Messed up my computer science A level, what now?

Just had my paper 1 computer science and it was by far the worst exam I had in my life. My target grade is a C but I think I barley got enough to pass. I can't rely on my coursework as I only got a D. While I have my Paper 2 on thursday, even if the paper is really nice and I do well in it I doubt I'll get higher than a D for my overall grade.

I'm going into a IT apprenticeship hopefully after my A levels, but I feel like I will have wasted these past 2 years getting a poor grade on a subject that was the most important to me. While most of them only require good GSCEs (which I have), I think the companies will look at my A levels and be scared off.

I honestly don't know what to do now, any ideas?

Reply 1

Rarest

For now I think its best to stop worrying and just full out focus on your next exam. If you are not calm, the second exam will go worse.

Reply 2

Vindria

The worst thing you can do is get stuck a negative rut, if you become apathetic because you feel as if you've already failed, then the rest of your exams will suffer. The programming and algorithms paper can still very well be your salvation because it's 40% of the overall A level and OCR is notorious for having low grade boundaries for computing, meaning if you smash the algorithms and programming sections of the spec, you can very easily pull yourself up to a A.

Now, OCR computing has low grade boundaries because the spec is very difficult, it's possible that you've done comparably okay, or even well compared to the rest of the country.

Just try your absolute hardest for the next few exams. This a once a year opportunity!

Reply 3

someonesanon

Original post by Vindria

Are the grade boundaries for paper 2 about the same?

Reply 4

Vindria

Original post by someonesanon

Are the grade boundaries for paper 2 about the same?

The grade boundaries are based on overall percentage, with coursework being 20% of the final grade, paper 1 being 40% and paper 2 being 40% as well.

So, if paper 2 is really easy and everybody does well on it, the overall grade boundaries will be higher, I don't think the grades on the individual papers or the coursework matters, only your overall percentage.

The average overall percentage is what determines the grade boundaries.

Reply 5

someonesanon

Original post by Vindria

How well have people done in general for computer science paper 1?

Reply 6

Vindria

Original post by someonesanon

How well have people done in general for computer science paper 1?

According to this forum atleast, pretty bad. The people in the OCR computing thread yesterday were either angry or miserable. TSR is usually made up of students who are better than average, meaning that overall, it was probably a difficult exam.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 7

someonesanon

Original post by Vindria

I did AQA not OCR :L

Reply 8

Vindria

Original post by someonesanon

I did AQA not OCR :L

Ah, I assumed you did OCR because we both did our exams on the same day and our next exam is also on the same day. Oh well, what I said in my first post still stands. Good luck!

Reply 9

Myachii

Original post by someonesanon

I did AQA not OCR :L

Same thing applies. I sat the same paper. The programming tasks were pretty tough, but the easier theory questions levelled it out. I suggest reading through the replies on the thread, people seem to think the grade boundaries could be as low as 70 for an A*.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4746812&p=72222146&page=6#post72222146

Also, it's the first year of a brand new 2 year specification. The word is the grade boundaries will be low because it's the first time they've done it in this format.

Reply 10

someonesanon

Original post by Myachii

I think I did badly in the theory questions as well, most of the things that i revised didn't come up :|

Reply 11

Myachii

Original post by someonesanon

I think I did badly in the theory questions as well, most of the things that i revised didn't come up :|

Look at the bright side, this paper was pretty bad for people like me who hate programming with a passion, so there's a lot of people who will get lower on this paper. You need to focus on next week's paper, it's not all over. Ace this theory paper and you'll be sorted :smile:

Reply 12

YourCaesar

Original post by Vindria

Ah, I assumed you did OCR because we both did our exams on the same day and our next exam is also on the same day. Oh well, what I said in my first post still stands. Good luck!