a level computer science tips from a straight a* student
Summary
TLDRThis video is the third in a four-part series offering advice for A-level Computer Science students. The speaker shares five essential tips for theory-based exams and three tips for coursework. Key tips include focusing on memorization, mastering algorithms, developing a solid exam strategy, practicing focused programming, and staying on top of content. For coursework, the advice emphasizes simplicity, prioritizing documentation over coding, and acknowledging the limited impact of coursework on the final grade. The speaker encourages viewers to prepare thoroughly and offers practical insights for achieving top marks.
Takeaways
- 💡 Focus on memorization for A-level Computer Science, as it's essential to remember the large volume of content and essay-style questions.
- 📝 Practice long-response questions, especially those on ethical topics and major topics like storage and Big O complexity, as they have limited scope.
- 🔄 Familiarize yourself with past exam questions, as some may repeat in similar forms, giving you a better chance to score.
- 💻 Learn key algorithms and pseudocode such as linked lists, queues, stacks, sorting, and binary trees. Memorizing and writing these accurately in the exam is crucial.
- ⏳ Develop an exam strategy: practice taking full-length papers to build stamina and learn time management during the 2.5-hour exams.
- 📚 Object-oriented programming (OOP) is an important focus at A-level, along with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Consider learning these before the exam.
- 💡 For coursework, keep your project simple. Complex projects make the process harder without adding marks.
- 🖥️ Prioritize documentation over programming in coursework. Most marks come from documentation, so explaining issues in your code is key.
- 📉 Coursework only contributes 20% to the final grade, so while it's important, your exam performance is critical to achieving a top grade.
- ⚡ Use flashcards to aid memorization and consider tools like Smart Revise to save time when creating revision materials.
Q & A
What is the most important tip for A-level computer science theory, according to the speaker?
-The most important tip is to focus on memorization. A-levels are heavily content-based, and success depends on your ability to memorize and recall the material.
How can students maximize their chances of scoring well on long-response questions in A-level computer science?
-Students should focus on the limited number of topics that can be tested in long-response questions, such as ethics, storage, and Big O complexity. By practicing essays and making reasonable deductions about likely topics, students can prepare effectively.
Why is it important to remember past exam questions in computer science?
-Since A-level computer science is recall-based, questions often reappear in similar forms across different exams. By remembering the correct answers from past papers, students can improve their chances of success in future exams.
What should students prioritize when learning algorithms and pseudocode for the A-level computer science exam?
-Students should learn how to manipulate linked lists, queues, stacks, and traversal methods for binary trees and graphs. Being able to write code for these algorithms efficiently can earn them high marks in the exam.
What advice is given to help students build stamina for the long A-level computer science exams?
-Students should practice sitting for the full 2.5-hour exam duration during past paper sessions. Additionally, incorporating 2.5-hour revision blocks into their study schedule can help them build stamina and manage their energy levels during the exam.
How should students approach programming preparation for A-level computer science?
-Students should focus on object-oriented programming (OOP), as it is new and different from their previous coding experience. Additionally, learning HTML, JavaScript, and CSS will be more beneficial than focusing on Python, as these are key topics at A-level.
What is the recommended strategy for keeping on top of A-level computer science content?
-Students should take concise notes during class and regularly use flashcards to reinforce their memory. Using resources like Smart Revise can save time by providing pre-made flashcards for review.
What is the speaker’s first tip for A-level computer science coursework?
-The first tip is to keep the coursework simple. Adding unnecessary complexity increases the workload, especially in terms of documentation, which is not required for achieving high marks.
Why should students focus more on documentation rather than programming for their coursework?
-Most of the coursework marks come from the documentation rather than the code itself. It's better to submit an incomplete program with thorough documentation than a perfect program with little or no documentation.
How much does the coursework count towards the final grade in A-level computer science?
-Coursework counts for only 20% of the final grade. Although the effort put into coursework is significant, it’s essential to complete it because doing poorly can cap the final grade at a B or C.
Outlines
📘 Introduction and Overview of A-Level Computer Science Tips
In this video, the speaker welcomes viewers to the third video of a four-part series focused on providing specific advice for A-Level subjects. The topic of this video is A-Level Computer Science, where the speaker shares five theory tips and three coursework tips based on their personal experience, including achieving top grades in related subjects. The speaker emphasizes the importance of memorization for theory-based exams and discusses how the exams are largely a test of recall, especially on long-response questions. By strategically focusing on specific topics, such as ethical issues and high-mark subjects like Big-O complexity, students can optimize their study approach. Past paper questions often repeat, so learning from previous mistakes and focusing on accurate recall is crucial.
