Mark Scheme

Question Answer/Indicative content Marks Guidance

1 i Performs subtraction (1). 1 For 1 mark.

ii The accumulator (1). 1 For 1 mark.

Total 2

2 CPUs are general purpose processors 3 Up to 3 marks for a valid explanation.

(1) whereas GPUs are designed
specifically for graphics (1). And so
likely to have built in circuitry /
instructions for common graphics
operations (1). GPUs are able to
perform an instruction on multiple
pieces of data at one time (1) often we
want to do this when processing
graphics (e.g. transforming points in a
polygon or shading pixels) (1) which
means it can perform transformations
to onscreen graphics quicker than a
CPU (1).

Total 3

3 a – An instruction can be fetched as the 3

previous one is being decoded …
– … and the one before that is being
executed.
– E.g. can be fetched, while
is being decoded and
is being executed.
(1 per –)

b – Clock speed 1
– Cache Size
– Number of cores (1 per max 1)

Total 4

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 Mark Scheme
Question Answer/Indicative content
4 i CISC:
Each instruction may take multiple cycles
Single register set
Instructions have variable format
Many instructions are available
Many addressing modes are available
Complicated processor design
Integrated circuit is expensive
RISC:
An instruction performs a simple task
Limited number of instructions available
Complex tasks can only be performed by
combining multiple instructions
Simple processor design
ii Programs run faster…
…due to simpler instructions
Total
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Marks Guidance
4 Max 3 marks for either CISC or RISC, total
max 4
Examiner's Comments
There were a wide variety of answers to
this question, ranging from the very
accurate to the very vague. A significant
number of candidates said that RISC is
used in mobile phones, if the question had
asked for an example this would probably
have been a good one. Those that missed
marks here generally talked about the
programming and its relative difficulty on
either type of processor rather than the
processor itself.
2
Examiner's Comments
Most candidates got the first mark, the
more able candidates managed to get the
second, again, here the most common
erroneous answer was about the
merits/drawbacks of programming.
6
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 Mark Scheme

Question Answer/Indicative content Marks Guidance

5 i Input Green Light Red Light 2 (AO3.3) Accept T for a tick. Penalise if blank table
elements have content.
1 ✓
2 ✓ Examiner’s Comments
3 ✓
Most candidates achieved the first mark on
4 ✓
this question. The second mark was lost by
5 ✓ those who ticked ‘red light’ for an input of
6 ✓ 5.
7 ✓
8 ✓
9 ✓

Rows 1-4 correct 1 Mark

Rows 5-9 correct 1 Mark

ii - The value 11 is stored in the MAR. 6 (AO1.2)

- 11 is sent down the address bus.
- A read signal is sent down the control
bus.
- 0 is sent (back from memory) down
the data bus. Examiner’s Comments
- 0 is stored in the MDR…
- …and then copied to the ACC Many candidates gave a comprehensive
(1 Mark per -, max 6) description of the fetch execute cycle but
did not apply their response to the
assembly code instruction given in the
question therefore losing marks.

