Cambridge Assessment International Education

Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education

* 6 8 8 5 1 6 3 7 0 1 *

COMPUTER SCIENCE 0478/23

Paper 2 Problem-solving and Programming May/June 2019
1 hour 45 minutes
Candidates answer on the Question Paper.
No Additional Materials are required.
No calculators allowed.

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST

Write your centre number, candidate number and name in the spaces at the top of this page.
Write in dark blue or black pen.
You may use an HB pencil for any diagrams, graphs or rough working.
Do not use staples, paper clips, glue or correction fluid.
DO NOT WRITE IN ANY BARCODES.

Answer all questions.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TASKS 1, 2 AND 3 in the pre-release material; these are for information only.

You are advised to spend no more than 40 minutes on Section A (Question 1).

No marks will be awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

Any businesses described in this paper are entirely fictitious.

At the end of the examination, fasten all your work securely together.

The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

The maximum number of marks is 50.

This syllabus is regulated for use in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as a Cambridge International Level 1/Level 2 Certificate.

This document consists of 15 printed pages and 1 blank page.

DC (ST/ST) 162394/4
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Section A

You are advised to spend no longer than 40 minutes answering this section.

Here is a copy of the pre-release material.

DO NOT attempt Tasks 1, 2 and 3 now.

Use the pre-release material and your experience from attempting the tasks before the examination to
answer Question 1.

Pre-release Material

A discount stationery store sells items in bulk at a discount to its customers. Customers can order from
a small range of items available on that day. The greater the quantity of an item they buy in one order,
the greater the discount for that item.

Quantity of an item Discount

10 5%
20 10%
50 25%
100 35%
500 50%

In addition to this, new customers can use a $10 voucher, provided their order comes to more than
$50. Also, returning customers are given a discount voucher with a monetary value.

Write and test a program or programs for the discount stationery store.

• Your program or programs must include appropriate prompts for the entry of data; data must be
validated on entry.
• Error messages and other output need to be set out clearly and understandably.
• All variables, constants and other identifiers must have meaningful names.

You will need to complete these three tasks. Each task must be fully tested.

Task 1 – Stationery available on the day.

Using arrays, set up a list of at least 10 different items available that day. For every item include: item
code, description, price and the amount in stock. All item codes must be different. Display the item
code, description, price and the amount in stock on the screen.

Task 2 – Customer places an order.

The customer chooses an item code from the list of currently available items. Any items that are out of
stock are not displayed and any items that have low stock of 10 or fewer are highlighted. The customer
enters the number they wish to purchase. If there are not enough items in stock the number is rejected.
The price to pay and any discount is shown on the screen. When the order is complete, any customer
discount voucher is applied and the total price is shown. If the customer confirms the order, the stock
numbers are then updated.

Task 3 – At the end of the day.

List the item codes of any items that have sold out. Display the item code of any items of which none
have been sold. Display the item code and description of the item of which the greatest quantity have
been sold today.
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1 (a) All variables, constants and other identifiers must have meaningful names.

Describe the data structures you have used in Task 1 to record the items available that day.
Include some sample data for each data structure you have described.

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(b) Explain how your program for Task 1 ensures all the item codes are different.

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(c) Explain how your program for Task 2 highlights items where the stock level is low.

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(d) Write an algorithm for Task 2 using either pseudocode, programming statements or a
flowchart. Assume that Task 1 has been completed and the list of items currently available
has already been displayed.

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(e) Explain how your program completes Task 3. Any programming statements used in your
answer must be fully explained.

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Question 2 begins on page 8.

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Section B

2 (a) An algorithm has been written in pseudocode to input the weight of 500 items and reject any
that are over-weight or under-weight, then print the percentage rejected.
Count 1
Reject 0
Over 62
Under 58
REPEAT
INPUT ItemWeight
IF ItemWeight > Over AND ItemWeight < Under
THEN
Reject Reject - 1
ENDIF
Count Count + 1
UNTIL Count > = 500
Reject Reject / 100
PRINT "Percentage rejected is ", Reject

Find the four errors in the pseudocode and suggest a correction for each error.

Error 1 .......................................................................................................................................

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Correction .................................................................................................................................

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Correction .................................................................................................................................

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Correction .................................................................................................................................

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(b) Describe how you would change the corrected algorithm to calculate the number accepted
instead of rejected, using a variable Accept, and print a warning if fewer than 50% are
accepted.

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3 This flowchart inputs the tread depth of five tyres, four on the car and a spare tyre. Any tread
depth of 1.6 mm or less is rejected. To be potentially roadworthy, a car must have four tyres with a
tread depth greater than 1.6 mm.

START

TreadReject 0
Count 1

Is Yes
Count = 6?

Count Count + 1 No
Is No
INPUT Depth TreadReject
<= 1?

Yes OUTPUT "Car is

not roadworthy"

No Is
Depth <=
1.6?

Yes

TreadReject TreadReject + 1

OUTPUT "Car is
potentially
roadworthy"

END

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Complete Trace table 1 for the tread depth input data:

1.7, 1.9, 1.4, 1.8, 2.0

TreadReject Count Depth OUTPUT

Trace table 1

Complete Trace table 2 for the tread depth input data:

1.2, 1.9, 1.4, 1.8, 2.4

TreadReject Count Depth OUTPUT

Trace table 2
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4 For each of the four checks in the table, place a tick in the correct column to show whether it is an
example of a validation or verification check.

Statements Validation Verification

Range check
Double entry
Check digit
Presence check
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5 Identify and describe three loop structures that are available in pseudocode.

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Question 6 begins on page 14.

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6 A database table, TRAIN, is used to keep a record of train departures from a station.

Train Number Platform Destination Departure Time Status

1A37 1 Newtown 08:00 On time
2X19 2 Anytown 08:10 Late
1A29 1 Bigcity 08:15 On time
1A28 2 Anytown 08:30 Cancelled
1A67 3 Gardenvillage 08:45 On time
1A37 1 Newtown 08:50 On time
1A24 2 Charter Train 09:00 Late
1A67 3 Gardenvillage 09:15 On time

(a) Explain why the field Train Number could not be used as a primary key.

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(b) A query-by-example has been written to display only the train numbers and platforms of all
trains leaving after 08:30 that are late.

Field: Train Number Platform Departure Time Status

Table: TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN TRAIN
Sort:
Show: 3
Criteria: =Y < 08:30
or: = "Late"

Explain why the query-by-example is incorrect, and write a correct query-by-example.

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Field:
Table:
Sort:
Show:
Criteria:
or:
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BLANK PAGE

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To avoid the issue of disclosure of answer-related information to candidates, all copyright acknowledgements are reproduced online in the Cambridge
Assessment International Education Copyright Acknowledgements Booklet. This is produced for each series of examinations and is freely available to download
at www.cambridgeinternational.org after the live examination series.

Cambridge Assessment International Education is part of the Cambridge Assessment Group. Cambridge Assessment is the brand name of the University of
Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES), which itself is a department of the University of Cambridge.

© UCLES 2019 0478/23/M/J/19