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Aqa 45122 QP Jun14

The document is an examination paper for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in Computer Science, dated June 2014. It includes instructions for candidates, various questions covering topics such as binary and hexadecimal representation, computer memory, programming functions, computer networks, and database queries. The paper is structured to assess students' understanding of computing fundamentals over a duration of 1 hour and 30 minutes.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
9 views20 pages

Aqa 45122 QP Jun14

The document is an examination paper for the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) in Computer Science, dated June 2014. It includes instructions for candidates, various questions covering topics such as binary and hexadecimal representation, computer memory, programming functions, computer networks, and database queries. The paper is structured to assess students' understanding of computing fundamentals over a duration of 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Uploaded by

vaghelisz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 20

Centre Number Candidate Number For Examiner’s Use

Surname

Other Names
Examiner’s Initials
Candidate Signature

Question Mark

1
General Certificate of Secondary Education
June 2014 2

3
Computer Science 4512/2 4

Unit 2 Computing Fundamentals 5

6
Thursday 12 June 2014 1.30 pm to 3.00 pm
7
You will need no other materials
You must not use a calculator. 8

9
Time allowed
 1 hour 30 minutes 10

Instructions 11
 Use black ink or black ball-point pen. Use pencil only for drawing.
12
A  Answer all questions.
 Questions 10 and 11 should be answered in continuous prose. In these
questions you will be marked on your ability to: TOTAL
 use good English
 organise information clearly
 use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
 You must answer the questions in the spaces provided. Do not write
outside the box around each page or on blank pages.
 Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not
want to be marked.

Information
 The marks for questions are shown in brackets.
 The maximum mark for this paper is 84.
 You are reminded of the need for good English and clear presentation in
your answers.

(JUN144512/201)
M/AH/104416/Jun14/E3 4512/2
2 Do not write
outside the
box

Answer all questions in the spaces provided.

1 (a) State the denary representation of the binary number 10010111


[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

1 (b) State the hexadecimal representation of the denary number 125. You must show your
working.
[2 marks]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

1 (c) Give one reason why programmers often use hexadecimal, instead of binary, to
represent numbers.
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

1 (d) The ASCII character set uses seven bits to encode every character.

What is the total number of characters that can be encoded in ASCII?


[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

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1 (e) Table 1 shows four stages in converting sound into a digital form.

Show the correct order for the stages by labelling them with the numbers 1 – 4
(1 being the first stage).
[3 marks]

Table 1

Stage Order (1 – 4)

binary representation of level stored

microphone picks up sound waves

value read at specific point and rounded to a level

converted to an electrical analogue signal

1 (f) Describe how a black and white image could be represented as a bitmap in binary.
[3 marks]

............................................................................................................................................

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____
11

Turn over for the next question

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outside the
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2 A typical computer’s main memory consists of both volatile memory and non-volatile
memory.

2 (a) (i) Explain what is meant by the term volatile memory.


[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

2 (a) (ii) What is normally stored in the non-volatile part of a computer’s main memory?
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

2 (b) Explain why having cache memory can improve the performance of the Central
Processing Unit (CPU).
[2 marks]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

2 (c) State two characteristics, other than the size of cache memory, that can improve the
performance of CPUs.
[2 marks]

Characteristic 1 ...................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

Characteristic 2 ...................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................
____
6

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3 Figure 1 shows a pseudocode representation of the function called FindHighest.


FindHighest is used to find the largest value stored in an array.

Note: line numbers have been shown but are not part of the function.

Figure 1

1 FUNCTION FindHighest(arr)
2 highest ← arr[1]
3 FOR i ← 2 TO LEN(arr)
4 IF arr[i] > highest THEN
5 highest ← arr[i]
6 ENDIF
7 ENDFOR
8 RETURN highest
9 ENDFUNCTION

3 (a) How many parameters does the function FindHighest have?


[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

3 (b) This function uses iteration. Give the line number on which iteration starts.
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

3 (c) This function uses selection. Give the line number on which selection starts.
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

3 (d) This function uses variable assignment. Give the line number in the function where
variable assignment is first used.
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

3 (e) The variable i in Figure 1 only has scope between lines 3 and 7. Explain with
reference to the variable i what scope means.
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................
____
5

Turn over

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outside the
box

4 (a) What is a computer network?


[2 marks]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

4 (b) Three actions that can take place in a computer network are shown in Table 2. Tick
one box in each row of the table to show if the action would normally occur at the client
end, the server end, or at both.
[3 marks]

Table 2

Event Client Server Both

Displaying an HTML page

Receiving messages

Starting the handshaking process

____
5

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5 Figure 2 shows an example of a tablet computer.

Figure 2

© Thinkstock

5 (a) One characteristic of a tablet computer is that it has a number of built-in physical
devices to input data, such as a touchscreen.

State three other built-in physical devices that allow data to be input to a typical tablet
computer.
[3 marks]

1 ..........................................................................................................................................

2 ..........................................................................................................................................

3 ..........................................................................................................................................

Question 5 continues on the next page

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5 (b) Tablet computers normally use solid state storage media instead of magnetic storage
media.

State and explain two differences, other than cost and storage capacity, that make
solid state media a better choice than magnetic media for tablet computers.
[4 marks]

Difference 1 ........................................................................................................................

Explanation 1 ......................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

Difference 2 ........................................................................................................................

Explanation 2 ......................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................
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7

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6 Explain how data is read from optical media such as a CD.


[5 marks]

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5

Turn over for the next question

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7 Figure 3 shows a function:

Figure 3

FUNCTION Compare(x,y)
IF x > y THEN
RETURN 1
ELSE
IF x < y THEN
RETURN -1
ELSE
RETURN 0
ENDIF
ENDIF
ENDFUNCTION

7 (a) The function Compare returns an integer value.

