I chose Computer Science GCSE OCR - help

Hello I want help regarding my choice of GCSE subject. I have opted for Computer Science OCR GCSE and wanted all of my options to be EBACC.So , I selected Computer Studies as my second option. However, I am not very good( average ) in this subject and I am unsure if coding is involved in it. Can someone please provide me with some insight on this? If you have also chosen this subject, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on it.

Reply 1

BankaiGintoki

21

Original post by Alm_xo

Hello I want help regarding my choice of GCSE subject. I have opted for Computer Science OCR GCSE and wanted all of my options to be EBACC.So , I selected Computer Studies as my second option. However, I am not very good( average ) in this subject and I am unsure if coding is involved in it. Can someone please provide me with some insight on this? If you have also chosen this subject, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on it.

See https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/558027-specification-gcse-computer-science-j277.pdf
There is pseudocode in the exam, and coding in the NEA:
The NEA: https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/503195-programming-project-tasks-june-2019-and-june-2020.pdf
When I did gcse computer science in 2021, I did the dice game.

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 2

Jakson123

14

There will be coding content and you have to do an NEA that should be 100 pages long +, and is your own programming project.

Reply 3

Alm_xo

OP

15

Original post by Jakson123

There will be coding content and you have to do an NEA that should be 100 pages long +, and is your own programming project.

I am cooked

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 4

Alm_xo

OP

15

Original post by BankaiGintoki

See https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/558027-specification-gcse-computer-science-j277.pdf
There is pseudocode in the exam, and coding in the NEA:
The NEA: https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/503195-programming-project-tasks-june-2019-and-june-2020.pdf
When I did gcse computer science in 2021, I did the dice game.

i do OCR B is that is any good

in my school website it says
Paper 1: (50%) Written paper - 1.5 hours (Computer systems)
Paper 2: (50%) Written paper - 1.5 hours (Computational thinking, algorithms and programming) including,
Non-Exam Assessment: Programming project (20 hours) - so its not included in my grade?

Reply 5

BankaiGintoki

21

Original post by Alm_xo

i do OCR B is that is any good
in my school website it says
Paper 1: (50%) Written paper - 1.5 hours (Computer systems)
Paper 2: (50%) Written paper - 1.5 hours (Computational thinking, algorithms and programming) including,
Non-Exam Assessment: Programming project (20 hours) - so its not included in my grade?

See https://www.ocr.org.uk/news/ocr-to-offer-first-gcse-with-fully-digital-exams/
The new module spec, for 2022 onwards.
https://ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse/computer-science-j277-from-2020/specification-at-a-glance/
The NEA contributes to 0% of your final grade (9-1), but is a requirement. ‘Students are to be given the opportunity to undertake a programming task(s) during their course of study which allows them to develop their skills to design, write, test and refine programs using a high-level programming language. Students will be assessed on these skills during the written examinations, in particular component 02 (section B).’

There is no OCR B for gcse computer science, it is just called OCR computer science.
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/558027-specification-gcse-computer-science-j277.pdf

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 6

Alm_xo

OP

15

Original post by BankaiGintoki

See https://www.ocr.org.uk/news/ocr-to-offer-first-gcse-with-fully-digital-exams/
The new module spec, for 2022 onwards.
https://ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse/computer-science-j277-from-2020/specification-at-a-glance/
The NEA contributes to 0% of your final grade (9-1), but is a requirement. ‘Students are to be given the opportunity to undertake a programming task(s) during their course of study which allows them to develop their skills to design, write, test and refine programs using a high-level programming language. Students will be assessed on these skills during the written examinations, in particular component 02 (section B).’
There is no OCR B for gcse computer science, it is just called OCR computer science.
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/558027-specification-gcse-computer-science-j277.pdf

so if i do bad in the programming but very good in written exam will i still get a 9

Reply 7

BankaiGintoki

21

Original post by Alm_xo

so if i do bad in the programming but very good in written exam will i still get a 9

Yes - the NEA is there to develop your computational thinking and programming to help prepare for the exam

Reply 8

Alm_xo

OP

15

Original post by BankaiGintoki

Yes - the NEA is there to develop your computational thinking and programming to help prepare for the exam

ok so that is better - thanks!

Reply 9

Jakson123

14

Original post by Alm_xo

ok so that is better - thanks!

Oh no I'm so sorry, I thought you were doing A-level OCR comp sci - that's where the 20% NEA comes in. You'll be fine at GCSE I'm sure!! Definitely no NEA there. There will be some programming but they will teach it to you, you won't be expected to already know it.

Reply 10

Alm_xo

OP

15

Original post by Jakson123

Oh no I'm so sorry, I thought you were doing A-level OCR comp sci - that's where the 20% NEA comes in. You'll be fine at GCSE I'm sure!! Definitely no NEA there. There will be some programming but they will teach it to you, you won't be expected to already know it.

