Daily Practice · GCSE Computer Science

January 1977 5-a-day

Every sheet in January 1977

The same date always regenerates the same five questions, so a sheet you print today is the sheet a classmate prints tomorrow.

  1. 1st January 1977A table called bookings has fields bookingId, customerName and eventDate. Write an SQL statement that deletes the booking with bookingId 45.
  2. 2nd January 1977Each pair from the previous question is stored using 2 bytes. Calculate the compression ratio achieved, given the uncompressed row (1 byte per pixel) uses 8 bytes.
  3. 3rd January 1977Which flowchart symbol shape is used to represent a decision point (e.g. a yes/no branch)?
  4. 4th January 1977State the two values a Boolean data type can hold.
  5. 5th January 1977Convert the denary number 39 to an 8-bit binary number, showing your working.
  6. 6th January 1977Calculate the number of cables needed to connect 8 computers in a full mesh topology, where every computer connects directly to every other computer.
  7. 7th January 1977A program compiles and runs but always outputs an average that is too small. State the type of error and explain why the translator did not report it.
  8. 8th January 1977Convert the hexadecimal number 1A to denary.
  9. 9th January 1977Convert the denary number 156 to an 8 bit binary number.
  10. 10th January 1977Which type of malware can replicate itself and spread across a network without attaching to another program or needing a user to run it?
  11. 11th January 1977An array named temps holds 12 values. State the index of the first item and the index of the last item.
  12. 12th January 1977An image uses a colour depth of 2 bits per pixel. Calculate the maximum number of different colours it can represent.
  13. 13th January 1977A CPU's cache has a hit rate of 80%. During a task the CPU makes 4000 requests for data. Calculate the number of cache hits and cache misses.
  14. 14th January 1977Describe two negative consequences of throwing away old computer hardware instead of recycling it.
  15. 15th January 1977Write a function called isEven that takes one integer parameter, num, and returns True if num is even and False otherwise.
  16. 16th January 1977Give one specific way this code could be refined without changing what it does: a = 5, b = 3, c = a + b, PRINT c
  17. 17th January 1977A company backs up its files onto magnetic tape cartridges, each with a capacity of 3 TB. The company needs to back up 20 TB of data. Calculate the minimum number of cartridges needed.
  18. 18th January 1977State the difference between HTTP and HTTPS, and give one situation where HTTPS is essential.
  19. 19th January 1977Explain why iterative testing, carried out throughout development, tends to make errors cheaper to fix than relying only on final testing.
  20. 20th January 1977A table called members has fields memberId, firstName, lastName and joinYear. Write an SQL statement that adds a new record with memberId 12, firstName 'Priya', lastName 'Shah' and joinYear 2026.
  21. 21st January 1977Define the term 'interrupt' as used to describe a signal received by a CPU.
  22. 22nd January 1977An array called items contains [12, 45, 7, 30, 19] at indices 0 to 4. Describe how a linear search would locate the value 30, stating the number of comparisons needed.
  23. 23rd January 1977Evaluate X = NOT A AND B when A = 0 and B = 1.
  24. 24th January 1977Convert the hexadecimal number FF to an 8-bit binary number.
  25. 25th January 1977Give one advantage of a star topology compared with a mesh topology.
  26. 26th January 1977State why a program written in a high level language must be translated.
  27. 27th January 1977Add the 8-bit binary numbers 00101101 and 00010011, giving your answer as an 8-bit binary number.
  28. 28th January 1977State the three stages of the fetch-decode-execute cycle in the order they occur.
  29. 29th January 1977State one weakness of a simple shift cipher compared to modern encryption methods used on networks.
  30. 30th January 1977Describe what a nested loop does when it processes a 2D array.
  31. 31st January 1977Define the term 'pixel'.