🖥️ Key Advice on Memorizing Algorithms and Code
The speaker emphasizes the need to memorize and understand algorithms and pseudocode, such as linked lists, queues, and sorting algorithms, as well as tree and graph traversals. These frequently appear in exams, so being able to quickly write the code is essential. They highlight that A-Level Computer Science exams often include questions that require students to reproduce this code, and because marks are highly competitive, losing points on these questions can significantly impact grades. Students should be prepared to tackle these questions efficiently, ensuring they can complete these tasks rapidly in the exam.
⏳ Developing a Strong Exam Strategy
Here, the speaker offers tips for managing the long and mentally demanding A-Level Computer Science exams. They recommend allocating the full 2.5 hours for practice tests to build stamina and develop time-management skills. It's also important to move on from questions that are too time-consuming to ensure that the entire paper is covered. Additionally, they advise preparing for these exams by maintaining a healthy routine, including proper sleep and nutrition, to help sustain energy and focus throughout the exam duration.
🔧 Focused Programming Practice and New Programming Topics
In this section, the speaker reassures viewers that even if they are not comfortable with coding from GCSE Computer Science, they can still succeed at A-Level. They emphasize that most students start with limited coding knowledge, so it’s common not to feel fully prepared. A-Level Computer Science focuses on Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), along with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, rather than exclusively on Python. Therefore, students looking to prepare should concentrate on learning OOP and these web development languages, which differ from GCSE content and form the bulk of new programming topics in the A-Level course.
📚 Memorization Techniques for A-Level Computer Science
The speaker shares their memorization strategy, recommending consistent, small doses of revision through flashcards, even though they aren’t typically a fan of this method. They suggest making a large set of flashcards and committing to reviewing them regularly. To save time, they mention an online tool, Smart Revise, which provides ready-made flashcards. This method can help students retain the dense content necessary for success in A-Level Computer Science.
💡 Keeping Coursework Simple and Focused
The speaker’s first coursework tip is to avoid overcomplicating the project. Since the complexity of a program does not yield additional marks, students should focus on straightforward ideas that meet assessment objectives without unnecessary features. They also caution against choosing complex projects, like games, which can be time-consuming and may add excessive documentation requirements. Sticking to simpler projects allows for more manageable work and less documentation, helping students stay on track with their coursework timelines.
📝 Emphasizing Documentation in Coursework
For coursework, the speaker stresses that most marks come from documentation, not the code itself. They recommend prioritizing documentation over perfecting the code, as it’s better to have a well-documented, unfinished project than a complete one without adequate supporting materials. By detailing errors and potential solutions in the documentation, students provide assessors with sufficient material for grading, even if the code has issues.
⚖️ Importance of Coursework Despite its Low Weight
The speaker explains that while coursework only accounts for 20% of the overall grade, doing well on it is essential, as poor performance can prevent students from achieving higher final grades. Although it may seem like a lot of work for a small percentage, students should commit to completing the coursework thoroughly, as falling short can cap their final grade at a B or C. They emphasize the need for resilience in tackling the coursework to maximize overall results.
👋 Closing Remarks and Additional Resources
In the closing paragraph, the speaker thanks viewers for watching and invites them to reach out with any questions via email or Instagram. They also encourage viewers to check out other videos in the series, which cover revision strategies and university topics, for further academic guidance. They sign off by wishing viewers good luck with their computer science revision.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Memorization
💡Algorithms
💡Exam Strategy
💡Past Papers
💡Object-Oriented Programming (OOP)
💡Documentation
💡Coursework
💡Flashcards
💡Big O Complexity
💡NEA (Non-Exam Assessment)
Highlights
The first tip for A-Level Computer Science is to focus on memorization. A-Levels are largely a memory game, and this applies to Computer Science as well.
Memorize long response essay-style questions, particularly the ethics topics and key areas like Big O complexity and storage. Practice writing essays for these topics.
When reviewing past papers, focus on questions you got wrong and remember the correct answers, as similar questions may reappear in future exams.
Learn and memorize algorithms and pseudocode, such as manipulating linked lists, queues, stacks, and searching/sorting algorithms. This will help in efficiently answering exam questions.
Allocate the full 2.5-hour exam duration when practicing past papers to build stamina and get used to the lengthy exam format.
