Applied ICT

jamoor · 25 Feb 2006 at 02:27

Is anyone else here doing this AS/A level course?

Am I the only one that thinks its a complete farce, I mean think about it, in one of the er... "exams" they give you pre release material on which you have to make notes, these notes you can take into the exam!!!

So exactly what is the point of having the exam if you can use notes you made yourself?

What a joke!

PeterNem · 25 Feb 2006 at 08:11

Because in real life you don't usually operate in exam conditions but rather can reference things if you want to? You'd also usually go into a job prepared and so the exam is also testing your ability to do that.

If you think it's made easy so everyone can pass it most likely won't be. A couple of the hardest (read: more people failed than on other modules) exams I've taken at Uni was an "Open Book" style exam.

PardonTheWait · 25 Feb 2006 at 09:29

I don't think I've ever seen a thread from you that wasn't complaining about something, Jamoor

eatmuchpie · 25 Feb 2006 at 09:33

I'm doing the GCSE applied IT course, and it is absolute rubbish. "chapter 5, how to save your document"

Well, not much more of it to go until I'll be rid of it!

oweneades · 25 Feb 2006 at 09:41

I did AS ICT and didn't bother with A level ICT. It is a joke.

We did a Website as a project for the first year and yet even though this was a IT based course the website itself was not marked. Only the paperwork?! WTF?!?!

That and half of the answer in the exam are technically incorrect. (IE you have to give the exact answer they are looking for or you rget it wrong even though the answer you gave was perfectly acceptable in the IT world).

Another thing is why do corses like this only teach you how to use word every year. There is more on a computer than word.

VeNT · 25 Feb 2006 at 09:46

oweneades said:
I did AS ICT and didn't bother with A level ICT. It is a joke.

We did a Website as a project for the first year and yet even though this was a IT based course the website itself was not marked. Only the paperwork?! WTF?!?!

That and half of the answer in the exam are technically incorrect. (IE you have to give the exact answer they are looking for or you rget it wrong even though the answer you gave was perfectly acceptable in the IT world).

Another thing is why do corses like this only teach you how to use word every year. There is more on a computer than word.

failed Btec Comp Studys because I couldn't work out what to put in a essay on "The Uses of MS Word"

PeterNem · 25 Feb 2006 at 09:46

oweneades said:
We did a Website as a project for the first year and yet even though this was a IT based course the website itself was not marked. Only the paperwork?! WTF?!?!

It'll most likely be the same if you do a computing course at Uni mate. It's quite normal.

My final year project involves a lot of programming and design, but the final deliverable is 100% assessed from the documentation.

It is through thorough testing and self critique that they can be full sure you have understood and learnt from what you had done.

If all they marked was the actual program/website you could just get a mate to do it for you. Faking documentation isn't half so easy.

You'll also find in the real world on large IT project there is a huge emphasis on good documnetation to allow successful ahndover and continuation of tasks even when everyone involved might have long since moved on.

It is critical that every little bug is documentated, that any changes are logged, every function of code is thouroughly explained etc.

In other words... get used to it. It's not going to change when you leave school

jamoor · 25 Feb 2006 at 09:46

oweneades said:
I did AS ICT and didn't bother with A level ICT. It is a joke.

We did a Website as a project for the first year and yet even though this was a IT based course the website itself was not marked. Only the paperwork?! WTF?!?!

That and half of the answer in the exam are technically incorrect. (IE you have to give the exact answer they are looking for or you rget it wrong even though the answer you gave was perfectly acceptable in the IT world).

Another thing is why do corses like this only teach you how to use word every year. There is more on a computer than word.

We had to take "microsoft certification exams" that really annoyed me.

And yes I always complain

oweneades · 25 Feb 2006 at 09:48

PeterNem said:
It'll most likely be the same if you do a computing course at Uni mate. It's quite normal.

My final year project involves a lot of programming and design, but the final deliverable is 100% assessed from the documentation.

It is through thorough testing and self critique that they can be full sure you have understood and learnt from what you had done.

If all they marked was the actual program/website you could just get a mate to do it for you. Faking documentation isn't half so easy.

You'll also find in the real world on large IT project there is a huge emphasis on good documnetation to allow successful ahndover and continuation of tasks even when everyone involved might have long since moved on.

It is critical that every little bug is documentated, that any changes are logged, every function of code is thouroughly explained etc.

In other words... get used to it. It's not going to change when you leave school

Yeah that makes sense (hadn't thought about it like that) Although it does seem strange that the computer side didn't make up say 25% of the grade.

I did computing as well and the program itself for that was a third of the grade compared to the paperworks 2/3.

PureAppleJuice · 25 Feb 2006 at 11:34

eatmuchpie said:
I'm doing the GCSE applied IT course, and it is absolute rubbish. "chapter 5, how to save your document"

Well, not much more of it to go until I'll be rid of it!

Well that's what I thought, according to our teacher, to get an A you needed 98% or something ridiculous in the exam.
Only 1 person in the year got an A, everyone else just got B's really. I personally thought the course was a load of bull, but at least it's double award

- The exam is difficult because you have to do a little bit extra than what they ask you too, and that isn't particularly obvious to guess what.

Melm0 · 25 Feb 2006 at 11:49

jidh007 said:
Well that's what I thought, according to our teacher, to get an A you needed 98% or something ridiculous in the exam.
Only 1 person in the year got an A, everyone else just got B's really. I personally thought the course was a load of bull, but at least it's double award - The exam is difficult because you have to do a little bit extra than what they ask you too, and that isn't particularly obvious to guess what.

You needed 85% in the exam iirc, i got 87%(A) , but seen as all i did in my 3 ict lessons a week was play online games - whilst trying to get around the admins stupid blocked websites and be "rude and aggressive" to my so called ICT teacher, of whoms actual subject was wood tech. I mean wtf? - i did like one piece of coursework on Sam Widges sandwich shop using excel, and something on Access too. Got a final grade BB, i was happy. I can't say it was that useful for me to play online games for 3 hours a week, but meh...

gam3r · 25 Feb 2006 at 12:03

I did Applied ICT GCSE. Was absolutely crap! Sometimes it wasnt even remotely about the actual subject. Now im doing AS Computing and its all good