Secondary 5 Information And Communication Technology Practice Paper: Data Representation, Number Systems, Computer Hardware, Programming And Algorithms, Databases And Spreadsheets, Networks And Security, Social Impact (100 Marks)

Secondary 5 Information and Communication Technology Practice Paper: Data Representation, Number Systems, Computer Hardware, Programming and Algorithms, Databases and Spreadsheets, Networks and Security, Social Impact (100 marks)

2026-11-14

ICT – Secondary 5 – Practice Paper

S5 ICT practice paper: 24 parts, 100 marks, 60 minutes on number systems, hardware, programming, databases, networks, security and social impact.

Paper details　S5 ICT practice paper, 24 parts and 100 marks in 60 minutes, with number systems, hardware, programming, databases, networks and security questions plus answers.

Section A: Data Representation and Number Systems (16 marks)

Source A: in an 8-bit binary number the place values are 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4, 2 and 1. Source B: each hexadecimal digit stands for four binary bits, with A to F meaning 10 to 15. Source C: an image is 32 by 32 pixels and each pixel uses 8 bits.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
1	(a) Convert the denary number 173 to an 8-bit binary number and state the place value of its most significant bit.	Answer: 173 is 128 + 32 + 8 + 4 + 1, so the binary form is 10101101; the most significant bit stands for 128. Marking: 3 marks for the binary number, 1 for the place value.
2	(b) Convert the binary number 11010110 to denary and to hexadecimal.	Answer: 11010110 is 128 + 64 + 16 + 4 + 2 = 214; splitting into 1101 and 0110 gives D and 6, so the hexadecimal form is D6. Marking: 2 marks each.
3	(c) What is the denary value of the hexadecimal number 2F? Express the value as an 8-bit binary number as well.	Answer: 2F is 2 x 16 + 15 = 47; the 8-bit binary form of 47 is 00101111. Marking: 2 marks each.
4	(d) An uncompressed 32 by 32 pixel image with 8 bits per pixel: how many bits and how many bytes does it take, and how many KiB is that?	Answer: 32 x 32 x 8 = 8192 bits; 8192 / 8 = 1024 bytes; 1024 / 1024 = 1 KiB. Marking: 1, 2 and 1 mark.

Section B: Computer Systems and Hardware (16 marks)

Source A: the processor runs at 3.2 GHz, that is 3200000000 clock cycles per second. Source B: cache access time is 5 ns and main memory access time is 80 ns. Source C: a solid state drive is labelled 512 GB; 1 GiB is 2 to the power 30 bytes.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
5	(a) A processor runs at 3.2 GHz and needs 4 clock cycles per instruction on average. Find the number of instructions it can run per second.	Answer: 3.2 GHz is 3200000000 cycles per second; 3200000000 / 4 = 800000000, that is 800 million instructions per second. Marking: 2 marks each.
6	(b) Cache access time is 5 ns and main memory access time is 80 ns. How many times slower is main memory than the cache?	Answer: 80 / 5 = 16 times. Marking: 3 marks for the division, 1 for the unit.
7	(c) A solid state drive is labelled 512 GB. Taking 1 GB as one thousand million bytes and 1 GiB as 2 to the power 30 bytes, find the capacity in GiB to one decimal place.	Answer: 512 x 1000000000 = 512000000000 bytes; dividing by 1073741824 gives 476.8 GiB. Marking: 2 marks each.
8	(d) A computer has 4 GB of main memory and the operating system plus resident programs take 1.5 GB. Find the memory left for applications, in GB and in MiB.	Answer: 4 – 1.5 = 2.5 GB; 2.5 x 1024 = 2560 MiB. Marking: 2 marks each.

Section C: Programming and Algorithms (18 marks)

Source A: total starts at 0 and the loop for i in range(1, 6) runs total = total + i*i. Source B: n starts at 100; the loop runs while n is greater than or equal to 1 and each pass does n = n // 2. Source C: a sorted array holds 1000 records.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
9	(a) From Source A, what is the final value of total? Show the running sequence.	Answer: i runs from 1 to 5, so the squares are 1, 4, 9, 16 and 25, and the total is 55. Marking: 3 marks for the sequence, 2 for the total.
10	(b) From Source B, how many times does the loop run? Write the value of n before each pass.	Answer: n takes the values 100, 50, 25, 12, 6, 3 and 1, then becomes 0 and the loop ends, so it runs 7 times. Marking: 3 marks for the sequence, 2 for the count.
11	(c) For 1000 sorted records, how many comparisons do linear search and binary search need at most?	Answer: linear search needs at most 1000 comparisons; binary search halves the range each time and 2 to the power 10 is 1024, so it needs at most 10 comparisons. Marking: 1 mark and 3 marks.
12	(d) Bubble sort on 5 items: how many comparisons are needed in the worst case?	Answer: 5 x 4 / 2 = 10 comparisons. Marking: 2 marks each.

