CAPE Computer Science Paper 1

Question 1

What is the largest integer that can be represented in 4-bit signed magnitude?

Answer 1

7

Question 2

What is the 4-bit two’s complement of 8?

Answer 2

Invalid - 8 cannot be represented in 4-bit two’s complement.

Question 3

What is the 8-bit sign-and-magnitude representation of -29?

Answer 3

10011101

Question 4

What type of computer system is used for weather forecasting?

Answer 4

Supercomputers

Question 5

The range of instructions a CPU can execute is called the:

Answer 5

Instruction set

Question 6

What stores permanent binary information?

Answer 6

ROM

Question 7

What component handles “if x < 0”?

Answer 7

ALU

Question 8

What component coordinates saving a file?

Answer 8

Control Unit (CU)

Question 9

What is flash memory?

Answer 9

EEPROM

Question 10

Which memory component is the fastest?

Answer 10

Registers

Question 11

Flip-flops are:

Answer 11

Two-state devices; registers are made from them.

Question 12

Popular scheme for representing characters?

Answer 12

ASCII

Question 13

Which logic gate statements are FALSE?

Answer 13

I and II only (NOT gate doesn’t have more than one input)

Question 14

Correct C code to read a double num:

Answer 14

scanf(“%lf”, &num);

Question 15

Data type best for storing currency:

Answer 15

Double

Question 16

Invalid variable name:

Answer 16

2ndmark

Question 17

Tool to combine compiled modules into an executable:

Answer 17

Linker

Question 18

Tool translating one line at a time:

Answer 18

Interpreter

Question 19

Tool translating high-level to machine code all at once:

Answer 19

Compiler

Question 20

Purpose of fetch in fetch-decode-execute cycle:

Answer 20

Obtaining an instruction from memory

Question 21

What is the value of a after for(i=1;i<5;i++) a *= i;?

Answer 21

24

Question 22

What error is present if a leap year isn’t accounted for?

Answer 22

Logic error

Question 23

Which control structure reads unknown number of file records?

Answer 23

Sentinel control loop

Question 24

Statement to output an integer x to file pointer fp:

Answer 24

fprintf(fp, “%d”, x);

Question 25

In the implementation stage of problem-solving, implementation refers to:

Answer 25

Writing of algorithms

Question 26

Best loop type for: `while ((c = getchar()) != '\0')`

Answer 26

Sentinel loop (unbounded iteration)

Question 27

What is the output of: for y = 1 to 3 for z = 1 to y print "*"

Answer 27

* ** ***

Question 28

What is the LARGEST integer that can be represented in a 4-bit signed magnitude?

Answer 28

(B) +7

Question 29

What is the 4-bit two's complement of -8?

Answer 29

(A) 1 0 0 0

Question 30

Which memory type is BEST for quickly retrieving a small number of instructions by a processor?

Answer 30

(C) Cache memory

Question 31

What is the 8-bit sign and magnitude representation of the decimal number -29?

Answer 31

(D) 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 1

Question 32

Which of the following BEST defines 'clock speed'?

Answer 32

(D) The speed at which the micro-processor executes instructions

Question 33

What does the decode part of the fetch-decode-execute cycle involve?

Answer 33

(B) Determining what the operation is

Question 34

Which device is used to store permanent binary information?

Answer 34

(A) ROM

Question 35

Which statements about flip-flops are TRUE?

Answer 35

(C) II and III only (Flip-flops are two-state devices; registers are made up of flip-flops)

Question 36

The 8-bit sign and magnitude representation 10010101 corresponds to which decimal number?

Answer 36

(B) -21

Question 37

How is the mismatch in speeds between CPU and memory access reduced?

Answer 37

(B) Using cache memory

Question 38

Which is NOT an advantage of storage devices over main memory?

Answer 38

(C) Greater response time

Question 39

Which address instruction format is used in the given low-level program segment?

Answer 39

(B) One address

Question 40

Which statements about logic gates are FALSE?

Answer 40

(A) I and II only (A NOT gate cannot have multiple inputs; a NOR gate can have multiple inputs)

Question 41

Which component consists of very high-speed memory?

Answer 41

(D) Registers

Question 42

Which control structure is used when the number of records in a file is unknown?

Answer 42

(B) A sentinel control loop

Question 43

Which control structures are used in structured programming?

Answer 43

(A) I and II only (Sequence and Selection)

Question 44

What is the output of the nested loop algorithm printing asterisks?

Answer 44

(D) \* \*\* \*\*\*

Question 45

Which line in the algorithm for printing half the sum of two integers contains an error?

Answer 45

(C) Line 3 (Should be Sum = (A + B)/2)

Question 46

Which criteria should be considered when choosing a programming language?

Answer 46

(D) I, II, and III (Nature of application, compiler availability, programmer expertise)

Question 47

What is the MOST appropriate C declaration for storing the square root of an integer?

Answer 47

(A) double num;

Question 48

What is the value of sum after the modified if condition in the given code segment?

Answer 48

(D) 20

Question 49

Which is NOT a valid variable identifier?

Answer 49

(B) 2ndmark (Identifiers cannot start with a digit)

Question 50

What is the value of a after the loop in the given code executes?

Answer 50

(C) 24

Question 51

What output does the provided C program produce?

Answer 51

(C) The value of a is 10 Goodbye

Question 52

Which type of error is caused by dividing by zero?

Answer 52

(C) Run time

Question 53

What is printed by the code segment iterating over the given array?

Answer 53

(D) 23 27 56 92

Question 54

What is the name of the variable x in the function definition displayData(int x)?

Answer 54

(A) Formal parameter

Question 55

Which process attaches prewritten routines before program execution?

Answer 55

(A) Linker

Question 56

Which statement correctly stores the value of x in a file in C?

Answer 56

(B) fprintf(fp, %d, x);

Question 57

At which compilation stages are a missing parenthesis and wrong-type assignment detected?

Answer 57

(B) (a) syntax, (b) lexical