Cambridge OCR · Level 4
OCR Level 4 Certificate for IT Professionals (ICT Systems Support)
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelLevel 4
- Total credits15
- Guided learning98 hours
- Units in this qualification13
Awarded by Cambridge OCR · on the Ofqual register
What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
The Level 4 Certificate is for IT professionals working in ICT systems support. It develops the skills to manage and maintain ICT systems and networks. Topics covered include building internetworks, managing systems installation, and managing telecoms traffic.
These are the units Cambridge OCR registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Building cisco multilayer switched networkReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the core concepts of multilayer switching, including VLANs, inter-VLAN routing, and quality of service (QoS).
- Know the architecture of Cisco multilayer switches, including the different layers, modules, and features.
- Configure VLANs and routing protocols on Cisco multilayer switches to enable efficient network communication.
- Implement network security features on Cisco multilayer switches, such as access control lists (ACLs) and port security, to protect the network from unauthorised access.
Building cisco remote access networksReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand Cisco remote access technologies, including VPNs, dial-up access, and wireless access
- Configure Cisco remote access devices, such as routers, firewalls, and VPN concentrators
- Implement remote access security measures, such as authentication, encryption, and access control lists
- Understand remote access protocols, such as PPTP, L2TP, and IPsec
- Troubleshoot remote access networks, diagnose connectivity problems, and resolve security issues
- Document network configurations, including IP addresses, routing tables, and security settings
Building scalable cisco internetworksReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the fundamental principles of scalable internetwork design, including addressing schemes, routing protocols, and network segmentation.
- Know the range of Cisco internetworking technologies, including routers, switches, and security appliances, and their respective functionalities.
- Configure Cisco internetwork devices, such as routers and switches, using the command-line interface (CLI) and other management tools.
- Troubleshoot internetwork connectivity issues using diagnostic tools and techniques, such as ping, traceroute, and packet capture.
Cisco internetwork troubleshooting supportReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand Cisco internetwork architectures, including their components and functionalities
- Know common internetwork problems, their causes, and potential solutions
- Troubleshoot internetwork connectivity issues, using appropriate techniques and tools
- Use troubleshooting tools, such as packet sniffers and network analysers, to diagnose problems
- Document troubleshooting processes, recording findings and resolutions for future reference
Develop methodologies for operating ICT systemsReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand different ICT system methodologies and their suitability for various applications
- Develop ICT system methodologies, considering organisational requirements and best practices
- Implement ICT system methodologies, ensuring effective integration and operation
- Evaluate ICT system methodologies, assessing their performance and identifying areas for improvement
- Understand documentation requirements for ICT system methodologies, ensuring clarity and compliance
Fundamentals of network securityReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand fundamental network security principles and their importance in protecting data and systems
- Know common network threats and vulnerabilities, including malware, phishing, and denial-of-service attacks
- Implement basic security measures, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and access controls
- Understand security policies and procedures and their role in maintaining a secure network environment
- Monitor network security, identify potential threats, and respond to security incidents
Manage ICT service provision and develop customer documentationReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand ICT service provision and the key elements involved in delivering effective ICT services
- Manage ICT service delivery, including incident management, problem management, and change management
- Develop customer documentation, such as user manuals, FAQs, and online help resources
- Understand customer service level agreements (SLAs) and their role in defining service expectations and performance targets
- Monitor service performance against SLAs and identify areas for improvement
- Improve service provision by implementing changes to processes, technologies, and resources
Manage ICT system developmentReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the ICT system development lifecycle and the different phases involved, such as planning, analysis, design, implementation, testing, and deployment
- Know different development methodologies, including waterfall, agile, and iterative development
- Plan ICT system development, including defining project scope, setting objectives, and creating a project schedule
- Manage development resources, including personnel, equipment, and software
- Monitor development progress, track milestones, and identify potential risks
- Evaluate system development outcomes against predefined criteria and determine whether the system meets the required standards
Manage ICT system testingReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of ICT system testing and its importance in ensuring system quality and reliability
- Know different testing methodologies, including unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and user acceptance testing
- Plan ICT system testing, including defining test objectives, developing test cases, and allocating resources
- Execute ICT system tests, following established procedures and documenting test results
- Document test results accurately and comprehensively, including identifying defects and providing recommendations for improvement
- Evaluate test outcomes against predefined criteria and determine whether the system meets the required standards
Manage ICT systems installation, integration and servicesReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the processes involved in installing ICT systems, including hardware setup, software installation, and network configuration.
- Know different integration methodologies for combining various ICT systems and components into a cohesive infrastructure.
- Plan ICT system installations, considering factors such as resource allocation, timelines, and potential risks.
- Manage ICT service delivery, ensuring that services are provided efficiently and effectively to meet user needs.
- Evaluate ICT system performance against predefined metrics, identifying areas for improvement and optimisation.
Manage systems, including multi-user and networksReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the key principles of system administration, including user management, security, and performance monitoring.
- Know the features and functionalities of multi-user operating systems, such as Linux and Windows Server.
- Manage user accounts and permissions on multi-user operating systems, ensuring appropriate access control.
- Monitor system performance using various tools and techniques, identifying potential bottlenecks and issues.
- Troubleshoot system issues, such as software errors and hardware failures, using diagnostic tools and problem-solving methodologies.
Manage telecoms trafficReal unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the characteristics of telecoms traffic, including bandwidth requirements, latency sensitivity, and traffic patterns.
- Know various traffic management techniques, such as queuing, shaping, and policing, used to optimise network performance.
- Analyse telecoms traffic patterns using monitoring tools and techniques, identifying potential bottlenecks and congestion points.
- Implement traffic prioritisation mechanisms, such as QoS, to ensure that critical traffic receives preferential treatment.
- Monitor telecoms network performance using key performance indicators (KPIs), such as throughput, latency, and packet loss.
Project +Real unit · Cambridge OCR
What you'll be able to do
- Understand project management principles and their application in different contexts
- Know different project lifecycles and methodologies, including their advantages and disadvantages
- Plan and initiate a project, defining scope, objectives, and resources
- Monitor and control a project, tracking progress and managing risks
- Close a project, ensuring deliverables are met and lessons are learned
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 4 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this
The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
Where this can lead
Telecoms Engineer Manager
Your journey here is about more than just a job; it's about building a career where you can make a tangible impact, grow as a leader, and continuously challenge yourself. We're excited to see where you take it.
See the whole journey →Showing 6 roles, drawn from 7 job records mapped to this qualification.
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
Applied to your work in any of these jobs
This unit equips learners with knowledge of multilayer switching concepts and Cisco multilayer switch architecture. Learners will configure VLANs, routing protocols, and implement network security features within multilayer switched networks.
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for OCR Level 4 Certificate for IT Professionals (ICT Systems Support)
13 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by Cambridge OCR.
- Building cisco multilayer switched network
- Building cisco remote access networks
- Building scalable cisco internetworks
- Cisco internetwork troubleshooting support
- Develop methodologies for operating ICT systems
- Fundamentals of network security
and 7 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
This qualification is no longer awarded.
Registrations for it closed some time ago, so it cannot be started today. It appears here because it is on the Ofqual register and may be one you already hold. If you are looking for a current route, browse the qualifications that are still open.
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