gce model questions vol1 2021 computer_studies | Essay
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Question 1
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The development of computers has been marked by several distinct generations, each characterised by specific technologies and applications.
Question Parts
(a)
Define the term “computer generation” and outline the main characteristics of the first three generations of computers.
(b)
Discuss two major social or economic impacts that resulted from the introduction of the fourth generation of computers.
(c)
Explain how the shift from mainframe to personal computers altered the role of software developers.
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Question 2
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A small business is planning to upgrade its desktop computers to improve performance for office applications and occasional graphic‑design work. The current specification of each computer is:
- CPU: Intel Core i3‑6100 (2 cores, 3.1 GHz)
- RAM: 4 GB DDR3
- Storage: 500 GB HDD
- Graphics: Integrated Intel HD Graphics
The manager is considering two upgrade options:
Option A – Replace the CPU with an Intel Core i5‑10400 (6 cores, 2.9 GHz), add 8 GB DDR4 RAM, and replace the HDD with a 256 GB SSD.
Option B – Keep the existing CPU, upgrade RAM to 16 GB DDR3, and install a dedicated NVIDIA GTX 1650 graphics card (4 GB VRAM) while retaining the 500 GB HDD.
Question Parts
(a)
Identify which component(s) in each option are most likely to give the greatest increase in overall system speed for typical office tasks, and justify your choice using appropriate hardware principles.
(b)
For graphic‑design work that involves rendering images, compare the two options and recommend the more suitable configuration. In your answer, consider CPU cores, RAM, and graphics capability, and explain any trade‑offs.
(c)
The business wants to ensure that the upgraded system can run Windows 10 64‑bit without performance issues.
()
State the minimum hardware requirements for Windows 10 64‑bit.
()
Evaluate whether each upgrade option meets these requirements.
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Question 3
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A secondary school is planning to introduce a new computer laboratory for teaching ICT. The school intends to install a suite of software to support word processing, spreadsheet analysis, multimedia presentation and programming activities.
Question Parts
(a)
Identify and classify the four types of software required for the activities listed, giving one specific example for each type.
(b)
For the programming activity, the school is considering two alternatives: (i) a proprietary integrated development environment (IDE) that costs ₦150,000 per licence, and (ii) an open‑source IDE that is freely available. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative in terms of cost, support, and future scalability.
(c)
The school wishes to ensure that the software can be installed and updated efficiently on all laboratory computers. Propose a systematic procedure for software installation and maintenance, referencing at least two relevant concepts from the software life‑cycle model.
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Question 4
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A small retail business collects daily sales data for five products (A, B, C, D, E) over a week. The data are recorded in the table below.
| Day | A | B | C | D | E |
|----------|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 30| 20| 15| 10| 5 |
| Tuesday | 25| 22| 18| 12| 8 |
| Wednesday| 28| 18| 20| 15| 7 |
| Thursday | 32| 24| 22| 14| 9 |
| Friday | 35| 26| 25| 18|10 |
| Saturday | 40| 30| 28| 20|12 |
| Sunday | 38| 28| 27| 19|11 |
All figures represent the number of units sold.
Question Parts
(a)
Calculate the total weekly sales for each product and identify the best‑selling product.
(b)
Using the weekly totals, compute the percentage contribution of each product to the overall sales. Show your working.
(c)
The owner wants to store this information in a relational database. Design a simple database schema (tables, fields, primary keys) that could accommodate daily sales records for any number of products and days. Explain how your design avoids data redundancy.
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Question 5
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An online retailer stores product images in three possible file formats: JPEG, PNG and GIF. For a typical 800 × 600 pixel image the average file sizes are 150 KB (JPEG), 250 KB (PNG) and 200 KB (GIF). The retailer expects to host 12 000 product images. The website has a monthly bandwidth limit of 2 GB. Each image is downloaded on average 30 times per month. PNG supports transparency, which is required for 20 % of the images. Determine which format(s) should be used for the images and calculate the total storage required and the total monthly bandwidth consumption. Justify your choice.
Question Parts
(a)
If all 12 000 images were stored in each format separately, calculate the total storage required for JPEG, PNG and GIF.
(b)
For each format, calculate the total monthly bandwidth consumption assuming every image is downloaded 30 times per month.
(c)
Considering that 20 % of the images (i.e., 2 400 images) require transparency, propose a suitable mix of formats that satisfies the transparency requirement while keeping total monthly bandwidth within the 2 GB limit.
(d)
Based on the mix proposed in part (c), compute the total storage required for the 12 000 images.
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Question 6
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A small software development firm, TechNova Ltd., uses a shared network drive for all project files and allows employees to access email via a web‑based client. Recently, several staff members received a phishing email that appeared to come from the company’s IT manager, asking them to click a link and enter their login credentials. One employee complied, resulting in the attacker gaining read‑write access to the shared drive. The firm now wishes to strengthen its security posture while respecting employee privacy.
Answer the following:
Question Parts
(a)
Identify three potential security vulnerabilities that existed in TechNova’s environment before the incident.
(b)
For each vulnerability identified in part (a), suggest one technical control and one administrative control that could mitigate it.
(c)
Discuss the ethical implications of introducing employee email monitoring as a control measure. Include at least two ethical concerns and how the firm might address them.
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Question 7
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A small software development firm is planning to set up a local area network (LAN) to connect its ten workstations, a file server, a printer and a wireless access point. The network must support fast file transfers, allow easy addition of new devices, and minimise downtime caused by a single cable failure. The firm also wants to be able to connect to the Internet via a single broadband router.
Answer the following:
Question Parts
(a)
Compare the star, bus and full‑mesh topologies in terms of:
i. Installation cost;
ii. Fault tolerance;
iii. Scalability for adding new devices.
(b)
Propose a hybrid topology that best satisfies the firm’s requirements. Explain why the chosen combination of topologies is appropriate, referring to the criteria in part (a).
(c)
If the firm later expands to 20 workstations and wishes to retain a full‑mesh connection among all workstations only (excluding server, printer and router), calculate the minimum number of cable segments required for that full‑mesh. Comment on the practicality of this expansion.
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Question 8
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You are required to develop a Python program that processes a text file named **students.txt**. Each line of the file contains a student's name followed by three integer test scores, separated by commas, for example:
```
Ada,78,85,92
Bola,64,70,58
Chinwe,90,88,95
```
The program must:
1. Read the data safely, handling possible missing scores or extra whitespace.
2. Compute a weighted average for each student where the first test counts 20%, the second 30% and the third 50%.
3. Determine the class average (mean of all students' weighted averages) and the pass rate (percentage of students whose weighted average is at least 60).
4. Produce a neatly formatted report that lists:
- The top three students by weighted average (show name and average);
- The overall class average rounded to two decimal places;
- The pass rate as a percentage rounded to one decimal place.
5. The program must use at least one user‑defined function, a list comprehension, and appropriate exception handling.
Write the complete Python code that fulfils the above requirements and briefly explain how each part of the code meets the specifications.
Question Parts
(a)
Write a function called **weighted_average(scores)** that takes a list of three integer scores and returns the weighted average as a float. Include error checking to ensure the list contains exactly three numeric values; otherwise raise a **ValueError** with an appropriate message.
(b)
Provide the code segment that reads **students.txt**, cleans each line (removing extra spaces), splits the line into name and scores, converts the scores to integers, and stores the data in a list of tuples **(name, scores_list)**. Show how you would handle a line that has missing scores using **try/except** so that the line is skipped with a warning printed to the console.
(c)
Write the remaining part of the program that:
i. Uses **weighted_average** to compute each student’s average;
ii. Calculates the class average and pass rate;
iii. Determines the top three students;
iv. Prints the final report in the format shown below.
**Sample report**
```
Top 3 Students:
1. Chinwe – 91.90
2. Ada – 86.90
3. Bola – 62.20
Class average: 80.33
Pass rate: 100.0%
```
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Question 9
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A secondary school intends to develop a computerised library management system. The system must store information about books, members, and borrowing transactions. The design should support efficient retrieval of records and maintain data integrity.
Question Parts
(a)
Propose a relational schema that stores information about books, members and borrowing transactions. List each table, its primary key and any foreign keys. Show that the schema is in Third Normal Form (3NF) and give a brief justification for each table.
(b)
Write an SQL statement that retrieves the titles of all books that are currently borrowed by members of class ‘SS2’ and have not been returned for more than 14 days. Assume the current date is 2021‑12‑01 and the Borrowings table contains fields BorrowDate (date) and ReturnDate (date, NULL if not returned).
(c)
Explain the role of the ACID properties in ensuring reliable transaction processing for the borrowing operation. Briefly describe each property (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability).
(d)
Identify two possible data‑integrity violations that could occur if foreign‑key constraints are not enforced in the schema. For each violation, suggest a method to prevent it.
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Question 10
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A small business owner uses a spreadsheet to record monthly sales of three product lines (A, B and C) and prepares a written report in a word processor for the quarterly board meeting.
Question Parts
(a)
The sales data for the first six months are given below. Write a formula to calculate the total sales for each product line (summing the six months). Then write a formula that, for the first quarter (January‑March), gives the percentage contribution of each product line to the quarter’s total sales. Show the exact formulas you would enter.
(b)
Explain how to create a dynamic chart that updates automatically when new monthly sales data are added to the worksheet. Include the steps for defining the data range and selecting an appropriate chart type.
(c)
The owner wishes to generate a personalised sales letter for each client using mail merge. Outline the steps required in the word processor, assuming the client details (Name, Company, Email) are stored in a separate spreadsheet.
(d)
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using macros in the spreadsheet to automate the quarterly report generation. Provide two specific examples of tasks that could be automated with a macro.
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