Pre-Release papers May and November 2019 and Preparation for Paper 2

Overall strategy

In preparation for Paper 2, you need to have attempted the problems in the pre-release paper.

You should be familiar with both pseudocode and Python solutions. Going through Past Paper 2s will help you understand the types of questions that will be asked.

The first half of the exam

Paper 2 will start with questions about coding, eg data types, completing flowcharts from pseudocode and vice versa but the questions in the second half of the paper are to check your understanding of the solutions to the pre-release paper.

The second half of the exam

The questions in the second half of the paper will vary each year. As the pre-release paper includes the following you should be sure you can answer questions on strings, string functions, 1 and 2-dimensional arrays and modifying text files. You should be familiar with the differences between Python and pseudocode eg declaring variables in pseudocode (NB you must add comments in any Python code to show the variable data types.

The appendix

This contains the pseudocode for the functions that can be used to complete the pre-release solution. The same appendix also appears in the Paper 2 exam paper. The functions are often string functions. make sure you know how to use the Python equivalents - see this doc for MJ2019 examples.

Pseudocode

If you are unsure of the pseudocode syntax, there will be examples in the second half of the paper that could help you.

Variables

Make sure you can list variables and constants in the pre-release pseudocode and Python solutions and their data types. The exam paper may even ask you to identify these in code written in an unfamiliar programming language.

Identifying Parts of a program

You should be able to identify the following parts of a program:

declaring and incrementing variables, loops (postcondition and precondition), procedures (def), selections (if)

Trace Tables

As with paper 1- there may be a trace table to complete.

Python

Make sure you are familiar with the code that you would need to solve the problems in the pre-release paper. Make notes on the code that will be useful.

You should know the code to build 1 and 2D arrays and to identify each element

You should know the code to access and change text files.

Here are the support files for the pre-release paper. You must be logged on with RST logon to do this.

November 2019 Pre Release