Talk:A-level Computing/AQA/2015 ALevel Paper 1

I think it will be useful to separate the new AS and AL syllabuses - certainly for the new AQA Computer Science Course (7516/7517).

(AQA AS Computer Science 7516 (from 2015))

My college has made a policy decision to enter all Yr 12 students for the AS exams this year (2016) and those who continue will of course then sit the full A Level qualification exams in 2017. No doubt other schools and colleges will have made their own decisions about this. While it seems to be an expensive option it is probably quite logical - certainly in the first years of the new syllabuses.

The only published text book for the course seems to attempt to combine the topics throughout the text (A Level sections are clearly identified as such in the relevant chapters). This may prove to be a sound strategy for those who are capable of completing the whole course, but from previous experience with the old syllabus, I suggest there is a considerable step up in the knowledge and understanding required to move from the AS year to the "A2" year (in old parlance).

For AS students, my initial perception is that they have found this somewhat confusing and would have benefitted from a distinct and discrete treatment of the course topics.

I may think differently when working with the full A level students next year. Johnclevedon (discuss • contribs) 19:38, 11 May 2016 (UTC)

ːThanks for getting in touch John. We're currently in a phase of rewriting the book and aiming it at A-Level. once that is done we can chop it up and build an AS version. Not ideal, but we're running on a tight on time and money. We'd welcome any input from you and please do keep editing as you go along --Pluke (discuss • contribs) 21:45, 11 May 2016 (UTC)