AQA GCSE COMPUTER
SCIENCE 8525/1A, 8525/1B,
8525/1C Paper 1
Computational thinking and
programming skills Mark
scheme June 2024 Version
1.0 Final
,GCSE
COMPUTER SCIENCE
8525/1A, 8525/1B, 8525/1C
Paper 1 Computational thinking and programming skills
Mark scheme
June 2024
Version 1.0 Final
, MARK SCHEME – GCSE COMPUTER SCIENCE – 8525/1 – JUNE
2024
Mark schemes are prepared by the Lead Assessment Writer and considered, together with the relevant questions, by
a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the standardisation events which
all associates participate in and is the scheme which was used by them in this examination. The standardisation
process ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’ responses to questions and that every associate
understands and applies it in the same correct way.
As preparation for standardisation each associate analyses a number of students’ scripts. Alternative answers not
already covered by the mark scheme are discussed and legislated for. If, after the standardisation process, associates
encounter unusual answers which have not been raised they are required to refer these to the Lead Examiner.
It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and expanded on the
basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark schemes on the basis of one year’s
document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of assessment remain constant, details will change,
depending on the content of a particular examination paper.
No student should be disadvantaged on the basis of their gender identity and/or how they refer to the gender identity
of others in their exam responses.
A consistent use of ‘they/them’ as a singular and pronouns beyond ‘she/her’ or ‘he/him’ will be credited in exam
responses in line with existing mark scheme criteria.
Further copies of this mark scheme are available from aqa.org.uk The
following annotation is used in the mark scheme:
; - means a single mark
// - means alternative response
/ - means an alternative word or sub-phrase
A - means acceptable creditworthy answer. Also used to denote a valid answer that goes beyond the
expectations of the GCSE syllabus.
R - means reject answer as not creditworthy
NE - means not enough
I - means ignore
DPT - in some questions a specific error made by a candidate, if repeated, could result in the candidate failing to
gain more than one mark. The DPT label indicates that this mistake should only result in a candidate
losing one mark on the first occasion that the error is made. Provided that the answer remains
understandable, subsequent marks should be awarded as if the error was not being repeated.
Copyright information
AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this
booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any
material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre.
Copyright © 2024 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
2
, MARK SCHEME – GCSE COMPUTER SCIENCE – 8525/1 – JUNE
2024
Note to Examiners
In the real-world minor syntax errors are often identified and flagged by the development environment. To reflect
this, all responses in a high-level programming language will assess a candidate’s ability to create an answer
using precise programming commands/instructions but will avoid penalising them for minor errors in syntax.
When marking program code, examiners must take account of the different rules between the languages and only
consider how the syntax affects the logic flow of the program. If the syntax is not perfect but the logic flow is
unaffected then the response should not be penalised.
The case of all program code written by students is to be ignored for the purposes of marking. This is because
it is not always clear which case has been used depending on the style and quality of handwriting used.
Examiners must ensure they follow the mark scheme instructions exactly. If an examiner is unsure as to whether a
given response is worthy of the marks they must escalate the question to their team leader.
Level of response marking instructions
Level of response mark schemes are broken down into levels, each of which has a descriptor. The descriptor for the
level shows the average performance for the level. There are marks in each level.
Before you apply the mark scheme to a student’s answer read through the answer and annotate it (as instructed) to
show the qualities that are being looked for. You can then apply the mark scheme.
Step 1 Determine a level
Start at the lowest level of the mark scheme and use it as a ladder to see whether the answer meets the descriptor for
that level. The descriptor for the level indicates the different qualities that might be seen in the student’s answer for
that level. If it meets the lowest level then go to the next one and decide if it meets this level, and so on, until you
have a match between the level descriptor and the answer. With practice and familiarity, you will find that for better
answers you will be able to quickly skip through the lower levels of the mark scheme.
When assigning a level, you should look at the overall quality of the answer and not look to pick holes in small and
specific parts of the answer where the student has not performed quite as well as the rest. If the answer covers
different aspects of different levels of the mark scheme you should use a best fit approach for defining the level and
then use the variability of the response to help decide the mark within the level, ie if the response is predominantly
level 3 with a small amount of level 4 material it would be placed in level 3 but be awarded a mark near the top of
the level because of the level 4 content.
Step 2 Determine a mark
Once you have assigned a level you need to decide on the mark. The descriptors on how to allocate marks can help
with this. The exemplar materials used during standardisation will help. There will be an answer in the
standardising materials which will correspond with each level of the mark scheme. This answer will have been
awarded a mark by the Lead Examiner. You can compare the student’s answer with the example to determine if it is
the same standard, better or worse than the example. You can then use this to allocate a mark for the answer based
on the Lead Examiner’s mark on the example.
