Computer Science 9618/32 May/June 2026 past paper

Topics in this paper

Which syllabus chapters 9618/32 May/June 2026 tested, by marks. Each chapter links to every past-paper question on it.

Questions in 9618/32 May/June 2026

1. Question 1Data Representation · 5 marks

   A user-defined data type is required to store the types of animals in a children’s zoo. (a) Write the pseudocode statement to declare a non-composite data type, Animals, that holds the following data: Alpaca, Chicken, Donkey, Duck, Goat, Pony, Sheep …

2. Question 2Communication and internet technologies · 4 marks

   Complete the following paragraph using the most appropriate words from the given list. Some words are not used. application controls disconnects four interconnects internet link lists many packets seven transport The TCP/IP protocol suite consists of layers which can be …

3. Question 3Data Representation · 5 marks

   Numbers are stored in a computer system using binary floating-point representation with: • 12 bits for the mantissa • 4 bits for the exponent • two’s complement form for both the mantissa and the exponent. (a) Calculate the denary value …

4. Question 4Data Representation · 6 marks

   (a) State one example of where sequential file organisation could be used. (b) Describe how records are organised in sequential files. (c) Outline the process of sequential file access to find a record in a sequential file.

5. Question 5Hardware and Virtual Machines · 4 marks

   Explain what is meant by the term virtual machine.

6. Question 6System Software (A Level) · 9 marks

   (a) Write this infix expression in Reverse Polish Notation (RPN). …

7. Question 7Hardware and Virtual Machines · 8 marks

   This truth table represents a logic circuit. INPUT OUTPUT …

8. Question 8Security (A Level) · 7 marks

   (a) Describe the differences between symmetric key and asymmetric key cryptography. (b) Outline the process that would allow a business to use encryption keys to send a verified message to a group of people.

9. Question 9Artificial Intelligence (AI) · 9 marks

   (a) State the subset of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which makes use of an artificial neural network. (b) The A* and Dijkstra’s algorithms are used to perform searches on a graph. (i) Outline how the A* algorithm is different from Dijkstra’s …

10. Question 10Computational thinking and Problem-solving · 9 marks

    (a) Two examples of searching algorithms are a linear search and a binary search. Describe how increasing the number of data items in the file to be searched affects the time efficiency of these search algorithms. Refer to Big O …

11. Question 11Further Programming · 9 marks

    (a) Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) is used to design a class called Node. A partial design of the Node class includes the STRING attribute Content and the INTEGER attribute Pointer, together with their getters and setters. The class also includes a …

Other Computer Science papers from May/June 2026

• 9618/11 Theory fundamentals
• 9618/12 Theory fundamentals
• 9618/13 Theory fundamentals
• 9618/21 Problem-solving & programming
• 9618/22 Problem-solving & programming
• 9618/23 Problem-solving & programming
• 9618/31 Advanced theory
• 9618/33 Advanced theory
• 9618/41 Practical programming
• 9618/42 Practical programming
• 9618/43 Practical programming