Cambridge Assessment International Education

Cambridge International Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced Level

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9608/21

Paper 2 Written Paper May/June 2018
MARK SCHEME
Maximum Mark: 75

Published

This mark scheme is published as an aid to teachers and candidates, to indicate the requirements of the
examination. It shows the basis on which Examiners were instructed to award marks. It does not indicate the
details of the discussions that took place at an Examiners’ meeting before marking began, which would have
considered the acceptability of alternative answers.

Mark schemes should be read in conjunction with the question paper and the Principal Examiner Report for
Teachers.

Cambridge International will not enter into discussions about these mark schemes.

Cambridge International is publishing the mark schemes for the May/June 2018 series for most
Cambridge IGCSE™, Cambridge International A and AS Level and Cambridge Pre-U components, and
some Cambridge O Level components.

IGCSE™ is a registered trademark.

This document consists of 14 printed pages.

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Generic Marking Principles

These general marking principles must be applied by all examiners when marking candidate answers.
They should be applied alongside the specific content of the mark scheme or generic level descriptors
for a question. Each question paper and mark scheme will also comply with these marking principles.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 1:

Marks must be awarded in line with:

• the specific content of the mark scheme or the generic level descriptors for the question
• the specific skills defined in the mark scheme or in the generic level descriptors for the question
• the standard of response required by a candidate as exemplified by the standardisation scripts.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 2:

Marks awarded are always whole marks (not half marks, or other fractions).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 3:

Marks must be awarded positively:

• marks are awarded for correct/valid answers, as defined in the mark scheme. However, credit
is given for valid answers which go beyond the scope of the syllabus and mark scheme,
referring to your Team Leader as appropriate
• marks are awarded when candidates clearly demonstrate what they know and can do
• marks are not deducted for errors
• marks are not deducted for omissions
• answers should only be judged on the quality of spelling, punctuation and grammar when these
features are specifically assessed by the question as indicated by the mark scheme. The
meaning, however, should be unambiguous.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 4:

Rules must be applied consistently e.g. in situations where candidates have not followed
instructions or in the application of generic level descriptors.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 5:

Marks should be awarded using the full range of marks defined in the mark scheme for the question
(however; the use of the full mark range may be limited according to the quality of the candidate
responses seen).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 6:

Marks awarded are based solely on the requirements as defined in the mark scheme. Marks should
not be awarded with grade thresholds or grade descriptors in mind.

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Question Answer Marks

1(a) Suitable Identifier 4

Description of Data Item
Name
The temperature of the patient PatientTemperature
The temperature of the room RoomTemperature
The patient identification number PatientID
The name of the nurse taking the NurseName
measurement

The above are examples only.

Names must be meaningful and unambiguous

Items 1 and 2 must have suitable prefix / suffix (i.e. not just 'temp')

1(b)(i) Expression Evaluates to 5

"Mon" & MID(MyGreeting, 10, 2) "Month"
AgeInYears + ASC(MyInitial) 94
INT(MyInitial) ERROR
MOD(Weight * 2, 10) 1
Maried AND (NOT Children) FALSE

1(b)(ii) Variable Data type 5

MyGreeting STRING
MyInitial CHAR
AgeInYears INTEGER
Weight REAL
Married BOOLEAN

One mark per answer

Alternative appropriate data types acceptable

Question Answer Marks

2(a)(i) • Indentation 4
• Blank lines / white space
• Capitalisation of keywords
• Meaningful identifier names

2(a)(ii) • Comments 1

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Question Answer Marks

2(b) Feature Answer 9

A line containing an example of an assignment statement 08,12,13,19

A line containing the start of a repetition block 10
A line containing the end of a repetition block 23
The line containing the start of a selection statement 15
The number of parameters of the MID function 3
The boolean operator used AND
The number of local variables 4
The number of function calls from within StringClean() 5
resulting from the call:
NewString ← StringClean("Me")
The number of a line containing an unneccessary 06
statement

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Question
Q Answerr Mark
ks

3 8

One mark for:

1 STAR RT and END D / STOP

2 promp pt and inputt of Sensor
rID (allow alt
a name)
3 decision box checking that SSensorID isi between 1 & 10
4 calling
g GetTemp with Senso orID as parameter
5 decision box commparing Tem mp > HighTTemp
6 calling
g Alarm()
7 decision box commparing Tem mp < LowTeemp
8 both output
o messsages

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Question
Q Answerr Mark
ks

3 ALTERNA
ATIVE SOLU
UTION USIN
NG 'CASE' 8

Mark as fo
ollows:

