NAME………………………………………….. .. Signature:………...… Index No……………..

850/1

Subsidiary Information &

Communication Technology

Paper 1

2½ hours

UGANDA ADVANCED CERTIFICATE OF EDUCATION

SUBSIDIARY ICT PAPER I

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:
Attempt ALL questions in this paper

The maximum time allocated to this paper is 2 hours 30 Minutes

Write in dark blue or black pen in the spaces provided on the Question Paper. All answers should
be written in the spaces provided.

No additional materials (answer sheets) are required.

The number of marks is given in brackets ( ) at the end of each question or part question

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 Examiners use only

1 TOTAL 11

2 12

3 13

4 14

5 15

6 16

7 17

8 18

9 19

10 20

1. Computer usage is increasing at high rate in different organization and this leads to
increased need for peripherals on the computer.
a) What are peripheral devices? (02 marks)
These are devices that are externally connected to the computer system through

ports e.g mouse, keyboard, flash disk, etc

b) Explain three ways how computer technology can make office more efficient
(03 marks)
 There is easier & faster retrieval of data, i.e. they reduce the time and effort

needed to access and retrieve information

 Increased accuracy of data

 Better presentation of data

 Ensure faster processing of data

 Ensures economic use of storage space

2. a) Students in Mbogo Secondary and Vocational are planning to choose their students
leader by secret ballot. State three ways in which ICTs can be used to improve the
election process. (03 marks)
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b). Give two advantages of using intranet in an organization compared to internet

when sharing files (02 marks)

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3. A computer must go through the process of booting/ initialization before use

(a) Briefly explain the term “Hard booting”. (02 marks)
 This is the process of starting a computer form a powerless state

(b) Explain three reasons why it is important to first shut down the computer before
turning it off. (03 marks)
 To avoid damaging storage devices that may still be in use

 To avoid damaging system and application files

 To avoid loss of data and information

4. Mbogo high school computer lab attendant introduced a policy of not allowing
students to use flash disks in the school computer laboratory.
a) Give three reasons why students are discouraged from using such devices on
school computers? (03 marks)
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b) Give two other ways that they can use to achieve the same objective
(02 marks)
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5. a) List down two safety precautions one should observe when entering a computer
laboratory. (02 marks)
 Avoid smoking or exposing computers to dust

 Avoid carrying foods & drinks/ beverages to the computer room

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  Avoid unnecessary movements as you may accidentally knock the peripheral

devices

 Only authorized people should enter the computer room

 Computers users should be trained on how to use computers frequently

 Computer illiterates should not be allowed to operate the computers

 collect any waste papers which might be lying in the computer room & put

them into the dustbin

 Shut the door of the computer room properly

b) State one reason why a computer needs to be connected to a stable power supply
(01mark)
 To prevent damage to the computer’s secondary storage media

 To avoid damage and loss of important data or information such as

application software stored on the media

 Prevent loss of data/ information that had not been saved before the failure

c) Mention two things that are likely to cause strain- in the computer room
(02 marks)
 Poor lighting of the room

 Bright monitors

 Flickering monitors

 Very bright wall paints reflect too much light

6. a) Describe the following types of high speed storage areas of a computer

i). Registers. (01 mark)
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ii). Cache memory. (01 mark)

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b).What takes place in the computer during the following stages in the CPU
i) Decoding stage (01 mark)
 Fetched instructions are changed or converted to machine language

ii) Fetching stage (01 mark)

 At this stage, instructions that are going to be processed are collected from

the main memory of the computer

iii) Executing stage (01 mark)

 At this stage, decoded instructions are changed or processed to information

7. a) Distinguish between Internet and WWW.

(02 marks)

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b) Sarah has contacted an ISP for internet connections in order to search for some
files. Give three ways how he would prevent viruses from infecting his computer
when conducting her research (03 marks)
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8. a) Differentiate between a computer and a computer system (01 mark)

 a computer is an electronic device that works under the control of stored

instructions, to input data, process, store and output information whereas a

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 computer system is a set/ collection or union of inter-linked computer

components working together to process data to information

b) List and explain four functional elements of a computer system (04 marks)

 Hardware – the electro-mechanical parts or physical and tangible parts of

the computer

Software – the series of instructions that direct hardware what do and how

to do it or the intangible parts of the computer or These are programs &

data used in a computer system that enable it perform a number of specific

functions, e.g. operating systems, application programs, utility programs,

programming languages & device drives

 Human ware/live ware – the individual users of the computer

 Data/information –the raw facts fed to the computer or processed data

9. Due to the introduction of computers and other related ICTs, people are able to work

away from their physical work places through those ICTs which is well known as

telecommuting.

