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Content9/10:ThisoneisabitofapuntsincethefullAlevelrevisionguideisgoingtobereleasedthisOctoberbutjudgingbytheASrevisionguide(whichisexcellent),Ithinkitmayjustincludeeverythingapartfromthecourseworkcomponent. Anyway,enoughselfadvertising.That'smylistofthetop10resourcesforOCRAlevelComputerSciencethatIhaveusedpersonally,doyouagreewithit?IsthereanyresourceImissed?Putyourcommentsbelowandasalways... Concision10/10:Very,veryconcise.Doesn'tbeataroundthebushandjustgivesyoualltheinformationyouneedinminimalspace.Definitelythebestrevisionguideavailablerightnow(unfortunately,CGPhaven'tgotoneforAlevelComputerScienceotherwiseIthinkitwouldbeequallygood).
Concision10/10:Markschemesarethebestresourceofallinmyopinion.Clear,conciseandgetstraighttothepoint.Itsimplytellsyoueverythingtheexaminersarelookingforwithoutanyunnecessaryinformation. Students will be expected to analyse a problem (10 marks), and design (15 marks), develop and test (25 marks), and evaluate and document (20 marks) a program. The program must be to solve it written in a suitable programming language. Presentation8/10:Mostofthepremiumresourcesavailablearewellpresented,afewofthemcouldbebetterbutonthewholetheyareallaestheticallyappealing. Presentation:agoodresourceshouldbeaestheticallyappealing,evenithasallthecontentitshouldlayoutalltheinformationinaneasytograspform. Students are introduced to the internal workings of the (CPU), data exchange, software development, data types and legal and ethical issues. The resulting knowledge and understanding will underpin their work in component 03.Accessibility9/10:Videoisprobablythemostaccessiblewaytodelivercontent,there'slittletonoreadingandyoujusthavetowatchandlistencarefully.Thevideosandtheotherresourcesdelivercontentinaveryaccessiblewaysuitableforprettymucheveryone. Presentation10/10:Alltheinteractiveactivities,worksheets,testsandthesummarypresentationsareextremelywellpresented.Can'tfaultanythinghere. Presentation8/10:Generallydisplaysthecontentwellbutnotthepresentationisnotasgoodastheothertextbooksinmyopinion.Maybeit'sbecauseofitsmonochromaticimagesorsimplybecausethere'snocolourwhatsoever. The internal workings of the (CPU), data exchange, software development, data types and legal and ethical issues.
Accessibility9/10:GoingtohavetogiveaslightdowngradeheresinceOCR(alongwithprettymucheveryotherexamboard)arequitenotoriousforwriting"evil"papers. Accessibility8/10:InitiallyhadafewmistakeswhichwerecorrectedbutisstillasolidtextbookthatactuallydeservesanendorsementbyOCR. FinalScore&Verdict:Despitebeing7thonthelistthisistheonlyresourcethatprovidesvideossoI'dhighlyrecommendyouusethem.Thevideosareallveryshortsoyoucaneasilywatchthemwithoutgettingboredandtheotherresourcessuchasthecheatsheetsforbooleanalgebraandpseudocodearebothincrediblyuseful.AsIalwayssay,whenresourcesarescarceusewhateveryoucanfind! 8.2/10 Accessibility:similartothepreviousindicatorbutjudgesresourcesaccordingtohowaccessibleistheinformationitself,notthepresentationoftheinformation.Inotherwords,howeasyisittounderstandthecontentdelivered.
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Price:nomatterhowgoodaresourceis,ifit'sexpensivechancesareyoumaynotevenuseitsothepriceofaresourceisessentialinthisranking. Accessibility8/10:Thequestionsintheexercisesaresimilarindifficultytonewspecpapers.Nothardtoseewhythey'resoaccessiblesincethey'retakenfromtextbooksbuteventherevisionresourcescanbeeasilyunderstood. Accessibility10/10:Surprisinglyeasytounderstand.Eventhoughitgivesthecontentyouneedtoknowwithoutanywafflingorintroductions(whichisgreat)itmakesitveryeasytodigesttheinfoviabulletpointsandshortparagraphs. What is meant by computational thinking (thinking abstractly, thinking ahead, thinking procedurally etc.)
FinalScore&Verdict:Containsawealthofresourceswhichareallfreesodefinitelyuseasmanyasyoucan.Highlyrecommendtherevisionexercisesasthenewspecpapersaren'tenoughatthisstageandyouneedallthepracticeyoucanget. 7.4/10 Content8/10:thefreeflippedclassroomvideoscoverprettymucheverysinglespecpointindepthfortheexamcomponentsandthere'sacoupleofotherfreeresourcesaswellontopofthat.Itdoesn'thowever,haveanythingfortheprogrammingproject. Presentation10/10:Verywellpresented.AllthecontentonthePowerPointPresentationsisverygoodasitdoesn'thavetoomuchinfoperslide.PDFsarelaidoutnicelyaswell.Nofaultshere.Content9/10:Thistextbookisn'tendorsedbyOCRanditdoesn'thaveanythingforthecourseworkcomponent.HeavilyfocusedontheexamcomponentswhichisOKforarevisionguidesortofthing(althoughIdon'tconsideritone). Accessibility10/10:Alltheresourcesareveryhighqualityandthusareveryaccessible.Oneshouldhavenoproblemunderstandingtheinformationdelivered.
Accessibility9/10:Usesastraightforwardapproachindeliveringmaterialwhichisveryeasytounderstand.Noflowerylanguageortechnicalterminology,takesyouthroughthetheorystepbystep. Accessibility9/10:Asidefromthevideos,thepremiumresources(notabletheKeyTerminologyPresentationandCheatsheetsaforementioned)areveryeasytounderstand. Students must take all three components to be awarded the OCR A Level in Computer Science. Component
FinalScore&Verdict:Thebestonlineresourceavailableplainandsimple(thatisn'tendorsedbyOCRforsomereason). 9/10 FinalScore&Verdict:Ifthisresourceissupposedtobearevisionguide,Iwouldn'tsayit'sgreatonebutasatextbookitget'sthejobdoneingettingallthecontentacrossinit'sownway(whichcanbeunnecessarilylongsometimes).Eventhoughthisischeaper,Iwouldrecommendtheotheroneasitfullysupportsthespecification. 8.6/10