AQA A2 Computing - COMP3 11/06/13

The following topics are ones I have found which have not yet been tested properly (some topics are broader than others):

Abstraction and information hiding
Non-computable/Intractable/Undecidable problems
Mealy and Moore machine definitions
Natural/Formal/Regular language definitions
Use of meta-characters in regular expressions
Syntax-diagrams
Programming paradigms
Writing a recursive routine
Pointers and linked lists
Queues (Circular/Priority)
Traversing binary trees (Pre-order/Post-order/In-order)
Insertion sort (This is basically the Shuttle sort for anyone who has done D1 maths)
Absolute and relative errors
Sandbox (under operating systems)
Server operating systems
The DELETE SQL command
Web 2.0, Ajax
Computer security: Authentication, authorisation, accounting
The SSL protocol

Whatcha think?

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 81

fizzbizz

4

I'm aiming for an A overall in computing to meet my university offer, and to get that I only need 60/120 UMS in this exam which isn't too much I suppose :biggrin:

Or perhaps I should be aiming for an A* hmm

Reply 82

Silgen

Thanks to whoever made/posted the revision guide - that's a real lifesaver!

Not sure if people have already seen this but it seems nice and concise (while providing more detail than the glossary at the back of the book.) Might be good for a bit of last minute revision/cramming.

Reply 83

JASApplications

Original post by fizzbizz

The following topics are ones I have found which have not yet been tested properly (some topics are broader than others):

Abstraction and information hiding
Non-computable/Intractable/Undecidable problems
Mealy and Moore machine definitions
Natural/Formal/Regular language definitions
Use of meta-characters in regular expressions
Syntax-diagrams
Programming paradigms
Writing a recursive routine
Pointers and linked lists
Queues (Circular/Priority)
Traversing binary trees (Pre-order/Post-order/In-order)
Insertion sort (This is basically the Shuttle sort for anyone who has done D1 maths)
Absolute and relative errors
Sandbox (under operating systems)
Server operating systems
The DELETE SQL command
Web 2.0, Ajax
Computer security: Authentication, authorisation, accounting
The SSL protocol

Whatcha think?

I think there will probably we a 6 marker on comparing operating systems as there was only quite a small question on OS in June 2012.

I'm also pretty certain that insertion sort will be coming up too! We might even have to write out the algorithm for it but who knows!

My predictions:

Compare Operating Systems
Standard Database question with DDL and SQL
Standard Real Numbers with absolute/relative errors
Computer security: Authentication, authorisation, accounting (Maybe Firewalls as well?)
LAN's and gateways
Inter-networking and Network Adapter
Web Services and SaaS
Insertion Sort (Maybe write the algorithm?)
Turing Machines
Post/Pre/Infix Graph Traversal

Reply 84

ollyhal

Was just doing the specimen paper and I get a different answer to what the mark scheme says and was wondering if the mark scheme is wrong. It is question 3) a) .

Question paper: http://www.starteractivity.com/ictlesson/computing/comp3/AQA-COMP3-W-SQP-07-revised.pdf
Mark scheme: http://www.starteractivity.com/ictlesson/computing/comp3/AQA-COMP3-W-SMS-07%20revised.pdf

It is the second one which I believe is wrong.

Reply 85

babymomma

Hey guys, I'm thinking of doing A level computing next year but I'm wondering if it would be hard for someone who has never done any computing stuff though I do GCSE IT but I know that they are very different

Reply 86

A Wise Ninja

Original post by babymomma

Hey guys, I'm thinking of doing A level computing next year but I'm wondering if it would be hard for someone who has never done any computing stuff though I do GCSE IT but I know that they are very different

I did A Level computing having just done IT at GCSE and its not so bad! I'd say if you like ICT and have an interest in maths too (a lot of similarities), then you should enjoy it! Just bear in mind that, with the AQA course anyway, it's a lot more theory/computer science stuff than programming- as you might not suspect.

Reply 87

babymomma

Original post by A Wise Ninja

I did A Level computing having just done IT at GCSE and its not so bad! I'd say if you like ICT and have an interest in maths too (a lot of similarities), then you should enjoy it! Just bear in mind that, with the AQA course anyway, it's a lot more theory/computer science stuff than programming- as you might not suspect.

