AS WJEC Computing CG1 2014

Just thought I'd chuck you some notes I've been given with regards to network topologies. This should get you all required marks as long as you include a definition alongside the advantages/disadvantages set out below.


Bus
Advantages
• Very cheap, as it requires a
minimal amount of cabling
• Easy to add or remove
computers

Disadvantages

• Failure in the main cable will
cause failure of the network
• The network can be
significantly slowed by high
network traffic

Star
Advantages
• If one cable fails, only the
device attached to it is
isolated from the network
• Faults are easy to find
• It is easy to add extra
devices
• The system is secure, as data
is only sent to devices that
need that data
Disadvantages

• Lots of cable, which means
more expensive to install
than other topologies


Ring
Advantages
• No collisions, as there is
typically only one batch of
data allowed on the network
at any one time
• Very high rates of
transmission are possible

Disadvantages

• Failure of a single cable can
bring down the entire
network
• Failure of a single device can
bring down the entire
network
• Security is not ensured, as
data passes through other
devices en route to its final
destination

Also, I do have a copy of the Jan '14 paper including MS for CG1 if you want it PM me.

Well good luck! You'll do well I'm sure! Focus on bio if that's your main priority I'd love to get an A* predicted in Maths - I still have M1 to go which I forgot to say - but I don't know if my core exams went well enough. I did AQA - how did you find maths?

I think ring networks are difficult to justify choosing as speeds are the only real advantage!

Yeah, I'm AQA too for maths.
I hated Core 1 - I was in the black drama room, which in that weather turned into and oven, and I was all flustered after a bunch of stupid stuff (running into my ex as my teacher asked both her and I to go and see her in the morning, realizing I didn't have my calculator before realizing it was Core 1 and non-calc.. , and realizing halfway through the exam my phone was in my bag ). My mates all liked Core 1. However, I quite liked Core 2 (there were only a few marks I couldn't do), but all my friends hated it?

Kinda relying on MS1B to carry my maths grade lol. I love stats.

Yeah, I'm AQA too for maths.
I hated Core 1 - I was in the black drama room, which in that weather turned into and oven, and I was all flustered after a bunch of stupid stuff (running into my ex as my teacher asked both her and I to go and see her in the morning, realizing I didn't have my calculator before realizing it was Core 1 and non-calc.. , and realizing halfway through the exam my phone was in my bag ). My mates all liked Core 1. However, I quite liked Core 2 (there were only a few marks I couldn't do), but all my friends hated it?

Kinda relying on MS1B to carry my maths grade lol. I love stats.

In terms of the syllabus for the exam, providing you're relatively good at accurate recall, you'll have no issue. The coursework could be a serious issue depending on your school, and I'd advise making sure you get it done well before Easter so you can revise for your other subjects. Mine ended up being stupidly long and sucking up all my time.

Also try and talk to students at your college and see if the teachers are any good. I've certainly been back to my old school and warned the current IT prefect lot to stay away from computing at my college.

Just to check - with questions where the mark scheme is asking us to give answers that "fully and accurately describe", do they mean all the points they give, or just 1 per mark?

Okay, thanks. I'll ask and see what people think of the teachers there. Is the knowledge you need to learn/recall extremely hard or is it quite easy to pick up on. Would it be difficult to cope with alongside subjects like Maths AL?

This might sound really stupid, but when is it correct to say "disc" and when is it correct to say "disk"?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Instinctively, I'd have said disk when talking about hard drives and disc when talking about DVDs etc.
Wikipedia says its a largely US vs UK thing, so I can't see WJEC penalizing either.

Yeah that makes sense, but I don't trust the mark schemes as they have spelling errors anyway! I hope they don't care... How's your prep going?


Posted from TSR Mobile

Busy freaking about biology lol. Just scraped an A in the last paper (Jan '14) so panicking a little.

You know when they ask for one benefit of something or one other possible problem, do you lose the mark if you write two?

Good luck tomorrow everyone, if you're remotely interested in IT, you know most of the course already!