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 Mark Scheme
Question Answer/Indicative content
iii - Takes in a value from user.
- If value is 5 or less it shows green
- Otherwise it shows Red
(1 Mark per -, max 3)
iv Mark Band 3-High Level (7-9 marks)1 9 AO1.1
The candidate demonstrates a thorough (2) AO1.2
knowledge and understanding of assembly (2) AO2.1
code and high level languages. The (2) AO3.3
material is generally accurate and detailed. (3)
The candidate is able to apply their
knowledge and understanding directly and
consistently to the context provided.
Evidence/examples will be explicitly
relevant to the explanation.
The candidate provides a thorough
discussion which is well balanced.
Evaluative comments are consistently
relevant and well-considered.
There is a well-developed line of reasoning
which is clear and logically structured. The
information presented is relevant and
substantiated.
Mark Band 2-Mid Level (4-6 marks)
The candidate demonstrates reasonable
knowledge and understanding assembly
code and high level languages; the
material is generally accurate but at times
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Marks Guidance
3 (AO Do not credit structured English
3.2) Example
value = input("Enter a Value")
if value <=5 then
print("GREEN")
else
print(“RED”)
endif
Accept equivalents to <=5 (e.g. < 6) For
Green/Red (or 1/0) accept any
pseudocode equivalent (GreenLightOn(),
Output 1, print(1) Output Green etc.) as
long as the logic is correct.
Examiner’s Comments
Most candidates gained credit for writing
code to read the value from the user with
some then losing marks for either
specifying the incorrect condition e.g. IF
value < 5 and/or not outputting the result.
AO1
Assembly code uses mnemonics to
represent machine code
instructions/opcodes.
High level languages use more
natural/mathematical notation.
Assembly code consists of simple
instructions
As such many more lines of assembly
code are required to perform the same task
as a few lines of a high level language.
Assembly code is specific to the instruction
set of a given processor. High Level
languages are not architecture specific.
AO2
Assembly code allows the programmer to
choose the exact instructions so they can
write code that is highly efficient.
It also allows them to have direct control of
how memory is used via addressing
modes.
Direct control of hardware.
High level language compilers have
optimisers that can also try and do this
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 Mark Scheme
Question Answer/Indicative content
underdeveloped.
The candidate is able to apply their
knowledge and understanding directly to
the context provided although one or two
opportunities are missed.
Evidence/examples are for the most part
implicitly relevant to the explanation.
The candidate provides a sound
discussion, the majority of which is
focused. Evaluative comments are for the
most part appropriate, although one or two
opportunities for development are missed.
There is a line of reasoning presented with
some structure. The information presented
is in the most part relevant and supported
by some evidence.
Mark Band 1-Low Level (1-3 marks)
The candidate demonstrates a basic
knowledge assembly code and high level
languages; the material is basic and
contains some inaccuracies. The candidate
makes a limited attempt to apply acquired
knowledge and understanding to the
context provided.
The candidate provides a limited
discussion which is narrow in focus.
Judgments if made are weak and
unsubstantiated. The information is basic
and communicated in an
unstructured way. The information is
supported by limited evidence and the
relationship to the evidence may not be
clear.
0 marks
No attempt to answer the question or
response is not worthy of credit.
Total
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Marks Guidance
(and in some cases may outperform a
human writing in assembly code).
As high level code is more intuitive and
easier to read it is easier to follow, debug
and build as part of a team. It can also be
written in a much shorter time frame.
The high level code can be recompiled for
different architectures.
High level languages come in a variety of
paradigms so programmers can choose
according to the problem/their preference.
AO3
Assembly language is best suited to
situations such as:
-compilers or interpreters don’t exist for the
target CPU i.e. embedded systems
-highest possible performance is critical
-memory is very limited.
For larger projects which don’t fall under
the constraints above high level languages
are likely to be preferable.
Examiner’s Comments
Candidates were assessed on the quality
of their extended response in this question.
Most candidates could describe the basic
differences between assembly code and
high level languages, with many giving
examples of where each would be best
used. Some candidates gave clear and
appropriate justification for the coffee
machine being programmed in assembly
code. In general, most candidates scored
reasonably well on this question.
20
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 Mark Scheme

Question Answer/Indicative content Marks Guidance

6 i Gives more cycles per second 2 Do not accept ‘…data is processed

More instructions can be executed per quickly…’ as BP3
second
So the program takes less time to run Examiner's Comments
(1 per -, Max 2)
Many candidates achieved some credit on
this question but candidates did not
achieve full marks due to lack of attention
to detail in their description. Many
candidates used phrases such as
‘processor will run quicker / faster’ without
describing how a fast clock speed would
enable this.

ii More space for data / instructions in 2

cache memory
RAM needs to be accessed less
frequently
Accessing cache is quicker than
accessing the RAM (1 per -, Max 2)
Examiner's Comments
Similarly, the lack of detailed responses
limited credit achieved on this question.
Many candidates used phrases such as
‘large cache means faster processing’
without describing how a large cache
would enable this.

