Daily Practice · GCSE Computer Science

September 1996 - GCSE Computer Science 5-a-day

Every sheet in September 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 September 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.
  2. 2nd September 1996Which flowchart symbol shape is used to represent a decision point (e.g. a yes/no branch)?
  3. 3rd September 1996State the two values a Boolean data type can hold.
  4. 4th September 1996Convert the denary number 200 to hexadecimal, showing your working.
  5. 5th September 1996Calculate the number of cables needed to connect 8 computers in a full mesh topology, where every computer connects directly to every other computer.
  6. 6th September 1996A 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.
  7. 7th September 1996Convert the hexadecimal number 1A to denary.
  8. 8th September 1996Convert the denary number 156 to an 8 bit binary number.
  9. 9th September 1996Which type of malware can replicate itself and spread across a network without attaching to another program or needing a user to run it?
  10. 10th September 1996An array named temps holds 12 values. State the index of the first item and the index of the last item.
  11. 11th September 1996An image uses a colour depth of 2 bits per pixel. Calculate the maximum number of different colours it can represent.
  12. 12th September 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.
  13. 13th September 1996Describe two negative consequences of throwing away old computer hardware instead of recycling it.
  14. 14th September 1996Write a function called isEven that takes one integer parameter, num, and returns True if num is even and False otherwise.
  15. 15th September 1996State the pseudocode operator commonly used to join (concatenate) two strings, then show how it joins 'Rev' and 'ision' to produce 'Revision'.
  16. 16th September 1996A 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.
  17. 17th September 1996State the difference between HTTP and HTTPS, and give one situation where HTTPS is essential.
  18. 18th September 1996Explain why iterative testing, carried out throughout development, tends to make errors cheaper to fix than relying only on final testing.
  19. 19th September 1996Define the term 'primary key' as used in a database table.
  20. 20th September 1996Define the term 'interrupt' as used to describe a signal received by a CPU.
  21. 21st September 1996An 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.
  22. 22nd September 1996Evaluate X = NOT A AND B when A = 0 and B = 1.
  23. 23rd September 1996Convert the 8-bit binary number 10110100 directly to hexadecimal by splitting it into nibbles.
  24. 24th September 1996Give one advantage of a star topology compared with a mesh topology.
  25. 25th September 1996State why a program written in a high level language must be translated.
  26. 26th September 1996Add the 8-bit binary numbers 00101101 and 00010011, giving your answer as an 8-bit binary number.
  27. 27th September 1996State the three stages of the fetch-decode-execute cycle in the order they occur.
  28. 28th September 1996State one weakness of a simple shift cipher compared to modern encryption methods used on networks.
  29. 29th September 1996Describe what a nested loop does when it processes a 2D array.
  30. 30th September 1996Define the term 'pixel'.