Course Content 

The course enables students to develop an ability to apply fundamental principles and concepts of computer science including: abstractions, decomposition, logic, algorithms and data representation. 

Students are required to demonstrate the ability to analyse problems in computational terms through practical experience of solving such problems including writing programs to do so.  

They will show the capacity for thinking creatively, innovatively, analytically, logically, as well as being able to see relationships between different aspects of computer science and mathematical skills and articulate the individual (moral), social (ethical), legal and cultural opportunities and risks of digital technology. 

How will I be Assessed? 

• Students must take all three components to be awarded the OCR A Level in Computer Science. 

Component 1 – Computer Systems - 40%        

• The internal workings of the (CPU), data exchange, software development, data types and legal and ethical issues.  

Component 2 – Algorithms & programming – 40% 

• Using computational thinking to solve problems.  

Component 3 – Programming project – 20%      

• Students will be expected to analyse a problem (10 marks), design (15 marks), develop and test a solution (25 marks), evaluate and document (20 marks) this programming solution, written in Java programming language. 

Skills and Prospects 

During the teaching and learning phase there are opportunities to give learners practise in developing additional programming skills in other languages, e.g. Java Script, HTML etc. Through this cognitive and problem-solving skills will be further developed. 

The qualification is aimed at progression to higher education but also enables learners to develop knowledge and skills needed for entry-level roles related to IT/Computing apprenticeships. These could include vocational apprenticeship roles and trainee/entry-level roles, such as roles as a trainee software engineer or cyber-security analyst. 

Students wishing to study Computer Science related undergraduate courses in higher education would be advised to study Mathematics and Physics at A Level alongside Computer Science.