My Top 3 Tips For The OCR A Level Computer Science H046/H446 Exams!

As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh World!

Wow, it's been some time hasn't it? Just thought for my final post before exams I'd share a few pointers on how to approach the AS and A level papers.

Tip #1: PACE YOURSELF

It seems the most obvious thing to do yet a lot of people forget to do it. The AS exams are an hour and 15 minutes each whilst the A level exams are double that (that's 2 hours and 30 minutes for the uninitiated). The marks ratio is also the same; 70 for each AS paper and 140 for each A level paper. 

That means you have just over a minute to try and get each mark on average. However, as the styles of questions vary, so should the time you spend working on each one i.e. don't spend 1 minute answering 1 markers!

For extended writing questions, you should be spending a bit more time than the marks allocated since they require lengthy answers with lots of application involved but for questions that simply ask to identify, state, describe etc. you should definitely answer them in less time than the marks available for that question. 

The same goes for the technical side of things, quicken the pace on the simple stuff e.g. binary calculations/conversions and spend a bit more time on harder questions e.g. writing algorithms.

Ideally, you should finish your paper at least 10 minutes (or 20 for A level) before the exam ends so you can check your answers.

Tip #2: ALWAYS LINK BACK TO THE QUESTION

Another fairly obvious yet forgettable thing. The main difference between the new spec papers vs the old spec ones is not the content (well, technically the content has changed a bit) but the way the questions are asked.

In the old spec, you'd get asked the exact same questions year on year with no application whatsoever e.g. describe X or explain Y. With the new spec however, OCR decided to make things a bit harder and always "dress up" old spec questions with some context. 

Basically, at it's core the question is essentially the same but you'll always have to relate to the context by applying your knowledge. So remember, always display your knowledge by answering the question but then link to the context as well even if it means writing parts of the question in your answer.

Tip #3: DON'T PANIC WHEN YOU ENCOUNTER AN UNFAMILIAR QUESTION

At the rate OCR are writing questions not related to the spec, chances are they'll put something completely out of the blue in the upcoming AS and A level exams as well. So if you do find yourself stuck, don't waste time on the question, just write what you know and move on. 

This applies especially for technical questions e.g. writing code in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, LMC, SQL, OOP or even pseudocode for that matter. Sometimes you can be completely dumbfounded by the poor wording of the question (which is extremely common with OCR) or by thinking you don't know what's necessary to answer it in the first place.

If that's the case then simply move on to more achievable marks and if you have time at the end, try that question again.

I didn't expect this post to turn out so long but hey, hopefully these tips made sense and will be of some benefit so until after exams I bid you adieu and as always...

Hope this helps!

Handwritten vs Typed Notes For OCR A Level Computer Science Revision

As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh World!

This is going to be one of the rare posts where I don't share any resources (kind of like the rant I wrote about how terrible the OCR spec is which you can read here) but talk about things that may be equally (or in this case) more important. 

Anyway, as exam season draws nearer it's safe to say the amount of time you spend revising exponentially increases. To be completely honest, you shouldn't really be in the note writing phase of your revision at this point. Doing past papers is by far the best preparation you're going to get this close to the actual exam.

However, if you're still trying to grasp a few concepts and are making some last minute notes don't panic, just make sure at some point you DO attempt some papers. Take it from a student who has tried both handwritten and typed notes for this course, typed is better.

I used to write all my notes in Year 12 for the AS exams and while it did make them easy to memorise, it took really long to write them. As far as the theoretical side is concerned, computer science notes are primarily text with a few diagrams and symbols here and there e.g. entity relationship diagrams, logic gates etc. which you can easily commit to memory anyway.

For the A level exams, I decided to take a different approach. I typed up all my notes (which BTW are all on this blog here) and it was so. much. quicker. Honestly, can you imagine writing 30 pages worth of notes when you can simply type them and save your right hand (or left if you're a "leftie") some pain? 

Plus, most of my notes were from past papers and other online resources since all the textbooks are simply inadequate so I could just copy and paste them which saved me even more time! Yeah yeah I know, it doesn't help with the memorising part but with the time I saved in the actual making of the notes, I can take all the time I need to commit them to memory. Also, you can't cross out handwritten notes without wasting space.

There are (as with anything) a few downsides though, handwritten notes are actually great preparation for the exam itself since you'll be writing in the exam anyway. The exams are also 2 and half hours each so handwritten notes get you used to writing for long periods of time so by the exams come around, you'll no longer feel discomfort in your hand.

If it weren't for the large volume of notes needed, I'd probably still go for handwritten like I did for all my GCSEs and even AS level Physics! Handwritten might take longer than typing text but it definitely allows more flexibility on how you layout your notes. It's also easier to draw diagrams which for this course isn't that much of an issue.

