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Cameroon GCE A Level ICT study materials
Cameroon GCE A Level ICT study resources

Cameroon GCE A Level ICT: Information and Communication Technology

Cameroon GCE A Level ICT · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.

All guide sections

Information and Communication Technology

What this domain covers

Information and Communication Technology is the single assessed domain in the Cameroon GCE A Level ICT paper. Questions test recall and application: computer components and data representation, operating systems and applications, networks and the internet, relational databases, spreadsheet modelling, web authoring, system development, security, ethics and emerging technologies. Expect structured short-answer questions, calculations and scenario-based tasks.

Core rules and concepts

  • Data becomes information after processing; describe systems using input–process–output–storage.
  • Represent integers in binary, denary and hexadecimal; fractional binary weights are 1/2, 1/4, 1/8…; 1 byte = 8 bits; 1 KiB = 1024 bytes; 1 MiB = 1024 KiB.
  • Classify software: system software (OS, utilities) versus application software; OS roles include memory, file, process and device management.
  • Networks: LAN versus WAN; star, bus, ring and mesh topologies; IP addresses versus MAC addresses; TCP/IP, HTTP/HTTPS, SMTP, IMAP and DNS.
  • Databases: a primary key uniquely identifies a record; a foreign key links tables; normalise to 3NF to remove repeating groups, partial and transitive dependencies; SQL SELECT retrieves data.
  • Spreadsheets: relative references change when copied; absolute references ($A$1) do not; use functions and what-if modelling.
  • Web: HTML gives structure, CSS gives presentation; a URL identifies a resource and HTTP transfers it.
  • Security: confidentiality, integrity and availability; malware, phishing, encryption, backups and access rights.

Worked example

Convert 1101.101₂ to denary and hexadecimal, then size an uncompressed 800 × 600, 24-bit bitmap. Denary: 1101₂ = 8 + 4 + 1 = 13; .101₂ = 1/2 + 0/4 + 1/8 = 0.625; total 13.625. Hex: group 1101 = D; pad fraction 1010 = A; answer D.A₁₆. Bitmap: 800 × 600 = 480,000 pixels; × 24 = 11,520,000 bits; ÷ 8 = 1,440,000 bytes; ÷ 1024 = 1406.25 KiB; ÷ 1024 ≈ 1.37 MiB.

Traps that cost marks

Do not treat KB and KiB as identical; do not forget fractional binary place values; do not call HTML a programming language; do not omit referential integrity when linking tables; read command words-describe, explain and evaluate require different depth.