Programming Basics: past paper questions

Where the questions come from

• Question 2May/June 2026, paper 21Structured7 marks

  A washing machine contains: • two trays for the washing powder • a user interface display • five sensors.

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• Question 1Oct/Nov 2025, paper 21Structured10 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. 1 A program is being developed to meet a particular customer requirement.

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• Question 1Oct/Nov 2024, paper 21Structured9 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. 1 A program will calculate the tax payable based on the cost of an item.

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• Question 6Oct/Nov 2023, paper 21Structured9 marks

  The pseudocode OUTPUT command starts each output on a new line. A new procedure MyOutput() will take a string and a Boolean parameter.

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• Question 6May/June 2026, paper 21Structured12 marks

  Fence parts are manufactured by a number of similar machines. The length of the part must fall within a certain range. Parts not within the length range are rejected.

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• Question 1Oct/Nov 2025, paper 22Structured11 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. The table contains pseudocode examples. Each example may contain statements that relate to one or more of: • selection • iteration (repetition) • subroutines (procedures or functions).

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• Question 1Oct/Nov 2024, paper 23Structured10 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. The following table contains pseudocode examples. Each example may contain statements that relate to one or more of the following: • selection • iteration (repetition) • subroutine (procedure or function).

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• Question 8Oct/Nov 2023, paper 21Structured19 marks

  A class of students are developing a program to send data between computers. Many computers are connected together to form a wired network. Serial ports are used to connect one computer to another.

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• Question 2May/June 2026, paper 23Structured6 marks

  A control program is being developed for a robot floor vacuum cleaner. The settings for the robot can be changed and include: • the strength of the suction (numerical values: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) • the total vacuum cleaning time (a whole number of minutes).

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• Question 1Oct/Nov 2025, paper 23Structured10 marks

  A user requires a program that implements complex data encryption to a recognised international standard. A programmer has started the design of the program. The programmer decides to use a library routine to provide part of the solution.

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• Question 1May/June 2024, paper 21Structured11 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. An algorithm is developed in pseudocode before being coded in a programming language. The following table shows four valid pseudocode assignment statements.

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• Question 1Oct/Nov 2023, paper 22Structured11 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. 1 A shop sells car accessories. A customer order is created if an item cannot be supplied from current stock.

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• Question 5May/June 2026, paper 23Structured11 marks

  Data is stored about people who have attended a job interview. Each interview is held at one of three office locations.

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• Question 4Oct/Nov 2025, paper 23Structured6 marks

  A program contains a global 1D array Data containing 20 elements of type INTEGER A global string NumString represents a sequence of three-digit numbers, separated by commas. For example: "101,456,219,754,328" The string contains at least four three-digit numbers.

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• Question 1May/June 2024, paper 22Structured10 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. The following table contains pseudocode examples. Each example may contain statements that relate to one or more of the following: • selection • iteration (repetition) • input/output.

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• Question 1Oct/Nov 2023, paper 23Structured11 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. A program is being developed in pseudocode before being converted into a programming language. The following table shows four valid pseudocode assignment statements.

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• Question 2May/June 2025, paper 21Structured10 marksHas a diagram

  A program is being developed to calculate the pay of employees working for a company.

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• Question 1May/June 2024, paper 23Structured9 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. 1 A program uses many complex algorithms. One algorithm is repeated in several places.

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• Question 1May/June 2023, paper 21Structured10 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. A programmer has written a program which includes the function Calculate().

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• Question 1May/June 2025, paper 23Structured14 marks

  A program is being developed for the management of a sports centre. The programmer developing the software decides to use modules (procedures or functions) and local variables. They also decide not to use global variables.

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• Question 2May/June 2023, paper 21Structured7 marksHas a diagram

  A program contains an algorithm to output a string of a specified length containing identical characters. The algorithm is described as follows: 1. prompt and input a character and store in MyChar 2.

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• Question 1May/June 2023, paper 22Structured10 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. A program calculates the postal cost based on the weight of the item and its destination. Calculations occur at various points in the program and these result in the choice of several possible postal costs.

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• Question 1May/June 2023, paper 23Structured10 marks

  The following pseudocode represents part of the algorithm for a program. Line numbers are for reference only.

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