Paper I - Information and Communication Technology
Information and Communication Technology tests basic digital literacy and ICT use in education: hardware and software, memory, operating systems, networks, internet services, email, search techniques, e-learning, MOOCs and LMS, digital payments, and security.
Core concepts
- The CPU processes; RAM is volatile working memory; ROM is non-volatile; secondary storage such as SSD or HDD persists.
- Input devices send data in; output devices present results; a touchscreen does both.
- IP addresses identify hosts; DNS maps domain names to IP addresses; HTTP and HTTPS transfer web pages; HTTPS encrypts.
- Search operators: quotes for an exact phrase, site: for a domain, filetype: for a format, minus to exclude.
- MOOCs are open online courses; an LMS hosts content, assignments and tracking; plagiarism checkers compare text similarity, not intent.
- Malware includes virus, worm, Trojan and ransomware; phishing deceives users into revealing credentials.
Worked example
To find PDF reports on the University Grants Commission site, the query site:ugc.gov.in filetype:pdf is precise: site: restricts results to that domain and filetype: restricts to PDF. A bare query 'UGC PDF' may return unrelated PDFs and news pages.
Traps that cost marks
Confusing RAM with storage; saying 'www' is a protocol; treating HTTPS as a guarantee of content quality; using AND when an exact phrase is needed; assuming a plagiarism score proves misconduct.