Cambridge International AS Level Computer Science (9618)
Bridge the gap to advanced computing. Master processor fundamentals, data representation, and systems software (Paper 1), while developing robust problem-solving and structured pseudocode algorithms (Paper 2).
Cambridge International AS Level Computer Science (9618) is currently in development
Curriculum Modules
12 modulesSection 1: Information Representation
Binary data representation, prefixes (kibi, mebi), two's complement arithmetic and overflow, Binary Coded Decimal (BCD), ASCII/Unicode character sets, multimedia bitmap graphics and calculations, vector graphics, digital audio sampling, and data compression methods (lossy, lossless, RLE).
Section 2: Communication & Networking
LANs, WANs, client-server and peer-to-peer architectures, network topologies (bus, star, mesh, hybrid), transmission media (twisted pair, fibre optic, wireless), hardware devices (NIC, WAP, router, switch), Ethernet CSMA/CD, IP addressing (IPv4, IPv6, subnetting), and DNS routing.
Section 3: Hardware & Logic Circuits
Computer hardware components, input and output peripheral devices, secondary storage technologies, embedded and control feedback systems, logic gates, truth tables, and combinational logic circuits.
Section 4: Processor Fundamentals
CPU architecture, Von Neumann model, dedicated processor registers (PC, MAR, MDR, CIR, ACC, Status), system buses and bus width, the Fetch-Decode-Execute cycle and interrupt handling, assembly language instruction sets, and addressing modes.
Section 5: System Software
Operating system services, kernel architecture, process management and scheduling algorithms, memory management and virtual memory, device drivers, and language translators, linkers, and loaders.
Section 6: Security, Privacy & Integrity
Data security, privacy, and integrity concepts, cyber threat vectors, defensive measures (firewalls, biometrics, 2FA), cryptographic techniques (symmetric/asymmetric encryption, SSL/TLS), and data validation vs verification methods.
Section 7: Ethics & Ownership
Professional ethics, ACM/IEEE/BCS codes of conduct, intellectual property, copyright, software licensing (FOSS, open source vs proprietary), and environmental and societal impacts of computing.
Section 8: Databases & Normalisation
Flat files vs relational databases, data redundancy, entity relationship diagrams (ERDs), normalisation (1NF, 2NF, 3NF), and SQL Data Definition Language (DDL) and Data Manipulation Language (DML).
Section 9: Algorithm Design & Problem-Solving
Computational thinking, abstraction, decomposition, Cambridge pseudocode conventions, linear and binary search algorithms, bubble sort and insertion sort, and execution trace tables.
Section 10: Data Types & Data Structures
User-defined records (TYPE..ENDTYPE), 1D and 2D arrays with 1-based indexing, abstract data types: stacks (LIFO), queues (FIFO), and linked lists with dynamic pointers.
Section 11: Programming Principles
Procedures and functions, parameter passing (BYVAL vs BYREF), variable scope (local vs global), built-in string and math functions, text and random-access file handling, and defensive programming exception handling.
Section 12: Software Development
Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) models (Waterfall, Agile, Spiral, Iterative), program testing methods (black-box, white-box, stub testing), test data classification (normal, boundary, extreme, erroneous), and software maintenance.