Hartismere School

Est. 1451. An outstanding coeducational secondary school & sixth form college and England's first academy

Home Login

Taking A Level Computer Science

Two most important questions

Can I study A level computer science if I have not studied it at GCSE?

Many students ask this question. The answer is always ‘yes… but…’. Computer Science requires a lot of programming - it's one of the reasons we insist on a grade 6 in maths or a grade 6 in computer science. If you don’t like programming, you will hate it. There is also quite a bit of complex theory and those who study at GCSE will have a basic understanding of most of it. To be brutally honest, most of the students who have taken computer science after not studying at GCSE have found it a step too far and have not achieved as they would have expected. If you want to be successful, it would be a good idea to prepare a little first, both in terms of programming and theory. 

What can I do to prepare for A level computer science?

The most useful way of preparing would be to improve your skills in programming. Understanding how programming works will help to make everything else in the course make sense. It is also best learnt independently, unlike theory. The programming language we use to create software is C#, with a bit of HTML, CSS and JavaScript for web development. Any work you can do in these would be very beneficial. Below are some links that will be useful: 

In this section...

Coding Challenges for GCSE and A Level Computer Science

A Level CS: Algorithm Assembly Instructions

How robots are taking over warehouse work

Toyota Virtual Plant Tour

See also...

Careers in Food & Nutrition

Essential programming skills to learn

Programming

Apprenticeships

Humanities

National SMSC Quality Mark - Gold

Science & Innovation

Y6 Primary Transition - Transport of the Future

Careers & Futures Programme Feedback - Parents

Year 9

Explore...

The Wave: Cinema's most terrifying lesson

The Wave: summary

Key Dates: Summer 2025

SEND Information Report

Python Cheat Sheet

1.3 Computer networks, connections and protocols Flashcards | Quizlet

Candidate Information - Non-examination assessments

Vertigo video essay - cinematic influence

Silver DofE First Aid and Expeditions Letter

Avatar Maker

New...

5 Brilliant Moments in Patterns

Pupil Premium Strategy Statement

What happens to your examination script?

Pan's Labyrinth - The Pale Man article

Examination Rules, Guidance and Support

Teacher of Mathematics (possibility to combine with a head of year post)

I Belong: encouraging girls into computer science programme

Hartismere Art & Photography Exhibition 2025

Discover...

Robmiles.Com Student Information A Level A Level CS GCSE Computer Science GCSE CS Staff Information C# Practice Cinematography Pastoral Ingredients Cinema CIEAG Nhs Website Quizlet Year 9Chem LMC Trips Miss Baker Security Economics

Uh-oh - we were unable to load our website on your browser so we're showing you a plain HTML version.

We use many features found in modern browsers and regrettably yours seems incompatible.

However this legacy version contains (very, very nearly) all the same content. Each page is rendered on our server and doesn't rely on any browser features except the odd font. It doesn't even need Javascript or fancy CSS. It's like being in 1995!

Your browser is reporting itself to us as Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com). Please consider updating your browser to make the most of our website.

If you would like to try our proper website again - you can do so here...