1.2.

1 Primary storage (Memory)

Objectives

1. Know what primary memory is.

2. Know why computers have primary memory (AKA 'main memory').

1. Give the purpose of computer memory.

To store information or data.

ROM (Read-Only Memory)

Objectives

1. Explain why computers usually have ROM.

2. Give characteristics of ROM

1. Explain why a computer needs ROM.

Boot-start up.

2. Show the similarities and differences between RAM and ROM

RAM – volatile, writable; ROM – volatile, read-only.

3. Explain what is meant by the term 'firmware'.

“Permanent software programmed into a read-only memory.”

RAM (Random Access Memory)

Objectives

1. Explain why computers usually have RAM.

2. Give characteristics of RAM

1. Explain why computers have RAM.

To store currently needed data.

2. Give some examples of what can be stored in RAM and describe the
importance of RAM.

Current programs such as PowerPoint – easy to fetch data needed for the CPU.

3. Describe what happens to the data stored in RAM when you turn your
computer off, and how is this different to ROM.

RAM fully deletes its data; ROM still retains its data.

4. Put the following in order of speed and explain why the speed is different:
o CPU cache
o hard disk
o CPU register
o RAM

CPU register, CPU cache, RAM, hard disk. Cache only holds frequently used
instructions – while hard disks carry all data.

5. Give a reason for where a computer's startup instructions are stored.

ROM – never should change.

6. Complete this table to show the differences between RAM and ROM:

Characteristic
ROM RAM
▼
Purpose To store start-up instructions. To store currently used instructions.
Volatility None. Yes.
 Read/Write Read-only. Writable.

Capacity Limited. A bit higher.

VM (Virtual Memory)

Objectives

1. Explain why virtual memory might be needed in a system.

2. Explain what 'virtual memory' is.
3. Explain how virtual memory works by transferring data between RAM and
secondary storage when RAM is full.

1. Anna wants to upgrade the memory in her PC to speed up her computer.

Explain why this might or might not make the computer run any faster,
referring to virtual memory.

Might make the computer run faster as virtual memory would not have to be used as
RAM storage is higher,

2. Explain whether virtual memory is an example of primary storage or

secondary storage.

Secondary storage – located on the hard disk.

Secondary storage
 Objectives

1. Explain why computers have secondary storage.

2. Understand the term 'non-volatile.’
3. Understand the difference between primary storage (main memory) and
secondary storage.

1. Explain what is meant by the term 'secondary storage'.

Storage that still retains data even when the computer is turned off.

2. Explain why a digital camera needs to use secondary storage.

To store photos after it’s been turned off.

3. Give the difference between primary storage (main memory) and secondary
storage.

Primary storage is volatile, while secondary storage is non-volatile.

Types of secondary storage

Objective

1. Name the three main types of secondary storage

1. State the three main types of secondary storage.

Optical, magnetic, solid-state drive (SSD).

2. State which type of secondary storage the following fall into: SD card, Solid
state disc, USB memory stick.

All are SSD.

3. State which type of secondary storage the following fall into: Backup tape,
hard disk drive
 Magnetic.

4. State which type of secondary storage the following fall into: Compact Disc
drive, Digital Versatile Disc drive

Optical.

Optical storage

Objectives

1. Understand what optical storage is.

2. Describe characteristics of optical storage so you can compare its benefits
and drawbacks to other storage types.
3. Explain the operation of optical storage devices (AQA only)

1. Describe optical storage.

“Data is stored using pits and lands.”

2. Produce a diagram to explain the differences between several types of optical

discs.
Magnetic storage (HDDs, Tape)

Objectives

1. Understand what magnetic storage is.

2. Describe the characteristics of magnetic storage so you can compare its
benefits and drawbacks to other storage types.
 3. Explain the operation of magnetic storage devices (AQA only)

1. Describe magnetic storage.

“Data is stored using magnetism.”

2. Find a 1TB SSD drive and a 1TB HDD drive using a site such as. How much
difference is there in price per GB?

2 cents.

3. Find out some examples of the storage capacity of backup tapes and explain
why they are useful for backup and archive purposes.

100TB – lots of storage, can go up to 580TB.

