DARATASSALAM INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL, RIYADH

IGCSE (Centre No.SA025 and SX025)

PREBOARDS-II EXAMINATION 2020-21
X (IGCSE) Computer Science (0478) M.M : 80 DURATION : 3 Hrs.

CANDIDATE NAME

Paper 01 Paper 02 Total

Date: 27 / 04 / 2021 Marks obtained 50 30 80

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COMPUTER SCIENCE 0478

Paper 1 Theory April 2021
3 hours
Candidates answer on the Question Paper.
Take clear snapshots of all the Exam sheets after completing the paper and send it to subject teacher.
immediately.
No calculators allowed.
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READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

Before attempting your paper, read all questions carefully.

Write in dark blue or black pen.
You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
Do not use staples, paper clips, glue or correction fluid.
Answer all questions.
No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.
The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

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 Paper-01 (50 marks)

1. Six devices are shown.

Tick (✓) to show if each device is an Input, Output or Storage device. [5]

Devices Input Output Storage

Keyboard
Sensor
3D cutter
2D Scanner
Hard disk drive HDD

2. (a) Ron is attending a music concert. He has bought three tickets.

Each ticket number is displayed as a hexadecimal number.
(a) Complete the table to show the 12-bit binary values and the Denary values for each Hexadecimal
ticket number. [6]
Hexadecimal Ticket Number 12-bit value number Denary Value

018

2B7

77C

Working Space
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
…………………………............................................................................................................................................
(b) Each ticket also has a QR code. The QR code is scanned at the entrance to the venue.
A person can only enter the venue with a valid QR code that allows entry.
When a person enters, a count is incremented to show how many people have entered the venue.
Explain how the system scans the QR code, checks if a person can enter and counts how many people
have entered. [3]
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
.......................................................................................................................................................................
…………………………............................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................
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3. The following paragraph explains how data is sent securely using the TLS protocol.
Use the terms to complete the paragraph. Not all terms may need to be used. [5]

• authentic
• binary
• browser
• certificate
• internet service provider
• signal
• web page
• web server
• website

The browser requests the .................................................................... to identify itself by providing its

..................................................................... This is sent and a check is performed to see if it is
..................................................................... If it is, the ................................................................... sends a
................................................................... back to the web server and data transmission begins.

4. Victoria is entering data into a computer system. The data will be transmitted to cloud storage.
(a) An even parity check is used to check for errors in the binary values after transmission.
For each of the 7-bit binary values, write the Parity bit that makes sure even parity is met. [3]

7-bit binary value Parity bit

1100010 ......................
1001011 ......................
0100010 ......................

(b) Identify two other error checking methods that could be used to check the binary values are correct
after transmission. [2]

Method 1 ...................................................................................................................................
Method 2 ...................................................................................................................................

5. Alessandro has some important data stored on his computer.

He is concerned about accidental damage to his data.
(a) (i) Identify two ways that the data could be accidentally damaged. [2]

1 ........................................................................................................................................
2 ........................................................................................................................................

(ii) State what Alessandro could do to make sure that he can retrieve his data if it is accidentally
damaged. [1]
.......................................................................................................................................................................

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(b) Alessandro also uses off-line storage to store his data.
Three examples of off-line storage are Blu-ray, CD and DVD.
Six statements are given about off-line storage.
Tick (✓) to show if each statement applies to Blu-ray, CD, or DVD.
Some statements apply to more than one example of off-line storage. [5]

Statement Blu-ray CD DVD

A type of optical storage
Has the largest storage capacity
Can be dual layer
Read using a red laser
Has the smallest storage capacity

6. Consider the given logic statement:

X = (((A XOR B) AND C) OR NOT C)
(a) Draw a logic circuit to match the given logic statement.
All logic gates must have a maximum of two inputs. Do not attempt to simplify the logic statement. [4]

(b) Complete the truth table for given logic circuit. [4]
A B C WORKSPACE X
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 0
0 1 1
1 0 0
1 0 1
1 1 0
1 1 1
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7. Paige has a computer that has a central processing unit (CPU) based on the Von Neumann model for
a computer system.
(a) Identify the component within the CPU that controls the flow of data. [1]
......................................................................................................................................................................
(b) Identify the component within the CPU where calculations are carried out. [1]
......................................................................................................................................................................
(c) Identify the component within the CPU that stores the address of the next instruction to be
processed. [1]
......................................................................................................................................................................
(d) Identify the register within the CPU that holds an instruction that has been fetched from memory.[1]
......................................................................................................................................................................
(e) Identify the register within the CPU that holds data that has been fetched from memory. [1]
......................................................................................................................................................................
8. Elsa writes a paragraph in an examination about encryption.
There are several terms missing from the paragraph.
Complete the paragraph using the list of given terms. Not all terms may need to be used.
Some terms may be used more than once. [5]

• algorithm
• alphanumeric
• cookie
• cypher
• key
• padlock
• plain
• word processed

The data is encrypted using a ........................................................................ This is an

....................................................................... that is used to scramble the data. The data before
encryption is known as ....................................................................... text. When the data has been
encrypted it is known as ....................................................................... text. To read the encrypted data it
needs to be decrypted using a ........................................................................

