National University of Singapore

SAMPLE—Software Engineering Programme

Sample Entry Test Questions
Time allowed: 15 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS NRC ID

/ ()
1. [SAMPLE] Write down your identification number on state district registration

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
the right and using ink or pencil, shade the corresponding 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
circle completely in the grid for each digit or letter. DO 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
NOT WRITE YOUR NAME! 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
2. [SAMPLE] This SAMPLE examination booklet con- 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5

tains FIVE (5) questions and comprises FOUR (4) 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7
pages including this cover page. 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
3. [SAMPLE] The time allowed for solving this test is 15
minutes.
5cm
4. [SAMPLE] Students are required to answer ALL ques-
tions.

5. [SAMPLE] This is a CLOSED BOOK examination.

6. [SAMPLE] This is the only a sample. The full entrance

exam will contain more questions.
1. [SAMPLE] You are currently facing North.

1. Repeat steps 2 and 3 three times.

2. Turn 90 degrees clockwise.
3. If you are facing South, turn 180 degrees anti-clockwise.

Which direction are you facing now?

North South East West

Explain how you arrived at your answer.

2. [SAMPLE] Given the following sequence, how many b characters will there be in the
next item?

1. abc
2. abbccc
3. abbbbbccccccccccccccc

5 10 13 20 210

Explain how you arrived at your answer.

Page 2
3. [SAMPLE] A 100kg watermelon consists of 99% water. After being left out in the sun
for some time, it now consists of 98% water. How much water evaporated?

1kg 2kg 10kg 50kg 98kg 99kg

Explain how you arrived at your answer.

4. [SAMPLE] Consider the following program, which is an example of a for-loop:

x = 2
for i in range(1, 3):
x = x + i

Suppose x and i are variables (that you can assign values to), and that the end result of
variable x is 5. What do you think the MAIN purpose of this for-loop is?

It repeats the statement x = x + i 2 times.

It repeats the statement x = x + 1 3 times.
It increments i 2 times.
It increments i 3 times.

Explain how you arrived at your answer.

Page 3
5. [SAMPLE] The program below shows an example of a function call.

def f(x):
return x + 1
y = f(10)

After the program runs, the resulting value of y is 11.

Now, consider the following program:

def g(x):
return x + 5
def h(x):
return g(x) * 2
z = h(10)

What is the resulting value of z after the program runs?

10 20 25 30 40

Explain how you arrived at your answer.

Page 4