Cambridge International AS & A Level

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9608/21

Paper 2 Fundamental Problem-Solving and Programming Skills October/November 2021
MARK SCHEME
Maximum Mark: 75

Published

This mark scheme is published as an aid to teachers and candidates, to indicate the requirements of the
examination. It shows the basis on which Examiners were instructed to award marks. It does not indicate the
details of the discussions that took place at an Examiners’ meeting before marking began, which would have
considered the acceptability of alternative answers.

Mark schemes should be read in conjunction with the question paper and the Principal Examiner Report for
Teachers.

Cambridge International will not enter into discussions about these mark schemes.

Cambridge International is publishing the mark schemes for the October/November 2021 series for most
Cambridge IGCSE™, Cambridge International A and AS Level components and some Cambridge O Level
components.

This document consists of 16 printed pages.

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Generic Marking Principles

These general marking principles must be applied by all examiners when marking candidate answers.
They should be applied alongside the specific content of the mark scheme or generic level descriptors
for a question. Each question paper and mark scheme will also comply with these marking principles.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 1:

Marks must be awarded in line with:

• the specific content of the mark scheme or the generic level descriptors for the question
• the specific skills defined in the mark scheme or in the generic level descriptors for the question
• the standard of response required by a candidate as exemplified by the standardisation scripts.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 2:

Marks awarded are always whole marks (not half marks, or other fractions).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 3:

Marks must be awarded positively:

• marks are awarded for correct/valid answers, as defined in the mark scheme. However, credit
is given for valid answers which go beyond the scope of the syllabus and mark scheme,
referring to your Team Leader as appropriate
• marks are awarded when candidates clearly demonstrate what they know and can do
• marks are not deducted for errors
• marks are not deducted for omissions
• answers should only be judged on the quality of spelling, punctuation and grammar when these
features are specifically assessed by the question as indicated by the mark scheme. The
meaning, however, should be unambiguous.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 4:

Rules must be applied consistently, e.g. in situations where candidates have not followed
instructions or in the application of generic level descriptors.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 5:

Marks should be awarded using the full range of marks defined in the mark scheme for the question
(however; the use of the full mark range may be limited according to the quality of the candidate
responses seen).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 6:

Marks awarded are based solely on the requirements as defined in the mark scheme. Marks should
not be awarded with grade thresholds or grade descriptors in mind.

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Question Answer Marks

1(a) One mark per row 3

Variable New identifier name

Var1 Rainfall / DailyRainfall

Var2 AvgWindSpeed

Var3 StationID / WeatherStationID /

StationIDNo / WeatherStationIDNo

1(b) One mark per row. 5

Pseudocode expression Evaluates to

LENGTH(HouseCount) > 6 "ERROR"

MOD(INT(Turnout2018) * 3, 4) 0

ASC(TidalRiskCategory) + Turnout2018 87.23

IsConservationArea AND (HouseCount <= FALSE

50)

MID(StationLocationName, 1, 5) & "Ocean Eleven"

" Eleven"

1(c) 1 mark for error: 2

• Function expects a real parameter, but parameter is a string // Data type
mismatch (between the parameter and the data passed)

1 mark for the correct function header:

FUNCTION ProcessVars(DataItem : STRING) RETURNS REAL

1(d) 1 mark for each description. 3

Breakpoints
• Point set where code stops running

Report (watch) window

• shows the content of all data structures/variables/constants during the
execution

Single stepping
• One line of code is run and then it pauses

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Question Answer Marks

2(a)(i) Count-controlled loop 1

2(a)(ii) One mark per row. 4

The scope of the variable Message is Global

The start and end line numbers of a selection

12, 15
structure

The identifier name of a user-defined function is CharacterCount

An arithmetic operator used in the function is + // -

2(b) One mark for line number and corrected line. 4

• Line 06
DECLARE ThisChar : CHAR / STRING
• Line 08
LetterCount ← 0
• Line 10
FOR Index ← 1 TO LENGTH(Message)
FOR Index ← 0 TO LENGTH(Message)-1
• Line 11
ThisChar ← MID(Message, Index, 1)

01 DECLARE Message: STRING

02
03 FUNCTION CharacterCount(Letter : CHAR) RETURNS
INTEGER
04
05 DECLARE LetterCount, Index : INTEGER
06 DECLARE ThisChar : CHAR
07
08 LetterCount ← 0
09
10 FOR Index ← 1 TO LENGTH(Message)
11 ThisChar ← MID(Message, Index, 1)
12 IF ThisChar = Letter
13 THEN
14 LetterCount ← LetterCount + 1
15 ENDIF
16 ENDFOR
17 RETURN LetterCount
18 ENDFUNCTION

