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Cambridge IGCSE™


COMPUTER SCIENCE 0478/02

Paper 2 Problem-solving and Programming For examination from 2020
SPECIMEN PAPER
1 hour 45 minutes
Candidates answer on the question paper.
No additional materials are required.

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

Write your centre number, candidate number and name in the spaces at the top of this page.
Write in dark blue or black pen.
You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
Do not use staples, paper clips, glue or correction fluid.
DO NOT WRITE IN ANY BARCODES.
Calculators must not be used in this paper.

Answer all questions.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TASKS 1, 2 AND 3 in the pre-release material; these are for information only.

You are advised to spend no more than 40 minutes on Section A (Question 1).

No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together.
The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.
The maximum number of marks is 50.

This document consists of 13 printed pages and 1 blank page.

© UCLES 2019 [Turn over

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Section A

You are advised to spend no longer than 40 minutes answering this section.

Here is a copy of the pre-release material.

DO NOT attempt Tasks 1, 2 and 3 now.

Use the pre-release material and your experience from attempting the tasks before the examination to
answer Section A Question 1.

Pre-release material

A teacher needs a program to record marks for a class of 30 students who have sat three computer
science tests.

Write and test a program for the teacher.

• Your program must include appropriate prompts for the entry of data.
• Error messages and other output need to be set out clearly and understandably.
• All variables, constants and other identifiers must have meaningful names.

You will need to complete these three tasks. Each task must be fully tested.

TASK 1 – Set up arrays

Set-up one dimensional arrays to store:

• Student names
• Student marks for Test 1, Test 2 and Test 3
o Test 1 is out of 20 marks
o Test 2 is out of 25 marks
o Test 3 is out of 35 marks
• Total score for each student

Input and store the names for 30 students. You may assume that the students’ names are unique.

Input and store the students’ marks for Test 1, Test 2 and Test 3. All the marks must be validated on
entry and any invalid marks rejected.

TASK 2 – Calculate

Calculate the total score for each student and store in the array.
Calculate the average total score for the whole class.

Output each student’s name followed by their total score.

Output the average total score for the class.

TASK 3 – Select

Select the student with the highest total score and output their name and total score.
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1 (a) All variables, constants and other identifiers should have meaningful names.

(i) Declare the array to store the students’ names.

[1]

(ii) Declare the arrays to store each student’s marks and total score.

[2]

(b) (i) Show the design of your algorithm to complete Task 1 and Task 2 using pseudocode,
programming statements or a flowchart. Do not include any of the validation checks or
input prompts in your algorithm.

[8]
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(ii) Comment on the efficiency of your design.

[1]

(c) Show two different sets of student data that you could use to check the validation used in
Task 1. Explain why you chose each data set.

Set 1

Reason for choice

Set 2

Reason for choice

[2]
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(d) (i) Explain how you select the student with the highest score (Task 3). You may include
pseudocode or programming statements to help illustrate your explanation.

[5]

(ii) How does your program work when there is more than one student having the highest
score? Explain using your method given in part (d)(i).

[1]
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Section B

2 Jatinder uses Internet banking.

This pseudocode checks her PIN.

c ← 0
INPUT PIN
x ← PIN
REPEAT
x ← x/10
c ← c + 1
UNTIL x < 1
IF c <> 5
THEN
PRINT “error in PIN entered”
ELSE
PRINT “PIN OK”
ENDIF

(a) What value of c and what message would be output if the following PINs were entered?

5 1 0 2 0 Value of c:

Message:

5120 Value of c:

Message: [2]

(b) What type of validation check is being carried out here?

[1]
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3 The flowchart inputs the size of a number of car engines; a value of –1 stops the input.

This information is output: average engine size and number of engines with size > 1.5
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Complete the trace table for the input data.

1.8, 2.0, 1.0, 1.3, 1.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.3, 1.8, 1.3, –1

Engine Count Number Size Average OUTPUT

[6]
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4 Read this section of program code that inputs twenty (20) numbers and then outputs the largest
number input.

1 h = 0
2 c = 0
3 REPEAT
4 READ x
5 IF x > h THEN x = h
6 c = c + 1
7 PRINT h
8 UNTIL c < 20

There are three errors in this code.

Locate these errors and suggest a corrected piece of code.

[3]
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5 A database table, TREES, is used to keep a record of the trees in a park. Each tree is given a
unique number and is examined to see if it is at risk of dying. There are over 900 trees; part of the
database table is shown.

Tree Number Type Map Position Age in Years At Risk

TN091 Acacia A7 250 Y

TN172 Olive C5 110 N

TN913 Cedar B9 8 N

TN824 Banyan A3 50 Y

TN021 Pine D5 560 Y

TN532 Teak C8 76 Y

TN043 Yew B1 340 N

TN354 Spruce D4 65 N

TN371 Elm B10 22 Y

TN869 Oak C9 13 N

TN954 Pine E11 3 N

(a) State the number of fields in the table.

[1]

(b) Using the query-by-example grid, write a query to identify at risk trees over 100 years old.
Display only the type and the position on the map.

Field:

Table:

Sort:

Show:

Criteria:

or:
[4]
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6 (a) Write an algorithm, using pseudocode or flowchart only, which:

• inputs three numbers

• outputs the largest of the three numbers

[3]

(b) Write an algorithm, using pseudocode or flowchart only, which:

• inputs 1000 numbers

• outputs how many of these numbers were whole numbers (integers)
(You may use INT(x) in your answer, e.g. y = INT(3.8) gives the value y = 3)

[4]
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(c) Describe, with examples, two sets of test data you would use to test your algorithm.

[2]

7 A database was set up to show the properties of certain chemical elements. Part of the database
is shown below.

Name of Element Atomic Atomic Melting Boiling State at

element symbol number weight point (C) point (C) room temp

oxygen O 8 16 –218 –183 gas

iron Fe 26 56 1538 2861 solid

mercury Hg 80 201 –38 356 liquid

bromine Br 35 80 –7 59 liquid

osmium Os 76 190 3033 5012 solid

caesium Cs 55 133 28 671 solid

gallium Ga 31 70 30 2204 solid

argon Ar 18 40 –189 –186 gas

silver Ag 47 108 961 2162 solid

(a) How many fields are in each record?

[1]

(b) The following search condition was entered:

(Melting point (C) < 40) AND (Atomic weight > 100)

Using Element symbol only, which records would be output?

[2]

(c) Which field would be best suited as primary key?

[1]
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