Category Archives: 6. External Sites

Mock Coursework

I thought it was worth while sharing the following with you, it was taken from last years coursework.

Teacher’s notes

Should candidates select a digital camera not capable of the required magnification an additional lens must be purchased and included in the cost of the camera. The magnification capability of the lens may then be used in the comparison of the two digital cameras.
Candidates should be encouraged to list the specification of their hardware/software in the form of a table. Note that a table on its own should not be regarded as a comparison.
Please note that when identifying two suitable external solid state drives, hard disk drives are not suitable.
The data transfer rate of the solid state drive may be taken from the type of interface (eg USB 3.0 or Firewire). Evidence of this must be included.

Marking Scheme

Each hardware/software requirement should be marked as follows:
  • Identification – candidates should show evidence that they have correctly identified two items that have matched the requirements. A table is recommended for this purpose.
  • Comparison – candidates should discuss the specification of each item in terms of the context of the Biology field trip.
  • Recommendation – candidates should identify one item and clearly justify why they have selected that item over the other.

As you can see from the last section the Comparison is of each device to the specification and the Recommendation if of the devices with each other but in the context of the task.

Description of Unicode and its advantages over American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII)

ASCII and UNICODE are both used to represent text in computer systems.
(a) Describe one advantage of UNICODE over ASCII.
(b) Describe one disadvantage of UNICODE over ASCII.

The contents of the “DateofBirth” variable are to be held in memory in ASCII format. Calculate the minimum amount of memory required to store the contents of this variable.

Description of the relationship between the number of bits assigned to the mantissa/exponent and the range and precision of floating point numbers

  1. When storing a 32-bit floating point number, 24 bits are allocated to the mantissa and 8 to the exponent. What is the effect on the precision and the range of the numbers available if the allocation is changed to a 16-bit exponent and a 16-bit mantissa? (2)
  2. In floating point notation what defines
    (i) the range
    (ii) the precision or accuracy
    of the numbers stored (1)