This set mixes skills from the hardware, software and systems module: choosing devices, sorting software, comparing storage, tracing pathways and analogue versus digital data. All scenarios and people are invented. Questions run from easier to harder.
Write a full answer for each question before opening the working. For storage sums, use 1 GB = 1 000 MB unless told otherwise, and state your assumption. The practical task and evidence checker shows how scenario answers can be checked against criteria.
Questions
1. A delivery rider logs each parcel outdoors while moving between streets. Name a suitable device type and give two linked reasons.
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A smartphone or small tablet. The rider moves outdoors, so it must be light, portable and battery powered. The rider logs parcels on the spot, so it needs a touch screen or camera and a wireless connection to send records.
2. Classify each as system or application software: a spreadsheet program, an operating system, a device driver, a photo editor.
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Spreadsheet: application. Operating system: system. Device driver: system. Photo editor: application.
3. Name the stage of the pathway for each: a keyboard, a processor, a printer, a hard disk.
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Keyboard: input. Processor: processing. Printer: output. Hard disk: storage.
4. State whether each is analogue or digital: the brightness of daylight in a room, the number 101 held in memory.
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Brightness of daylight: analogue, because it varies smoothly. The number 101 in memory: digital, because it is a stored binary value.
5. A club has 300 songs of about 4 MB each. Does the collection fit on a 1 GB memory card? On a 2 GB card? Show the sum.
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300 × 4 = 1 200 MB. A 1 GB card holds 1 000 MB, so it does not fit. A 2 GB card holds 2 000 MB, so it fits, with 800 MB spare.
6. Write the input-output pathway for a student who scans a library card and the screen shows the books on loan.
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Input: the scanner reads the card number. Processing: the system searches the loan records for that number. Storage: the loan records are read from the library’s stored data. Output: the screen displays the list of books.
7. A writer works at a fixed desk, types for hours and edits long documents on screen. Compare a desktop and a smartphone for her.
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A desktop suits her better. It can have a full-size keyboard and a large screen, which help with long typing and editing at one desk. A smartphone is more portable, but she does not need portability, and its small screen and keypad are tiring for long documents.
8. Give one reason a solid state drive might be chosen over a magnetic hard disk for a laptop that is carried daily, and one reason the hard disk might still be chosen.
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Solid state: it has no moving parts, so it survives knocks and movement better, and it is fast. Hard disk: it usually gives more capacity for the money, which matters if the user stores very large files.
9. A 5-bit converter is used on a sensor. How many different values can it produce? What is the highest whole number it can store?
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25 = 32 values. The values run from 0 to 31, so the highest is 31.
10. A sensor measures 0 °C to 50 °C using an 8-bit converter with steps 0 to 255. A reading of 10 °C is taken. Find the stored number and show what it converts back to.
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1 °C = 255 ÷ 50 = 5.1 steps. 10 × 5.1 = 51, so the stored number is 51. Converting back: 51 × 50 ÷ 255 = 2 550 ÷ 255 = 10 °C. Here the value is exact because 10 × 5.1 is a whole number.
11. A film club has 20 GB of video and burns it onto 4.7 GB discs. How many discs are needed?
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20 ÷ 4.7 = 4.25…, so round up to 5 discs. Four discs hold only 18.8 GB.
12. A student says “a printer is a storage device because it keeps a copy of my work”. Explain the error.
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The printer is an output device. It presents the result on paper. The paper copy is the output, not stored data inside the system, so the printer is not storage.
If you got these wrong
- Questions 1 and 7: review choosing a device for a stated task and write each reason as a need and a feature.
- Questions 2 and 12: go back to system and application software, and apply the “what is the user doing?” test. For question 12, also see the input-output stages.
- Questions 5, 8 and 11: work through comparing storage types, and always round up when counting discs.
- Questions 3 and 6: use explaining an input-output pathway and write one clause per stage.
- Questions 4, 9 and 10: revisit analogue and digital data, and check each calculation by converting back.
The read-only SQL practice lab lets you see stored records being read, and the mistake log and retest queue helps you track which error types keep returning. If you want a teacher to check your reasoning in these topics, see online one-to-one ICT tuition.