AQA GCSE Computer Science Revision

AQA GCSE Computer Science 8525 is assessed by two written exams and nothing else. There is no coursework and no non-exam assessment counting towards the grade, although your school must give you practical programming experience during the course.

How is AQA GCSE Computer Science assessed?

Two written papers, each worth 90 marks and each worth 50% of the GCSE. Paper 1, Computational thinking and programming skills, lasts 2 hours and directly assesses section 3.1 Fundamentals of algorithms and section 3.2 Programming. Paper 2, Computing concepts, lasts 1 hour 45 minutes and directly assesses sections 3.3 to 3.8. Either paper may also ask questions that need knowledge from elsewhere in the specification.

Is GCSE Computer Science tiered?

No. Unlike GCSE Science there is no Foundation and no Higher tier, so everyone sits the same Paper 2 and is graded on the same 9 to 1 scale. Paper 1 does come in separate C#, Python and VB.NET variants, and you sit the one your school entered you for.

Which programming language do you answer in?

You answer Paper 1 in the language you were taught, from C#, Python and VB.NET. Each question tells you what form the answer has to take, for example program code, pseudo-code or a flowchart. Where pseudo-code is accepted you may use any clear and sensible format.

What does AQA GCSE Computer Science 8525 cover?

The subject content is organised into eight sections, and this app has a topic note, a question bank and a flashcard deck for each of them:

• Fundamentals of algorithms: pseudo-code and flowcharts, decomposition and abstraction, tracing, linear and binary search, bubble sort and merge sort, and efficiency.
• Programming: data types, sequence, selection and iteration, operators, arrays and records, subroutines, string handling, validation and testing.
• Fundamentals of data representation: bits and bytes, binary, denary and hexadecimal, binary addition and shifts, character sets, images, sound and compression.
• Computer systems: hardware and software, Boolean logic, translators, the fetch execute cycle, CPU performance, memory and storage, cloud and embedded systems.
• Fundamentals of computer networks: LANs and WANs, wired and wireless, protocols and the four layer TCP/IP model, MAC address filtering, and network security.
• Cyber security: social engineering, malware, pharming, weak passwords and misconfigured access rights, and the methods used to detect and prevent them.
• Relational databases and SQL: relational databases, tables, records and fields, primary and foreign keys, and writing SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE queries.
• Ethical, legal and environmental impacts: privacy and surveillance, and the environmental cost of devices at each stage of their life.

Are these the real AQA exam questions?

No. Every question, explanation, flashcard and topic note in this app is original, written by RiverMap Learning to the publicly available AQA 8525 subject content. No AQA exam papers, mark schemes, sample assessment materials or textbook text is reproduced. The concepts of computer science are not copyrightable, so the app teaches the same material in its own words.

How should you use a revision app like this one?

Read the topic note first so the whole section is in your head as one picture, then use the practice questions to find out which parts are not actually secure. Every answer carries an explanation, so a wrong answer teaches you something. The flashcards are for the definitions you have to be able to produce cold, and the timed quiz is for practising under pressure once the individual topics feel solid.

What does the mastery percentage in the app mean?

It measures your progress through this app's practice questions in each topic. It is a study aid, not a grade prediction and not an official AQA measure. Use it to decide what to revise next, not to decide whether you are ready.