Oh I hope ill be doing more theory, hate programming. Did you school teach it from scratch or did they assume that you already have some knowledge because I've never done any programming whatsoever

Reply 88

A Wise Ninja

Original post by babymomma

Oh I hope ill be doing more theory, hate programming. Did you school teach it from scratch or did they assume that you already have some knowledge because I've never done any programming whatsoever

Taught it from scratch, just like any other subject? Why would computing be any different? :biggrin:

Reply 89

babymomma

Original post by A Wise Ninja

Taught it from scratch, just like any other subject? Why would computing be any different? :biggrin:

I thought instead of teaching the basics like what you might do at GCSE computing, they would just begin with the hard stuff. Similarly to subjects like maths, science

Reply 90

Farid Jalil

Hey is there anywhere they has a list of all the topics we need to know about for the comp 3 exam?
Im using a revision guide that someone posted on the second or third page would that be enough to get a B?

Reply 91

Mystogan.

Original post by Farid Jalil

Hey is there anywhere they has a list of all the topics we need to know about for the comp 3 exam?
Im using a revision guide that someone posted on the second or third page would that be enough to get a B?

If you know the whole revision guide, you'll probably get an A/A*
Here's a copy of the COMP3 spec (list of everything you need to know): http://voyager.egglescliffe.org.uk/mwc/mukoku/mod/resource/view.php?id=495

Reply 92

D-Box

3

Original post by ollyhal

Was just doing the specimen paper and I get a different answer to what the mark scheme says and was wondering if the mark scheme is wrong. It is question 3) a) .

Question paper: http://www.starteractivity.com/ictlesson/computing/comp3/AQA-COMP3-W-SQP-07-revised.pdf
Mark scheme: http://www.starteractivity.com/ictlesson/computing/comp3/AQA-COMP3-W-SMS-07%20revised.pdf

It is the second one which I believe is wrong.

In the mark scheme, the first one is the one that you're supposed to do. I think they just added the second one (using 1s and 0s the other way around) to try and be generous if people made a mistake. It was only the specimen though, so stick with the style of the first one for the exam.

Reply 93

fizzbizz

4

Any ideas on what 1b means? It either makes no sense or it's time for bed haha
I don't get what they mean by that pattern representing BCD. If they mean BCD in hexadecimal that would be 1011 1100 1101 in binary which is of course different from the given pattern. If they mean what BCD in denary is, well that comes out to be 3021, yet the answer in the mark scheme is 974. Or unless BCD stands for something I am unaware of?!

The question is 1b from Jan 2006 CPT4

EDIT: Never mind, I googled it and discovered it stands for a Binary-Coded Decimal format - though I don't think it's on our spec anymore

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 94

06gibbinsb

Is it just my college or has everyone spent more time than they should on their projects and not so much time on the theory?

Cracking on with some comp3 revision and there's some of it we didn't even look at in the lessons!

Reply 95

Mystogan.

Original post by 06gibbinsb

Is it just my college or has everyone spent more time than they should on their projects and not so much time on the theory?

Cracking on with some comp3 revision and there's some of it we didn't even look at in the lessons!

Same with my school, they missed out the whole Networking section and we only briefly covered other sections such as Operating Systems.
Having to self teach most of the theory :frown:

What makes it more annoying is that we barely got any help in terms of the project :mad:

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 96

Silgen

Quick question on order of growth - if you have an algorithm whose time complexity can be expressed as

T(n) = (n^2)*(a^n) + 2n

for large n, is the order of growth taken to be O(n^2 * a^n)? Or is it still simplified to O(a^n)?

Reply 97

I_Am_The_Man

Original post by Silgen

Quick question on order of growth - if you have an algorithm whose time complexity can be expressed as

T(n) = (n^2)*(a^n) + 2n

for large n, is the order of growth taken to be O(n^2 * a^n)? Or is it still simplified to O(a^n)?

As n -> inf, n^2 becomes insignificant to a^n and as you considering the order of growth of the algorithm I would say O(a^n) but don't take my word for it.

Reply 98

fizzbizz

4

Original post by Silgen

Quick question on order of growth - if you have an algorithm whose time complexity can be expressed as

T(n) = (n^2)*(a^n) + 2n

for large n, is the order of growth taken to be O(n^2 * a^n)? Or is it still simplified to O(a^n)?

Yes since for very large values of n, a^n >> n^2 and so the order of growth is taken to be O(a^n)

Reply 99

Silgen

Original post by fizzbizz

Yes since for very large values of n, a^n >> n^2 and so the order of growth is taken to be O(a^n)

Okay - that makes sense. We were given a booklet of questions for COMP3 (ZigZag education) and the answer to that question was given as O(a^n * n^2) - which didn't seem right.

Thanks :smile:

AQA A2 Computing - COMP3 11/06/13

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