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Form 6 ICT Practice Paper: Databases, Programming, Networks and Information Literacy (12 questions, 100 marks, 75 minutes)
Form 6 ICT – 12 questions – 100 marks – 75 minutes
Form 6 ICT practice paper: 12 questions, 100 marks, 75 minutes on number systems, databases and SQL, image compression, algorithms, IP subnetting and information security.
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Paper details Form 6 ICT practice paper with 12 original questions on number systems, databases and SQL, image compression, algorithms, subnetting and security, each with worked answers and marking points.
Section A: Data, number systems and databases (Q1-Q4)
Calculations need the formula, the substitution and the units, consistent with the data given.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A school stores student records in a table STUDENT with the fields StudentID, Name, Class, ClassTeacher and Score. (a) Identify the field most suitable as the primary key and explain why. (2 marks) (b) Write an SQL statement that lists the name and score of every student scoring 80 or above, sorted from highest to lowest. (3 marks) (c) Explain the problem caused by repeating the class teacher name in every student record, and describe a normalised design that avoids it. (3 marks) | (a) StudentID, because each student has a unique value that identifies exactly one record. (2 marks) (b) SELECT Name, Score FROM STUDENT WHERE Score >= 80 ORDER BY Score DESC; (3 marks) (c) The same teacher name is repeated in many rows, so an update may leave inconsistent copies and storage is wasted; keep class and teacher in a separate CLASS table and link it by Class as a foreign key. (3 marks) |
| 2 | A system stores integers in 8 bits. (a) Convert the denary number 45 to binary, and convert the binary number 101101 back to denary. (2 marks) (b) Convert the hexadecimal number 2F to denary. (2 marks) (c) Write negative 5 in 4-bit two’s complement. (2 marks) (d) Explain why modern systems use both ASCII and Unicode. (2 marks) | (a) 45 is 101101 and 101101 is 32 plus 8 plus 4 plus 1, which is 45. (2 marks) (b) 2 times 16 plus 15 equals 47. (2 marks) (c) 5 is 0101, inverted to 1010 and plus 1 gives 1011. (2 marks) (d) ASCII covers only English letters and basic symbols, while Unicode assigns code points to characters of all languages and includes ASCII as a subset, so both are kept. (2 marks) |
| 3 | A 1024 by 768 pixel 24-bit colour image is stored uncompressed, where 1 MB is 1024 times 1024 bytes. (a) Calculate the file size in MB. (3 marks) (b) State the file size in MB at a compression ratio of 8 to 1. (2 marks) (c) Give one lossless and one lossy format, and say which suits a scanned page of text. (3 marks) | (a) 1024 times 768 times 3 equals 2,359,296 bytes, which is 2.25 MB. (3 marks) (b) 2.25 divided by 8 equals 0.28125, about 0.28 MB. (2 marks) (c) Lossless such as PNG and lossy such as JPEG; a scanned text page suits lossless compression because lossy compression blurs character edges. (3 marks) |
| 4 | Five students score 68, 75, 88, 91 and 54 in a test out of 100. (a) Calculate the mean score. (2 marks) (b) Write an SQL statement that counts how many students scored 80 or above. (2 marks) (c) Suggest one validation rule for the Score field and state the error it prevents. (2 marks) (d) Explain why a validation rule cannot guarantee that the data is correct. (2 marks) | (a) 68 plus 75 plus 88 plus 91 plus 54 equals 376, which divided by 5 gives 75.2 marks. (2 marks) (b) SELECT COUNT(*) FROM STUDENT WHERE Score >= 80; (2 marks) (c) A range check accepting only whole numbers from 0 to 100, which stops entries such as 150 or a negative score. (2 marks) (d) Validation checks only format and range, so typing 78 instead of 88 is still accepted as valid. (2 marks) |
Section B: Programming and algorithms (Q5-Q8)
Explanations must give cause and effect supported by the figures or examples, not mere description.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 5 | The pseudocode below adds the even numbers from 1 to 100: total is set to 0; i is set to 1; while i is no more than 100, repeat: if the remainder of i divided by 2 is 0 then add i to total; add 1 to i; finally output total. (a) State the output and the first two and the last value added. (3 marks) (b) Rewrite it starting from i equal to 2 and adding 2 each time, and state how many times the loop runs. (3 marks) (c) If the condition is changed to remainder equal to 1, state the output and explain why. (3 marks) | (a) The output is 2550; the first two values are 2 and 4 and the last is 100. (3 marks) (b) total is 0, i is 2, and while i is no more than 100 add i to total and add 2 to i; the loop runs 50 times and still outputs 2550. (3 marks) (c) Only odd numbers are added, giving 2500, because the 50 odd numbers from 1 to 99 average 50 and 50 times 50 equals 2500. (3 marks) |
