Computer Applications: Council For The Indian School Certificate Examinations
Computer Applications: Council For The Indian School Certificate Examinations
Performance
COMPUTER
APPLICATIONS
ICSE
Published by:
Research Development and Consultancy Division (RDCD)
Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations
Pragati House, 3rd Floor
47-48, Nehru Place
New Delhi-110019
This document of the Analysis of Pupils’ Performance at the ISC Year 12 and ICSE Year 10
Examination is one of its kind. It has grown and evolved over the years to provide feedback to
schools in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates in handling the examinations.
We commend the work of Mrs. Shilpi Gupta (Deputy Head) of the Research Development and
Consultancy Division (RDCD) of the Council and her team, who have painstakingly prepared this
analysis. We are grateful to the examiners who have contributed through their comments on the
performance of the candidates under examination as well as for their suggestions to teachers and
students for the effective transaction of the syllabus.
We hope the schools will find this document useful. We invite comments from schools on its
utility and quality.
Gerry Arathoon
October 2018 Chief Executive & Secretary
The Council has been involved in the preparation of the ICSE and ISC Analysis of Pupil Performance
documents since the year 1994. Over these years, these documents have facilitated the teaching-learning
process by providing subject/ paper wise feedback to teachers regarding performance of students at the ICSE
and ISC Examinations. With the aim of ensuring wider accessibility to all stakeholders, from the year 2014,
the ICSE and the ISC documents have been made available on the Council’s website www.cisce.org.
The documents include a detailed qualitative analysis of the performance of students in different subjects
which comprises of examiners’ comments on common errors made by candidates, topics found difficult or
confusing, marking scheme for each answer and suggestions for teachers/ candidates.
In addition to a detailed qualitative analysis, the Analysis of Pupil Performance documents for the Examination
Year 2018 have a component of a detailed quantitative analysis. For each subject dealt with in the document,
both at the ICSE and the ISC levels, a detailed statistical analysis has been done, which has been presented in
a simple user-friendly manner.
It is hoped that this document will not only enable teachers to understand how their students have performed
with respect to other students who appeared for the ICSE/ISC Year 2018 Examinations, but also provide
information on how they have performed within the Region or State, their performance as compared to other
Regions or States, etc. It will also help develop a better understanding of the assessment/ evaluation process.
This will help teachers in guiding their students more effectively and comprehensively so that students prepare
for the ICSE/ ISC Examinations, with a better understanding of what is required from them.
The Analysis of Pupil Performance document for ICSE for the Examination Year 2018 covers the following
subjects: English (English Language, Literature in English), Hindi, History, Civics and Geography (History
and Civics, Geography), Mathematics, Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology), Commercial Studies,
Economics, Computer Applications, Economic Applications, Commercial Applications.
Subjects covered in the ISC Analysis of Pupil Performance document for the Year 2018 include English
(English Language and Literature in English), Hindi, Elective English, Physics (Theory), Chemistry (Theory),
Biology (Theory), Mathematics, Computer Science, History, Political Science, Geography, Sociology,
Psychology, Economics, Commerce, Accounts and Business Studies.
I would like to acknowledge the contribution of all the ICSE and the ISC examiners who have been an integral
part of this exercise, whose valuable inputs have helped put this document together.
I would also like to thank the RDCD team of, Dr. M.K. Gandhi, Dr. Manika Sharma, Mrs. Roshni George and
Mrs. Mansi Guleria who have done a commendable job in preparing this document.
Shilpi Gupta
October 2018 Deputy Head - RDCD
ii
Page No.
FOREWORD i
PREFACE ii
INTRODUCTION 1
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS 3
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS 10
This document aims to provide a comprehensive picture of the performance of candidates in the
subject. It comprises of two sections, which provide Quantitative and Qualitative analysis results in
terms of performance of candidates in the subject for the ICSE Year 2018 Examination. The details
of the Quantitative and the Qualitative analysis are given below.
Quantitative Analysis
This section provides a detailed statistical analysis of the following:
The data has been presented in the form of means, frequencies and bar graphs.
