1 A school network has several computers.

Each computer in the network has a media access control (MAC) address.
Hexadecimal is used for MAC addresses.
Part of a MAC address is given.
97–5C–E1

Each pair of digits is stored as binary in an 8-bit register.

(a) Complete the binary register for these two pairs of digits.

[4]

(b) Give two other uses of hexadecimal in computer science.

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(c) Another value is stored as binary in a register.

(i) A logical left shift of two places is performed on the binary value.
Complete the binary register to show its contents after this logical left shift.

[1]

(ii) State one effect this logical shift has on the binary value.
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(d) Negative denary numbers can also be represented as binary using two’s complement.
Complete the binary register for the denary value −54.
You must show all your working.
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2 A website hosts videos that users can stream. The company uploads new videos to the website.
(i) The videos are compressed before they are uploaded to the website.

[1]

(ii) Give two methods of compression that could be used to compress the videos.
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3 A computer has a Von Neumann architechure.

(a) Circle three components that are part of the central processing unit (CPU) in this computer.
accumulator (ACC) hard disk drive (HDD) memory address register (MAR)
program counter (PC) random access memory (RAM)
read only memory (ROM) sensor sold state drive (SSD) [3]

(b) Describe the purpose of the control unit (CU) within this computer.
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(c) The computer has a single core CPU.

(i) State one purpose of a core in a CPU.
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(ii) The computer is upgraded to a dual core CPU.
Explain how the upgrade can affect the performance of the computer.
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 (d) The computer uses a bootstrap.

[1]

4 The Unicode character set is used to represent text that is typed into a computer.
(a) Describe what is meant by a character set.
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(b) One disadvantage of using the Unicode character set, instead of the ASCII character set, is
that the text stored takes up more storage space.Give one reason why it takes up more
storage space.
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5 (a) Draw a diagram to represent how virtual memory is created and used.

[4]

(b) A student is using software to create 3D models. This process often requires the use of virtual
memory. Explain why virtual memory is needed for this process.
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6 A student uses a laptop and a calculator for schoolwork.

The laptop has a central processing unit (CPU) that performs the fetch–decode–execute cycle.
The CPU has several components, including the memory data register (MDR) and the arithmetic
logic unit (ALU). Describe how the MDR and the ALU are used in the fetch–decode–execute cycle.
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7 (a) In a computer system the operating system is run directly on the firmware.
Identify which type of software runs directly on the operating system.
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(b) One function of an operating system is to manage interrupts.

Give two examples of when an interrupt would be generated.
Example 1 ..................................................................................................................................
Example 2 ..................................................................................................................................
[2]

8 The following data is stored as a text file:

Explain how lossless compression would compress this file.

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9 A supermarket sells many products. Each product has a barcode.

(a) Explain how the barcode is read at the supermarket checkout and how the price of the product
is found.

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(b) The supermarket stores data using a Solid State Drive (SSD).
(i) Explain how an SSD stores data.
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(ii) One advantage of an SSD rather than a Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is that it has no moving
parts, so it is more durable.
State one other advantage of the supermarket using SSD rather than HDD.
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10 (a) Explain what is meant by primary, secondary and off-line storage. Give an example of each.
Primary storage ........................................................................................................................
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Example ....................................................................................................................................
Secondary storage ...................................................................................................................
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Example ....................................................................................................................................
Off-line storage .........................................................................................................................
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(b) A set of photographs has been taken for a wedding. All the guests are to be sent digitally stored
copies through the ordinary postal service. There are fifty photographs and each photograph is
between 1.8 and 2.5 mebibytes in size. Work out the maximum storage space required for a set of
photographs. State, with a reason, a suitable medium to use for the copies to be sent to the
guests.
Maximum storage space ..........................................................................................................
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Medium .....................................................................................................................................
Reason .....................................................................................................................................
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11 The CPU performs a cycle to process data. Fetch is the first stage in this cycle.
State the names of the second and third stages in the cycle.
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