Hardware Practice Library
Every practice question across the Hardware pages in one place, grouped by topic and difficulty. Use the filters to narrow by difficulty or mark band; click any page name to open the full question with its sub-parts and follow-on text.
Difficulty
Marks
Truth tables
3 questions.
- · Draw the truth table for each of the 7 fundamental gates (AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR, XNOR). For the two-input gates, each table should...
- · Construct the truth table for Q = (A OR B) AND (NOT A). List all 4 input combinations and identify which rows produce Q = 1.
- · Build a complete truth table (8 rows) for the circuit Q = (A AND B) OR (B AND C) OR (A AND C). This circuit is called a *majority gate*; ...
Simplification
2 questions.
- · Apply De Morgan's theorem to simplify each of the following:
- · The following truth table defines a function of three variables. Use a K-map to find the simplified Boolean expression.
Logic diagrams
2 questions.
- · The following logic diagram shows a circuit. Write the Boolean expression it represents:
- · A home alarm system has three binary inputs: D (door sensor: 1 = door open), W (window sensor: 1 = window open), S (system armed: 1 = arm...
CPU components
1 question.
- · Describe the role of each of the following registers in one sentence each: PC, MAR, MDR, IR, AC.
FDE cycle
2 questions.
- · Describe the three phases of the fetch-decode-execute cycle. For each phase, name the registers involved and explain what happens to them.
- · Given the following memory contents and PC = 0, trace all register values through each phase of the FDE cycle for all three instructions:
Buses
2 questions.
- · Name the three types of bus in a computer system. For each bus, state its direction (unidirectional or bidirectional) and what it carries.
- · A program loads a value from memory address 100. Explain which buses are used during this operation, what signals travel on each bus, and...
Multicore
1 question.
- · A program has two tasks: Task A takes 4 seconds and Task B takes 3 seconds. Task B depends on the output of Task A (it cannot start until...
Pipelining (HL)
1 question.
- · (HL) Consider this sequence of instructions:
GPU
2 questions.
- · Describe the GPU's role in three different real-world scenarios. For each, explain what kind of data the GPU processes in parallel and wh...
- · Explain why GPUs are essential for modern gaming. Reference the number of pixels that must be calculated per frame and why parallel proce...
GPU vs CPU
5 questions.
- · List three key differences between CPU and GPU architecture. For each difference, explain how it affects what tasks the processor is best...
- · A school runs a student database system that handles enrollment records, generates report cards, and processes individual student queries...
- · Compare how a CPU and GPU would each handle processing 1 million image pixels (e.g., converting a photo from colour to greyscale). Descri...
- · A company wants to train an AI model during the day and run their office productivity software (email, spreadsheets, word processing) thr...
- · (HL) Explain why a GPU would struggle with a program that has many if/else branches and sequential dependencies. Use the concept of SIMD ...
Memory and cache
4 questions.
- · Create a table comparing RAM, ROM, cache, and registers across five criteria: speed, capacity, volatility, cost per byte, and primary pur...
- · Define cache hit and cache miss. For each, give a real-world analogy (e.g., finding a book on your desk vs going to the library).
- · Explain why L1 cache is faster but smaller than L3 cache. Why not make all cache L1-speed?
- · A gaming PC has 32 GB RAM and 32 MB L3 cache. A budget office PC has 8 GB RAM and 4 MB L3 cache. Evaluate which system is better suited f...
RAM and ROM
1 question.
- · Explain why a computer needs both RAM and ROM. What would happen if a computer had only RAM? What if it had only ROM?
Virtual memory
2 questions.
- · Describe what happens when a computer runs out of physical RAM. Explain how virtual memory helps and what problem arises if it is used to...
- · A school server runs 50 virtual machines simultaneously. Users report the system has become extremely slow. Explain how thrashing could b...
Secondary storage
3 questions.
- · Compare SSD and HDD across five criteria: speed, cost per GB, durability, capacity, and noise. Present your answer as a table and write o...
- · List three different types of external storage. For each one, give a specific real-world use case explaining why that storage type is the...
- · Explain why secondary storage is necessary even though RAM exists. Your answer should address at least three reasons, referencing the con...
Storage system design
3 questions.
- · A school is setting up a new computer lab with 30 machines. The IT budget allows either SSDs (256 GB each) or HDDs (1 TB each) for the sa...
- · Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of cloud storage compared to local secondary storage. Consider: accessibility, cost model (subs...
- · Design a storage solution for a media production company with these requirements:
Compression: lossless
4 questions.
- · Apply Run-Length Encoding to each of the following strings:
- · Decode the following RLE string back to the original: 4A2B3C1D
- · Apply RLE to the string AAAAABBBCCCCCCCC (16 characters). Calculate the compressed length and the compression ratio.
- · Explain why RLE is classified as lossless compression. How can you guarantee that the original data is perfectly recovered from the compr...
Compression: lossy
2 questions.
- · State whether each of the following formats uses lossy or lossless compression: ZIP, MP3, PNG, JPEG, FLAC, MP4.
- · Explain why MPEG uses three different frame types (I-frames, P-frames, and B-frames) rather than compressing each frame independently lik...
Compression evaluation
2 questions.
- · Compare JPEG and PNG compression. For each of the following scenarios, recommend which format to use and explain why:
- · A streaming service needs to compress both audio and video for real-time playback. For each media type, evaluate which compression method...
Cloud service models
2 questions.
- · Classify each of the following as SaaS, PaaS, or IaaS: Gmail, Azure Virtual Machines, Heroku, Zoom, Google Compute Engine. For each, expl...
- · A growing startup currently has 10 employees but expects to grow to 100 within 2 years. Design a cloud architecture recommending specific...
Virtualisation
2 questions.
- · Explain the difference between a virtual machine and a container. State one advantage and one disadvantage of each approach.
- · Explain how virtualisation makes cloud computing possible. Describe the role of the hypervisor and explain why running multiple VMs on on...
Cloud evaluation
2 questions.
- · List three advantages of cloud computing over on-premise solutions. For each advantage, give a specific example of how it would benefit a...
- · A school with 500 students and 50 teachers is deciding between cloud and on-premise solutions for their IT infrastructure. Compare the tw...
Translation methods
3 questions.
- · State two differences between a compiler and an interpreter. For each difference, explain which approach is better and why.
- · For each scenario, state whether a compiler, interpreter, or bytecode+VM approach would be most suitable. Justify each answer:
- · A 200-line program has syntax errors on lines 50 and 150. Compare and contrast how a compiler and an interpreter would handle these error...
JIT and bytecode (HL)
2 questions.
- · Draw a diagram showing the stages of Java translation from .java file to program output. Label each stage and name the tool or component ...
- · Explain how JIT compilation aims to provide \"the best of both worlds\" between compilation and interpretation. What are the trade-offs com...
Translation evaluation
3 questions.
- · A company distributes compiled C++ executables for Windows. They now want to support macOS and Linux as well. Evaluate three possible sol...
- · Research one real programming language that uses each translation method: (a) purely compiled, (b) purely interpreted, (c) bytecode + JIT...
- · Evaluate the statement: *\"Modern languages make the distinction between compilers and interpreters obsolete.\"* To what extent do you agre...