Cambridge International AS & A Level

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 9626/12

Paper 1 Theory October/November 2021
MARK SCHEME
Maximum Mark: 90

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 11 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) 1
They are used to control the hard disk drive.

They handle the translation of requests between the computer and the

printer.

One printer driver can control any printer.

They ensure that there are no paper jams.

1(b) 1
One device driver works with every operating system.

Device drivers are extra hardware inside the device.

Upon installation, a device driver detects and identifies the peripheral


device.

A device driver is needed to control the central processing unit of a

computer.

1(c) Six from: 6

It runs other programs and applications

It manages hardware resources
It recognises input from a keyboard/mouse
It sends output to a display screen/device
It manages files and directories
It allocates memory to software
A multi-user OS is when two or more users can run programs at the same
time
A multiprocessing OS is when the system has more than one processor
A multitasking OS allows more than one program to run at the same time
A multitasking OS allocates sufficient processor time to each program
Multithreading OS allows different parts of a single program to run at the
same time
Real time OS allows the computer to respond to input instantaneously
Distributed OS allows data to be stored on a number of computers in different
locations
It is responsible for handling errors

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Question Answer Marks

2(a) 1
It is good practice to use complementary colours such as red text on a
green background.

It is good practice to use text in small sizes and weights to emphasise it

against a different-coloured background.

It is good practice to always use as many colours as possible when

designing an interface.

It is good practice to use a soft-coloured background such as grey or


cream to allow text of a different colour to be read more easily.

2(b) 1
Radio buttons only allow you to select one option from a list. 

A text box does not allow you to type numbers into it.

Text should use the same font size whether the information is important
or less important.

It is a good idea to have a different font size for each word in a title.

2(c) Four from: 4

Sensible use of white space

Information that needs attending to immediately should always be displayed in
a prominent position
A consistent use of screens/use similar sized/positioned icons/buttons
Must not overload the user with information
Should follow the house style of the company using it
Information should flow in a logical order to the user

Question Answer Marks

3(a) Five from: 5

They are just a collection of text, numbers and symbols

As it stands, they have no meaning
A possible context is that the data is about a new worker/customer
They represent their family name, first name, worker’s ID, the date they joined
the company and their phone number (three marks for five reasonable fields,
two marks for four reasonable fields, one mark for two or three reasonable
fields)

3(b)(i) Three from: 3

Information needs to be up to date
Often information changes after a while so information which is out of date
can produce inaccurate results
Businesses who base their planning on out-of-date information are likely to
make bad decisions
It is important that where future planning is involved, only accurate and up-to-
date information is used

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Question Answer Marks

3(b)(ii) Two from: 2

To be helpful in solving the company’s problems, the information needs to
have the correct level of detail
If there is too much detail, it is difficult to extract/find the exact information
required
If the information is not detailed enough, it may not contain the information
needed

Question Answer Marks

4 Seven from: 7

Six max from:

Symmetric encryption only uses a single private key
With asymmetric encryption the public key is used to encrypt the data
With asymmetric encryption the private key is used to decrypt the data
The public key is published to everyone
With asymmetric encryption the private key is only accessible to the recipient
With symmetric encryption the same key is used for both encryption and
decryption
Asymmetric requires more processing (power)/is a slower process due to its
mathematical complexity
Asymmetric encryption requires a digital certificate/symmetric encryption does
not

At least one from:

Asymmetric is more secure
Sender and receiver have their own key so there is no problem of the key
being intercepted by a hacker
Even if the encryption/public key is stolen by a hacker they cannot decrypt the
message as decryption/private key is only available to the receiver

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Question Answer Marks

5 Six from: 6

Advantages
OCR is much faster than someone manually entering large amounts of text
OCR is cheaper than paying someone to manually enter large amounts of text
OCR will read documents consistently …
… whereas humans become tired over time and mistakes increase

Disadvantages
Initial cost of buying a fast-reading optical character reader is expensive …
… whereas existing staff are already paid for
With OCR all documents need to be checked over carefully and then
manually corrected
OCR has difficulty distinguishing between 1 and I, O and 0 …
… whereas humans can interpret these from the context
OCR can have greater difficulty reading handwriting …
… whereas humans are used to reading handwriting

At least one of each required to obtain full marks

Must be a proper evaluation to obtain full marks
Max. five marks if bullets/list of points
Must have an expansion or comparison to be a proper evaluation

Question Answer Marks

6 Four from: 4

Use only the minimum necessary confidential personal information

Use anonymised information wherever possible
Securely dispose of confidential personal information when it is no longer
needed
Only share, disclose or publish confidential personal information where it is
lawful to do so
Have levels of access
Secure the network with firewalls

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Question Answer Marks

7 Six from: 6

The purpose of storage devices is to store data and software for later
use/whenever needed
The purpose of storage devices is to hold data even when the computer is
turned off
Storage devices allow users to have non-volatile/permanent/backup copies of
data/keep archives
Stored data may be loaded back into the CPU for further processing or sent to
an output device
The device writes data to the medium and reads it from the medium
The CPU is able to write data to the hard disk/SSD/Pen drive in the form of
formatted files
The CPU is also able to read data and software from the hard disk/SSD/Pen
drive in readiness for processing to take place
Pen drives are used to store data to be transferred from one computer to
another because of ease of portability
Solid-state drives/HDD tend to be fixed and form the basic internal storage
unit of computers

