Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes
A computer system uses the Von Neumann architecture.
(a) Describe the three stages of the Fetch-Execute Cycle.
(b) Identify the specific function of the following CPU components:
ALU:
CU:
(c) A user doubles the clock speed of their CPU. Explain why this might not always double the performance of the system.
Computer storage is measured in various units.
(a) Place the following units in order of size, from smallest to largest:
Terabyte, Nibble, Petabyte, Gigabyte, Byte, Megabyte
(b) A professional photographer uses an SD card with a capacity of 16 Gigabytes (GB). Each high-resolution photo is 2 Megabytes (MB) in size.
Calculate how many photos can be stored on the SD card. Show your working. (Assume 1 GB = 1,000 MB).
Binary and Hexadecimal representation.
(a) Convert the denary number 165 into an 8-bit binary number.
(b) Convert the binary number 1011 0011 into hexadecimal.
(c) Add these two 8-bit binary numbers together. Identify if an overflow occurs and explain what this means.
1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0
+ 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1
-----------------
(d) Perform a binary shift left of 2 places on the binary number 0000 1101 and state the new denary value.
Images are represented digitally using pixels.
(a) Explain how a black and white image is represented as a series of pixels in binary.
(b) Metadata is often stored within an image file. Identify three examples of metadata.
(c) A designer decides to increase the colour depth of an image from 8 bits to 24 bits. Describe the effect this will have on the quality and the file size of the image.
Compression is used to reduce the size of files.
(a) Give two reasons why a video streaming service would use compression for its content.
(b) Compare Lossy and Lossless compression. Include one example of a file type for each.
(c) Justify why a software developer would choose Lossless compression for distributing their program's source code.
Networks and Security.
(a) Describe the role of a Wireless Access Point (WAP) and a Network Interface Controller (NIC) in a Local Area Network.
(b) Explain how a Brute-force attack is carried out and identify one way it can be prevented.
Discuss the Ethical, Legal, and Privacy issues associated with the use of AI-driven facial recognition in public spaces.
In your answer, you should consider: