Let me start by saying i hate how our countries examining boards set out their specifications and examine on ICT based subjects (note, ICT only, not Compuing)...
I just had a quick skim through the OCR ICT Spec A past papers in hope that it would be a recycled question, i didn't find it. But what's evident from the papers and mark schemes is that only 1 in 4 of them asks for a yes/no/specific answer. Most are "discuss this", "what are the benefits of this", which i think is an absolutely stupid way to assess a technical subject. I mean one of the questions was
Quote:
“All information on the Internet is safe and reliable.”
Discuss this statement. (5 marks)
|
I can see 5 points that i'd make, and the obvious answer they're steering towards, but there's so much give in that question that i doubt many people ever get full marks.
No luck on finding the answer they wanted to that question though sorry.
If i were answering that question i'd throw in something like:
Code:
1) Assign each copy of the software a unique ID and make the user register their details with that id
2) Password protect the software(again registration suggested)
3) Distribute the software with a key with which to register the software(in hopes that only the data is copied not the key)...
But again it's such a vague question, connection to the internet to check for multiple ids running, etc. there's so many ways.
I personally feel the standard of teaching ICT in the UK is appauling, it's noticeable from the past papers that the examining boards are dummbing down their questions through the years.
Anyway, i could rant about this for ages, it's not productive so i wont... Good luck with your results, if that's the only question that stumped you then i'm sure you did well.
And as a suggestion, if you're considering taking a computer based subject at A-Level (if you chose to stay on/go college), don't take ICT/Applied ICT, if you have the choice take Computing or Foundation Computer Sciences. You'll find that they're a lot more of a "straight forward" answer style course, and they give you a much better grounding in computing and programming (when i say straight forward i mean, they have a set answer, there's not a vague question with "discuss" written next to it). (Trust me, i took Applied ICT and Computing at A-Level[just finished my last exam on thursday], the two are completely different and i much preferred computing).
Cheers,
Jamey