Name: ______________________________________________________________ Class: 11G

Ponhofi Senior Secondary School

International General Certificate of Secondary Education

Computer Studies

Grade 11

Term 1 Examination

Thursday, April 24, 1997, 10:00 AM

Time: 2 Hours

Marks: 100

Answer all questions. Write your answers in the spaces provided on this question paper.

The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

This paper consists of 8 printed pages.

FOR INSTRUCTOR'S USE ONLY

TRUE/FALSE ___________/11

MULTIPLE CHOICE ___________/21

SHORT ANSWER ___________/68

TOTAL ___________/100

Part I: True/False (11 Marks): Circle the word True or False to the left of each statement.

  1. True or False: A printer is an input device.

  1. True or False: A telephone is a communications device.

  1. True or False: There are exactly 1048576 bytes in one gigabyte.

  1. True or False: Some computers can run on batteries and do not need to be plugged in.

  1. True or False: All computers have exactly one processor.

  1. True or False: Microprocessors are used in cars, televisions and washing machines.

  1. True or False: A portable computer costs more than a desktop computer with similar features.

  1. True or False: A hard disk has more storage capacity than a floppy disk.

  1. True or False: A microphone and speaker are both used for sound input.

  1. True or False: Silicon chips are used for permanent storage.

  1. True or False: Computers can do your work for you.


Part II: Multiple Choice (21 Marks): Circle the letter A, B, C, or D by the best answer.

1. What is a common name for the information stored in a computer?

A data B hardware C software D user

2. Which of these cannot tell the computer to do something?

A data B hardware C software D user

3. Which of these is the most uncontrollable and unpredictable element in a computer system?

A data B hardware C software D user

4. What is the main function of the CPU?

A input B output C processing D storage

5. What is the main function of RAM?

A input B output C processing D storage

6. What is the name for a computer in which the processor and peripherals are in separate units?

A mainframe B microcomputer C portable computer D supercomputer

7. Which of these programs does an ordinary person use to do work?

A application B compiler C operating system D programming language

8. Which of these is not an example of a graphics package?

A CAD B Draw C Notepad D Paint

9. Which of these programs does not involve communication over a network?

A electronic mail B groupware C PIM D web browser

10. Which of these does not normally use hypertext?

A help system B multimedia CD C web browser D word processor

11. On modern computers, what kind of storage is provided by magnetic tape?

A primary and temporary

B primary and permanent

C secondary and temporary

D secondary and permanent

12. Which of these is most often used in read-only functions?

A compact disk B hard disk C stiffy disk D tape cartridge

13. Which of these is an example of optical media?

A compact disk B hard disk C stiffy disk D tape cartridge

14. Which of these is not an example of data capture?

A copy machine B digitising tablet C light pen D scanner

15. Which of these acronyms can not be used to refer to a computer monitor?

A CRT B LCD C UPS D VDU

16. Which of these words is italicised?

A computer B computer C computer D computer

17. Which of these is used to connect the CPU, memory, and peripherals?

A bus B chip C gate D transistor

18. Which of these is not an example of applications software?

A desktop publishing B electronic mail C interpreter D office suite

19. Which of these diagrams correctly shows the relationship between hardware and software?


20. What is the name of a small picture shown on a computer screen with a graphical user interface?

A arrow B button C font D icon

21. What is the name of a list of commands shown on a computer screen?

A cursor B menu C taskbar D window

Part III: Short Answer (68 Marks):

1. Write the binary number 11001 in decimal. Show your working.

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

[2]

2. The ASCII code for A is 65, B is 66, C is 67, and so on. The ASCII code for a space is 32.

(a) Write the ASCII codes for the phrase "A BAD BED".

__________________________________________________________________________________

[2]

(b) ASCII code stores each character of text in one byte of memory.

