COMPUTER STUDIES

PAPER 1 2024

TRIAL 2 https://tapeducationcons.co.ke

MARKING SCHEME

SECTION A (40 marks)

Answer all questions in this section

1. Using an illustration, explain how a computer operates (2 marks)

The computer gets input from input devices such as the keyboard. The input is then processed
in the CPU and is output as information on a device such as the monitor (Fig. 1.1)

Input devices CPU Output devices

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(Input) (Processing) (Output)
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2. Charles Babbage is regarded as the father of modern computing, yet he never fully implemented
his idea. Explain his contribution. (2 marks)
Charles Babbage designed a machine that could calculate a long series of numbers and print the
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outcome. He later improves the design by incorporating the idea of programming using
punched cards (from of programmed instructions) but did not construct it. This idea was later
used in developing the first programmable computer.
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3. State how computers can be used in the following area ;

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(a) Retail stores (1 mark)

- Computers are used in retail outlets to help in the management of daily transactions
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and stock control.

(b) Industries (1 mark)
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- Computers are being used to monitor and control industrial processes. The computer age
has seen the wide use of controlled devices called robots.
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(c) Law enforcement agencies (1 mark)

- Information held in computers such as fingerprints, photographs and other identification
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details helps the law enforcers to carry out criminal investigations speedily.
4. Highlight four measures you would put in place to protect computer users from unhealthy
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effects of computer usage. (2 marks)

 Insulating power cables to avoid electric shock.
 Providing standard furniture.
 Providing antiglare screens when using cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors.
 Ventilating the computer room.
 Avoiding overcrowding as it may cause suffocation.
5. Explain the importance of CMOS (2 marks)
Complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) also referred to as Real Time Clock
 Examples include Caps Lock, Num Lock and Scroll Lock keys.
7. Differentiate between the following pointing devices:
(a) Trackball and joystick (2 marks)
A trackball is a pointing device with a scroll ball located at the top. The user
rotates the ball using a finger instead of moving the device on a flat surface.
A joystick, on the other hand, is a pointing device used purposely for playing
computer games.
(b) Light pen and stylus (2 marks)
A light pen operates by detecting the command or item being illuminated by the
light pen.
A stylus, on the other hand, is used on touch sensitive devices such as PDAs and
some mobile phone screens.

8. Kariuki, a computer vendor in Nakuru County, was sent by his boss to deposit a cheque worth
Ksh 12,000. The cheque was passed through a device similar to the one shown in Fig. 2.1
alongside.
Fig. 2.1

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(a) Suggest the name of the device. (1 mark)

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Cheque reader or Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) reader

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(b) Explain why the cheque was passed through the device. (2 marks)
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The cheque reader is used to read characters written using magnetic ink that contain
important banking information such as the cheque number and the code of the issuing
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bank.
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9. Explain one examples of logical operations performed by the ALU. (2 marks)

Logic operations are based on the computer’s capacity to compare two or more values. For
example, it may compare whether a piece of data is greater than, less than, equal to or not equal
to another.
10. Fig. 2.4 shows electronic pathways on a section of a motherboard. Study the illustration and
answer the questions that follow.

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(a) What is the name given to the pathways? (1 mark)

Buses-
These are electrical pathways etched on the system board and used to transmit
data and control signals.
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(b) Explain three types of the pathways in (a) above. (3 marks)

Control bus:
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This is the pathway for timing and controlling functions sent by the control unit
to other parts of the system.
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Address bus:
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This is the pathway used to locate the storage position in a memory where the
data to be processed next is found.
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Data bus:
This is the pathway where the actual data transfer takes place.
11. Using an illustration, describe how data and instructions flow between the CPU and other
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components of the computer in reference to the fetch-execute cycle. (3 marks)

Fetch next Execute

Start Halt
instruction instruction
 the CPU for execution. The process repeats until the system receives no more instructions
or is shut down (Fig. 2.6).
12. Kimani was using a computer with CRT monitor. The images were flickering after every few
seconds causing eye strain.
(a) Explain the probable cause of the flickering. (1 mark)
This may be due to low refresh rate of the CRT monitor. Low refresh rate causes the
images to flicker hence causing eye strain.
(b) What would you advice Kimani to do to solve this problem. (1 mark)

He should consider replacing the monitor with a better CRT or a flat panel display.

