COMP3 - JUN 2016 Discussion Thread

here is my comp3 revision btw

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/g/resources/computing-comp3-revision

...i'm a bit stressed urg

The specification says that

'Candidates should be able to compare local area networking withstandalone operation.'

But I can't find any resources that actually explain either of those,

Although can anyone tell me what physical and logical network topologies are? And also what 'practical experiece' should we have of writing server side scripts?

we need to memorise pseudo codes???

I think its just the first half of page 179. I cant find anything else either. I dont think you need to know much more than the definition of both and that stand-alone computers have their own printers etc.

Where in the textbook can you find any information about stand-alone computers??

Honestly, I think networking is really hard to learn in this subject since there are so FEW resources that actually relate to our spec

Its like no one does this exam. The only resources I know are multiwingspan and wikibooks. For stand alone computers they literally have 1 point about it on the side. And i cant find anything in wikibooks or multiwingspan so if it comes up then oh well surely everyone will find it hard.

I've been going through 2012 - 2015 papers and so far, no questions about stand-alone operation have come up.

The only question that baffled me was:


(June 2013, question 5(f))

The answers for this question are something that CANT be found in any resource, if anyone could correct me, please do

I think you just have to talk about gateways connecting different protocols and routers connecting the same protocols. Talk about how if a gateway or router knows where to send a packet (it will check its routing tables) then it will and if not it will pass the packet onto the next gateway or router in the hierarchy. And I guess for the packet getting to the gateway from the computer you mention that its a bus topology and maybe mention the network card in the computer?

I think all of this and good grammar and full sentences should get you a good amount of marks? What does the mark scheme say?

One question that i was so angry about is question 3d in June 2015. Check the mark scheme it is unbelievable what they want you to write. The ONE paragraph in the book about sub netting doesnt mention an AND operation. I looked at the examiners report and less than one quarter of students even scored 1 mark in that question!! Imagine writing a question that isnt in the book and less than 1/4 of people even get one mark! Its unbelievable.

The mark scheme is pretty annoying as well!


I don't see annnnny information about this in the textbooks or wikibooks

Oh, and for the subnet part:

They also mentioned AND operations! Something that isn't in any common resource for this subject.

I'm starting to panic since the information that I need to know for networking in this spec is becoming very hard to find!

Wow AND operations are in both mark schemes... I guess we better learn it then haha. I dont think you should worry because if you and I cant find it then who can? I think as long as you learn whats in the book and fill your knowledge out with all the pastpapers and wikibooks and multiwingspan then you should be fine. Thats what im doing anyway :/

Also another tip: look at the examiners report for a question you find really hard. They say what students did wrong and what they were looking for. And they say how well everyone did so it may make you feel more confident if you see that most students got it wrong too.