Each of the comparison tables shows N (Number of candidates), Mean Marks obtained, Standard
Errors and t-values with the level of significance. For t-test, mean values compared with their
standard errors indicate whether an observed difference is likely to be a true difference or whether it
has occurred by chance. The t-test has been applied using a confidence level of 95%, which means
that if a difference is marked as ‘statistically significant’ (with * mark, refer to t-value column of the
table), the probability of the difference occurring by chance is less than 5%. In other words, we are
95% confident that the difference between the two values is true.
t-test has been used to observe significant differences in the performance of boys and girls, gender
wise differences within regions (North, East, South and West), gender wise differences within marks
ranges (Top and bottom ranges) and gender wise differences within grades awarded (Grade 1 and
Grade 9) at the ICSE Year 2018 Examination.
The analysed data has been depicted in a simple and user-friendly manner.
Qualitative Analysis
The purpose of the qualitative analysis is to provide insights into how candidates have performed in
individual questions set in the question paper. This section is based on inputs provided by examiners
from examination centres across the country. It comprises of question wise feedback on the
performance of candidates in the form of Comments of Examiners on the common errors made by
candidates along with Suggestions for Teachers to rectify/ reduce these errors. The Marking Scheme
for each question has also been provided to help teachers understand the criteria used for marking.
Topics in the question paper that were generally found to be difficult or confusing by candidates,
have also been listed down, along with general suggestions for candidates on how to prepare for the
examination/ perform better in the examination.
STATISTICS AT A GLANCE
Total Number of
Candidates: 1,09,005
GIRLS BOYS
Mean Marks: 83.9 Mean Marks: 83.1
Number of Number of
Candidates: 46,840 Candidates: 62,165
Girls performed
significantly better than
boys.
East North
Mean Marks: 82.8 Mean Marks: 81.9
Number of Number of
Candidates: 36,258 Candidates: 41,475
Number of Number of
Candidates: 22,173 Candidates: 8,838
Foreign
83.1
82.3 82.6
81.6
REGION (N, E, S)
71.2
61 - 80 71.8
Marks Range (81-100) 71.5
54.8
41 - 60 55.4
55.0
36.8
21 - 40 36.8
36.8
5.0
0 - 20
5.0
95.8
Grade 1 1 95.5
95.7
84.8
2 84.8
84.8
75.6
3 75.7
75.7
66.7
Grade 1 4 66.9
66.8
57.3
5 57.5
57.4
48.5
6 48.5
48.5
41.1
7 40.7
41.0
30.0
8 31.0
30.1
5.0
9
5.0
Question 1
(a) Define abstraction. [2]
(c) Write a difference between the functions isUpperCase( ) and toUpperCase( ). [2]
(d) How are private members of a class different from public members? [2]
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Question 2
(a) (i) int res = 'A'; [2]
(b) State the difference between while and do while loop. [2]
System.out.println("OF LUCK");
Choose the correct option for the output of the above statements
(ii) BEST
OF LUCK
(d) Write the prototype of a function check which takes an integer as an argument and [2]
returns a character.
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(i) endsWith()
(ii) log()
Comments of Examiners
(a) (i) Majority of the candidates wrote the answer as ‘A’ Suggestions for teachers
or “A” or A. Candidates were unable to
understand the implicit conversion. - Explain type of conversions, explicit
and implicit, with examples especially
(ii) Most of the candidates were able to answer this
character type to integer type and
question. However, some candidates wrote io or ASCII code and vice-versa.
util as the answer while a few candidates wrote the - Ensure that all concepts of the lesson
answer Lang or in capital letters LANG. on wrapper classes are clear to the
(b) Most of the candidates were able to answer this students.
question. However, some candidates interchanged - Explain the concept of while and
teach this concept with output printing
the answers.
questions.
(c) Majority of the candidates were unable to select the - Clarify the working of println()
correct option for the output of the given statements method explicitly.
as either they seemed to be unclear of the working of - Give practice to the students in the
computer lab, of print() and println()
the println() method or did not read all the options methods, with ample examples.
carefully. - Explain to the students the purpose of
(d) Several candidates could not write the prototype of prototype and every segment of the
the function given in the question. prototype clearly
− Ensure that the students have
(e) (i) Many candidates, instead of writing Boolean, understood the data types of the
wrote return type as String. parameters
(ii) Many candidates wrote return type as float or − While teaching in-built functions,
integer. Some candidates mentioned data types ensure that return data type of each
function, whether mathematical or
with the first letter in uppercase.
character or string, has been
explained, with examples, to th
students
− Explain the difference between the
data types and the wrapper classes
with examples.
