Cambridge A-level Computer Science Year 13 revision

Topic 13: Data representation

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in Information representation, and takes it further.

There are 3 parts: we start with floating-point representation and normalisation, and finish with hash tables and dictionaries.

1. 13.1Floating-point representation and normalisation62 questions
2. 13.2Floating-point arithmetic, rounding errors and precision66 questions
3. 13.3Hash tables and dictionaries25 questions

Topic 14: Communication and internet technologies

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in Communication, and takes it further.

There are 2 parts: we start with network protocols, the TCP/IP stack and DNS, and finish with packet switching, circuit switching, routers and gateways.

1. 14.1Network protocols, the TCP/IP stack and DNS73 questions
2. 14.2Packet switching, circuit switching, routers and gateways28 questions

Topic 15: Hardware and virtual machines

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in Hardware and Processor fundamentals, and takes it further.

There are 7 parts: we start with CISC and RISC, GPUs, multicore and parallel systems, and finish with types of operating system, BIOS, device drivers and virtual machines.

1. 15.1CISC and RISC, GPUs, multicore and parallel systems26 questions
2. 15.2Pipelining and its hazards25 questions
3. 15.3Von Neumann, Harvard and contemporary processor architectures27 questions
4. 15.4Logic gates, Boolean expressions and De Morgan's laws56 questions
5. 15.5Boolean simplification and Karnaugh maps54 questions
6. 15.6Half and full adders and D-type flip-flops57 questions
7. 15.7Types of operating system, BIOS, device drivers and virtual machines32 questions

Topic 16: System software

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in System software, and takes it further.

There are 4 parts: we start with operating systems, and finish with stages of compilation, linkers, loaders and libraries.

1. 16.1Operating systems: memory management, paging, segmentation and virtual memoryFree 48 questions
2. 16.2Interrupts and scheduling algorithms30 questions
3. 16.3Translators: compilers, interpreters and assemblers26 questions
4. 16.4Stages of compilation, linkers, loaders and libraries33 questions

Topic 17: Security

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in Security, privacy and data integrity, and takes it further.

There are 2 parts: we start with encryption, and finish with network security.

1. 17.1Encryption: symmetric and asymmetric, digital signatures and certificates31 questions
2. 17.2Network security: firewalls, proxies and threats73 questions

Topic 18: Artificial intelligence (AI)

We will go through it step by step.

1. 18.1Artificial intelligence: graphs, Dijkstra's and A* algorithms, and machine learning23 questions

Topic 19: Computational thinking and problem-solving

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in Algorithm design and problem-solving and Data types and structures, and takes it further.

There are 5 parts: we start with stacks, queues and linked lists, and finish with arrays, records, lists and tuples.

1. 19.1Stacks, queues and linked lists30 questions
2. 19.2Graphs, trees and traversalFree 24 questions
3. 19.3Big O notation: time and space complexity, tractable and intractable problems24 questions
4. 19.4Recursion and recursive algorithmsFree 24 questions
5. 19.5Arrays, records, lists and tuples26 questions

Topic 20: Further programming

It builds on what you learned at AS Level in Programming, and takes it further.

There are 4 parts: we start with programming paradigms, and finish with testing and debugging strategies.

1. 20.1Programming paradigms: procedural, declarative and object-oriented30 questions
2. 20.2Object-oriented programming: classes, objects, inheritance, encapsulation and polymorphism32 questions
3. 20.3Assembly language, Little Man Computer and addressing modes22 questions
4. 20.4Testing and debugging strategies: test data, test plans, white-box and black-box testing33 questions

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