Fiducia TogetherDatabases
Structured storage of records, and the tables they sit in.
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.
What it is
A database stores structured data. A relational database uses tables of records and fields, linked by keys. A primary key uniquely identifies a record; a foreign key links to another table.
Where it applies
GCSE computer science on some specifications, and A Level.
How it works
Splitting data across linked tables avoids duplication, which avoids inconsistency: a customer address stored once cannot disagree with itself.
SQL is the language used to query them — SELECT, FROM, WHERE, and the basic clauses are examinable.
How to use it in your work
For a design question, identify the entities first, then the fields, then the keys.
Write SQL with the clauses in order and check field names match the table given.
Explain the advantage of a relational structure in terms of duplication and consistency, not neatness.
Where to get help
Your teacher and your board's specification and mark scheme.
Revise this with a song
These are ours. We write revision songs because a lot of people remember a tune when they cannot remember a page, and because revising out loud in the kitchen beats staring at a highlighter.
- The Computer Science Song The GCSE computer science topics, set to music.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Please note: This page explains a word or a process in education. It is general information about the system, the law and the guidance in England — not advice about your child, your school or your exam. If a decision is going against you, get advice from one of the free services we link to before you agree to anything or miss a deadline. If you are revising, check your own exam board's specification: boards word things differently and yours is the one that marks you.