Cambridge International AS & A Level

* 9 3 7 1 4 3 4 8 3 7 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9618/11

Paper 1 Theory Fundamentals October/November 2022

1 hour 30 minutes

You must answer on the question paper.

No additional materials are needed.

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
● Calculators must not be used in this paper.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 75.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
● No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

This document has 20 pages. Any blank pages are indicated.

DC (CJ/CT) 302751/2
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1 (a) (i) Convert the unsigned binary integer into denary.

00100111

Answer ........................................................................................................................ [1]

(ii) Convert the Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) into denary.

00100111

Answer ........................................................................................................................ [1]

(iii) Convert the 8-bit two’s complement binary integer into denary.

11100111

Answer ........................................................................................................................ [1]

(b) Perform the following binary subtraction. Show your working.

1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1
_ 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 1

[2]

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(c) Give one similarity and two differences between the ASCII and Unicode character sets.

Similarity ...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Difference 1 ..............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Difference 2 ..............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[3]

(d) Sound samples are recorded and saved in a file.

(i) State what is meant by sampling rate.

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(ii) Explain the effect of increasing the sampling resolution on the sound file.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [2]

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2 Draw one line from each security feature to its most appropriate description.

Security feature Description

converts data to an
alternative form

firewall

redirects a user to a fake

website

pharming

verifies the authenticity of

data

anti-virus software

scans files on the hard drive

for malicious software

encryption

accepts or rejects incoming

and outgoing packets based
on criteria

[4]

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3 (a) Draw a logic circuit for the logic expression:

X = NOT ((NOT A AND NOT B) OR (NOT B AND NOT C))

B X

[2]

(b) Complete the truth table for the logic expression:

X = NOT ((NOT A AND NOT B) OR (NOT B AND NOT C))

Working space
A B C X

0 0 0

0 0 1

0 1 0

0 1 1

1 0 0

1 0 1

1 1 0

1 1 1
[2]

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4 A photographer creates a relational database to store data about photographs taken at birthday
parties.

The database, PHOTOGRAPHS, stores details of the customer, the party, the photographs taken
and the cameras used.

The photographer has several cameras that are used for taking the photographs at the parties.

Each camera has a specific lens type (for example, XY32Z) and lighting type (for example, F1672).

Data about each photograph is stored in the database including the party at which it was taken,
the time it was taken and the camera used.

The database has these four tables:

CUSTOMER(CustomerID, FirstName, LastName, Telephone)

PARTY(PartyID, CustomerID, PartyDate, StartTime)

PHOTO_DATA(PhotoID, PartyID, TimeTaken, CameraID)

CAMERA_DATA(CameraID, LensType, LightingType)

(a) Complete the entity-relationship (E-R) diagram for the database PHOTOGRAPHS.

PARTY CUSTOMER

PHOTO_DATA CAMERA_DATA

[3]

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(b) The database is normalised and is in Third Normal Form (3NF).

Describe the characteristics of a database that is in Third Normal Form (3NF).

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [3]

(c) The table shows some sample data for the table PHOTO_DATA.

PhotoID PartyID TimeTaken CameraID

ST23-56 BD987 08:34 NIK-02

ST23-57 BD987 08:55 NIK-02

ST23-60 BC08 09:01 CAN-01

ST23-61 BC08 10:23 CAN-12

ST23-62 BC08 10:56 NIK-01

(i) State what is meant by a tuple. Give an example of a tuple from PHOTO_DATA.

Tuple .................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

Example ............................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
[2]

(ii) Complete the Structured Query Language (SQL) script to display the total number of
photographs that have been taken using a camera with a camera ID starting with CAN.

SELECT ........................................................ (................................................................)

FROM .........................................................................................

WHERE CameraID LIKE .................................................................................. ;

[4]

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(d) Write an SQL script to include two new fields in CAMERA_DATA to store the number of
photographs currently on the camera and the date the camera was last used.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [3]

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Question 5 begins on page 10.

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5 (a) State what is meant by the stored program concept in the Von Neumann model of a
computer system.

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [1]

(b) A Central Processing Unit (CPU) contains several special purpose registers and other
components.

(i) State the role of the following registers.

Program Counter (PC) ......................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

Index Register (IX) ............................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

Status Register (SR) .........................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
[3]

(ii) Tick () one box in each row to identify the system bus used by each CPU component.

CPU component Data bus Address bus Control bus

System clock

Memory Address Register (MAR)

[1]

(iii) Describe the purpose of the Control Unit (CU) in a CPU.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [2]

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(c) Describe the purpose of an interrupt in a computer system.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [2]

(d) Identify two causes of a software interrupt.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

2 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[2]

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6 The following table shows part of the instruction set for a processor. The processor has one
general purpose register, the Accumulator (ACC), and an Index Register (IX).