1 One mark
m for STA ART and EN ND / STOP P
2 One mark
m for pro
ompt and inp put of Sens
sorID (allow
w alt name))
3 One mark
m for dec
cision box cchecking thaat SensorI
ID is betweeen 1 & 10
4 One mark
m for calling GetTem mp with SennsorID as parameter
5 One mark
m for dec
cision box CCASE Temp p
6 One mark
m for calling Alarm ()
7 One mark
m for two
o correct CAASE conditio
ons
8 One mark
m for botth output meessages

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Question Answer Marks

4(a) Features: 3

• The hierarchy of modules

• The parameters that are passed between modules // the interface between
the modules
• The sequence of module execution

One mark per item

4(b) ItemProcess
6

InString InString

RetFlag

AddToList RemoveFromList

Mark as follows:
One mark for top box
One mark for both lower boxes
One mark for diamond 'decision' symbol
One mark for each parameter (3 parameters)

Question Answer Marks

5(a) Details are saved after the program ends // after the computer is switched off 1

5(b) Two from the following examples: Max 2

• Context-sensitive help
• Syntax checking (on entry)
• Automatic indentation
• Type checking (Parameter checking)
• PrettyPrinting
• Highlight structure blocks (e.g. selection, iteration)
• Highlight any undeclared variables
• Highlight any unassigned variables

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Question Answer Marks

5(c) 'Pseudocode' solution included here for development and clarification of mark 9
scheme.
Programming language solutions appear in the Appendix.

PROCEDURE AddNewScores()

DECLARE FileData : STRING

DECLARE ScoreDate : STRING
DECLARE MembershipNumber : STRING
DECLARE Score : STRING

OUTPUT "Input the date for the scores"

INPUT ScoreDate

OPENFILE "ScoreDetails.txt" FOR APPEND

OUTPUT "Input the Membership number"

INPUT MembershipNumber

WHILE NOT MembershipNumber = ""

OUPUT "Input the score"
INPUT Score
WHILE (INT(SCORE) < 50) OR (INT(SCORE) > 99)
OUTPUT "Input a valid score from 50 to 99"
INPUT Score
ENDWHILE
FileData = MembershipNumber & ScoreDate & Score
WRITEFILE "ScoreDetails.txt", FileData
OUTPUT "Input the Membership number"
INPUT MembershipNumber

ENDWHILE

CLOSEFILE("ScoreDetails.txt")

ENDPROCEDURE

1 mark for each of the following:

1 Declare MembershipNumber as STRING and Score as INTEGER /

STRING (commented in Python)
2 Prompt and Input of ScoreDate
3 Open ScoreDetails.txt in APPEND mode
4 Prompt and Input of MembershipNumber in a loop
5 (Outer) loop terminated when MembershipNumber = ""
6 Input Score and loop until valid
7 Form the text string from the three variables
8 Write the text string to the file
9 Close the file

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Question Answer Marks

6(a)(i) • The array is 1D Max2

• 1 is the lower bound
• 5 is the upper bound
• size of array / number of elements = 5

6(a)(ii) • subscript / index 1

6(b) FUNCTION Lighten() RETURNS BOOLEAN MAX8

DECLARE OldPixelValue : INTEGER
DECLARE NewPixelValue : INTEGER
DECLARE PixelTemp : REAL
DECLARE BurnFlag : BOOLEAN
DECLARE i : INTEGER
DECLARE j : INTEGER

BurnFlag ← FALSE

FOR i ← 1 TO 8
FOR j ← 1 TO 8
OldPixelValue ← Picture[i, j]
PixelTemp ← OldPixelValue * 1.1
NewPixelValue ← INT(PixelTemp)
IF NewPixelValue >= 255
THEN
NewPixelValue ← 255
BurnFlag ← TRUE
ENDIF
Picture[i, j] ← NewPixelValue
ENDFOR
ENDFOR

RETURN BurnFlag

ENDFUNCTION

1 mark for each of the following:

1 Function heading as above and ending

2 Declare and initialise local variable for return BOOLEAN / other mechanism
to record 'burnt out'
3 Declare local variables for loop counters
4 Correct nested loops
5 Accessing element from array
6 Calculating new value and convert to an INTEGER
7 Comparing new value with 255 and if greater:
8 «limit to 255 and assign to original element
9 «Set flag / other mechanism if limit applied (Only change once)
10 Return a BOOLEAN (following conversion if other mechanism used) MUST
WORK

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Question Answer Marks

7 'Pseudocode' solution included here for development and clarification of mark Max7
scheme.
Programming language solutions appear in the Appendix.