Total 4

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 Mark Scheme
Question Answer/Indicative content
7 Mark Band 3 – High Level
(7–9 marks)
The candidate demonstrates a thorough
knowledge and understanding of a wide
range of ways a computer’s performance
can be improved and justifies how these
measures improve performance; the
material is generally accurate and detailed.
The candidate is able to apply their
knowledge and understanding directly and
consistently to the context provided.
Evidence / examples will be explicitly
relevant to the explanation. The candidate
provides a thorough discussion which is
well-balanced. Evaluative comments are
consistently relevant and well-considered.
There is a well-developed line of reasoning
which is clear and logically structured.
The information presented is relevant and
substantiated.
Mark Band 2 – Mid Level
(4–6 marks)
The candidate demonstrates reasonable
knowledge and understanding of a range
of methods of improving a computer’s
performance and justifies how many of
these improve performance; the material is
generally accurate but at times
underdeveloped. The candidate is able to
apply their knowledge and understanding
directly to the context provided although
one or two opportunities are missed.
Evidence / examples are for the most part
implicitly relevant to the explanation.
The candidate provides a reasonable
discussion, the majority of which is
focused. Evaluative comments are for the
most part appropriate, although one or two
opportunities for development are missed.
There is a line of reasoning presented with
some structure. The information presented
is in the most part relevant and supported
by some evidence.
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Marks Guidance
9 AO1: Knowledge and Understanding
AO1.1 The following is indicative of possible
factors/evidence that candidates may refer
to but is not prescriptive or exhaustive:
(2)
Methods of improving performance
AO1.2
- Replace CPU with faster CPU
(2)
- Add more/Faster RAM
AO2.1
- Add a graphics card
(2)
- Upgrade to faster secondary storage
AO3.3
- Update OS
(3)
- Install a lighter weight OS
- Defragment the hard disk
- Check for viruses and spyware.
AO2.1: Application
The selected knowledge/examples should
be directly related to the specific question.
The example below is not prescriptive or
exhaustive:
- A newer CPU may have a faster clock
speed and so execute more
instructions per second. It may have
multiple cores and so be able to
execute several programs
simultaneously (or one in parallel).
It may have more cache meaning
comparatively slower RAM can be
accessed less frequently.
- More RAM means more programs can
be open simultaneously without the
need to use much slower virtual
memory.
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 Mark Scheme
Question Answer/Indicative content
Mark Band 1 – Low Level
(1–3 marks)
The candidate demonstrates a basic
knowledge of how a computer’s
performance can be improved. Limited
understanding is shown of how these
measures improve performance;
the material is basic and contains some
inaccuracies. The candidate makes
a limited attempt to apply acquired
knowledge and understanding to the
context provided. The candidate provides a
limited discussion which is narrow in focus.
Judgments if made are weak and
unsubstantiated.
The information is basic and
communicated in an unstructured way.
The information is supported by limited
evidence and the relationship to the
evidence may not be clear.
0 marks
No attempt to answer the question or
response is not worthy of credit.
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Marks Guidance
- Adding a graphics card will speed up
the rendering of 3D graphics as GPU
has specialist instructions and can
apply the same instruction to multiple
pieces of data simultaneously.
- The slower the secondary storage the
longer it takes to load
files/program/data. A faster secondary
storage device can improve this. May
choose to use flash memory (i.e. SSD)
- OS makers often release updates and
some of these will improve
performance.
- Some lighter weight operating systems
use fewer system resources allowing
the system to devote more to running
the user’s applications.
- A fragmented HDD runs slowly as time
is spent finding parts of the files. This is
reduced by defragmenting and storing
the parts of the file contiguously.
- Malware can slow down a computer.
Removing it will improve performance.
AO3.3: Evaluation
The following is indicative of possible
evaluation points that candidates may refer
to but is not prescriptive or exhaustive:
Hardware improvements (i.e. CPU, RAM,
secondary storage and GPU) have costs
attached but likely to have most impact.
The higher performance the hardware,
the more cost incurred.
(NB candidates aren't expected to know
relative costs of components.)
GPU unlikely to benefit student in this
scenario (unless their course requires
graphics processing).
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 Mark Scheme

Question Answer/Indicative content Marks Guidance

Defragmenting HDD is free and so should

be performed.

Running anti-malware programs is free/low

cost and should be done as a precaution
against losing data anyway.

Moving to lighter weight software can

potentially be free if the user considers
open source software.

Examiner’s Comment
Candidates were assessed on the quality
of their extended response in this question.
Most candidates could cite some methods
for improving performance but not all
managed to then appropriately apply these
to the question. Many candidates did
recommend one or more measures
although some cases needed to include
justification. This resulted in some very
good responses and marks awarded
spanning the range of marks available.

Total 9

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 Mark Scheme
Question Answer/Indicative content
8 i -(Single) Control Unit
-(Single) Arithmetic Logic Unit
-(Special) registers within CPU
-Instructions and Data stored in same
area of memory
- Instructions and Data stored in same
format
- A single set of buses / same bus for
instructions & data (to connect CPU to
Memory and I/O)
(1 Mark per -, Max 2)
ii Two separate areas of memory…
…one for instructions & one for
data./instructions and data can be
accessed concurrently.
Different (sets of) buses…
… one for instructions & one for data./
instructions and data can be accessed
concurrently.
Pipelining…
…whilst an instruction is being executed
the next can be decoded and the
subsequent one fetched.
Use of Cache…
…A small amount of high performance
memory is (next to the CPU) / which stores
frequently used data/instructions
Virtual cores/Hyper-threadingTM …
…Treating a physical core as two virtual
cores.
Multiple Cores…
…Each core acts as a separate processing
unit.
Onboard Graphics…
…Built in circuitry for graphics processing.
(1 Mark for identifying feature, 1 mark for
description)
Total
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Marks Guidance
2 (AO1.1) Accept acronyms ALU,CU
Examiner’s Comments
The majority of candidates answered this
question well although some candidates
stated that ‘instructions and data are
stored in the same memory location’ more
attention to detail is required at this level of
study.
2 (AO1.2) Accept any reasonable description.
Do not accept “64-bit”
e.g.
Performance boosting mode…
…Clock speed can be temporarily
increased for performance boost.
Out of Order Execution…
…Instructions can be executed before
earlier ones if they are ready.
Super Scalar…
…Multiple instructions can be executed
simultaneously.
Examiner’s Comments
A whole range of features were accepted
for this question. Most candidates stated
an appropriate feature but some then did
not go on to describe how the feature
improved performance.
4
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 Mark Scheme

Question Answer/Indicative content Marks Guidance

9 Takes in two numbers (1). 4 For 4 marks – 1 mark for each correct step
Compare the numbers (1). in process.
If first number is biggest outputs first
number (1). Example:
If second number is biggest outputs the
second number (1).

Total 4

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