Instruction
Explanation
Opcode Operand
LDM #n Immediate addressing. Load the number n to ACC
LDD <address> Direct addressing. Load the contents of the location at the given
address to ACC
LDX <address> Indexed addressing. Form the address from <address> + the
contents of the index register. Copy the contents of this calculated
address to ACC
LDR #n Immediate addressing. Load the number n to IX
STO <address> Store contents of ACC at the given address
ADD <address> Add the contents of the given address to the ACC
ADD #n Add the denary number n to the ACC
INC <register> Add 1 to the contents of the register (ACC or IX)
CMP #n Compare the contents of ACC with number n
JPE <address> Following a compare instruction, jump to <address> if the
compare was True
JPN <address> Following a compare instruction, jump to <address> if the
compare was False
OUT Output to the screen the character whose ASCII value is stored in
ACC
END Return control to the operating system
<address> can be an absolute or a symbolic address
# denotes a denary number, e.g. #123
B denotes a binary number, e.g. B01001101

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(a) The current contents of main memory and selected values from the ASCII character set are
given.

(i) Trace the program currently in memory using the trace table.

Instruction Memory address

ACC IX Output
Address Instruction address 100 101 110 111 112
77 LDR #0
0 0 66 65 35
78 LDX 110
79 CMP #35
80 JPE 92
81 ADD 100
82 STO 101
83 LDM #1
84 ADD 100
85 STO 100
86 INC IX
87 LDX 110
88 CMP #35
89 JPN 81
90 LDD 100
91 ADD #48
92 OUT
93 END
…
100 0
101 0
…
110 66
111 65
112 35

ASCII
Character
value
49 1
50 2
51 3
52 4

65 A
66 B
67 C
68 D

[4]
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(ii) The following instructions are repeated for your reference.

Instruction
Explanation
Opcode Operand
LDD <address> Direct addressing. Load the contents of the location at the given
address to ACC
STO <address> Store contents of ACC at the given address

State the purpose of this part of an assembly language program.

LDD 100
STO 165
LDD 101
STO 100
LDD 165
STO 101
...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
[1]

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Question 6(b) begins on page 16.

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(b) The following table shows another part of the instruction set for the processor.

Instruction
Explanation
Opcode Operand
AND #n Bitwise AND operation of the contents of ACC with the operand
AND Bn Bitwise AND operation of the contents of ACC with the binary number n
XOR #n Bitwise XOR operation of the contents of ACC with the operand
XOR Bn Bitwise XOR operation of the contents of ACC with the binary number n
OR #n Bitwise OR operation of the contents of ACC with the operand
OR Bn Bitwise OR operation of the contents of ACC with the binary number n
LSR #n Bits in ACC are shifted logically n places to the right. Zeros are
introduced on the left-hand end
<address> can be an absolute or a symbolic address
# denotes a denary number, e.g. #123
B denotes a binary number, e.g. B01001101

(i) The current contents of the ACC are:

1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1

Show the result after the execution of the following instruction.

XOR B00011111
...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

[1]

(ii) The current contents of the ACC are:

1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1

Show the result after the execution of the following instruction.

AND B11110000
...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

[1]
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(iii) The current contents of the ACC are:

1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1

Show the result after the execution of the following instruction.

OR B11001100
...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

[1]
(iv) The current contents of the ACC are:

1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1

Show the result after the execution of the following instruction.

LSR #2
...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

[1]

(c) Tick (3) one or more boxes in each row to indicate whether the task is performed in the first
pass or the second pass of a two-pass assembler.

Task First pass Second pass

Remove comments.

Read the assembly language program one line at a time.

Generate the object code.

Check the opcode is in the instruction set.

[2]

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7 (a) State two benefits to a programmer of using Dynamic Link Library (DLL) files.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

2 ................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[2]

(b) Memory management is one of the tasks performed by an Operating System (OS).

Describe the ways in which memory management organises and allocates Random Access
Memory (RAM).

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [2]

(c) An Operating System may include a utility program to compress text files.

Describe one appropriate method of compressing a text file.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [3]

(d) Explain the reasons why increasing the amount of cache memory can improve the
performance of a CPU.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [2]

(e) State the name of a peripheral device port that provides a physical connection in the computer
for each of these peripherals.

3D printer ..................................................................................................................................

Monitor ......................................................................................................................................
[2]
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8 A Local Area Network (LAN) uses a bus topology.

Describe how Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detection (CSMA / CD) is used in a bus
network.

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................................... [4]

9 Many modern televisions are examples of embedded systems.

(a) Explain why these televisions are embedded systems.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [2]

(b) Embedded systems use Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM).

Describe one benefit of using EEPROMs in an embedded system.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [2]

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