13. Describe the following terms

(a) Web portal (1 mark)
Is a website that brings information together from diverse sources in a uniform
way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for
displaying information (a portlet); often, the user can configure which ones to
display.
(b) Blog. (1 mark)

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A blog (short for weblog) is a personal online journal that is frequently updated
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and intended for general public consumption.
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14. (a) What is a chart wizard in spreadsheets? (1 mark)

A chart wizard is a step by step procedure of designing spreadsheet charts.

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State the use of:

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(b)
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(i) A line graph (1 mark)

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A line graph is used to show trend

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(ii) A pie chart (1 mark)

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A pie chart is used to show distribution. It shows the proportional size

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of items that make up a data series to the sum of the items.

15. What is program documentation? Give two examples of program documentations.

(3 marks)

This refers to information that serves to explain the purpose of a program.

Documentation may be internal – in the form of comments and appropriate named

variables and constants e.t.c. or may be extended in the form of a written description
 SECTION B (60 marks)
Answer question 16 (compulsory) and any other three questions from this section.

16. (a) (i) Name six steps in program development cycle in their

logical sequence. (3 marks)

 Problemdefinition
 Feasibility study
 System design
Programming
 System
implementation
and h/w
configuration
 Operation and
maintenance

(ii) List any four high level programming languages (2 marks)

- Visual basic - Basic

- Pascal - Java
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(Any programming language that uses English like syntax)

(b) What is meant by each of the following terms:

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(i) Pseudo code (1 marks)

- Pseudo code (or structured English) describes module design in

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words using syntax like programming language. It aims at proving

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programmers with clear and unambiguous process specification.

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(ii) Flowchart (1 marks)

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- A flowchart is a diagrammatic or pictorial representation that

illustrates the sequence of operations to be performed to get the solution
of a problem.
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(c) Study the program below and design its equivalent flowchart (8 marks)
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START

INPUT STUDENTS DETAILS;

Enter the student Name’)

Readln (Name)
 If (average > =50) then Comment: = ‘well done’ Else

Comment: = ‘Repeat’,

Display(‘NAME SUBJECT 1 SUBJECT 2 AVERAGE Comment’);

End.

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(a) State any two negative effects of introducing robots in a manufacturing plant
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17.
(2 marks)
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 Wide use of robots probably increases the unemployment rate. With the
enrollment of robots and improvement of working efficiency, factories need not
so many labors that many people are fired.
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 Robots work by following some designated instructors. in some urgent and

dangerous situation, robots cannot adjust automatically to fit the change and lead
to serious consequence.

 The widespread use of robots decrease the independence of human on machines,

weaken the creativity ability of human indirectly.
 (ii) More information sources

(iii) More opportunities for cooperation and networking

(iv) Increased access to the information in the resource center.

(v) Increased efficiency

(vi) More services

(vii) Computer greatly improves the speed of data input, output, processing,

and transmission.

(viii) Computer ensures consistent and error free processing of data.

(c) Name three types of special purpose memories used in a computer (3 marks)

 Buffers

 Registers

 Cache memory

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(d) Explain the purpose of the system clock (2 marks)
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 Ensure the correct synchronization of the fetch and execute cycle
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(e) (i) In word processing, differentiate between text wrap and word wrap
(2 marks)

 Text wrap is the process of fitting text around an image with a narrow
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margin. Depending on the size and placement of the image, the text may
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wrap around the left, right, or both sides of the image.

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 Word wrap- As text approaches the end of a line (the margin), if a word
won't fit it wraps or continues at the beginning of the following line.
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(iii) List any three types of section breaks used in word. (3 marks)

 Next page
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 continuous

 Even page

 Odd page

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 He noted that the notebook PCs that appeared to be physically similar had price
differences some up to Ksh 120,000.
(i) Explain two types of processors from the programmer’s point of view.
(4 marks)
 Complex Instruction Set Computers (CISC)
CISC is made up of complex instructions micro-coded into the processor. This
design was popularised by Intel Corporation and is widely used on Pentium
processors.
 Reduced Instruction Set Computers (RISC)
RISC uses a few instruction sets than CISC; hence it is less costly. Motorola and
Sun Microsystems companies have been the main manufacturers of RISC
processors.
(ii) Explain why the processor specifications contribute to difference in process.
(2 marks)
Computer prices depend on the type of processor (manufacturer), speed and the
amount of cache installed into the microprocessor.

