Product Description

This new edition of the best-selling computing textbook, previously published by Letts Educational, has been revised and updated to meet the demands of the new modular Computing specifications as offered by the various examining boards from September 2000. It is divided into units which correspond to the modules of the Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced Level Computing offered by the AQA examining board and will be ideal for these courses. Centres using other 'A' Level Computing specifications will find that this comprehensive text covers almost all of the required topics in an accessible and 'student-friendly' way. Additional resources for teachers and students are available from the publisher's website (http://www.payne-gallway.co.uk)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168639 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
Easy to read, March 2003 Reviewer: Mr. John Knight, Easy to read, concise and in a language aimed at 'A' Level students. Comprehensive.15 August 2002 Reviewer: Japheth Kemboi, Lecturer from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Comprehensive, simple yet well presented ideas flow throughout the book. Brief and concise sentences that are clear and to the point gives an easy concentration to students and teachers alike. Excellent work as it has always been! I want to thank you for the good books you are producing. 7 June, 2002 Reviewer: Asraff Fataymamode from Mauratius I have used your book for 8 years. My students have been able to achieve very good grades in UCLES A-Level Computing. Two have even ranked first in the subject in Mauritius. First class Reviewer: J Roberts, Neath College "As usual adopting as a class text. First class!" Brilliant!!!, 26 January, 1999 Reviewer: A Reader from England This is an absolutely brilliant book, it's making my 'A' Level really interesting and FUN. Great

About the Author
Pat Heathcote has worked as a programmer and systems analyst, and has many years of experience in teaching Computing and Information Technology. She has served as an Assistant Examiner with AQA, is on the Subject Committee for Computing and is Chair of Examiners for Edexcel AVCE and GNVQ. She is now a full-time author and publisher.

Customer Reviews

Adequate for an D grade
That AQA should consider it acceptable to officially endorse such an incompetent mishmash of incorrect definitions, woolly and frequently insufficient explanations and bizarre and irrelevant examples is shocking. As someone who has recently completed an A level in Computing, I would strongly advise against anyone using this book as a primary source of information.

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.

Heathcote Junk
Without a combination of the Bradley Book and the Letts Revision guide you have no hope. It is very basic and some of the theory is in there. Its amazing that this is written specifically for AQA but issues dealt with in the book are completly different from what the examiner is looking for. Get hold of this book free (dnt buy it) and then buy the bradley - A* book and the Letts revision guides - you wont go wrong if you got past exam papers either. Quite a poor book overall, abit silly not to have answers to common quesitons asked!

Standard Textbook for A's Computing ?
This book was the standard textbook for my 2003 A's Level in Computing. All the major topics are covered although at times it's hard to extract the most useful information.

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.