(i) How many bytes would be needed to store this phrase? __________________

(ii) How many bits would be needed? __________________

(iii) How many different characters can the ASCII system represent? __________________

[3]

3. What do these computer acronyms mean? Give the full terms of these abbreviations.

(a) OS ____________________________________________________________________

(b) CPU ____________________________________________________________________

(c) VDU ____________________________________________________________________

(d) RAM ____________________________________________________________________

(e) ROM ____________________________________________________________________

[5]

4. Write the term that is described.

(a) _________________ A circle inside a square for small-capacity removable magnetic storage

(b) _________________ A software program to make financial calculations, tables, charts, graphs

(c) _________________ A rectangle with many numbers and letters used for typing on a computer

[3]

5. This flow chart shows an algorithm or procedure for washing clothes.

To complete it, put one letter of a statement in each box, and one letter of a question in each diamond.

The first box has been done for you.

  1. Are clothes clean?
  2. Are clothes dry?
  3. Are clothes free of soap?
  4. End
  5. Iron clothes to remove wrinkles.
  6. Leave clothes on clothes-line.
  7. Rinse clothes to remove soap.
  8. Start
  9. Wash clothes to remove dirt.

[4]

6. Describe two important functions of an operating system.

1_________________________________________________________________________________

2_________________________________________________________________________________

[2]

7. Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of using a computer to draw a picture.

advantage: ________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

disadvantage: ______________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

[4]

8. Computer equipment is expensive and can easily be damaged, so it must be used carefully.

(a) Give two ways that a disk is commonly damaged.

1_________________________________________________________________________________

2_________________________________________________________________________________

[2]

(b) Name two hardware items that can protect a computer from damage.

1_________________________________________________________________________________

2_________________________________________________________________________________

[2]

9. This question is about computer programming languages.

(a) Name a commonly-used high level language.

__________________________________________________________________________________

(b) Name the language that is actually used by the computer hardware.

__________________________________________________________________________________

(c) Name the two types of translators that can translate high level languages into low level languages.

1______________________________________ 2______________________________________

[4]

10. Below is a picture of a typical computer system. Label the four parts that you can see. [4]

11. A certain business computer system has five storage devices.

  1. cache
  2. hard disk
  3. magnetic tape
  4. optical disk
  5. RAM

(a) Rank these storage devices in order of increasing access speed by writing the numbers 1 to 5 in the spaces provided.

__________ __________ __________ __________ __________

[2]

(b) Rank these storage devices in order of increasing storage space.

__________ __________ __________ __________ __________

[2]

12. The following diagram shows part of the screen in a spreadsheet program.
A
B
C
1
3
4
2
5
7
3
8
11
4

(a) What number is in cell B3? ________________________________

(b) In which cell is the number 5? ________________________________

(c) If A4 = A1 + A2 + A3, what is A4? ________________________________

(d) If B4 = B1 + B2 + B3 and C4 = A4 + B4, what is C4? ________________________________

[4]

13. Label the boxes in this diagram with the four main operations of a computer.

[4]

14. The following diagram shows a computer peripheral.

(a) What is the name of the peripheral? ______________________________________________

(b) What is the function of the peripheral? ______________________________________________

(c) What kind of access does this peripheral have? ________________________________________

(d) On the diagram, label the two shaded areas of the peripheral that are marked with arrows.

[5]

15. The following diagram shows a computer peripheral.


(a) What is the name of the peripheral? ______________________________________________

(b) What is the function of the peripheral?

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

[3]

16. The following diagram shows coded data that could be put into a computer.


(a) Which of the following is the name given to this method of input?

A magnetic ink character recognition

B optical character recognition

C bar code reading

D cash card reading

E mark sensing

(b) State two applications or places that would use this method of data input.

1_________________________________________________________________________________

2_________________________________________________________________________________

(c) For one of the applications you have given, state two items of information that might be represented by the coded data.

1_________________________________________________________________________________

2_________________________________________________________________________________

[5]

17. The cartoon shows a boy named Calvin talking to his father.


(a) Calvin might be correct. Explain two ways how he might be able to use a computer to get better grades on his book reports.

1_________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

2_________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

[4]

(b) A computer is often called a GIGO (garbage-in, garbage-out) system. How does the cartoon show this? (Note: Garbage is the American word for rubbish.)

__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________

[2]