A Level Computer Science

What the course is about - Computer Science is a challenging course. At its heart it requires you to solve problems. Not just mental problems like Sudoku, or the Towers of Hanoi (remember those tyres on poles at Blacklands ), but big human problems too. Computer Science is a special subject that crosses the boundaries of other subjects – it is a humanities subject as well as a science and a branch of mathematics. Behind the algorithms and the technology there is also a fascinating story of human achievement.

The course covers the following:

• The characteristics of processors, input, output and storage devices
• Software and software development
• Problem solving and programming
• Exchanging data
• Data types, structures and algorithms
• Legal, moral, ethical and cultural issues
• Computational thinking
• As the AS specification above but with the addition of standard algorithms
• Programming problem covering analysis, design development of a computing problem

What can you go on to from studying this subject?

You can study Computer Science for a lot of reasons; it can be seen as a passport to a good course at university or a good career. The reason most likely to lead to success is that at some level you find the subject interesting and you expect to have fun doing it. Writing computer programs gives you “instant feedback”, teaches you to persevere with problems that you may not succeed at first time and great satisfaction once they are finally overcome.