PMT

Oxford Cambridge and RSA

Friday 19 May 2023 – Afternoon

GCSE (9–1) Computer Science
J277/01 Computer Systems
Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes

Do not use:
* 9 9 3 2 3 6 4 5 2 6 *

• a calculator

* J 2 7 7 0 1 *

Please write clearly in black ink. Do not write in the barcodes.

Centre number Candidate number

First name(s)

Last name

INSTRUCTIONS
• Use black ink. You can use an HB pencil, but only for graphs and diagrams.
• Write your answer to each question in the space provided. If you need extra space use
the lined pages at the end of this booklet. The question numbers must be clearly shown.
• Answer all the questions.

INFORMATION
• The total mark for this paper is 80.
• The marks for each question are shown in brackets [ ].
• Quality of extended response will be assessed in questions marked with an asterisk (*).
• This document has 16 pages.

ADVICE
• Read each question carefully before you start your answer.

© OCR 2023 [601/8355/X] OCR is an exempt Charity

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1 Computers represent data in binary form.

(a) Tick (3) one box to identify the statement about binary that is true.

Binary digits can only be the values 0, 1 and 2

The left-most bit of a binary integer has the smallest value

Binary is used because computers are made of switches that can only be on or off

The smallest whole number that can be stored in 8 bits is the number 1
[1]

(b) Complete the table by writing the missing denary, 8-bit binary or hexadecimal values.

Denary 8-bit binary Hexadecimal

00000111 7

49 31

01100110 66

244 11110100

[4]

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(c) Tick (3) one box to identify the largest file size.

2 000 000 bytes

2300 KB

200 MB

0.1 GB
[1]

(d) Tick (3) two boxes to identify the two file sizes that are equal to each other.

4 500 000 bytes

450 KB

4.5 MB

0.45 GB
[1]

(e) Complete the binary addition by adding these two 8-bit binary numbers.

Show all your working.

0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1

+ 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0

[2]

(f) Identify the binary shift that has been applied to the 8-bit binary number 10110000 to get the
result 10000000.

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

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2 A student is performing a range of actions on the internet using their computer.

(a) A range of protocols are used for the transmission of data by the student’s computer, and the
web servers they are accessing.

(i) Complete the table by identifying the most appropriate protocol for each of the tasks the
student is performing.

Task Protocol
Requesting to view a news webpage from a web
server
Entering a username and password to access
their bank account
Downloading a text document from a web server

Checking for new emails in their inbox

[4]

(ii) Some protocols have layers.

Give two reasons why protocols have layers.

1 ........................................................................................................................................

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2 ........................................................................................................................................

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[2]

(b) The student’s computer is part of their home Local Area Network (LAN). The LAN currently
only has wired connections.

(i) One characteristic of a LAN is that they are set up over a small geographical area.

Give one other characteristic of a LAN.

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(ii) Describe the benefits of the student changing their home LAN to include wireless
connections.

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(iii) State two drawbacks of changing their home LAN to include wireless connections.

1 ........................................................................................................................................

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2 ........................................................................................................................................

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[2]

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3 Binary numbers can represent different forms of data.

(a) One form of data is characters.

Complete the description of how computers represent characters in binary using the given
list of terms. Not all terms will be used.

2 4 8 9 16 32 256

71 72 74 76 78 80 81

all different identical one repeated similar some unique

A character set stores ......................................... of the characters that the computer can

represent. Each character is given a ......................................... binary code. Lower-case and

upper-case letters in a character set are given ......................................... binary codes.

One example of a character set is ASCII. This character set uses .........................................

bits for each character. If the code value for the character ‘F’ is 70 then the code value for

the character ‘L’ is ......................................... .

[5]

(b) Binary numbers can also represent images.

The table shows the colours that are used in an image and the binary value for each colour.

Colour Binary value

Red 0000

Green 0010

Blue 1000

Purple 0110

The metadata states that the image is 3 pixels wide by 4 pixels high.

