Cambridge Assessment International Education

Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education

COMPUTER SCIENCE 0478/21

Paper 2 Problem-solving and Programming October/November 2024
MARK SCHEME

PRE-STANDARDISATION

MAXIMUM MARK: 75

This document consists of ?? printed pages.

© UCLES 2024 [Turn over

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

Generic Marking Principles
These general marking principles must be applied by all examiners when marking candidate answers. They
should be applied alongside the specific content of the mark scheme or generic level descriptors for a
question. Each question paper and mark scheme will also comply with these marking principles.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 1:

Marks must be awarded in line with:

 the specific content of the mark scheme or the generic level descriptors for the question
 the specific skills defined in the mark scheme or in the generic level descriptors for the question
 the standard of response required by a candidate as exemplified by the standardisation scripts.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 2:

Marks awarded are always whole marks (not half marks, or other fractions).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 3:

Marks must be awarded positively:

 marks are awarded for correct/valid answers, as defined in the mark scheme. However, credit is given
for valid answers which go beyond the scope of the syllabus and mark scheme, referring to your Team
Leader as appropriate
 marks are awarded when candidates clearly demonstrate what they know and can do
 marks are not deducted for errors
 marks are not deducted for omissions
 answers should only be judged on the quality of spelling, punctuation and grammar when these
features are specifically assessed by the question as indicated by the mark scheme. The meaning,
however, should be unambiguous.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 4:

Rules must be applied consistently e.g. in situations where candidates have not followed instructions or in
the application of generic level descriptors.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 5:

Marks should be awarded using the full range of marks defined in the mark scheme for the question
(however; the use of the full mark range may be limited according to the quality of the candidate responses
seen).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 6:

Marks awarded are based solely on the requirements as defined in the mark scheme. Marks should not be
awarded with grade thresholds or grade descriptors in mind.

This document consists of ?? printed pages.

© UCLES 2024 [Turn over

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

Please note the following further points:

Please also read the additional guidance in the mark scheme, it provides further information
about how to mark the question.
Please annotate your scripts. The number of ticks given must match the number of marks
given.
If you award a benefit of doubt (BOD) mark, this must also have a tick.
The sections in brackets in the mark scheme are not necessary in the candidates answer.
The words in bold in the mark scheme are important text that needs to be present, or some
notion of it needs to be present. It doesn’t have to be the exact word, but something close to
the meaning.
If a word is underlined, this exact word must be present.
A single forward slash means this is an alternative word. A double forward slash means that
this is an alternative mark point.
Red text in the mark scheme is a response that we think it just about okay, but that will not
be published as a response.
Ellipsis (…) on the end of one mark point and the start of the next means that the candidate
cannot get the second mark point without being awarded the first one.
Please inform your team leader when you have submitted your standardisation scripts. They
may have many examiners that they are monitoring, so may not see your submission
immediately.
The mark scheme has been agreed at standardisation, so it is the AE’s responsibility to
apply it. You may have differing opinions on how the paper should be marked, but the mark
scheme is what has been agreed by a panel and AE’s are required to apply it.
Please mark your allocation at a steady rate. If you are not able to mark your allocation for
a number of days, inform your team leader, do not wait for them to have to chase you.
Please ensure that you meet the 40% deadline. If you are not close to or meeting this at the
40% deadline, some of your allocation may be reallocated. If you are going to struggle with
this deadline, you must inform your team leader ASAP.
There are blank pages at the start of the exam paper. These needs to be annotated with a
SEEN annotation, to indicate it has been checked for any further responses.
If a candidate writes outside the zoned area for the question, this must be linked to the
response, even if it is not awarded a mark. This demonstrates at EAR that you did read this
part of the response.
If a candidate has crossed out the final section of a response to a question and has not
written anything after the crossed-out work, the crossed-out work must be marked.

This document consists of ?? printed pages.

© UCLES 2024 [Turn over

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

Mechanics of Marking:
Every mark given should have a corresponding tick on the script. The number of
ticks on each (part) question should match the number of marks awarded for that
(part) question. If giving Benefit of Doubt, the BOD must be accompanied by a tick.

If a candidate has not given a response or the response is in no way related to the
question, such as ‘don’t know’, NR (the Hash key) should be awarded rather than
zero.

Every part question must be annotated to show that it has been read even if
awarding NR. Please ensure that all part questions that are marked as NR are also
annotated with the SEEN icon. This is a requirement of RM3.

There are 2 blank pages at the start of each script that must be annotated with the
SEEN icon. ☹

NEW: Words or phrases that are underlined, must be present in the candidate’s
answer. Words or phrases that are emboldened indicate that the idea
represented by the bold text must be included.

Even though the comments box is visible at the bottom of the screen, please do not
put comments or question marks on the scripts. When scripts are returned to
centres all the annotations including comments, are visible.

If work has been crossed out and something written in its place, the replacement
work is marked even if the crossed-out work is correct. If the crossed-out work has
not been replaced, mark the crossed-out answer. Please also annotate the
unmarked work as SEEN, especially if the replacement answer is on a separate sheet.

