How your exam works
The papers for each board, command words, and planning your time by the marks.
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You have learned the whole course. This module is about getting the marks for it. Exams reward a particular kind of answer, and the students who do best are usually the ones who understand the paper, not the ones who know the most. This lesson is the shape of your exam and the words that tell you what to write.
Two papers, whichever board you sit
Every GCSE computer science course is two exam papers and no coursework mark (Edexcel's second paper is sat on screen, the others on paper). Roughly, one paper is about computer systems (the theory: hardware, networks, security, data, impacts) and the other is about computational thinking and programming (algorithms, logic, writing and reading code).
Check the exact details with your teacher, because boards do change them. The exam box below has each board's shape as it stands.
Command words
The first word of a question tells you how much to write. Answering the wrong command word is the commonest way to lose marks you knew.
| Command word | What is wanted | Rough length |
|---|---|---|
| State, Give, Name | the fact, nothing else | a few words |
| Identify | pick it out of what you are given | a few words |
| Describe | say what it is or what happens | a sentence or two |
| Explain | say why, or how, with a reason | a sentence or two, with "because" |
| Compare | both things, on the same points | a sentence per point, both sides |
| Discuss, Evaluate | both sides, then a judgement | a paragraph, with a conclusion |
| Complete, Draw | fill in the table, diagram or trace | as given |
| Write a program / algorithm | code or pseudocode that works | as long as it takes |
Two more things the marks tell you. One mark usually means one point, so a 4-mark question wants four separate points, not one point written four times. And a question that says "using an example" has a mark for the example.
Marks and minutes
Marks are the clock. Work out your minutes per mark before the exam and you will never run out of time on the last question:
# the two lines every program starts with: the commands, then the robot
from bugbot import *
connect()
papers = [("Paper 1", 80, 90), ("Paper 2", 80, 90)] # name, marks, minutes
for name, marks, minutes in papers:
print(f"{name}: {minutes / marks:.1f} minutes a mark, so a 6-mark question is about {6 * minutes / marks:.0f} minutes")
If a question is worth 1 mark, one line is enough: writing a paragraph for it costs you the time you needed for the 8-mark question at the end.
Task: your timing plan
Take each paper in turn. Print <name>: <n> minutes a mark to one decimal place, then, for each question size in sizes, print <name> <marks>-mark question: <n> min rounded to the nearest whole minute. When both papers are done, print total marks: <n> and total minutes: <n>.
# the two lines every program starts with: the commands, then the robot
from bugbot import *
connect()
# name, marks, minutes
papers = [("Paper 1", 80, 90), ("Paper 2", 75, 120)]
sizes = [1, 3, 6]
Challenges
- Change
papersto your own board's papers from the exam box. What is your minutes per mark? - How long should you leave at the end to check? Take it off the time and work the figures out again.
- Write down the command word list from memory, then check it.