11 Plus Exams Forum

After Parents Evening earlier in the year dd thought she had pretty much decided on her options, to include Computing. Teacher was very enthusiastic that she should take as pretty much top of her class, much to her surprise!

As she was struggling to find her 10th option (she's really not into music, art, dt subjects) and must choose one from this area, it seemed the perfect fit.

However when option form and booklets have come home this week it states for Computing that due to the demands of the course, students who are not expected to achieve a level 7 in ICT and Level 8 for Maths should not consider it.

We are now of course going to speak further to the teacher, but wondered if anyone had direct experience of the maths content, as this has concerned her.

She is at a high performing Bucks Grammar and is sitting comfortably in the middle Maths set. It is certainly not her strength though and she has probably always lacked confidence in this area. (Has been at level 7 in ICT since yr 8 so this part not a problem).
Any feedback/experience would be welcomed!

DS2 in year 10 is taking OCR Computing for GCSE, the revision guide says computer systems and programming.

Out of seven sections/chapters the shortest one has some maths content, Representing Data, numbers, binary, denary, hexadecimal, characters and codes. So about five pages of maths out of eighty. The logic content for programming could be regarded as maths and maybe they are using maths ability as a guide to logic ability.

A lot of students get level 8 in Year 9 at a GS, not just top sets.

As long as he is level 7 I would have thought there is nothing in GCSE computing to cause an issue ...

Many thanks for the replies.

She's currently a 7c in Maths, predicted 7b for end of year. It really isn't her strong suit so was somewhat concerned by the schools level 8 comment. She is also worrying as is currently the only girl looking to do the course, although I see this as a positive!

Stevew61- is your ds enjoying the course and is it relatively time consuming? It is new to the school having switched from ICT last year, so have no data re results or feedback to go on.

The other way of looking at it is that using maths skills in a context that she enjoys might increase her confidence in maths and/or encourage her to put in some extra work over the summer in preparation.

I've checked a couple of GS options booklets and don't see anything like that in them ...

DS is enjoying the course so far but they have just started a group coding project and he has realised it is tougher than he thought and admits he needs to work on his skills as a later programming controlled assessment is worth 30% of final marks.

Well worth spending six pounds on a copy of

My Revision Notes OCR Computing for GCSE Computer Systems and Programming Paperback – 30 Aug 2013
by Sean O'Byrne (Author), George Rouse (Author)

From that well known Amazing book website.

Just found lots of free resources here.

http://www.cambridgegcsecomputing.org/faq" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

FAQ
Q: Who is this course aimed at?
A: This course is based on OCR’s GCSE in Computing , which is aimed at 14-to-16-year old students. As a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), it is open to anyone and can be used either as a stand-alone course for learners (whatever age) or as a teaching and learning resource for teachers.