I'm worrying about one of my Controlled Assessments for OCR GCSE's Computing (A453)

Thanks, sorry for being a pain in the bum! I'm glad he did well (and you I suppose, hope you did well too!)I'm just worried that they'll pick me to be moderated and do the following:
"This kid has done lots of work. He's done more than his peers, maybe he did this outside of school? Hmm. Let's not take the risk." and then I'd be disqualified like that, if that makes sense?

You wouldn't get disqualified like that mate lol. Don't worry, you're not - I understand that you're worried and you're just asking questions.
Thanks and yeah I did good . They'll moderate you if you got the best results obviously, but if someone feels suspicious then they'll contact your school to carry out an investigation. And if you're fine, then there will be no disqualification. If you haven't cheated, then the investigation cannot be unsuccessful - so you're fine?

They will only disqualify you if there is significant and undeniable evidence that you have cheated; the detriment of you getting disqualified incorrectly is far greater than the detriment of someone cheating not being disqualified. One of my friends did over one-hundred pages for both of her controlled assessments; you're not going to be disqualified just for writing lots.

They are much more likely to say "let's not take the risk" and decide not to disqualify someone; the backlash of getting it wrong would be much greater for them coming down on that side.

I also cited every StackOverflow page I used or whatever, so it's not as if I just got everything out of thin air, so to speak.

Thank you so much for replying. Quickly before I just reply I'm sorry if this is really annoying or whatever but if I was falsely accused it would seriously wreck my future education.

Anyway, one thing I should mention is that I didn't actually finish. We ran out of time, as did everyone as the 20 hours were up, so it's not as if I did 90 pages and finished it. Moreover, the majority, as said previously, was comprised of testing tables with three tests for each variable. So I had, like, 10 variables in one program so that's 30 tests minimum for each task, so 90 altogether, you get the drift. I also cited every StackOverflow page I used or whatever, so it's not as if I just got everything out of thin air, so to speak.I can sort of understand why they wouldn't want to disqualify in honesty as if they got egg on their faces it'd be a bit awkward to say the least, but it's the thought of basically being penalised for doing more than my peers who kind of messed around in the lesson and didn't do as well as my friends and I.

What do you mean cited?

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This thread scares the **** out of me because I'm in a somewhat similar situation as the OP.

I had the same thing in my computing class; most of the class messed around for the entire lesson, and a couple of us got to the final task whilst the rest were still on the first. We'd collaborated on pieces of code, and were told that as long as we'd cited every source - including one another to account for similarities - there would be no problems, as this was two of us. In the last week, we found that most of the class suddenly wanted our code, and took it line-for-line for themselves.

The reason I'm actually answering this post is that both my friend and I were worried about the same thing both because of our collaboration with each other on so much of the projects and the fact that many others in the class had taken parts of our code. Both of us got A*s, and as far as I know nobody in the class was disqualified.

You have to state which sources you've used. So for a post by me on this thread, you'd write something like:

SummerStrawberry. (2016). GCSE I'm worrying about one of my Controlled Assessments for OCR GCSE's Computing (A453). Available: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4280956. Last accessed 29th August 2016.

Yeah, my friends and I didn't exactly work together but we solved the problem(s) in different ways as some of the class were still on the first Task so we were told to just move on at our own pace.We didn't exactly collab and copy the code, we had similar bits and bobs but we cited sources, etc. I'm glad you didn't get disqualified. One thing that is also worrying me is that my friends did, like, 30 pages or so and as you can remember that's a massive gap to my 90 pages. I'm worrying that'll kind of pick me out of the crowd.

Do you have to cite your sources?

As I said, my friend did over 100 pages, she wasn't disqualified, and she got an A*. You can't worry about the gap between you and your peers; if I was marking that, I'd be thinking that this is someone with a better work ethic than their peers and who wants to do well in this qualification. What I would not be thinking is that this is someone who cheated, and if I was concerned about that I could quickly see if the code is available available in verbatim on Google. If it isn't, I'd probably think nothing more of it.

It might also be worth pointing out that a verdict of malpractice would probably be reached after a discussion with you, and you would have the option to appeal in the very unlikely case that it happens!