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Question Answer Marks

2(c) One mark each to max 5 5

1 initialisation of counter data structure for each vowel
2 prompt and input the string
3 loop through length of input string …
4 … extract each character in the string and use CASE structure to
increment each counter variable …
5 … check for both lower case and upper case (by converting to
upper/lower or manual check of all)
6 … output each vowel with its count value once at appropriate point

PROCEDURE Frequency()

DECLARE DataString : STRING

DECLARE DataCharacter : CHAR
DECLARE CountA, CountE, CountI, CountO,
CountU : INTEGER
DECLARE Index : INTEGER

CountA ← 0
CountE ← 0
CountI ← 0
CountO ← 0
CountU ← 0

Index ← 1

OUTPUT "Enter string: "

INPUT DataString

FOR Index ← 1 to LENGTH(DataString)

DataCharacter ← UCASE(MID(DataString, Index, 1))
CASE OF DataCharacter
'A' : CountA ← CountA + 1
'E' : CountE ← CountE + 1
'I' : CountI ← CountI + 1
'O' : CountO ← CountO + 1
'U' : CountU ← CountU + 1
ENDCASE
Index ← Index + 1
ENDFOR

OUTPUT "A: " & NUM_TO_STRING(CountA)

OUTPUT "E: " & NUM_TO_STRING(CountE)
OUTPUT "I: " & NUM_TO_STRING(CountI)
OUTPUT "O: " & NUM_TO_STRING(CountO)
OUTPUT "U: " & NUM_TO_STRING(CountU)

ENDPROCEDURE

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Question Answer Marks

3(a) 1 mark each to max 8 8

1 declaration of appropriate constants for weight // declaration and
initialisation of appropriate variable to count cases for the flight
2 open the file "HOLD-CARGO.txt" in READ mode and close the file
3 conditional loop until end of file …
4 … read a line from the file
5 Extract flight number from each line in file..
6 … compare to parameter
7 Extract weight from each line in file
8 … convert to integer
9 … check if extracted weight > 50
10 If correct flight and over weight, extract and output Case ID
11 If correct flight and counter for flight is over 300, extract and output Case
ID …
12 … otherwise increment a counter for that flight

PROCEDURE CheckWeight(FlightNo: STRING)

CONSTANT FileName = "HOLD-CARGO.txt"

DECLARE CaseCounter : INTEGER

DECLARE FlightData, CaseID : STRING

CaseCounter ← 0

OPENFILE FileName FOR READ

WHILE NOT EOF(FileName)

READFILE FileName, FlightData
IF LEFT(FlightData, 5) = FlightNo
THEN
IF STRING_TO_NUM(RIGHT(FlightData,2)) <= 50 AND
CaseCounter <= 300
THEN
CaseCounter ← CaseCounter + 1
ELSE
CaseID ← MID(FlightData, 6, 3)
OUTPUT CaseID & " rejected"
ENDIF
ENDIF
ENDWHILE

CLOSEFILE FileName

ENDPPROCEDURE

3(b) One mark each 2

• One change can be reflected throughout the program
• The value of the constant cannot be accidentally changed

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Question Answer Marks

3(c)(i) One mark each to max 2 e.g. 2

• Called from several places / reusability
• Reduces the length of the overall program code
• Less chance of errors as do not need to re-write / re-test
• One change in function will be applied in all places used
• Can use in multiple programs without rewriting
• Can share amongst other programmers to avoid everyone rewriting

3(c)(ii) One mark each to max 2 2

• Allows the use of functions that are difficult to code
• They (should) have been more extensively tested // Reduce the time to
test your code
• Reduce the time to write

3(d) One mark for name, two marks for description. 3

Name:
• By value

Description:
• (Copy of) value is passed
• Any local changes made are lost when the module terminates // does not
overwrite structure being passed

Question Answer Marks

4(a) 1 mark for each underlined part of the pseudocode. 4

PROCEDURE SafetyCheck()
DECLARE Count : INTEGER
DECLARE Index : INTEGER
CONSTANT TreeCount = 20
Count ← 0
FOR Index ← 1 TO TreeCount // 20
IF TreeAngle[Index] > 36
THEN
Count ← Count + 1
ENDIF
ENDFOR
IF Count <= MainTrigger
THEN
OUTPUT "Maintenance not needed"
ELSE
OUTPUT "Maintain " & NUM_TO_STRING(Count) &
" trees"
ENDIF
ENDPROCEDURE

