A LevelComputer ScienceCambridge (CIE)Exam Questions9. Algorithm Design & Problem-solvingComputational Thinking Skills

Computational Thinking Skills (Cambridge (CIE) A Level Computer Science): Exam Questions

Exam code: 9618

8 mins3 questions
1a3 marks

A coffee shop runs a computerised loyalty card system.

Customers are issued with a loyalty card with their name together with a unique customer ID.

Loyalty points are added to their card each time they spend money at the shop.

The following information is stored for each customer: ID, name, home address, email address, mobile phone number, date of birth, number of points, date of last visit and amount of money spent at last visit.

A new module will generate a personalised email message to each loyalty card customer who has not visited the coffee shop in the last three months. The message will include a unique voucher code which can be used to authorise a discount if the customer goes to the shop within the next two weeks.

Identify three items of customer information that will be used by the new module and justify your choices.

Item 1 .....................................................................................................................

Justification ............................................................................................................

Item 2 .......................................................................................................................

Justification ............................................................................................................

Item 3 ......................................................................................................................

Justification ............................................................................................................

How did you do?

1b1 mark

Identify the computational thinking skill that you needed to use to answer part (a).

How did you do?

21 mark

A fitness club has a computerised membership system. The fitness club offers a number of different exercise classes.

The following information is stored for each club member: name, home address, email address, mobile phone number, date of birth and the exercise(s) they are interested in.

When an exercise class is planned, a new module will send personalised text messages to each member who has expressed an interest in that exercise. Members wishing to join the class send a text message back. Members may decide not to receive future text messages by replying with the message ‘STOP’.

The process of abstraction is used to filter out unnecessary information.

State one advantage of applying abstraction to this problem.

How did you do?

33 marks

A fitness club has a computerised membership system.

The system stores information for each club member: name, home address, email address, mobile phone number, date of birth and exercise preferences.

Many classes are full, and the club creates a waiting list for each class. The club adds details of members who want to join a class that is full to the waiting list for that class.

When the system identifies that a space is available in one of the classes, a new module will send a text message to each member who is on the waiting list.

Decomposition will be used to break the new module into sub‑modules (sub‑problems).

Identify three sub‑modules that could be used in the design and describe their use.

Sub‑module 1 ..........................................................................................................

Use ..........................................................................................................................

Sub‑module 2 .........................................................................................................

Use ..........................................................................................................................

Sub‑module 3 .........................................................................................................

Use ..........................................................................................................................

How did you do?