It's just the possibility of it happening that scares me. Like, I missed a few sessions as I was ill and that's all I can think of.

My teacher said it'd all be fine though since we didn't have a proper teacher for the lesson and went from teacher to teacher since all the hours went really pants up. I know another guy in my class who got the same A* grade as me and it's not an issue but I worry that I will be falsely accused or something.

You're a legend, thank you!

Well done to your friend, hope she's jumping up and down right now! :PYou should be a moderator by the way.Anyway, sorry, back on point. One part of the code was found on StackOverflow, and then from there I figured it out, explained it, ect. So what you're saying is that basically OCR would come in, have a chat with me, ect, and then decide if I was "guilty", so to speak? If so then I would protest my innocence in the highest form possible, so that's comforting to say the least. I also assume my past record (exam papers that we have done, in which I dropped four or so marks, ect) would be used to back me up and so on.Thanks again for replying, I feel better about myself.

Listen, stop stressing... if you keep stressing then you won't do good in exams and you'll flop everything. -_-

Yes, that's pretty much what would happen; someone from the exam board would want to speak to you about your CA and ask you about how you got to what you did. Think of it like a PhD thesis' viva - you're being asked about how you got to what they've got. It's also worth saying that your teachers have a professional obligation to say so if they have reason to believe that you've cheated (like a lawyer is obligated to not defend a defendant on a not guilty verdict if the defendant confessed to them that they were, in fact, guilty, or a doctor is obligated to do something if they have reason to believe that your or someone else's life is in imminent danger), so if you haven't been told about any investigation by your teachers, it's very unlikely that you would come under one later unless the exam board found evidence of gross misconduct by your teachers (which is just as unlikely).

In summary, you're fine, so don't worry; enjoy the rest of the summer holidays, and make sure that you're completely happy with the theory as you learn it next year. I've sat with far too many people a couple of days before an exam trying to cover stuff which they never understood, and seen far too many people come out of exam halls in tears because they wish they'd just worked harder earlier - comforting them is nigh-on impossible! All the best with Year 11, feel free to PM me if you need any help with anything!

Well I find that talking does help in these situations and it often helps me to stop stressing. But yeah, you're right!


Thank you! I'm worried that they'd accuse me of being given extra time or something but I am happy to say that I feel like that won't happen.Thanks for the theory advice, we've not learnt it all yet but in honesty the only hard bits are the DBMS areas and Hexadecimal in my eyes. Thanks so much for your help!

Hi guys, To those who did OCR's Computing Course (and ergo did the A453 component), did you have a lot of pages filled with testing? I'd say the written content, flowcharts, ect, makes up, like, a reasonable page count but as I recall I have around 90-ish pages altogether. Before anyone wonders how it's possible to do this, a lot of the document is comprised of screenshots of the code (for all three tasks), flowcharts, and pages of testing in tables (which took me ages, jeez :P) which cover my variables. There's a lot of pages filled with this kind of stuff whereas my evaluations, ect are no more than a page or so. My development is longer of course, for all three tasks.
My worry is a moderator will look at my work and wonder how I did it. A lot of my class didn't have any experience with Python and we sort of had to fend for ourselves with the coursework so I had to crack down and do it, meaning a lot of my classmates didn't do as well and as much as I did.

I'm worried I'll stick out like a thumb due to the page count. It was handed in before the holidays and I got an A* but I'm worried a moderator will think I cheated or something. I can't change it now or anything. There's only, like, two of us in the class who got A*s.

If you would like to speak to someone who's done the coursework and recieved an A* comfortably with only around 30 pages of work, then feel free to message me with your Skype, I have a lot of great tips to land you an easy A* in the coursework.

Hi,

Thanks for the offer and I appreciate it but I have the grade back. I got an A* and it's all done anyway, this post was just me worrying I've done too much and it'll look bad.

This is where I say "I told you so"!

Congratulations on your A*; if you've got the same grade in A452 then you've got a B before you even put your name on the exam paper in June, so hopefully you can relax about it more, now! Good luck with it and all of your GCSEs!