Gozo College

Boys’ Secondary
Victoria - Gozo, Malta
‘Ninu Cremona’

Half Yearly Examination 2018 – 2019

Year 9 Computing Time: 1½ Hours

NAME:

CLASS: INDEX NO:

Instructions to Candidates

Answer ALL questions in Section A and Section B on this paper.

Calculators are NOT allowed.
Good English and orderly presentation are important.

Item Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Practical Total

Marks
 Use this Section A – Answer ALL questions.
margin for
rough work
only [3]
[5]
1. State whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE.

(a) SOFTWARE refers to a program or data.

(b) DIGITAL Data consists of a set of pulses.

(c) HARDWARE includes all peripheral devices.

(d) A KEYBOARD is an OUTPUT device.

[2]

The bootstrap loader is stored inside the [2]

(e)
RAM.

2. a) State whether the following are ANALOGUE or DIGITAL devices. [3]

[3]
DEVICE TYPE
Milometer
Speedometer
Switch
Television
Microphone
Light Bulb
[1]

b) The following diagrams show digital and analogue signals. Identify each one of [2]
them.
[1]

_____________________ ____________________

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 [2]
Use this 3. a) For a Computer system to function it must accept an
margin for
rough work input, do some processing and produce an output.
only Complete the below BLOCK diagram to shows how a
computer system works. Arrange the below labels in the
correct boxes below, while also showing the correct flow
of data with the help of ARROWS between each box.
INPUT DEVICE OUTPUT DEVICE
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT
MEMORY UNIT SECONDARY STORAGE

[3]

b) Give an example for the following:

Input device: __________________________________________________

Output device: __________________________________________________

Storage device: __________________________________________________

4. What do the following acronyms stand for?

[5]

(i) URL: ____________________________________

(ii) CPU: _____________________________________

(iii) RAM: _____________________________________

(iv) ALU: _____________________________________

(v) FTP: _____________________________________

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 Use this 5. a) Logical circuits in computers C
margin for are switching circuit that consists of E
rough work
only a number of logic gates that
performs logical operations on data. [4]
The adjacent diagram shows a
logical circuit with FOUR Gates D
connected together and producing
OUTPUT Z. Complete the truth
table below for this Logical Circuit.

A B C D E Z
0 0
0 1
1 0
1 1

b) Considering the following BOOLEAN EXPRESSION with INPUTS A, B and C and producing
OUTPUT Z. Rewrite this Boolean Expression with the GATE names used in this expression [1]
instead of the Boolean symbols.

Z = (A + B) . ( C )
Z = ______________________________________________

6. a) Storage is an important feature a computer system must have. In fact apart from
the Primary Storage a computer must also have the Secondary Storage.

i) What do you understand by an Primary Storage ? [1]

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

ii) What do you understand by a Secondary Storage ? [1]

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

b) The hard disk is the main storage device found on most PCs today. Give TWO reasons why [2]
the hard disk is still such a popular storage device.

i) _______________________________________________________________________

ii) _______________________________________________________________________

[1]
c) Name ONE typical short coming of the traditional hard disk.

_________________________________________________________________________
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 [2]
Use this 7a) In computer we use 2 types of measurements to
margin for
rough work
measure 2 different quantities which are computer
only speed and computer capacity. Name the quantities used
for each.

i) Computer Speed : __________________________.

ii) Computer Capacity : ________________________.

b) The use of computer has increased a lot in the last decade. This is because computer
systems offer FOUR important features which are very useful in various sectors. Name 3 of
[3]
these features. The FIRST one is already done for you.
i) Consistency.

ii) ____________________________________.
iii) ____________________________________.
iv) ____________________________________.

8a) Without application software installed there is very little use a user nearly do nothing.
Write down the appropriate software you would use for the following tasks. [3]

INTERNET EXPLORER WORD PROCESSOR DATABASE PROGRAM

SPREAD SHEET EMAIL PROGRAM DESK TOP PUBLISHING

APPLICATION APPLICATION SOFTWARE

Send an Email to a
friend
Design a Front Page for
a book you wrote
Produce a monthly
weather chart /graph
Search on internet for a
school topic
Type your computer
studies school notes
Store records of all
students in a school

b) Apart from the application software, a computer system also needs an operating system [2]
(System Software) in order for the computer system to function. Name TWO types of
operating system you know used in computers or mobiles phones devices.

i) _________________________________________________________________________

ii) _________________________________________________________________________

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 Use this 9. A logic gate implements a Boolean function and thus
margin for
rough work performs a logical operation on one or several logic inputs
only in order to produce one single logic output. The
combination of these circuits produce a Logical Circuit. Most
logic gates take an input of two binary values, and output a
single value of a 1 or 0.

