AS / A Level Computer Science

Candidates should be able to:

Show understanding of the limitations of using a file- based approach for the storage and retrieval of data

Describe the features of a relational database that address the limitations of a file-based approach

Show understanding of and use the terminology associated with a relational database model

Use an entity-relationship (E-R) diagram to document a database design

Show understanding of the normalisation process 

Explain why a given set of database tables are, or are not, in 3NF

Produce a normalised database design for a description of a database, a given set of data, or a given set of tables

Notes and guidance

Including entity, table, record, field, tuple, attribute, primary key, candidate key, secondary key, foreign key, relationship (one-to-many, one-to-one, many-to-many), referential integrity, indexing

First Normal Form (1NF),

Second Normal Form (2NF) and

Third Normal Form (3NF)