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Question 3
(a) Write a Java expression for the following: [2]
√3𝑥𝑥 + 𝑥𝑥 2
𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏
(b) What is the value of y after evaluating the expression given below? [2]
y+= ++y + y-- + -- y; when int y=8
(c) Give the output of the following: [2]
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(ii) "DEDICATE".compareTo("DEVOTE")
(h) Consider the following String array and give the output [2]
System.out.println(arr[0].length()> arr[3].length());
System.out.print(arr[4].substring(0,3));
(j) Give the output of the following program segment and also mention how many times [2]
the loop is executed:
int i;
for ( i = 5 ; i > 10; i ++ )
System.out.println( i );
System.out.println( i * 4 );
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MARKING SCHEME
Question 3
(a) 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀ℎ. 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠(3 ∗ 𝑥𝑥 + 𝑥𝑥 ∗ 𝑥𝑥)/(𝑎𝑎 + 𝑏𝑏) OR
Math.sqrt(3*x+Math.pow(x,2))/(a+b);
(b) 33
(c) i. -5.0
ii. 12.0
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world
(f) switch(var)
{
case 1: System.out.println("good");
break;
case 2: System.out.println("better");
break;
case 3: System.out.println("best");
break;
default: System.out.println("invalid");
}
Question 4
Design a class RailwayTicket with following description: [15]
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Member methods :
Write a main method to create an object of the class and call the above member methods.
Comments of Examiners
Numerous types of errors were committed in this question by
many candidates, namely:
- Used a different class name other than the one given in
Suggestions for teachers
the question. - Train students to write programs
- Variable declaration was done at many places i.e. involving multiple functions.
immediately after class and also inside accept() - Explain the difference between global
- Function names and variable names were different from and local variables and how to use
the ones asked in the question. them in different functions in a
program.
- The ‘totalamt’ which was to be calculated was accepted
- How to create an object and invoke the
from the user. function using the object needs to be
- Update() function. explained thoroughly and practised
- Syntax error while writing input statement e.g. nextInt() properly.
- which letter to be written in capital.
- While comparing types of coaches, words were not
written within double quotes.
- Calculation of extra amount.
- Syntax errors in the object creation and function call statement.
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Examples: 12 = 3 × 4
20 = 4 × 5
42 = 6 × 7
Comments of Examiners
Many candidates answered this question correctly. Some Suggestions for teachers
common errors observed were: − Train students about the use of for
- Output in most cases was written inside the loop and loop.
the break and flag statements were not written. − Give sufficient practice on
- “Not a pronic number” was not printed, problems to print an appropriate
- In the if condition, instead of (i*((i+1)==num), output message.
(i*i+1==num) was written. − Explain Operator precedence and
- In the if statement, instead of the relational operator importance of use of parenthesis in
proper place.
(==), assignment operator (=) was used.
− The effect of not putting
- Mentioning that else statement inside the loop results
parenthesis should be shown on the
in printing both the statements “Pronic Number” and computer.
also “Not a pronic number”. − Teach students the use of break
statement to come out of the loop.
− Advice the students to read the
questions carefully.
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Comments of Examiners
Majority of the candidates were unable to answer this
question correctly. Some of the commonly made Suggestions for teachers
mistakes were: − Illustrate to the students that in the
- Not taking care of the index of charAt() or String, since position starts with 0,
substring() function. so condition should be either i<
- Incorrect initial and final values of the for loop- s.length() or i<=s.length()-1.
forr(int i=1; i<=l;i++). − Explain practically to the students
- Accessing first character after space was done how to access character after space.
by writing (ch+1). − Give adequate number of exercises
- Converting the first character after space was on String and Character functions to
done as: avoid confusion with the students
ch.toUpperCase() or (ch+1).toUpperCase() when they use it in the program.
- Displaying output without space between the
words.
- Getting an incorrect output as only the first character
was converted and displayed.
