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9618/12 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme October/November
PUBLISHED 2021

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.

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9618/12 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme October/November
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Question Answer Marks

1 1 mark for 3 correct lines only from Data Security 2

1 mark for 2 correct lines only from Data Integrity

Firewall

Double entry Data Security

Presence check

Access rights Data Integrity

Password

Question Answer Marks

2(a) 1 mark for each completely correct truth table 2

NOR
A B Output

0 0 1

0 1 0

1 0 0

1 1 0

NAND
A B Output

0 0 1

0 1 1

1 0 1

1 1 0

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9618/12 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme October/November
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Question Answer Marks

2(b) 1 mark for each correct bullet point 2

• NOT (A AND B) // A NAND B

• NOT the result AND C // the result NAND C

OR

Question Answer Marks

3(a) 1 mark for each bullet point to max 3 3

• The microphone has a diaphragm / ribbon

• The incoming sound waves cause vibrations of the diaphragm
• … causing a coil to move past a magnet // causing a magnet to move
past a coil (dynamic microphone) // changing the capacitance (condenser
microphone) // deforms the crystal (crystal microphone)
• An electrical signal is produced

3(b)(i) 1 mark for identification of star topology 2

1 mark for justification

Devices are connected directly to the router independently
// all devices are only connected to the router

3(b)(ii) 1 mark for each correct function to max 3 3

• To receive packets from devices or the Internet

• To forward / route packets to the destination
• To find the destination of the packet
• To assign / allocate private IP addresses to devices on LAN
• To store / update / maintain a routing table
• To find the most efficient path to the destination
• To maintain a table of MAC and IP addresses

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9618/12 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme October/November
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Question Answer Marks

4(a) 205 1

4(b) – 51 1

4(c) CD 1

4(d) 1 mark for: 1

The denary value in each group of 4 bits is greater than 9

// the denary value in each nibble is greater than 9

4(e)(i) 1 mark for working, 1 mark for answer 2

0011 1101
+0010 1101
0110 1010
111 1 1

4(e)(ii) 1 mark for working, 1 mark for answer 2

0011 1101
+1101 0011 (two’s complement)
0001 0000
1111 111

Question Answer Marks

5(a) 1 mark for each description,1 mark for each valid example 4

Term Description Example from logo

data about the shapes e.g.

// defines one aspect of the black line // white fill // black fill
Property
appearance of the drawing //solid (line) // font of letter //
object colour of triangle

the list of shapes involved in e.g.

an image triangle // capital letter R //
Drawing
// a list that stores the rectangle // line
list
command/description required
to draw each object

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9618/12 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme October/November
PUBLISHED 2021

Question Answer Marks

5(b)(i) 1 mark for each bullet point to max 2 for each difference 4

• Bitmap made up of pixels // bitmap is made of colours stored for

individual pixels
• Vector graphic store a set of instructions about how to draw the shape

• When bitmap is enlarged the pixels get bigger and it pixelates

• When vector is enlarged it is recalculated and does not pixelate

• Bitmap files are usually bigger than vector graphics files because of the
need to store data about each pixel
• Vector graphics have smaller file size because they contain just the
instructions to create the shapes

• Bitmap images can be compressed with significant reduction in file size

• Vector graphic images do not compress well because of little redundant
data

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9618/12 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme October/November
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Question Answer Marks

6(a)(ii) 1 mark for each correct relationship 3

PLANT CUSTOMER

PURCHASE_ITEM PURCHASE

6(b) 1 mark for description of purpose 3

• Stores metadata about the database

1 mark for each example of contents to max 2

e.g.
• field / attribute names
• table name
• validation rules
• data types
• primary keys // foreign keys
• relationships

6(c)(i) 1 mark for each correctly completed space 4

SELECT SUM(Quantity)
FROM PURCHASE_ITEM
WHERE PurchaseID = "3011A";

6(c)(ii) 1 mark per bullet point 3

• ALTER TABLE PURCHASE

• ADD OrderDate
• Suitable data type, e.g. DATE

ALTER TABLE PURCHASE

ADD OrderDate DATE;

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9618/12 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme October/November
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Question Answer Marks

7(a) 1 mark per pair of rows (shaded & unshaded) 3

Event Hardware Software

Interrupt Interrupt

Buffer full 
1
Printer is out of paper 

User has pressed a key on the keyboard 

1
Division by zero 

Power failure 
1
Stack overflow 

7(b) 1 mark for each bullet point to max 4 4

• Storage space is divided into file allocation units

• Space is allocated to particular files
• Maintains / creates directory structures
• Specifies the logical method of file storage (e.g. FAT or NTFS)
• Provides file naming conventions
• Controls access // implements access rights // implements password
protection // Makes file sharing possible
• Specifies tasks that can be performed on a file (e.g. open, close, delete,
copy, create, move etc.)

7(c) 1 mark for identifying program 1 mark for description, max 2 per program 4
e.g.
• Defragmentation
• Less time is taken to access files because each one is contiguous so
there is less head movement

• Virus checker
• makes more RAM available for programs to run
• ... because it removes software that might be taking up memory /
replicating

• Disk repair / Disk contents analysis

• preventing bad sectors being used because it identifies / marks them
• reduces access times by optimising storage

• Disk/system clean up
• releases storage by removing unwanted / temporary files

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9618/12 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme October/November
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Question Answer Marks

8(a)(i) 1 mark for each bullet point to max 2 for each register 4

MAR
• Stores the next address to be fetched
• ... held in the Program Counter (PC)
• The data at this address is then fetched

MDR
• Stores the data from the address pointed to by the MAR
• The data in it is copied to the Current Instruction Register (CIR)

8(a)(ii) 1 mark for a correct register 1

e.g.
Program Counter (PC)
Current Instruction Register (CIR)
Status register
Interrupt register

8(b)(i) 1 mark for each correct answer 4

Current contents of New contents of

Instruction
the ACC the ACC

01010101 XOR 101 1010 0101

11110000 AND 104 1111 0000

00001111 LSL #4 1111 0000

11111111 OR 102 1111 1111

8(b)(ii) 1 mark for each correct instruction 4

Instruction Group Instruction

Data movement LDM #2

Input and output of data IN / OUT

Arithmetic Operations INC ACC / INC IX

Unconditional and conditional instructions JPN 100 / JMP 100

Compare instructions CMP 100

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9618/12 Cambridge International AS & A Level – Mark Scheme October/November
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Question Answer Marks

8(b)(iii) 1 mark for name, 1 mark for description 2

• Indirect addressing
• the address to be used is at the given address

• Relative addressing
• the address to be used is an offset number of locations away, relative to
the address of the current instruction

• Indexed addressing
• form the address from the given address plus the contents of the index
register

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