Solid state storage

Objectives

1. Understand what solid-state storage is.

2. Describe the characteristics of solid-state storage so you can compare its
benefits and drawbacks to other types of storage.
3. Explain the operation of solid-state storage devices (AQA only)

1. Describe solid state storage.

SSD – electrical signals used.

2. A friend is buying a new computer. Discuss whether your friend should get a
computer with an SSD or HDD.

HDD is cheaper, SSD is faster and better quality.

Types of storage summary

 Objective

1. Know the difference between a storage 'type' and a storage 'media'.

1. Name one type of storage.

SSD.

2. Give an example of storage media associated with optical drives.

Blu-ray.

3. Give an example of a magnetic secondary storage device.

Hard disk.

Suitable storage devices and storage media

Objectives

1. Compare advantages and disadvantages for each storage device and

media.
2. Apply your knowledge of storage devices and media in context within
scenarios to be able to select & justify the most appropriate type of storage
 device.

1. Name the six storage characteristics that you need to know about for this
course. Invent a suitable mnemonic to remember them!

Capacity, durability, portability, access speed, cost, reliability. “Chair demand

possible add save cultural rise.”

2. Explain why a digital video camera needs secondary storage.

So it can store non-volatile memory.

3. Explain why solid-state storage the most appropriate type of storage for a
digital video camera is.

You move it around a lot, that would get ruined with magnetic, SSD’s only rely on
electrical signals so there are no moving parts.

Units

Objectives

1. Define what a 'bit' (b) is.

2. Know how computers represent 'bits'
3. Define what a 'byte' (B) is.

1. State the number of bits that are in this sequence: 01101011.

8.

2. Give the digital sequence for the wave in the image above.

WHAT IMAGE‽

3. Define what is meant by a bit.

Binary digit.
 4. Explain why computers use binary.

Language they can understand.

5. Define what is meant by a byte.

1 byte = 8 bits.

6. Complete the following to show the conversion between bits and bytes. The
first row has been completed for you.

Bits Bytes
8b 1B
16b 2B
32b 4B
64b 8B
40 5B

Binary data

Objective

1. Know why all data must be represented using binary.

1. Give the name given to the microscopic switches inside of a computer.

 Transistors.

2. Explain how these switches relate to digital data.

Transfer information.

Units of data storage

Objectives

1. Be familiar with data units from a bit to a petabyte (OCR).

2. Be familiar with data units from a bit to a terabyte (AQA).
3. Convert between each data unit, e.g. be able to convert 16 bits to 2 bytes.

1. State how many bits are in a nibble.

4.

2. State how many bits are in a byte.

8.

3. State the magnitude that is meant by the prefix 'mega'.

1 million.

4. State the prefix that is used to refer to a billion.

‘Giga.’

5. Put the following into order from smallest to biggest:

bi
GB PB byte nibble MB
t
Bit, nibble, byte, MB, GB, PB.
 6. State which unit is measured as 1,000,000 = 106 bytes.

Megabyte.

7. State which unit is measured as 1,000,000,000,000,000 = 1015 bytes.

Petabyte.

8. How many MB are in 5GB?

5,000.

9. State how many nibbles are in a byte.

2.

10. Calculate which is biggest: three nibbles or two bytes.

2 bytes.

11. Calculate how many bytes are in 2.5MB.

2,500,000.

12. Calculate how many gigabytes are in 3 terabytes.

3,000.

13. State how many bytes are in a kilobyte.

1,000.

Calculating storage requirements

Objectives
 1. Know that data storage devices have different fixed capacities.
2. Calculate required storage capacity for a given set of files.

1. Calculate how many audio files (5MB each) could be stored using 100MB of
storage.

20.

2. Calculate how many video files (100MB each) could be stored using 1GB of
storage.

10.

3. Calculate how many database records (2KB each) could be stored using 1MB
of storage.

500.

4. Calculate how many backup files (500GB each) could be stored using 2TB of
storage.

4.

5. A mobile phone company charges 1p to download 1MB of data. Calculate

how much it would cost to download a 1GB movie file.

1,000p = £100.

6. Bob has a 100GB hard disk drive with 80GB free. Bob wants to store video
files that are 200,000KB each. Calculate how many video files can be stored
on the hard disk drive.

100.

File sizes of sound, images, and text files

Objective

1. Calculate the size of sound, image, and text files.

1. Calculate how many bytes are needed to represent the text "hello world".

11 bytes.

