The End of Year Assessment will take place in lesson on Thursday 26th June.
All students will complete a 60-minute written exam, unless alternative arrangements are in place through access support.
Revision Materials & Support
To help you prepare for the upcoming assessment, please use the following revision tools and strategies:
Your Cornell Notes – Review the notes you have made throughout the year. They’re tailored to what you’ve studied in class.
Key Terms Glossary (KS4) – Make sure you're confident with the essential vocabulary and terminology.
Revision Techniques – Click here for effective strategies to make your revision more efficient.
SmartRevise – Use this online question bank to test and reinforce your knowledge.
Isaac Computing – A fantastic online resource for Computer Science practice. Sign up using your school email via the invite link on Google Classroom.
Exam Command Words – Understanding what these words mean (e.g. "describe", "explain", "evaluate") will help you answer questions accurately.
Recommended Revision Book – GCSE Computer Science OCR Complete Revision & Practice (includes notes and workbook activities).
Past Papers
Computer Systems (Paper 1) 2023 and Mark Scheme Examiners Report
Computer Systems (Paper 1) 2022 and Mark Scheme Examiners Report
GCSE Course Specification can be found here.
Additional past papers for Computer Systems can be found here and past papers for Algorithms & Programming can be found here
Topics
1.1 Systems Architecture
CPU components and registers (ALU, CU, MAR, MDR, Program Counter, Accumulator)
Fetch-Execute Cycle
1.2 Memory and Storage
Units of data (bit, byte, kilobyte, etc.)
RAM, ROM, and virtual memory
Secondary storage (e.g., HDD, SSD)
1.3 Computer Networks, Connections and Protocols
Wired vs. wireless networking
Network hardware (router, switch, WAP, etc.)
DNS, IP addressing
Client-server and peer-to-peer networks
Performance factors in LANs
Network
1.4 – Network security
Threats to computer systems and networks & forms of attack:
Malware
Social engineering, e.g. phishing, people as the ‘weak point’
Brute-force attacks
Denial of service attacks
Data interception and theft
The concept of SQL injection
2.2 – Programming fundamentals
The use of variables, constants, operators, inputs, outputs and variable assignment.
The use of the three basic programming constructs used to control the flow of a program:
Sequence
Selection
Iteration (count- and condition-controlled loops)
The common arithmetic operators +, -, *, /, >= & <=