Top 10 Resources For OCR A Level Computer Science Part 1

As Salamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh World!

WOW, it's been a while hasn't it (9 days to be precise)? The purpose of this post isn't to specify why I haven't posted for so long (but I may reveal that in the future InShaAllah) so don't worry, this post is something I've been wanting to do for a while but just needed to do a few things first. 

I've also realised in my short break it's going to be unfeasible for me to post everyday like I intended to when I made this blog. Anyway, as the title says this is a ranking of the top 10 resources for the H046/H446 spec. Now I must admit, I wasn't even sure there were 10 decent resources to put on this list but after a bit of digging I've found them.

So here's how this is going to work, each place in the ranking may be occupied by more than one resource. They will all be ranked according to 5 indicators each rated out of 10 to give the resource a combined score out of 10 which will be followed by a final verdict:

1. Content: arguably the most important, a resource is no good if it doesn't cover the entire spec! 
2. Concision: ranks resources according to how they deliver the content, not what the content is like the previous indicator. Basically, the less waffle the better!
3. Presentation: a good resource should be aesthetically appealing, even it has all the content it should lay out all the information in an easy to grasp form.
4. Accessibility: similar to the previous indicator but judges resources according to how accessible is the information itself, not the presentation of the information. In other words, how easy is it to understand the content delivered.
5. Price: no matter how good a resource is, if it's expensive chances are you may not even use it so the price of a resource is essential in this ranking.

The links to each resource will be in the title. Anyway, without further ado, let's do this!

10: Teach-ICT For Computer Science

1. Content 7/10: Doesn't cover the entire spec. Only covers material for the Computer Systems and Computing Principles exams and a bit for the programmming exam. No material for the coursework component either.
2. Concision 8/10: The content available on the website is fairly straight to the point. It has enough info to allow a good understanding but not too much so that it just turns into waffle which is fairly consistent throughout the whole website. 
3. Presentation 9/10: Despite presenting all the info on a website, the content is very well displayed with short paragraphs/bullet points accompanied by images making this resource very appealing.
4. Accessibility 9/10: Uses a straightforward approach in delivering material which is very easy to understand. No flowery language or technical terminology, takes you through the theory step by step.
5. Price 3/10: £145 per year. Everything on the website was initially free about a year or so ago but back then it was still in its development phase I suppose. Anyway, now that it's complete they decided to add a massive price tag to it which is clearly unreasonable for your average student. Subscription gives you access to ALL the resources on the website but there's not much for OCR A level Computer Science for it to be worth it. About 90% of it is for GCSE so there's honestly no point in investing in this resource. The only way the vast majority of students will have access to these resources is if the school subscribes and lets the students use the resources for free.

Final Score & Verdict: If your school doesn't give you this for free, don't subscribe. There's simply not enough material on this website catered to the A level spec for it to be worth £145. Even if you don't have access to this website don't worry, you're not missing out on much. 7.2/10

Final Teach-ICT For Computer Science Score: 7.2/10

9: Mr Fraser Computing Resources

1. Content 5/10: The site is a work in progress but the content already available is very good. Pretty much all the stuff for the AS spec is there but for the A level spec there's nothing relating to the programming project and some other spec points.
2. Concision 7/10: Mostly contains very relevant information which doesn't go off topic but can sometimes border on waffling. Some questions in the revision exercises can go beyond the scope of the spec but the resources are still reasonably concise. 
3. Presentation 7/10: Both revision and exercise resources are in pdf format and are very easy to read. The text in the revision resources is laid out well and has relevant diagrams and images to enhance the appeal of said resources.
4. Accessibility 8/10: The questions in the exercises are similar in difficulty to new spec papers. Not hard to see why they're so accessible since they're taken from textbooks but even the revision resources can be easily understood.
5. Price 10/10: It's free but you have to register with your school email.

Final Score & Verdict: Contains a wealth of resources which are all free so definitely use as many as you can. Highly recommend the revision exercises as the new spec papers aren't enough at this stage and you need all the practice you can get. 7.4/10

Final Mr Fraser Computing Resources Score: 7.4/10

8: The Teacher

1. Content 10/10: Tons of resources covering pretty much every aspect of the spec, even the programming project. 
2. Concision 8/10: Material covers all the content well but does go overboard sometimes in giving info not relevant to the spec i.e. content that you don't need to know! 
3. Presentation 10/10: Very well presented. All the content on the PowerPoint Presentations is very good as it doesn't have too much info per slide. PDFs are laid out nicely as well. No faults here.
4. Accessibility 10/10: All the resources are very high quality and thus are very accessible. One should have no problem understanding the information delivered.
5. Price 1/10: £349 for 1 year of £649 for 2 years. Yes, you read that correctly. Before you lose all hope, this website only offers their resources to schools so there's no way for students to access them if their school have not bought them. So if you're one of the lucky ones who's school has got them, use them. Despite the high cost these resources are actually somewhat worth it (even though I reckon they're worth about £100 less). 

