Computing (Modular) 
 CP2
January 2006
 (2 Hours)

[1] State, giving a reason in each case, the most suitable secondary storage medium for each of the following situations.
  
(i) A school pupil taking home a large database project (5 Megabytes). [2]
 
(ii) A business making a back up of the file server's hard disc drive (300 Gigabytes) [2]
   
(iii) A Sunday newspaper distributing, as a supplement, an entertainment guide including photographs, songs and video clips. [2]
   
 
[2] Many people use their personal computers for writing letters and managing their household accounts.
  
(a) Apart from editing and formatting facilities, describe two features of a word processing package that would be useful when writing a letter. [2]
   
(b) The spreadsheet below shows the amount saved each month to pay household bills.
  
 
  A B C
1      
2 Monthly savings Amount  
3      
4 Mortgage £200.00  
5 TV Licence £9.00  
6 Gas bill £30.00  
7 Building insurance £25.00  
8 Council tax £80.00  
9 Water rates £50.00  
10      
11 TOTAL MONTHLY SAVING    
12      
13 TOTAL ANNUAL SAVING    
 
(i) Write down the formula that should be contained in cell B11. [1]
   
(ii) Write down the formula that should be contained in cell B13. [1]
   
 
[3](a) Draw two diagrams that show the difference between a ring network and  star network. [2]
     
(b) Give one advantage of using a star network rather than a ring network. [1]
   
(c) Describe two advantages of an arrangement in which computers are networked, compared with standalone computers. [2]
   
 
[4] Validation checks are carried out on data being entered into a database by an estate agent. Two fields in the database are :
  • number of bedrooms, which should be an integer;
  • postcode

Using examples of both valid and invalid data describe suitable validation checks that could be carried out on the fields number of bedrooms and postcode. A different validation check must be used in each case.

 [4]
   
 
[5](a) Name two utilities often provided by an operating system. [2]
   
(b) For each of the following situations, state a suitable mode of operation for the operating system. In each case give one reason why it is the most suitable.
  
(i) Controlling the temperature of a chemical process at an industrial plant. [2]
   
(ii) A gas company producing quarterly bills. [2]
   
 
[6] When a computer requires a printer to print a document, handshaking is used.
Explain the handshaking process.		 [3]
   
 
[7](a) A high street bank posts thousands of questionnaires every month to selected customers. The data from the completed questionnaires has to be entered into a computer system. The bank has been using keyboards for data entry but is considering speech input.
  
(i) Describe two benefits for the bank of using speech input rather than keyboard input. [2]
   
(ii) Describe two situations where keyboard input would still be required. [2]
   
(b) The customers could be asked to complete the questionnaires using the bank's Internet site.
  
(i) Describe two advantages to the bank of customers completing questionnaires on the bank's Internet site rather than completing paper questionnaires. [2]
   
(ii) Describe one drawback of using the Internet site to complete the questionnaires. [1]
   
 
[8] An electronics factory uses a computerised payroll system that produces pay slips each month. There is an employee master file and a monthly transaction file. The transaction file contains, amongst other information, details on each employee's hours worked that month.
  
(i) Use a labelled diagram to show how the employee master file and the monthly transaction file are used to produce the monthly pay slips. [3]
     
(ii) For each employee state two items of data, other than name, address and telephone number, that should be stored in the master file. [2]
   
(iii) When the pay slips are produced, several items of data are updated in the master file. State one data item that is updated. [1]
   
 
[9] A secondary school with a large number of pupils is considering installing a computer system to record and manage pupils' attendance. The teachers will input attendances into a lap top computer. The lap top computers can be connected to the school's Local Area Network (LAN).
 		  
(i) Explain three benefits, for the senior staff in the school, of using this system to monitor pupils' attendance. [3]
   
(ii) Describe two benefits for classroom teachers of having access to the school's LAN. [2]
   
(iii) Describe one concern that a teacher may have about using the new system. [1]
   
 
[10] Explain the term parallel processing and briefly explain why it is used in weather forecasting. [2]
   
 
[11] In the following question, additional credit (up to 3 marks) will be given if your answer demonstrates skill in written communication.

 

  
  UpAndGo Breaks is a company that specialises in activity holidays such as cycling, walking and mountaineering. The company uses a wide range of accomodation ranging from small self-catering studios to five star hotels. The activities vary in difficulty from 'easy' which are suitable for most people to 'extreme', which require a high fitness level.

UpAndGo Breaks has grown and has details of thousands of customers stored in paper files. The company needs to contact these customers about existing bookings and to promote future holidays. As the business is expanding it is clear that this paper-based system is no longer adequate. The company decides to replace the current system with a computerised system.

  • Apart from personal details such as name and address, describe relevant items of data that should be stored in the new system.

  • The company has decided to use a database system. Explain any improvements this will have over the current paper-based system.

  • The company already complies with the Data Protection Act; describe ways in which the Act will apply to the data stored by the firm.

 [8+3]