MONTHLY TEST 1

Marks: 50 Time : 1 hour

1. An electronic guessing game compares denary integer values input by a user with pre-stored
values. The pre-stored values are held in 10-bit binary format.

a) Convert the binary values in the table to denary. [3]

Binary Denary
0001001110
0110110111
1000000001

b) When planning the game, the designer decided to use hexadecimal notation to represent
the binary values. Explain why the designer used hexadecimal notation [2]

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c) State the hexadecimal equivalent of the binary value 1010110101 [1]

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2. Audrey wants to send a sound file to Nico using email. The file is too large to attach to an
email so Audrey decides to compress the file. She uses lossy compression to reduce the size
of the sound file.
(a) Describe how lossy compression reduces the size of the sound file. [4]

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3. A student has five images. Each image has a resolution of 1000 pixels wide by 800 pixels
high. Each image has a colour depth of 16 bits.

a) Calculate the file size needed to store the images in mebibytes (MiB). Remember to show
your working. [2]
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b) A 10 second sound clip has a sample rate of 1000Hz and a sample resolution of 8 bits.

Calculate the file size of the sound clip in kibibytes (KiB). Remember to show all your working. [2]

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4. Add together 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 0 and 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 1, giving your answer in binary . [2]

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5. A computer system uses two’s complement notation.

a) Complete the headings for an 8-bit binary number which uses two’s complement: [1]

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 b) Write down i the most negative and ii the most positive numbers that can be stored in an
8-bit register which uses two’s complement. Give your answers in both denary and binary
format [2]

most negative:

denary value: _______________________

most positive:

denary value: _________________________________

c) Convert the following two denary numbers into 8-bit binary numbers which use the two’s
complement format. [2]

i +47

ii −59

6. What is the difference between a MAC address and an IP address?.[4]

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7. Tick (✔) to show whether each example is primary storage or secondary storage. [4]

Storage example Primary Secondary

storage (✔) storage (✔)
Read only memory (ROM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)

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 Random access memory (RAM)
Solid state drive (SSD)
8. How is data written to and read from a CD? [4]

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9. List two benefits and two drawbacks to storing data in a cloud storage system. [2]

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10. Describe how virtual memory works. In your description, include the benefits and drawbacks of
virtual memory? [5]

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11. Data transmission depends on data direction and how many bits of data can be sent at a time.
Complete the table below to show what type of data transmission is being described in each
case. Tick two boxes for each description. [6]

Description of transmission taking place Simplex Half- Full- Serial Parallel

duplex duplex
Data sent one bit at a time down a single wire in one
direction only
Data sent 16 bits at a time down 16 wires in both
directions but not at the same time
Data sent 16 bits at a time down 16 wires in both
directions simultaneously
Data sent 8 bits at a time down 8 wires in one direction
only
Data sent one bit at a time down a single wire in both
directions simultaneously
Data sent one bit at a time down a single wire in both
directions but not at the same time

12. During an ARQ process, data is transferred from the sending device to the receiving device.
The sending device then starts a timer. The receiving device checks the data for errors, using
one of the error detection methods you have studied. What happens next in the ARQ process?
[4]

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