AQA 8525 3.7.2: Structured query language (SQL)
The free BugBot lessons that teach this point, a robot to try it on, and the past-paper questions that test it.
What it covers
SQL, Structured Query Language, is how you ask a database a question. It reads almost like English, and one line of it can do what a loop and an if would take ten lines to do in Python. This lesson asks questions of the class's robot runs.
- SELECT and FROM
- WHERE
- ORDER BY
- Using the answers in Python
Or do it in the simulator, with tasks that mark themselves
Lessons that teach it
- F7.3 SQL: SELECT Files and databases
SELECT, FROM, WHERE and ORDER BY on the class's robot runs. - F7.4 SQL: two tables and changing data Files and databases
Queries across two tables; INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE, and the robot logging its own runs.
Try it on a robot
The task from F7.3 SQL: SELECT, running here. Change the program and press Run.
Past paper questions on this
Real exam questions that test this, each worked through with a program you can run.
- OCR J277 June 2025 Paper 2, Question 6(b): Correct four errors in an SQL statement, a record, and data types 7 marks
- OCR J277 June 2024 Paper 2, Question 9(d): Complete an SQL statement with WHERE 4 marks
- OCR J277 June 2023 Paper 2, Question 6(d): An SQL SELECT with two conditions 3 marks
- OCR J277 June 2022 Paper 2, Question 5(a)(iii): Correct an SQL statement: SELECT *, WHERE and the comparison 4 marks
The specification is AQA's own document; this page says which of our lessons teach point 3.7.2 and is not endorsed by the board.