Tips For Studying A-Level Computer Science?

The thing that works the best for me is applying the theory which we have learnt in class. I enjoy the programming side, and although you may not cover alot of it in the whole course, doing some extra in your free time is really useful and helps sharpen your skills.

If you learn best by videos, you may find Craig and Dave useful, they do videos for the whole course - however, they can be quite dull at times!
Some videos about Computer Science in general are good too, even if its not course specific. Try Computerphile or Numberphile, they are quite interesting.

Also, there is quite a bit of Maths overlap in Computer Science, so make sure you are up to speed with that too, it will be very helpful!

Some advice would be to complete your coursework as quick as you can. This will give you more time to focus on your theory work. Use the summer between yr12 and yr13 to complete the coursework

I just finished AQA A-level computer science and got a secure A*.

Make sure you're on top of the theory you've learned so far all the time. You don't want to have to effectively relearn large amounts of the course before every exam or mock. Easy to say and hard to do I know but this will save you a lot of panic. Unfortunately there is just a large amount of content you have to learn and sometimes it can be fairly abstract so try to keep on top of it. Once you're good with the coding, just keep it warm - you could make a small game like Connect-4 (and then an AI to play against!) or for the more mathematically-inclined there's Project Euler or the British Informatics Olympiad questions.

About coursework, try to finish the program early since you also have to write a ton of documenation for it. You won't be judged for the frilly bits so don't agonise over them. Also be cautious before doing a game as your project - I did one and although it was enjoyable, it was a massive timesink as I kept adding non-essential features and then had to remove them when I realised I would have to write in detail about it all!

Nice to know you got an A*.

I already have a background in coding so I think I will be okay with that.

As for my revision technique would you say "little but often" is the best way to describe it?

Yeah definitely little and often. More effective and probably also less stressful.

For the Maths- is it basic or higher level Maths?

Thank you for your help

Is the level of Maths like average and basic? Or is it a higher level?

What did you get for Maths GCSE?

Got a high A with OCR.

Memorisation, memorisation, memorisation.

The coursework is underweighted but you need to bag as many marks as you can on it; out of a class of 13 with 7 predicted at least an A, I was the only one who got one. ‘It’s only 20%’ is only a good argument to make if you can bank doing well on the exams or if it’s damaging your subjects or wellbeing. Otherwise you’re gonna have to try your best.

You absolutely can cram this subject, but it’s better not to; you may have to use many revision sources which is incredibly time consuming.

Most importantly, enjoy it! It’s a really cool subject.

Message me if you have any questions

I'm going into Year 12, studying my first year of A-Level Computer Science.

Anyone studying this subject- do you have any tips for revision or anything that could help me really. Or perhaps give me a heads up about something which surprised you?

Thanks

the website says it's blocked