Cambridge International AS & A Level

* 4 4 4 5 1 8 8 8 6 4 *

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 9626/13

Paper 1 Theory May/June 2020

1 hour 45 minutes

You must answer on the question paper.

No additional materials are needed.

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
● Calculators must not be used in this paper.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 90.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].

This document has 16 pages. Blank pages are indicated.

DC (JC/CT) 181160/4
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1 (a) Tick the most accurate statement referring to the internet.

✓
The internet is a collection of web pages which can be accessed using a web
browser
The internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks

The internet is only accessed using a switch

The internet is an internal restricted access network

[1]

(b) Tick the most accurate statement referring to the services the internet provides.

Word processing is a service only accessed using the internet

Spreadsheet software is a service only accessed using the internet

The World Wide Web is a service only accessed using the internet

Email is a service only accessed using the internet

[1]

(c) The internet is a type of WAN. Describe what is meant by a WAN.

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2 (a) Tick the most accurate statement referring to video files.

✓
It is only possible to export a video file using the file format it has been
created in
Video files are often stored in jpeg format

It is possible to convert a video file into a gif format

It is not possible to insert a still image into a video file

[1]

(b) Tick the most accurate statement referring to the use of features of video editing software.

It is not possible to alter the speed of a video once it has been saved

Trimming a video clip is achieved by removing unwanted footage

It is not possible to add sound to a video once the video is finished

An aspect ratio is the number of frames in a section of a video compared to
the total number of frames
[1]

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3 BNMA, a large banking organisation, uses management information system (MIS) software in its
day to day business concerns.

Without referring to what MIS consists of, or to the specific role of the MIS manager, explain how
BNMA could use this MIS software.

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4 Chung and Fai both work at the Vacation Hotel. Chung told Fai that the hotel had just installed
a car park barrier system to prevent local shoppers from using the car park. He told her that the
manager had said that it was a computer-controlled system. Pressure sensors have not been
used and it is impossible for the barrier to lower itself on to a car.

Describe, in detail, how such a system would operate both for a guest arriving at the hotel and for
a guest leaving the hotel.

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5 Companies often carry out investigations into the public’s likes and dislikes. Investigations such as
this can be done using direct sources or indirect sources of information.

(a) Describe the advantages of gathering data from indirect data sources.

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(b) Describe the disadvantages of gathering data from indirect data sources.

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6 Joanne owns a store which sells films as DVD and blu-ray discs. Each disc has a six-character
code number and each customer has an eight-character customer number. She has developed a
database system which contains information about the films. Each record contains the following
data:

Film title, director, code_number, DVD (Y/N), date_of_sale, customer_number.

Describe the features of an appropriate online data entry form for one film which would, where
appropriate, allow the user to enter data by clicking the mouse rather than entering text.

Do not draw the screen and data entry form in your description.

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7 A program written in a simple high level programming language has a mistake in it.

Line 20 should say LET A = X + Y, but the program was typed as:

10 INPUT X, Y
20 LE A = X + Y
30 PRINT X, " + ",Y, " = ", A
40 END

Describe the two ways the program, including the error, could be translated so that it runs on a
computer.

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8 The North Indonesian Motor Company makes cars in the city of Jakarta. It has a large
factory producing the components, for the cars in the city of Surabaya. Dian is the director of
communications in Jakarta. He has been asked by the other directors to set up a video-conference
so that they can communicate with the directors based at Surabaya.

The directors in both cities currently use computers in a LAN to carry out their work.

(a) Give reasons why the current arrangement of computers would not enable Dian to set up a
video-conference and explain how he would overcome this problem.

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(b) Describe how codecs would be used in the transmission of data within a video-conference.

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9 There are two types of encryption, symmetric and asymmetric.

(a) Describe the use of public keys and private keys when used in the asymmetric method of
encryption.

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(b) Apart from the types of keys used, give two reasons why symmetric encryption is preferred in
certain situations.

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10 Lastri uses spreadsheet models for her company. She uses them to forecast trends of sales of
particular products as well as forecasting the company’s annual income, expenditure and profits.

By weighing up the advantages and disadvantages, evaluate the effectiveness of spreadsheet

models when used specifically for this type of forecasting.

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11 Describe what is meant by normalisation. Include in your description the properties of first normal
form (1NF) and how a table in first normal form can be converted to second normal form (2NF).

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12 Sujatmi runs a company which stores its payroll records and personal details of its workers in two
flat files. She has been told that these files should be converted into a relational database.

By weighing up the advantages and disadvantages, evaluate the differences between a flat file
database and a relational database which would help Sujatmi make her decision as to which to
use.

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13 Pramana has a PC which has a fixed hard disk drive. In order to increase the storage capacity of
the computer, he is trying to choose between using a portable hard disk drive and storing his data
in the cloud.

By weighing up the advantages and disadvantages, evaluate the use of cloud storage compared
to using a portable hard disk drive.

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14

The pie chart shows the land areas of seven continents. In its present form it is not providing any
information.

(a) Describe, using examples related to this scenario, how you would improve this chart so that it
will provide information which could be used by geography students in a school.

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Please turn over for Question 14(b).

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(b) Some people are very critical about pie charts.

Describe the disadvantages of using pie charts to represent data.

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge
Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download
at www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which itself is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2020 9626/13/M/J/20