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Question Answer Marks

4(b) 1 mark for each to max 7 7

1 Declarations of variable/constant/data structures have appropriate data

types
2 Procedure CheckTree taking an integer parameter
3 Prompt and input new angle
4 … attempt at validation of new angle
5 Loop 20 times …
6 … compare TreeAngle[loop counter, 1] with parameter …
7 … if found, store input value in TreeAngle[loop counter, 2]
8 … if found, compare new angle to 36
9 … and check if different to previous angle (one >36 and one is <= 36)
10 If parameter found (and angle changed), output message saying safety
status has changed
11 If parameter found, output message with reference number and "No
match"
12 If parameter not found in array display a suitable message
Example:
PROCEDURE CheckTree(TreeRef : INTEGER)

DECLARE Index : INTEGER

DECLARE PreviousAngle, Angle : INTEGER
DECLARE PreviousStatus, NewStatus: STRING
DECLARE Found : BOOLEAN

CONSTANT TreeCount = 20
CONSTANT SafeLimit = 36

Found ← FALSE

FOR Index ← 1 TO TreeCount

IF TreeAngle[Index, 1] = TreeRef
THEN
Found ← TRUE
PreviousAngle ← TreeAngle[Index, 2]
OUTPUT "Tree angle: "
INPUT Angle
TreeAngle[Index, 2] ← Angle

IF PreviousAngle <= SafeLimit

THEN
PreviousStatus ← "SAFE"
ELSE
PreviousStatus ← "UNSAFE"
ENDIF
IF Angle <= SafeLimit
THEN
NewStatus ← "SAFE"
ELSE
NewStatus ← "UNSAFE"
ENDIF

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Question Answer Marks

4(b) // check if safety status has changed

IF PreviousStatus <> NewStatus
THEN
OUTPUT "Safety status has changed"
ENDIF

ENDIF
ENDFOR

// output "No match" if not found

IF Found = FALSE
THEN
OUTPUT NUM_TO_STRING(TreeRef) & " No match"
ENDIF

ENDPROCEDURE

Question Answer Marks

5(a) One mark each to max 2 2

• Shows module hierarchy / relationships
• Shows parameters passed between modules
• Shows module names
• Shows sequence of the modules

5(b) One mark for each row. 5

Parameter identifier Parameter letter

Quantity C // D

BookingID A

ItemCost D // C

TotalCost E

BookingDate B

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Question Answer Marks

6(a) One mark each: 3

• Location declared as array, 10 000 elements of type string
• Loops 10000 times …
• … assign each index "22+VV"

Pseudocode solution:
DECLARE Location : ARRAY [1:10000] OF STRING
DECLARE Index : INTEGER

FOR Index ← 1 TO 10000

Location[Index] ← "22+VV"
ENDFOR

6(b) One mark each: 4

• loop 10 000 times
• compare variable with each Location index
• if variable found in array, return index (stop loop)
• not found after checking all records, return −1

Example:
Start

Counter = 1

No
IS Counter
Return −1 <= 10000?

Yes

IS No Counter =
Location[Count
Counter + 1
er] = Code?

Yes

Return Counter

End

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Question Answer Marks

6(c) 1 mark for each to max 6 6

1 Function heading and ending (where appropriate) including two
parameters (string and integer)
2 Loop until end of message (or " " or "." found)
3 Extract the character at the integer parameter start position
4 Compare each character to " " and "."
5 … if equal, break out of loop and return
6 … extracting geocode
7 Returning the extracted geocode

'Pseudocode' solution included here for development and clarification of mark

scheme.
Programming language example solutions appear in the Appendix.

FUNCTION RetrieveCode(EmailMsg : STRING,

StartPos : INTEGER) RETURNS STRING

DECLARE Index : INTEGER

DECLARE GeoCode : STRING
DECLARE NextChar : CHAR
DECLARE EndOfGeoCode : BOOLEAN

Index ← StartPos
GeoCode ← ""
EndOfGeoCode ← FALSE

WHILE Index <= LENGTH(EmailMsg) AND

EndOfGeoCode = FALSE
NextChar ← MID(EmailMsg, Index, 1)
IF (NextChar = ' ' OR NextChar = '.')
THEN
EndOfGeoCode ← TRUE
ELSE
GeoCode ← GeoCode & NextChar
ENDIF
Index ← Index + 1
ENDWHILE

RETURN GeoCode

ENDFUNCTION

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Program Code Example Solutions

Q4 (b): Visual Basic

Sub CheckTree(TreeRef As Integer)

Dim Index As Integer
Dim PreviousAngle, Angle As Integer
Dim PreviousStatus, NewStatus As String
Dim Found As Boolean

Const TREECOUNT = 20
Const SAFELIMIT = 36

Found = False

For Index = 1 To TREECOUNT

If TreeAngle(Index, 0) = TreeRef Then
Found = True
PreviousAngle = TreeAngle(Index, 1)
Console.Write("Tree angle: ")
Angle = Console.ReadLine()
TreeAngle(Index, 2) = Angle

