Hartismere School

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

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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...

A Level CS: Algorithm Assembly Instructions

Coding Challenges for GCSE and A Level Computer Science

Toyota Virtual Plant Tour

How robots are taking over warehouse work

See also...

CEIAG (Careers Education, Information, Advice & Guidance)

Programming software

Careers Fair - 14 March 2024

Week beginning 5 Feb 2024: 'Life Lessons'

Personal Development

Binary addition 2

Year 8

Operating Department Practitioner (ODP)

Revision for computer science

Year 7

Explore...

Bronze DofE Enrolment Letter 2024-2025

CPU Fetch-Decode-Execute Animation

Do the Right Thing Scene Analysis

Bronze Expedition Letter 2025

The Lost Boys - the vampires attack

Hartismere Ofsted Report 2014

The Wave: Tim becomes Wenger's bodyguard (clip 6 of 9)

Candidate Information - Written exams

Dracula Revision

The Wave: summary

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Hartismere Sixth Form College

Sixth Form Course Information

Book a tour... appointments for 2025 - 2026 academic year will be available soon

GCSE CS: 1.5 Networks - TCP/IP Layers and Protocols

Academic challenge and independence; attainment

E-Safety

University and careers; destinations & retention

Hartismere Bursary Criteria

Discover...

Robmiles.Com Student Information A Level A Level CS GCSE Computer Science GCSE CS Feedback Python Avatar Key Stage 4 Prospectus GCSE Year 11 Revision School Nurse Mr Trudgill Nutrition Learning Miss Baker Leadership Retention Girls Horror SCI Revision

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