GCSE Computer Science NEA Update Posted on: 26 Jan 2018

After a public consultation Ofqual has decided that the NEA project will no longer contribute to the final Computer Science GCSE grade, but will remain a curriculum requirement. This means that the weighting of the two exam papers will be increased from 40% to 50% for each paper.

Pupils are still required to complete the NEA task. AQA’s revised regulations are, as before, that candidates must be allowed 20 hours of lesson time to complete the task. We will provide feedback to pupils on the quality of their work in order to help prepare them for the two examination papers.

Some of the rules around the administration of the task have been relaxed. As before, the work must be kept in controlled accounts and pupils must work individually to produce their solutions. However, pupils are now allowed to discuss the task with their teacher and can receive feedback during the completion of the task.

Now that we know what the revised requirements are for the NEA we will be completing the 20 hours of required time for the task. However, our primary concern will be the two examination papers as they now carry a 100% weighting.

We will be using the opportunity allowed by the revised regulations to link the NEA work with the theory knowledge required by the Paper 1 examination in order to ensure that this is as productive a process as possible for pupils. Alongside lessons we have created a weekly additional revision session on Thursday lunchtimes and will continue to add revision resources to Office 365.

If you have any further queries about the NEA or Computer Science GCSE then please do not hesitate to get in touch.