Palestine Polytechnic University

College of Computer Eng. & IT

Course: Operating Systems

First Exam

Date: 09/04/2025 Time: 60 Minutes

Student Name Student Number

Question 1 2 3 4 Total
Grade

Answers of Q1:

Question 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Answer D B B B B C B B C C B A B C B

Answers of Q2:

Question 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Answer T F T F T F T F F F F T F T T

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Q1 (15 pts.): Multiple-Choice Questions

1.​ In the storage device hierarchy, which level typically has the fastest access time?​
a) Magnetic tape​
b) Hard disk drive (HDD)​
c) Solid-state drive (SSD)​
d) CPU registers

2.​ What is the primary purpose of caching in an operating system?​

a) To increase the size of secondary storage​
b) To reduce the latency of data access​
c) To improve the reliability of storage devices​
d) To manage virtual memory

3.​ Which of the following is a key difference between asymmetric and symmetric
multiprocessing?​
a) Asymmetric multiprocessing uses a single ready queue, while symmetric
multiprocessing uses multiple queues.​
b) Asymmetric multiprocessing assigns specific tasks to specific processors, while
symmetric multiprocessing treats all processors equally.​
c) Asymmetric multiprocessing is faster than symmetric multiprocessing.​
d) Symmetric multiprocessing is only used in real-time systems.

4.​ Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of real-time systems?​

a) Predictable response times​
b) High throughput​
c) Guaranteed deadlines​
d) Prioritization of time-critical tasks

5.​ What is the primary purpose of the exec() system call?​

a) To create a new process​
b) To replace the current process image with a new one​
c) To terminate a process​
d) To wait for a child process to finish

6.​ Which of the following is an example of a system program?​

a) Web browser​ ​ b) Fifa 2025
c) File manager​ ​ d) Word processor

7.​ What is the main advantage of a microkernel architecture?​

a) Improved performance due to a larger kernel​
b) Enhanced security and modularity​
c) Simplicity in design and implementation​
d) Faster system calls due to fewer layers

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8.​ Which of the following is a user goal for an operating system?​
a) Efficient resource utilization​
b) Ease of use​
c) High throughput​
d) Low overhead

9.​ Which of the following is NOT a part of a process’s address space?​

a) Stack​ ​ ​ b) Heap​
c) Program counter​ ​ d) Data section

10.​What is the primary role of the long-term scheduler?​

a) To allocate CPU time to processes​
b) To manage I/O operations​
c) To decide which processes are admitted to the ready queue​
d) To handle context switching

11.​What happens during a context switch?​

a) The CPU switches from user mode to kernel mode.​
b) The state of the process is saved, and the state of the next process is restored.​
c) A new process is created.​
d) A process is terminated.

12.​Which of the following is a disadvantage of shared memory for IPC?​

a) It requires synchronization mechanisms.​
b) It is slower than message passing.​
c) It cannot be used for communication between processes on the same machine.​
d) It is more complex to implement than pipes.

13.​Which of the following best describes task parallelism?​

a) Dividing a large dataset across multiple processors​
b) Executing different tasks on different processors​
c) Increasing the clock speed of a single processor​
d) Using multiple threads in a single process

14.​What is the primary limitation of Amdahl’s Law?​

a) It assumes infinite resources.​
b) It only applies to single-threaded programs.​
c) It does not account for the overhead of parallelization.​
d) It cannot predict the performance of distributed systems.

15.​What is a key advantage of user-level threads over kernel-level threads?​

a) They are managed directly by the OS.​
b) They have lower context-switching overhead.​
c) They can take advantage of multiple processors.​
d) They are more secure.
3
Q2 (15 pts.): True / False Questions

1.​ The OS kernel is responsible for managing both hardware and software resources.

2.​ Dual-core processors use asymmetric multiprocessing by default.

3.​ Virtualization allows multiple operating systems to run on a single physical machine
simultaneously.

4.​ System programs are part of the OS kernel and run in kernel mode.

5.​ The layered OS structure is designed to simplify debugging and maintenance.

6.​ APIs provide a way for applications to interact with hardware directly.

7.​ The primary goal of an OS is to maximize user convenience and system efficiency.

8.​ A process in the “ready” state is waiting for an I/O operation to complete.

9.​ Performing arithmetic operations (e.g., ADD, SUBTRACT) should be a privileged

instruction.

10.​Accessing user-allocated memory is an example of a privileged instruction.

11.​Named pipes can only be used for communication between related processes.

12.​The job queue contains all processes in the system.

13.​Concurrency is only achievable in multi-core systems.

14.​Enabling or disabling interrupts should be a privileged instruction.

15.​Threads within the same process share the same address space.

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Q3 -A: (2 + 3 = 5 pts.): Basics of Process Management (ANSWER A OR B ONLY)

○​ Explain the role of the init (or systemd) process on UNIX and Linux systems in regard
to process termination.

○​ What is the output of the following program?

#include <iostream>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/wait.h>

using namespace std;

int main() {

​ ​ cout << "A" << endl;

​ ​ pid_t pid = fork();

if (pid != 0) { wait(NULL); cout << "B" << endl; }

else { cout << "C" << endl; }

cout << "D" << endl;

​

​ return 0;
}

Output:

A
C
D
B
D

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Q3 -B: (2 + 3 = 5 pts.): Basics of Process Management (ANSWER A OR B ONLY)

○​ Draw the process state diagram showing all schedulers on the diagram.

○​ Assume you have a system with 2 processors, then discuss and show how the process
state diagram will be to handle this system. Will the state diagram be the same for 2
core processors instead of 2 processors?

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Q4 (2 + 3 = 5 pts.): Threads and Concurrency

○​ Describe the actions taken by a kernel to context-switch between kernel-level

threads.

○​ Using Amdahl’s Law, calculate the speedup gain of an application that has a 30
percent parallel component for (a) two processing cores and (b) four processing
cores.

●​ With 2 cores: <= 1.18 → 18%

●​ With 4 cores: <= 1.29 → 29%

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End of Exam