COMPRO CBT Exam study guide
COMPRO CBT Exam · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
COMPRO is a computer-proficiency test delivered on computer, intended to confirm that a candidate can use everyday desktop software confidently rather than recite theory. It suits students, job applicants, office staff, teachers, and career-changers who need a single, recognisable proof of practical digital literacy - the kind of evidence employers ask for when a role assumes you can produce a clean document, build a working spreadsheet, and handle email without hand-holding. The COMPRO CBT Exam study guide has 8 sections and about 2,307 words.
01Computer Fundamentals and Hardware Concepts
Every item of data inside a computer is stored as a bit (0 or 1); eight bits form a byte, and byte multiples scale by 1024 in the binary convention (1 KB = 1024 B, 1 MB = 1024 KB, 1 GB = 1024 MB, 1 TB = 1024 GB). The processor (CPU) executes instructions using the arithmetic logic unit, control unit and registers; its throughput depends on clock speed, cores and cache, not on storage size.
296 words, about 1 min02Operating Systems and File Management
The operating system is the layer between hardware and applications. It manages processes (starting, scheduling and stopping programs), allocates memory, provides the file system, loads device drivers, handles input and output, and presents a user interface, either graphical (GUI) or command line (CLI).
309 words, about 2 min03Word Processing
Word processors create, format and print documents. Distinguish character formatting (font, size, bold, italic, colour) from paragraph formatting (alignment, indents, line spacing, space before and after, bullets, tab stops).
283 words, about 1 min04Spreadsheets and Data Analysis
A spreadsheet is a grid of columns (letters) and rows (numbers) whose intersection is a cell, addressed like B7. A range such as A1:A10 or B2:D9 is a block of cells.
282 words, about 1 min05Presentation Software
Presentation software builds a sequence of slides for an audience. A slide layout defines placeholders (title, content, picture, chart), and a theme supplies a consistent set of fonts, colours and effects.
283 words, about 1 min06Internet, Browsing and Email
The internet is a network of networks; the web is one service running on it. A URL names a protocol (http or https), a domain (example.org) and often a path.
281 words, about 1 min07Database Fundamentals
A database is an organised collection of related data managed by a database management system (DBMS). Data lives in tables made of records (rows) and fields (columns).
304 words, about 2 min08Computer Security, Ethics and Safe Practice
Threats include viruses (attach to files), worms (self-spread across networks), trojans (disguised as useful software), ransomware (encrypts files and demands payment), spyware (secretly collects data) and phishing (fraudulent messages that harvest credentials). Defences are layered: strong unique passphrases, multi-factor authentication, prompt updates, antivirus, a firewall that filters network traffic, encryption of sensitive data, and tested backups.
269 words, about 1 min