SP-DSE

ICT
PAPER 1 HONG KONG EXAMINATIONS AND ASSESSMENT AUTHORITY
(SECT A)
HONG KONG DIPLOMA OF SECONDARY EDUCATION EXAMINATION

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY PAPER 1

(Sample Paper)

8:30 am – 10:30 am (2 hours)

This paper must be answered in English

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

1. There are two sections, A and B, in this Paper.

2. Section A consists of multiple-choice questions in this question paper. Section B contains

conventional questions printed separately in the Question-Answer Book.

3. Answers to Section A should be marked on the Multiple-choice Answer Sheet. Answers to Section
B should be written in the spaces provided in the Question-Answer Book. The Answer Sheet for
Section A and the Question-Answer Book for Section B must be handed in separately at the
end of the examination.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SECTION A (MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS)

1. Read carefully the instructions on the Answer Sheet. After the announcement of the start of the
examination, you should first stick a barcode label and insert the information required in the spaces
provided. No extra time will be given for sticking on the barcode label after the ‘Time is up’
announcement.

2. When told to open this book, you should check that all the questions are there. Look for the words
‘END OF SECTION A’ after the last question.

3. All questions carry equal marks.

4. ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS. You are advised to use an HB pencil to mark all the answers on the
Answer Sheet, so that wrong marks can be completely erased with a clean rubber. You must mark
the answers clearly; otherwise you will lose marks if the answers cannot be captured.

5. You should mark only ONE answer for each question. If you mark more than one answer, you will
receive NO MARKS for that question.

6. No marks will be deducted for wrong answers.

 香港考試及評核局　　保留版權 Not to be taken away before the

Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority end of the examination session
All Rights Reserved 2022

SP-DSE-ICT1A1 1
There are 40 questions in this paper. Choose the most suitable answers.

[2017 DSE ICT1A Q.37]

1. What changes have been brought about by the emergence of the Information Age?

(1) More office space is needed.

(2) New ICT-related jobs appear and change the job market.
(3) There are more opportunities to acquire information and to learn new things.

A. (1) and (2) only

B. (1) and (3) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

[2013 DSE ICT1A Q9]

2. In a data transmission system, a parity check is applied. One of the following received codes is invalid.
Which one is it?

A. 0101 0101
B. 1000 0100
C. 1111 0001
D. 0000 0011

[2017 DSE ICT1A Q.7]

3. When creating an online email account, the following step needs to be completed.

Enter password: ********

Re-enter password: ********

What is the purpose of re-entering the password?

A. Data collection
B. Data verification
C. Data organisation
D. Data validation

[2018 DSE ICT1A Q.7]

4. A company designs a mobile application to process staff records. In each record, 10 bits are used to store
staff numbers and 12 bytes are used to store Chinese names. How many staff records can the mobile
application support?

A. 210
B. 212
C. 222
D. 296

[2016 DSE ICT1A Q.8]

5. 1111 1111 is an 8-bit number using two’s complement representation. What is its decimal value?

A. -1
B. 0
C. 1
D. 255

SP-DSE-ICT1A2 2
[2017 DSE ICT1A Q.1]
6. Three plaintext files contain some characters, as shown below:

2017. JULY. 二零一七。

(1) (2) (3)

Assume that Unicode (UTF-8) is adopted. Which of the following comparative statements about the file
sizes is correct?

A. (1) > (3)

B. (2) > (1)
C. (2) > (3)
D. (3) > (2)

[New question]
7. In general, which of the following conversion will decrease the file size significantly?

(1) ODT  DOCX

(2) WAV  MP3
(3) BMP  JPG

A. (1) and (2) only

B. (1) and (3) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

[2017 DSE ICT1A Q.11]

8. For a chain convenience store, in which of the following examples should ‘what-if’ scenarios in
spreadsheets be used?

(1) Estimates monthly expenses by changing different parameters.

(2) Produces monthly sales analysis.
(3) Compares sales data from different branches.

