AQA GCSE Computer Science Paper 2 Written Assessment - Thursday 16 May 2019 - Answer questions

Sep 5, 2026

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AQA GCSE Computer Science Paper 2 Written Assessment for Thursday 16 May 2019 (afternoon, 1 hour 30 minutes). The assessment provides instructions on using black ink, answering all questions in the given spaces, doing rough work in the booklet, and not using a calculator. The question set covers binary, hexadecimal and decimal conversions, bit/byte sizing, Unicode vs ASCII, CPU components, application software types, secondary storage, optical disk reading, Huffman encoding correction, software source-code confidentiality, embedded systems, and network topology advantages, risks, protocols, firewalls, and user identity verification methods.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Instructions

Materials and time

Marking and response rules

Questions

Number systems and encoding

CPU components and software types

Storage and embedded systems

Network topologies and protocols

Network security and user authentication

| Please write clearly in block capitals. | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Centre number | | Candidate number | | | Surname
Forename(s)
Candidate signature | | | | GCSE COMPUTER SCIENCE Paper 2 Written Assessment Thursday 16 May 2019 Afternoon Time allowed: 1 hour 30 minutes Materials There are no additional materials required for this paper. Instructions • Use black ink or black ball-point pen. Use pencil only for drawing. • Answer all questions. • You must answer the questions in the spaces provided. • Do all rough work in this book. Cross through any work you do not want to be marked. • You must not use a calculator. Information • The total number of marks available for this paper is 80. Advice | For Examiner’s Use | | | --- | --- | | Pages | Mark | | 2–3 | | | 4–5 | | | 6–7 | | | 8–9 | | | 10–11 | | | 12–13 | | | 14–16 | | | 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.

| | | | *jun198520201* IB/G/Jun19/E8 8520/2 | Answer all questions in the spaces provided. | | --- | | 0 1 . 1 Convert the decimal number 197 into binary.
[ 1 mark]
0 1 . 2 Convert the hexadecimal number A4 into decimal.
Show your working.
[2 marks]

Answer
0 2 . 1 What is the largest decimal number that can be represented using 5 bits?
[ 1 mark]
0 2 . 2 How many bits are there in 3 MB?
Show your working.
[2 marks]

Answer | outside the box | | | | State one advantage of using Unicode instead of using ASCII.
[ 1 mark] | | | outside the
box | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | 0 | 3 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Which two of the following are components of a CPU? | | | | | | 0 | 4 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Shade two lozenges.
A Arithmetic logic unit B Control unit C Fan
D Hard disk drive
E Keyboard
F Power supply unit | | [2 marks] | | | | 0 | 5 | A computer game is one type of application software. State two other types of application software. You must not use brand names in your answer.
[2 marks]
1 2
Turn over for the next question | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 11 | 0 6 Select the correct statement about secondary storage. Shade one lozenge. [1 mark] A Secondary storage is a type of ROM. B Secondary storage is non-volatile. C Secondary storage is temporary. D Secondary storage loses its content when it is turned off. 0 7 Describe how an optical disk is read. [4 marks] | | | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | outside the box |
0 8 The Huffman tree in Figure 1 was generated for the string ARE ALL STARS REAL
Figure 1
0 8 . 1 Part of the string ARE ALL STARS REAL was incorrectly encoded as in Figure 2 below.
Figure 2
1111000010101011
What string does this encoding represent?
[ 1 mark]
0 8 . 2 What would be the correct binary encoding for the substring STAR?
| | | --- | --- | | Write the correct encoding below the letters in the table.
S T A R | [2 marks] | outside the box | | | --- | | 8 | 0 9 Explain two reasons why software companies usually do not make their source code publicly available. Source code is the code they wrote to create the software. [4 marks] | | | --- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 0 Define the term embedded system. [2 marks] | | | --- | | | | | outside the box | | | | | | Draw a simple diagram to show a star network topology containing four desktop comput

FAQs

What are the key rules for answering this paper?

Use black ink or a black ball-point pen (pencil only for drawing). Answer all questions in the spaces provided, do rough work in the booklet, and cross out any work not meant to be marked. A calculator must not be used.

Which topics on the paper relate to number systems and encoding?

The paper includes converting decimal to binary, hexadecimal to decimal, determining maximum values from a number of bits, converting storage size into bits, and questions about Unicode and Huffman encoding correction.

What networking and security concepts are tested?

It asks about star vs bus network topology benefits and drawbacks, benefits and risks of computer networks, defining network protocols, identifying email protocols, explaining how firewalls improve security, and methods (beyond CAPTCHA) to confirm user identity electronically.

Sep 5, 2026

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