Software Development: past paper questions

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• 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 4Oct/Nov 2024, paper 21Structured10 marks

  4 A program includes the following assignment statement: Result ← STR_TO_NUM(x) / STR_TO_NUM(y) When the program evaluates the expression in the statement, it performs a calculation. Variable Result is of type real and variables x and y are of type string.

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• Question 5Oct/Nov 2023, paper 21Structured7 marks

  An algorithm is designed to find the smallest numeric value from an input sequence and count how many numeric values have been input.

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• Question 3May/June 2026, paper 21Structured9 marks

  A business operates five call centres. The software currently in use in each call centre is to be replaced; a new system will be developed by a software company. The analysis stage included a feasibility study.

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• Question 7Oct/Nov 2025, paper 21Structured10 marksHas a diagram

  There are several different ways to express an algorithm during the design of a program.

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• Question 5Oct/Nov 2024, paper 21Structured10 marks

  5 A software developer follows a program development life cycle. The life cycle divides the development process into various stages. The following table lists some development activities.

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• Question 7Oct/Nov 2023, paper 21Structured5 marksHas a diagram

  An algorithm is represented by a state-transition diagram.

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• Question 4May/June 2026, paper 21Structured4 marks

  An algorithm is expressed as: • A user inputs a sequence of integer values. • The process will calculate the number of positive integers.

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• Question 5Oct/Nov 2025, paper 22Structured5 marks

  A program is developed to satisfy a specific customer requirement. The project follows a program development life cycle model. This model divides the development process into several different stages.

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• Question 7Oct/Nov 2024, paper 21Structured7 marksHas a diagram

  7 A program contains six modules with headers as follows: | Pseudocode module header | | :--- | | PROCEDURE Connect() | | FUNCTION Activate(H1 : STRING, Code…

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• Question 4Oct/Nov 2023, paper 22Structured9 marks

  A procedure Count() will: 1. input a value (all values will be positive integers) 2. count the number of odd values and count the number of even values 3.

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• Question 1May/June 2026, paper 22Structured27 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. 1 A program is being developed to control a simple alarm system to be used in a house. The alarm has a control panel with a keypad and a screen to display text.

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• Question 7Oct/Nov 2025, paper 22Structured6 marksHas a diagram

  The structure chart shows part of a program design: Explain the meaning of the curved arrow symbol in this structure chart.

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• Question 1Oct/Nov 2024, paper 22Structured9 marks

  Refer to the insert for the list of pseudocode functions and operators. A program has been developed and released for general use. After a few months of use an error is detected where under certain circumstances it outputs an unexpected value.

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• Question 7Oct/Nov 2023, paper 22Structured6 marksHas a diagram

  A program contains six modules: Pseudocode module header PROCEDURE Module-A() PROCEDURE Module-X(T1 : INTEGER, S2 : REAL) PROCEDURE Reset(BYREF Code : INTEGER)…

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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 6Oct/Nov 2025, paper 23Structured9 marks

  Students are learning about a simple check digit method for data validation. In this method, a single check digit is appended to the end of an original number to give a new number.

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• Question 5Oct/Nov 2024, paper 22Structured7 marks

  A program contains a global 1D array Data with 100 elements of type INTEGER.

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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 3May/June 2026, paper 23Structured11 marks

  A company wishes to replace the point-of-sale software that each shop uses at its checkout. A software company is developing a new system. Complete the summary about the development of the new system.

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• Question 6Oct/Nov 2024, paper 22Structured9 marks

  A shop sells sandwiches and snacks. The owner chooses a ‘daily special’ sandwich which is displayed on a board outside the shop. Each ‘daily special’ has two different fillings and is made with one type of bread.

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• Question 2Oct/Nov 2023, paper 23Structured9 marksHas a diagram

  Data is a 1D array of integers, containing 30 elements. All element values are unique. An algorithm will output the index of the element with the smallest value.

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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 7Oct/Nov 2024, paper 22Structured10 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.

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• Question 7Oct/Nov 2023, paper 23Structured7 marksHas a diagram

  A structure chart shows the modular structure of a program: [Structure Chart showing Module-A() calling Sub-Y1() with parameter T1, calling Sub-Y2() with…

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• Question 6May/June 2025, paper 21Structured12 marks

  A program monitors the speed of vehicles as they move around a large building site. Each vehicle contains a sensor which reads an integer value that represents the speed of the vehicle. The value is expected to be in the range 0 to 60 inclusive.

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• Question 5Oct/Nov 2024, paper 23Structured7 marks

  A software developer follows a program development life cycle. The life cycle divides the development process into various stages. The following table lists some development activities.

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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 22Structured14 marks

  A program is being developed to control the production line in a factory. A number of different program life cycles are available for the development of a program. Explain the need for different program development life cycles.

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