1. CCEA Support Events Information & Communication Technology Exemplification of Examination Performance

2. Exemplification of Standards GCE ICT New Specification AS1

3. NI Education and Skills Authority The NI Education and Skills Authority (ESA) is due go live on 1 st January. ESA will have 7 Directorates The current functions of CCEA will reside within the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment Directorate Richard Hanna, currently Director of Education Strategy within CCEA has been appointed Director (Designate) of the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment Directorate

4. What will this mean for CCEA examinations? CCEA examinations will continue in ESA CCEA will continue to: –provide the same range and quality of services; –develop and operate quality specifications; –deliver zero defects in question setting, marking and awarding; –enhance and improve the support available to teachers and learners; and –introduce online innovations designed to make the examinations process more efficient and user-friendly Change will occur on a gradual basis, but the service provided will remain the same

5. Moving Forward The CCEA logo on our qualification certificates and support materials will be replaced with an ESA logo Future awards made under ESA will have the same status as those awarded previously by CCEA Awards provided will retain their value with universities and employers In tandem with ESA, CCEA will ensure that students, teachers and all relevant stakeholders are made fully aware of the name change Centres can be assured that the qualifications retain their currency as top class qualifications designed to suit the needs of Northern Ireland learners

6. Our GCE Support Package CCEA is committed to supporting teachers and learners. To date we have produced: schemes of work at AS and A2 level; student’s podcasts; examiner’s podcasts; chief examiner’s reports subject microsites exemplification of examination performance in AS (Summer series 2009); and online past papers and mark schemes.

7. Award of A* An A* will be awarded to the candidates who attain: an overall grade A in the qualification; and an aggregate of at least 90% of the uniform marks across the A2 units.

8. Supporting You As a local awarding body: we provide specifications that are relevant on a global, national and local level; and we hold local support events free of charge.

9. Online Accessibility Visit our website to download support material and access the latest information: www.ccea.org.uk

10. Introduction Constructive criticism Excellent work recognised Highlight common weaknesses Stating the obvious Difficult to resolve

11. Improve my exam performance? Read the question carefully Answer the question asked Use the language of ICT

12. Describe the main features of a worm [2] Replicates itself from system to system... without the need for a host file Worms generally exist inside other files Example – a worm will pass on a document infected with a malicious macro Effect – the replication will progressively slow down the computer

13. Some E Grade responses

14. A worm goes through a users files and changes things causing the system to fail or be majory disrupted. ‘goes through’ ‘changes things’ ‘majory disrupted’

15. A worm is used mostly to capture precious data from someone’s computer. It infects the programs, OS or hardware and sends data from it. ‘capture precious data’ ‘infects programs, OS or hardware’ ‘sends data from it’

16. This can spread without any effort. Once it has hit the computer it will corrupt data and pass through files and programs even when the computer is not in use. ‘spread without any effort’ ‘hit the computer’ ‘pass through files’

17. A worm is an interactive device on the PC which can not be accessed. It carries certain details and personal files about each computer. The worm is hard to be tracked down at any time. ‘A worm is.... at any time.’

18. Some A Grade responses

19. This is a virus that will spread especially easily on computers with no firewall protection. It can replicate itself [1], get into files, onto disks, change/disrupt data. ‘especially easily’ ‘get into files’ ‘disrupt data’

20. A worm is a self replicating virus [1] which is designed to be sent over the internet connection e.g. via e- mail to perform harmful tasks to a computer e.g. deleting files. ‘perform harmful tasks’

21. A worm replicates [1] itself inside a computer, transfers via email or a LAN. Can do a lot of damage to a computer. ‘do a lot of damage’

22. This is a malicious program designed to disrupt a computer. It works its way into the system and can start to disrupt straightaway. It starts affecting some of the files, programs etc until it spreads throughout the system. ‘disrupt a computer’ ‘works its way’ ‘starts to disrupt’ ‘spread throughout’

23. Explain how OCR will be used [to input a newspaper cutting including a photograph]. [3] Light/laser passed over the cutting Converts light/dark to binary/digital Distinguishes between text/tables/images Text matched... from library of characters Editable text produced Image stored as bitmap/jpg...

24. Some E Grade responses

25. OCR will scan the news papper clipping and convert the image + text into a digital [1] text file and image that the secretary can edit [1] in a word processor. ‘OCR will scan‘

26. OCR will be used to recognise the writing in the cutting and import it to a word processor to be edited. ‘recognise the writing‘

27. OCR will be used in scanning the photograph and will be aware of light and dark areas [1]. The OCR will only scan the image clearly if it is of good quality. The OCR reader will then copy the photo by the scanning of light and will be aware of the standard of quality. ‘be aware of‘ ‘The OCR’

28. It is used when the newspaper clipping is scanned in it will be recognised as text and picture allowing editing [1] to take place. ‘recognised as text and picture’

29. Some A Grade responses

30. The scanner will move over the image and the light will reflect [1] the colour to generate an image on the computer. As it is from a newspaper it should be fairly accurate unless crumpled or smudged. The secretary can then edit the file [1] as she wishes. ‘Accurate‘

31. OCR scans the document and compares [1] the letters in the document to a set stored [1] in the computer and a match found. The OCR will scan the newspaper text and compare the letters to the stored characters in the system and find a match and this will appear on the monitor. ‘The OCR’ ‘appear on the monitor’

32. The reader uses light [1] to beam down onto the characters. The reflected light will produce the characters which can be recognised by the use of predetermined characters [1] in the computer. ‘produce the characters’ ‘in the computer’

33. Some points ‘Describe...’ ‘Explain...’ Features  Advantages  Use the language of ICT Easier  Faster  Quicker  Cheaper  Comfy chair  People 

34. Some more points [2] [3] [4] 1 specific and relevant point required per mark ‘... in this case.’ Refer to the question context/scenario

35. False expectations This candidate “marked” their own paper 97 x 100= 80.8% 120 Actual mark: 37/120 = 30.8% Describe how the secretary could use a search engine in this case. [3] ‘by using a search engine like google, can find information about it that he/she needs for a article’

36. Contact Us CCEA is an accessible awarding body. Our contact details are: jmcgurk@ccea.org.uk Tel: 028 90261443 nbraniff@ccea.org.uk Tel: 028 90261200 Ext: 2292