A complete 50-mark mock paper written to the 2027 specification, with the official structure and command terms. Sit it under timed conditions — the examiner mark scheme is included with membership.
| Section A — Q1 Computer fundamentals | [13] |
| Section A — Q2 Networks | [12] |
| Section A — Q3 Databases | [13] |
| Section B — Q4 Case study | [12] |
| Total | [50] |
This is a teaching resource written for this course. It follows the format and mark allocation of the official specimen paper but is not past-paper material.
A veterinary practice replaces the computer on its reception desk. The new machine has a 6-core processor running at 3.1 GHz, 8 MB of cache, 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB solid-state drive. Reception staff keep the appointment system, a browser, a payment terminal application and a photo-editing tool open all day. Staff report that the machine is fast in the morning but becomes slow by the afternoon, and that the hard disk light is almost permanently lit.
(a) State the purpose of the arithmetic and logic unit. [1]
(b) Identify two registers used during the fetch stage of the machine instruction cycle. [2]
(c) Outline the purpose of the 8 MB of cache in this processor. [2]
(d) Explain why the machine becomes slower during the afternoon, with reference to the permanently lit disk light. [4]
(e) The practice's technician suggests either fitting more RAM or replacing the processor with a faster one. Justify which upgrade would better address the problem described. [4]
A community sports centre installs a network. The building has a gym with 12 wired machines for members to book classes, a café offering free wireless access to the public, and a small office with two staff computers that hold membership and payment records. All three areas connect back to a single cabinet containing a switch and a router, and the centre has one internet connection.
(a) Identify the type of network installed at the sports centre. [1]
(b) Distinguish between the function of the switch and the function of the router in the cabinet. [3]
(c) A member books a class through the centre's website. Outline the role of the transport layer in delivering that booking. [3]
(d) Explain why the office computers should be placed on a separate network segment from the café's public wireless. [5]
A driving school stores its bookings in a relational database. Primary keys are underlined and foreign keys are marked with an asterisk.
INSTRUCTOR(InstructorID, Surname, Forename, VehicleType) STUDENT(StudentID, Surname, Forename, TestDate) LESSON(LessonID, StudentID*, InstructorID*, LessonDate, Duration, Fee)
(a) State the purpose of the foreign key StudentID* in the LESSON table. [1]
(b) State the degree of the relationship between STUDENT and LESSON. [1]
(c) Construct an SQL statement that lists the surname and forename of every student whose test date is after 1 June 2027, sorted by surname. [3]
(d) Construct an SQL statement that shows, for each instructor, their surname and the total number of lessons they have taught. [4]
(e) An administrator deletes an instructor who has left, while their rows in LESSON remain. Explain the effect this has on the integrity of the database. [4]
This question relates to the pre-seen case study: generative artificial intelligence for image creation. You should have a clean copy of the case study available.
A regional tourism board wants to promote lesser-known towns. It has few photographs of these places, so it plans to use a text-to-image generative model to produce promotional images of streets, markets and landscapes, published on its website and in printed brochures.
In initial testing, the board found that images of the region's traditional buildings looked generically Mediterranean rather than local, and that one generated market scene contained a shop sign in text that was not readable in any language.
(a) Define the term training data. [2]
(b) Outline how a text prompt entered by a member of staff is used to produce an image. [3]
(c) With reference to the board's testing:
(i) Explain why the traditional buildings appear generically Mediterranean. [3]
(ii) Explain why the shop sign contains unreadable text. [2]
(d) Outline one measure the tourism board should take before publishing these images. [2]