A. (1) only
B. (2) only
C. (1) and (3) only
D. (2) and (3) only

[2012 DSE ICT1A Q.5]

9. Peter and Mary share a database file X and execute database queries, T1 and T2, respectively. Which of
the following activities should the database management system not do?

(1) When T1 is reading X, T2 is reading X.

(2) When T1 is writing records in X, T2 is writing records in X.
(3) When T1 is deleting records in X, T2 is reading X.

A. (1) only
B. (2) only
C. (1) and (3) only
D. (2) and (3) only

SP-DSE-ICT1A3 3 Go on to the next page

[2013 DSE ICT1A Q.1]
10. In a DBMS, a database designer designs a form for a clerk to use to enter data. Why does he choose to
design a form?

A. Multimedia files can be imported.

B. It simplifies the user interface.
C. More data can be entered at the same time.
D. The data entry uses less system computation time.

[Modified from 2012 DSE ICT1A Q.17]

11. Mary wants to upgrade the SATA SSD to M.2 NVMe SSD with a higher data transfer rate in her
computer. Which of the following features should be considered?

A. Mainboard design
B. CPU computational power
C. Power consumption
D. Storage size

[2019 DSE ICT1A Q.16]

12. What is the possible outcome of lowering the clock rate of a CPU in a desktop computer?

A. Consumes less electricity.

B. Increases the accuracy of computation.
C. Enhances the performance of the WiFi connection.
D. Increases the protection of the computer from hacking.

[2020 DSE ICT1A Q.22]

13. Which of the following statements about the components in a computer is not correct?

A. The arithmetic and logic unit (ALU) is used to perform arithmetic operations.
B. The accumulator is a register that stores arithmetic and logic results.
C. The data transfer rate of registers is higher than that of the main memory.
D. Data buses are used to transfer control signals between the main board and input/output devices.

[2018 DSE ICT1A Q.20]

14. Read the configuration of a desktop computer below:

 Intel® CoreTM i7 CPU

 16GB DDR4 RAM
 1TB SSD
 802.11ac Wi-Fi

What information can be found out from the configuration?

(1) The viewable size of the display unit

(2) The maximum data transfer rate of a wireless network
(3) The time to start up a computer

A. (1) only
B. (2) only
C. (1) and (3) only
D. (2) and (3) only

SP-DSE-ICT1A4 4
[2016 DSE ICT1A Q.17]
15. A booking system consists of several booking counters in different locations in a city. Customers can buy
tickets for theatres through one of the booking counters. Which of the following best describes the booking
system?

A. Real-time system
B. Batch processing system
C. Distributed processing system
D. Parallel processing system

[2017 DSE ICT1A Q.19]

16. What information is usually provided by the system monitoring software in an operating system?

(1) Current processes

(2) Memory usage
(3) Network traffic

A. (1) and (2) only

B. (1) and (3) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

[New question]
17. Which of the following statements about an IPv6 address is/are correct?

(1) It is 256 bits long.

(2) It is usually represented in hexadecimal numbers instead of decimal numbers.
(3) Consecutive sections of zeros can be replaced by two colons.

A. (1) only
B. (2) only
C. (1) and (2) only
D. (2) and (3) only

[New question]
18. TCP has which of the following functions?

(1) Splitting and reassembling data

(2) Adding sequence numbers to data packets
(3) Routing the data to the destination

A. (1) only
B. (2) only
C. (1) and (2) only
D. (2) and (3) only

[2016 DSE ICT1A Q.23]

19. The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the networks formed by devices which can collect and exchange
data. The networks are usually connected to the Internet. Which of the following items should the devices
usually have?

A. an IP address
B. a CPU with a high processing power
C. a DNS
D. a large storage capacity

SP-DSE-ICT1A5 5 Go on to the next page

[2018 DSE ICT1A Q.37]
20. Why do we need Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) on the Internet?

