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Cambridge IGCSE™

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COMPUTER SCIENCE 0478/11

Paper 1 Computer Systems October/November 2025

1 hour 45 minutes

You must answer on the question paper.

No additional materials are needed.

INSTRUCTIONS
● Answer all questions.
● Use a black or dark blue pen. You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams or graphs.
● Write your name, centre number and candidate number in the boxes at the top of the page.
● Write your answer to each question in the space provided.
● Do not use an erasable pen or correction fluid.
● Do not write on any bar codes.
● Calculators must not be used in this paper.

INFORMATION
● The total mark for this paper is 75.
● The number of marks for each question or part question is shown in brackets [ ].
● No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

This document has 12 pages.

DC (DE/CT) 343111/3
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1 A student has an electronic calculator. The calculator has a screen that displays the result of
calculations.

The calculator has 8-bit registers.

(a) State the highest denary number that could be stored in a single 8-bit register.

............................................................................................................................................. [1]

(b) Denary numbers are typed into the calculator. They are converted to binary numbers and
stored in the 8-bit registers.

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The student types in the denary number 23 and the denary number 168.

Give the 8-bit binary numbers that are stored in the registers for these two denary numbers.

23

168

[2]

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Working space ..........................................................................................................................

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(c) The result of a calculation that is stored in a register is the binary number 00001011

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Give the denary number that will be displayed on the screen for this binary number.

00001011 ............................................................................................................................ [1]

Working space

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(d) Another result of a calculation that is stored in a register is the binary number 01000010

Give the denary number that will be displayed on the screen for this binary number.

01000010 ............................................................................................................................ [1]

Working space

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(e) Two binary numbers stored in the registers are 01110110 and 00110000

Add the binary numbers using binary addition. Show all your working.

Give your answer in binary.

01110110
+ 00110000
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[3]

(f) The result of a calculation could be a negative denary number.

State how the calculator could represent a negative denary number as a binary number.

............................................................................................................................................. [1]

(g) The electronic calculator is an example of an embedded system.

Explain why it is an example of an embedded system.

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...................................................................................................................................................

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2 An employee of a company sells houses. He sends images of the houses to his company.

(a) The employee compresses the image files using lossy compression before sending them.
Lossy compression reduces the size of the image files.

Give two other reductions that lossy compression makes to the images.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

2 ................................................................................................................................................
[2]

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(b) The image data is broken down into packets to be sent across a network to the company.

The destination internet protocol (IP) address is read by a device in the network. The device
uses the IP address to forward the packet towards its correct destination.

(i) State the name of the device that reads the destination IP address.

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(ii) Identify the part of the packet where the destination IP address is found.

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..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(c) The IP address has an IPv6 format.

Give three characteristics of the IPv6 format.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

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2 ................................................................................................................................................

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3 ................................................................................................................................................

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(d) An echo check is used to check for errors after the image has been transmitted.

Draw and annotate a diagram to show how the echo check would detect any errors.
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[3]

(e) The image data is encrypted using symmetric encryption.

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(i) Tick (3) one box to show the correct statement about symmetric encryption.

A Encrypted text is known as plain text.

B The most secure form of encryption.

C The encryption key is shared with any device receiving the encrypted data.

D Two different keys are used.

[1]

(ii) Give one other type of encryption that could be used.

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..................................................................................................................................... [1]
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3 A student has a portable device. He uses an on-screen keyboard to write messages to his friend.

(a) Explain how the text the student writes is converted to binary to be processed.

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(b) The device has 4 gibibytes (GiB) of random access memory (RAM).

(i) State the amount of RAM the device has in mebibytes (MiB).

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(ii) State the amount of RAM the device has in tebibytes (TiB). Your answer can be given

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rounded to 3 decimal places.

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Working space

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(c) Explain why the portable device needs RAM.

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(d) The device has a fingerprint scanner to allow the student to unlock the portable device.

Circle only three terms that can be used to describe the fingerprint scanner.

authentication biometric malware parity check

firewall input device output device storage device

[3]

4 A computer game development company are reviewing their current security solutions.
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The company wants employees to be aware of how they can identify phishing.

(a) Describe the process of phishing.

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(b) Give two ways an employee could identify phishing.

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1 ................................................................................................................................................

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2 ................................................................................................................................................

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[2]

(c) The company has installed anti-malware software on all employees’ computers.

Give three examples of malware that anti-malware software can detect.

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1 ................................................................................................................................................

2 ................................................................................................................................................

3 ................................................................................................................................................
[3]

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(d) The computer game developers use a high-level language to create a computer game.

(i) State what is meant by a high-level language.

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(ii) One benefit of using a high-level language is that the code is easy to debug.

Give two other benefits of using a high-level language.

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1 ........................................................................................................................................

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2 ........................................................................................................................................

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[2]

(iii) One drawback of using a high-level language is that it must be converted to a low-level
language before it can be run.

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Give one other drawback of using a high-level language.

...........................................................................................................................................

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(iv) The computer game developers use an interpreter instead of a compiler when developing
the computer game.

Explain why an interpreter would be more appropriate for developing the computer
game.

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5 A supermarket wants to start delivering groceries to local elderly people, using robots.
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grocery
delivery

(a) Describe the characteristics of a robot.

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(b) Explain one benefit to the supermarket of using robots to deliver groceries to elderly
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customers.

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(c) Explain one drawback to the elderly customers of robots being used to deliver their groceries.

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(d) Each robot has a media access control (MAC) address.

Tick (3) one box to show the correct statement about a MAC address.

A It is assigned by the manufacturer.

B It is assigned by the product.

C It is assigned by the router.

D It is assigned by the user.

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[1]

(e) The robots have artificial intelligence (AI).

Give three ways the robots could make use of AI.

1 ................................................................................................................................................

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2 ................................................................................................................................................

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3 ................................................................................................................................................

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[3]

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6 A computer with a Von Neumann architecture has a central processing unit (CPU).

(a) Complete the statements about the operation of the CPU.

Use the terms from the list. Not all terms will need to be used. You should only use each term
once.

accumulator arithmetic logic unit character set

control unit current instruction register cipher decoding set

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instruction counter instruction set memory address register

memory data register memory instruction register next instruction register

program counter program register

The ............................................................... stores the address of the next instruction to be

fetched. This address is then sent to the ............................................................... .

This address is the location in RAM where the instruction can be found. The instruction
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is retrieved from RAM and immediately stored in the ............................................................... .

The instruction is then sent to the ............................................................... where it is

decoded by the ............................................................... . The instruction is decoded using

an ............................................................... .
[6]

(b) Handling interrupts is one function of an operating system.

(i) An interrupt is sent to the CPU every time a key is pressed on the keyboard.
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Give the name of this type of interrupt.

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(ii) Give the name of the program that services the interrupt.

..................................................................................................................................... [1]

(iii) Give one other function of an operating system.

..................................................................................................................................... [1]
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7 A theatre has a microphone on stage that is connected by cables to several speakers around the
theatre. A person speaks into the microphone and their voice is output from the speakers.

Identify the most appropriate data transmission method for this purpose. Explain your choice.

Data transmission method ...............................................................................................................

Explanation ......................................................................................................................................

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[5]

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Permission to reproduce items where third-party owned material protected by copyright is included has been sought and cleared where possible. Every
reasonable effort has been made by the publisher (UCLES) to trace copyright holders, but if any items requiring clearance have unwittingly been included, the
publisher will be pleased to make amends at the earliest possible opportunity.

To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge
Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download
at [Link] after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of Cambridge Assessment. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of Cambridge
Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which is a department of the University of Cambridge.
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