2014 KCSE Computer Studies Past Paper
3.23.1 Computer Studies Paper 1 (451/1)
SECTION A (40 marks)
Answer all the questions in this section in the spaces provided.
1 State one function for each of the following elements of a computer system:
(a) hardware; (1 mark)
(b) software; (l mark)
(c) liveware. (l mark)
2 Explain two health issues that could arise from the use of an unsuitable computer desk. (4 marks)
3 List the two categories of system software. (1 mark)
4 Explain two contents of a warranty that should be considered when purchasing computer hardware. (4 marks)
5 Students of a school intend to elect their school captain by secret ballot. State three ways in which computers can be used to improve the election process. (3 marks)
6 Figure 1 and figure 2 show icons representing commands used to manipulate graphics in a desktop publishing package.
Explain the use of each of the icons labelled figure 1 and figure 2. (2 marks)
7 Give two differences between a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and a Commandline Interface. (4 marks)
8 Identify each of the following symbols as used in a system flowchart.
9 A student typed a letter in a wordprocessor and the last line of the letter flowed to the second page.
State three ways in which the student could have adjusted the letter to fit on one page without changing the paper size. (3 marks)
10 A computer user is unable to retrieve a file stored in a server in an organisation. State three reasons why the user would need to contact the network administrator. (3 marks)
11 State three ways in which mobile phones have affected money transactions in the country. (3 marks)
12 State two items that an electronic mail should have for it to be sent. (2 marks)
13 List four devices that use scanning technology that would be used to capture data directly from the source. (2 marks)
14 State two ways in which hardware failure is a threat to data security. (2 marks)
15 Given the binary number 1010] 1 I0] l 1101 l , determine the number of: (a) nibbles; (1 mark)
(b) bytes. (1 mark)
SECTION B (60 marks)
Answer question 16 and any other three questions from this section in the spaces provided.
16 (a) State two advantages of using low level programming languages. (2 marks)
(b) Other than flow charts, state three tools that can be used to present an algorithm. (3 marks)
(c)A form one admission interview consists of four tests; Mathematics, English, Kiswahili and Science. In order to qualify for admission, an applicant must attain a minimum average of 65% in the four tests and not less than 70% in Mathematics. All applicants must sit for the interview. Draw a flowchart that would read the scores for each applicant and determine whether an applicant is successful or not. (10 marks)
17 (a)With the aid of a diagram, describe time sharing mode as used in computer data processing. (5 marks)
(b) A company’s management has opted to use computers to process data. State four factors that the management needs to consider when selecting the company data processing mode. (4 marks)
(c) Explain the purpose of each of the following in system documentation:
(i) user manual; (2 marks)
(ii) sample data; (2 marks)
(iii) table descriptions. (2 marks) 18 (a) State the role of each of the following data communication devices:
(i) repeater; (1 mark)
(ii) router. (1 mark)
(b) Figure 3 shows a network based on the bus topology.
(i) Identify the component labelled P. (1 mark)
(ii) State the function of the component labelled P. (2 marks)
(c) Students of Neema Secondary School formed an environmental club with a goal of taking part in environmental conservation activities. Outline three ways in which they can use the intemet to achieve this goal. (3 marks)
(d) (i) A company has three branches A, B and C where A is the headquarter. The local area network (LAN) at A is directly connected to the LAN at B and directly to the LAN at C. Explain two benefits of having the LAN at B also directly connected to the LAN at C. (4 marks)
(ii) State three Ways in which a company can protect its computer network from hackers. (3 marks)
19 (a) The following is an extract from a document created using a word processor.
CHALLENGES FACING THE YOUTH IN TODAY’S SOCIETY
Identify six formats that have been applied on the extract. (3 marks)
(b) State three tools in a word processor that would help a user to minimize spelling mistakes when creating a document. (3 marks)
(c) The following is an extract of a spreadsheet created to manage sales. Use it to answer the questions that follow.
(i) Write a formula that will compute the number of items whose unit price is more than 10,000.
(ii) If the formula = $B2 * C$2 was placed in cell D2, state the output if it was copied to D3. (2 marks)
(d) A school administers examinations to all students in sciences, humanities and languages. Use the entities; EXAMINATIONS, STUDENTS, SCIENCES, HUMANITIES and LANGUAGES to illustrate a network database model.(4 marks)
20 (a) Describe the octal number system.
(b) Convert each of the following to the number system indicated:
3.23.2 Computer Studies Paper 2 (451/2)
1 Singlen Clean Limited is a waste management company. They have new services which they would wish to introduce to their clients through a letter. An invoice for previous services offered will be attached to the letter.
The following is a letter and an invoice to one of their clients.
(a) Using a wordprocessing package, create a document with the following as they appear.
(i) The letter.
(ii) The invoice on the next page.
(iii) Save the document as Singlen. (42 1/2 marks)
(b) (i) Copy the content of the document named Singlen into a blank document.
Save the document as Newsinglen. (10 marks)
(ii) Convert the data in the columns; code, item description and fee per unit into a table without retyping. (2 marks)
(c) Use wordprocessing formulae to calculate the following in the invoice on the document named Newsinglen. (i) Total amount for each item. (1 mark)
(ii) Grand total. (1 mark)
Save your work.
(d) Print each of the following on both sides of the printing paper.
(i) Singlen. (1 mark)
(ii) Newsinglen. (1 mark)
2 The figure below shows an extract of a worksheet showing sales and expenses for Amani Company for the months of January to June. Use it to answer the questions that follow.
(a) Create the worksheet as it appears in the figure in a spreadsheet package and save it as Incomestatement. (9 marks)
(b) Use a function that references only to cells to calculate:
(i) Total sales from January to June. (1 mark)
(ii) Total for rent expenses and apply the formula to obtain the total for other expenses.
(iii) The profit or loss for each month.(2 marks)
(c) Format the Worksheet as follows:(2 marks)
(i) Merge the cells from A2 to H2(1 mark)
(ii) Resize the title to fontsize 16 and apply bold.(2 marks)
(iii)Apply a single line border to all the cells containing data. (1 mark)
(v)Align to the right all the column headings in the worksheet. (1 mark)
(iv)Apply a grey background colour to all column headings. (1 mark)
(d)Rename the current worksheet as Profit. (1 mark)
Copy the content of the worksheet named Profit to a new worksheet and rename the new worksheet Modified. (1 mark)
(e) The company is expected to remit 15% of their sales as sales tax to a revenue authority.
(i) Insert a blank row below the sales row and label it as “Sales Tax”. (1 mark)
(ii) Compute the sales tax for January using absolute cell referencing to obtain the tax for the other months. (3 marks)
(iii) Calculate profit or loss for each month after taxation. (2 marks)
(iv) Insert a blank row below the profit or loss row and label it as “Comment”. (1 mark)
(f) Use the “IF” function to display comments for the profit or loss as follows:
(g) Create a bar chart to compare the sales and the total expenses for each of the six months and:
(i) Insert the chart title: “Sales Expenses Analysis”;
(ii)Insert the x-axis label: “Month”;
(iii)Insert the y-axis label: “Amount”;
(iv)Insert data labels for the sales series;
(v)Save it as a new worksheet named Comparison.
(11 marks)
(h) Set page orientation of the worksheet named Modified to landscape. (1 mark)
(i) Print the following Worksheets:
(i) Profit;
(ii) Modified;
(iii) Modified showing the formula;
(iv) Comparison.
(5 marks)
2014 KCSE Computer Studies Past Paper-Marking Scheme/Answers
