Grade 9 Computer Science: Is it Possible?!

I got 1 mark off an 8, and my teacher wasn't the best. He started teaching the second paper content like a month before GCSEs started.
I think it definitely depends on your dedication and motivation. I personally self-taught myself a lot of the content whilst revising for other GCSEs. I did OCR btw.
I think watching videos on YouTube to explain concepts and getting workbooks helped me lots so I could practice the questions and understand what examiners were looking for in answers. Also understanding programming key concepts helped bump up my grade lots for paper 2 as some of the 6 markers require you to write programs. Read through the specification so you know exactly what you need to learn. I bought a massive whiteboard for blurting and writing out code.
Also don't worry about what other people get. Most of my class will have failed their GCSE but that's because they didn't actually pay attention in class, but those who did and actually studied got good grades.
The fact that you decided to ask shows you are willing to learn and you have like 9 months to bump your grade up.
It used to be one of my weaker subjects as well but if you dii what I did I'm sure you can get 8s and 9s (I didn't because I always left revising to a few days before the actual exam haha)

Oh thank you so much for this! And congrats on your GCSEs! Youtube is a good idea actually, I've spent this past year squinting over notes and textbooks - and using a whiteboard for blurting is genius too!
When it comes to the spec, I feel that I can't trust it lol. Apparently your year's exam had to write an IPv6 address? Like I'm sure that's not on the spec 😭 (ok just checked and it says to learn "the format" of an IPv6...) Has OCRs wording of the questions become much of a problem?
Thanks again for your support, you have definitely made me feel better about next year 😀

Hi there! I achieved a grade 9 in last year for ocr, so it is possible 🙃 I am also studying cs for a level.
However if you’re really aiming for top grades, it does take a lot of hard work. For me, I made detailed Flashcards for every topic and went through these in order to get a basic understanding. I also made a lot of mind-maps, blind mind-maps are also useful for memorising topics.
YouTube videos are also really helpful! I remember watching a video summarising the whole course before my exam 😂 You may be familiar with Craig and Dave videos, which are very helpful for more detail on each topic - they cover the whole course.
My biggest tip would be to do past papers! Unfortunately the mark schemes are quite specific so learning what the examiners want will be really beneficial. Keep going over past papers (don’t forget to mark them - or ask your teacher), to familiarise yourself with the question styles. Then go over what you missed from these to help you focus your revision.
Do try and start revision early, don’t cram 😬
I hope this is helpful and good luck on your exams, you’re going to do great!

Good afternoon, I hope results day has gone all right for you all! I have a question for the year 11s that achieved grade 9/8 in Computer Science (specifically OCR):


how did you do it?!?

I'm about to start Year 11, and a little worried about CS as it's my weakest subject.

For reference we did the 2023 Paper 1 as Y10 Mocks and GRADE 8 was the highest grade in our year. (it was one mark off 7..) Most didn't get above a 5, and I'm starting to think grade 9 is impossible. Paper 2 isn't bad so far, but that's because we haven't covered much of it yet )

I am aware of and do use resources such as CGP revision guides, Craig n Dave, Isaac CS, w3schools etc but its a bit too much lol.

If you've made summary/revision notes during GCSE, I'd really appreciate if you could PM me! Or advice on what revision resources actually work, and what doesn't. Or anything really ;(

Thank you!!