Please write clearly in block capitals.

Centre number Candidate number

Surname

Forename(s)

Candidate signature
I declare this is my own work.

GCSE
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Paper 2 Written Assessment

Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes

Materials For Examiner’s Use
• There are no additional materials required for this paper. Question Mark

Instructions 1–3

• Use black ink or black ball-point pen. Use pencil only for drawing. 4–5
• Answer all questions. 6–9
• You must answer the questions in the spaces provided.
10
• If you need extra space for your answer(s), use the lined pages at the end of
this book. Write the question number against your answer(s). 11
• Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want to 12–13
be marked. 14–15
• You must not use a calculator.
16–17

Information 18–19
• The total number of marks available for this paper is 80. 20

Advice TOTAL

For the multiple-choice questions, completely fill in the lozenge alongside the appropriate answer.
CORRECT METHOD WRONG METHODS

If you want to change your answer you must cross out your original answer as shown.
If you wish to return to an answer previously crossed out, ring the answer you now wish to select as
shown.

*Jun218520201*
IB/G/Jun21/E12 8520/2
 2
Do not write
outside the
Answer all questions in the spaces provided. box

0 1 . 1 Convert the decimal number 220 into binary.

[1 mark]

0 1 . 2 Convert the hexadecimal number AD into binary.

You should show your working.

[2 marks]

Answer

0 1 . 3 Convert the hexadecimal number 1A into decimal.

[1 mark]

*02*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 3
Do not write
outside the
box
0 1 . 4 What is the largest hexadecimal number that can be represented in binary using
8 bits?
[1 mark]

0 2 Which of the following is a reason why hexadecimal is used instead of binary?

Shade one lozenge.

[1 mark]

A Computers work in hexadecimal, not binary.

B Hexadecimal can be used to represent a wider range of numbers.

C Hexadecimal is a standard language and binary is not.

D Hexadecimal is more compact when displayed on screen.

0 3 Figure 1 shows a value represented as a bit pattern.

Figure 1

1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0

A binary shift can be used to divide the value in Figure 1 by 4.

What is the result of this shift?

Your answer must be in binary.

[1 mark]

Turn over ►

*03*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 4
Do not write
outside the
box
0 4 Add the following binary numbers and give your answer in binary.
[2 marks]

1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
+ 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1

0 5 Eight minutes of sound has been digitally recorded. The sampling rate used was
25 000 Hertz and the sample resolution used was 4 bits.

0 5 . 1 Calculate the minimum file size for the recording. Give your answer in megabytes.

You should show your working.

[4 marks]

Answer

*04*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 5
Do not write
outside the
box
0 5 . 2 Explain what effects increasing the sampling rate would have on the recording.
[2 marks]

Turn over for the next question

Turn over ►

*05*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 6
Do not write
outside the
box
0 6 Shade two lozenges to show which of the following are functions of an operating
system.
[2 marks]

A Address filtering

B Application management

C Clock speed management

D Data encryption

E Processor management

0 7 . 1 Define the term application software.

[1 mark]

0 7 . 2 Give two examples of application software. You must not use brand names in your
answer.
[2 marks]

Example 1

Example 2

*06*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 7
Do not write
outside the
box
0 8 This description of how a magnetic hard disk drive works is partially correct but
contains some errors:

‘A magnetic hard disk spins very quickly. The surface of the disk has a groove on it
where data is stored. There is a needle that runs along the groove and detects
bumps. One of the components of the drive is a read/write head.’

0 8 . 1 Describe three factual errors in the description.

[3 marks]

0 8 . 2 State one correct fact in the description.

[1 mark]

0 9 Shade the two lozenges that are correct statements about RAM.
[2 marks]

A It is only used in solid state storage devices.

B It is used for main memory.

C It is used for secondary storage.

D It is volatile memory.

E It never loses data.

F It permanently stores programs and files. 11

Turn over ►

*07*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 8
Do not write
outside the
box
1 0 Three factors that affect the performance of a CPU are:

• clock speed
• number of processor cores
• cache size.

Explain how each of these factors affects CPU performance.

[6 marks]

Clock speed

Number of processor cores

Cache size

*08*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 9
Do not write
outside the
Turn over for the next question box

DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE

ANSWER IN THE SPACES PROVIDED

Turn over ►

*09*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 10
Do not write
outside the
box
1 1 A farmer uses an automated system to indicate if soil conditions are right for planting.

The conditions are right for planting if the soil is:

• warm
• wet
• the correct acidity.

Figure 2 shows the logic circuit for this system.

Figure 2

The inputs to the system are:

Soil temperature (T):

0 if the soil is cold
1 if the soil is warm.

Soil moisture (M):

0 if the soil is dry
1 if the soil is wet.

Soil acidity (A):

0 if the soil is the correct acidity
1 if the soil acidity needs adjusting.

The output (P) is:

0 if the conditions for planting have not been met
1 if the conditions for planting have been met.

*10*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 11
Do not write
outside the
box
1 1 . 1 Complete the truth table for the circuit in Figure 2.
[3 marks]

T M A X Y P

0 0 0

0 0 1

0 1 0

0 1 1

1 0 0

1 0 1

1 1 0

1 1 1

1 1 . 2 State the type of logic gate shown in Figure 3.

[1 mark]
Figure 3

Answer

1 1 . 3 The farmer wants to modify the system so that it will indicate that the soil conditions
are right for planting if at least one of the three conditions has been met.