If PreviousAngle <= SAFELIMIT Then

PreviousStatus = "SAFE"
Else
PreviousStatus = "UNSAFE"
End If

If Angle <= SAFELIMIT Then

NewStatus = "SAFE"
Else
NewStatus = "UNSAFE"
End If

' check if safety status has changed

If PreviousStatus <> NewStatus Then
Console.WriteLine("Safety status has changed")
End If
End If
Next

If Found = False Then

Console.WriteLine(CStr(TreeRef) & " No match")
End If
End Sub

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Q4 (b): Pascal

procedure CheckTree(TreeRef: integer);

const
TREECOUNT = 20;
SAFELIMIT = 36;
var
Index: integer;
PreviousAngle, Angle: integer;
PreviousStatus, NewStatus: string;
Found: boolean;
begin
Found := false;
for Index := 1 to TREECOUNT do
begin
if TreeAngle[Index,0] = TreeRef then
begin
Found := True;
PreviousAngle := TreeAngle[Index, 1];
write ('Tree angle: ');
readln(Angle);
TreeAngle[Index, 1] := Angle;

if PreviousAngle <= SAFELIMIT then

PreviousStatus := 'SAFE'
else
PreviousStatus := 'UNSAFE';
if Angle <= SAFELIMIT then
NewStatus := 'SAFE'
else
NewStatus := 'UNSAFE';

// check if safety status has changed

if PreviousStatus <> NewStatus then
writeln('Safety status has changed');
end;
end; //for

// output "No match" if not found

if Found = False then
writeln(TreeRef,' No match');
end;

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Q4 (b): Python

def CheckTree(TreeRef):
#DECLARE Index : INTEGER
#DECLARE PreviousAngle, Angle : INTEGER
#DECLARE PreviousStatus, NewStatus: STRING
#DECLARE Found : BOOLEAN

TREECOUNT = 20
SAFELIMIT = 36

Found = False

for Index in range(1, TREECOUNT):

if TreeAngle[Index][0] == TreeRef:
Found = True
PreviousAngle = TreeAngle[Index][1]
Angle = int(input("Tree angle:"))
TreeAngle[Index][1] = Angle

if PreviousAngle <= SAFELIMIT:

PreviousStatus = "SAFE"
else:
PreviousStatus = "UNSAFE"

if Angle <= SAFELIMIT:

NewStatus = "SAFE"
else:
NewStatus = "UNSAFE"

#check if safety status has changed

if PreviousStatus != NewStatus:
print("Safety status has changed")

#output "No match" if not found

if Found == False:
print(str(TreeRef) + " No match")

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Q6 (c): Visual Basic

Function RetrieveCode(EmailMsg As String, StartPos As Integer) As String

Dim Index As Integer
Dim GeoCode As String
Dim NextChar As Char
Dim EndOfGeoCode As Boolean

Index = StartPos
GeoCode = ""
EndOfGeoCode = False

Do While (Index <= EmailMsg.Length) And (EndOfGeoCode = False)

NextChar = EmailMsg.SubString(Index, 1)
If NextChar = " " Or NextChar = "." Then
EndOfGeoCode = True
Else
GeoCode = GeoCode & NextChar
End If
Index = Index + 1
Loop
Return GeoCode
End Function

Q6 (c): Pascal

function RetrieveCode(EmailMsg: string; StartPos: integer): string;

var
Index: integer;
GeoCode: string;
NextChar: string[1]; //char
EndOfGeoCode: boolean;

begin
Index := StartPos;
GeoCode := '';
EndOfGeoCode := False;

while (Index<=Length(EmailMsg)) and (EndOfGeoCode=False) do

begin
NextChar := MidStr(EmailMsg, Index, 1);
if (NextChar=' ') or (NextChar='.') then
EndOfGeoCode := True
else
GeoCode := GeoCode + NextChar;
Index := Index + 1;
end;
RetrieveCode := GeoCode;
end;

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Q6 (c): Python

def RetrieveCode(EmailMsg, StartPos):

#DECLARE Index : INTEGER
#DECLARE GeoCode : STRING
#DECLARE NextChar : CHAR
#DECLARE EndOfGeoCode : BOOLEAN

Index = StartPos
GeoCode = ""
EndOfGeoCode = False

while Index <= len(EmailMsg) and EndOfGeoCode == False:

NextChar = EmailMsg[Index:Index+1]
if NextChar == " " or NextChar == ".":
EndOfGeoCode = True
else:
GeoCode = GeoCode + NextChar
Index += 1

return GeoCode

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