A. An IP address includes at least four values.

B. The socket for power supply can be protected.
C. Data transmission can be faster.
D. Data can be safely transmitted.

[2017 DSE ICT1A Q.38]

21. Ransomware is malware that encrypts victims’ computer files and demands a ransom payment to restore
them. How can we minimise the impact of ransomware?

(1) Creates backups of computer files regularly.

(2) Do not open anonymous or phishing email.
(3) Do not download pirated copies of computer software through p2p software.

A. (1) and (2) only

B. (1) and (3) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

[2018 DSE ICT1A Q.25]

22. The following diagram is part of the folder structure of www.abc.edu.hk:

/
index.html Folder
 
exam.html
 
File
 
chi
p1.jpg

info
p1.jpg
 
index.html
eng
p1.jpg
 
index.html

Which of the following URLs is not valid?

A. http://www.abc.edu.hk/chi/p1.jpg
B. http://www.abc.edu.hk/info/chi/p1.jpg
C. http://www.abc.edu.hk/eng/p1.jpg
D. http://www.abc.edu.hk/index.html

[2014 DSE ICT1A Q.40]

23. In an office network, a technician installs a firewall instead of antivirus software. What is the major reason
for this?

A. The computers in the office can be protected from adware.

B. The network can be protected from online security threats.
C. File transfer through the network can be faster.
D. The network can withstand virus attacks.

SP-DSE-ICT1A6 6
[2014 DSE ICT1A Q.12]
24. Which of the following is/are best practice when using online banking systems?

(1)  Create an uncommon login name.

(2)  Use a combination of letters and numbers for the passwords and change them regularly.
(3)  Avoid using a wired network when a wireless network is available.

A. (1) only
B. (1) and (2) only
C. (1) and (3) only
D. (2) and (3) only

[2015 DSE ICT1A Q.38]

25. Which of the following statements about phishing emails is/are correct?

(1) Phishing emails are a type of advertisement that a company sends out to target recipients.
(2) Phishing emails are typically carried out by sending target recipients an email with a fake web site
to acquire their personal information.
(3) Target recipients will not be able to use their computers for a few days after a phishing attack.

A. (1) only
B. (2) only
C. (1) and (3) only
D. (2) and (3) only

[2015 DSE ICT1A Q.33]

26. When solving a problem in a project, Mary needs to define the scope of the problem precisely. What is/are
the major reason(s) for doing this?

(1) She can break down the problem into sub-problems effectively.
(2) She can use a truth table to illustrate the solution.
(3) She can ignore the boundary cases when testing the algorithm.

A. (1) only
B. (2) only
C. (1) and (3) only
D. (2) and (3) only

[2018 DSE ICT1A Q.33]

27. Suppose that X = 1, Y = 2 and Z = 3. Which of the following Boolean expressions is ‘true’?

A. ((X = 1) AND (Y > -2)) AND (Z > 3)

B. ((X = 1) AND (Y > -2)) OR (Z > 3)
C. ((X = 1) OR (Y > -2)) AND (Z > 3)
D. (X = 1) AND ((Y > -2) AND (Z > 3))

[2014 DSE ICT1A Q.30]

28. The sales department of an insurance company wants to improve service to its clients. It asks the IT project
manager to establish some web pages for the clients. What should the IT project manager do first?

A. Define the scope of the service.

B. Evaluate the IT equipment needed.
C. Estimate the project completion date.
D. Set up a project team and recruit programmers.

SP-DSE-ICT1A7 7 Go on to the next page

[2012 DSE ICT1A Q.32]
29. Dry run the following algorithm on the array AR.

cnt ← 1
ind ← 1
while cnt < 100
cnt ← cnt + 2
AR[ind] ← cnt
ind ← ind + 1

What is the value of AR[5]?