[3]
a. i) Draw the symbols of the 3 basic logic gates, showing inputs and outputs.

NOT GATE OR GATE AND GATE

ii) Draw the Truth Table for the above 3 logic gates , where Z is the OUTPUT of the Gate.

A Z A B Z A B Z

b. Which of the above gates give an OUTPUT of 1 where at least there is an INPUT of 1? [1]

c. Which of the above gates invert the INPUT given as OUTPUT? [1]

10. Complete the following conversion table of Binary, Decimal and Hexadecimal numbers. [4]

Working Space
Binary Decimal Hexadecimal
1111 0011

273

[1]
b. What is a BI STABLE device? Give an example of such device.

___________________________________________________________________________

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 Use this 11 a. Utility software is system software designed to help to
margin for analyse, configure, optimize or maintain a computer. There are
rough work
only various utilities programs of which 3 are listed below. Explain what
each of the following UTILITIES PROGRAMS are used for:
[1]
i) Format Utility: ___________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

[1]
ii) Defragmentation Utility: ___________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
[1]
ii) Antivirus Utility: _________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

b. Compression Software is also a type of utility software. Name 2 uses where or why it can be [2]
useful:

i) _______________________________________

_________________________________________

ii) _______________________________________

_________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

Section B – Answer BOTH Questions.

12. A school library decided to computerise the library system to be able to manage the daily
transactions faster and easier. Two essential tables in this library system are the Students
Table and the Books Table.
[5]
a. Name FIVE important field and their datatype you would recommend for each table:

LIBRARY STUDENTS MEMBER TABLE

Field Name Field Data Type

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 Use this LIBRARY BOOKS TABLE
margin for
rough work Field Name Field Data Type
only

[2]
b. i) What is a Key Field? Give an example for a Key field used for a Vehicle database file?

___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________

ii) Key field used for Vehicle Database File: _________________________________________

iii) From the fields you listed in the Students Table, name which field would you use as the Key
Field in that table? [1]

_____________________________________________________________________________

iv) From the fields you listed in the Books Table, name which field would you use as the Key
Field in that table? [1]

_____________________________________________________________________________

c. The database needs to be always up to date. Name

and explain three updating tasks that could be carried
[3]
out on this database to keep it up-to-date.

i) ___________________________________________________

ii) ___________________________________________________

iii) ___________________________________________________

d. When creating relationships between tables, in a database the user can benefit of a lot.
[1]
i. Explain what is meant by a relationship:
_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

ii. Give TWO types of relationship that could be created between files in a database. [2]

1) ______________________________ 2) _______________________________

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 Use this 13 a. The Word Processing Application is one of the most commonly used
margin for application used today especially in office use. An important features is the
rough work
only mail merge feature.

i) What is the main use of the Mail Merge feature ? [1]

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

ii) Give a real life example where the Mail Merge feature might be used.
[1]

_____________________________________________________________________________

iii) What is the minimum number of files needed to do a Mail Merge? [1]

Number of files: __________________________________________

b. Storage is a very important component of a computer system. Although computers have the
Central (Main memory),which divided into 2 parts which are the READ ONLY MEMORY
(ROM) and the RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM), the Secondary storage is a necessity
within a computers system. Name TWO characteristics of the RAM and the ROM.
[2]
RAM Characteristics: 1) ___________________________________________

2) ___________________________________________

ROM Characteristics: 1) ___________________________________________

2) ___________________________________________

c. Optical Media is only ONE type of storage media used in secondary storage devices. Name
the other TWO types of Storage Media used nowadays:

_______________________________ ______________________________
[1]
d. In the following table below you can see some storage devices that can be used in a
computer system. Complete the table below for Media Type and Typical Storage capacity

[5]
Device Storage Media Typical Storage Capacity
CD-ROM

Internal Hard Disk

Tape

Pen Drive

DVD

Floppy Disk

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 Use this e. From the list of devices above, identify [2]
margin for TWO storage devices which are ideal to
rough work
only back up a LARGE MOVIE to be viewed
later.

Storage Device 1:

________________________________

Storage Device 2:

________________________________

f. What do you understand by the term access time? [1]

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

g. The diagram below show parts of the magnetic disk. The TRACK SECTOR is already shown
[1]
for you. Please fill in correctly in the diagram below with the other TWO missing parts
labels for this magnetic disk which are : the DISK SECTOR and a TRACK.

------------------------------ T H E E N D --------------------------

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