A-level Computing/WJEC (Eduqas)

This is a book about A-Level Computer Science. It aims to fit with the Eduqas GCE AS and GCE A-Level syllabus but is not endorsed by WJEC Eduqas. It should be useful as a revision guide or to find alternative explanations to the ones in your textbook. If you haven't heard of an A-Level then this book probably won't be of much interest to you but may find helpful information about exception handler and change log.

If any part of this book is unclear or even wrong then please post a comment on the discussion page or simply fix it yourself! In particular, please say if the book assumes any knowledge or skills which not all A-Level Computer Science students have.

2016 A-level

Component 1

• Data structures
• Logical operations
• Algorithms and programs
• Principles of programming
• Systems analysis
• System design
• Software engineering
• Program construction
• Economic, moral, legal, ethical and cultural issues

Component 2

• Hardware and communication
• Data transmission
• Data representation and data types
• Organisation and structure of data
• Databases and distributed systems
• The operating system
• The need for different types of software
• Data security and integrity processes

Component 3

A programmed solution to a problem, Non-exam assessment.

Resources

Below are some resources that will help you to prepare for your favourite part of the course, the exam! Remember that this course is assessed by both WJEC (in Wales) and Eduqas (in the UK) and that the course used to be called Computing. This just means more papers, however the Computing papers will have the odd question that isn't on the new specification any more (like social networking/computers in the workplace).

WJEC Question Bank for Computing

WJEC Past Papers for Computing

WJEC Past Papers for Computer Science

WJEC Related Documents (Examiner's Reports) for Computer Science

Eduqas Past Past Papers for Computer Science

Eduqas Related Documents (Examiner's Reports) for Computer Science

WJEC Services Raw Mark to UMS (Grade Boundaries)

How to read the book

You will meet several coloured boxes, here are their meanings:

Specification link What the specification says you must learn for each chapter

Examples Example questions and how to solve them

Questions Questions to test yourself, click below Answer: to check if you were right

Extension Topics that aren't examined but you might be interested in

There will be a lot of concepts that you need to be familiar with, definitions are highlighted like so:

Word - meaning