NEA help please

Hi,

I’m currently studying OCR A-level Computer Science and working on my NEA. I didn’t take GCSE Computer Science, so I’m still building my confidence with programming.

My project idea is a Python-based nutrition and meal tracking system that allows users to log food, calculate daily calorie totals, and compare intake against personal goals.

I’d really appreciate:

Feedback on whether this idea is suitable for an A/A*

Suggestions for features that would increase complexity without being unrealistic

Any OCR NEA advice or resources

Thanks in advance for any help!

Reply 1

StaffsRep Aura

Official Rep

Original post

by stephadwoa

Hi,
I’m currently studying OCR A-level Computer Science and working on my NEA. I didn’t take GCSE Computer Science, so I’m still building my confidence with programming.
My project idea is a Python-based nutrition and meal tracking system that allows users to log food, calculate daily calorie totals, and compare intake against personal goals.
I’d really appreciate:
Feedback on whether this idea is suitable for an A/A*
Suggestions for features that would increase complexity without being unrealistic
Any OCR NEA advice or resources
Thanks in advance for any help!

Hey there! Your idea seems brilliant and can definitely score highly if implemented correctly due to the fact that there is a clear need/user case story and clear research you can do on existing applications to make yours better.

You will need to justify things a lot for this project. Why did you choose this feature, how was it implemented and why was it the best way, how does it compare to other apps, how did your testers find it? While the idea itself is great, it really depends on how you implement it.

If you do simple calculations such as "enter calories", "add food", "total calories" then it won't score well. Some things you could consider (choose as appropriate or research more into, your idea can be implemented in many different ways):

Having file handling for persistent storage and user sessions.

Have modular design using classes.

Rule-based actions e.g. if users miss meals over time, feedback is given to them.

Rolling summaries and trend analysis.

Food database using CSV or even JSON.

User defined goals with ability to compare/have feedback.

You do not need to at this level focus on the GUI as much, APIs, web scraping or machine learning. If you can successfully create a solution that achieves your purpose efficiently and analyse it well, you can get a good score, as both sections are worth the same. Screenshot testing, annotate code, every user feature needs an explanation, explain choices over others and make sure testing covers as much as possible. See a deeper analysis here of the suggested sections.

When doing my A-level I kept it quite simple and still achieved an A*. My program was a simulation that used user input to calculate the impact after a nuclear explosion on London (a strange one I know) but all it really did was find current weather, modularly calculate and display the calculations + other features that were justified.

Hope that helps,
Aura (Uni of Staffs, Computer Science)

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