Cambridge IGCSE™

* 4 1 9 2 4 0 4 4 3 3 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 0478/11

Paper 1 Theory October/November 2020

1 hour 45 minutes

You must answer on the question paper.

No additional materials are needed.

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen. You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams or graphs.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● Calculators must not be used in this paper.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 75.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
● No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

This document has 12 pages. Blank pages are indicated.

DC (LK) 186555/3
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1 Six devices are shown.

Tick (3) to show if each device is an Input, Output or Storage device.

Input Output Storage

Device
(3) (3) (3)

Keyboard

Sensor

3D cutter

2D scanner

Microphone

Hard disk drive (HDD)

[6]

2 Ron is attending a music concert. He has bought three tickets.

Each ticket number is displayed as a hexadecimal number.

(a) Complete the table to show the 12-bit binary values and the Denary values for each
Hexadecimal ticket number.

Hexadecimal 12-bit binary value Denary value

ticket number

028 000000101000 40

1A9 000110101001 425

20C 001000001100 524

[6]

Working space
8 + 32 = 40
..........................................................................................................................................................
028 = 0000 0010 1000
128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1
..........................................................................................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................
1A9 = 0001 1010 1001
1 + 8 + 32 + 128 + 256 = 169 + 256 = 425
..........................................................................................................................................................
20C = 0010 0000 1100 512 +4 + 8 = 524
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(b) Each ticket also has a QR code. The QR code is scanned at the entrance to the venue.

A person can only enter the venue with a valid QR code that allows entry.

When a person enters, a count is incremented to show how many people have entered the
venue.

Explain how the system scans the QR code, checks if a person can enter and counts how
many people have entered.
first off the laser scans the code / the black squares and converts the patterns to digital data and
...................................................................................................................................................
sends the digital data to the microprocessor and compares the qr code to the database of all the
...................................................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................
qr codes and checks if the data matches or doesnt match them

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3 Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol is used to secure the transmission of data over the
Internet.

(a) Identify the two layers in the TLS protocol.

record
Layer 1 ......................................................................................................................................
handshake
Layer 2 ......................................................................................................................................
[2]

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(b) The following paragraph explains how data is sent securely using the TLS protocol.

Use the terms to complete the paragraph. Not all terms may need to be used.

•
authentic
•
binary
•
browser
•
certificate
•
internet service provider
•
signal
•
web page
•
web server
•
website
web server
The browser requests the .................................................................... to identify itself

certificate
by providing its .................................................................... . This is sent and a check
authentic
is performed to see if it is .................................................................... . If it is, the
browser
................................................................... sends a ...................................................................
signal

back to the web server and data transmission begins.

[5]

(c) Identify one other protocol that can be used to secure data transmission over the Internet.
HTTPS
............................................................................................................................................. [1]

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Question 4 starts on page 6.

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4 Consider the given logic statement:

X = ((NOT (A NAND B)) OR (B NOR C))

(a) Draw a logic circuit to represent the given logic statement.

All logic gates must have a maximum of two inputs. Do not attempt to simplify the logic
statement.

B X

[4]

(b) Complete the truth table for the given logic statement.

A B C D E F Working space X

0 0 0 1 1 0 1

0 0 1 0
1 0 0
0 1 0 0
1 0 0
0 1 1 0
1 0 0
1 0 0 1
1 1 0
1 0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 0
0 0 1 1
1 1 1
0 0 1 1
[4]

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(c) The logic statement given has four different logic gates.

Identify two other logic gates and complete a truth table for each.

Logic gate Truth table

A B X

......................................
AND 0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1

Logic gate Truth table

A B X

......................................
XOR 0 0 0

0 1 1

1 0 1

1 1 0
[4]

5 Luke is creating a website for his t-shirt design business.

(a) He is using HTML to create the website. HTML can be separated into structure and
presentation.

(i) Give two examples of HTML structure.

the head
Example 1 .........................................................................................................................
the body
Example 2 .........................................................................................................................
[2]

(ii) Give two examples of HTML presentation.

font color
Example 1 .........................................................................................................................
font size
Example 2 .........................................................................................................................
[2]

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(b) Luke is concerned that his web server may be hacked or subjected to a denial of service
(DoS) attack.

State two security methods that Luke could use to help protect the web server from hacking
or a DoS attack.
firewall
Method 1 ...................................................................................................................................
proxy server
Method 2 ...................................................................................................................................
[2]

6 A Von Neumann model for a computer system contains several integrated circuits (IC).

(a) Parallel data transmission is used in an IC.

(i) Describe how data is transmitted using parallel data transmission.

it sends multiple bits down at the same time meanwhile also using multiple wires
...........................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................

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..................................................................................................................................... [2]

(ii) Give one benefit of using parallel, rather than serial, data transmission.
it is faster when it comes to transsion
...........................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(b) The computer has a central processing unit (CPU).

(i) Identify the bus that carries signals around the CPU to control the components.
control bus
..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(ii) Identify the register built into the arithmetic logic unit (ALU).
accumator
..................................................................................................................................... [1]

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(iii) Four statements about a Von Neumann model for a computer system are shown.

Tick (3) to show if each statement is True or False.

True False
Statement
(3) (3)

Data and instructions are stored in the same memory unit

The control unit manages operations within the CPU

Data and instructions can be fetched into the CPU at the same time

The control unit is responsible for decoding an instruction

[4]

7 Nina is recording some music tracks that she has written. She is researching whether she should
record them in MIDI or MP3 format.

Explain what is meant by MIDI and MP3 format.

MIDI ..................................................................................................................................................
it is a muscial file that stores a set of commands / instructions on how the sound should be played

however it does not store the actual sounds

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MP3 ..................................................................................................................................................
format of digital audio which is an actual recording of the audio

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[4]

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8 Matthew is buying a new television with a display that uses LED technology.

(a) Explain what is meant by LED technology.

light emitting diodes which is a display made of pixels that are arranged together as a matrix
...................................................................................................................................................
formed by three LEDS
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(b) State three benefits of LED technology.

good longetivity
Benefit 1 ...................................................................................................................................

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high resolution
Benefit 2 ...................................................................................................................................

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display is thinner
Benefit 3 ...................................................................................................................................

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[3]

(c) Identify one other technology that could have been used for the display.
LCD
............................................................................................................................................. [1]

9 Victoria is entering data into a computer system. The data will be transmitted to cloud storage.

(a) An even parity check is used to check for errors in the binary values after transmission.

For each of the 7-bit binary values, write the Parity bit that makes sure even parity is met.

7-bit binary value Parity bit

odd
1100010 ......................

1001011 even
......................
even
0100010 ......................
even
0010111 ......................
[4]

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(b) Identify two other error checking methods that could be used to check the binary values are
correct after transmission.
checksum
Method 1 ...................................................................................................................................
automatic repeat request
Method 2 ...................................................................................................................................
[2]

(c) A check digit is used to check whether data is correct when entered into the system.

Describe how a check digit can be used to make sure the data entered is correct.
data is first input with check degit that performs a calculation on the inputed data which is then
...................................................................................................................................................
compared to a preset value stored if it matches then it is correct if it doesnt then it isnt correct
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© UCLES 2020 0478/11/O/N/20