Course calendar

Week-by-week plan for session 2026–27, including all four units, assessment dates, holidays, and retrieval weeks. Scroll down to find the current week.

Computer systems (CS) Software design & development (SDD) Database design & development (DDD) Web design & development (WDD) Retrieval / revision Unit test Prelim Coursework

Session 2025–26 — remaining weeks

W01 Mon · Tue · Thu

CS CS1 Binary integers · CS2 Two's complement · CS3 Floating-point: mantissa, exponent, range & precision

W02 Mon · Tue · Thu

CS CS4 ASCII & Unicode · CS5 Bitmap vs vector graphics and filesize · CS6 Computer architecture · CS7 Fetch-execute cycle · CS8 Performance factors

W03 Mon · Tue · Thu

CS CS9 Environmental impact and energy use · CS10 Computer Misuse Act · CS11 Tracking cookies & DOS attacks ↑ This week 15–19 Jun

W04 Mon · Tue · Thu

TEST CS12 Encryption · CS13 Revision — past paper practice · CS14 CS unit test CS unit test 22–26 Jun

Session 2026–27 · Term 1 — CS finish & Software design and development

W05 Wed · Thu

TEST CS unit test feedback · SDD bridge lesson 12–13 Aug (Wed start)

W06 Mon · Tue · Thu

SDD SDD1 Development methodologies · SDD2 Analysis: purpose, scope, boundaries, functional requirements

W07 Mon · Tue · Thu

SDD SDD3 Design: structure diagrams and data flow · SDD4 Design: pseudocode and wireframes

W08 Mon · Tue · Thu

SDD SDD5 Data structures: parallel arrays · SDD6 Records and arrays of records

W09 Mon · Tue · Thu

SDD SDD7 Functions and procedures · SDD8 Parameter passing

W10 Tue · Thu

SDD SDD9 Scope: local vs global · SDD10 Pre-defined functions Mon 14 Sep = holiday

W11 Mon · Tue · Thu

SDD SDD11 File handling: reading (CSV and txt) · SDD12 File handling: writing

W12 Mon · Tue · Thu

SDD SDD13 Standard algorithms: linear search · SDD14 Standard algorithms: min, max, count occurrences

W13 Mon · Tue · Thu

SDD SDD15 Algorithms with arrays of records · SDD16 Testing: test plans and error types

W14 Mon · Tue · Thu

RET Retrieval — parameter passing & algorithm trace tables · past paper practice · SDD17 Debugging: dry runs, trace tables, breakpoints Fri 9 Oct = break starts

—

HOL Mid-term holiday — 9 to 19 October

W15 Tue · Thu

SDD SDD18 Evaluation criteria · SDD19 Mini-project 1: modular program Tue 20 Oct start

W16 Mon · Tue · Thu

SDD SDD20 Mini-project 2: arrays of records and file I/O · SDD consolidation

W17 Mon · Tue · Thu

TEST SDD unit test · Marked feedback · Introduction to Database design & development SDD unit test

Session 2026–27 · Term 1 cont. — Database design and development

W18 Mon · Tue · Thu

DDD DDD1 Analysis: end-user & functional requirements · DDD2 ER diagrams: entities, attributes, relationships

W19 Mon · Tue · Thu

DDD DDD3 ER diagrams: cardinality & entity-occurrence diagrams · DDD4 Compound keys and data dictionaries

W20 Mon · Tue · Thu

DDD DDD5 Validation: presence check, restricted choice, field length, range · DDD6 Query design

W21 Mon · Tue · Thu

DDD DDD7 SQL: SELECT, WHERE, ORDER BY, wildcards · DDD8 SQL: aggregate functions, GROUP BY, computed values, aliases

W22 Mon · Tue · Thu

DDD DDD9 SQL: INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE · DDD10 Testing and evaluation · DDD consolidation

W23 Mon · Tue · Thu

TEST DDD11 Past paper practice · DDD unit test · Marked feedback · Introduction to Web design & development DDD unit test

Session 2026–27 · Term 1 cont. — Web design and development

W24 Mon · Tue · Thu

WDD WDD1 Analysis & multi-level site structure · WDD2 Wireframes and low-fidelity prototyping

W25 Mon · Tue · Thu

WDD WDD3 HTML: semantic elements & page structure · WDD4 HTML: forms and input types

W26 Mon · Tue · Thu

WDD WDD5 CSS: box model, display, float, clear · WDD6 CSS: horizontal navigation bar Ends Thu 18 Dec

—

HOL Christmas holiday — 19 December to 5 January

Session 2026–27 · Term 2 — Preliminary examinations & WDD completion

P1–3 3 weeks

PRELIM Preliminary examinations — w/b 6 Jan, 13 Jan, 20 Jan · no new teaching Prelim diet

W27 Mon · Tue · Thu

WDD Prelim feedback · WDD7 CSS: inline, internal & external stylesheets · WDD8 JavaScript: onclick, onmouseover, onmouseout w/b 26 Jan

W28 Mon · Tue · Thu

WDD WDD9 JavaScript: functions · WDD10 JavaScript: form validation · WDD11 Testing & compatibility

W29 Mon · Tue

WDD WDD12 Evaluation: fitness for purpose & usability · WDD unit test Fri 12 Feb = break starts

—

HOL Mid-term holiday — 12 to 21 February

Session 2026–27 · Term 2 cont. — Full-course revision & assignment

W30 Mon · Tue · Thu

REV Retrieval — CS & SDD past paper questions · DDD SQL active retrieval · WDD HTML/CSS/JS practice w/b 22 Feb

W31 Mon · Tue · Thu

REV Full mock paper — Section 1 (SDD & CS) timed · Section 2/3 option practice · feedback & gap-fill w/b 1 Mar

W32 Mon · Tue · Thu

CWK Coursework — assignment briefing & planning · SDD task: analysis, design & implementation begins Assignment opens

W33 Mon · Tue · Thu

CWK Coursework — SDD task: testing & evaluation · DDD or WDD task: analysis, design & implementation

W34 Mon · Tue · Thu

CWK Coursework — DDD or WDD task: testing & evaluation · catch-up · final submission Submit by 26 Mar

—

HOL Easter — Good Friday 26 Mar · term ends Fri 2 Apr 2027

Key dates at a glance

CS unit test

Week of 22 Jun 2026

Covers CS1–CS13

SDD unit test

Week of 2 Nov 2026

Covers SDD1–SDD20

DDD unit test

Week of 23 Nov 2026

Covers DDD1–DDD10

WDD unit test

Week of 9 Feb 2027

Covers WDD1–WDD12

Prelim diet

6–23 January 2027

Full course — no new teaching

Assignment

Opens ~8 Mar 2027

6 supervised hours · submit by 26 Mar

SQA exam

May 2027

80 marks · 2 hours