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media type="custom" key="5433733" **IGCSE IT @AKAM** This is a two year program offered for year **10** and **11**. They have three session on a week each running fo **50** minutes. Our delivery is hybrid where practical units are intergrated in the theory units where possible. Most of the sessions are delivered in an inquiry based approach which is contextual in nature.

Excerps fro the IGCSE Syllabus Information Technology is an applied subject and all candidates will require frequent access to computer and Internet facilities to develop their skills. The syllabus aims to give Centres the flexibility to cope with a wide variety of resources and ever-changing technology. The practical sections of this course can be accomplished using any software packages that will allow the candidates to demonstrate ALL of the skills listed in the relevant sections of this syllabus. For this reason CIE does not prescribe particular software packages or particular hardware. Students will learn to use particular packages, but they should be encouraged to realise that, with the aid of a manual, they can transfer their skills to other packages.

AIMSThe aims of the curriculum are the same for all candidates. These are set out below and describe the educational purposes of a course in Information Technology for the IGCSE examination. They are not listed in order of priority. The aims are to: 1. help students to develop and consolidate their knowledge, skills and understanding in Information Technology; 2. encourage students to develop further as autonomous users of Information Technology; 3. encourage students to continue to develop their Information Technology skills in order to enhance their work in a variety of subject areas; 4. provide opportunities for students to analyse, design, implement, test and evaluate Information Technology systems; 5. encourage students to consider the impact of new technologies on methods of working in the outside world and on social, economic, ethical and moral issues; 6. help students to grow in their awareness of the ways in which Information Technology is used in practical and work-related situations. . ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES The two assessment objectives in Information Technology are: A Practical Skills B Knowledge and understanding A description of each assessment objective follows. A PRACTICAL SKILLSStudents should be able to: 1. use e-mail and the Internet to gather and communicate information; 2. use word processing facilities to prepare documents; 3. use database facilities to manipulate data to solve problems and represent data graphically; 4. integrate data from different sources into a single document or report; 5. produce output in a specified format; 6. use a spreadsheet to create and test a data model, extracting and summarising data; 7. create a structured website with style sheets, tables and hyperlinks; 8. create and control an interactive presentation.

B KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING Students should be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding in relation to: 1. the functions of the main hardware and software components of computer systems; 2. the networking of information-processing systems; 3. the ways in which information technology is used and the effects of its use; 4. the stages and methods of system analysis and design; 5. computing terminology.

SPECIFICATION GRIDAssessment Objective WeightingA Practical Skills 60% B Knowledge and Understanding 40% ASSESSMENT Scheme of assessmentAll candidates will be entered for Papers 1, 2 and 3. Paper 1 (2 hours) A written paper of 120 marks assessing the skills in Assessment Objective B. The paper will contain mainly questions requiring a short response, a word, a phrase or one or two sentences, although there will be some questions requiring a more extended response. There will be no choice of questions. The questions will test sections 1 - 8 of the curriculum content. Paper 2 (2 hours 30 minutes) A practical test assessing skills in sections 9 - 16. Paper 3 (2 hours 30 minutes) A practical test assessing skills in sections 9 - 16.

The two practical tests will each comprise a number of tasks to be taken under controlled conditions. The practical tests focus on the candidate's ability to carry out practical tasks rather than to explain the theory of how the tasks are completed. Candidates are assessed on their ability to complete these tasks. The tests will be made available to Centres electronically in April (for the June examination) and in October (for the November examination). Centres intending to enter candidates will be contacted by CIE with instructions on how to download the tasks. If you do not receive these instructions, please contact CIE Customer Services not later than 21 February (for the June examination) and 16 August (for the November examination). The documentation and printouts produced in the assessment will be externally marked by CIE. The criteria that will be used by the examiners are included in this syllabus booklet. The procedures for conducting the practical tests are given in this syllabus booklet. The tasks should be completed and sent to CIE to arrive by 30 th April (for June) and 31 st October (for November). Hardware and Software requirements Assessment of the practical tests is software independent, any hardware platform, operating system and applications packages can be used by candidates in the practical examinations, providing that they have the facilities to enable the candidates to fully demonstrate all of the skills, performance criteria and assessment objectives in sections 9 to 16. It is recommended that for the website authoring section of the syllabus, that candidates have a working knowledge of html code. There is no requirement for them to complete all of the practical test requirements by writing new code, they may use suitable web editing software to assist them, but they may be required to edit the code generated by such a package.
 * Practical Tests**

Paper Weighting 1 40% 2 30% 3 30% The curriculum content is set out in eight interrelated sections. These sections should be read as an integrated whole and not as a progression. The sections are as follows: 1 Components of a Computer System 2 Input and Output Devices 3 Storage Devices and Media 4 Computer Networks 5 Data Types 6 The Effects of Using IT 7 The ways in which IT is used 8 Systems Analysis and Design Candidates should be familiar not only with the types of software available and the range of Information Technology knowledge and skills detailed below, but also with their uses in practical contexts. Examples of such uses are given in each section of the subject content as a teaching guide. No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.
 * Weighting of Papers**
 * CURRICULUM CONTENT**

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA FOR PRACTICAL TESTS

The curriculum content for the practical tests is set out in eight sections. The sections are as follows: 9 Communication 10 Document Production 11 Data Manipulation 12 Integration 13 Output Data 14 Data Analysis 15 Website Authoring 16 Presentation Authoring In the tables, each section is broken down into a series of more specific assessment objectives which candidates should be able to meet. For each specific objective, there are one or more performance criteria that will be used by the examiners to mark the candidate's work.

The majority of the listed performance criteria will be tested.