GCE 2011 PAPER 2

1. (a) A typical computer keyboard comprises amongst others, function keys, navigation
keys, numeric keypad and alphanumeric keys. Give the function of each of these sections of
the keyboard. (4 marks)
(b) State what you understand by
(i) Output devices
(ii) Softcopy output
(iii) Hardcopy output
(i) Pointing devices (4 marks)
(c) Briefly describe the four features that are common to spreadsheets and word
processors (4 marks)
(d) Study the spreadsheet of figure 1 and answer the questions that follow

(i) State two common uses of spreadsheets

(2 marks)
(ii) By using cell references, state a spreadsheet formula that gives the cost of
grape fruits (2 marks)
(iii) Briefly explain how you can use this formula to calculate the costs of other
fruits. (3 marks)
(iv) By using cell references, state a spreadsheet function that can be used to give
the total cost of all fruits.
(1 mark)
2. (a) State the difference between data and information. Illustrate your answer with an
example. (4 marks)
(b) Briefly explain the difference between specialist software and tailor-made software.
(4 marks)
(c) What do you understand by the following properties of software?
(i) Reliability
(ii) Efficiency
(iii) Usability
(6 marks)
(d) Briefly explain how an organization may protect its data by
(i) Encryption
 (ii) Backup
(4 marks)
State two properties of good passwords
(2 marks)

3. (a) (i) Explain how an electronic beam from a cathode ray tube (CRT) of a
computer monitor results in images printed on a CRT screen.
(3 marks)
(ii) List two advantages of flat panel display over CRT screens
(2 marks)
(b) (i) What is the difference between impact and non-impact printers
(2 marks)
(ii) List two examples of impact printers and two examples of non-impact
printers (2 marks)
(c) A company has two branch offices, one in Buea and the other in Bamenda. The
company regularly exchanges digital data between two computers, one in each of the branches, over a
public telephone line.
(i) Describe the connection that is done at each branch office to enable the
computers to communicate with each other.
(3 marks)
(ii) Describe what happens to data at the sending and receiving ends of the
communication.
(4 marks)
(d) The Buea branch office now decides to establish a LAN using a star topology.
Explain how this could be done.
(4 marks)

4. (a) Any computer operation can be simplified into three major stages.
(i) List these stages
(2 marks)
(ii) Give one hardware component (device) used at each stage in (a) above
(2 marks)
(iii) Briefly explain each of the stages
(6 marks)
(b) Distinguish between random access memory (RAM) and the read only memory
(ROM) (2 marks)
(c) The management of a hospital wants to introduce a computerized system for patient’s
record keeping and the scheduling of patients appointments with the doctors.
(i) What category of application software would you recommend for data
handling? Give reasons for your choice
(3 marks)
(ii) Give two examples of this category of application software
(2 marks)
(iii) Give two advantages and two disadvantages of using a generic software
package over a tailor made software
(4 marks)
 5. (a) (i) State the main use of primary storage
(1 mark)
(ii) Give two reasons why secondary storage is needed in a computer
(2 marks)
(b) In relation to computer storage, state the meaning of each of the following:
(i) Random access
(ii) Read only
(iii) Read/write
(3 marks)
(c) (i) What does the acronym ASCII stand for?
(1 mark)
(ii) The ASCII code for letter A is 6510 . Calculate the ASCII representation of
letter A in binary.
(4 marks)
(d) The number of binary signals that can be represented by a binary number with n bits
is 2n.
(i) How many signals can be represented using 3 bits?
(2 marks)
(ii) Write the binary representation of all signals referred to, in (i) above
(4 marks)
Assume that a “0” means that a light bulb is OFF and a “1” means that a light bulb is
ON:
(iii) Write the binary representation of a situation in which the first and the last
bulbs in a row are ON and the middle bulb is OFF.
(1 mark)
(iv) Write the equivalent decimal number for your binary representation in (iii)
above. (2 marks)

6. (a) (i) What do you understand by program development life cycle?

(2 marks)
(ii) List 4 stages in program development life cycle
(2 marks)
(b) Define the following terms as used in project management:
(i) Critical path
(2 marks)
(ii) Slack time
(2 marks)
(c) Study the Gantt chart of figure 2 and answer the questions that follow:
 (i) What is the end date for activity C?
(1mark)
(ii) What is the expected duration for activity D?
(1 mark)
(iii) Which activities may be dependent on others, and on which activities do they
depend? (2 marks)
(iv) If the activity duration estimate is 5 months +- 2 weeks for a 7 day week,
what does this mean?
(2 marks)
(v) Given the activity duration estimate in (iv) above, calculate the earliest finish
date of the project.
(2 marks)
(d) Give three advantages of a computerized information system over a manual system.
Give an example of a computerized information system
(4 marks)

7. (a) (i) What do you understand by computer generations?

(2 marks)
(ii) State one defining technology in each of the following computer generation:
 First generation
 Second generation
 Third generation
(3 marks)
(iii) Explain three ethical problems that have arisen from the introduction of
computers technology.
(6 marks)
(b) Study the algorithm below
Get a value for N
If N is greater than 10
Set X to 10
Print the square of X
Else set X to 100
Print the square root of X.

The pseudocode above is for an algorithm that get a value for variable N and tests the
value of N to determine whether to print its square or its square root.
(i) Draw an equivalent flow chart for the pseudocode above
(7 marks)
(ii) Write the results of the algorithm when N
 Has the value 20
(1 mark)
 Has the value 5
(1 mark)