A-Level Computing [Paperback]

One thing you quickly learn when examining the official AQA exam papers and mark schemes is that they are very big on definitions. And not just any old definitions, they want VERY precise technical definitions of terms, especially in the second year. Heathcoate fails at this in two main ways. Firstly, many definitions are simply not there, it is often up to you to pick out a one line definition from two large paragraphs of woolly text. Secondly, when the definitions are there, they are frequently wrong, at least according to the AQA mark schemes. Furthermore, when the syllabus states that candidates need to know the difference between two similar terms, she often fails to make an adequate differentiation, often seeming confused herself (see P157 and her attempt to interpret the syllabus statement "differentiate between backing up and archiving").

Furthermore, there are many areas of the syllabus where the material is not covered in sufficient depth (most obviously the Networking section, although there are other examples). Thus, whilst you may gleam enough information to answer the shorter answer questions in the exam, this book will often leave you floundering when it comes to more complex questions - there simply isn't the detail there. To compound this problem, whilst she leaves out significant chunks of necessary information, she frequently includes realms of unnecessary woolly nonsense on various topics that you will never be asked about in the exam. Thus, it becomes very hard to know what to learn and what not to learn. I found the only way was to closely work with the past exam papers, syllabus and mark schemes to ascertain exactly what was necessary. I feel very sorry for anyone who prepared for these exams using purely this book.

Finally, even when she isn't defining things wrongly or excluding relevant information, this text book still does not come up to scratch. Simply, she is not a very good teacher. Things are explained poorly, examples are littered with silly mistakes and are often overcomplicated, and her programming style can only be described as painful. "Incompetent" is a harsh word to use, but it is only fitting. All too often it appears that she does not know what she is talking about.

So, why is this the official course text for AQA? Well, simply because there is nothing else. Throughout my course my teachers have mocked Heathcoate and recommend the use of this book only to candidates happy to get a D or an E.

So, how should an A level student get through the course? Well, for the AS I found the Letts guide almost sufficient on its own to get full marks. However, for A2 where you need to know things in greater depth, it too is woefully insufficient. I survived from a mixture of the two books, classroom notes and (as I said) close examination of the syllabus / exam papers / mark schemes. Apparently there is a new textbook coming out covering the AQA syllabus. Although I have not seen it myself, I would recommend it heartily to any potential students. One thing is for sure, it can't be worse than this one.

Perhaps the most annoying thing about this book concerns the example questions. They seem to be cut and pasted at the end of each chapter with no answers. Not even in an appendix! This means you can't check your answer against a model answer which makes the exercises pretty pointless. Overall, it makes this book seem a bit of a rush job and I'm sure there are better produced books on A's Computing.