MARKING SCHEME
Question 6
import java.util.*;
class ques6 {
public static void main(String args[]) {
Scanner obj= new Scanner(System.in);
String s="";
System.out.println(" enter a string");
String sen=obj.nextLine();
sen=' ' +sen;
int l= sen.length();
for(int x= 0; x<l; x++) {
char ch= sen.charAt(x);
if (ch==' ') {
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Alternate Method
// To change the first letter of each word to uppercase
import java.util.*;
class Q6_Title_Case
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
Scanner sc= new Scanner(System.in);
String sent,x="";
char k , p ;
int len, i;
System.out.print("Enter a sentence");
sent= sc.nextLine();
sent= sent.toLowerCase();
sent= " " + sent;
len = sent.length();
for(i=0;i<len-1;i++)
{ STEPS
k=sent.charAt(i);
Input
p=sent.charAt(i+1);
if(k==' ' && p!=' ') Declaration of variable
p=Character.toUpperCase(p);
x=x+p; Finding length
}
System.out.println("The new string is "+ x);
} Logic
} Output
Alternate Method Variable description/Mnemonic codes
class change
{
void change( String s)
{
int l=s.length(),p,i;
String str="";
s=s.toLowerCase();
s=s+" ";
for(i=0;i<l;i++)
{
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[15]
Question 7
Design a class to overload a function volume() as follows:
(i) double volume (double R) – with radius (R) as an argument, returns the volume of sphere
using the formula.
V = 4/3 × 22/7 × R3
(ii) double volume (double H, double R) – with height(H) and radius(R) as the arguments,
returns the volume of a cylinder using the formula.
V = 22/7 × R2 × H
(iii) double volume (double L, double B, double H) – with length(L), breadth(B) and
Height(H) as the arguments, returns the volume of a cuboid using the formula.
V=L×B×H
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Question 8 [15]
Write a menu driven program to display the pattern as per user’s choice.
Pattern 1 Pattern 2
ABCDE B
ABCD LL
ABC UUU
AB EEEE
A
For an incorrect option, an appropriate error message should be displayed.
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MARKING SCHEME
Question 8
import java .util.*; STEPS
class series Displaying menu, input choice,
{ switch
public static void main(String arg[]) Initialising/ input string in case 1
{ for loop with length of string
Scanner sc = new Scanner(System.in); Display and substring function
System.out.println("1.Series1 2.series2"); Initialising string in case 2/Input
System.out.println("enter the choice"); Outer for loop
int choice=sc.nextInt(); Inner for loop
switch(choice) Extraction , and display
{ println()
case 1:String s="ABCDE"; Default
for(int i=s.length();i>0;i––) Variable description/Mnemonic
{ codes
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Question 9 [15]
Write a program to accept name and total marks of N number of students in two single subscript array
name[ ] and totalmarks[ ].
Calculate and print:
(i) The average of the total marks obtained by N number of students.
[average = (sum of total marks of all the students)/N]
(ii) Deviation of each student’s total marks with the average.
[deviation = total marks of a student – average]
Comments of Examiners
Most of the candidates wrote the program correctly.
However, a few could not attempt it correctly due to Suggestions for teachers
following miscues: - Allow plentiful practice on Array
- Value of N (size of the array) was taken after arrays, creation with different data types.
name and total marks were created - Give sufficient practice of using
- While accepting the values into the array, the index array concept, accepting the values
number was missing. Instead of name[i], candidates into the array, and printing the
wrote name[]= sc.next(). values from the array.
- All operations i.e. input, calculating an average and - Clarify the concept of array index.
deviation was done in one Loop. - Teach using arrays, not only
- The average of the total marks obtained by N number searching and sorting techniques
of students was calculated inside for loop. but other general programs like,
billing for many customers, pay
- Deviation of each student’s total marks with average
slips for many employees etc.
marks was not Displayed, rather it was printed outside
for loop.
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}
ave= total/n;
System.out.println("Name " + " " + " Deviation");
for(int x= 0; x<n;x++)
System.out.println( (marks[x]–ave));
}
}
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• Revise and integrate the concepts studied in Class IX with the Class X syllabus.
• Avoid selective study.
• Give equal importance to all the topics mentioned in the syllabus.
Suggestions
• Practise each topic/sub –topic with as many examples as possible.
for • Being an application-oriented subject, apply what is taught in the program and
candidates explain its outcome.
• Give sufficient practice to output-based questions.
• Understand all key terms and definitions comprehensively and learn.
• Learn correct use of all statements to eliminate syntax errors.
• Practise programs on various types of loops, their working, conversion from one
loop to another and working of nested loop.
• Use proper variable names and ensure that every program has a variable description
table.
• Avoid writing abbreviations like SOP, SOPLN, PSVM.
• Understand the logic of a program instead of memorising it.
• Explain programs using Mnemonic variables and comments.
• After writing the program, dry run it with different inputs.
• Write variable description /Mnemonic codes for every program.
• Practise previous years’ ICSE question papers,
• Read the questions carefully and write the answers according to their requirements.
• Utilize the reading time to clearly understand the nature of the question.
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