Mock Exam December 2013

Mock exam will be spread over two lessons. Both classes will start on Thursday 12th December and finish in Fridays lesson on 13th December.

Topics covered will be:

Computer Theory F451

• 3.1.1 Computing Components (notes on intranet)
• 3.1.2 Software (only the software development/systems life cycle part a-l)
• 3.1.3 Data representation
• 3.1.4 Hardware

Programming and Logic F452

• Data types
• Basic logic problems
• dry run/trace tables of algorithms

You need to make sure you prepare for this mock and treat it seriously, this is the first set of questions you will have performed under exam conditions. Make sure you review your own notes and mine. We have not formerly covered all the work in the systems life cycle but we have touched on all aspects of this, you will need to review in order to be fully versed in this topic.

First batch of Systems development exam questions

These are the questions that we are working on first in our groups

• F451 Jan 09 q5 (not b), F451 May09 q4
• 2511 Jan 09 q4
• 2508 may09 q3
• 2508 may09 q1
• 2508 jan09 q2
• 2508 jan09q1
• 2508 jan08 q1 (not d)
• 2508 jan08 q2

Homework seven : Specification 3.1.4 Hardware glossary

This homework is due Friday 22nd November 2013

You need to work through the bullet points from the hardware section of the specification for the computer fundamental paper F451 creating boring and obvious definitions.

In order to do this you need to look back through exam mark schemes looking for the hardware questions.

The 3.1.4 hardware spec is available here

Homework six : CPU Question and homework 4 and 5 review

This homework is due on Monday 4th November 2013.

If you need to type up your answers make sure you reference each of the question parts appropriately (aii etc...)

A copy of the homework is available

The question can be found here


Be very careful answering these questions, you must be precise in your answers don't waffle.

Try the homework early then if you have any issues with this homework then you need to see me well before the hand in date to give you time to attempt the question again.

Review of homework 4

Exam Mark Scheme answers for both question here (Question 1 in both cases)


Review of homework 5

Exam mark scheme to be answers here


This is a very critical homework, knowledge is only part of the game at A level, you are expected to know things, but what they are actually focused on testing is can you apply that knowledge to specific contexts. It is the context that cannot be predicted, they can make these up till the cows come home. They will always stick to the topics we cover but they will come up with new questions to ask about those topics so exam technique is important. You need to go back through the exam question with the mark scheme. You need to look at each question individually, so organise a report in this way (question by question). When doing this task you need to be honest with yourself, there is no point kidding about why you scored what you scored.


For each question look at the following:

If you did well

• What specifically did you do/have you done to achieve this result?
• Look at the mark scheme why are the other answers given the correct ones? (look at the context of the question and  how they fit with it)

If you scored poorly or loosely

• Look at the mark scheme why are the answers given the correct ones? (look at the context of the question and  how they fit with it)
• Why did your answers not give you the marks? (were they off topic, did they not target the question asked, did you waffle, were you vague, did you start with a statement before explaining, did you state and not describe etc...)
• What mistakes did you make with your approach to the question? (did you read it before answering or did you assume you knew what the question was, did you read your answers back to check you were answering the question asked etc...)
• What will you do on future questions in order to ensure you don't make these same mistakes?

Once this task is complete I will ask you to enter a target into the Nilpit system under ILP (Individual learning plans) outlining what you need to do in future when tackling exam questions. You will also make an entry into your Learner Journal, stating an action you will take forward for the next homework.

Homework Five: Hardware Exam questions

This homework is due on Friday 18th November 2013.

If you need to type up your answers make sure you reference each of the question parts appropriately (aii etc...)

A copy of the homework is available

The first question can be found here
and the second question can be found here

Be very careful answering these questions, you must be precise in your answers don't waffle.

Try the homework early then if you have any issues with this homework then you need to see me well before the hand in date to give you time to attempt the question again.

HomeworkFour: Computer components exam questions

This homework is due on Friday 11th October 2013. 

If you need to type up your answers make sure you reference each of the question parts appropriately (aii etc...)

A copy of the homework is available

The first queston can be found here
and the second question can be found here

Be very careful answering these questions, you must be precise in your answers don't waffle.

Try the homework early then if you have any issues with this homework then you need to see me well before the hand in date to give you time to attempt the question again.

Homework Three: Review of exam question

Homework is due on Friday 4th October 2013.

This is a very critical homework, knowledge is only part of the game at A level, you are expected to know things, but what they are actually focused on testing is can you apply that knowledge to specific contexts. It is the context that cannot be predicted, they can make these up till the cows come home. They will always stick to the topics we cover but they will come up with new questions to ask about those topics so exam technique is important. You need to go back through the exam question with the mark scheme. You need to look at each question individually, so organise a report in this way (question by question). When doing this task you need to be honest with yourself, there is no point kidding about why you scored what you scored.

Exam Mark Scheme answer here (Question 6)

Binary question answers here

For each question look at the following:

If you did well

• What specifically did you do/have you done to achieve this result?
• Look at the mark scheme why are the other answers given the correct ones? (look at the context of the question and  how they fit with it)

If you scored poorly or loosely

• Look at the mark scheme why are the answers given the correct ones? (look at the context of the question and  how they fit with it)
• Why did your answers not give you the marks? (were they off topic, did they not target the question asked, did you waffle, were you vague, did you start with a statement before explaining, did you state and not describe etc...)
• What mistakes did you make with your approach to the question? (did you read it before answering or did you assume you knew what the question was, did you read your answers back to check you were answering the question asked etc...)
• What will you do on future questions in order to ensure you don't make these same mistakes?

Once this task is complete I will ask you to enter a target into the Nilpit system under ILP (Individual learning plans) outlining what you need to do in future when tackling exam questions. You will also make an entry into your Learner Journal, stating an action you will take forward for the next homework.