Mark Scheme

Additional Sample Assessment

Materials

Pearson BTEC Level 3 - Computing

Unit 1: Principles of Computer Science

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Unit 1: Principles of Computer Science –
sample marking grid

General marking guidance

 All learners must receive the same treatment. Examiners must mark the first
learner in exactly the same way as they mark the last.
 Marking grids should be applied positively. Learners must be rewarded for what
they have shown they can do, rather than be penalised for omissions.
 Examiners should mark according to the marking grid, not according to their
perception of where the grade boundaries may lie.
 All marks on the marking grid should be used appropriately.
 All the marks on the marking grid are designed to be awarded. Examiners
should always award full marks if deserved. Examiners should also be prepared
to award zero marks, if the learner’s response is not rewardable according to
the marking grid.
 Where judgement is required, a marking grid will provide the principles by
which marks will be awarded.
 When examiners are in doubt regarding the application of the marking grid to a
learner’s response, a senior examiner should be consulted.

Specific marking guidance

The marking grids have been designed to assess learner work holistically.
Rows in the grids identify the assessment focus/outcome being targeted. When
using a marking grid, the ‘best fit’ approach should be used.
● Examiners should first make a holistic judgement on which band most
closely matches the learner’s response and place it within that band.
Learners will be placed in the band that best describes their answer.
● The mark awarded within the band will be decided based on the quality of
the answer, in response to the assessment focus/outcome and will be
modified according to how securely all bullet points are displayed at that
band.
● Marks will be awarded towards the top or bottom of that band, depending
on how they have evidenced each of the descriptor bullet points.
Question Answer Mark
Number
1(a) Award 1 mark for any of the following up to a
maximum of 2 marks.
 Check the length and width are entered
 Convert feet to (square) metres
 Calculate the amount of square
metres/area
 Multiply the price for one square metre by
the number of square metres required
 Deduct the discount if more than 20
square metres are ordered (2)

Question Answer Mark

Number
1(b) Award 1 mark for any of the following up to a
maximum of 3 marks.

 Number of feet in one metre

 How to calculate area/square metres
 Price for one square metre
 Discount rate (if 20 or more square metres
are ordered) (3)

Question Answer Mark

Number
1(c) Award 1 mark for the appropriate variable and 1
mark for a correct data type and an additional
explanation.
 Variable: Length or Width (1)
 Data Type: Real/Floating Point (1) as the
measurement is likely to include a decimal
/ will need precision (1)

 Variable: Metres/Square Metres (1)

 Data Type: Integer (1) as the number
required has to be rounded upwards to the
nearest whole number (1)

 Variable: Cost (1)

 Data Type: Real/Floating Point (1) as the
price per square metre contains a decimal
(1) (3)
Question Answer Mark
Number
1(d) Award one mark for identification and one
additional mark for appropriate expansion.

 INPUT to allow the user to enter their

measurements (1) so that it can be
assigned to a variable (1)
 ROUND to round the number of metres up
(1) to the nearest whole number (1) (4)

Question Answer Mark

Number
1(e) Award one mark for identification and one
additional mark for each appropriate expansion
up to three marks.

An IF statement will only check once (1) whereas

a WHILE will check continuously (1) until valid
data is entered (1)

Accept any other relevant phrasing/wording. (3)

Question Answer Mark

Number
1(f) Award one mark for identification and one
additional mark for each appropriate expansion
up to three marks.

To ensure that the measurements entered are

within two boundaries (1) to ensure that the data
entered is more reasonable (1) such as
measurements should be >0 (and below a pre-set
value) (1) (3)
Question Answer Mark
Number
1(g) POSSIBLE ALGORITHM:

Guidance:
1 mark for each of the following points:
 Decision box showing correct logic for checking
that the length AND width have been entered
(e.g. length AND width >0) (1)
 Yes route correctly labelled and leads to running
the function ‘calculate’ (1)
 No route correctly labelled, leads to error
message and prompts user to re-enter the
measurements (1)
 Appropriate conventions for a flow chart (e.g.
correct BCS symbols, correct data flow) (1) (4)
Question Answer Mark
Number
2(a) Award one mark for each correct value in the
table up to a maximum of four marks.