A. 1
B. 7
C. 9
D. 11

[2013 DSE ICT1A Q.31]

30. In the following algorithm, what input value of B will generate a run-time error?

input B
A ← 2
C ← 2
D ← square root of (B  B – 4  A  C)
output D

A. -4
B. 2
C. 4
D. 5

[2015 DSE ICT1A Q.30]

31. An array DAT stores English names as shown below.

Amy Bob Carol Dave

DAT[1] DAT[2] DAT[3] DAT[4]

After executing the following algorithm, which element in DAT stores ‘Carol’?

P ← 4
While P > 2
DAT[P] ← DAT[P-1]
P ← P - 1

A. DAT[1]
B. DAT[2]
C. DAT[3]
D. DAT[4]

SP-DSE-ICT1A8 8
[2016 DSE ICT1A Q.33]
32. Study the problem shown in the Input-Process-Output (IPO) cycle below.

Input Process Output

N1 AVE = (N1 + N2 + N3) / 3 AVE

N2
N3
Start

Input N1, N2,

N3

AVE = (N1+N2+N3)/3

Output AVE

End

Which of the following statements is not correct?

A. The IPO cycle illustrates the data type and data structure.
B. The problem shown is to find the average of three numbers.
C. The IPO cycle illustrates a solution to the problem.
D. The control structure of the flowchart shown in the ‘Process’ is a sequence.

[2017 DSE ICT1A Q.33]

33. A is an array with A[1], A[2] , ... , A[N] storing N non-zero values. What is the purpose of the
following algorithm?

Input P
K  P
While K <= N-1 do
A[K]  A[K+1]
K  K+1
N  N-1

A. Removes the P-th value in A.

B. Increases the value of P by 1.
C. Swaps the values of A[K] and A[K+1] for K <= N-1.
D. Calculates the sum of the values in A.

SP-DSE-ICT1A9 9 Go on to the next page

[2020 DSE ICT1A Q.29-30]
Answer Questions 34 and 35 with reference to the following segment of a flowchart. The initial values of
P[0], P[1], P[2], P[3] and P[4] are 7, 7, 6, 7 and 9 respectively.

i 0
n 0

No i < 5?
 
Yes

No P[i] <= 7? i i + 1

Yes

Yes
Output P[i] = 7?
i and n
No

End n n + 1

34. What is the output value of i?

A. 2
B. 3
C. 4
D. 5

35. What is the output value of n?

A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 4

SP-DSE-ICT1A10 10
[2019 DSE ICT1A Q.28]
36. What are the boundary cases for testing in the following segment of an algorithm?

Input A
If A > 5
Then B  10
Else B  20
Output A, B

(1) 5
(2) 6
(3) 10
(4) 20

A. (1) and (2) only

B. (3) and (4) only
C. (2), (3) and (4) only
D. (1), (2), (3) and (4)

[2018 DSE ICT1A Q.34]

37. What are the characteristics of using modularity for designing computer solutions?

(1) Usually modularity is used to solve simple problems.

(2) Modules may be reusable.
(3) The development cost is higher.
(4) Modules can be independently developed.

A. (1) and (3) only

B. (1) and (4) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (2) and (4) only

[New question]
38. Which of the following can support an artificial intelligence (AI) system?

(1) Big data

(2) Cloud computing
(3) Machine learning

A. (1) and (2) only

B. (1) and (3) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

SP-DSE-ICT1A11 11 Go on to the next page

[New question]
39. An animation appears on the screen of a smart phone when its camera turned on to view a product in a
supermarket. Which of the following is needed to produce the animation?

(1) Data science

(2) Augmented reality (AR)
(3) 3D printing

A. (1) only
B. (2) only
C. (1) and (3) only
D. (2) and (3) only

[2020 DSE ICT1A Q.40]

40. The picture below illustrates good ergonomic practices for using a computer.

Which of the following settings are necessary?

(1) The angle of the armrest at P should be adjustable.

(2) The angle of the display unit at Q should be adjustable.
(3) The height of the table at R should be adjustable.

A. (1) and (2) only

B. (1) and (3) only
C. (2) and (3) only
D. (1), (2) and (3)

END OF SECTION A

SP-DSE-ICT1A12 12