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Using Email (J/502/4299)

The ICDL Using Email course is the second level 1 course based around IT literacy and safety to help improve your understanding of computers and the use of online communication tools and techniques for personal and business use.

	Details
Course Type	Distance learning / Self-Paced with online tutor support
Entry Requirements	None
BCS Credits	2
Duration	20 hours Start dates throughout the year
Test Availability	In person at TeachAllAboutIt, Worthing Online with our remote invigilators Tests booked separately
Software Requirements	Microsoft Office Suite (not included)

Please discuss reasonable adjustments with us in advance of booking by emailing hello@teachallaboutit.uk.

Progression & Course Units

This course is a mandatory unit of the following qualifications:

BCS Level 1 Award in IT User Skills (ICDL Essentials)
BCS Level 2 Certificate in IT User Skills (ICDL Core)
BCS Level 2 Certificate in IT User Skills (ICDL Extra)

Or may be used as credit towards Level 1, 2, and 3 Flexible IT User Qualifications.

Please ensure that you have registered your full intended course before sitting tests.

IT User Fundamentals (J/502/4206)

The ICDL IT User Fundamentals course is the first level 1 course based around IT literacy and safety to help improve your understanding of computers and promotes the safe, efficient and effective use of computer applications.

	Details
Course Type	Distance learning / Self-Paced with online tutor support
Entry Requirements	None
BCS Credits	3
Duration	30 hours Start dates throughout the year
Test Availability	In person at TeachAllAboutIt, Worthing Online with our remote invigilators Tests booked separately
Software Requirements	Microsoft Office Suite (not included)

Please discuss reasonable adjustments with us in advance of booking by emailing hello@teachallaboutit.uk.

Progression & Course Units

This course is a mandatory unit of the following qualifications:

BCS Level 1 Award in IT User Skills (ICDL Essentials)
BCS Level 2 Certificate in IT User Skills (ICDL Core)
BCS Level 2 Certificate in IT User Skills (ICDL Extra)

Or may be used as credit towards Level 1, 2, and 3 Flexible IT User Qualifications.

Please ensure that you have registered your full intended course before sitting tests.

ICDL Advanced – Word Processing (Level 3)

** please note – this course is currently under development **

This course is one of five units that combine for the ICDL Advanced Qualification. They may be sat individually, or as part of a larger qualification.

You should expect to spend approximately 50 hours on this course (the full Level 3 Advanced ICDL is expected to take 203 learning hours).

This module sets out advanced skills that can be used to produce complex documents, enhance
outputs, and improve productivity, when using a word processing application.

This Unit follows the BCS Syllabus for Advanced ICDL – Word Processing

How to Pass CIE A Level Computer Science (9618 AS & A Level)

CIE A Level Computer Science topic introductions are not endorsed by Cambridge International. Please refer to the exam board specification to ensure that the full range of topics has been covered.

To access the course material, please click on the link to each section.

Register As A School | Register As A Student

What’s the secret to passing CIE A Level Computer Science?

It’s probably the worst kept secret in the world. It’s revision! Making regular use of great revision resources and tools that show you where to study next is the secret of most students success (we can’t help you study less, but we can help you to study better!).

The TeachAllAboutIt CIE A Level Computer Science revision resources have been designed to be used by both schools and individual students to help with learning and revision throughout your course of study.

Want to see the full topic list? Click here to skip to the good part…

learn CIE A Level Computer Science Online

As the A level computer science syllabus for 2022 now includes a practical exam for paper 4, the programming topics in our revision course include practical programming exercises in Python and challenges for any programming language to help you develop your skills in using an IDE in your exam.

The revision topics and notes for the Cambridge international A Level Computer Science lessons have been developed to allow you to study independently at your own pace. This means that whether you are a teacher setting topics for homework or a home educated private candidate looking for extra study support, you’ll be able to work through the lessons in a way that suits you best.

As a student, you’ll be able to track your progress with our online gradebook which tracks your progress through the online quizzes and also allows your teacher (or parent) to add in extra grades for tests and practice papers as you go. You’ll see your grades topic by topic to help you identify the areas that you need to revise most.

Don’t just plough through – track progress!

As a teacher or parent, you’ll have an extra screen to help you track the progress of all learners attached to your account, showing you which topics they have completed and when alongside their overall score. You’ll be able to create classes to organise your students and broadcast classroom messages direct to their online course on a class by class basis.

For more information about the tools available to teachers and students for our courses, please visit the FAQs & Help page.

I’m New To A Level – Is CIE A Level Computer Science Hard?

This is a question that I’m asked as a tutor regularly and my honest answer is “it depends!”. Computer Science is best described as Maths with Toys and should be approached in the same way as any other A Level subject. For any student, I would recommend choosing the A Level subjects that you will enjoy as these are subjects that you’ll be studying for 5 – 10 hours each week for the next two years!

Although programming is an important part of Computer Science, it is just one piece of a very large puzzle that includes standard mathematical algorithms, understanding control systems, internal computer hardware, and the theory behind the internet and local area networks. In short, you’ll be learning a wide range of topics that will help you decide how to specialise once you reach university (because, our ultimate goal as teachers and tutors is to inspire you to take this further).

For most A Levels you’ll be expected to already have a high grade in the GCSE of the same subject (usually a 6 in the UK or B for international), but Computer Science doesn’t assume that you’ve studied the subject before if you want to begin the A Level. Instead, you’ll probably be asked to have a grade 6 or B in maths.

Does that mean that the GCSE or iGCSE shouldn’t be studied? Absolutely not! Having a GCSE Computer Science will help you understand the foundations of both theory and programming and make the A Level course significantly easier to study. Of course, the same applies to studying A Level Computer Science if you want to apply to University – it’s not always a requirement (where maths probably will be), but it will make things significantly easier.

