QUESTION 1.

5 Parity checks are often used to check for errors that may occur during data transmission.

(a) A system uses even parity.

Tick (✓) to show whether the following three bytes have been transmitted correctly or
incorrectly.

Received byte Byte transmitted correctly Byte transmitted incorrectly

11001000

01111100

01101001

[3]

(b) A parity byte is used to identify which bit has been transmitted incorrectly in a block of data.

The word “F L O W C H A R T” was transmitted using nine bytes of data (one byte per
character). A tenth byte, the parity byte, was also transmitted.

The following block of data shows all ten bytes received after transmission. The system uses
even parity and column 1 is the parity bit.

letter column column column column column column column column

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
byte 1 F 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0
byte 2 L 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0
byte 3 O 1 0 1 0 1 1 1 1
byte 4 W 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1
byte 5 C 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1
byte 6 H 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0
byte 7 A 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1
byte 8 R 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0
byte 9 T 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
parity
1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0
byte

(i) One of the bits has been transmitted incorrectly.

Write the byte number and column number of this bit:

Byte number ......................................................................................................................

Column number .................................................................................................................

[2]

© UCLES 2015 0478/12/M/J/15

 7

(ii) Explain how you arrived at your answer for part (b)(i).

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................[2]

(c) Give the denary (base 10) value of the byte: 1 0111110
...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[1]

(d) A parity check may not identify that a bit has been transmitted incorrectly.

Describe one situation in which this could occur.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[1]

© UCLES 2015 0478/12/M/J/15 [Turn over

QUESTION 2. 4

4 (a) Nikita wishes to print out some documents and connects her printer to the computer using
one of the USB ports.

(i) Identify what type of data transmission is being used.

.......................................................................................................................................[1]

(ii) Give three reasons for using a USB port.

1 .......................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

2 .......................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

3 .......................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................
[3]

(iii) The printer runs out of paper while it is printing the documents. A signal is sent to the
processor to request that the problem is dealt with.

Name this type of signal.

.......................................................................................................................................[1]

(b) State one suitable application for each printer below. A different application must be given for
each printer.

Inkjet printer ..............................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

3D printer ..................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[2]

© UCLES 2016 0478/11/M/J/16

 5

(c) Name another type of printer and describe one way in which it is different from the printers
named in part (b).

Give an application for this printer.

Type of printer ...........................................................................................................................

Description ................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Application ................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[3]

© UCLES 2016 0478/11/M/J/16 [Turn over

QUESTION 3. 5

5 (a) Parity checks are often used to detect errors that may occur during data transmission.

The received bytes in the table below were transmitted using odd parity.

Tick (3) to show whether each byte has been corrupted during transmission or not
corrupted during transmission.

corrupted not corrupted

during during
Received byte
transmission transmission
(3) (3)

10110100

01101101

10000001
[3]

(b) Another method of error detection is Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ).

Explain how ARQ is used in error detection.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................. [4]

© UCLES 2017 0478/11/M/J/17 [Turn over

QUESTION 4. 7

7 Computer A is communicating with computer B.

(a)
Draw an arrow or arrows to show simplex, duplex and half-duplex data transmission. The
direction of the data transmission must be fully labelled.

Simplex data transmission

Computer A Computer B
             

Duplex data transmission

Computer A Computer B
             

Half-duplex data transmission

Computer B Computer A
             
[6]

(b)
State a use for the following data transmission methods. The use must be different for each
data transmission method.

Simplex �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

Duplex ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
[2]

© UCLES 2017 0478/12/M/J/17 [Turn over

 8

(c)
A computer includes an Integrated Circuit (IC) and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) for data
transmission.

Describe how the computer uses these for data transmission, including the type of data
transmission used.

IC ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

USB ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������

���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
[4]

© UCLES 2017 0478/12/M/J/17

QUESTION 5. 10

10 RockICT is a music business that has a website to allow customers to view and buy the products
it sells.

The website consists of web pages.

(a) Describe what is meant by HTML structure and presentation for a web page.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[4]

(b) The URL for the music company’s website is:

https://www.rockict.net/index.htm
Part 1 Part 2

(i) Identify what Part 1 and Part 2 represent in this URL.

Part 1 ................................................................................................................................

Part 2 ................................................................................................................................
[2]

(ii) Describe what is meant by https.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................[2]

© UCLES 2018 0478/11/M/J/18

 11

(c) When a customer enters the website, a message is displayed:

“RockICT makes use of cookies. By continuing to browse you are agreeing to our use of
cookies.”

