The course has four areas of study:
Software design and development
Candidates develop knowledge, understanding and practical problem-solving skills in software design and development, through a range of practical and investigative tasks using appropriate software development environments. This develops their programming and computational-thinking skills by implementing practical solutions and explaining how these programs work. Tasks involve some complex features (in both familiar and new contexts), that require some interpretation by candidates. They are expected to analyse problems, and design, implement, test and evaluate their solutions.
Computer systems
Candidates develop an understanding of how data and instructions are stored in binary form and basic computer architecture. They gain an awareness of the environmental impact of the energy use of computing systems and security precautions that can be taken to protect computer systems.
Database design and development
Candidates develop knowledge, understanding and practical problem-solving skills in database design and development, through a range of practical and investigative tasks. This allows candidates to apply computational-thinking skills to analyse, design, implement, test, and evaluate practical solutions, using a range of development tools such as SQL. Tasks involve some complex features (in both familiar and new contexts), that require some interpretation by candidates.
Web design and development
Candidates develop knowledge, understanding and practical problem-solving skills in web design and development, through a range of practical and investigative tasks. This allows candidates to apply computational-thinking skills to analyse, design, implement, test and evaluate practical solutions to web-based problems, using a range of development tools such as HTML, CSS and Javascript. Tasks involve some complex features (in both familiar and new contexts), that require some interpretation by candidates.
Course assessnment structure
Question paper 110 marks
Candidates complete the paper in 2 hours.
Marks are distributed across all four areas of study:
- Software design and development (approximately 40%)
- Computer systems (approximately 10%)
- Database design and development (approximately 25%)
- Web design and development (approximately 25%)
Section 1 has 25 marks and consists of short-answer, restricted response questions. This section allows candidates to demonstrate breadth of knowledge from across the four areas of the course.
Section 2 has 85 marks and consists of structured questions consisting of restricted and extended response. This section allows candidates to demonstrate application of knowledge and understanding when answering appropriately challenging context-based questions from across the four areas of the course.
Assignment 50 marks
The assignment must be carried out within 8 hours, starting at an appropriate point in the course and once all content has been delivered. It is not anticipated that this is a continuous 8-hour session but conducted over several shorter sessions.
The assignment is made up of three distinct tasks. Marks are distributed across three areas of study covered by the assignment as follows:
- Software design and development (25 marks)
- Database design and development (10–15 marks)
- Web design and development (10–15 marks)
Marks are distributed across the five skills covered by the assignment as follows:
- Analysis (5 marks)
- Design (5 marks)
- Implementation (30 marks)
- Testing (5 marks)
- Evaluation (5 marks)
Implementation (including writing code) is assessed in all three areas of study covered by the assignment. The other four skills are sampled in different areas each year.
