This page seeks to provide you with a list of potential practical questions for the AQA A Level Computer Science Paper 1 Exam, but is not endorsed by AQA. Please refer to the exam board specification to ensure that the full range of topics has been covered.
Section B contains a variety of programming theory questions unrelated to the pre-release code and a practical programming task.
Completing programming challenges in a timed environment on a regular basis leading up to the exam is a good way to ensure that you maximise your marks in this section. You can practice past tasks here: Section B Practical Revision
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Section D
The material is made available from the September of your exam. In order to obtain a copy of the skeleton code, you must be a registered AQA centre. Please speak to your teacher or exam centre to obtain the pre-release material.
At first glance, the 2020 skeleton code appears to be a city simulation algorithm that makes use of an object oriented approach in a similar way to the 2016 Foxes & Rabbits simulation.
Before attempting the practice questions, create a class diagram by tracing the code. This should show you the methods of inheritance used, along with the attributes & methods (and any encapsulation).
Practice Question 1
Add validation to allow the user to type in either upper or lower case when making initial selections to set up the settlements.
extension: set this up as a method as part of the Simulation class
Practice Question 2
The Stettlements are initially constructed to created with a static 250 households. Adjust this so that the user can set the initial value of the settlement.
Practice Question 3
Companies currently have the option of being classified as family or fast food. Extend the Company class to include a category of ‘high end’ with a AvgCostPerMeal = 50, AvgPricePerMeal = 100, and the Reputation Score being between 15 – 75.
Practice Question 4
When the profit / loss for a company is output, this is output as a real number. How could this be adjusted to show a valid format for currency?
Practice Question 5
The probability that a household will eat out is now dependent on the day of the week. The user may enter in the day number (1 – 365) to identify the day in the year that the simulation starts. You may assume that all years have 365 days and that the current year started on a Monday.
The probability of the household eating out increases by a further 50% on a Friday or Saturday, and 25% on a Sunday.
Update the ProcessDayEnd method and any other relevant methods or classes to implement this change.