Final Score & Verdict: If your school hasn't got this then I recommend you ask your Head of Computer Science or whoever is in charge to purchase these resources. There are better ones than this but if the school's paying it's worth it. 7.8/10

Final The Teacher Score: 7.8/10

7: Craig 'n' Dave Free & Premium

Free

1. Content 8/10: the free flipped classroom videos cover pretty much every single spec point in depth for the exam components and there's a couple of other free resources as well on top of that. It doesn't however, have anything for the programming project.
2. Concision 6/10: although the aforementioned videos cover the spec entirely, some of them (primarily those related with theory) include a bit of "waffling". The other free resources (which aren't a lot) are fairly concise. 
3. Presentation 8/10: can't really judge videos on their presentation but the few free resources available are nicely laid out, maybe that's because there isn't a lot of info in them but whatever content is available is presented well.
4. Accessibility 9/10: Video is probably the most accessible way to deliver content, there's little to no reading and you just have to watch and listen carefully. The videos and the other resources deliver content in a very accessible way suitable for pretty much everyone.
5. Price 10/10: it's free.

Final Score & Verdict: Despite being 7th on the list this is the only resource that provides videos so I'd highly recommend you use them. The videos are all very short so you can easily watch them without getting bored and the other resources such as the cheat sheets for boolean algebra and pseudocode are both incredibly useful. As I always say, when resources are scarce use whatever you can find! 8.2/10

Premium

1. Content 10/10: Unlike the free resources, the premium ones have loads of guidance on the programming project in the form of videos, exemplars and more!
2. Concision 8/10: There is a Presentation containing pretty much every single definition in the spec which are essentially good summaries of each topic.  
3. Presentation 8/10: Most of the premium resources available are well presented, a few of them could be better but on the whole they are all aesthetically appealing.
4. Accessibility 9/10: Aside from the videos, the premium resources (notable the Key Terminology Presentation and Cheat sheets aforementioned) are very easy to understand.
5. Price 5/10: £149 per year. Now for a student to afford that is insane. For those of you who done AQA GCSE Science before 2016, you'll most likely have heard of myGCSEscience. Those resources were in my opinion a lot better than these and yet it only costed about £30 for premium. Even now it only costs £49.90 for the subscription which is reasonable but £149 is quite frankly ridiculous. Again, the only way the vast majority of students will have access to these resources is if the school subscribes and lets the students use the resources for free.

Final Score & Verdict: If your school doesn't give you this for free, don't subscribe. I'm not saying it's a bad resource but with that price tag it's simply not worth it. The flipped classroom videos are free anyway along with some other resources but £149 for the other premium resources is about £100 too much to be worth it. Trust me, there's a lot of better resources you could buy for less than this. 8/10

Final Craig 'n' Dave Score: 8.1/10

Cambridge Elevate Student Book w/Enhanced Edition

1. Content 9/10: The textbook and enhanced edition deliver all the content of the spec in detail except for material on the coursework component.
2. Concision 7/10: The material doesn't go too much off the scope of the spec but it does contain a fair amount of waffling which is immediately obvious considering the textbook is over 300 pages!  
3. Presentation 9/10: Very clear layout, good use of space on each page makes the textbook very easy to read. Includes images and diagrams to further enhance the aesthetic appeal. Same applies for the enhanced edition.
4. Accessibility 9/10: Surprisingly very accessible. Despite some waffling the info is not hard to understand. Both the enhanced edition and the textbook present content in an easy to grasp way. 
5. Price 8/10: £28 for the student book and £32 for the enhanced edition included. Reasonable priced given that the book and enhanced edition are high quality.

Final Score & Verdict: This resource is very good, if it was a bit cheaper then it would be great. As textbooks go, there's room for improvement but if you can afford I'd say go for it. A bit iffy on the enhanced edition but if you can pay that extra £4 then why not. You could try and find it cheaper used on Amazon or Ebay. 8.4/10

Final Cambridge Elevate Student Book w/Enhanced Edition Score: 8.4/10

Originally wanted to make this list into one post but since it's getting a bit long I think I will save the rest for tomorrow InShaAllah.