FUNCTION ProcessMarks(Mark: ARRAY[1:20] OF INTEGER)

RETURNS INTEGER
DECLARE Highest : INTEGER
DECLARE Average as REAL
DECLARE Total as INTEGER
DECLARE Position as INTEGER

Total ← 0
Highest ← Mark[1] //The highest mark is the first one
Position ← 1

FOR i ← 1 to 20
Total ← Total + Mark[i]
IF Mark[i] > Highest
THEN
Highest ← Mark[i]
Position ← i
ENDIF
ENDFOR
Average ← Total/20
Output ("The average mark is " & Average & " and the
highest mark is " & Highest)
RETURN Position

ENDFUNCTION

1 mark for each of the following:

1 Correct Function heading (including Mark as parameter) and ending

2 Declare local variable for Highest and initialise
3 Loop structure (1 to 20 or 0 to 19)
4 Comparison with current Highest
5 «Assign new Highest
6 Calculate Average
7 Output message including both variables and explanatory text
8 Return value of index

*** End of Mark Scheme – example program code solutions follow ***

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Appendix

Program Code Example Solutions

Q5(c)

Visual Basic

Sub AddNewScores()

Dim FileData As String

Dim MembershipNumber As String
Dim Score As Integer
Dim ScoreDate As String
Dim FileHandle As IO.StreamWriter

FileHandle = New IO.StreamWriter("ScoreDetails.txt")

Console.WriteLine("Input the date for the scores")

ScoreDate = Console.ReadLine()

Console.WriteLine("Input the Membership number")

MembershipNumber = Console.ReadLine()

Do While MembershipNumber <> ""

Console.WriteLine("Input the score")
Score = Console.ReadLine()
Do While Score < 50 Or Score > 99
Console.WriteLine("Input a valid score from 50 to 99")
Score = Console.ReadLine()
Loop
FileData = MembershipNumber & ScoreDate & Str(Score)
FileHandle.WriteLine(FileData)
Console.WriteLine("Input the Membership number")
MembershipNumber = Console.ReadLine()

Loop
FileHandle.Close()

End Sub

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Python

def AddNewScores():
#ScoreDate as string
#MembershipNumber as string
#Score as integer
#FileHandle as text file

FileHandle = open("ScoreDetails.txt", "a")

ScoreDate = str(input("Input the date for the scores"))
MembershipNumber = str(input("Input the Membership number"))
while MembershipNumber != "":
Score = int(input("Input the score"))
while Score < 50 or Score > 99:
Score = int(input("Input a valid score from 50 to 99"))
FileData = MembershipNumber + ScoreDate + str(Score)
FileHandle.write(FileData)
MembershipNumber = str(input("Input the Membership number"))
FileHandle.close

Pascal

procedure AddNewScores;
var FileData, ScoreDate, MembershipNumber: String;
Score: Integer
MyFile: text;

begin
assign(MyFile,'ScoreDetails.txt');
append(MyFile);
writeln('Input the date for the scores');
readln(ScoreDate);
writeln('Input the Membership number');
readln(MembershipNumber);

while MembershipNumber <> '' do

begin
writeln('Input the score');
readln(Score);
while (Score < 50) or (Score > 99) do
begin
writeln('Input the score');
readln(Score);
end;
FileData := MembershipNumber + ScoreDate + IntToStr(Score);
write(MyFile, FileData);
writeln('Input the Membership number');
readln(MembershipNumber);
end;
close (MyFile);
end;

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Q7

Visual Basic

Function ProcessMarks(ByVal Mark() As Integer) As Integer

Dim Highest As Integer

Dim Average As Single
Dim Total As Integer
Dim Position As Integer
Dim i As Integer

Total = 0
Position = 1
Highest = Mark(1)
For i = 1 To 20
Total = Total + Mark(i)
If Mark(i) > Highest Then
Highest = Mark(i)
Position = i
End If
Next
Average = Total / 20
Console.WriteLine ("The average mark is " & Average & _
" and the highest mark is " & Highest)

Return Position
End Function

Python

def ProcessMarks (mark):

#highest, i, position, total as integer
#average as real

highest = mark[0]
total = 0
position = 0
for i in range(0,20):
total = total + mark[i]
if mark[i] > highest:
highest = mark[i]
position = i
average = total/20
print('The average mark is ' + str(average) + \
' and the highest mark is ' + str(highest))
return position

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Pascal

function ProcessMarks (mark:array of integer):integer;

var highest, total, position, i: integer;

average: real;

begin
highest := mark[1];
total := 0;
position := mark[1];
for i := 1 to 20 do
begin
total := total + mark[1];
if mark[i] > highest then
begin
highest := mark[i];
position := i;
end;
end;
average := total / 20;
writeln ('The average mark is ', average, ' and the highest mark is ',
highest);
ProcessMarks := position;
end;

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