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 PAPER 2(30 MARKS)

Pre-Release Material:

Your preparation for the examination should include attempting the following practical tasks by writing
and testing a program or programs.

A system is required to record and count votes for candidates in school council elections. The voting
system will allow for one representative to be elected from a tutor group. The school has between 28
and 35 students in each tutor group, five-year groups named Year 7 to Year 11, and there are six tutor
groups in each year group. Tutor group names are their year group followed by a single letter e.g. 7A,
7B, etc.

All students are allowed to vote in the system. Each student may only vote once for a representative
from their tutor group in the election.

Write and test a program or programs for the voting system.

• Your program or programs must include appropriate prompts for the entry of data; data must be
validated on entry.
• Error messages and other output need to be set out clearly and understandably.
• All variables, constants and other identifiers must have meaningful names.

You will need to complete these three tasks. Each task must be fully tested.

Task 1 – Setting up the voting system to allow a tutor group to elect a representative.
Write a program to:
• allow the tutor to enter the name of the tutor group
• allow the tutor to enter the number of students in the tutor group
• allow the tutor to enter the number of candidates in the election; maximum of four candidates
• allow the tutor to enter the names of the candidates and store them in a suitable data structure
• allow each student to input their vote or to abstain
• count the votes for each candidate and student abstentions.

When all students have voted, display the name of the tutor group, the votes for each candidate and
the name of the candidate who has won the election. If there is a tie for first place, display all
candidates with the equal highest number of votes.

1 (a) All variables, constants and other identifiers must have meaningful names.

Identify one array you could have used for Task 1 and state its purpose. [2]

Array .............................................................................................................................................................
Purpose .........................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................
(ii) Identify one variable you could have used for Task 1 and state its purpose. [2]
Variable ........................................................................................................................................................
Purpose .........................................................................................................................................................

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 ......................................................................................................................................................................
(b) Write the validation rule to specify the length of Tutor Group Name as only two characters as 7A. [2]
......................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................
2. Most programming languages include basic data types. Ahmad is describing the basic data types he
has used.

State the data type that Ahmad is describing in each sentence.

Choose the data type from this list of programming terms. [5]
Array Boolean Char Constant Function Integer
Iteration Procedure Real String Variable
A number with a fractional part that can be positive or negative and used in calculations
Data type ..........................................................................................................................................
A whole number that can be positive, negative or zero and used in calculations
Data type ..........................................................................................................................................
A single number, symbol or letter
Data type ..........................................................................................................................................
A sequence of characters
Data type ..........................................................................................................................................
A data type with two values, True or False
Data type ..........................................................................................................................................

3 Tick (✓) one box in each row to identify if the statement about subroutines is true or false. [4]

Statement True False

A subroutine is called from within a program.
A subroutine is not a complete program.
A subroutine is a self-contained piece of code.
A subroutine must return a value to the code from which it was called.

4. The pseudocode algorithm shown should allow numbers to be entered and should allow 50 numbers
to be stored in an array.

Count ← 0
REPEAT
INPUT Values[Count]
Count ← Count + 1
UNTIL Count = 0
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 (a) Explain why the algorithm will never end. [2]

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5. This flowchart inputs the points won and the points lost when playing a game. The difference
between the points won and lost is calculated and depending on the result the player can: move up to
the next level, stay at the same level, or move down to the previous level. The flowchart finishes when
the input for points won is –1.

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Complete a trace table for this set of input data: [3]
5000, 4474, 6055, 2000, 7900, 9800, 3000, 2150, –1, 6700, 7615
PointsWon PointsLost Difference OUTPUT

6. Four programming concepts and five descriptions are shown.

Draw a line to connect each Programming concept to its correct Description. Not all Descriptions will
be connected to a Programming. [4]
Programming concept Description
Validation A subroutine that does not have to return a value

Verification An automatic check to ensure that data input is

reasonable and sensible

Procedure A subroutine that always returns a value

An overview of a program or subroutine

Function
A check to ensure that data input matches the
original
7 A database table, AIRLINE, stores data used to compare airlines.

(a) Show the output that would be given by this query-by-example. [2]

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.............................................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................................................
(b) Complete the query-by-example grid to find every airline with a head office in Asia or Africa, and
number of countries greater than 4. Only show the airline name and number of countries. [4]

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