(iii) List two other processor manufacturers other than Intel. (2 marks)
Other processor manufacturers are Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Cyrix.
(iv) Differentiate between Core i3 and quad core processors in terms of internal
architecture.
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A core i3 processor contains eight processors or cores in a single silicon chip,
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while a quad core processor has four processors or cores on a single chip.

(b) Name three types of special memories in a computer system (3 marks)

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 buffer
 registers
 cache
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(c) Explain how the CPU registers may be used to carry out a basic calculation
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such as 10 +14 = 24 (2 marks)

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- The data 10 and 14 are fetched from memory (RAM) and placed in
the Data register (DR) via the memory Buffer Register and the Address
register.
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- The instruction + (add) is also fetched from memory (RAM) and

placed in the instruction register (IR) via the address register.
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- The IR decodes the instruction and sends out the necessary

command to process the data in the DR.
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- Results are then taken back to the RAM

19. Mr Wesonga, the head of the computer department created a folder called Computer Studies.
In this folder, she created four folders named Form 1, Form 2, Form 3 and Form 4. Each of
the four folders contained subfolders for the topics of the secondary computer studies course
covered at each level. Table 3.1 below shows the topics covered at each level. Study it and
answer the questions that follow.

Form 1 Form 2 Form 3 Form 4

Introduction to Word processors Data representation in Networking
computers A computer
Computer systems Spreadsheets Data processing Application areas of
ICT
Operating systems Databases Programming Impact of ICT
principles
Desktop publishing System development Careers in ICT
Internet and email
Data security and
controls

Table 3.1

(a) Assuming the Computer Studies folder is in drive E; draw the corresponding tree
diagram for Form 1 folder and its subfolders.
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E: ⧵>
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Computer Studies
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Form 4
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Networking Application areas of ICT Impact of ICT Impact of ICT

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Fig. 3.6: Tree diagram

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(b) The head of department wants to create a subfolder named Projects within the Form 4
folder. Outline the steps she would follow to create the subfolder. (5 marks)
(i) Select the drive D: where the subfolder is located.
(ii) Within drive D:, select the Computer Studies folder.
(iii) Within the Computer Studies folder, select Form 4.
(iv) In the Form 4 folder, click the File menu, point to New then click Folder.
 (d) Outline how you would delete a file CAT 1 that was later created in the Networking
subfolder within the Form 4 folder. (3 marks)
(i) Select drive D:.
(ii) Within drive D:, select Computer Studies folder.
(iii) Within Computer Studies folder, select Form 4 folder then select the Networking
folder.
(iv) In the Networking folder, right click the file CAT 1, then click delete.
20. (a) Write the following abbreviations in full. (3 marks)

(i) BCD -Binary Coded Decimal

(ii) ASCII -American Standard Code for information Interchange

(iii) EBCDIC -Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code

(b) Distinguishing between binary and octal number systems and give an
example of each (2 marks)

- Binary number consists of the digits 0 and 1 e.g. 1000112

- Octal numbers consist of eight digits, 0,1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 e.g. 1278

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(c) Write – 2 in twos compliment notation in byte fom (4 marks)
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2 = 00000010

One’s compliment 11111101

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Two’s compliment (1)

000000102 Ignoring
over flow 000000102
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(d) (i) Explain the term nibbles as used in data representation in computers

(2 marks)
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- A nibble refers to a half a byte or 4 bits ( A byte is equivalent to 8 bits)

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(ii) Arrange the following data units in ascending order of size (2 marks)

BYTE,DATA BANK, FILE, BIT, NIBBLE,DATABASE

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BIT, NIBBLE, BYTE, FILE,DATABASE , DATA BANK

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(e) Convert 3768 to hexadecimal (2 marks)

FE16