg. "e/n/s/w", change this so it accepts both lower and upper case.

If you need help, ask me, maybe we could help each other! XD

Reply 3

mister c

write some basic programs that access arrays. if you look at the 2011 paper, before the pre-release questions, there was an algorithm given related to a linear search in an array. make sure you can do that.

aside from that, make sure that you know your binary, conversions from decimal to binary, decimal to hex, hex to binary and vice versa. make sure you can add two binary numbers together without converting out of binary and that you know what an overflow error is.

make sure that you can calculate the file size of an image or a sound file when given colour depth and resolution for images or sample rate and bit depth for audio. know what the implications of compression are for both of these and know the difference between lossless and lossy compression.

know about ascii and unicode - how they work and why we need unicode at all. you are unlikely to be asked to recall an ascii value for a given letter but you might be asked to figure out the values of other letters once given the value for "a" or "A".

for coding, make sure that you know what the different roles of variables are eg stepper, most wanted holder, etc. there's a list in the text book. learn the terms iteration, branching, assignment, argument, global and local variable, array/list and what the index of an array is. read through the bits of the text book that discuss how algorithms are designed and a variety of pseudocode and diagrams for doing this.

if you want to practice some simple coding, try your hand at projecteuler.net (oddly unreachable at time or writing but it's usually there) or look at the past papers for the 10-14 mark "section b" questions.

Reply 4

iCiaran

This site is quite useful for brushing up on Java, and you can choose a areas to focus on, I'd also suggest having a quick read through this thread to get a basic idea of what could come up in the section D (Editing the skeleton code). Other than that , everything mister c said :tongue:

Reply 5

D-Box

Make sure that you have gone through all the past papers (there's not many) and check that you can answer each of the theory questions. Spend some time reading the mark scheme afterwards so that you know exactly what the examiner will be looking for in your answers.

Reply 6

iCiaran

Question for everyone about resolution of an image, would you just define it as the number of pixels in an image? Because our teacher was saying you need a unit of measurement aswell, like 300 pixels per inch etc. Just checking that he is mixing up image resolution with screen resolution?

Reply 7

D-Box

Original post by iCiaran

It's simply the number of pixels per cm (or another suitable unit like inch).

Reply 8

iCiaran

Original post by D-Box

It's simply the number of pixels per cm (or another suitable unit like inch).

Surely that would change depending on what monitor monitor you are looking at the image on? Like if you have a 32" 1080p monitor and a 19" 1080p monitor the number of pixels per inch will be quite a bit higher on the 19" monitor, or am I just over thinking this?

Reply 9

sagederby

Original post by iCiaran

The resolution of an image is the number of pixels per cm or inch (it was on either the 2010 or 2011 paper). The resolution of a screen is the number of pixels across and number of pixels down.
Check the textbook. If it's in the textbook they have to mark it right.

Reply 10

lilwill02

hey, add my skype: (*)

We are both doing this exam, and I think it will be beneficial if we could both help eachother out, in terms of revision and discussing what might come up in the exam?

Thanks
-Will

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