Year 11 · ICT · Summer 1
Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
The most-missed questions and tasks, whole class
Exam practice7.2 Design16.2 Label and format a chart21.2c Hyperlinks and file paths
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
You will learn to
- Identify why most pupils lost marks on the five most-missed mock questions and tasks.
- Write full-mark answers to the theory questions, using the mark-scheme words.
- Complete the practical tasks again so every step earns its mark.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Success criteria
You have got it when you can say:
- I can say what the examiner wanted in each of the five.
- I can rewrite my mock answer to earn full marks.
- I can show a finished task with evidence for each practical near-miss.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Retrieval starter
Questions from before. Write your answers, then show them.
- Last lesson
In mail merge, the master document holds…
A The envelopeB The list of namesC The letter with the merge fields
C. The letter with the merge fields
- Last unit
A presentation for young children should have…
A Dense data tablesB Big text and pictures, few wordsC Formal language
B. Big text and pictures, few words
- Earlier this year
A pie chart is for…
A Parts of a wholeB Change over timeC Comparing 30 categories
A. Parts of a whole
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Key words (1 of 7)
- System specification
- A list of the hardware and software the new system needs.
- Field
- One item of data in a record, such as Surname.
- Coding of data
- Storing short codes such as M or F instead of whole words.
- Validation
- An automatic computer check that data is sensible and allowed.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Key words (2 of 7)
- Check digit
- An extra digit calculated from the other digits, used to detect input errors.
- Data capture form
- A paper or on-screen form used to collect data.
- Chart
- A picture of data, such as bars, lines or slices, that makes patterns easy to see.
- Pie chart
- A circle split into slices, each showing a part of the whole.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Key words (3 of 7)
- Bar chart
- Bars of different lengths for comparing categories; vertical bars are also called a column chart.
- Line graph
- Points joined by lines to show change over time.
- Data series
- One set of values plotted on a chart.
- Legend
- The key that says what each colour or pattern on a chart means.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Key words (4 of 7)
- Axis title
- Text naming what an axis measures, with its units.
- Category labels
- The names along the category axis, such as months or products.
- Data label
- A value or percentage shown on a bar, point or slice.
- Axis minimum / maximum
- The lowest and highest values shown on the value axis.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Key words (5 of 7)
- Increment (major unit)
- The step between values on an axis, such as every 10.
- HTML
- HyperText Markup Language: the language of the content layer of a web page.
- CSS
- Cascading Style Sheets: the language of the presentation layer, which sets how a page looks.
- Tag
- A word in angle brackets, such as `<p>`, that marks the start or end of an element.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Key words (6 of 7)
- Attribute
- Extra information inside an opening tag, written name="value", such as src or alt.
- Head
- The part of a page holding information about it: title, meta tags, stylesheet links.
- External stylesheet
- A separate .css file attached to pages with the link element.
- Bookmark
- A named place on a page, made with an id, that a hyperlink can jump to.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Key words (7 of 7)
- Hyperlink
- Clickable text or an image that goes to another place, made with the a tag.
- Relative path
- A file location described from the current file's folder, such as images/logo.png.
- Absolute path
- A full file location from the very start, such as a full URL or C:/...
- Target
- The attribute that sets which window a link opens in, such as _blank.
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 1 of 14 · part 1 of 3
Designing the file structure
A file here means a table of records. A record is all the data about one thing. A field is one item of data in a record.
For each field the designer chooses a field name, a data type and a field length (the maximum number of characters).
Coding of data means storing short codes instead of long words, for example M or F, Y or N.
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 1 of 14 · part 2 of 3
Designing the file structure (continued)
| Field name | Data type | Field length | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| StudentID | Text | 6 | S10432 |
| Surname | Text | 30 | García |
| DateOfBirth | Date/Time | 10 | 14/03/2011 |
| Gender | Text (coded) | 1 | F |
| FinesOwed | Numeric (currency) | 6 | 1.50 |
| Overdue | Boolean | 1 | Y |
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 1 of 14 · part 3 of 3
Designing the file structure (continued)
Codes save storage space, are quicker to type and are easier to validate. There are only a few allowed values, so mistakes are easy to spot.
Phone numbers and IDs with leading zeros are stored as text, not numbers. A numeric field would drop the leading zero (0034 would become 34).
