Computer science GCSE or A-Level?

Hi, im nearing the end of year 10, and I realise that I desperatly want to pursue Computer Science as a career. Im doing triple science right now, and thorughly enjoy it. I dont mind to drop Italian, but it'll be on a difrerent time to CS and I wont learn. I do Electronics, and im getting A*s, i'm good at maths, and I enjoy physics. I literally don't mind doing 5 weeks of work in a couple of days, and I have a meeting with the head of computer science. If, however, I can do computer science for A-Level without the gcse im completley ok in just self teaching myself and waiting.
Is it possible ;-;?

Reply 1

The Pepe

2

I'd guess so... Here we didn't have CS as an option for GCSE but it was for A-Level as far as I know

Reply 2

username3110466

12

They teach you everything you need to know at a level compsci and you most likely don't need the gcse to do it but you should check with your sixth form

Reply 3

esrever

20

Check the CS portion carefully. If you think it's all about programming then that's a grave mistake.

Reply 4

Cat_ion

9

Original post by Cutiemutt

Hi, im nearing the end of year 10, and I realise that I desperatly want to pursue Computer Science as a career. Im doing triple science right now, and thorughly enjoy it. I dont mind to drop Italian, but it'll be on a difrerent time to CS and I wont learn. I do Electronics, and im getting A*s, i'm good at maths, and I enjoy physics. I literally don't mind doing 5 weeks of work in a couple of days, and I have a meeting with the head of computer science. If, however, I can do computer science for A-Level without the gcse im completley ok in just self teaching myself and waiting.
Is it possible ;-;?

I'm looking at doing Computer Science at university and you don't need actually Computer Science as a GCSE/ A-Level for any universities I've looked at ^-^ what you generally do need is Maths A-Level, and sometimes one of another science or computing/ computer science :smile:

(I currently study Maths, Physics, Chemistry and EPQ if that helps ^-^)

Reply 5

dtyyhfh

Original post by Cutiemutt

Hi, im nearing the end of year 10, and I realise that I desperatly want to pursue Computer Science as a career. Im doing triple science right now, and thorughly enjoy it. I dont mind to drop Italian, but it'll be on a difrerent time to CS and I wont learn. I do Electronics, and im getting A*s, i'm good at maths, and I enjoy physics. I literally don't mind doing 5 weeks of work in a couple of days, and I have a meeting with the head of computer science. If, however, I can do computer science for A-Level without the gcse im completley ok in just self teaching myself and waiting.
Is it possible ;-;?

its possible because I do CS at gcse and my teacher teaches the a level at the school also, and he says that the syllabus is completely different to gcse as in sixth form youll be learning java c++ etc. whereas in gcse we just went through our controlled assessment using python and Linux, and its likely you wont use the same programming software in a level as you did in gcse so they'll teach you everything in a level. but to do CS at gcse is a bonus

Reply 6

Cutiemutt

OP

5

So, would it be more pleasing to universities to have done triple science at gcse and A-level CompSci, along with Physics and math + further math ? Or would it be better to drop triple science and somehow pursue gcse computer science, with the same other gcses? Thank you so much for the replies, I didn't even think i'd get any ^_^

Reply 7

Cat_ion

9

Original post by Cutiemutt

So, would it be more pleasing to universities to have done triple science at gcse and A-level CompSci, along with Physics and math + further math ? Or would it be better to drop triple science and somehow pursue gcse computer science, with the same other gcses? Thank you so much for the replies, I didn't even think i'd get any ^_^

Definitely triple science - it won't matter to the universities so much as it will help if you go with physics a-level ^-^ your sixth-form/ college should teach you CS from the beginning at a-level :smile:

Reply 8

Cutiemutt

OP

5

Original post by HollieGreenwood

Definitely triple science - it won't matter to the universities so much as it will help if you go with physics a-level ^-^ your sixth-form/ college should teach you CS from the beginning at a-level :smile:

Thank you so so so much for your help ^_^ After discussing it with my mom, we've decided to continue the way I am now and not do CompSci but instead concerntrate on my Triple Sciences and Maths. Then, i'll do Maths, Extra maths, Physics and CompSci/Electronics for my A-Levels. I've been stressing out over this for months on a crossroad, but seeing so many positive replies really made me decisively know what I should do. Thank you so so much Hollie for your help, along with everyone else ^_^ It really means the world to me <3 I'll also still go to the meeting, to discuss the A-Level in CompSci. Again, thank you so so much!!!! \(^_^)/ :biggrin:

Reply 9

Arran90

20

Original post by Cutiemutt

Hi, im nearing the end of year 10, and I realise that I desperatly want to pursue Computer Science as a career. Im doing triple science right now, and thorughly enjoy it. I dont mind to drop Italian, but it'll be on a difrerent time to CS and I wont learn. I do Electronics, and im getting A*s, i'm good at maths, and I enjoy physics. I literally don't mind doing 5 weeks of work in a couple of days, and I have a meeting with the head of computer science. If, however, I can do computer science for A-Level without the gcse im completley ok in just self teaching myself and waiting.
Is it possible ;-;?

I did the old Computing A Level and I didn't have a Computer Science or ICT GCSE.

At the moment Computer Science is a new subject so it's unlikely that colleges will demand a Computer Science GCSE to take the A Level. Check with them to confirm this. The situation might change in 5 or so years time once Computer Science becomes fully established at GCSE level.

Original post by Cutiemutt

So, would it be more pleasing to universities to have done triple science at gcse and A-level CompSci, along with Physics and math + further math ? Or would it be better to drop triple science and somehow pursue gcse computer science, with the same other gcses? Thank you so much for the replies, I didn't even think i'd get any ^_^

It's a bit mean forcing students to choose between Computer Science and Triple Science at GCSE rather than letting them take both. I think it is safe to assume that many students who want to take one will also want to take the other. Computer Science should be an option against a dissimilar subject such as a 2nd language or Religious Studies.

Reply 10

Cutiemutt

OP

5

Original post by Arran90

I did the old Computing A Level and I didn't have a Computer Science or ICT GCSE.

At the moment Computer Science is a new subject so it's unlikely that colleges will demand a Computer Science GCSE to take the A Level. Check with them to confirm this. The situation might change in 5 or so years time once Computer Science becomes fully established at GCSE level.

It's a bit mean forcing students to choose between Computer Science and Triple Science at GCSE rather than letting them take both. I think it is safe to assume that many students who want to take one will also want to take the other. Covmputer Science should be an option against a dissimilar subject such as a 2nd language or Religious Studies.

I really do agree, for myself in particular I strongly dislike RE, and it is currently my worst subject, as im barely scrapping 4s (Cs) in it, and I feel that CS and RE and Italian are somewhat on the same level, compared to Triple Science. It makes me more relaxed to know someone who has actually not done the GCSE but has done the ALevel, so thank you ^^

Reply 11

yonniey

a bit irrelevant maybe but im currently at year 13. i chose alevel cs without any prior cs knowledge (did ict gcse but it's completely different) and honestly i struggled in alevel (probably bc of my laziness and deteriorating mental health) and i feel like i havent been taught a lot of programming in AS (basic python and sql, wasn't even introduced css/html/any other kind of language) and close to 0 programming in A2 (a tiny bit more sql). the thing is COMP4 is a big project that requires programming knowledge that i wasn't taught and as a result im pretty sure i failed this module.
i know you have made your decision already, my point is to strongly advise you to teach yourself some programming if you don't know anything about it, but if you have a genuine interest in cs you should be fine (which i dont, hence i struggle)
anyway i wish you the best of luck c:

Computer science GCSE or A-Level?

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