For single mark answers, mark the first answer on the line, unless there is a note to
the contrary on the mark scheme.

If a candidate writes something that is not enough (NE) for a mark, but is not
actually incorrect, continue reading, even if the mark scheme says, for example,
mark first two answers.

This document consists of ?? printed pages.

© UCLES 2024 [Turn over

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
Question Answer Marks Guidance

1 D 1
2 C 1
3 One mark for each correct line 4 PE: AND could be given as
Operator Operator type logical which may also be
correct, hence change of
>= question to one or more lines.

Boolean

AND

Arithmetic

DIV

Logical
+

4 One mark for each point 3

 analysis
 design
 testing

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
Question Answer Marks Guidance

5 One mark for each method identified, one mark for a further description, max six 6 Example answers only given,
 structure diagram (1) a hierarchical diagram showing the breakdown of a computer program many possible correct
into sub-programs (1) descriptions
 flowchart (1) a diagram showing the ordered steps to complete a computer program (1)
 pseudocode (1) shows what a program does in plain language (1)
6(a) One mark for each point, max three 3
 06 T  0
 08 IF A[C] = 0
 14 NEXT C // NEXT
6(b) One mark for outputting T 3 Example answers only given,
One mark for outputting I many possible correct messages
One mark for suitable messages

Example
15 OUTPUT "Number of zeros in the array is ", T
16 OUTPUT "Total of non-zero elements in the array is ", I
6(c) One mark for a meaningful identifier for the array 3 Example answers only given,
A MyArray many possible meaningful
identifiers
One mark for 2 meaningful identifiers Identifiers do not need to begin
Two marks for 3 meaningful identifiers with a matching letter
T Counter
C Index
I Total

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
Question Answer Marks Guidance

7(a) One mark for each point 3

 NOT X
 Y XOR Z
 expression correct NOT X OR (Y XOR Z) // (Y XOR Z) OR NOT X
7(b) 4 marks for 8 correct outputs 4
3 marks for 6/7 correct outputs
2 marks for 4/5 correct outputs
1 mark for 2/3 correct outputs

X Y Z W

0 0 0 1

0 0 1 1

0 1 0 1

0 1 1 1

1 0 0 0

1 0 1 1

1 1 0 1

1 1 1 0

Question Answer Marks Guidance

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
Question Answer Marks Guidance

8(a) 6
One mark
START
 correct use of flowchart symbols
 working flowlines
INPUT Password  input correct
 working length check
 working comparison
 correct output messages
IS Length No
Password >= 8 ?

Yes

IS Password <> No
OldPass?

Yes
OUTPUT
OUTPUT
"rejected"
"accepted"

STOP

8(b) One mark for each point 3 Example answers

OPENFILE MyPassword.txt FOR WRITE only given
WRITEFILE MyPassword.txt, Password Check use of " at
CLOSEFILE MyPassword.txt STM

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
Question Answer Marks Guidance

8(c) One mark for each point 2

 needs to be retrieved on demand // saved for a later date
 storage must be non-volatile
9(a) One mark for each error identified and correction max 4 4
 Line 03 Temp should be Temperature
 Line 04 = should be <>
 Line 14 OR should be AND
 Line 19 WHILE should be UNTIL
01 REPEAT
02 OUTPUT "Please enter temperature "
03 INPUT Temperature
04 IF Temperature <> 999
05 THEN
06 IF Temperature > 38.0
07 THEN
08 OUTPUT "Temperature too high"
09 ENDIF
10 IF Temperature < 35.0
11 THEN
12 OUTPUT "Temperature too low"
13 ENDIF
14 IF Temperature >= 35.0 AND Temperature <= 38.0
15 THEN
16 OUTPUT "Temperature normal"
17 ENDIF
18 ENDIF

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
Question Answer Marks Guidance

19 UNTIL Temperature = 999

9(b) One mark for each point max two 2 One mark if only
 greater than or equal to 35 the two ends of the
 and less than or equal to 38 range identified

9(c) One mark for each correct column max two 2

Temperature OUTPUT

(Please enter temperature)

34.22 Temperature too low

(Please enter temperature)

36.1 Temperature normal

(Please enter temperature)

37.4 Temperature normal

(Please enter temperature)

38.0 Temperature normal

(Please enter temperature)

999

10

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
10(a) 19 1
10(b)(i) ChNo 1 BOD CHNO etc
10(b)(ii) Unique identifier 1
10(c) One mark for each 2
CH04 0 Discuss
CH05 50 capitalisation and
fields allowed in
10(d)(i) One mark each correct clause 3
SELECT Name SELECT clause at
FROM CheeseStock STM
WHERE NOT InStock // WHERE WeightKg = 0;
10(d)(ii) One mark for each point max two 2 Please clip 10(d)(i)
 WHERE clause can check either the InStock field for FALSE or with this
 the WeightKg field for 0