Be disciplined with time management during exams. Move on if you're spending too much time on a question to ensure you cover the entire paper.
Programming preparation should focus on Object-Oriented Programming (OOP), HTML, JavaScript, and CSS instead of Python, as these are newer concepts for A-Level Computer Science.
Keep notes in class to aid memorization, and use flashcards to help retain key concepts for your Computer Science revision.
Consider using external tools like Smart Revise to save time on making flashcards, as they can offer pre-made ones tailored to the A-Level curriculum.
For coursework, keep your program simple. Complexity doesn't yield more marks, and adding advanced features increases the workload significantly.
Avoid creating games for coursework unless you have prior experience, as they are complex and time-consuming to develop.
Focus on documentation for coursework. Most marks come from documentation rather than the code itself, so prioritize this over perfecting your program.
It’s better to submit unfinished or buggy code with thorough documentation than perfect code without supporting documentation.
Coursework only accounts for 20% of the final grade, so while it’s underweighted, it’s essential to complete it to avoid limiting your overall grade.
Despite the coursework being underweighted, it is critical to stick with it and see it through to the end to avoid capping your grade potential.
Transcripts
hey guys welcome to the third video of a
four-part series that follows this video
and see to give you guys some more
subject specific a level advice today
we're going to be tackling a level
computer science I have five tips for
the theory based element of the course
and then three tips for your coursework
or Nea for reference I took the OCR a
level computer science exam in the
summer of 2023 and I tent AAR I also
took a level's math further math and
physics and I day stars and all three of
those as well so after you've watched
this video make sure to go and check
those ones out as well but other than
that let's get
going my first tip is always the one
that I think is the most important and
for computer science that would be to
focus on memorization I definitely feel
like the a levels are one big memory
game I think they're testing whether you
can remember this high volume of content
and be able to regurgitate it and so
unfortunately if you want to do well
you're going to have to play that game
aside from remembering the actual course
content itself there are two other
things I think you should look at
memorizing to try and boost yourself
into the top great grade boundaries the
first thing is that between both the
papers there are various long response
essay style questions that typically
between 9 and 12 marks and these marks
do add up very quickly and the catch
here is that there's only really
finitely many topics that they can ask
you about to start with the ethics
questions come from a predetermined list
of topics and so you should definitely
be looking at those mind mapping
practicing essays trying to remember
them in terms of the non ethics based
questions there are again a very limited
amount of things they can milk 12 marks
out of some big ones are storage or Big
O complexity but if you think about it
they're not going to ask you a nine
marker about boole and algebra and so
you should be able to practice quite a
lot of essays by making reasonable
deductions about what topics they can
actually ask you long response questions
on the second point I wanted to make
about memorization is that in computer
science because it's based so much of
recall quite frequently you'll see a
question in an exam that has appeared in
the same or in a similar form in a
previous exam and so when you're going
through and you're doing a past paper
and you're marking it really try try and
be present when you're looking at the
questions that you've got wrong and try
and remember what the actual correct
answer is because there is actually
quite a high likelihood that the
question might come up again in your
final
exam my second tip is that you should
always learn all the algorithms and suda
codes that you've been given these are
things like manipulating linked lists
cues Stacks learning all the searching
and sorting algorithms being able to
Traverse binary trees and graphs all of
these things you have probably shown the
code for throughout your course and you
thought okay cool but you do actually
need to be able to write all this code
for the exam and because there's so much
of it you should definitely start
memorizing as soon as possible and
normally the easier ones like bubble saw
or binary search come up but it can't be
guaranteed and these questions can be
seven or nine marks in the exam and
considering the computer science grade
boundaries are so high you don't want to
be throwing those marks away you should
be in the position where that question
comes up it's a 3 minute job and you've
bagged nine marks ready to go on to the
next question
my third tip is to work on your computer
science exam strategy the A- Lev
computer science exams are 2 and a half
hours long each and that is a very long
time for your brain to be working at
100% And so to prepare yourself for this
I would say when you're doing past
papers try and allocate yourself the
full 2 and 1 half hour slot to just sit
down and do the paper start to finish
and then when you've done that I would
also try and actively put into your
vision schedule the 2 and 1 half hour
durations to sit down and do 2 and 1
half hours of hard Compu future science
Revision in order to try and build up
your stamina the other thing that I
think is tricky about a longer paper is
it's much easier to let the time get
away from you and so I think you need to
be particularly regimented about moving
on from a question when it's taking too
much time to make sure that you are
covering the whole paper the final thing
