DEPARTMENT FOR CURRICULUM,

LIFELONG LEARNING AND EMPLOYABILITY

Directorate for Learning and Assessment Programmes
Educational Assessment Unit

Annual Examinations for Secondary Schools 2022

YEAR 9 COMPUTING TIME: 1h 30min

Directions to candidates:
Answer ALL questions on this paper.
The use of a flow chart template is permitted.
Calculators are NOT allowed.

Good English and orderly presentation are important.

For office use only:

Paper Course
QUES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Final Mark
Total Work

MAX 8 10 10 7 11 8 17 14 85% 15% 100%

MARK

Computing – Year 9 – 2022 Page 1 of 12

 1. State whether the following statements are true or false.

Statement True/False

a. 16 bits make 1 byte.

[1]
FTP is a protocol used to download files from the
b.
Internet. [1]
Active and running programs are held in a Hard
c.
Disk Drive. [1]
An email browser is used to search for
d.
information online. [1]

e. Calculator is a system software.

[1]
Compression software is used to process data in
f.
the form of cells. [1]
Format utility software is used to check your
g.
hard disk for errors. [1]
ADC is required to convert sound captured by a
h.
microphone and inputted into a digital device. [1]

2. Peripheral devices facilitate the human-computer interaction process. For each

of the following mention one appropriate device for each specific task.

Task Device

a. To listen to the sound of animated movies:

[1]

b. To select options on a smartphone:

[1]
To print a hardcopy of a word-processed
c.
document: [1]
To facilitate the drawing of vectored graphic
d.
logos: [1]

e. To record voice over an interactive presentation:

[1]

f. To verify and validate bank cheques:

[1]
To follow an online lesson on MS Teams without
g.
disturbing others: [1]
To facilitate the purchase of goods at a POS
h.
terminal: [1]
To convert a hardcopy document into digital
i.
form: [1]

j. To play video games on a PC:

[1]

Page 2 of 12 Computing – Year 9 – 2022

 3. a. Suggest whether AND, OR, or NOT Gate should be used for the following
typical scenarios. For each, include the symbol, the inputs, and the output.
The first one is done as an example.

Scenario Logic Gate

If I do not go to school, I will miss an

important Computing lesson.

I can watch TV, if I do my HW and read

i.
for thirty minutes.

[3]

I can go to school either by bus or on

ii.
foot.

[3]

b. Consider the following logic circuit diagram and complete the truth table
shown below:

A d
B
f
Z

e
C

A B C d e f Z
0 0 0
0 0 1
0 1 0
0 1 1
1 0 0
1 0 1
1 1 0
1 1 1
[4]

Computing – Year 9 – 2022 Page 3 of 12

 4. The Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) is
the government agency that manages the
eGovernment services and stores all data related to
government departments and provide information to
citizens.

a. What is the difference between Data and Information?

[1]

b. Mention ONE example of Data and ONE example of Information.

[2]

c. MITA employs several persons with special needs and invested in several
special purpose Input/Output devices for assistance.

i. Name ONE special purpose hardware device to help with the

inputting of data by persons with special needs. Explain its use.

[2]

ii. Name ONE special purpose software to help with the inputting of
data by persons with special needs. Explain its use.

[2]

5. In tennis, the average speed of a first serve is usually around

195 km/h. The ball speed is calculated using a digital radar gun
which includes a motion sensor to detect ball direction and
speed, and a small monitor to display the speed.

a. The radar gun uses 8-bit registers to process the motion

sensor readings in binary and when processed, it stores the
serving ball speed in hexadecimal.
i. How is the average ball speed (19510) represented in binary? Show
your working.

[1]

Page 4 of 12 Computing – Year 9 – 2022

 ii. How is the average ball speed (19510) stored in hex? Show your
working.

[1]

iii. During a tennis game, the radar gun calculated the highest ball
speed to be 110100102. What speed was shown on the radar gun
monitor? Show your working.

[1]

b. Mention ONE analogue component and ONE digital component inside the
radar gun.

Analogue Component: [1]

Digital Component: [1]

c. Inside an indoor tennis court, a temperature control system has been

recently installed. If the temperature is less than 17°C, the heating
function is turned on and stops until it reaches 25°C.

