Eight one-hour sessions · 25 September–7 October 2026. All times are UAE time (GST, UTC+4). Three sessions focus on Paper 1 and five on Paper 2. Complete the preparation before each session; bring paper and a pen. The exam is on 9 October.
Computer Science · All times UAE (GST, UTC+4) · 2026
Session
Date
Time
1
Friday 25 September
4:30–5:30pm
2
Saturday 26 September
11:15am–12:15pm
3
Sunday 27 September
11:15am–12:15pm
4
Friday 2 October
4:30–5:30pm
5
Saturday 3 October
11:15am–12:15pm
6
Sunday 4 October
11:15am–12:15pm
7
Tuesday 6 October
5–6pm
8
Wednesday 7 October
5–6pm
Session 1 · Paper 1 · Friday 25 September 2026
Data representation and logic
Number bases, two’s complement, binary arithmetic and overflow; image and sound file sizes; compression choices; logic expressions, circuits and truth tables.
Exam skill: Show a valid calculation method with units, preserve bit width, identify overflow and translate bracketed logic accurately.
What to know before this session
Review binary place values, hexadecimal digits, bits versus bytes, image resolution, sample rate and basic gate symbols. Attempt four conversions and a four-row truth table. Allow 25 minutes.
Session 2 · Paper 1 · Saturday 26 September 2026
Processors and precise systems answers
Fetch–execute cycle and register transfers; immediate versus direct addressing and assembly tracing; applied network, operating-system and security explanations.
Exam skill: Distinguish addresses from contents and write an explanation that names the mechanism and its effect in the given situation.
What to know before this session
Know the roles of PC, MAR, MDR, CIR and ACC, RAM versus ROM, client/server devices, basic OS functions and common security measures. Label a fetch-cycle diagram and bring one unclear theory answer. Allow 25 minutes.
Session 3 · Paper 1 · Sunday 27 September 2026
Databases and Paper 1 answer clinic
Keys, relationships and normalisation; SQL queries, aggregates and joins; DDL versus DML; a brief ethics/licensing answer clinic and Paper 1 timing.
Exam skill: Plan relational tables, keep identifiers consistent, choose the right SQL operation and make distinct contextual points under time pressure.
What to know before this session
Review primary/foreign/composite keys, relationships, 1NF–3NF and SELECT–FROM–WHERE. Read the supplied ethics, software licensing and AI-impact summary. Attempt one simple query. Allow 30 minutes.
Session 4 · Paper 2 · Friday 2 October 2026
Pseudocode and algorithm foundations
Extracting requirements; abstraction and decomposition; identifiers and data types; selection, loops and Boolean conditions; flowchart-to-pseudocode conversion and tracing.
Exam skill: Turn a requirement into a clear algorithm with initialisation, correct loop boundaries and all required outputs.
What to know before this session
Review declarations, assignment, IF/CASE, FOR/WHILE/REPEAT and DIV/MOD. Be able to follow a short loop and distinguish a string literal from a variable. Attempt the supplied trace. Allow 20 minutes.
Session 5 · Paper 2 · Saturday 3 October 2026
Arrays searching and sorting
1D/2D array traversal; totals, counts and extrema; linear search with a not-found case; bubble-sort passes and safe bounds.
Exam skill: Use correct indices and bounds, reset accumulators in the right place, and handle missing data or a not-found result.
What to know before this session
Know how to declare and index 1D/2D arrays and follow nested loops. Review linear search and bubble sort; trace one search and one sorting pass on the supplied short lists. Allow 30 minutes.
Session 6 · Paper 2 · Sunday 4 October 2026
Subroutines records and strings
Procedures/functions and interfaces; BYVAL/BYREF and scope; record fields; string functions and type conversion; structure charts and modular design.
Exam skill: Write a subroutine matching its required interface and return type, use parameters correctly and process records/strings safely.
What to know before this session
Review procedure/function headers, parameters and return values. Know how record fields are accessed and how to read the insert entries for string functions. Trace one short function call. Allow 25 minutes.
Session 7 · Paper 2 · Tuesday 6 October 2026
Text files and abstract data types
READ/WRITE/APPEND modes, EOF loops and file processing; stacks, queues and linked lists using diagrams, operations and array representations.
Exam skill: Process a file without losing existing content or reading past EOF, and update an ADT diagram with correct data and pointers.
What to know before this session
Review text-file commands and EOF. Know stack versus queue order, the role of head/front/top pointers and how a linked-list next pointer is followed. Annotate one supplied diagram. Allow 25 minutes.
Session 8 · Paper 2 · Wednesday 7 October 2026
Testing and timed Paper 2 practice
Test plans and expected results; error diagnosis and maintenance; lifecycle/model choices and state-transition diagrams in a rapid review; an integrated timed algorithm task.
Exam skill: Test an algorithm at its boundaries, secure credit for valid parts of a solution and leave with an evidence-based revision plan.
What to know before this session
Review testing methods, normal/abnormal/boundary data and expected results; waterfall/iterative/RAD, maintenance types and state-transition diagrams. Bring your corrected work and error log. Allow 30 minutes.