2. Calculate the answer to the above question in bits.

88.

3. The image below is a 3-bit bitmap image. It has been made bigger to make it
easier for you to look at. See if you can work out the original file size for this
image in bits and then convert this to bytes.

7.5 bytes.

4. Calculate the minimum number of bits needed to represent the following

image as a bitmap. (It has 3 colours)

60 bits.

5. A sound file has a sample rate of 41,100 samples per second that lasts for 3
seconds and has a bit-depth of 16. Give the formula that would be used to
work out the file size in bits.

(Number of samples per second) * (number of bits per sample) * (length of sample in
seconds).

6. Put the following in order of size:

1. An ASCII Text File with 100,000 Characters.

2. A Music File (5 seconds).
3. A Bitmap Image (400 x 200 pixels).

 An ASCII text file with 100,000 characters

 A bitmap image (400 x 200 pixels, 24-bits per pixel)
 A music file (5 seconds, 41,100 samples per second, mono, 24-bits per
sample)
Binary numbers

Objectives

1. Understand binary numbers.

2. Be familiar with the denary range 000 to 255.
3. Be familiar with the binary range 00000000 to 11111111. (Numbers
between 1-bit and 8-bits.)
4. Understand that computers represent all data using binary.

Can you complete the following table...?

102
101 100
Denary Number 10
10 1
0
145 1 4 5
4 0 0 4
6 0 0 6

27 0 2 7

178 1 7 8
12 0 1 2

1. Work out how to represent the following numbers in binary...

Denary 23 22 21 20
Number 8 4 2 1
 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0 1
2 0 0 0 2

3 0 0 0 3

4 0 0 0 4

5 0 0 0 5

6 0 0 0 6

7 0 0 0 7

8 0 0 0 8

1. Calculate how many numbers you can represent when you are using 5 bits.

32.

2. Calculate how many numbers you can represent when you are using 6 bits.

64.

Converting binary to denary

Objective

1. Convert 8-bit binary into denary.

1. State how many digits a 4-bit number has. (This is not a trick question!)

2. Convert these binary numbers to denary:

10101011
10110111
00010111.
 3. Calculate the highest denary number you can represent in binary with 8-bits.
HINT: What's (28) - 1?

4. Calculate the total number of denary numbers you can represent in binary
with 8-bits. HINT: What's 28

5. Calculate the range of denary numbers you can represent in binary with 8-
bits. HINT: It is 0 to ...?

Converting denary to binary

Objective

1. Convert denary numbers (0 to 255) to 8-bit binary.

1. Convert these denary numbers to 8-bit binary:

(a) 252
(b) 17
(c) 123.

1. Convert these denary numbers to 8-bit binary:

(a) 250
(b) 10
(c) 125.

Adding two binary numbers

 Objectives

1. Add two 8-bit binary integers together (OCR).

2. Add up to three 8-bit binary integers together (AQA).

1. Add these binary numbers together: 1001 + 1100.

2. Add these binary numbers together: 010011 + 0101111.

Overflow errors

Objective

1. Explain overflow errors which may occur when adding binary numbers
together.

1. Explain why you will get an overflow error if you add 1000 and 1000, and the
answer had to be a nibble.

2. Give two possible arithmetic operations that could result in an overflow error.

Hexadecimal numbers

Objectives

1. Understand hexadecimal numbers.

 2. Give reasons why programmers use hexadecimal numbers.

1. Explain in your own words why programmers may use hexadecimal instead of
binary.

2. Give one example of where programmers might use hexadecimal.

Converting denary to hexadecimal

Objective

1. Convert denary values from 0 to 255 into hexadecimal (00 to FF).

1. Convert the denary number 122 to hexadecimal.

2. Convert the denary number 234 to hexadecimal.

3. Convert the denary number 12 to hexadecimal.

Converting hexadecimal to denary

Objective
 1. Convert hexadecimal values from 0 to FF into denary values 0 to 255

Convert the following hexadecimal numbers to denary:

a. C3

b. 4E

Converting binary to hexadecimal

Objective

1. Convert binary (00000000 to 11111111) to hexadecimal (00 to FF)

Convert the following binary numbers to hexadecimal:

a. 01001100
b. 01111001

Converting hexadecimal to binary

Objective

1. Convert hexadecimal (00...FF) to binary (00000000...11111111)

Convert the following hexadecimal numbers to 8-bit binary:

a. E3
 b. AE

c. 8B

d. 15

Most and least significant bit

Objective

1. Understand the terms 'most significant bit' and 'least significant bit'.

1. Give the most significant bit in this binary number: 00010000.

Binary shifts

Objectives

1. Do a binary shift (both left and right).

2. Describe where binary shifts can be used (i.e. to multiply or divide)
3. Explain the effect of a binary shift (both left and right).

