Anyone doing AQA A level computer science?

Does anyone know any good revision resources for Paper 1 and 2?

Reply 101

mahmzo

17

Original post by Joseph....

Does anyone know any good revision resources for Paper 1 and 2?

Wikibooks.

How much revision have you done so far for CS paper1/2

Reply 102

Next to nothing. I've been focusing on Maths only pretty much. So I need something that has everything and is easy tot learnt from. Would Wikibooks provide all that? /

Reply 103

Paper 2 I think I have a chance but paper 1 its really bad. For my mock I got 30/100 for paper 1 and 42/100 for paper 2 so...... I am really screwed lol. I'm starting to think there's no hope

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Reply 104

Original post by KCL Offer

Paper 2 I think I have a chance but paper 1 its really bad. For my mock I got 30/100 for paper 1 and 42/100 for paper 2 so...... I am really screwed lol. I'm starting to think there's no hope

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As am I

Reply 105

Original post by mahmzo

Wikibooks.

How much revision have you done so far for CS paper1/2

Sorry, so you recommend the Wikibooks then?

Reply 106

Anyone know any really good textbooks for paper 1?? Might be a bit late but I don't mind buying it asap.

I only have a revision guide but not sure I'm getting the right information

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Reply 107

Original post by KCL Offer

Anyone know any really good textbooks for paper 1?? Might be a bit late but I don't mind buying it asap.

I only have a revision guide but not sure I'm getting the right information

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Hi, sorry I don't. I'm on the same page as you, I'm looking for resources desperately. Any chance you can link the revision guide?

Reply 108

Of course, this is the one my school gave us. It's short and concise but I'm hoping there is a better one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1471865827/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496073444&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=computer+science+aqa+a+level&dpPl=1&dpID=51wgUkRyq7L&ref=plSrch

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Reply 109

Original post by KCL Offer

Of course, this is the one my school gave us. It's short and concise but I'm hoping there is a better one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1471865827/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496073444&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=computer+science+aqa+a+level&dpPl=1&dpID=51wgUkRyq7L&ref=plSrch

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Thank you

Reply 110

I have an important question about paper 1 section C and D

For the preliminary skeleton is it worth memorising code for possible questions?

This is because I'm pretty bad at section D especially since I'm doing C# which is a tricky language for beginners

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Reply 111

mahmzo

17

Original post by KCL Offer

I have an important question about paper 1 section C and D

For the preliminary skeleton is it worth memorising code for possible questions?

This is because I'm pretty bad at section D especially since I'm doing C# which is a tricky language for beginners

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That's not a good thing to do. For sure it's good to remember small things like where is aggregation used, various datatyped variables and parent/sub classes.

However make sure you understand each line of code fully. AQA will throw in some dodgy stuff for the more able studenrs, so make sure your up to grips with anything. :biggrin:

Reply 112

Original post by KCL Offer

I have an important question about paper 1 section C and D

For the preliminary skeleton is it worth memorising code for possible questions?

This is because I'm pretty bad at section D especially since I'm doing C# which is a tricky language for beginners

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No. The questions remain difficult to predict and memorizing an answer is hated by examiners, as mentioned in all examiners reports for Paper 1.

Practice implementing a new animal, one of our 12 markers [the guided 12 marker] will be revolving around that.

Reply 113

Original post by KCL Offer

Anyone know any really good textbooks for paper 1?? Might be a bit late but I don't mind buying it asap.

I only have a revision guide but not sure I'm getting the right information

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Bob Reeves has a great textbook.

Reply 114

Waterbuckit

1

Although I am feeling rather nervous about Paper 1, due to the unpredictable nature of what could be asked, I believe that it is likely there will be a question involving checking neighbouring cells, or perhaps using the distance method that has already been implemented. This is a recurring theme that was seen in the AS where it required that you fire a torpedo in a given direction. I can't deny my uneasiness regarding this exam - it feels like the AS that was done in 2016 (particularly Paper 1) was not representative of the specimen papers, which I found to be more forgiving. For the first time in my life though, I found myself quite panicked in the exam, I am curious if anyone else can relate to this?

I feel it is likely that questions revolving around Big Data, regular expressions, functional programming and vectors will come up, seeing as these are not thoroughly explored in the specimen papers.
So far I have gone through the preliminary material, commenting code that may appear tricky. The reality of the preliminary material code is that it isn't actually that complex, but the possibilities of what could be asked are just so unnerving.

Reply 115

Original post by Waterbuckit

Although I am feeling rather nervous about Paper 1, due to the unpredictable nature of what could be asked, I believe that it is likely there will be a question involving checking neighbouring cells, or perhaps using the distance method that has already been implemented. This is a recurring theme that was seen in the AS where it required that you fire a torpedo in a given direction. I can't deny my uneasiness regarding this exam - it feels like the AS that was done in 2016 (particularly Paper 1) was not representative of the specimen papers, which I found to be more forgiving. For the first time in my life though, I found myself quite panicked in the exam, I am curious if anyone else can relate to this?

I feel it is likely that questions revolving around Big Data, regular expressions, functional programming and vectors will come up, seeing as these are not thoroughly explored in the specimen papers.
So far I have gone through the preliminary material, commenting code that may appear tricky. The reality of the preliminary material code is that it isn't actually that complex, but the possibilities of what could be asked are just so unnerving.

Big Data and Functional programming will not appear on this exam.
Regex/BNF/Vectors all have a possibility of appearing on this exam. Although, it is unlikely for a question about vectors to appear.

Reply 116

Can anyone help me on mastering how to trace tables and algorithms. How can I practice this?

How can I practice tracing algorithms. Like I am able to follow the Pseudocode they give but then I get confused with the number of unfilled boxes.

I tried to practice but I found that each line of code, I needed to fill in the next line or something like that.

Is there any website or video that can help me get rid of this misconception?

Thank you

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Reply 117

Original post by KCL Offer

Can anyone help me on mastering how to trace tables and algorithms. How can I practice this?

How can I practice tracing algorithms. Like I am able to follow the Pseudocode they give but then I get confused with the number of unfilled boxes.

I tried to practice but I found that each line of code, I needed to fill in the next line or something like that.

Is there any website or video that can help me get rid of this misconception?

Thank you

Posted from TSR Mobile

Some general tips would be:

Do not be frightened by the number of boxes, they give you way too many boxes on purpose. Your best bet is to try and use as many of them as you can, don't try to keep the whole run through of an algorithm to one line i.e.

Let's say you have all your declarations at the top of the psuedo code such as

A <-- 4
B <-- 5
for i <-- 2 in range 0,5:

Table:
[A]
4 5
2

Notice how I did not re-state the previous values of my variables? Do not repeat the values for each variable in every iteration. use as many boxes as you please and keep it simple.

Double check your thoughts / thinking, the questions tend to be quite difficult.

EDIT:
The number 2 should be under I, sadly hard to make a table on TSR

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 118

Original post by luciferhf

Some general tips would be:

Do not be frightened by the number of boxes, they give you way too many boxes on purpose. Your best bet is to try and use as many of them as you can, don't try to keep the whole run through of an algorithm to one line i.e.

Let's say you have all your declarations at the top of the psuedo code such as

A <-- 4
B <-- 5
for i <-- 2 in range 0,5:

Table:
[A]
4 5
2

Notice how I did not re-state the previous values of my variables? Do not repeat the values for each variable in every iteration. use as many boxes as you please and keep it simple.

Double check your thoughts / thinking, the questions tend to be quite difficult.

EDIT:
The number 2 should be under I, sadly hard to make a table on TSR

Thanks bro very helpful. I'll just keep practicing this till I get it right :smile:

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Reply 119