11

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
Question Answer Marks

11 Read the whole answer: 15

Check if each requirement listed below has been met. Requirements may be met using a suitable built-in
function from the programming language used (Python, VB or Java)
On script tick if requirement met, cross if no attempt seen, omission mark and/or comment if partially met (see marked
scripts).
Use the tables for AO2 and AO3 below to award a mark in a suitable band using a best fit approach
Then add up the total.
Marks are available for:
 AO2 (maximum 9 marks)
 AO3 (maximum 6 marks)

Data Structures required names shown underlined must be used as given in the scenario
1D Array or list MemberName[], MemberTime[], MemberCertificate[], Position[]
Variables Index, Last, ClubSize, TempTime, TempName, Swap, Count

Requirements (techniques)
R1 Input and verify the members times (input and iteration)
R2 sort the MemberName[] and MemberTime[] arrays in ascending order of time and outputs the top three members
and their times (nested iteration, sorting, selection and output)
R3 Storing the members names who will receive a certificate and outputting the number of certificates (iteration, selection,
counting and output)
Example 15 mark answer in pseudocode

CONSTANT ClubSize = 200 // setting the number of members in the club

DECLARE Array Position[1:3} STRING
Position[1]  "First"
Position[2]  "Second"
Position[3]  "Third"

FOR Index  1 TO ClubSize //200

12

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
Question Answer Marks

REPEAT
PRINT "Please enter the time for ", MemberName[Index]
INPUT Time1
PRINT “Please re-enter the time”
INPUT Time2
IF Time1 <> Time2
THEN
PRINT “Incorrect input, the times should be the same, please re-enter”
ENDIF
UNTIL Time1 == Time2
MemberTime[Index]  Time1
NEXT Index

Last ClubSize
REPEAT
Swap  FALSE
FOR Index  1 TO ClubSize - 1
IF MemberTime[Index] > MemberTime[Index + 1]
THEN
TempTime  MemberTime[Index]
MemberTime[Index]  MemberTime[Index + 1]
MemberTime[Index + 1]  TempTime
TempName  MemberName[Index]
MemberName[Index]  MemberName[Index + 1]
MemberName[Index + 1]  TempName
Swap  TRUE
ENDIF
NEXT Index
Last  Last - 1
UNTIL NOT Swap or Last = 1

FOR Index  1 TO 3

13

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

 0478/21 Cambridge IGCSE - Mark Scheme October/November 2024
PRE-STANDARDISATION
Question Answer Marks

OUTPUT Position[Index], MemberName[Index], " with a time of ", MemberTime[Index]

NEXT Index

Count  0

FOR Index  1 TO ClubSize//200

IF MemberTime[Index] < 240
THEN
Count  Count + 1
MemberCertificate[Count]  MemberName[Index]
ENDIF
NEXT Index

OUTPUT "Number of certificates to be printed is ", Count

14

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

Marking Instructions in italics

AO2: Apply knowledge and understanding of the principles and concepts of computer science to a given context, including the
analysis and design of computational or programming problems

0 1-3 4-6 7-9

At least one programming Some programming techniques used are The range of programming techniques
technique has been used. appropriate to the problem. used is appropriate to the problem.
Any use of selection, iteration, More than one technique seen applied to All criteria stated for the scenario have
been covered by the use of appropriate
counting, totalling, input and the scenario, check list of techniques programming techniques, check list of
No creditable output. needed.
response. techniques needed.
Some data has been stored but not Some of the data structures chosen are The data structures chosen are
appropriately. appropriate and store some of the data appropriate and store all the data
Any use of variables or arrays or required. required.
other language dependent data More than one data structure used to The data structures used store all the
structures e.g. Python lists. store data required by the scenario. data required by the scenario.

Page 15

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro

Marking Instructions in italics

AO3: Provide solutions to problems by:

evaluating computer systems making reasoned judgements presenting conclusions

0 1-2 3-4 5-6

Program seen without relevant Program seen with some relevant

The program has been fully commented
comments. comment(s).

Suitable identifiers with names meaningful

Some identifier names used are The majority of identifiers used are
to their purpose have been used
appropriate appropriately named.
throughout.
Some of the data structures used Most of the data structures used have
All of the data structures used have
have meaningful names. meaningful names.
meaningful names.

The solution contains parts that may be

The solution is illogical. The program is in a logical order.
illogical.
No creditable
response. The solution contains parts that are
The solution is inaccurate in many
inaccurate. The solution is accurate.
places.
Solution contains lines of code with some Solution logically performs all the tasks
Solution contains few lines of code
errors that logically perform tasks given given in the scenario. Ignore minor syntax
with errors that attempt to perform
in the scenario. Ignore minor syntax errors.
a task given in the scenario.
errors.

The solution attempts at least one

The solution meets most of the The solution meets all the requirements
of the requirements.
requirements. given in the question.
Solution contains lines of code that
Solution contains lines of code that Solution performs all the tasks given in
attempt at least one task given in
perform most tasks given in the scenario. the scenario.
the scenario.

Page 16

downloaded from https://pseudocode.pro