Is it possible to Self Study Computer Science GCSE OCR in a year?

I am homeschooled and I have a passion for computers so I want to study Computer Science/Software Engineering at University. Therefore I will want to do A-level Computer Science. But I thought I should also do the GCSE to make sure that once I go to sixth form and do the A-level I don't struggle.
I will have to self teach myself it for a year, I was wondering if it would be possible with the right resources to get at least a minimum of a Grade 5 preferably higher.
The resources I would be using would be the CGP books, specifically the GCSE OCR Computer Science Complete Revision and Practice, the revision bundle which includes GCSE CS OCR Revision Guide, GCSE CS OCR Exam Practice Workbook and the GCSE CS OCR Revision Question Cards.
I would also buy premium Seneca and use that, BBC Bitesize, YouTube and later on around late March to April 2026, once it gets closer to exams and once I get the basics and build a foundation, I would get an online tutor for 1 hour a week.
Is a Grade 5 or more possible with these resources?
If you have any tips or recommendations please let me know. Thank you

Reply 1

*LifeHappens*

Original post

by HelloKittyCat

Yes you definitely can. I had to self-teach myself computer science as I had a bad teacher but you have more resources and support available so you can definitely achieve higher than a 5 for sure.

I recommend using CS newbs to help with content and printing and learning the ocr exam reference language at the end of the spec because its a great help for the programming section in paper 2. Apart from that my best tip would be to constantly keep reminding yourself of the content because it's important to know the content well especially for paper 1. Also, make sure you practice simple calculations as you would need to convert to and from binary/hexadecimal in the exam so you can pick up easy marks.

Good luck!