If you find an error in these resources or the website, please report it here.

Throughout the course, key terms are shown in bold and underline. Hover over these words for more information.

Your Gradebook

Check your progress through the resources using our online gradebook. Your overall grade is an average of your quiz grades through the resources. Use the arrows on the left to expand each topic to see your individual quiz scores.

Please log in to view your report card.

Exam Question Practice

To submit a question to be included in one of my YouTube videos, please enrol onto this free course.

One of the best ways that you can prepare for your exams is to use past papers to practice the style of questions that you might be asked. In the last few months leading up to your exam it is recommended that you try these little and often as part of your revision timetable.

One way to make these even more effective is to look at how to improve the answers that you have given. These videos aim at doing just that – you can also use the form at the bottom of this page to submit your own questions. I’ll be featuring your questions with examiner style feedback all the way up to the exams.

CIE IGCSE Computer Science (0984/0478)

These resources are designed for independent revision. For our full distance learning IGCSE Computer Science & ICT courses with live online tuition & marking, please visit the TeachAllAboutIt Tuition site.

CIE IGCSE Computer Science topic introductions are not endorsed by Cambridge. Please refer to the exam board specification to ensure that the full range of topics has been covered.

To access the course material, please click on the link to each section.

Register As A Scho ol | Register As A Student

What’s the secret to passing CIE IGCSE Computer Science?

The TeachAllAboutIt CIE IGCSE Computer Science revision resources have been designed to be used by both schools and individual students to help with learning and revision throughout your course of study.

Want to see the full topic list? Click here to skip to the good part…

How do the TeachAllAboutIt iGCSE Computer Science Resources Work?

Each topic is divided into individual lessons supported by videos, quizzes, and a set of computer science revision notes that can be completed step by step to help you manage your learning every step of the way. Each topic has an online introduction with downloadable notes for you to fill in and quizzes to help you practice questions by topic.

Is This The New Specification?

The 0984 and 0478 iGCSE Computer Science specification was updated significantly for students sitting the exams from Summer of 2023, and we have updated our site to reflect this. Until the final exams for the current specification are sat in Winter of 2023, we’ll be highlighting the differences in each lesson.

In the new iGCSE Computer Science specification for 2023, the programming tasks have been removed. Instead, your programming paper will require you to answer a set of unseen questions on program logic and code.

The complexity of code in paper 2 has increased in the new specification to now be in line with the UK GCSEs and the programming topics in our revision course include practical programming exercises in Python and challenges for any programming language to help you develop your skills in using an IDE in your exam.

Does This Course Include Live Tuition?

The topics and revision notes for the Cambridge iGCSE Computer Science study lessons have been developed to allow you to work independently at your own pace (my full course with online taught lessons can be accessed here). This means that whether you are a teacher setting topics for homework or a home educated private candidate looking for extra study support, you’ll be able to work through the lessons in a way that suits you best.

Don’t just plough through – track progress!

For more information about the tools available to teachers and students for our courses, please visit the FAQs & Help page.

I’m New To iGCSE – Is CIE iGCSE Computer Science Hard?

This is a difficult question to answer, because it depends on your interests and the learning that you have already completed. As a teacher and tutor of over 10 years, my honest answer is that iGCSE Computer Science is no more difficult than maths or science, but does require other skills.

Many students have been able to complete the current specification as a fast tracked option, but with the updates for 2023 I strongly recommend that all students follow the full two years of study with 120 hours of study (at least!). This means that you’ll be studying the subject between 2 – 3 hours each week for 64 weeks, so if it’s a lot of hours to spend on a subject if you don’t enjoy it.

Holly Billinghurst - computer science tutor

It’s not just programming!

Although programming is an important part of Computer Science, it is just one piece of a very large puzzle that includes understanding algorithms, understanding control systems, internal computer hardware, and the theory behind the internet and networks. Almost anything that you can think of can be related to Computer Science – need to find a recipe for dinner? The website that you use will have a database created by a Computer Scientist!

In short, you’ll be learning a wide range of topics that will help you decide how to specialise once you reach university (because, our ultimate goal as teachers and tutors is to inspire you to take this further).

Whether you want to become a programmer, a games designer, a doctor, an engineer, or an artist, the problem solving skills that you’ll learn as part of iGCSE Computer Science will be just as valuable.

If you find an error in these resources or the website, please report it here.

Throughout the course, key terms are shown in bold and underline. Hover over these words for more information.

AQA GCSE Computer Science (8525)

AQA GCSE Computer Science topic introductions are not endorsed by AQA. Please refer to the exam board specification to ensure that the full range of topics has been covered.

To access the course material, please click on the link to each section.

If you find an error in these resources or the website, please report it here.

Throughout the course, key terms are shown in bold and underline. Hover over these words for more information.

OCR A Level Computer Science (H447)

OCR A Level Computer Science topic introductions are not endorsed by OCR. Please refer to the exam board specification to ensure that the full range of topics has been covered.

To access the course material, please click on the link to each section.

Register As A School | Register As A Student

If you find an error in these resources or the website, please report it here.

Throughout the course, key terms are shown in bold and underline. Hover over these words for more information.

Your Gradebook

Please log in to view your report card.

OCR GCSE Computer Science (J277)

OCR GCSE Computer Science topic introductions are not endorsed by OCR. Please refer to the exam board specification to ensure that the full range of topics has been covered.

To enrol as an individual student, click here

To access the course material, please click on the link to each section.

If you find an error in these resources or the website, please report it here.

Throughout the course, key terms are shown in bold and underline. Hover over these words for more information.

Please log in to view your report card.