what's computing gsce like?

Hi, I am taking my GCSEs this year and I picked computer science.

GCSE computer science, like most other practical subjects, has a theory part and practical part. The theory part involves a lot of memorising, some topics more than others. Luckily, out of the 7 topics (or 9 topics, not sure, You can search it up though) only 4 or so involve a lot of memorising, and half of those 4 topics are about computer hardware, which if you have a passion for computing, and know the components of a computer, should be fairly easy for you to memorise. Nonetheless, you don't need to be good at memorising things to learn the things in theory, as long as you revise well and just work hard (in my opinion you don't need to even revise that hard, it's just memorising, but you know, for some people that might not be their strong point).

As for practical, you said you're not good at coding. Well luckily, the main thing you will need to know is pseudocode, which if you haven't heard of, is like a mix of computer language and normal English. It doesn't have a concrete foundation of sorts and can be written in many different ways, thus you don't need to remember how to write certain code, which you do in python or javascript. This makes life a whole lot easier, and I think you should be able to learn it. Some exam boards also have coursework. I can't tell you which exam boards do coursework (where you will have to do a project in python) and which don't but I can tell you that AQA (my exam board) have coursework, but it isn't sent to the exam board for examination, and is instead marked and graded at school- it's a bit weird but it counts toward 50% of your final grade, so yh. Oh and also, I don't think at GCSE level coding you really need THAT much maths as other people say, but you should be at least decent at maths (e.g. if you think you can get a min 6 in maths, you're good).

As for the thing about you're teacher. All teachers are fine as long as you listen to them in lesson and do your homework. In fact I never do my homework and still get along with teachers. Actually, with CS, participate in the class more and you will listen and understand more, so you will feel more confident by answering more questions correctly. Most importantly ask questions. People might laugh at you and call you dumb or something for not understanding the simplest of concepts, but don't be intimidated. Carry on asking questions and do well, I 've been there too.

I hope this was helpful. It's quite long. Feel free to ask me more, if you have any questions. Tip: when you do start preparing for GCSE CS, buy CGP revision guides and revise from there it's super helpful.

Hi, I am taking my GCSEs this year and I picked computer science.

GCSE computer science, like most other practical subjects, has a theory part and practical part. The theory part involves a lot of memorising, some topics more than others. Luckily, out of the 7 topics (or 9 topics, not sure, You can search it up though) only 4 or so involve a lot of memorising, and half of those 4 topics are about computer hardware, which if you have a passion for computing, and know the components of a computer, should be fairly easy for you to memorise. Nonetheless, you don't need to be good at memorising things to learn the things in theory, as long as you revise well and just work hard (in my opinion you don't need to even revise that hard, it's just memorising, but you know, for some people that might not be their strong point).

As for practical, you said you're not good at coding. Well luckily, the main thing you will need to know is pseudocode, which if you haven't heard of, is like a mix of computer language and normal English. It doesn't have a concrete foundation of sorts and can be written in many different ways, thus you don't need to remember how to write certain code, which you do in python or javascript. This makes life a whole lot easier, and I think you should be able to learn it. Some exam boards also have coursework. I can't tell you which exam boards do coursework (where you will have to do a project in python) and which don't but I can tell you that AQA (my exam board) have coursework, but it isn't sent to the exam board for examination, and is instead marked and graded at school- it's a bit weird but it counts toward 50% of your final grade, so yh. Oh and also, I don't think at GCSE level coding you really need THAT much maths as other people say, but you should be at least decent at maths (e.g. if you think you can get a min 6 in maths, you're good).

As for the thing about you're teacher. All teachers are fine as long as you listen to them in lesson and do your homework. In fact I never do my homework and still get along with teachers. Actually, with CS, participate in the class more and you will listen and understand more, so you will feel more confident by answering more questions correctly. Most importantly ask questions. People might laugh at you and call you dumb or something for not understanding the simplest of concepts, but don't be intimidated. Carry on asking questions and do well, I 've been there too.

I hope this was helpful. It's quite long. Feel free to ask me more, if you have any questions. Tip: when you do start preparing for GCSE CS, buy CGP revision guides and revise from there it's super helpful.

Also, what’s the python coursework like? Im doing AQA too so would you recommend learning python beforehand?