Information representation: past paper questions
Real questions on information representation
The newest 20 of 242 written questions. Open one to see it on the real paper.
- 9618/11 · October/November 2025 · Q1a(i)[1]
Convert the binary number into hexadecimal. 101100111010 1
See it on the paper → - 9618/11 · October/November 2025 · Q1a(ii)[1]
Convert the denary number into Binary Coded Decimal (BCD). 108
See it on the paper → - 9618/11 · October/November 2025 · Q4b[1]
The ACC currently contains the following positive binary integer: 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 Write the contents of the ACC after the instruction XOR &12 is carried out.
See it on the paper → - 9618/11 · October/November 2025 · Q4c[1]
The ACC currently contains the following positive binary integer: 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 Write the contents of the ACC after the instruction AND #63 is carried out.
See it on the paper → - 9618/11 · October/November 2025 · Q4d[1]
The ACC currently contains the following positive binary integer: 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 The current contents of memory are: Address Data 98 00100100 99 00110001 100 00110011 101 10100011 102 10101100 Write the contents of the ACC after the instruction OR 100 is carried out.
See it on the paper → - 9618/11 · October/November 2025 · Q7d(iii)[2]
Explain how a bitmap image is compressed using run-length encoding (RLE).
See it on the paper → - 9618/11 · October/November 2025 · Q10a[3]
Explain how the model will be printed using a 3D printer.
See it on the paper → - 9618/11 · October/November 2025 · Q10b[1]
State why a 3D printer needs a buffer.
See it on the paper → - 9618/12 · October/November 2025 · Q6a[1]
A sound file is compressed by reducing the sampling rate. State whether this is lossless or lossy compression. Justify your choice. Type of compression Justification
See it on the paper → - 9618/12 · October/November 2025 · Q6b[1]
The following table shows some words and corresponding denary values. Word Denary value Computing 55 Science 56 Computers 57 are 58 Brilliant! 59 is 60 Fun! 61 Amazing! 62 The following table shows three bytes of data that have been received. Binary value 00111000 00111100 00111110 Word Working Use the table to find th...
See it on the paper → - 9618/12 · October/November 2025 · Q6c(i)[1]
Complete the byte by writing the missing parity bit: parity bit 1 0 1 1 1 0 0
See it on the paper → - 9618/12 · October/November 2025 · Q6c(ii)[1]
The computer also uses parity block check. The parity block check uses even parity. Computer A transmits four bytes of data to computer B, followed by a parity byte. Computer B receives the following sequence of bytes. parity bit parity byte 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0...
See it on the paper → - 9618/12 · October/November 2025 · Q6d[2]
A bitmap image has a resolution of 1000 pixels wide by 2000 pixels high. The colour depth is 16 bits. Calculate an estimate of the file size in megabytes. Show your working. File size megabytes
See it on the paper → - 9618/12 · October/November 2025 · Q7a[1]
The following binary addition is performed using 8‑bit registers. Complete the calculation using binary addition. 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 + 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1
See it on the paper → - 9618/12 · October/November 2025 · Q7b[1]
A computer uses the Unicode character set. State the number of bits used to store one character from the Unicode character set.
See it on the paper → - 9618/12 · October/November 2025 · Q7c(i)[1]
Write the Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) value for the ASCII character ‘h’.
See it on the paper → - 9618/12 · October/November 2025 · Q7c(ii)[1]
Write the hexadecimal value for the ASCII character ‘h’.
See it on the paper → - 9618/13 · October/November 2025 · Q1a[3]
A student creates sound recordings. Making changes to a sound recording may impact the accuracy of the resulting sound file or the size of the file. Draw two lines from each change to the impacts it has on the sound file. Change Impact the file size gets bigger increase the duration of the recording no change in the fi...
See it on the paper → - 9618/13 · October/November 2025 · Q1b[2]
The file names of the sound recordings are stored using the ASCII character set. Explain how text is represented by the ASCII character set.
See it on the paper → - 9618/13 · October/November 2025 · Q1c[2]
Give two differences between the ASCII and UNICODE character sets.
See it on the paper →
What examiners said
This question was generally answered very well. Many candidates were able to correctly match each term to the corresponding description.
— Examiner report, October/November 2023, 9618/11 Q1(a) (Cambridge)
There were many correct definitions. Some candidates need to understand that bit depth means bits per pixel not the number of bits used to represent the image. The explanation required candidates to think carefully about their answers. It asked how changing the bit depth affects the image. Many responses included statements about file size which did not answer the question. Some candidates need to...
— Examiner report, October/November 2023, 9618/11 Q1(b) (Cambridge)
There were some very good answers to this question. The most popular correct reasons were reduced bandwidth usage and the limits imposed on attachments. Some candidates need to be careful when describing a reduced transmission time so that it is clear that it is the total time taken that is reduced and not the speed of data transmission.
— Examiner report, October/November 2023, 9618/11 Q1(c) (Cambridge)
Past papers, syllabus and examiner reports © UCLES (Cambridge University Press & Assessment). Questions are matched to topics from the official syllabus. AssessPro is independent and not endorsed by Cambridge.