Omg so no NEA at all? Thanks still though - giving u a rep cause u helped just as others lol

Reply 11

Jakson123

14

Original post by Alm_xo

Omg so no NEA at all? Thanks still though - giving u a rep cause u helped just as others lol

No NEA at all in GCSE OCR Comp Sci - well not when I did it 2 years ago anyway.

Reply 12

Amy258

10

Original post by Alm_xo

Hello I want help regarding my choice of GCSE subject. I have opted for Computer Science OCR GCSE and wanted all of my options to be EBACC.So , I selected Computer Studies as my second option. However, I am not very good( average ) in this subject and I am unsure if coding is involved in it. Can someone please provide me with some insight on this? If you have also chosen this subject, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on it.

Heyyy
Please don’t stress you have plenty of time to learn everything. Make sure you pay attention in lesson because when you back to revise those topics it will all come back. Paper 1 is more theory stuff so it’ s more of a matter of memorisation. Paper 2 is mostly programming but once you get a hang of the basics it will be straight forward trust me. This isn’t really necessary right now but doing practise questions for both papers is extremely helpful because you will see that every year the questions are very similar. Right now you don’t really need to do that but i think the most important thing is to make sure you know programming stuff as youre learning it because when you go back to it you’ll whizz through it. As someone who absolutely hates computer science i can tell you it really isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Best of luck and don’t stress it’ll be alright :smile:

Reply 13

Peach_rose34

10

Original post by alm_xo

Hello I want help regarding my choice of GCSE subject. I have opted for Computer Science OCR GCSE and wanted all of my options to be EBACC.So , I selected Computer Studies as my second option. However, I am not very good( average ) in this subject and I am unsure if coding is involved in it. Can someone please provide me with some insight on this? If you have also chosen this subject, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on it.

I started the exact same gcse with zero knowledge of computers and coding and worked kinda hard with an incompetent teacher who also tried to teach it all in one year just by reading PowerPoints . And then I messed about when she left in y11 for like six months just like the rest of my class.

So I went in with zero knowledge(didn’t know what a cpu was) and had terrible teaching and lazy attitude(in y11 not y10) compared to my other subjects because I found it boring . Despite that I did well because I revised a lot near the exam . I had a good paper 1 but ocr paper 2 in 2023 was a nightmare-ask anyone that say it. Half of my class (the people who generally work hard in school) got grade 6s or higher, and I got two grades higher than a guy who absolutely loves coding despite despising it myself , so seriously don’t stress, just try your best and you’ll be fine . I was on 9s in my mocks from the start just because I actually tried in lessons and did revision instead of most people who took the **** in lessons. Got an 8 in the exam .

It’s mostly just memorising content and the hardest coding is splitting strings and some pseudocode(because as a language is doesn’t make any sense and paper 2 was notorious in 2023). There’s no coursework and only paper1 is content heavy, paper 2 is simple coding and a little content(it was notoriously a nightmare for several reasons in 2023 but in terms of content is wasn’t bad, the baffling wording and design of the coding questions was the problem).

In short, I went in with zero knowledge, zero interest , and terrible teaching , but bbc bitesize and effort in terrible lessons was enough for me to do fine, so don’t worry .

(edited 10 months ago)

Reply 14

twixster

5

Original post by Jakson123

There will be coding content and you have to do an NEA that should be 100 pages long +, and is your own programming project.

LOL no u don't

Reply 15

twixster

5

Original post by BankaiGintoki

See https://www.ocr.org.uk/news/ocr-to-offer-first-gcse-with-fully-digital-exams/
The new module spec, for 2022 onwards.
https://ocr.org.uk/qualifications/gcse/computer-science-j277-from-2020/specification-at-a-glance/
The NEA contributes to 0% of your final grade (9-1), but is a requirement. ‘Students are to be given the opportunity to undertake a programming task(s) during their course of study which allows them to develop their skills to design, write, test and refine programs using a high-level programming language. Students will be assessed on these skills during the written examinations, in particular component 02 (section B).’
There is no OCR B for gcse computer science, it is just called OCR computer science.
https://www.ocr.org.uk/Images/558027-specification-gcse-computer-science-j277.pdf

i do it and its easy just start revising now from bbc bitesize n you'll be fine dw

Reply 16

Aaronmp

1

Original post by Alm_xo

Hello I want help regarding my choice of GCSE subject. I have opted for Computer Science OCR GCSE and wanted all of my options to be EBACC.So , I selected Computer Studies as my second option. However, I am not very good( average ) in this subject and I am unsure if coding is involved in it. Can someone please provide me with some insight on this? If you have also chosen this subject, I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on it.

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I chose Computer Science GCSE OCR - help

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