This qualification is linear, meaning that pupils will sit all their exams and submit all their non-exam assessment at the end of the course.

Subject content

• 3.1 Fundamentals of algorithms

• 3.2 Programming

• 3.3 Fundamentals of data representation

• 3.4 Computer systems

• 3.5 Fundamentals of computer networks

 • 3.6 Cyber security

 • 3.7 Relational databases and structured query language (SQL)

 • 3.8 Ethical, legal and environmental impacts of digital technology on wider society, including issues of privacy

Assessed by two papers

Paper 1: Computational thinking and problem solving.

What is assessed:

Computational thinking, code tracing, problem-solving, programming concepts including the design of effective algorithms and the designing, writing, testing and refining of code.

The content for this assessment will be drawn from subject content 3.1 and 3.2 above.

How it is assessed:

Written exam: 2 hours

90 marks

50% of GCSE

Made up of a mix of multiple choice, short-answer and longer-answer questions assessing a pupil’s practical problem solving and computational thinking skills.

Paper 2: Computing concepts

What is assessed:

The content for this assessment will be drawn from subject content 3.3 to 3.8 above.

How it is assessed:

Written exam: 1 hour 45 minutes

90 marks

50% of GCSE

A mix of multiple choice, short answer, longer answer and extended response questions, assessing SQL programming skills and theoretical knowledge.

Programming skills

A key part of the delivery of this specification is the development of students’ programming skills.

Throughout their course of study, students must be given the opportunity to design, write, test and refine, using one or more high-level programming language(s) with a textual program definition. In developing these skills schools and colleges are free to choose the context (ie they can be developed in relation to solving a specific problem or to a specification).

In assessments where programming skills are assessed, we will assess students’ ability to:

 • design

 • write

 • test, and

 • refine

 a program to a set task/brief (or to solve a problem).