OCR A-level Computer Science H446 - 11 and 15 Jun 2018 [Exam Discussion]

OCR A-Level Computer Science Exam Discussion 2018

Hello Guys! This is the 2018 exam thread for OCR A-Level Computer Science. (This thread is for the full A-Level only, the AS-Level thread can be found here)

Exam Dates:

Paper 1 - Computer Systems
11th June 2018 (AM) [2h30]

Paper 2 - Algorithms and Programming
15th June 2018 (AM) [2h30]

As I'm sure you all know, the A-Level is fairly new and so there are very minimal resources for revision. However here are a few pages you may all find beneficial, including the old specification papers which although outdated, are still very useful for revision purposes.

Resources:

Specification

Paper 1 Sample Question Paper

Paper 2 Sample Question Paper

Old Specification Past Papers (These are split into 3 papers rather than 2)

Craig 'n' Dave Revision Videos

Official OCR Textbook (Sadly you have to buy it but it's great!)

Tips - or at least my attempt at tips :teehee:

:

Familiarise yourself with all the content before practising papers so you're prepared for them.

Practice writing algorithms, it will save you so much thinking time in the paper 2 exam.

If you haven't already done them, save the specimen papers to complete last as they are going to most resemble the actual papers.

Good Luck Everyone! :woo:

(edited 6 years ago)

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Bilavi12

Original post by EmilySarah00

Are those two sample question papers for 2018. Or were they made for last year exam practice?

Reply 2

EmilySarah00

Original post by Bilavi12

Are those two sample question papers for 2018. Or were they made for last year exam practice?

They were made before last years exam (probably in 2016) but they’re a specimen paper meaning they’re effectively just a practice paper for the whole of the specification and therefore apply for the 2018 exams too. Just treat them like any other past paper.

Reply 3

Bilavi12

Original post by EmilySarah00

Thank you. Also do you have the 2018 practice paper or mock paper as I would like to do more revision if you have access to it.

Reply 4

EmilySarah00

Original post by Bilavi12

Thank you. Also do you have the 2018 practice paper or mock paper as I would like to do more revision if you have access to it.

The only other paper 'available' is the 2017 paper, it was the first actual paper for this course that students sat in exam season. However available comes in inverted commas because that paper is locked for public viewing. All I can suggest is ask your teacher if they have access to it, because it appears to be available to exam centres if they log in to the OCR site

Reply 5

Bilavi12

Original post by EmilySarah00

thank you. Also do you have the mark scheme for those papers?

Reply 6

EmilySarah00

Original post by Bilavi12

thank you. Also do you have the mark scheme for those papers?

For which papers? The specimen papers mark schemes are at the bottom of the specimen paper documents. The 2017 paper mark schemes are again not available by the general public and can only be accessed by your school / exam centre.

Reply 7

Bilavi12

Original post by EmilySarah00

oh ok lol thanks, just scrolled down to check.

Reply 8

EmilySarah00

Original post by Bilavi12

oh ok lol thanks, just scrolled down to check.

You’re welcome :yep:

Good luck with everything! Any further questions and you can always come back to this thread

Reply 9

AdamDavis

Hi, this is an open question for anyone really! What do you think the best way is to practise writing down algorithms (mainly for paper 2)? I'm struggling with them a little.

Reply 10

EmilySarah00

Original post by AdamDavis

Hi, this is an open question for anyone really! What do you think the best way is to practise writing down algorithms (mainly for paper 2)? I'm struggling with them a little.

Hi! I’ve had the same issue, the algorithm questions can be really tricky and it’s hard to find relevant practice. I find using the old past papers is really good practice although it takes a lot of searching to find the questions. You could also look at other exam boards past papers too, that’s just an idea as I haven’t got around to that yet but I probably will. I can’t imagine the AQA ones will be too different.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 11

winterscoming

Original post by AdamDavis

Hi, this is an open question for anyone really! What do you think the best way is to practise writing down algorithms (mainly for paper 2)? I'm struggling with them a little.

You could try searching for some well known algorithms (e.g. Bubble Sort, Selection Sort, Binary Search, etc.) and practice by attempting to write pseudocode for those, then checking your answer against the ones you find - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Algorithms

Reply 12

waveywaver123

Does anyone have the copies of the 2017 papers???

Reply 13

Fluxisms

The paper 2 specification paper has 13 marks, one being a nine marker, based off applying computational methods in context (in whether they can predict an app's success). Given that the computational methods are rather simplistic, how would you go about responding a question like that?

I feel like my idea of an answer would be way too basic.

Reply 14

Aceofall

Do you guys know of any good ways to practice the big mark questions? Those are the ones im usually weak at and so far in my mocks have been the reason why I can't get grades like an A or a B.

Reply 15

xmiko_

Hi does anyone have any predictions on this years papers also if anyone has any useful revision links can you please attach a link.
Thank you

(edited 5 years ago)

Reply 16

SadBell

For the 2017 past papers, OCR have now made them available:

Paper 1 - Computer Systems
Paper 2 - Algorithms and Programming

Rest of the OCR materials

It's also worthy of note that the sample question papers originally linked on this thread were infact made in 2014, there have been two sets of sample papers for both paper 1 and paper 2 made in 2016. To access these as well as the mark scheme for the 2017 papers, you will probably need to go through your exam centre as they are protected legally by OCR (as far as I am aware).

I'm not sure about anyone else but I find the 2017 papers easier than the previous sample papers and I'm slightly curious as to whether OCR have made any changes in the types of questions that are included in the exams.

Reply 17

Flow_

Any predictions to what might come up and might not on the paper 1 and paper 2?

Reply 18

bensharpe

Original post by xmiko_

Hi does anyone have any predictions on this years papers also if anyone has any useful revision links can you please attach a link.
Thank you

I started creating some study sets on quizlet, not all of them are complete but there is a few on there.
Link: https://quizlet.com/bensharpe18

Reply 19

rainium

Does anyone know how much has actually changed since the old specification? AQA does these change logs but i'm not sure if OCR does any. I want to know what would be worthless spending my time doing in the older past papers