1. INTRODUCTION TO THE COMPUTER SCIENCE A-LEVEL SUMMER PROJECT

2. HOW IS THE COMPUTER SCIENCE A-LEVEL STRUCTURED? The A-Level can be studied in one of two ways: either as a single year AS Level (all exam based) or as a two year A- Level (exam and coursework based). In year one, all candidates sit two examinations, each accounting for 50%. Students must pass both exams to move onto the A2 year. In conjunction with the theoretical components of the course, students will also learn both introductory and advanced programming in either Python or Java. The theoretical components of the course focus on: The characteristics of contemporary processors, input, output and storage devices Software and software development Exchanging data Data types, data structures and algorithms Legal, moral, cultural and ethical issues Elements of computational thinking Problem solving and programming Algorithms to solve problems and standard algorithms

3. HOW IS THE COMPUTER SCIENCE A-LEVEL STRUCTURED? In the second year, students use what they have learned during the first year to work through a computing problem. Students choose their own computing project in accordance with OCR’s guidance set out in the specification. Projects will be discussed with class teacher to ensure a best fit approach. The elements that make up the project include:  Analysis of the problem  Design of the solution  Developing the solution  Evaluation If moving onto A2, the examinations completed during phase 1, account for 40% of the total A-Level with the final project accounting for 20%. Prior to sitting the exams, students must choose whether or not they want to sit a single AS or a full A-Level as the examinations are structured slightly differently. Students who sit the AS exams, as opposed to the full A-Level exams will not be permitted to move on to phase 2 later.

4. SUMMER PROJECT It is important that you gain an introductory knowledge to the ways that Java works, before starting the A-Level itself. Attached is a series of mini assignments that take you through building a few basic programs using some of the core features of Java. As a minimum you must complete at least task set 1(a-d) and 2(a-f). A help booklet has been included to help you through the various tasks. In order to begin, you will need to properly install the Java Development Kit (JDK). Several links have been provided to help you with this: https://java.com/en/download/ http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/index.html https://www.java.com/en/download/help/download_options.xml http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Java

5. SUMMER PROJECT Your task is to produce a snake game whereby the player controls a snake through a maze. The player controls a dot, square, or object on a bordered plane. As it moves forward, it leaves a trail behind, resembling a moving snake. In some games, the end of the trail is in a fixed position, so the snake continually gets longer as it moves. In another common scheme, the snake has a specific length, so there is a moving tail a fixed number of units away from the head. The player loses when the snake runs into the screen border, a trail, or another obstacle.