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Computer ScienceQ&A by dot point
A short Q&A bank for every Wales Computer Science syllabus dot point. Each question and answer is drawn directly from our worked dot-point page, so you can scan key concepts before opening the long-form answer.
Unit 1 Fundamentals of Computer Science
- Design algorithms in pseudocode, apply the standard searching and sorting algorithms, and compare algorithm efficiency.5Q&A pairs
- Describe networks and topologies, transmission media and methods, protocols and the TCP/IP stack, and how the internet works.3Q&A pairs
- Represent numbers in binary, hexadecimal and two's complement, perform binary arithmetic, and represent characters, sound and images as binary data.2Q&A pairs
- Describe and use arrays, records, lists, stacks, queues, trees and hash tables, and explain their operations and uses.2Q&A pairs
- Describe the von Neumann architecture, the components of the CPU, the fetch-execute cycle, memory and the storage hierarchy.2Q&A pairs
- Use Boolean algebra, logic gates and truth tables to represent and simplify logical operations.5Q&A pairs
- Describe files, fields and records, relational databases, normalisation, basic SQL, and validation and verification.3Q&A pairs
- Explain the principles of programming: data types, the three control structures, procedures and functions, parameter passing and recursion.3Q&A pairs
- Describe data security threats and protection, encryption, data integrity, and the legislation and ethics governing computer use.4Q&A pairs
- Describe systems, application and utility software, the functions of the operating system, translators, and modes of operation.3Q&A pairs
Unit 2 Practical Programming to Solve Problems
Unit 3 Programming and System Development
- Describe data security and integrity measures: backup and recovery, validation and verification, error detection, and encryption in depth.3Q&A pairs
- Describe and apply advanced data structures and algorithms: linked lists, trees and their traversals, recursion, and advanced searching and sorting.4Q&A pairs
- Describe data transmission methods, packet switching, the layered protocol model, network hardware, and network security in depth.3Q&A pairs
- Explain the procedural, object-oriented and declarative paradigms, and describe classes, objects, encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism.5Q&A pairs
- Simplify Boolean expressions using Boolean algebra and Karnaugh maps, and use programming constructs to construct programs.5Q&A pairs
- Describe system design, testing strategies, methods of installation and changeover, documentation, evaluation and maintenance.4Q&A pairs
- Describe the systems development life cycle, its stages, and development methodologies including the waterfall and agile approaches.3Q&A pairs
Unit 4 Computer Architecture, Data, Communication and Applications
- Describe applications of computer science including artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation and modern computing applications.3Q&A pairs
- Describe advanced data representation: floating-point numbers, normalisation, fixed-point, and the limits of representing real numbers.3Q&A pairs
- Describe computer architecture in depth: processor design, parallel processing, peripherals, and the hardware and methods of communication.3Q&A pairs
- Describe the organisation and structure of data: relational databases, normalisation to third normal form, SQL, and big data and data warehousing.2Q&A pairs
- Describe low-level programming: machine code and assembly language, the instruction set, and addressing modes.4Q&A pairs
- Evaluate the ethical, legal, social and environmental impacts of computer science and the relevant legislation.3Q&A pairs