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A-Level Computing help needed!

I got the results of a PPE exam I did in computing, and it was a U.
This made me so upset, I was feeling sick.
The only part that I can do is the Python coding, but there seems to be a mental block on the rest of it.
Can anyone help me out with this please?
I'm pretty good with OCR CS theory (though not all of it). 1st of all, what exam board are you? 2nd, what specific parts of the theory are you stuck on? 3rd, People on TSR may not be willing to go through large chunks of theory and tutor you on it (though some may), but if there's something pretty specific then I'll be happy to help and i'm sure many other people would be too. That said, if you're just generally lost then the craig & dave youtube channel is brilliant for the OCR spec. I used it as revision for my exams in june.
Original post by mrsuperguy
I'm pretty good with OCR CS theory (though not all of it). 1st of all, what exam board are you? 2nd, what specific parts of the theory are you stuck on? 3rd, People on TSR may not be willing to go through large chunks of theory and tutor you on it (though some may), but if there's something pretty specific then I'll be happy to help and i'm sure many other people would be too. That said, if you're just generally lost then the craig & dave youtube channel is brilliant for the OCR spec. I used it as revision for my exams in june.


I'm OCR.
I just can't wrap my head around pseudocode or any of the hardware stuff.
I mean none of it.
mistake 1- you chose a level computing.....
Original post by Nunchuck-master-2334
I'm OCR.
I just can't wrap my head around pseudocode or any of the hardware stuff.
I mean none of it.


Ok, the psudocode i might be able to help with. As for the hardware stuff, go and watch craig & dave because all of the hardware theory is simply too big a chunk of the theory for me to effectively tutor you on it here.

Speaking of pseudocode, can i assume you've read the OCR guidance on the standardised syntax? If so then it's either not the syntax you're having a problem with or the guidance is too dry. Bare in the mind that anything that kind of resembles logical code is fine and it says that in the guidance.
If you haven't read it, then take a look at the one my teacher gave our class (the hyperlink should send you to a pdf on google drive), read it then come back too me if you're still having problems.

hope that helps
Original post by Nunchuck-master-2334
I'm OCR.
I just can't wrap my head around pseudocode or any of the hardware stuff.
I mean none of it.

I did A-Level Computing for Eduqas's new specification. Although different, it should largely be similar. Pseudocode, boolean algebra, hexadecimal etc. I struggled with greatly. Although I was decent with the hardware stuff. What specifics are you struggling with?
Original post by srdavison123
I did A-Level Computing for Eduqas's new specification. Although different, it should largely be similar. Pseudocode, boolean algebra, hexadecimal etc. I struggled with greatly. Although I was decent with the hardware stuff. What specifics are you struggling with?


Everything to do with the hardware.
Boolean algebra is good, but not great.
Original post by DaKoolguy
mistake 1- you chose a level computing.....


That's hardly helping bud
Original post by mrsuperguy
Ok, the psudocode i might be able to help with. As for the hardware stuff, go and watch craig & dave because all of the hardware theory is simply too big a chunk of the theory for me to effectively tutor you on it here.

Speaking of pseudocode, can i assume you've read the OCR guidance on the standardised syntax? If so then it's either not the syntax you're having a problem with or the guidance is too dry. Bare in the mind that anything that kind of resembles logical code is fine and it says that in the guidance.
If you haven't read it, then take a look at the one my teacher gave our class (the hyperlink should send you to a pdf on google drive), read it then come back too me if you're still having problems.

hope that helps


This is brilliant.
What if you are given a specific thing to do in pseodocode, but it's none of these?
That's what I don't get.
Original post by Nunchuck-master-2334
Everything to do with the hardware.
Boolean algebra is good, but not great.

These are a couple of documents I used around my exams to help revise due to an extreme lack of resources (for my course) that may help (credit: TSR). Else, name a few areas of hardware you struggle with the most (data, cpu, hdd, networking, transfers etc.) and I'll try and help.
AS_Computing_Revision.docx83.5KB
Computing Revision Notes.pdf882.5KB
Original post by srdavison123
These are a couple of documents I used around my exams to help revise due to an extreme lack of resources (for my course) that may help (credit: TSR). Else, name a few areas of hardware you struggle with the most (data, cpu, hdd, networking, transfers etc.) and I'll try and help.


Thanks for these.
Reply 11
Avatar for MR1999
MR1999
21
I really struggled with a lot of the computing theory as well. So I bought the textbook and simply read over it again and again and again until I understood and memorised the theory.

You should also look at exam questions and MS to see how the examiners want you to answer questions.
Original post by Nunchuck-master-2334
This is brilliant.
What if you are given a specific thing to do in pseodocode, but it's none of these?
That's what I don't get.


what do you mean? do you mean what if you're asked to do something that isn't possible with the syntax covered in the guidance? because my understanding is that, that won't ever be the case. Saying that, i'm not sure this guidance is up to date so i'd show it to your teacher and ask them if there's any extra syntax you need to learn to be able to handle any problem in the exam. But as i said earlier, you really don't need to commit the syntax to memory since anything that largly resembles code (but importantly not necessarily any specific language) is perfectly valid as long as it's logical, easy to read and is consistent. By consistent i mean, if you use curly braces ("{" and "}") to denote the body of one if statement, you should do that for all if statements and probably for all loops & function definitions etc (i.e. any code where you have a body connected to a single statement of some kind). This means that if you want to, you can basically pull any syntax from say python if you want to, and adapt it to make it quicker to write (i use a laptop so i type my psuedocode into a .txt file along with all my other answers).
Original post by DaKoolguy
mistake 1- you chose a level computing.....


A bit harsh, but true to some extent. I was interested in doing Comouter Science (and Physics) in uni, so I assumed I'd need A-level computinf. This isn't the case for the majority of universities, all they want is maths.

Sure, if you're interested (like I was), it makes sense to take computing A level. The only problem is thaat there are very few boards that can do the A level well. For example, I used WJEC which has super specific mark schemes for the exam, essentially making it more of a feat of memorising exact definitions word by word, than testing your knowledge. And from what I hear, many other boards aren't different.
Original post by srdavison123
These are a couple of documents I used around my exams to help revise due to an extreme lack of resources (for my course) that may help (credit: TSR). Else, name a few areas of hardware you struggle with the most (data, cpu, hdd, networking, transfers etc.) and I'll try and help.


The PDF file is for A2, so I'm just going to look at the word file.
I will use the PDF next year for the next part of the course, if I stay at the school with my grades, which I get on 17th August!
Original post by Nunchuck-master-2334
The PDF file is for A2, so I'm just going to look at the word file.
I will use the PDF next year for the next part of the course, if I stay at the school with my grades, which I get on 17th August!

Well my course had a lot of crossover between AS & A2 so they were both useful for me, although I'm not aware of how the other exam boards course is structured. Anyways, any help needed just ask.
Original post by srdavison123
Well my course had a lot of crossover between AS & A2 so they were both useful for me, although I'm not aware of how the other exam boards course is structured. Anyways, any help needed just ask.


Do you have anything that goes through the 2.-areas?
Original post by Nunchuck-master-2334
Do you have anything that goes through the 2.-areas?

You need to be WAY more specific than "-areas".
Original post by srdavison123
You need to be WAY more specific than "-areas".

Never mind.
They were in the PDF file.
Towards the bottom!
Me stupid!

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