| 6 | The Python function below counts the vowels a, e, i, o and u in a string without regard to case: def count_vowels(s): n is 0; for each character ch in s.lower(), if ch is one of aeiou then add 1 to n; return n. (a) State the value returned when the function is applied to Computer. (2 marks) (b) Explain why s.lower() is called first. (2 marks) (c) Give two test cases, one of them an empty string, with the expected results. (4 marks) | (a) 3, from the letters o, u and e. (2 marks) (b) It converts capitals to lower case so that O and U also match the set aeiou and no vowel is missed. (2 marks) (c) Applied to AEIOU the function should return 5, testing the all-vowel case, and applied to an empty string it should return 0, testing the empty input boundary. (4 marks) |
| 7 | A list holds the values 7, 3, 9, 1 and 5. (a) Write the list after the first pass of a bubble sort into ascending order. (3 marks) (b) Using binary search on the sorted list 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, state each middle value compared when searching for 7. (3 marks) (c) For 1,000 sorted items, compare the worst-case number of comparisons for linear search and for binary search. (3 marks) | (a) 3, 7, 1, 5, 9, with the largest value 9 moved to the end. (3 marks) (b) The middle value 5 is compared first; since 7 is larger the search continues in the right half and 7 is compared next, so two comparisons find it. (3 marks) (c) Linear search needs up to 1,000 comparisons, while binary search halves the range each time and needs about 10, since 2 to the power 10 is 1,024. (3 marks) |
| 8 | A logic circuit outputs true when A and B are both true, or when A is false. (a) Complete the truth table for the four combinations of A and B and give the output of each row. (4 marks) (b) Write a simpler equivalent Boolean expression. (2 marks) (c) Explain the benefit of simplification for the cost of the circuit. (2 marks) | (a) A is 0 and B is 0 gives 1; A is 0 and B is 1 gives 1; A is 1 and B is 0 gives 0; A is 1 and B is 1 gives 1. (4 marks) (b) NOT A OR B, which means A implies B. (2 marks) (c) It needs only one NOT gate and one OR gate, cutting the gate count, the wiring, the cost and the number of failure points. (2 marks) |
Section C: Networks, multimedia and information literacy (Q9-Q12)
Programming and SQL answers must use the language or syntax asked for and state the output or result.
| # | Question | Answer and marking notes |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | A network uses the address 192.168.10.0/24. (a) Write the subnet mask in dotted decimal. (2 marks) (b) State the maximum number of usable hosts on that network. (2 marks) (c) If it is split into four equal subnets, state the new prefix length and the usable hosts per subnet. (3 marks) (d) Give one benefit of subnetting. (2 marks) | (a) 255.255.255.0 (2 marks) (b) 254, which is 2 to the power 8 minus 2. (2 marks) (c) Prefix length 26 with mask 255.255.255.192, giving 2 to the power 6 minus 2, that is 62 usable hosts per subnet. (3 marks) (d) It shrinks the broadcast domain, cuts unnecessary broadcast traffic and lets departments be separated for security. (2 marks) |
| 10 | A 12 MB file is sent over an 8 Mbps link, where 1 MB is 8 Mbit. (a) Calculate the ideal transfer time in seconds. (3 marks) (b) Explain why the actual time is usually longer. (2 marks) (c) State two factors that affect the actual throughput. (3 marks) | (a) 12 times 8 equals 96 Mbit, and 96 divided by 8 equals 12 seconds. (3 marks) (b) Packet headers, acknowledgements and retransmissions consume bandwidth, and congestion adds delay. (2 marks) (c) Any two of the congestion level, the latency and packet loss rate, and the processing capacity of the server. (3 marks) |
| 11 | A web page must show a table with two rows and two columns, where the first row holds the headings Subject and Score. (a) Describe the HTML tag structure needed, naming the table, row, heading and cell tags. (4 marks) (b) Write the inline style that turns a block of text blue. (2 marks) (c) Explain the difference between an ordered list and an unordered list, with one example each. (3 marks) | (a) An outer table tag containing two tr rows; the first tr holds two th headings, Subject and Score, and the second tr holds two td cells with the data. (4 marks) (b) A style attribute set to color: blue. (2 marks) (c) An ordered list numbers the items automatically and suits steps or rankings, while an unordered list uses bullets and suits parallel items such as a list of advantages. (3 marks) |
| 12 | A student receives an email claiming to come from a bank that asks for an online banking password through a link. (a) Name the type of attack and give two signs that reveal it. (3 marks) (b) Compare symmetric and asymmetric encryption in the way keys are used. (3 marks) (c) Explain the purpose of HTTPS on a login page. (2 marks) | (a) Phishing; the sender domain differs from the bank domain, the link points to an unknown address, and the message demands the password urgently. (3 marks) (b) Symmetric encryption uses one shared key at both ends, which is fast but hard to distribute, while asymmetric encryption uses a public key to encrypt and a private key to decrypt, which solves distribution but runs slower. (3 marks) (c) HTTPS encrypts the traffic with TLS, so the password cannot be read or altered on the way and the identity of the site is verified. (2 marks) |
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A TutorZone practice paper; original questions and passages, not publisher material.