Describe changes that could be made to the logic circuit in Figure 2 to allow this to
happen.
[2 marks]

Turn over ►

*11*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 12
Do not write
outside the
box
1 2 Describe two differences between an embedded system and a non-embedded
system.
[2 marks]

1 3 . 1 Define the term computer network.

[2 marks]

1 3 . 2 Explain how a firewall can be used to improve the security of a computer network.
[2 marks]

*12*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 13
Do not write
outside the
box
1 3 . 3 Authentication and MAC address filtering can be used to improve network security.

Explain how one of these security methods works.

[2 marks]

Ring your chosen security method:

Authentication MAC address filtering

How it works

1 3 . 4 Shade the two lozenges that are correct statements about network protocols.
[2 marks]

A A protocol is a set of rules.

B All protocols only work with specific hardware.

C All protocols transmit data securely.

D Ethernet is a family of protocols.

E Wi-Fi is a single protocol. 10

Turn over for the next question

Turn over ►

*13*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 14
Do not write
outside the
box
1 4 Several companies produce microchips that can be implanted in humans. Thousands
of people around the world have voluntarily had these microchips implanted in their
hands. These tiny microchips are the size of a grain of rice. They can be a form of
identification and can store a range of personal data.

Describe how human microchip implants might be used when travelling or visiting
places away from home.

In your answer you should include:

• potential uses
• advantages to the person who has the implant
• legal and ethical considerations of human chip implants.
[6 marks]

*14*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 15
Do not write
outside the
box
1 5 Explain one data privacy concern an organisation would need to consider when
setting up a wireless network.
[2 marks]

Turn over for the next question

Turn over ►

*15*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 16
Do not write
outside the
box
1 6 Figure 4 shows a black and white image.

Figure 4

The image shown in Figure 4 could be compressed using Run Length Encoding
(RLE). The RLE for the image in Figure 4 is B15 W9.

1 6 . 1 Figure 5 shows another black and white image.

Figure 5

Give the RLE for the image shown in Figure 5.

[1 mark]

1 6 . 2 The RLE will be represented using binary, with one bit representing the colour (W = 1,
B = 0) followed by seven bits representing the frequency.

Give the binary representation of the RLE: B15 W9

[2 marks]

*16*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 17
Do not write
outside the
Turn over for the next question box

DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE

ANSWER IN THE SPACES PROVIDED

Turn over ►

*17*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 18
Do not write
outside the
box
1 7 . 1 Table 1 is a frequency table that contains the frequency of characters in a string.

Table 1

A 6

B 2

C 3

Use the frequencies given in Table 1 to draw a Huffman tree that represents the
string.
[3 marks]

*18*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 19
Do not write
outside the
box
1 7 . 2 Table 2 shows the Huffman codes for the characters used in the string PIEDPIPER

Table 2

Character
Character Huffman code
frequency

P 3 10

I 2 11

E 2 01

D 1 000

R 1 001

Calculate how many bits would be saved if the phrase PIEDPIPER was encoded
using the Huffman codes shown in Table 2, rather than using ASCII.

You should show your working.

[3 marks]

Number of bits saved 9

Turn over ►

*19*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 20
Do not write
outside the
box
1 8 . 1 Table 3 shows screenshots of three different security measures.

Tick the box next to the CAPTCHA screenshot.

[1 mark]

Table 3

Security measure Tick one box

*20*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 21
Do not write
outside the
box
1 8 . 2 Give three examples of when it would be suitable to use a CAPTCHA system.
[3 marks]

1 9 Shade the two lozenges that are examples of social engineering.

[2 marks]

A Blagging

B Blogging

C Faking

D Phishing

E Porting

F Smashing 6

Turn over for the next question

Turn over ►

*21*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 22
Do not write
outside the
box
2 0 Table 4 shows three layers of the TCP/IP model and some protocols that operate at
each of these layers.

Table 4

Layer Protocol
HTTP
HTTPS
Application layer SMTP
IMAP
FTP
TCP
Transport layer
UDP

Internet layer IP

Describe the role of one protocol from each layer in Table 4. You must state which
protocol you are describing.
[9 marks]

Application layer protocol

Transport layer protocol

*22*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 23
Do not write
outside the
box

Internet layer protocol

END OF QUESTIONS

*23*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 24
Do not write
outside the
There are no questions printed on this page box

DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE

ANSWER IN THE SPACES PROVIDED

*24*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 25
Do not write
outside the
box
Question Additional page, if required.
number Write the question numbers in the left-hand margin.

*25*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 26
Do not write
outside the
box
Question Additional page, if required.
number Write the question numbers in the left-hand margin.

*26*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 27
Do not write
outside the
box
Question Additional page, if required.
number Write the question numbers in the left-hand margin.

*27*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2
 28
Do not write
outside the
There are no questions printed on this page box

DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE

ANSWER IN THE SPACES PROVIDED

Copyright information

For confidentiality purposes, all acknowledgements of third-party copyright material are published in a separate booklet. This booklet is published after
each live examination series and is available for free download from www.aqa.org.uk.

Permission to reproduce all copyright material has been applied for. In some cases, efforts to contact copyright-holders may have been unsuccessful
and AQA will be happy to rectify any omissions of acknowledgements. If you have any queries please contact the Copyright Team.

Copyright © 2021 AQA and its licensors. All rights reserved.

*216G8520/2*
*28*
IB/G/Jun21/8520/2