Unit One
Unit 20
Unit Two
Unit 21
Unit Four
Unit 12
Unit 23
Unit 6

Stop Press!!!!

Remember to use the blogs and links to other sites to help you study!

OCR Nationals Unit 6

Again, we're on the path of the Model Assignment. This one takes a bit of thought, but it's NOT awful if you take it steady!

HERE's the Model Assignment! Over the summer I'll be adding other support bits and pieces to help you do your best at this Unit too.

Step-by-step help... NB the videos are BIG files, so download 'em and watch locally - streaming would be a BAD idea. Took me a month of Sundays to upload this little lot...

AO1 design help and checklist.. and the Survival Guide! Follow this, and in co-ordination with the other resources on this page, Unit 6 will be putty in your hand... or at least, something you can handle with only a little bit of swearing!

AO2 help videos: formatting basics (you'll need to show ALL of these in appropriate places even for Pass!); and for anything ABOVE Pass you need more wellie - this lot'll get you Distinction, and it's really not that difficult, honest! And then you need to look at formulas and functions. By now, I HOPE you know about the basic Math signs, so let's look at functions - simple IF is needed for more than Pass, here are the first easy four functions (SUM, MAX, MIN, AVERAGE), and the time/date options are pretty useful too! Absolute cell references are a MUST for Distinction, as well...

You also need to help your user a bit - remember they may know even less than you! - so you'll need to put in some helpful stuff like this. For Pass you need to include at least ONE, for Merit, one of EACH of the first two (comment and validation) and for Distinction, well, more than one of EVERYTHING. Distinction don't come cheap, y'know???

Now remember - your design and your spreadsheet need to look amazingly similar... MAKE SURE THEY DO!! Oh, and keep at least one backup copy of this spreadsheet, and keep that backup up to date. Trust me, I know what's coming...

By AO3 you have your spreadsheet and we need to do something with it. Make sure you have the data all input from the Model Assignment (yeah, I know, you actually have to type the stuff in... heck whatever next, work for a GCSE grade???) So here's some help with some pretty basic data handling, that can look sharp to the uninitiated...

Oh, and it's worth getting it to print properly - here's how... One page (small amount of data - portrait); one page (landscape) and print formulas

If you do all of this you have a chunk of AO6 sorted too...

For AO4 we're into modelling (get a grip! That's using the spreadsheet to work things out before we do them!). For Pass this is relatively straightforward, for the higher grades there's a bit more of a challenge. Here's some techniques that can help you - but work with your teacher to choose the best for your spreadsheet and grade target. The key here is using the right technique in the right place.

Simple What-if?

AO5 is charts and graphs. It never ceases to amaze me how you folks forget this skill. Check out the video - and remember to choose the CLEAREST design, not the one in ManU colours or with eye-dizzying 3D-effects. Actually I cannot imagine some of these designs EVER being used in a 'real' situation... simple column chart

AO6 is writing baby programs called MACROs. Now you'll have to check that you can even run macros, let alone write 'em, by going to the Developer Tab and choosing Macro Security. Make sure you have enabled macros (which is NOT a recommended setting, because macros can be poisonous little beggars) and save and then re-open your workbook. Writing macros is a fun and quick task - but they can make light work of any task, pretty much. Here's how I set up one to create a chart, and one to quit the workbook. The latter is more coding and so it's gonna be useful to you Distinction types. Basically you need to create more and more complex macros depending on the grade you want - check the Model Assignment for the nasty little details.

AO7 is one you actually could have been doing all the way through, if you were organised enough! This is the testing stage - does the blinking thing actually WORK? Ah, now there's the rub, as Billy Shaky would have said... Mr William Shakespeare to you young blighters, but some of us knew him well....! So here are some test plans that should help you out - remember to keep looking at the Model Assignment too!

And That's All Folks....

	NOTE!!!
		This site is designed to support you in your studies, not to be a stand-in for poor attendance. Make sure you check what happened if you must miss a lesson. You should have a list of the deadlines for your course given to you at the beginning of the course. Make sure that you keep it somewhere safe - but somewhere you can refer to every week to make sure you stay on schedule. If you start to slip - TELL YOUR TEACHER!!!.