in terms of stamina is of course the
longer the paper the more energy you're
going to need and so I think it's most
important for computer science that you
sleep and eat well beforehand to try and
stop yourself from dropping off near the
end
my fourth tip would be to practice Focus
programming I often have people Express
to me that they're concerned about a
level computer science because they
didn't do that much coding at GCSE and
they don't think they'll be able to cope
and the first thing I would say is that
literally everyone says this to me and
so absolutely no one at a level has any
idea really how to code including myself
so I definitely wouldn't worry and I
definitely wouldn't expect a level
computer science to be python 2.0
because I actually don't think it builds
that much on what you've done at GCSE
the thing that I would say is that a
level you explore something called oop
or object oriented programming and so if
you want to do some programming
preparation I would definitely look at
beginner courses on that because it's
something that's a bit more abstract and
is actually very different from the way
that you've coded before the other
things that come up at a level are HTML
Java script and CSS and so again instead
of python if you want to do some
programming prep it's probably better
investing your time into those things
because they're
new my fifth and final Theory tip is to
keep on top of content
and this essentially is just the
strategy that I think works best for
memorization I think firstly you should
always be taking notes in class these
don't have to be beautiful or detailed
concise ones will work fine but most
importantly you're more likely to
remember when you're hearing something
and writing it down compared to when
you're just listening now even though
I'm a bit of a flash card hater as we
all know I think that they are the best
tool to use in terms of your a-level
computer science rision I often hear the
strategy often but a little thrown
around and I think that's one that
definitely works the best I think the
way to go forward is to just make
hundreds of flashcards and every day try
and brute force a couple more little
nuggets of computer science into your
mind until you've got them all in there
now even though I think the actual
process of making flash cards can be
beneficial I personally used a website
from Craig and da called smart revise
and you do have to pay for it but I
think if you want to save your time it
definitely is worth the investment they
essentially just make all the flash
cards for you this isn't sponsored but
that's something that I use and it's a
tool that I think really changed the way
that IIs for computer science
in terms of coursework my first tip is
to keep it simple I think people often
forget that there are no marks awarded
for the complexity of your program and
so by making something really Advanced
you only making the process harder for
yourself if you already have an idea of
what kind of thing you want to do I
would definitely look at the assessment
objectives try and match up your plan
and then get rid of anything that's not
necessary for every little complex bit
that you add in you're not just adding
in 20 lines of code you're adding in
extra documentation evaluation another
design mockup more data needs to be
collected from your stockholders
everything becomes a lot more effort and
so I think that the easiest thing to do
is to keep it as simple as possible the
other thing I would quickly say is I
feel like a lot of people resort to
making a game for their coursework
because they think it's going to be the
most fun but unless you have previous
experience in making them they're really
hard and really long to make and so I
would definitely stay away from them
because at the end of the day your
coursework is never going to be fun so
there's not really any point doing a
game because you want to enjoy it
because you're not going to enjoy the
extra hundreds of hours of
documentation my second coursework tip
is to step away from the programming I
think for a programming project it's
very reasonable that you would expect
there to be a high emphasis on the code
but actually almost all of your marks
are going to come from your
documentation and so that's where your
focus should be you should be spending a
very small percentage of your time doing
the programming itself at the end of the
day it's actually much better to sub an
unfinished full of Errors bit of code
that has loads of documentation to
explain what's going wrong and what you
might do to fix it in the future rather
than a fully completed perfect bit of
code that has no documentation because
in the second example they have nothing
to Mark you on and so if it comes to the
point where you have to choose between
actually coding and fixing your code or
writing up some documentation always
pick the second
one my third coursework tip is a bit of
a sad one and it is that the coursework
is very very underweighted and you're
going to put a lot of time and effort
into it and even if you come out with
full marks which you probably won't it's
only going to count towards 20% of your
final exam grade and even more
unfortunately the grade boundaries in
computer science are really high and so
if you don't do well in your coursework
you're going to cap yourself at a b or a
c grade and so it's really important
that even though it might feel like
you're getting mugged off you stick with
the coursework and you see it through to
the end CU otherwise you're not going to
be able to achieve the top grade
boundaries
okay guys that's all I have to say to
you today as always if you have any
questions you can email or message me on
Instagram but other than that very best
of luck for your computer science
revision keep your eyes peeled on the
Yan Channel there's going to be more
Vlogs rision uni stuff so I'll see you
guys soon
bye
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