Data Entered Problem Value

3 3 (Variable Inputted)
yes 3 (no calculation)
yes 2 (3-1=2)
no 2 (no calculation)
yes 1 (2-1=1)

Additional guidance- allow follow through for

incorrect values that result from correct
application of a process that uses previously
incorrect value.
(4)

Question Answer Mark

Number
2(b) Award one mark for identification and one
additional mark for appropriate expansion up to
four marks.
 Frequently used code only needs to be
written once (1) reducing development
time (1)
 Improves reusability of code/allows
sections of code to be shared with others
(1) by creating self-contained blocks of
code (1)
 To make the programming code more
efficient/reduces the amount of code to be
loaded (1) which therefore increases the
performance (of the code) (1)
 To reduce the amount of errors in the code
(1) if the code needs to be adapted it only
needs changing once (1)
 Aids problem solving (1) by allowing
complex problems to be broken down
(deconstruction) (1) (4)
Question Answer Mark
Number
2(c) An explanation of why the function is defined
before it is called such as:

The programming language used is

interpreted language (1) so the programming
code is run in sequence (from top to bottom)
(1) by defining it (the function) first it will be
loaded into the memory (1) so it is ready to
be executed when called (1)

Accept any other relevant phrasing/wording. (4)

Question Answer Mark

Number
2(d) Award one mark for identification and one
additional mark for appropriate expansion up to
three marks.

 The problems variable is declared at the

start of the program (1) but it needs to be
changed inside a function (1) the global
command enables the variables declared
outside of a function to be accessed/
updated (by other parts of the program)
(1)
If not, the problems variable (in part D) would
only be assigned the value locally (1) so other
functions/other parts of the code would use the
original value (1) causing the program to produce
incorrect results/not function correctly (1)
(3)

Question Answer Mark

Number
2(e) A explanation of why the error has occurred such
as :

User input is defined as a string (1). The IF

statement then compares this variable against an
integer/the value 0 (1). As they are not the same
data type the comparison cannot be made (1) (3)
Question Answer Mark
Number
2(f) Award one mark for identification and one
additional mark for appropriate expansion up to
three marks.

Not all lines of the code need to be executed (1)

as the program will attempt to solve a varying
number of problems with a printer (1) therefore
the selection statements will execute the correct
part of the code (that solves their specific
problem) (1) (3)

Question Answer Mark

Number
3(a) Award one mark for each identification up to a
maximum of three marks.

 Incorrect operator has been used / a less

than operator (<) should have been used
 First ELSE should be an IF statement
 Incorrect variable has been printed/ status
has been misspelt (3)

Question Answer Mark

Number
3(b) Award 1 mark for identification and 1 additional
mark for appropriate expansion up to a maximum
of 3 marks each.

 There are multiple distinct data sets (1)

which have to be stored separately but in
related structures (1) this structure allows
a set of scores for each student that can
be accessed by a single identifier (1) (3)
Question Answer Mark
Number
3(c) Example solution

Award one mark for each identification up to a maximum of

six marks.

 Insertion A shows 65 move to first position

 Insertion B shows 81 move to second position
 Insertion C shows 62 move to first position
 Insertion D shows 36 move to first position
 Insertion E shows 94 move to sixth position
 Final sorted data shows 45 move to second positon

Additional Guidance - Marks should be awarded for correct

insertion. Therefore if the previous insertion is incorrect but
the candidate has followed through and inserted the number
correctly (based on the previous search on the next insertion)
then marks should be awarded.

For marks to be awarded for each insertion, the candidate

must have written the previous sort/row to show that the
insertion has been updated correctly. (6)
Question Answer Mark
Number
3(d) Answers will be credited according to the learner’s
demonstration of knowledge and understanding of the
material using the indicative content and levels descriptors
below. The indicative content that follows is not prescriptive.
Answers may cover some/all of the indicative content but
should be rewarded for other relevant answers.

Indicative content:
 Insertion sorts will sort the data faster as the number
of scores to be sorted is small. If the number of
scores in the array was larger than a quick sort would
be more efficient as insertion sorts could possibly
need to shift all numbers in the array upwards,
therefore taking longer to complete the sort.
 Insertion sorts are easy to create the programming
code for. Although the number of scores is likely to
increase over an academic year the number of scores
in the sort is unlikely to reach an amount that will
decrease the performance of the insertion sort.
Therefore it will be more time efficient for the
programmer to create an insertion sort as quick sorts
can take a long time to create the code for. As quick
sorts would not give a better performance on the
small amount of scores within the array, it may not
be worth spending more time creating the code.
 There is a small possibility that the test scores may
already be in order. This is ideal for insertion sorts as
the best case for this sort is when the list is
already/mostly sorted. However, this is actually the
worst case for quick sorts as it can be difficult to
choose a pivot that allows the data to be sorted
efficiently, which can therefore decrease performance
of the sort.
 Insertion sorts are less memory intensive. It only
needs one extra storage location to temporarily score
a number before it is inserted into the correct
position. Quick sorts rely heavily on recursion and
therefore more memory is used up running more
code and carrying out more comparisons to put
numbers into the correct position, which can
decrease performance. (8)

Mark scheme (award up to 8 marks) refer to the guidance on the cover of this
document for how to apply levels-based mark schemes*.
Level Mark Descriptor
Level 0 0 No rewardable material.
Level 1 1-2 Technical vocabulary is used but it is not used appropriately to
support arguments in relation to the issues of the question.

