Computer Science

Computer Science — A Level

British Curriculum · Cambridge Assessment International Education · Years 12-13 · Ages 16-18

Cambridge International AS & A Level Computer Science (9618) is assessed by written theory papers and practical programming papers, with programming in Python, Java, VB.NET or C#.

AS covers information representation, communication and networking, hardware, processor fundamentals, system software, security, ethics and ownership, databases and algorithm design. A2 adds data representation, computational thinking, further programming, object-oriented programming, recursion, abstract data types and declarative programming.

The A2 practical paper is demanding: candidates implement linked lists, stacks, queues and binary trees, and write recursive procedures. Students who treat programming as something to revise rather than practise consistently struggle with it.

Key topics covered

• Information & Data Representation — Binary, floating point, character sets, images, sound and compression.
• Hardware & Processor Fundamentals — CPU architecture, the fetch-execute cycle, assembly language and addressing modes.
• Networking & Security — Protocols, network hardware, the internet, encryption and cyber threats.
• Databases — Relational design, normalisation, SQL and database management systems.
• Algorithms & Data Structures — Searching, sorting, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees and Big-O reasoning.
• Programming Paradigms — Procedural, object-oriented and declarative programming, and recursion.
• Ethics & Ownership — Software licensing, intellectual property, privacy and professional conduct.