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Edexcel Computer Science is absolute cral

I meant crap) ive revised from 4 different sources - the textbook from our course (old spec), the lessons weve had, the 9-1 powerpoint and the 9-1 textbooks, yet none of these mention server-side, fetch-execute cycle and binary sequences involved in it, CSS or even different types of applications and softwares and their uses. Thats only a few things! How the hell are we meant to get good grades if the official spec isnt detailed, the Edexcel endorsed textbooks are shocking and weve only been taught half the studf in lessons. Has anyone else found this?
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by That'sGreat
Its no where near detailed enough


Seems good enough to me? As with any subject, you should be researching from many sources to get a good understanding.
Original post by IWMTom
Seems good enough to me? As with any subject, you should be researching from many sources to get a good understanding.


Ive researched from 4 or 5 sources, 25% is not included at least
Reply 5
Original post by That'sGreat
Ive researched from 4 or 5 sources, 25% is not included at least


What do you mean by "not included"?
Reply 6
Yeah its true its very hard to find a lot of the information in the spec. I have the Hodder education book on it and it doesn't cover all the stuff but goes into way too much detail in some things. I also suggest watching some of computersciencetutor's videos on yt but they are quite long and don't cover everything either. I've just tried to go through the spec and make flashcards (https://quizlet.com/Max_Rooney5/folders/computer-science/sets) and then i'm going to watch the videos of a walkthrough of the 2016 and 2015 exam
Original post by IWMTom
What do you mean by "not included"?


There is either only a brief mention or no mention of something where, in past papers, it has been worth 3 or 4 marks
Reply 8
Original post by That'sGreat
There is either only a brief mention or no mention of something where, in past papers, it has been worth 3 or 4 marks


It's a 2016 spec isn't it? Doesn't that mean there hasn't been a paper sat on it yet...? Are you sure you're not looking at old spec papers?
Original post by IWMTom
It's a 2016 spec isn't it? Doesn't that mean there hasn't been a paper sat on it yet...? Are you sure you're not looking at old spec papers?


No it's not the 9-1
Reply 10
Original post by That'sGreat
No it's not the 9-1


Okay, fair enough. Could you give an example of something that's been examined but wasn't in the spec?

For reference: http://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Computer%20Science/2013/Specification%20and%20sample%20assessments/9781446914229_GCSE_Lin_CompScie_Issue2.pdf
lmao, you should try AQA computing. literally have the same issue. they didn't go into excess details on topics, but rather gave vague info and books didn't even cover some.
Original post by IWMTom
Okay, fair enough. Could you give an example of something that's been examined but wasn't in the spec?

For reference: http://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/GCSE/Computer%20Science/2013/Specification%20and%20sample%20assessments/9781446914229_GCSE_Lin_CompScie_Issue2.pdf


I did a 2015 paper which talked about how binary sequences are used in fetch-decode cycle, but Edexcel texbook doesnt mention it, and 9-1 has literally two lines on it. Also, server side scripting is given about 1 marks if that worth of detail, when there was a 3 marker on it
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 14
Original post by That'sGreat
I did a 2015 paper which talked about how binary sequences are used in fetch-decode cycle, but Edexcel texbook doesnt mention it, and 9-1 has literally two lines on it. Also, server side scripting is given about 1 marks if that worth of detail, when there was a 3 marker on it


It's yours and your teachers responsibility to ensure you have a complete grasp of the spec before sitting an exam. I know there's plenty of resources available for stored programs online from when I sat A Level Computing, so just use Google to find the information you need if your teacher is no help.

You'll need to be doing research at higher level, so get used to effectively using search engines.
Original post by IWMTom
It's yours and your teachers responsibility to ensure you have a complete grasp of the spec before sitting an exam. I know there's plenty of resources available for stored programs online from when I sat A Level Computing, so just use Google to find the information you need if your teacher is no help.

You'll need to be doing research at higher level, so get used to effectively using search engines.


But there's no way of knowing what we need to know. That's the problem. If I had a detailed list, I could do it easily. But there isn't, just a crap overview
Reply 16
Original post by That'sGreat
But there's no way of knowing what we need to know. That's the problem. If I had a detailed list, I could do it easily. But there isn't, just a crap overview


The spec looks good enough to me? It gives you the topics you need to research and grasp? Unfortunately, in higher education, you'll find things aren't handed to you on a plate like they are in GCSE; you will be expected to do your own research and present your knowledge in the exam.
bbc bitesize has a lot of stuff on it.
i had to learn 2 years worth of work in a few days cause my teacher has not taught us **** and the school wont help
How did it go ?

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