My Two Cents on Taking Computing for A Levels
Computing is not a subject most people would consider for A-Levels, and so after spending 2 years studying, I would like to give some insight into the subject, for the curious minds, as well as those who want to walk the same path.
As expected, I was in the science stream. I did not take physics the same reason why I didn’t take it during O-Levels. Biology was not an option either because I knew it was just going to be more memorisation. My journey with computing started in secondary school. Partially, I guess. I saw a friend making her own website in HTML. Not wanting to be ‘left behind’ I started learning as well. I knew someday I was going to need it. But with all new hobbies, it started off slow. Procrastination plus schoolwork at that time didn’t get me very far into the online modules. It was partially due to the influence of technologically savvy people around me, which help fuel my interest into taking up computing in JC.
Often, there is more than what meets the eye. I initially thought it was going to be fun and games, coding and a little ethical hacking, but it was far from that. I really should have read the syllabus document before I submitted my choices, but now that it is over, I can express my thoughts on the subject.
Sixty percent of your grade comes from theory, the rest from practical. So, there is still much content to ‘memorize’, which was a huge downside for me. Nevertheless, I got through it. The practical part is just coding on a computer, which is relatively easier than memorizing, at least for me. We use both IDLE and Jupyter Notebook for code submission. Code is written in Python, using version 3.6 (for my year). HTML and CSS were taught as well to create and design web pages.
There is a diagnostic test for the subject, and the questions were quite like those in Math Olympiad. For most parts, the teacher is not just looking for the correct answer, he/she is also grading based on the method/steps used. This is the same principle behind the subject. It is not whether your code output the correct result, but rather it’s whether you know why your code works in such a way, which is different from other subjects.
I am very grateful for the online content which is in abundance now, especially Stack Overflow and W3Schools. But the people who I should really be thankful for are my highly intelligent friends and patient subject teacher. I was totally in the dark when I chose the subject, yet I graduated with a whole new trove of knowledge. It wasn’t just knowledge I gained, but also team skills and collaboration techniques as well. The many projects we had to submit led to the need for multiple people working on the same code, and from there, issues arose and as such solutions had to be found to rectify the problems. I learnt how to use real-world tools to solve real-world problems, which the teacher gave. Although the skills weren’t tested in the final exam, the fact that the teacher is forward-thinking and constantly throw us in real-world stimulation helped us to better understand how the real-world works, on a day to day basis. That I feel is what made computing a more enjoyable subject as compared to others. The constant application of what was taught in real-world context helped to contextualize concepts taught and made the subject more interesting, instead of just blindly typing code.
If you want to take up the subject, I highly believe that you should have at least an interest in it. Don’t use it as a scapegoat because you don’t want to pick other science subjects, or just so you can have a better chance to get into CS in university. If you do, it will be hell for you in the 2 years. I also suggest self-learning the basics of Python before the academic term starts. There are plenty of free online courses to choose from. A friend of mine even finished it after A Levels. That shows with a little determination, you could do what I couldn’t, before entering JC.
