← Analysing an area of computer science
What the grades require
Recognising the shape means you can plan the answer before reading the specifics — it is the same four-part shape and the same grading language, whichever of the six areas you choose.📖 Terms the schedule grades you on
5 termsCover the right column and check you can say what each one means — these apply across all six areas, not just one.
- Analyse / critically analyse
- The command verb of the standard. Achieved and Merit want analysis (how and why a mechanism works); Excellence wants CRITICAL analysis — a judgement about limits, trade-offs, or significance, not just a clear account.
- Foundations
- The area's core concepts, defined precisely and with an example — part (a) of every paper.
- Mechanism
- A specific, named algorithm or process within the area, explained in terms of how it actually works — naming it alone is not enough.
- Capabilities and limitations
- What a mechanism can do, what it cannot, and WHY the limit exists — the reason is what separates description from analysis.
- Tractable / intractable
- Tractable: a polynomial-time algorithm exists, so it scales usefully. Intractable: no known efficient algorithm exists, so cost explodes as the input grows.
What each part wants
- (a) FOUNDATIONS: define the area and its core concepts precisely, with an example.
- (b) MECHANISMS: name and explain SPECIFIC algorithms — Bresenham, Canny, binary search, TCP handshake, a named heuristic. Naming is not enough; explain how it works.
- (c) CAPABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS: what the technique can and cannot do, and why the limit exists.
- (d) EFFECTS ON PEOPLE / DISCUSSION: benefits and harms, a judgement, and a position argued with examples.
- Plus (2025): the area's significance within computer science, and TWO central algorithms.