The data in the file starts in the top left of the image and goes from left-to-right, top-to-
bottom.

(i) State what is meant by metadata in an image file.

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

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

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(ii) The binary data stored for the image is given:

000000000110100000101000011001100110000000101000
A grid is given for the image. Each square is one pixel.

Write the name of the colour in each square that the pixel will show for this image.

[2]

(iii) A colour depth of 4 is used. This means 4 bits are used to store the colour for each
pixel.

State the maximum number of different colours that can be represented in 4-bits.

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

(iv) The colour depth is increased to 2 bytes.

State two effects that this change can have on the image.

1 ........................................................................................................................................

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2 ........................................................................................................................................

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[2]
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(c) A student has a text document and an image file that need to be compressed separately.

The student needs to reduce the file size of both of these files as much as possible.

(i) Identify the most suitable type of compression for the text document. Justify your choice.

Type of compression .................................................................

Justification .......................................................................................................................

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[3]

(ii) Identify the most suitable type of compression for the image file. Justify your choice.

Type of compression .................................................................

Justification .......................................................................................................................

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[3]

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4 (a) Tick (3) one or more boxes on each row to identify all of the methods that can help to
prevent each threat.

Penetration
Threat Anti-malware Encryption Firewall
testing

Spyware

Brute-force attack

Data interception

SQL injection
[4]

(b) Name and describe one threat to a computer system that is not given in question 4(a).

Threat .......................................................................................................................................

Description ................................................................................................................................

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[3]

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5 An artist has a computer that they use to create images.

Their computer has both hardware and software.

(a) The hardware includes primary and secondary storage.

(i) Explain why a computer needs both primary and secondary storage.

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

(ii) Give one example of a secondary storage device that the artist’s computer will have
and an example of the data that will be stored on it.

Secondary storage device .................................................................................................

Example data ....................................................................................................................

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

(iii) The computer has Virtual Memory (VM).

The table has four statements about VM. Not all of the statements are correct.

Tick (3) the True column for the statements that are correct.

Re-write any statement that is incorrect in the False column by changing the statement
to make it true.

True
Statement False – rewrite the statement to make it true
(3)

A section of primary
storage is partitioned to act
as virtual memory

Data from ROM is

transferred into VM

VM is needed when RAM is

full, or nearly full

Data from VM is transferred

back to secondary storage
when needed
[4]

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(b) The computer has an operating system and utility software.

State the need for utility software in a computer.

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

(c) The artist uploads images to be displayed on a website. This is a client-server relationship.

(i) Identify the computer that is acting as the client in this scenario and justify your choice.

Client computer .................................................................................................................

Justification .......................................................................................................................

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[3]

(ii) Identify the computer that is acting as the server in this scenario and justify your choice.

Server computer ................................................................................................................

Justification .......................................................................................................................

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[3]

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(d) The artist is working with a programmer on the development of a new piece of software.

The software will allow users to edit images on devices such as mobile telephones.

They are considering releasing the software as open source instead of proprietary.

(i) Describe two benefits to the artist and programmer of releasing the software as
proprietary.

1 ........................................................................................................................................

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2 ........................................................................................................................................

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[4]

(ii) Describe one benefit to the users of releasing the software as open source.

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6* A shopping centre has a security system that includes CCTV cameras to record activities in the
centre. The security system is being upgraded to include the use of facial recognition to identify,
track the movements of and record individuals throughout the shopping centre.

Discuss the positive and negative impacts of this upgrade including:

• ethical issues
• privacy issues
• legal issues

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7 A car comes with many embedded systems, for example parking sensors.

Identify one other embedded system that could be found in a car and explain why this is an
embedded system.

Example embedded system .............................................................................................................

Explanation ......................................................................................................................................

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[3]

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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ADDITIONAL ANSWER SPACE

If additional space is required, you should use the following lined page(s). The question number(s)
must be clearly shown in the margin(s).

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Oxford Cambridge and RSA

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