Ocr computer science

[NCTDN]

Did anyone DCs do this gcse today?

Yes! Apparently it was bloody awful. I've seen tons of TikToks about it too, not one positive thing to say. Even the (usually) Grade 9 students struggled. The grade boundaries will be low I should think!

Mine did, apparently half the children came out in tears. She got a lovely email from her teacher this evening saying that her fellow ICT teachers were all gobsmacked and that grade boundaries would be low.

My DS said the grammar was poor and confusing. He found the paper unusually difficult and thinks the grade boundaries will be low. He wants to do Computer Science at A level but I’m concerned his mark won’t be good enough.

Yep, my son said everyone at his school found it very difficult. There are threads on The Student Room saying the same.

It'll be reflected in the grade boundaries.

Phew not just here then! I've only just found the gcse exam thread...

I was worried that hoss teacher had failed to teach aspects of it but that doesn't appear to be the case then.

Similar here. Grammar school with lots predicted 8s and 9s - all came out in shock, saying it was incredibly difficult. Worst paper anyone had ever done apparently.

Yep. Same here too. DS predicted for grade 9 throughout year 10 &11. He wants to do A level computer science. His c/s teacher was appalled at those last few 6 marker questions which he even struggled to answer, said it was like A level but they'd not been taught any if the syllabus. He spoke to other c/s teachers in the same area including Grammar, and all their students experienced the same. DS said that there was rather a lot of students in the exam hall who closed the paper after 15 mins and went to sleep, and a few in tears ☹️ either lower the grade boundaries or cancel paper 2.

Update in Schools Week https://schoolsweek.co.uk/ocr-to-review-difficulty-of-gcse-computer-science-paper/

Same thing happened last year. My son was predicted an 8 and came out with a 4 alongside all his peers.

He decided not to study it at A level which is a real shame as it was something he felt he was good at.

OCR has admitted the gcse paper was challenging and has issued a statement. I don’t think it’ll change much, though. Found it on twitter but it’s been sent out by email.

Who do you think they have emailed out to?

I can see this post on the Twitter feed of a student, but can't find a reference to it on the OCR website or anywhere else, so it may be a scam. If not, then I would expect the message to cascade out from Computer Science teachers to their students today. Let's see.

I'm a member of the OCR Computer Science Facebook group and also spotted the update.

Update on OCR’s GCSE Computer Science (J277/02) paper
29 June 2023

Please forward to the Head of Computer Science

Dear Colleague
I am getting in touch following the feedback we’ve received about OCR’s GCSE Computer Science (J277/02) paper on Thursday 25 May.
Our aim is always to make sure students have a positive assessment experience and so it is disappointing that some students found this to be a more challenging paper than they expected. We are also grateful for all the feedback we have received from teachers and students about the style of the paper. We are currently reviewing all of the comments we have received and are sharing it with our teams to help us improve your students’ assessment experience in the future.
I appreciate how discouraging this may have been for you and your students so I wanted to write to you directly to reassure you that getting to the right marks and grades is our top priority and explain what we’re doing to make sure all students get fair results.
The standardisation meeting is where the approach to marking the exam is agreed. At this meeting, the examining team reviewed the feedback that had been submitted and looked at a broad range of student scripts. They then made sure the final mark scheme reflects the many different approaches students have taken when answering questions.
Our examiners will also credit any other valid response to a question if a student has taken an approach that does not appear in the mark scheme.
We will use data on how the whole cohort has performed before to analyse how different groups of students perform on each individual question, each section and on the paper as a whole. We will then take this information and any potential evidence that the paper is more time-consuming or more difficult than usual into account when we set the grade boundaries.
To support you and your students, when we issue results in August, as usual, the mark scheme will be published on our secure site, Teach Cambridge. We will also continue to make students’ marked papers available for exams officers to download with students’ permission free of charge from results day. In addition, teachers can use OCR’s free Active Results service to analyse the results.
To make sure everyone has an opportunity to share their thoughts and comments, we would also like to invite you to attend an online event on either 4 July or 12 July to feed back on our summer 2023 GCSE Computer Science exams. We want to listen to your experience this year and find out what additional support you need from us going into September. If you’d be interested in attending, you can book your place via our website.
To support you we have also written a letter which you may wish to share with your students. To keep you and your students informed of our on-going work, we will be in touch with another update on results day.
If you have any queries, please call our Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998 or email [email protected].
Yours faithfully
Jill Duffy
OCR Chief Executive

We had an email from school with a student version of the letter.

Back in the day of O Levels one of my teachers used to say, "pray for a hard paper" (RC school) because half of the students taking it panic, that gives you an advantage if you don't panic.

Sorry that would have been more useful yesterday.

The people marking the paper will try to give credit for anything and everything they can.

OCR know there is a problem.

Message to your DDs and DSs

You do not need GCSE CS to study it at A Level, in fact somethings you learned at GCSE will have to discard. Eg logic gates. For GCSE you learned about AND, OR and NOT - at A Level you will use NAND XOR and NOR gates.

If you want to prepare for A Level CS learn binary and logic. Not just logic gates but do logic puzzles as well.

Link to making circuits

https://logic.ly/demo/

You have had a bad experience, you have survived it and you can, if you wish, still achieve CS A level.

My DS' Computer Science teacher sent it to him yesterday. He wasn't around so I looked for it on Twitter. Our local sixth form expects a 6 or programming experience if you didn't take CS at GCSE. I hope he manages that (predicted an 8) as it could put him off pursuing it at a higher level/ as a career. I'm not suggesting the exams should be easy but it was a bit left field.

You do not need GCSE CS to study it at A Level, in fact somethings you learned at GCSE will have to discard. Eg logic gates. For GCSE you learned about AND, OR and NOT - at A Level you will use NAND XOR and NOR gates.

That makes sense but if you didn't take it at GCSE, the 6th forms here don't let you take it at A level.