Allow 4 general points but must include examples for full marks

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Question Answer Marks

8 Eight from: 8

Benefits
A centralised database of usernames and passwords on a server makes
client-server networks very secure
Failure of one client computer doesn’t affect the functioning of other client
computers
With a client-server network, users don't need to worry about making
backups/backups …
… these are managed centrally by a network manager
With a client-server network, everything is centralised so it is easier to
manage the network
Upgrading the network is easier with a client-server network …
… as it is easier to just upgrade the server
As new information is uploaded in a database, each computer need not have
its own storage capacity increased …
… so saving costs of extra hardware

Drawbacks
In a client-server network, if the server goes the down the whole network is
affected
Need a network manager with a client-server network …
… whose salary may be expensive
Client-server networks are expensive to set up/maintain
… as they require the buying of hardware such as servers/network managers
to be paid
In a client-server network, many computers trying to access data from the
server can cause overload/congestion

Must have at least two of each to obtain full marks

Must be a proper discussion to obtain full marks
Max. six marks if bullets/list of points
Must have expansions to be a proper discussion

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Question Answer Marks

9(a) Five from: 5

Electronic Mail – email is a message that may contain text, files, images, or
other attachments sent through a network to a specified individual or group of
individuals

World Wide Web – The World Wide Web is a system of Internet servers that
support specially formatted HTML documents

VoIP– Voice over Internet Protocol – the delivery of voice communications

and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks

Instant messaging – to communicate via messages in real time over the

internet

Video streaming – video is sent to the viewer in real time

File transfer – transmitting files over a computer network like the Internet

9(b) Four from: 4

The digital stream is subdivided into data packets

The digital packets are then transmitted through a digital network
Each packet has a 'header' that identifies its contents
Protocol used is usually determined by the need to have reliable or unreliable
communications
TCP is a protocol which can transmit data …
… It is used for error free transmission of data when delivery needs to be
assured
TCP will retransmit missing packets when data is lost
TCP protocol can cause delays and reduced throughput
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) …
… is a less reliable protocol in which any data lost during transmission is not
retransmitted
Video conferencing is better suited to UDP than TCP because packets that
arrive late would spoil the conference

Question Answer Marks

10 Five from: 5

Inference engine finds possible diagnoses by using a form of reasoning

The inference engine uses the data or facts in the knowledge base to reason
through the symptoms
The reasoning involves forward chaining, backward chaining or a combination
of both
Inference engine compares symptoms to those in the knowledge base
Inference engine uses the rules base of IF…THEN… rules/comparisons
Description of forward chaining
Description of backward chaining

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Question Answer Marks

11(a) Correct data dictionary e.g. 5

Attribute Data type Format Type of key

Car_ID Alphanumeric X9999X Primary

Number_of_doors Integer 9

Cost Numeric/Currency 99999

Agent_ID Alphanumeric X999 Foreign

1 mark for all attributes correctly copied

1 mark for all data types correct
1 mark for all formats correct
1 mark for correct foreign key
1 mark for correct primary key

11(b) Six from: 6

Advantages of relational databases

A relational database does not have/reduces amount of duplicated/redundant
data …
… saving storage space
When data in one field of a table changes, the data in the corresponding field
of the other table(s) is automatically modified
Adding/editing records to a relational database is relatively easy …
… as less data must be entered, saving time
It is easier to maintain security of data

Disadvantages of relational databases

Designing a relational database will take more planning
Creating a relational database requires technical expertise …
… which will have to be paid for
Some relational databases have limits on field lengths …
… this can lead to data loss
If the number of tables increases, setting up the relationships is much more
difficult

At least one of each required to obtain full marks

Must be a proper evaluation to obtain full marks
Max. five marks if bullets/list of points
Must have an expansion or comparison to be a proper evaluation

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Question Answer Marks

11(c) Four from: 4

If the SD wants to look for another Car_ID she will need to open up the query
in design view every time
She will then need to change the Car_ID criteria to that Car_ID and save and
then run the query
With a dynamic parameter query she would only have to run the query each
time having saved it just once
Having run the query, she would only have to type in/the system would
prompt her for the Car_ID
This would save the time of designing the query every time she wants to find
an agent’s details

Question Answer Marks

12 Six from: 6

For example:

Increasing sampling rate/sampling resolution to improve sound quality

Increasing sample resolution to increase the accuracy of the conversion from
analogue to digital.
Decreasing sampling rate/decreasing sample resolution/cropping to save disk
space
Trimming/cutting to reduce the length of the track
Trimming/cutting to remove unwanted sounds/noises
Fading out is a recording solution for pieces of music that contain no obvious
ending
Fading in is necessary when there is a clear section of silence prior to the
soundtrack
Fading in is used to soften the introduction of a drum/percussion instruments

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