OCR H446

A Level Computer Science

The full OCR H446 specification at A Level depth. Component 01 computer systems, Component 02 algorithms and programming, and guidance on the programming project, each with quizzes and auto marked extended answers.

Start the first topic Practice papers Printable worksheets

16Topics

160Quiz questions

347Exam marks

Grade A starTarget grade

Your route to Grade A star

Revision works when it has an order. Follow these stages rather than opening topics at random.

Depth, not coverage

At A Level the marks are in the mechanism. Knowing that pipelining improves throughput is a GCSE answer. Explaining what happens to the pipeline when a branch is taken is an A Level one.

Program every single week

Paper 2 is a programming paper. You cannot revise your way to fluency in it, and the project makes up a fifth of the qualification. Write code weekly from Year 12, not from January of Year 13.

Learn the mark scheme language

Examiners reward specific vocabulary: encapsulation, admissible heuristic, transitive dependency, load factor. Using the precise term signals understanding far more efficiently than a paragraph of description.

Start the project early and evidence it as you go

The project is 70 marks. The evidence that earns them has to be captured while the work is happening. It cannot be reconstructed afterwards, and moderators always notice when it has been.

Practise extended responses under time

The long answers carry a large proportion of the marks and are levels marked. Structure, balance and a conclusion matter as much as the content, and that is a skill you build only by writing them.

Fill your gaps with question level analysis

After every mock, list every mark you dropped and why. Revise that list, not the whole specification. A star students are not the ones who know everything, they are the ones who found their gaps and closed them.

Component 01 3 topics

1.1 Characteristics of Contemporary Processors

The processor in full, the fetch decode execute cycle with all registers, pipelining, architectures and input, output and storage.

1.1.1Structure and Function of the ProcessorThe full fetch decode execute cycle with every register and bus, pipelining, and the architectures you must be able to compare at A Level depth.1.1.2Types of ProcessorRISC against CISC in the depth the specification demands, GPUs, multicore and parallel systems, and how to compare them in an exam.1.1.3Input, Output and StorageDevices and their uses, magnetic, flash and optical storage, RAM and ROM, virtual storage and how to justify a choice.

Component 01 3 topics

1.2 Software and Software Development

Operating systems, memory management and scheduling, translators and the stages of compilation, methodologies and programming paradigms.

1.2.1Systems SoftwareOperating system functions, memory management and paging, every scheduling algorithm, interrupts, and the four types of operating system.1.2.2 and 1.2.3Applications Generation and Software DevelopmentTranslators, the stages of compilation, linkers and loaders, libraries, and every software development methodology with its strengths and weaknesses.1.2.4Types of Programming Language and AssemblyThe paradigms you must compare, Little Man Computer, addressing modes, and how to answer a question that asks you to justify a paradigm.

Component 01 3 topics

1.3 Exchanging Data

Compression, encryption and hashing, databases and normalisation, networks, the TCP/IP stack and web technologies.

1.3.1Compression, Encryption and HashingRun length and dictionary encoding, symmetric and asymmetric encryption, and what a hash is actually for.1.3.2DatabasesNormalisation to third normal form, entity relationship modelling, SQL, indexing, transactions and the ACID properties.1.3.3 and 1.3.4Networks and Web TechnologiesThe TCP/IP stack, packet switching, DNS, client server and peer to peer, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, search indexing and PageRank.

Component 01 2 topics

1.4 Data Types, Data Structures and Boolean Algebra

Two's complement, floating point, bitwise operations, Boolean algebra with De Morgan's laws, and every data structure on the specification.

1.4.1 and 1.4.3Data Types, Number Systems and Boolean AlgebraTwo's complement, floating point, bitwise operations, character sets, and Boolean algebra including De Morgan's laws and Karnaugh maps.1.4.2Data StructuresArrays, records, lists, tuples, stacks, queues, linked lists, graphs, trees and hash tables, with the operations and when to choose each.

Component 01 1 topics

1.5 Legal, Moral, Cultural and Ethical Issues

The five acts, ethical frameworks, and how to structure the extended response so it reaches the top level.

1.5Legal, Moral, Cultural and Ethical IssuesThe five acts you must name, the ethical frameworks that make an argument rigorous, and how to structure the extended response so it reaches the top level.

Component 02 2 topics

2.1 and 2.2 Computational Thinking and Problem Solving

Thinking abstractly, ahead, procedurally, logically and concurrently, plus recursion, parameter passing and every computational method.

2.1Elements of Computational ThinkingThinking abstractly, ahead, procedurally, logically and concurrently, applied to real problems rather than defined in isolation.2.2Programming Techniques and Computational MethodsRecursion, parameter passing, scope, IDE features, and every computational method on the specification with when each applies.

Component 02 1 topics

2.3 Algorithms

Searching, sorting, traversals, Dijkstra, A star and Big O complexity with the reasoning behind each class.

2.3.1Algorithms and Big O ComplexitySearching, sorting, traversals, Dijkstra and A star, and Big O analysis with the reasoning behind each complexity class.

NEA 1 topics

Component 03 and 04: The Programming Project

How the 70 mark project is marked, what reaches the top band in each section, and the mistakes that cost the most.

Component 3 and 4The Programming Project (NEA)How the 70 mark project is actually marked, what separates a high band analysis from an average one, and the mistakes that cost the most marks.