Edexcel IGCSE ICT Tutors Online

Edexcel IGCSE ICT is code 4IT1, written for first teaching from September 2017 with the first examination in June 2019. The full qualification title is the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE in Information and Communication Technology, and ICT is the name everyone uses. This page works from Issue 2, dated May 2018, and first certification was in 2019.

The qualification has two externally assessed papers and they are equally weighted at 50% each. Each carries 100 marks across six topics. Both papers are available in June only, so there is no November series and no January series to plan around.

Paper 1 is the written paper, code 4IT1/01. It is a 1 hour 30 minute written examination set and marked by Pearson, worth 50% of the total International GCSE and carrying 100 marks. The questions are a mixture of multiple-choice, short-answer and long-answer questions, and the paper addresses all three assessment objectives.

Paper 1 covers the first four topics, which are digital devices, connectivity, operating online, and online goods and services. In practice these are the knowledge topics. A student needs to know the range of digital devices and their features, how connectivity works and the threats and security issues that come with it, the risks of working online, and the world of online goods and services.

Paper 2 is the practical paper, code 4IT1/02. It is a three-hour practical examination set and marked by Pearson, and importantly that three hours includes printing time. It is worth 50% and carries 100 marks. Its own content is topics 5 and 6, applying information and communication technology and software skills, but the specification asks students to apply the knowledge and understanding they acquire in all topics from one to six to produce ICT-based solutions. So the practical draws on everything.

The way Paper 2 is scheduled is the detail families most often miss. It is not sat on a fixed national date like a written exam. The specification states that the examination window takes place during one week in May or June. The specification also notes that the security of assessment materials, including secure data files, must be maintained at all times prior to and throughout the examination window. In practice this means a school books its candidates into a slot inside that week, and students should treat the whole week as live rather than the single morning they assume.

The assessment objectives are three, and one of them dominates. AO1, demonstrate knowledge and understanding of information and communication technology, is 25 to 27 per cent. AO2, apply knowledge, understanding and skills to produce ICT-based solutions, is 46 to 52 per cent. AO3, analyse, evaluate, make reasoned judgements and present conclusions, is 24 to 26 per cent.

So producing a working ICT solution is worth almost half the qualification, which is why the practical paper exists and why it is long. The specification is more precise still about the third objective, adding a footnote that students will be required to demonstrate approximately 15% of analysis and 10% evaluation. So AO3 is not one undifferentiated skill, it is analysis and then evaluation, and the split is stated.

The two papers weight the objectives very differently. On Paper 1 the split is 20 to 23 per cent AO1, 14 to 16 per cent AO2 and 13 to 14 per cent AO3. On Paper 2 it is 5 to 6 per cent AO1, 34 to 36 per cent AO2 and 10 to 11 per cent AO3.

In plain terms, Paper 1 carries almost all of the knowledge weighting, with 20 to 23 per cent of the 25 to 27 per cent AO1 total sitting in the written paper. Paper 2 carries almost all of the production weighting, with 34 to 36 per cent of the 46 to 52 per cent AO2 total sitting in the practical. A student who does well in one and not the other will not be rescued by the other paper.

The content is organised into six topics. The first is digital devices, covering the range of devices, their features such as portability, performance, storage, user interface, connectivity, media support, energy consumption, expansion capability and security features, and the ideas of multifunctional devices and convergence. The second is connectivity, the third is operating online, the fourth is online goods and services, the fifth is applying information and communication technology, and the sixth is software skills.

The qualification is linear, and all units must be taken in the terminal series at the end of the course of study. The specification notes that the qualification is not accredited or regulated by any UK regulatory body.

The qualification is graded and certificated on a nine-grade scale from 9 to 1 using the total subject mark, where 9 is the highest grade. Individual components are not graded. Students whose level of achievement is below the minimum judged by Pearson to be sufficient to receive a certificate get an unclassified U result.