Explain why a Boolean return value could not have been used.
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

7 (b) Each of the following expressions evaluates to an integer. Give the integer value for
each:

7 (b) (i) Compare(4,4)


[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

7 (b) (ii) Compare(1,–1)


[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

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7 (b) (iii) Compare(Compare(4,4),Compare(1,-1))


[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................
____
4

8 (a) Six database terms are given below. For each row in Table 3, choose the letter from
A, B, C, D, E or F which best matches the description.
[4 marks]

Letters should not be used more than once.

A. Field
B. Foreign key
C. Index
D. Primary key
E. Record
F. Relationship

Table 3

Definition Letter

a row of data within a table

uniquely identifies a row of data

links between tables

used to speed up searches

Question 8 continues on the next page

Turn over

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8 (b) The two tables Class and Teacher form a relational database.

Class

ClassID Size DayTaught TeacherID


Red7 24 Monday tur
Blue7 29 Tuesday mil
Yellow7 29 Wednesday mcc
Red8 31 Wednesday mcc
Red9 26 Thursday mcc
Blue9 24 Thursday mil
CompA10 17 Thursday mil
CompB10 19 Friday tur

Teacher

TeacherID Surname Room


tur Turing 405
mil Milner 406
mcc McCarthy 412a

8 (b) (i) The following incomplete SQL query should find the ClassID of every class taught on a
Monday or a Wednesday. The WHERE clause is missing.

SELECT ClassID
FROM Class

In Table 4 place a tick next to the correct WHERE clause to complete the query.
[1 mark]

Table 4

WHERE clause Tick

WHERE DayTaught = Monday OR DayTaught = Wednesday

WHERE DayTaught = 'Monday' OR 'Wednesday'

WHERE DayTaught = 'Monday' OR DayTaught = 'Wednesday'

WHERE DayTaught = 'Monday' AND DayTaught = 'Wednesday'

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8 (b) (ii) List the results of executing the following SQL query on the database shown in 8(b).
[4 marks]

SELECT Class.ClassID, Class.DayTaught


FROM Class, Teacher
WHERE Teacher.Room = '405' AND Class.TeacherID =
Teacher.TeacherID
ORDER BY Class.ClassID ASC

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............................................................................................................................................
____
9

Turn over for the next question

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9 This code is supposed to find out if a positive integer entered by a user is exactly
divisible by the number 3.

Note: line numbers have been included and are not part of the code.
Note: lines starting with a # indicate a comment.

1 # user input
2 n ← USERINPUT
3 # check if divisible by 3
4 WHILE n ≥ 0
5 n ← n – 3
6 ENDWHILE
7 IF n = 0 THEN
8 OUTPUT 'is divisible by 3'
9 ELSE
10 OUTPUT 'is not divisible by 3'
11 ENDIF

9 (a) The programmer realises there is an error because a user input of 6 incorrectly outputs
'is not divisible by 3'.

9 (a) (i) In Table 5 place a tick next to the type of error that the programmer has found.
[1 mark]

Table 5

Type of error Tick

Logical

Runtime

Syntax

9 (a) (ii) State the line number of the code containing the mistake that causes this error to occur.
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

9 (a) (iii) What change needs to be made to the line of code you have identified in your answer
to 9(a)(ii) so that the program will work correctly?
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

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9 (b) What type of error could occur if the user enters the value eight?
[1 mark]

............................................................................................................................................

9 (c) There are many tools that can help the programmer to reduce errors in their code when
developing a computer program. State three tools that can help to identify errors or
reduce the chance of there being errors when developing a program.
[3 marks]

Tool 1 ..................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

Tool 2 ..................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................

Tool 3 ..................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................
____
7

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10 A programmer is developing a piece of software.

The programmer uses unit testing as part of the development process. Compare unit
testing with another type of testing that the programmer could use. In your answer
you should also include a description of what unit testing is.

In this question you will be marked on your ability to use good English, to organise
information clearly and to use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
[6 marks]

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6

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11 Discuss three advantages and/or disadvantages of using external code sources in a


program.

In this question you will be marked on your ability to use good English, to organise
information clearly and to use specialist vocabulary where appropriate.
[6 marks]

............................................................................................................................................

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............................................................................................................................................

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____
6

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12 The following algorithm determines the number of carriages a train will need.

The array called passengers is used to store the change in the number of
passengers at each train station. For example, at the first stop the total number of
passengers increases by 100, at the second stop the total number of passengers
decreases by 20, at the third stop the total number of passengers increases by 70 and
so on.

 Note: array indexing starts at 1.

passengers ← [100, -20, 70, -50, -100]


carriages ← 0
total ← 0
max ← 0
index ← 1
WHILE index ≤ 5
total ← total + passengers[index]
IF total > max THEN
max ← total
ENDIF
index ← index + 1
ENDWHILE
carriages ← max / 50

12 (a) Complete the trace table (Table 6) for this program.


[6 marks]

Table 6

carriages total max index


0 0 0 1

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12 (b) Write an algorithm (using either pseudocode or a flowchart) that calculates the
amount of fuel a train will need to complete a journey. The algorithm must:

  ask the user how many kilometres the journey will be


  only continue if the user enters a value greater than zero
  set the amount of fuel to a number 100 times greater than the number
of kilometres
  not allow the amount of fuel to be less than 1500
  finally, display the amount of fuel needed.
[7 marks]

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............................................................................................................................................
____
13
END OF QUESTIONS

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