Date | November 2019 | Marks available | 2 | Reference code | 19N.1.SL.TZ0.1 |
Level | SL | Paper | 1 | Time zone | no time zone |
Command term | Distinguish | Question number | 1 | Adapted from | N/A |
Question
Identify one fundamental operation of a computer.
Distinguish between fundamental and compound operations of a computer.
Markscheme
Award [1 max].
Retrieve;
Compare;
Store;
Add;
Award [2 max].
Fundamental operation requires one machine instruction cycle/do not require the processor to go through many machine instruction cycles to reach a result;
A compound operation is complex / it is an operation that involves a number of other operations to reach the result;
For example, find the largest number in an array/ sort the array in ascending order etc.;
Examiners report
Candidates were generally able to identify a fundamental operation of a computer, such as retrieve, compare, store or add.
Candidates were generally able to describe correctly the meaning of complex operations of a computer but were less clear in their descriptions of fundamental operations, so as to distinguish the two terms.