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A-Level ICTTSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > A Levels > A-Level Subject Guides II > A-Level ICT
A-Level ICTBackground information about studying ICTIn the first year you’ll study two ‘big picture’ themes. First there’s ‘Practical problem solving’, which introduces you to the various hardware and software technologies used in ICT, and how you can apply them to different applications in real life. The second theme is ‘Living in the digital world’, which gives you a solid grounding in ICT areas like transferring data, backups and the interface between people and ICT systems. In the second year you’ll build on that strong foundation with another two study themes. In the first theme, ‘The use of ICT in the digital world’, you’ll cover technology developments, how to manage ICT projects, and the use of ICT solutions within organisations. In the second theme, ‘Practical issues’, you’ll get hands-on experience by conceiving, designing and implementing a real ICT-related system. How will it differ from GCSE?DifficultyEasy. (But resources are scarce) WorkloadFairly relaxed. Coursework is the only real burden - but that has a very long deadline. Required Individual StudyNot much. Coursework requires a real client; you will have to find somebody with a real need for an ICT solution - often done outside of lesson time. You will have to interview this person, visit the organisation, perform document analysis and various other analytic tasks. How is it assessed?ExamsThe new AQA Spec is as follows:
50% INFO1 exam (For this exam - you take in a piece of coursework you prepared in class) 50% INFO2 exam
60% INFO3 exam (Preliminary Material provided) 40% INFO4 coursework (Thats 40% internally marked - externally moderated coursework)
INFO1 and INFO2 are both 90 minute exams, INFO3 is a 120 minute exam. CourseworkThe coursework unit (INFO4) provides students with the opportunity to complete a substantial project involving the production of an ICT-related system over an extended period of time. In so doing, students will enhance their transferable practical skills. The unit is designed to be taught alongside or after Unit 3 and topics covered in Unit 3 may provide the stimulus for work for this Unit 4, but the centre or student can explore new areas of ICT if they wish.
• investigation • analysis • definition of requirements • design of effective solutions to meet a requirements specification, including the methods to be used for testing and installation • selection and use of appropriate technologies • implementation • testing • documentation • evaluation of solutions and their own performance. The coursework accounts for 40% of the A2 Grade PracticalsField trips and excursionsNone. Where can I go with an ICT A-LevelUser OpinionsUsername: Ronak92 What I like about studying this subject: Its easy. What I dislike about studying this subject: In my opinion, they took out most of the interesting ICT and replaced it with a load of business studies. There are very few good resources avalible - even the text books lack clarity.
Username: i.am.lost What I like about studying this subject: Not a lot, let's put it that way. I enjoyed the pure practical aspect (i.e. building a system - not the 500 page documentation that went with it), and I learnt a lot about problem solving and did a fair bit of VBA/SQL codinpcg - it was cool. I guess some A2 topics taught me a bit about industry (e.g. disaster recovery management etc) and nothing impresses the ladies more than recalling the eight principles of the Data Protection Act :p What I dislike about studying this subject: I finished the old course last year, and our AS and A2 courseworks were HUGE (I wrote >1000 pages combined) - new courses are less heavy. This meant it reallyyyyy took up my time December-March and I couldn't focus on my other studies. It is boring as HELL. Seriously. In a 'tear my skin off and boil me in a vat of oil' way. The books (in my day anyway) were HUGELY outdated - Teletext was the next big thing according to them :p - and they were rubbish, except for the amazingness of Mott's textbooks. Also, essays in the A2 = horror. In my experience, all ICT teachers are stupid and crap. And I'm in an ICT specialist school. So good luck!
Username: multiplexing-gamer What I like about studying this subject: Its pretty easy. Im doing it in year 11, having not studied any formal GCSEs in ICT. What I dislike about studying this subject: Its really boring! There are no interesting topics, and often it involves common sense.
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