1. Come up with any binary number and demonstrate the impact of shifting left
and shifting right by one and two places.
 2. Name the different calculations that can be performed with a left or right
binary shift.

3. State the name of the part of the CPU that carries out binary shift operations.

4. State the register in the CPU that is used to store the result of a binary shift
operation.

5. Describe the effects of performing a right shift on a binary number.

Representing characters

Objectives

1. Know that every character (symbol) has a character code.

2. Understand that character sets are logically ordered, e.g. the code for 'B'
(66) comes after the code for 'A' (65).
3. Know how a computer uses binary to represent characters.

1. See if you can decode the message*. Further translation may be required!
 01000010
01101111
01101110
01101010
01101111
01110101
01110010
0100000
01101100
01100101
0100000
01101101
01101111
01101110
01100100
01100101
0100001

*NB 8-bits have been used here but for those studying the AQA course, this
would be 7 bits without the leading 0.

2. State the ASCII codes for the word 'FAB'. (Use the table at the top of this
page to help!)

3. State the binary representation of the word FAB.

4. Give the binary representation for the character 'G'.

Character sets: ASCII and Unicode

Objectives

1. Know what a character set is.

2. Be familiar with the ASCII character set and Unicode character set.
3. Know how the number of characters that can be represented by a
character set is limited by the number of bits used to represent each
character.
4. Describe the purpose of Unicode and the advantages of Unicode over
ASCII.
1. Based on the above, what is the ASCII binary representation for the character
'C'?

1. Based on the above, what is the ASCII binary representation for the character
'C'?

1. Convert binary to hex and then find what the symbol is. The first row has been
done for you.

Symbo
Binary Hex Description
l
0001 1111 0110 0000 0000 1F600 😀 Grinning face
0001 1111 0110 0001 0101
0001 1111 0110 0000 1111
0001 1111 0110 0000 0011

2. Find three examples of characters that can be represented using UNICODE

but not in ASCII, stating the character code and the symbol it represents.

1. Explain the limitation of ASCII and a way of overcoming this limitation.

2. (OCR ONLY): When using ASCII, state how many bytes are used to store the
text 'Mr James'?

3. (OCR ONLY): Give the answer to the above in bits.

Representing images

Objectives

1. Know that the smallest element of an image is a pixel.

2. Know that all of the pixels that form an image are called a bitmap (i.e. a
map of bits.)
3. Know that pixels are arranged into columns and rows on visual display
units (VDUs)

1. State how you think a computer shows white.

2. State how you think a computer shows black.

Black and white images

Objectives

1. Know that is meant by a 1-bit bitmap image.

2. Know that each pixel is represented by a 0 or 1 in a black and white image.

1. Create a 1-bit black and white image that is 12 wide and 12 high (12 x 12
pixels). Show its binary representation where 1 is black and 0 is white. Use
https://www.clickschool.co.uk/bitmap to do so.

Colour images
 Objectives

1. Know that each pixel has a specific colour represented by a specific binary
code.
2. Given a bit-depth, calculate how many colours a pixel in a colour bitmap
image can be.

1. Create another image using https://www.clickschool.co.uk/bitmap/ that is

12x12 pixels, but this time use four different colours. Show its binary
representation.

1. Calculate the maximum number of colours that can be used in a 4-bit image.

2. A bitmap image includes 7 different colours. Calculate the smallest bit-depth

that can be used for the image.

3. A bitmap image includes 20 different colours. Calculate the smallest bit-depth

that can be used for the image.

Image metadata

Objectives

1. Know that metadata is data about data, and is additional data stored in a
file.
2. Know that examples of metadata for an image include height, width, and
bit-depth.
3. Know why image files need to include metadata
 1. State which of the following is not an example of essential meta data included
in an image file:
a) height
b) width
c) bit-depth
d) memory size.

