AQA AS Computing unit 2 17th January 2013

Reply 20

the illuminated

what is addressable memory anyone ?

Reply 21

the illuminated

does anyone know what addressable memory is in simplified terms please

Reply 22

mike256

2

Original post by the illuminated

does anyone know what addressable memory is in simplified terms please

A computer system stores data and instructions in main memory, which is a large set of locations in which data (bytes) can be stored. To specify a place in memory, the computer uses a memory address, which is simply a number allocated to each byte in main memory. Memory addresses are sent from the processor to the memory along a set of wires called the address bus. The number of wires in the address bus limits the largest address that can be sent, and thus limits the amount of memory that can be addressed.

For example, if a computer had an address bus with 4 wires, it could send 2⁴ = 16 addresses along the address bus. Because each address locates a byte in memory, the computer would have 16 bytes of addressable memory.

I can elaborate if anything wasn't clear.

Reply 23

the illuminated

thank you ! i understand it

Reply 24

Nabbles

Original post by the illuminated

does anybody know what areas are more likely to come up in the exam because i don't know and i am scared. are they more likely to ask us about tcp/ip. and i really hate simplifying Boolean algebra :angry:

You shoudn't revise only certain topics. You would be best knowing a good amount of everything than everything about a few things. Also everything has pretty much even chance of coming up. Exam boards don't want people to predict the questions so the questions are random.

Reply 25

GeoHall

One tip to memorize explaining how hardware works is to write points on a a4 page and stick them on your wall, read them whenever you can, when you wake up, get home, should help you remember, and just test yourself on each one. Sounds obvious but it does help a lot i find.

I'm not looking forward to looking forward to defining a key term which i have forgotten...

Reply 26

Treeroy

18

A few tips to everyone else:

- Write things you can't remember on post-its and put them up in your bedroom so you see them every day. I have the fetch-execute cycle on the whiteboard on my wall, and it's now ingrained into my head.

- Do as many past papers as possible, preferably the recent ones which focus on the harder things. You might like to go through them with the mark scheme by you, so after you complete a question you mark it. This helped me a lot. Alternatively, highlight the questions you don't know and go back to them once complete.

- Use the textbook, or the wikibook, for specific areas you don't understand. Wikibook: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A-level_Computing/AQA/Computer_Components,_The_Stored_Program_Concept_and_the_Internet

And, of course, get a good night's sleep on Wednesday night, and have something to eat before the exam.

I personally am struggling with the TCP/IP stacks and explaining how processors work, but getting there slowly... :smile:

Reply 27

thu_

OP

Original post by Treeroy

A few tips to everyone else:

- Write things you can't remember on post-its and put them up in your bedroom so you see them every day. I have the fetch-execute cycle on the whiteboard on my wall, and it's now ingrained into my head.

- Do as many past papers as possible, preferably the recent ones which focus on the harder things. You might like to go through them with the mark scheme by you, so after you complete a question you mark it. This helped me a lot. Alternatively, highlight the questions you don't know and go back to them once complete.

- Use the textbook, or the wikibook, for specific areas you don't understand. Wikibook: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A-level_Computing/AQA/Computer_Components,_The_Stored_Program_Concept_and_the_Internet

And, of course, get a good night's sleep on Wednesday night, and have something to eat before the exam.

I personally am struggling with the TCP/IP stacks and explaining how processors work, but getting there slowly... :smile:

We don't need to know processors specifically, do we? I mean from the book, we need to understand how it links with other devices, buses, peripherals, etc, is that what you mean?

A silly question, but since the June 2012 paper had questions about type selector and css, would be probably get something completely different, maybe to draw a website from a html?

I really am hoping this exam will go easy.

Reply 28

Treeroy

18

Original post by thu_

We don't need to know processors specifically, do we? I mean from the book, we need to understand how it links with other devices, buses, peripherals, etc, is that what you mean?

A silly question, but since the June 2012 paper had questions about type selector and css, would be probably get something completely different, maybe to draw a website from a html?

I really am hoping this exam will go easy.

Yeah, that's what I meant about the processors.

Drawing a website from HTML would be great, but I'm not sure if it will be that easy. Last January had that, and it was quite a nice question.

Reply 29

GeoHall

Can someone explain the check digit thing for me, im having trouble understandign it

Reply 30

GeoHall

the January 2011 paper is ridiculously easy in comparison to the last 2, fingers crossed for simple questions

Reply 31

Farid Jalil

Original post by GeoHall

Can someone explain the check digit thing for me, im having trouble understandign it

Check digits???

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Reply 32

compy

Original post by Farid Jalil

Check digits???

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A-level_Computing/AQA/Computer_Components,_The_Stored_Program_Concept_and_the_Internet/Hardware_Devices/Input_devices#Check_digits

Reply 33

Farid Jalil

Thanks for this amazing wiki books link!! But how can I remeber this in 2 days!!!???

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Reply 34

compy

Original post by Farid Jalil

Thanks for this amazing wiki books link!! But how can I remeber this in 2 days!!!???

Learn what they are as a definition then if you have time get some practice learning the technique

Reply 35

GeoHall

Is there anything in particular that has never come up that we should look out for?

Reply 36

thu_

OP

I have a feeling that there'll be a 3-4 mark question about how data is read/written from a CD-ROM or CD-RW. I haven't seen it in the past papers before.

Reply 37

mike256

2

Original post by thu_

I have a feeling that there'll be a 3-4 mark question about how data is read/written from a CD-ROM or CD-RW. I haven't seen it in the past papers before.

Yeah, possibly. I think the only other hardware devices we need to know the principles of operation for that haven't come up previously are touch screen, digital camera, LCD screen, impact printer and USB flash drive (though I may be wrong about some of these).

Reply 38

Farid Jalil

Is there any kind of checklist that I can look through making sure I know every thing that needs to be known?

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