Joan McDonald School Islamabad

Mid-Year Examination 2023

SUBJECT: Computer Science

Name: _____________________ Class: O Level-1

Date: ______________________ Time Allowed: 2hrs 30mins
Total Marks: 100 Marks Obtained: ____________
Teacher’s Name: Ms. Musheeza Teacher’s Sign:____________
Principal’s Stamp: ___________
Paper 1
Objective (30 marks)
1. What is the denary (base 10) equivalent to the hexadecimal
digit E?
a. 15 b. 14
c. 13 d. 12
2. ............................... translates source code into object code.
a. Compiler b. Interpreter
c. Assembler d. None
3. ............................... translates low-level language into
machine code.
a. Compiler b. Interpreter
c. Assembler d. None

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4. ............................... stops the execution of a program as
soon as it encounters an error.
a. Compiler b. Interpreter
c. Assembler d. None
5. The basic building block of the computer systems is ...........
a. Binary b. Hexadecimal
c. Denary d. None
6. 1 + 1, the carry will be .....................
a. 1 b. 0
c. 2 d. -1
7. The denary number 200 in binary is .....................
a. 11001000 b. 11001001
c. 11001111 d. 11011111
8. Which of these is the correct name for the operating system
function that allows many programs to run simultaneously?

a. utility program b. application package

c. embedded system d. multitasking

9. State whether the following about the translator are True or

False.
a. An assembler translates a high-level language program.

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 b. It is more difficult to write a program in a low-level
language.
c. Java is an assembly language.
d. It is quicker to develop a program using a high-level
language.
e. You always need a compiler to run a compiled program.
f. A program that is interpreted takes a longer time to run
than a compiled program.

10. Five storage devices or media are listed in the table.

Tick to show whether each storage device or media is an
example of primary, secondary or off-line storage.

11. Four descriptions about compilers and interpreters are

shown below. Draw lines to indicate which descriptions refer
to a compiler and which descriptions refer to an interpreter.

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Paper 2
Subjective (70 marks)

Attempt all questions. (14 x 5 = 70)

1. An electronic guessing game compares denary integer

values input by a user with pre-stored values. The pre-stored
values are held in 10-bit binary format.

a. Convert the binary values in the table to denary.

Binary Denary
0001001110

0110110111

1000000001

b. When planning the game, the designer decided to use

hexadecimal notation to represent the binary values.

Explain why the designer used hexadecimal notation.

c. State the hexadecimal equivalent of the binary value

1010110101.

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2. Sonia shares files with her friends. The method of data
transmission she uses is half-duplex serial transmission.

a. Describe how data is transmitted using half-duplex

serial data transmission.

3. An 8-bit binary register contains the value:

00110100
a. The contents of the register shown at the start of question
are shifted two places to the left.
Show the contents of the register after this shift has taken
place.
b. State the effect this shift has on the denary value in part
(a)
4. The system uses parity bits to check for errors during data
transmission.

The outcome of four bytes after transmission is:

Byte 1 Byte 2 Byte 3 Byte 4

00110011 01010100 10110100 01110111

One of the bytes has been transmitted incorrectly.

a. Identify the byte that was transmitted incorrectly.

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b. Explain how you identified the byte that was transmitted
incorrectly.

5 a. Describe the purpose of an operating system.

b. What is meant by virtual memory.
c. What is meant by disk thrashing and why does it occur.
d. What is meant by multitasking.
e. Describe what an interrupt is.
6. Audrey wants to send a sound file to Nico using email.
The file is too large to attach to an email so Audrey decides to
compress the file. She uses lossy compression to reduce the
size of the sound file.

a. Describe how lossy compression reduces the size of

the sound file.
b. Nico asks Audrey why she used lossy compression
rather than lossless.

i. State one advantage Audrey could give of using lossy

rather than lossless to compress the sound file.

ii. State one disadvantage Nico could give of using lossy

rather than lossless to compress the sound file.

7. Explain two advantages of using serial transmission rather

than parallel transmission.
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8 a. Explain the differences between a Graphical User
Interface (GUI) and a Command Line Interface (CLI).

b. Give one advantage and one disadvantage of using a GUI

interface.

9. Another method of error detection is Automatic Repeat

request (ARQ). Explain how ARQ is used in error detection.
10. State a use for the following data transmission methods.
The use must be different for each data transmission method.
a. Simplex
b. Duplex
11. Describe what is meant by asymmetric encryption.
12. Jamelia wants to store an image file. The image has an 8-
bit resolution and is 150 pixels by 100 pixels in size.
Calculate the file size of the image. Give your answer in
kilobytes (kB). Show all of your working.
13. Explain how an instruction is fetched in a Von Neumann
model computer.
14. State two benefits of using a laser printer, instead of an
inkjet printer, to print the letters.

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