Cambridge OCR
Level 3
QN: 601/4911/5
Curriculum Active
Cambridge OCR Level 3 Advanced GCE in Computer Science
Official qualification regulated by Ofqual, awarded by Cambridge OCR. Classified as a GCE A Level. Total guided learning hours: 360 hours.
Qualification Level
Level 3
Awarding Body
Cambridge OCR
Syllabus Units
3 Units
Guided Hours
360 hrs
Instant access to interactive lessons, quizzes, and spaced revision.
Course Syllabus & Study Modules
Complete breakdown of verified curriculum topics and learning objectives.
1
Data types, data structures and algorithms
Algorithms
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Compare the efficiency of different sorting algorithms using Big O notation in terms of time and space complexity.
- Apply binary search to locate a target element in a sorted array and justify its logarithmic time complexity.
- Evaluate the impact of input size on algorithm performance for both linear and binary search.
- Explain the divide-and-conquer strategy used in merge sort and quick sort, including their recursive structures.
- Derive the worst-case time complexity of bubble sort and insertion sort from pseudocode.
- Assess the suitability of a given sorting algorithm for a specific problem context, considering factors like stability and in-place sorting.
2
Data types, data structures and algorithms
Boolean algebra
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Use logic gates (AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR)
- Simplify Boolean expressions using De Morgan's laws
- Construct truth tables and logic circuits
3
Data types, data structures and algorithms
Data structures
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Describe the properties, indexing, and typical use cases of arrays, records, lists, and tuples.
- Differentiate between the structure and behaviour of stacks, queues, trees, and graphs.
- Apply push and pop operations to manipulate stack contents correctly.
- Apply enqueue and dequeue operations to manage queue data.
- Explain how LIFO and FIFO principles govern stack and queue operations respectively.
- Evaluate the suitability of different data structures for specific algorithmic scenarios.
4
Data types, data structures and algorithms
Data types
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Compare and contrast sign and magnitude and two's complement representations for negative numbers
- Analyze the trade-offs between range and precision in floating point representation
- Apply two's complement to perform binary arithmetic involving negative integers
- Evaluate the suitability of different primitive data types for given programming scenarios
- Convert floating point numbers between denary and binary using the IEEE 754 standard
- Explain the concept of normalisation and its role in maximising precision
5
Exchanging data
Data compression
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Explain the differences between lossy and lossless compression, including their typical use cases
- Describe how run-length encoding compresses data by representing consecutive repeated characters
- Describe dictionary-based compression methods such as LZW, including how they create and use a dictionary
- Evaluate the trade-offs between compression ratio, quality, and processing overhead for different methods
- Apply run-length encoding and dictionary-based techniques to compress simple text or binary strings
- Analyse the suitability of compression algorithms for different types of data (e.g., text, images, audio)
6
Exchanging data
Data transmission
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Explain the differences between serial and parallel transmission, including their relative advantages and disadvantages.
- Describe how parity bits, checksums, and CRC detect errors in transmitted data.
- Calculate checksums and parity bits for given sets of data to verify integrity.
- Compare symmetric and asymmetric encryption in terms of key usage and security trade-offs.
- Analyze scenarios to determine the most appropriate error detection or encryption method.
7
Exchanging data
Databases
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Explain relational database concepts (tables, keys, relationships)
- Write SQL queries (SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE)
- Describe normalisation (1NF, 2NF, 3NF)
8
Exchanging data
Networks
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Describe network topologies (star, mesh, bus)
- Explain the purpose of protocols (TCP/IP, HTTP, FTP, etc.)
- Describe the 4-layer TCP/IP model
9
Exchanging data
Web technologies
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Explain the structure of the internet
- Describe HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Explain client-side and server-side processing
10
Legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues
Legal issues
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Describe the Data Protection Act 2018
- Describe the Computer Misuse Act 1990
- Describe copyright and intellectual property law
11
Legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues
Moral and ethical issues
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Discuss ethical issues in computing (privacy, surveillance, AI)
- Discuss cultural issues (digital divide, globalisation)
- Discuss environmental issues (e-waste, energy consumption)
12
Software and software development
Applications generation
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Describe the nature of applications (bespoke vs off-the-shelf)
- Explain the role of translators (compiler, interpreter, assembler)
- Describe the stages of compilation (lexical analysis, syntax analysis, etc.)
13
Software and software development
Operating systems
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Explain the role of an operating system
- Describe memory management (paging, segmentation)
- Describe scheduling (round robin, priority, etc.)
14
Software and software development
Software development
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Describe the waterfall lifecycle
- Describe agile methodologies
- Explain the purpose of testing (unit, integration, system, acceptance)
15
Software and software development
Types of programming language
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Compare procedural, object-oriented, functional, and declarative languages
- Explain the concept of object-oriented programming (classes, objects, inheritance, polymorphism)
16
The characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices
Input, output and storage
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Describe various input devices
- Describe various output devices
- Compare storage types (magnetic, optical, solid state)
17
The characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices
Structure and function of the processor
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Describe the components of a processor (ALU, CU, registers, buses)
- Explain the fetch-execute cycle
- Compare von Neumann and Harvard architectures
18
The characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices
Types of processor
Verified
Key Learning Objectives:
- Differentiate between RISC and CISC processors
- Explain the purpose of GPUs and their role in parallel processing
- Describe the architecture and advantages of multicore and parallel systems
- Evaluate the suitability of RISC and CISC processors for different computing scenarios
- Analyse the performance implications of multicore systems in relation to parallel workloads
Regulatory & Verification Details
- Qualification Number (QN)
- 601/4911/5
- Regulated Status
- Available to learners
- Awarding Body
- Cambridge OCR
- Qualification Type
- GCE A Level
- Operational Start
- Sept 2015