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Daily Practice · GCSE Computer Science

January 1996 - GCSE Computer Science 5-a-day

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January 1996

31 sheets · 155 questions · GCSE

January 1996 compilationAll answers

Every sheet in January 1996

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 1996A pseudocode algorithm is: count <- 0, x <- 10, WHILE x > 0, count <- count + 1, x <- x - 3, ENDWHILE, OUTPUT count. Complete a trace table for x and count, laid out as x | count, then state the value output.
  2. 2nd January 1996A network administrator is connecting 10 computers in a server room. Calculate the number of cables needed for a full mesh topology, and state the number needed for a star topology with one central switch.
  3. 3rd January 1996State why a program written in a high level language must be translated.
  4. 4th January 1996Convert the 4-bit binary number 1101 to denary.
  5. 5th January 1996Two CPUs are compared for a task optimised for multiple cores: CPU A has 2 cores at 4.2 GHz; CPU B has 6 cores at 3.0 GHz. Explain which CPU is likely to perform better for this task.
  6. 6th January 1996State why an organisation might employ penetration testers to test its network.
  7. 7th January 1996Describe what a nested loop does when it processes a 2D array.
  8. 8th January 1996State one example of a file format that commonly uses lossy compression.
  9. 9th January 1996State how many bits are in one byte, and how many bytes are in one kibibyte (KiB).
  10. 10th January 1996State whether the source code of proprietary (closed source) software is normally available for the public to view.
  11. 11th January 1996Write one line of pseudocode that converts the string stored in heightInput into a real number and stores it in a variable called height.
  12. 12th January 1996State the value returned by LENGTH(word) if word stores the string 'Computer'.
  13. 13th January 1996Order these units of data from smallest to largest: megabyte, byte, gigabyte, kilobyte.
  14. 14th January 1996Give two reasons why network communication is divided into layers.
  15. 15th January 1996Give one example of erroneous test data for a field that only accepts whole numbers from 1 to 10.
  16. 16th January 1996A table called books has fields bookId, title, authorId and copiesAvailable. Write an SQL statement that selects the title of every book with more than 2 copies available.
  17. 17th January 1996Each 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.
  18. 18th January 1996Which flowchart symbol shape is used to represent a decision point (e.g. a yes/no branch)?
  19. 19th January 1996State the two values a Boolean data type can hold.
  20. 20th January 1996State how many different values can be represented using 5 bits, and explain your reasoning.
  21. 21st January 1996Calculate the number of cables needed to connect 8 computers in a full mesh topology, where every computer connects directly to every other computer.
  22. 22nd January 1996Explain why an interpreter is often preferred while a program is being written.
  23. 23rd January 1996Convert the hexadecimal number 1A to denary.
  24. 24th January 1996Convert the denary number 156 to an 8 bit binary number.
  25. 25th January 1996Which type of malware can replicate itself and spread across a network without attaching to another program or needing a user to run it?
  26. 26th January 1996A 2D array grid is declared as grid[4][6]. State how many rows and columns it has and how many elements it holds in total.
  27. 27th January 1996An image uses a colour depth of 2 bits per pixel. Calculate the maximum number of different colours it can represent.
  28. 28th January 1996A 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.
  29. 29th January 1996Describe two negative consequences of throwing away old computer hardware instead of recycling it.
  30. 30th January 1996Write a function called isEven that takes one integer parameter, num, and returns True if num is even and False otherwise.
  31. 31st January 1996State the key difference between a procedure and a function.