Colour depth

Objectives

1. Explain what is meant by the term 'colour depth' (AKA bit-depth)

2. Describe the effect on image file size and quality when changing colour
depth.
3. Calculate the file size of a bitmap image based on the number of pixels and
colour depth.
4. Explain why designers use hexadecimal to set a colour instead of using
binary.

1. Explain what is meant by 'colour depth'

.
 2. Give the maximum number of colours that can be represented when using 16
bits to represent each pixel in a bitmap image (16-bit)

3. Finish this sentence: "In terms of storage, the higher the bit-depth..."

4. Finish this sentence: "In terms of colour capability, the higher the bit-depth..."

5. Explain whether increasing the colour-depth for this icon would make any
difference to the quality or how clear it is:

6. Explain whether decreasing the colour-depth of a photographic image would

make any difference to its quality.

Resolution

Objectives

1. Define 'image resolution.’

2. Describe the effect on image file size and quality when changing resolution.
3. Define the term 'pixelation'.
4. Calculate the file size of a bitmap image based on the number of pixels and
colour depth

1. An icon image is 50 pixels by 50 pixels and uses a bit-depth of 8. Calculate

how much storage space this icon needs. (If you know about different units
then remember to answer using an appropriate unit.)
 2. A digital camera takes photos at 24 megapixels (6,000 x 4,000 to be precise)
and uses 24 bits per pixel to store the image. Calculate how much storage
space the uncompressed bitmap image needs.

3. State what is meant by image pixelation.

Sampling and storing sound.

Objectives

1. Understand that analogue sound waves need converting to digital for a

computer to be able to store and process.
2. Know how analogue sounds are sampled and stored using binary (digital)
3. Know that the sample rate is measured in Hz (hertz - times per second).
4. Know that the bit-depth (AKA 'sample size') used for a sound is the
number of bits that are used to represent each sample.
5. Know that duration is typically measured in seconds.

1. Describe how a computer goes about recording a sound.

2. Give the unit that is used to specify the 'sample rate' when describing how a
computer records sound.

3. Define the term 'bit-depth' in the context of a computer recording sound.

Sample rate, bit-depth, and duration

Objectives

1. Know how the sample rate affects the playback quality and file size of a
sound.
2. Know how the bit-depth (AKA sample size, sample resolution) affects the
playback quality and file size of a sound.
3. Know how the duration affects the file size of a sound.
4. Calculate the file size of a sound file based on the sample rate, bit-depth,
and duration

1. True of false...?
o The 'sample rate' is the number of times the amplitude of a wave is
measured per second.
o The smaller the bit-depth the smaller the range of sounds recorded.
o The larger the sample rate the larger the bit-depth.
o The frequency and pitch of the wave are measured.

Compression
 Objectives

1. Know what is meant by the term 'compression'.

2. Identify common scenarios where compression may be needed.
3. Understand that there are different ways to compress data.

1. Explain what is meant by compressing data.

2. Explain why a web developer will convert original uncompressed graphics

(e.g. icons) to compressed graphics (e.g. PNG files) before uploading them
for use on a web site.

3. Discuss why it can be important to use a suitable level of 'compression' when

preparing graphics for a web site.

Lossy compression

Objectives

1. Describe what lossy compression does.

2. Know the benefits and drawbacks of lossy compression.
3. Identify when lossy compression is suitable to use.
4. Describe the effect that lossy compression is likely to have on file size.

1. Load a decent quality JPEG photograph. Save it as a new file using a varying
level of compression. How much 'compression' can you use before the image
starts losing a notable amount of quality?

2. Why would you not use lossy compression for a text document?
Lossless compression

Objectives

1. Describe what lossless compression does.

2. Know the benefits and drawbacks of lossless compression.
3. Identify when lossless compression is suitable to use.
4. Describe the effect that lossless compression is likely to have on file size.

1. Can you decompress the following?

0 she
1 sells
2 sea
3 shells
4 on
5 the
6 seashore.
7 that
 8 are
9 I
1
am
0
1
sure
1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 5 3 7 0 1 8 2 3 9 10 11

2. An image is compressed as follows: 186(93G93W93R). The image is 279

pixels wide by 186 pixels high. Can you decompress it and work out what the
image shows?

3. Explain the difference between lossless and lossy compression.