The Student Room Group

what is computer science a level like?

how mathsy is it? how hard is it? is there an online as level revision guide so I know what its about? (i dont know 1/2 the words on the spec)
Reply 1
It's not *too* mathsy, like if you meet the maths requirement (usually it's a B/6) you'll be absolutely fine on this front.
Difficulty is so personal, some people are able to pick up programming with such ease whilst others will struggle the entire 2 years, the theory for exams though is generally not too bad, just get good at big essay questions really.
I'm sure there's a revision guide, your sixth form college will definitely supply you with books and such, but the spec really depends on your exam board.
It’s barely mathsy which is annoying because they make you do A Level Maths along it in my college. If you’re doing Wjec/Eduqas then they have a really good revision book that has everything you need
Reply 3
Original post by Oli9050
It's not *too* mathsy, like if you meet the maths requirement (usually it's a B/6) you'll be absolutely fine on this front.
Difficulty is so personal, some people are able to pick up programming with such ease whilst others will struggle the entire 2 years, the theory for exams though is generally not too bad, just get good at big essay questions really.
I'm sure there's a revision guide, your sixth form college will definitely supply you with books and such, but the spec really depends on your exam board.

Do you know how much memorisation there is in AQA as computer science?
as in - Memorise something word for word then blurt on a page ( like bio) as opposed to understanding and using a concept ( like maths)
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 4
i'd say there's not as much memorising as there perhaps is other subjects. i made a few mnemonics during my revision to remember different things (e.g. parts of the processor, factors affecting processor speed, fetch execute cycle) but other than that it was more a case of understanding things rather than memorising facts. a lot of it is coding based tbh - 20% of the grade is the project and 40% is a coding paper, whilst the other 40% is theory. i personally am not a huge maths fan but a level computer science was 100% my favourite a level and i really enjoyed it
Reply 5
Original post by mzmingle
i'd say there's not as much memorising as there perhaps is other subjects. i made a few mnemonics during my revision to remember different things (e.g. parts of the processor, factors affecting processor speed, fetch execute cycle) but other than that it was more a case of understanding things rather than memorising facts. a lot of it is coding based tbh - 20% of the grade is the project and 40% is a coding paper, whilst the other 40% is theory. i personally am not a huge maths fan but a level computer science was 100% my favourite a level and i really enjoyed it

Did you do new spec or old? and what exam board did you do? also, is computer science about solving probles then ( like maths)
(edited 4 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by Azimbrook1
Do you know how much memorisation there is in AQA as computer science?
as in - Memorise something word for word then blurt on a page ( like bio) as opposed to understanding and using a concept ( like maths)

You only really have to memorise for the little questions (1 or 2 marks), anything above that you kind of had to understand to actually reach the upper mark groups

Quick Reply

Latest