Paper 2 Guidance Ocr

What is examined in the OCR GCSE (9-1) Computer Science Paper 2?

• It primarily focuses on problem solving with programming

• The main focus of this paper is on the following aspects of computer science:

  • Understanding what algorithms are, what they are used for, and how they work in relation to creating programs

  • Understanding how to decompose and analyse problems

  • The ability to read, write, refine, and evaluate programs

• Practical programming skills are a key component of this paper

• All students must be given the opportunity to undertake programming task(s) during their course of study, focusing on design, writing, testing, and refining programs

• These skills are directly assessed in this component, particularly within Section B

• Mathematical skills relevant to computer science are embedded throughout the content and will be assessed in this paper

• The paper’s duration is 1 hour and 30 minutes

• The total number of marks available is 80

• Paper 2 represents 50% of the total GCSE qualification

Assessment structure and questions:

• The paper is divided into two mandatory sections, and students must answer all questions

• Section A:

  • Worth 50 marks

    • Assesses students’ knowledge and understanding of Computer Science concepts, and their ability to apply these to problems in computational terms, potentially using an algorithmic approach

    • Questions can be presented in Natural English, OCR Exam Reference Language, or flowcharts

    • Students can respond using pseudocode, flowcharts, bullet points, OCR Exam Reference Language, a high-level programming language, or Natural English

    • When responding in OCR Exam Reference Language or a high-level programming language, precision is assessed, but minor syntax errors are not penalised

• Section B:

  • Worth 30 marks

    • Assesses students’ Practical Programming skills and their ability to design, write, test, and refine programs

    • Questions specifically focus on these four programming aspects:

      • Design: Students must respond using Natural English

      • Write: Students must respond using OCR Exam Reference Language or a high-level programming language

      • Test: Students must respond using trace tables, creating test plans, or identifying suitable test data

      • Refine: Students must respond using OCR Exam Reference Language, a high-level programming language, or Natural English

Key considerations for students:

• A strong practical programming foundation, particularly in Python, is essential for Paper 2

• Familiarity with the OCR Exam Reference Language is crucial, as all programming code given in the examination papers will be presented in this format

• Understand the specific response requirements for “Design”, “Write”, “Test” , and “Refine” questions in Section B

• Be prepared to apply computational thinking principles (decomposition, abstraction, algorithmic thinking) to solve problems

• Practice identifying and correcting errors (syntax and logic) and using trace tables