3
SCIENCE 8525/1A, 8525/1B,
8525/1C Paper 1
Computational thinking and
programming skills Mark
scheme June 2024 Version
1.0 Final
,GCSE
COMPUTER SCIENCE
8525/1A, 8525/1B, 8525/1C
Paper 1 Computational thinking and programming skills
Mark scheme
June 2024
Version 1.0 Final
, MARK SCHEME – GCSE COMPUTER SCIENCE – 8525/1 – JUNE
2024
Mark schemes are prepared by the Lead Assessment Writer and considered, together with the relevant questions, by
a panel of subject teachers. This mark scheme includes any amendments made at the standardisation events which
all associates participate in and is the scheme which was used by them in this examination. The standardisation
process ensures that the mark scheme covers the students’ responses to questions and that every associate
understands and applies it in the same correct way.
As preparation for standardisation each associate analyses a number of students’ scripts. Alternative answers not
already covered by the mark scheme are discussed and legislated for. If, after the standardisation process, associates
encounter unusual answers which have not been raised they are required to refer these to the Lead Examiner.
It must be stressed that a mark scheme is a working document, in many cases further developed and expanded on the
basis of students’ reactions to a particular paper. Assumptions about future mark schemes on the basis of one year’s
document should be avoided; whilst the guiding principles of assessment remain constant, details will change,
depending on the content of a particular examination paper.
No student should be disadvantaged on the basis of their gender identity and/or how they refer to the gender identity
of others in their exam responses.
A consistent use of ‘they/them’ as a singular and pronouns beyond ‘she/her’ or ‘he/him’ will be credited in exam
responses in line with existing mark scheme criteria.
Further copies of this mark scheme are available from aqa.org.uk The
following annotation is used in the mark scheme:
; - means a single mark
// - means alternative response
/ - means an alternative word or sub-phrase
A - means acceptable creditworthy answer. Also used to denote a valid answer that goes beyond the
expectations of the GCSE syllabus.
R - means reject answer as not creditworthy
NE - means not enough
I - means ignore
DPT - in some questions a specific error made by a candidate, if repeated, could result in the candidate failing to
gain more than one mark. The DPT label indicates that this mistake should only result in a candidate
losing one mark on the first occasion that the error is made. Provided that the answer remains
understandable, subsequent marks should be awarded as if the error was not being repeated.
Copyright information
AQA retains the copyright on all its publications. However, registered schools/colleges for AQA are permitted to copy material from this
booklet for their own internal use, with the following important exception: AQA cannot give permission to schools/colleges to photocopy any
material that is acknowledged to a third party even for internal use within the centre.
Copyright © 2024 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.
2
, MARK SCHEME – GCSE COMPUTER SCIENCE – 8525/1 – JUNE
2024
Note to Examiners
In the real-world minor syntax errors are often identified and flagged by the development environment. To reflect
this, all responses in a high-level programming language will assess a candidate’s ability to create an answer
using precise programming commands/instructions but will avoid penalising them for minor errors in syntax.
When marking program code, examiners must take account of the different rules between the languages and only
consider how the syntax affects the logic flow of the program. If the syntax is not perfect but the logic flow is
unaffected then the response should not be penalised.
The case of all program code written by students is to be ignored for the purposes of marking. This is because
it is not always clear which case has been used depending on the style and quality of handwriting used.
Examiners must ensure they follow the mark scheme instructions exactly. If an examiner is unsure as to whether a
given response is worthy of the marks they must escalate the question to their team leader.
Level of response marking instructions
Level of response mark schemes are broken down into levels, each of which has a descriptor. The descriptor for the
level shows the average performance for the level. There are marks in each level.
Before you apply the mark scheme to a student’s answer read through the answer and annotate it (as instructed) to
show the qualities that are being looked for. You can then apply the mark scheme.
Step 1 Determine a level
Start at the lowest level of the mark scheme and use it as a ladder to see whether the answer meets the descriptor for
that level. The descriptor for the level indicates the different qualities that might be seen in the student’s answer for
that level. If it meets the lowest level then go to the next one and decide if it meets this level, and so on, until you
have a match between the level descriptor and the answer. With practice and familiarity, you will find that for better
answers you will be able to quickly skip through the lower levels of the mark scheme.
When assigning a level, you should look at the overall quality of the answer and not look to pick holes in small and
specific parts of the answer where the student has not performed quite as well as the rest. If the answer covers
different aspects of different levels of the mark scheme you should use a best fit approach for defining the level and
then use the variability of the response to help decide the mark within the level, ie if the response is predominantly
level 3 with a small amount of level 4 material it would be placed in level 3 but be awarded a mark near the top of
the level because of the level 4 content.
Step 2 Determine a mark
Once you have assigned a level you need to decide on the mark. The descriptors on how to allocate marks can help
with this. The exemplar materials used during standardisation will help. There will be an answer in the
standardising materials which will correspond with each level of the mark scheme. This answer will have been
awarded a mark by the Lead Examiner. You can compare the student’s answer with the example to determine if it is
the same standard, better or worse than the example. You can then use this to allocate a mark for the answer based
on the Lead Examiner’s mark on the example.
3