Section D: Databases and Spreadsheets (18 marks)

Source A: a table has 4 fields and 120 records, with the student number as primary key. Source B: three spreadsheet rows record quantity and unit price: (12, 45), (8, 62.5) and (20, 33). Source C: a survey has 25 records and 18 of them score 60 marks or above.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
13	(a) From Source A, how many field values does the table store? If the student number is the primary key, may it repeat?	Answer: 4 x 120 = 480 field values; a primary key must be unique, may not repeat and may not be left empty. Marking: 3 marks and 2 marks.
14	(b) From Source B, find the amount in each row and the total of the three rows.	Answer: 12 x 45 = 540; 8 x 62.5 = 500; 20 x 33 = 660; total 1700. Marking: 1 mark per row, 2 for the total.
15	(c) From the previous part, what is the mean of the three amounts? Give two decimal places.	Answer: 1700 / 3 = 566.666…, which rounds to 566.67. Marking: 2 marks each.
16	(d) From Source C, what percentage of records reach the passing score?	Answer: 18 / 25 x 100 = 72.0 per cent. Marking: 3 marks for the working, 1 for the percentage.

Section E: Networks and Security (16 marks)

Source A: a 480 MB file travels over a 100 Mbps link and the effective rate is 80 per cent of the labelled rate. Source B: the network is 192.168.10.0/24 with mask 255.255.255.0. Source C: a system accepts passwords of 4 digits or 6 digits, digits only.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
17	(a) From Source A, find the time needed to send the file, in seconds.	Answer: 480 x 8 = 3840 Mbit; the effective rate is 80 Mbps; 3840 / 80 = 48 seconds. Marking: 1, 1 and 2 marks.
18	(b) From Source B, how many addresses does the network hold and how many of them can be used by hosts?	Answer: the host part is 8 bits, so 2 to the power 8 gives 256 addresses; after removing the network and broadcast addresses, 254 are usable. Marking: 2 marks each.
19	(c) From Source C, how many 4-digit and 6-digit numeric passwords are possible, and how many times more is the second?	Answer: 10 to the power 4 is 10000; 10 to the power 6 is 1000000; 1000000 / 10000 = 100 times. Marking: 1, 1 and 2 marks.
20	(d) List four features that identify a phishing email and briefly state how to respond.	Answer: the sender domain does not match the official one; the message urges a quick click and asks for a password; the link text differs from the real address; there are obvious spelling errors or an urgent tone. Do not click the link, type the official address in the browser instead and report the message. Marking: 3 marks for features, 1 for the response.

Section F: Social Impact of Information Technology (16 marks)

Source A: a song lasts 3 minutes 12 seconds and is compressed at 128 kbps. Source B: a student spends 4.5 hours a day on screens. Source C: a place produces 70000 tonnes of electronic waste a year and recycles 20 per cent.

#	Question	Answer and marking notes
21	(a) From Source A, what is the file size of the song in MB? Give two decimal places.	Answer: 192 s x 128 kbps = 24576 kbit; / 8 gives 3072 KB; / 1024 gives 3.0 MB. Marking: 1, 1 and 2 marks.
22	(b) From Source B, what is the weekly screen time in hours and in minutes?	Answer: 4.5 x 7 = 31.5 hours; 31.5 x 60 = 1890 minutes. Marking: 2 marks each.
23	(c) From Source C, how much electronic waste is recycled and how much is not, in tonnes?	Answer: 70000 x 20 per cent = 14000 tonnes recycled; 70000 – 14000 = 56000 tonnes not recycled. Marking: 2 marks each.
24	(d) Explain two causes of the digital divide and one effect it has on learning.	Answer: one cause is unequal income, which leaves some families without devices or broadband; another is different education levels and ages, which affect digital skills. The effect is that disadvantaged students find online learning resources harder to reach, so the learning gap widens. Marking: 1 mark per cause, 2 for the effect.

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