By using the flowchart symbols below, draw the flowchart for the heating
system.

Computing – Year 9 – 2022 Page 5 of 12

 Flowchart here

[6]

6. The Malta Airforce invested in a flight simulator to train pilot cadets flying
military airplanes. They are required to access the flight simulator from a
restricted authorised website. Use the following keywords to fill in the blanks
of the passage shown below.

Favourites password URL HTTPS

username web browser log in homepage

New pilot recruits can access the online flight simulator by using a

___________________. They can either follow a hyperlink from the

___________________ or by entering a specific ___________________ in

the address bar. This secured website uses an ___________________

protocol, and a valid ___________________ and ___________________

are required to ___________________. For future reference the website

address can be added in the ___________________ folder.

[8]

Page 6 of 12 Computing – Year 9 – 2022

 7. Analyse the specifications of a computer used by a
graphic designer.

Intel Core i9 5.2GHz 8 GB DDR4 RAM

1 TB Hard Disk Windows 10

a. What is the speed of the CPU in MHz?

[2]

b. What is the storage capacity?

[1]

c. What is the memory size of this computer?

[1]

d. Mention TWO characteristics of RAM.

[2]

e. How is ROM different from RAM?

[1]

f. Mention ONE use of ROM in a computer.

[1]

g. Which Operating System is this computer using?

[1]

h. Which type of printer do you suggest having for this specific scenario?
Give ONE reason for your answer.

[2]

i. Logos and advert material are generally created using vector graphics.
Mention ONE advantage of using vector over raster graphics.

[1]

Computing – Year 9 – 2022 Page 7 of 12

 j. A vector logo graphic occupies 2048KB of memory space. What is this
size equivalent in MB?
[1]

k. The computer has a folder which is storing several logo graphic images
occupying 120MB of space. Suggest ONE storage device to back up these
images.

[1]

l. Mention and explain the use of ONE utility software that is important in
maintaining the performance of the computer.

[2]

m. Mention ONE feature of the operating system that provides short-term

storage and transfer of text and graphics within, and between, different
application programs.
[1]

8. A gardening shop uses a database for its stock control system. One of the tables is
called Plants as shown below.

Plant
Name Care Indoor Price EUR
no.

130 Yucca Sun, sun, and more sun. No 28.00

Agloenema
Can withstand excess
128 Chinese Yes 16.99
water.
Evergreen

Adapts to both bright

Asparagus
132 spots and darker Yes 13.99
Fern
corners.

Grows best in a shady

Chinese
135 spot with weekly Yes 12.99
money plant
watering.

Position it in a sunny
133 Jade Plant window and water when Yes 6.00
the soil feels dry.

a. Suggest which field should be the primary key.

[1]

Page 8 of 12 Computing – Year 9 – 2022

 b. By which column (field) is the above table sorted?
[1]

c. What data type is the Indoor column (field)?

[1]

d. Why is it suggested that the data type of the Plant No. field is Text?

[1]

e. Another table in the database is called Suppliers as shown below. The

suppliers supply the shop with different plants, but the shop purchases a
particular plant from only one supplier.

Supplier no. Supplier name Contact No.

202 Gardening Supplies 99889988

203 Awesome plants Ltd 79861234

204 Flowers and plants 99212123

205 Plants & More 99554433

i. Suggest how table Plants can be related (linked) to table Suppliers.

[2]

ii. What type of relationship exists between table Suppliers and Plants?
[1]

iii. Mention ONE other type of relationship besides the one mentioned
in part e (ii).
[1]

f. The owner would like to keep track of the number of each plant in stock.

i. Suggest a suitable field to keep track of the number of plants.

[1]

ii. Suggest the data type for this field.

[1]

Computing – Year 9 – 2022 Page 9 of 12

 iii. Which table should include this field?
[1]

g. Data from a database can be accessed Serially or Directly. Mention ONE

difference between serial and direct methods of access.

[1]

h. Which type of access method is recommended to access the information

held in the gardening stock control system? Explain.

[2]

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