Give two advantages of using technologies in that way during working (02 marks)
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b) Explain three ways of implementing green computing at home when conducting

telecommuting (03 marks)
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 10. a) What is disk formatting in file management (01 mark)

 Process of preparing a new disk for use by imprinting empty tracks &

sectors on the surface of the disk that can be recognized and access by a

particular operating system OR

 The preparation/ initialization of a disk for storage of data

b) Indicate the category of hardware devices were they fall. (04marks)

Device name Category

(i) Plotter Output

(ii) Light pen Input

(iii) mouse Input

(iv) Visual display unit- Output

11. (a) Briefly write on the following networking concepts

(i) Peer-to-peer and (01 mark)

 In Peer-to-Peer networks, each of the computers connected to the network

has its own resources

(ii) Client Server network models (01 mark)

 In Client/Server networks, the clients request for resources from the servers.

(b) .What is the main difference in terms of use between the following devices

(i) Gateway and Bridge (02 marks)

 A bridge is a communication device which joins 2 similar networks whereas

a gateway is a communication device which joins 2 networks which are not

similar

(b) Give one reason why a Modem is required in a data communication system.
(01 mark)
A modem is required to convert digital signals from the sending device into analog signals
(modulate) so that they can be transmitted along a telephone line and also convert analog
signals from the communication medium into digital signals(demodulate) received by the
receiving device

(c) Give two advantages of intranet for organizations like universities (02 marks)

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12. Explain how the following measures help in management of security of data in
computer systems
i. Data verification (01 mark)

ii. data validation (01 mark)

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b) Explain how the following control measures are used to fight against computer
crimes
i) Audit trail (01 mark)

Careful study of an information system by experts to establish all weaknesses in a system

that could lead to security threat.

ii) Data encryption (01 mark)

 Combination of letters and characters that deter unauthorized access

iii) Log files Passwords (01 mark)

Combination of characters that deter unauthorized user from accessing data.

13. a) Define authenticity as used in software selection (01 mark)

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b) Give two ways of acquiring software in an organization (02 marks)

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 c) Explain two dangers associated with over dependency on shareware in an
organization (02 marks)
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14. a) Kawooya was searching for a file on the computer which he forgot its name and he
was advised to use wildcards which are special characters that represents one or more
other characters. Give two examples of wildcard (02 marks)
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b) Kamweno is a student who has just acquired knowledge of using a word processor.

Explain what will happen to his selected text when he presses the following keyboard

shortcuts

(i) CTRL+B (01 mark)

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(ii) CTRL+A (01 mark)

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(iii) CTRL+I (01

mark)

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15. Study the worksheet below and answer the questions that follow:

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 A B C D E F
1 12%
2 KAMEME AGENCIES
3 PRODUCT REGION 1 REGION 2 REGION 3 INCREMENT TOTAL
Sale
4 Maize 3400 3,70 4000
0
5 Jinja 2500 2600 2100
6 Omo 6000 6100 6300
9 Total
1 Maximum
0
1 Average
1

a). Write functions that can be entered to get total, maximum, and average of region1

i) . Maximum: (01 mark)

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ii). Average: (01 mark)

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ii) Write down the function that returns the number of sales in the four regions

whose value is greater than or equal to 2000. (01 mark)

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iii) Assume all increment is obtained by using absolute cell referencing of 12% of

total sales. Write down the formulae to obtain increment for Maize (02 marks)

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16. a) Distinguish digital signal from analog signal (02 marks)

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b) Give one reason as to why interpreters are necessary in computers during

programming (01 mark)

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c) Write the following coding systems in full

i) ASCII (01 mark)

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ii) EBCDIC (01 mark)

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17. a) Suggest how computers may in future be made more user-friendly for persons that

are

i. Blind (01 mark)

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ii. Without hands (01 mark)

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b) Give three reasons why a firm may decide to adapt to ICTs in its operation
(03 marks)
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18. Explain the importance of using automated methods in fact finding. (01 mark)

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b) Give one example of automated information gathering technique at your

school (01 mark)
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c) Identify three problems associated with the introduction of computers in

society (03 marks)
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19. Give a brief description of the following careers available in the computing field
i) A software engineers (01 mark)
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ii) Computer trainer (01 mark)

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b) Identify three factors you would consider when choosing an operating system for
use on a computer (03 marks)
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20. Distinguish between system files and application files (02 marks)
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b) Outline the procedures of renaming a file or folder in windows operating system

(03 marks)

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End

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