Issues are identified but chains of reasoning are not made,

 leading to a superficial understanding of the relative importance
of issues to the scenario.

Arguments are not linked to the given scenario.

Level 2 3-5 Accurate technical vocabulary is used to support arguments but

not all arguments are relevant to the issues of the question.

There is consideration of relevant issues, using logical chains of

reasoning, but it does not reflect on their relative importance to
the given scenario.

Various elements of the question are considered but it does not

always link arguments to the given scenario.
Level 3 6-8 Fluent and accurate technical vocabulary is used to support
arguments that are relevant to the issues of the question.

There is a balanced and wide-ranging consideration of relevant

issues, using coherent and logical chains of reasoning that show
a full awareness of their relative importance to the given
scenario.

Various elements of the question are carefully considered and

arguments are clearly linked to the given scenario.
Question Answer Mark
Number
4a Answers will be credited according to the learner’s demonstration (6)
of knowledge and understanding of the material using the
indicative content and levels descriptors below. The indicative
content that follows is not prescriptive. Answers may cover
some/all of the indicative content but should be rewarded for
other relevant answers.

Example Solution:

Alternative Solution:
Award one mark for each identification up to a maximum of six
marks
 Identifying that 4 different searches are required.
 Step 1 - Identify 1 as the lower boundary, 23 as the middle
boundary and 59 as the upper boundary.
 Step 2 - Identifying 29 as the lower boundary, 41 as the
middle boundary and 59 as the upper boundary.
 Step 3 - Identifying 43 as the lower boundary, 47 as the
middle boundary and 59 as the upper boundary.
 Step 4 - Identifying 53 as the middle boundary and 59 as
the upper boundary.
 Correctly identifying no lower boundary / the same lower
and middle boundary on step 4.

Additional Guidance - Marks should be awarded for correct

searching. Therefore if the previous step is incorrect but the
candidate has followed through and applied on the next steps
correctly then marks should be awarded.
Question Answer Mark
Number
4(b) Award one mark for identification and one
additional mark for appropriate expansion up to a
maximum of 3 marks.

Line 6 (1)
The address would not be positioned correctly (1)
as the centre tag has been misspelled (1)

Line 9 (1)
The details heading would not be displayed (1) as
the tag has been displayed incorrectly (1)

Line 18 (1)
The email address would not appear in bold (1)
as the strong tag has been misspelled (1)

Line 22 (1)
The image would not be displayed (1) as the file
type of the image has been incorrectly identified (3)
(1)
Question Answer Mark
Number
4(c) Answers will be credited according to the
learner’s demonstration of knowledge and
understanding of the material using the indicative
content and levels descriptors below. The
indicative content that follows is not prescriptive.
Answers may cover some/all of the indicative
content but should be rewarded for other relevant
answers.

Indicative content:
 HTML does not allow server-side
processing. In order for customers to view
previous animal treatments the
programming code will need to search for
their data on a central server. However,
HTML code is run on the client side (on
their browser) and so therefore does not
store or have the functionality to display
stored data.
 The surgery needs to display dynamic data
that is relevant to each customer;
however, HTML is a markup language and
so therefore is only ideal for displaying
static information. Therefore HTML can
only display the same information for all
customers who view the website.
 Although HTML has the ability to carry out
some conditional statements for different
web browsers, HTML is not a true
programming language and so therefore
the code would need to incorporate other
languages such as Java Script that have
increased programming functionality to
give the website increased user
(6)
interactivity.

Mark scheme (award up to 6 marks) refer to the guidance on the cover of this
document for how to apply levels-based mark schemes*.
Level Mark Descriptor
Level 0 0 No rewardable material.
Level 1 1-2 Technical vocabulary is used but it is not used appropriately to
support arguments in relation to the issues of the question.

Issues are identified but chains of reasoning are not made,

leading to a superficial understanding of the relative importance
of issues to the scenario.

Arguments are not linked to the given scenario.

Level 2 3-4 Accurate technical vocabulary is used to support arguments but

not all arguments are relevant to the issues of the question.
 There is consideration of relevant issues, using logical chains of
reasoning, but it does not reflect on their relative importance to
the given scenario.

