Resources
Want to learn to be a really good programmer? Click here for some excellent resources, help and suggestions.

FAQ
1) How is the GCSE Computing assessed?
There are 3 units in total, one examined unit, a practical investigation unit and a programming project unit. Unit A451 is the examined unit and is worth 40% of the total GCSE. The exam lasts one and a half hours and is made up of both short answer questions as well as essay style questions. A452 is the practical investigation unit and is worth 30% of the total GCSE. The exam board set a scenario and pupils then select which research tasks to do. The third unit is A453 and is the programming project unit. The exam board set tasks and pupils then design, develop and test a solution.

2) What resources are available to cover the theory on the GCSE Computing course?
You need to be using a number of different sources, in addition to the Internet. Obviously, this website is excellent and will really help. There is a book called the 'BCS Glossary of Computing and ICT', which is helpful and is available from places like Amazon. You may be able to pick-up cheaper or second hand copies from eBay.

3) What programming language should I learn?
It makes little difference what language you learn as the basic ideas of programming are found in most languages. Your teacher will guide you. Many students start by playing with Scratch or Alice for a few lessons. Then they download and set-up VB.net 2010 (which is free) or Lazarus for freepascal (which is also free). My own students start with Scratch, move on to Java using Greenfoot (alternatives like BlueJay and JGrasp are also excellent) and also use VB.net from time to time. Along the way, we also dabble with Little Man Computer, BASIC and free assemblers, to build up experience and knowledge. Not only are these languages free, there are many hundreds of thousands of tutorials and examples to help you on the Internet and especially sites like YouTube. Programming comes with practice and will take a while to get going. However, it does get easier with time and with experience. Work very hard on learning your first language and don't give up! Burn the midnight oil. Once you have learnt one language, most other languages can be quickly mastered as they all use the same basic concepts.

4) Where can I get past exam papers?
The OCR website has past papers. Past papers can also be found at websites like this one.