Regardless, with a month or so before the final exam you should really be past this stage but if you aren't, I'd strongly suggest you type them to save time for memorisation since this course is so vague, you'd want to take down as much as info as you can because there's no telling what's going to come up in the paper.

I think I'll leave it here before I go on another rant about how bad this course is so as always...

Hope this helps!

All The OCR A Level Computer Science Questions By Topic Resources So Far

As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh World!

As previously stated, my posting schedule is going to be a bit irregular during exam season so despite it being a weekday, I've decided to just share a quick post with all the questions by topic resources I've made so far:

1. Little Man Computer Instruction Set
2. Boolean Algebra
3. HTML
4. CSS
5. JavaScript
6. Structured Query Language
7. Entity Relationship Diagrams

Hope this helps!

OCR AS Level Computer Science June 2017 Exam Papers & Mark Schemes H046/01 Computing Fundamentals + H046/02 Algorithms & Problem Solving

As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh World!

First of all, I think it's safe to say that as exam season draws nearer, I won't exactly be posting on a regular basis. I completely missed last week and wasn't really sure about this week but anyways. Courtesy of one of our readers, I have the privilege to share the June 2017 AS mark schemes. Here's the links:

• June 2017 H046/01 Computing Principles Exam Paper
• June 2017 H046/02 Algorithms & Problem Solving Exam Paper
• June 2017 H046/01 Computing Principles Mark Scheme
• June 2017 H046/02 Algorithms & Problem Solving Mark Scheme

Also don't forget, there's a complete list of sample, practice and past papers in a post I made here.

Hope this helps! 

All OCR A Level Computer Science Sample & Past Papers For H046/H446 Spec (Now Including June 2017 Papers!)

As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh World!

Just thought I'd update the past papers list for the new spec with the recently acquired 2017 ones.

H046

Computing Principles

1. H046/01 Computing Principles Sample Paper QP & MS
2. H046/01 Computing Principles June 2016 QP
3. H046/01 Computing Principles June 2016 MS
4. H046/01 Computing Principles June 2016 Modified Enlarged A3 24PT
5. H046/01 Computing Principles June 2016 Modified Enlarged A3 18PT
6. H046/01 Computing Principles June 2016 Modified Enlarged A3 18PT Q7 Insert
7. H046/01 Computing Principles June 2017 QP

Algorithms & Problem Solving

1. H046/02 Algorithms And Problem Solving Sample Paper QP & MS
2. H046/02 Algorithms And Problem Solving June 2016 QP
3. H046/02 Algorithms And Problem Solving June 2016 MS
4. H046/02 Algorithms And Problem Solving June 2016 Modified Enlarged A3 24PT
5. H046/02 Algorithms And Problem Solving June 2016 Modified Enlarged A3 18PT
6. H046/02 Algorithms And Problem Solving June 2017 QP

H446

Computer Systems

1. H446/01 Computer Systems Sample Paper QP & MS
2. H446/01 Computer Systems Practice Paper Set 1 QP
3. H446/01 Computer Systems Practice Paper Set 1 MS
4. H446/01 Computer Systems Practice Paper Set 2 QP
5. H446/01 Computer Systems Practice Paper Set 2 MS
6. H446/01 Computer Systems June 2017 QP
7. H446/01 Computer Systems June 2017 MS

Algorithms & Programming

1. H446/02 Algorithms And Programming Sample Paper QP & MS
2. H446/02 Algorithms And Programming Practice Paper Set 1 QP
3. H446/02 Algorithms And Programming Practice Paper Set 1 MS
4. H446/02 Algorithms And Programming Practice Paper Set 2 QP
5. H446/02 Algorithms And Programming Practice Paper Set 2 MS
6. H446/02 Algorithms And Programming June 2017 QP
7. H446/02 Algorithms And Programming June 2017 MS

Hope this helps!

OCR A Level Computer Science Questions By Topic: ERD

As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh World!

This is the 7th resource in this series if memory serves and it's got all the exam questions for entity relationship diagrams or as I like to abbreviated them, ERDs. Anyway, there's quite a few questions from the old spec exams which are relevant so I included those as well.

As far as the technical topics remaining in this series, there's only pseudocode, OOP and the binary stuff left. Not sure how i'm going to go about making those since there's loads of questions from the old spec so finding the right ones for the new spec might prove to be a bit tedious.

Here's the link: ERD

Hope this helps!

OCR A Level Computer Science Questions By Topic: SQL

As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh World!

Here's the questions by topic resource for SQL. I decided to use the old H047/H447 spec exam questions as well for this since the syllabus is practically the same bar a few new structures used in the old spec.

Anyway, these questions are all really good practice especially since there's not that many in the new spec so far so you've got to work with the bare minimum really. I've done the same for the ERD resource which I'll post tomorrow InShaAllah.

Here's the link: SQL

Hope this helps!