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 2 of 14 · part 1 of 3
Validation: what it is and why we need it
Validation is an automatic check, done by the computer, that data entered is sensible and allowed.
It stops impossible or unreasonable data getting into the system.
Validation cannot tell if data is correct. It can only tell if it is reasonable. An age of 15 passes a range check even if the student is really 14.
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 2 of 14 · part 2 of 3
Validation: what it is and why we need it (continued)
| Check | What it checks | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Range check | The value is between a lower and an upper limit | Exam mark from 0 to 100 |
| Length check | The number of characters is exact, or within limits | A Spanish mobile number has exactly 9 digits |
| Type check | The data is the right data type | Age must be a whole number, not 'fifteen' |
| Character check | Only allowed characters are used | A surname may contain letters, spaces, hyphens and apostrophes, but no digits |
| Format check | The data follows a set pattern | StudentID is a letter then 5 digits: S10432. A date is dd/mm/yyyy |
| Presence check | The field is not left empty | Surname must be filled in |
| Check digit | An extra digit worked out from the other digits matches | The last digit of an ISBN or a supermarket barcode |
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 2 of 14 · part 3 of 3
Validation: what it is and why we need it (continued)
Do not mix up validation and verification. Verification checks data was copied correctly (double entry, visual check). Validation checks data is sensible.
There is something to try for this step in the IGCSE library.
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 3 of 14 · part 1 of 3
The check digit, worked through
A check digit is an extra digit added to the end of a code. It is calculated from the other digits.
When the code is typed or scanned, the computer recalculates the check digit. If it does not match, there is an error.
It catches mistyped digits and transposition errors (two digits swapped, such as 45 typed as 54).
ISBN-13 (the number on books) uses weights of 1 and 3 and modulo 10. Modulo 10 means the remainder after dividing by 10.
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 3 of 14 · part 2 of 3
The check digit, worked through (continued)
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 3 of 14 · part 3 of 3
The check digit, worked through (continued)
Multiplying by different weights means swapped digits give a different total. A plain sum would not catch a swap, because 1+5 and 5+1 are the same.
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 4 of 14 · part 1 of 2
Input formats: data capture forms
A data capture form collects data from a person. It can be on paper or on screen.
A good form has a clear title, instructions, logical field order and enough space for each answer.
On-screen forms can use drop-down menus, radio buttons (choose one) and tick boxes (choose any). These limit what can be entered, so there are fewer errors.
Paper forms may use boxes with one character per box, so writing is easier to read or scan by OCR.
7.2 Design · The explanation · step 4 of 14 · part 2 of 2
Input formats: data capture forms (continued)
Exam answers about forms need specific features: 'use a drop-down for year group' earns a mark, 'make it look nice' does not.
The explanation · 10 more steps
More on the lesson page
The lesson page has the rest of the explanation, step by step:
- Output formats: screen layouts and report layouts
- Titles, axis titles and labels
- Legend: show it or hide it
- Data labels: values and percentages
- Number format, axis scale and increments
- Bookmarks and links to them
- Links to pages, websites and email
- Target windows: _blank, _self and named windows
- Relative and absolute paths
- Why absolute paths to local files break
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Quick quiz · 1 of 3
A touch screen that senses the electricity in your finger is…
- A Resistive
- B Infra-red
- C Capacitive
C. Capacitive
Resistive needs pressure; infra-red uses a grid of beams.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Quick quiz · 2 of 3
A 3D printer is…
- A A storage device
- B An input device
- C An output device
C. An output device
It produces something from the computer: output.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Quick quiz · 3 of 3
Chip and PIN checks…
- A Only your signature
- B The chip, then the PIN you type
- C Your fingerprint
B. The chip, then the PIN you type
The terminal reads the chip and the PIN confirms it is you.
Year 11 · ICT · Final revision and the exams · Lesson 2 of 5
Exit ticket
Answer on paper before you go. Then check.
Magnetic tape is used for…
A Fast game loadingB Large, cheap backupsC Phones
B. Large, cheap backups Slow to find things, but huge capacity at low cost.
A Blu-ray disc is…
A OpticalB MagneticC Solid state
A. Optical Read by a laser, like CD and DVD.