Homework: Specification mark scheme reviews

This homework is due Monday 9th December 2013

You need to work through the bullet points from the language translators and architecture sections of the specification for the advanced computing paper F453 creating boring and obvious definitions.

In order to do this you need to look back through exam mark schemes looking for the questions on these two sections (usually question 2 and 3 but not always).

this task needs to be done for all 9 specification areas, but I want to set this formally so I can make sure you're doing this in a manner that will be of some use to you when revising. If you do not make a good effort at this then you can't possibly hope to be successful in the exam at the end of the year so don't leave this till the last minute, you're given two weeks because I want to give you time to do this properly.

A copy of these two specification areas can be found here

Homework two: syntax exam question review

Homework is due on Monday 21st 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 Syntax homework questions, with the mark scheme answers. 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.

Highlighted mark scheme answers are here they are also on the F453 page of the Intranet.

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.

Homework : Exam Syntax questions

Due Monday 7th October 2013

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

If you lose the homework it can be found by looking at the past papers on the Intranet:

Jan 2013 Q7
June 2010 Q8

Please take time answering both questions, 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.

Analysis and investigation 1st full draft due

The date for the first full draft of the Analysis and Investigation section is:

16th September 2013

This is a major milestone, this needs to be complete for me to give decent guidance.

Make sure it is in order and all sections are introduced.

A2 project Final deadline

The final deadline for the A2 project is Tuesday 7th May 2013

You need to ensure that over Easter you complete as much of the paperwork as possible so that I can mark and assess the work. It is important that I see complete sections so I can properly ensure that it is put together in a way that flows.

When I assess a section I will attempt to give you a mark and constructive feedback, this will be placed on the Nilpit system so you can access or print it out.

F453 mock exam after easter

We will have a mock exam on the 13th and 14th of May. This will span two days as we have a two hour paper to do. I am not having the mock earlier than this as you will be very focused on your projects

We will attempt to go through this on Thursday of that week.

Please make sure you are working towards real revision for these papers, you will get little information about your progress if you say to yourself "I did bad because I didn't revise properly".

Work to do Monday 4th March 2013

Unfortunately I am not going to make it in on Monday so I need you to get on with development of the project but also please make a start on the very final part of the project paperwork.

On page 23 the is a final section called desirable extensions, this is worth 3 marks. I have talked individually with all of you about items that can go into the further development section (this section). Can you please at least put an outline framework together. For the marks it's important to describe and explain this well.

The guide explains all you need to know.

Tuesday afternoon will be project lesson and hopefully I'll be back in, continue helping each other as this is good for both participants.

Could you also all sign into workshop (click the Workshop Sign link in the Actions section of the Dashboard on the ICT intranet page).