Explain why the music company uses cookies.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[2]

(d) The music company is concerned about the security of its website.

The company uses a proxy server as part of its security system.

Describe the role of a proxy server in the security system.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[4]

© UCLES 2018 0478/11/M/J/18

 12

BLANK PAGE

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 International
Examinations Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download at www.cie.org.uk after
the live examination series.

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

© UCLES 2018 0478/11/M/J/18

QUESTION 6. 4

4 A company transmits data to external storage at the end of each day.

(a) Parity checks can be used to check for errors during data transmission.

The system uses odd parity.

(i) Tick (✓) to show for each of the received bytes whether they have been transmitted
correctly or transmitted incorrectly.

Received byte Transmitted Transmitted

correctly incorrectly
(✓) (✓)

10001011

10101110

01011101

00100101

[4]

(ii) State one other method that could be used to check for transmission errors.

...................................................................................................................................... [1]

(b) Data can be transferred using parallel or serial data transmission.

(i) Describe what is meant by parallel data transmission.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................... [2]

(ii) Give one application of parallel data transmission.

...........................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................... [1]

© UCLES 2018 0478/13/M/J/18

 5

(iii) Explain why serial data transmission is normally used for transferring data over a long
distance.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................... [2]

(c) Data transferred over a network is encrypted to improve data security.

The system uses 64-bit symmetric encryption.

(i) Explain how encryption improves data security.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................... [2]

(ii) Explain one method that could be used to increase the level of security provided by the
encryption.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................... [2]

© UCLES 2018 0478/13/M/J/18 [Turn over

 QUESTION 7. 8

8 Leonard has a new laser printer to print letters for his business.

Leonard connects his printer to his computer using the USB port.

(a) Give three benefits of using the USB port to connect the printer to the computer.

Benefit 1 ...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Benefit 2 ...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Benefit 3 ...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[3]

(b) State two benefits and one drawback of Leonard using a laser printer, instead of an inkjet
printer, to print the letters.

Benefit 1 ...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Benefit 2 ...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Drawback ..................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[3]

(c) An interrupt signal is sent from the printer to the computer.

(i) Give two examples of when a printer would generate an interrupt signal.

Example 1 .........................................................................................................................

Example 2 .........................................................................................................................
[2]

(ii) Many devices send interrupt signals.

Identify the software in the computer that will receive and manage all interrupt signals.

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

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 QUESTION 8. 10

9 Four 7-bit binary values are being transmitted from one computer to another. An odd parity check
is being used to check for errors in the binary values.

Write the correct Parity bit for each 7-bit binary value to make sure it meets odd parity.

Parity bit 7-bit binary value

..................... 0000011

..................... 1000000

..................... 0111111

..................... 1010101
[4]

10 Clive has a laptop computer that he uses for his business. He enters a username and password to
log in to his laptop.

Clive is worried about spyware being used to find out his username and password.

(a) Describe how spyware could be used to find out Clive’s username and password.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [4]

(b) The threat of spyware makes Clive concerned about typing a password to log in to his laptop.

Give an example of how Clive could log in securely without typing a password.

............................................................................................................................................. [1]

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QUESTION 9. 10

8 Four descriptions about compilers and interpreters are shown below.

Draw lines to indicate which descriptions refer to a compiler and which descriptions refer to an
interpreter.

Description

It is more difficult to debug the

code since one error can
produce many other associated
errors.

The speed of execution of

program loops is slower. Compiler

It produces fast, executable

code that runs directly on the Interpreter
processor.

It is easier to debug the code

since an error is displayed as
soon as it is found.

[4]

© UCLES 2016 0478/11/O/N/16

QUESTION 10. 4

4 A file server is used as a central data store for a network of computers.

Rory sends data from his computer to a file server that is approximately 100 metres away.

It is important that the data is transmitted accurately. Rory needs to be able to read data from and
write data to the file server at the same time.

(a) (i) Use ticks (3) to identify the most suitable data transmission methods for this application.

Method 1 Tick Method 2 Tick

(3) (3)
Serial Simplex
Parallel Half-duplex
Duplex
[2]

(ii) Explain why your answer to part (a)(i) is the most suitable data transmission.

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................[4]

© UCLES 2017 0478/12/O/N/17

 5

(b) Identify and describe two methods of error checking that can be used to make sure that the
data stored after transmission is accurate.