Various elements of the question are considered but it does not

always link arguments to the given scenario.
Level 3 5-6 Fluent and accurate technical vocabulary is used to support
arguments that are relevant to the issues of the question.

There is a balanced and wide-ranging consideration of relevant

issues, using coherent and logical chains of reasoning that show
a full awareness of their relative importance to the given
scenario.

Various elements of the question are carefully considered and

arguments are clearly linked to the given scenario.

Question Answer Mark

Number
4(d) Answers will be credited according to the
learner’s demonstration of knowledge and
understanding of the material using the indicative
content and levels descriptors below. The
indicative content that follows is not prescriptive.
Answers may cover some/all of the indicative
content but should be rewarded for other relevant
answers.
DATA STRUCTURE
 Currently, the appointment data is stored
within the actual code. This therefore
means the surgery will need to have
various copies of the programming code
for each day. Therefore, over time, this
could prove problematic.
 Also, by expanding the programming
code, it increases the likelihood of
appointment data being accidentally lost
as this is stored within the programming
code.
 To avoid this, the programmer may want
to use file handling so the programming
code / structure could be adapted without
actually changing the appointment data
(as this will be stored in a separate file).

CODE COMMENTS
 There are very limited comments provided
by the original programmer.
 The comments that have been provided do
not actually inform a third party what the
 code does.
A third party may not understand the code
to be able to adapt it or will have to spend
time working out what the code actually
does before they can carry out
maintenance work on it.
 However, an experienced programmer
would probably be able to work out what
the code does, but may have to spend
time annotating the code before they carry
out maintenance.
 If the code is expanded and new code
comments continue to be limited/poor
then it could make it problematic in the
future to maintain the code.

BLOCKS
 The programmer has generally structured
the code well into 4 main blocks.
 This breaks the code down and makes it
easier to navigate around the main parts
of the program.
 A third party can therefore clearly see the
main focus for each part of the
programming code. Block A shows lists
that have been set up, Block B shows
variables being set, Block C contains a
function that will search for appointments
and, finally, Block D allows for user input.

LOOPING
 The programmer has made good use of
while and for loops to make the code very
efficient.
 The number of lines in the code is
therefore significantly reduced, which will
therefore reduce the amount of code that
needs to be maintained.
 If one part of the part of the programming
code is changed then it’s ‘knock on’ affect
will be smaller as there is less code that
may also need to be changed as a result.

FUNCTIONS
 The programmer has created a function
which is a ‘self-contained’ block of code.
 This therefore means that if the code
needs to be changed, it only needs to be
changed once within the function but can
be run many times within the code.
 This function could also be reused in the
 future if the program was expanded to
improve future efficiency.

INDENTATION
 The programmer has made very good use
of indentation in order to separate
different statements in the program.
 The indents allow a third party to clearly
see the flow of the program, which will
help the programmer to work out what the
code does and which parts of the code
relate to each other.

VARIABLE/FUNCTION NAMES
 The programmer has chosen poor
variable/function names within the code.
The variable names do not accurately
reflect the data that is being stored by the
program.
 This can make it difficult to keep track of
the variables throughout the program and
make it difficult to understand why that
variable is being used and how it could be
used again in the future if the code was
expanded.
 The code uses a global variable approach,
which may cause problems if the code is
expanded. If more functions are developed
in the future then it’s more difficult to
maintain the integrity of the data stored in
the variable as it could be accessed and
changed by many different functions. (12)

Mark scheme (award up to 12 marks) refer to the guidance on the cover of this
document for how to apply levels-based mark schemes*.
Level Mark Descriptor
Level 0 0 No rewardable material.
Level 1 1-4 Technical vocabulary is used but it is not used appropriately to
support arguments in relation to the issues of the question.

Issues are identified but chains of reasoning are not made,

leading to a superficial understanding of the relative importance
of issues to the scenario.

No conclusion is presented or is generic.

Level 2 5-8 Accurate technical vocabulary is used to support arguments but
not all arguments are relevant to the issues of the question.

There is consideration of relevant issues, using logical chains of

reasoning, but it does not reflect on their relative importance to
the given scenario.
 An attempt at a conclusion is presented that links arguments to
the given scenario but is not justified in that it does not reflect
the careful consideration of both sides of the argument.
Level 3 9-12 Fluent and accurate technical vocabulary is used to support
arguments that are relevant to the issues of the question.

There is a balanced and wide-ranging consideration of relevant

issues, using coherent and logical chains of reasoning that show
a full awareness of their relative importance to the given
scenario.

A fully justified conclusion is presented, that links arguments to

the given scenario and that reflects the careful consideration of
both sides of the argument, leading to a reasoned decision.
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