Method 1 ...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Method 2 ...................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[6]

© UCLES 2017 0478/12/O/N/17 [Turn over

QUESTION 11. 10

8 Kamil correctly answers an examination question about a number of internet terms.

Six different terms have been removed from Kamil’s answer.

Complete the sentences in Kamil’s answer, using the list given. Not all terms in the list need to be
used.

• browser
• connection
• domain name server (DNS)
• Internet
• Internet Service Provider (ISP)
• IP address
• MAC address
• network
• protocol
• uniform resource locator (URL)
• webpages
• hypertext mark-up language (HTML)

A .................................................................................................. is a program that allows a user

to view .................................................................................................. .

An .................................................................................................. is a company that provides a

connection to access the .................................................................................................. .

The main .................................................................................................. that governs the

transmission of data using the Internet is http.

The .................................................................................................. is provided by the network,

and given to each device on the network.

[6]

© UCLES 2018 0478/11/O/N/18

QUESTION 12. 9

9 (a) Computers can transmit data using different methods.

Describe the three data transmission methods given.

(i) Serial data transmission

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................[2]

(ii) Parallel data transmission

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................[2]

(iii) Duplex data transmission

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................[2]

© UCLES 2018 0478/12/O/N/18 [Turn over

 10

(b) Data can sometimes be corrupted when it is transmitted from one computer to another,
causing errors to be present in the data.

Identify and describe three methods of error detection that could be used to see if an error
has occurred.

Error detection method 1 ..........................................................................................................

Description ................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Error detection method 2 ..........................................................................................................

Description ................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Error detection method 3 ..........................................................................................................

Description .................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[9]

© UCLES 2018 0478/12/O/N/18

QUESTION 13. 4

4 The MAC address of a device is represented using hexadecimal.

A section of a MAC address is shown. Each pair of hexadecimal digits is stored using 8-bit binary.

(a) Complete the table to show the 8-bit binary equivalents for the section of MAC address. The
first number has already been converted.

6A FF 08 93
01101010
[3]

(b) Explain why data is stored as binary in computers.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

5 Data can be transferred using half-duplex serial transmission.

(a) Describe serial transmission.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

(b) Give one application of serial data transmission.

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[1]

(c) Describe half-duplex data transmission.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...............................................................................................................................................[2]

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QUESTION 14. 6

5 Sonia shares files with her friends. The method of data transmission she uses is half-duplex serial
transmission.

(a) Describe how data is transmitted using half-duplex serial data transmission.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [4]

(b) The system uses parity bits to check for errors during data transmission.

The outcome of four bytes after transmission is:

Byte 1 Byte 2 Byte 3 Byte 4

00110011 01010100 10110100 01110111

One of the bytes has been transmitted incorrectly.

Identify the byte that was transmitted incorrectly.

Byte ...........................................................

Explain how you identified the byte that was transmitted incorrectly.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[4]

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QUESTION 15. 9

10 Data is valuable to a company.

(a) Companies use error detection methods to make sure that data is accurate.

One error detection method is the use of a check digit.

Explain what is meant by a check digit and how it is used to detect errors.

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. [4]

(b) Companies can use a range of security methods to keep their data secure.

Identify two security methods that a company can use to keep their data secure and explain
how each method can keep the data secure.

Security method 1 .....................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

Security method 2 .....................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
[6]

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QUESTION 16. 10

5 The contents of three binary registers have been transmitted from one computer to another. Odd
parity has been used as an error detection method.

The outcome after transmission is:

• Register A and Register B have been transmitted correctly.

• Register C has been transmitted incorrectly.

Write the appropriate Parity bit for each register to show the given outcome.

Parity
bit
Register A 0 1 0 0 0 1 1

Register B 0 0 0 0 1 1 1

Register C 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
[3]

6 Jesse is taking his Computer Science examination. He answers five questions about ethics.

(a) For the first question, he writes the answer:

“This type of software can be copied and shared without the permission of the owner.”

State what Jesse is describing.

............................................................................................................................................. [1]

(b) For the second question, he writes the answer:

“With this type of software, the owner still retains the copyright for the software, but he gives
away copies of it for free.”

State what Jesse is describing.

............................................................................................................................................. [1]

(c) For the third question, he writes the answer:

“This type of software is often a trial version of the full software. To use the full version the
user normally needs to pay a fee.”

State what Jesse is describing.

............................................................................................................................................. [1]

© UCLES 2019 0478/13/O/N/19