Unit 3 quiz
Ten questions with a think-time countdown and explained answers.
Transcript
Ten quick questions on hardware. Listen, think, then check your answer.
Question one. Which register holds the address of the next instruction to be fetched? A, M A R. B, P C. Or C, A C C.
The answer is B, the P C, the program counter. The M A R holds the address being read or written, and the A C C holds results.
Question two. In which stage does the control unit work out what an instruction means? A, fetch. B, decode. Or C, execute.
The answer is B, decode. Fetch brings the instruction in, and execute carries it out.
Question three. What does the A L U do? A, stores programs. B, performs arithmetic and logic. Or C, controls the buses.
The answer is B. The arithmetic logic unit does calculations and logic. The control unit directs everything else.
Question four. A CPU with a higher clock speed: A, stores more data. B, completes more cycles each second. Or C, has more cores.
The answer is B. Clock speed is the number of cycles per second, so a higher clock speed means more instructions each second.
Question five. Which small, fast memory inside the CPU holds frequently used data? A, cache. B, R A M. Or C, R O M.
The answer is A, cache. When the data is in the cache, the CPU does not have to wait for the slower R A M.
Question six. Which of these is an embedded system? A, a laptop. B, the controller in a washing machine. Or C, a desktop P C.
The answer is B. An embedded system is a computer built into a device, for one dedicated job.
Question seven. Which input device reads black and white lines using a laser? A, a barcode scanner. B, an optical mouse. Or C, a three D scanner.
The answer is A, the barcode scanner. It reads the reflected light, and looks up the number in a database.
Question eight. Which memory is volatile, so loses its contents when the power is off? A, R A M. Or B, R O M.
The answer is A, R A M. R O M is non volatile, and holds the start up program.
Question nine. Which type of storage has no moving parts? A, a hard disk drive. B, an optical disc. Or C, solid state.
The answer is C, solid state. Flash memory has no moving parts, so it is fast, silent and durable.
Question ten. What is a M A C address? A, an address that changes each time you connect. B, a unique address set by the manufacturer of the network card. Or C, the address of a website.
The answer is B. A M A C address is unique to the network interface card, and does not change. An I P address can change.
That is the end of the quiz. Review any topic you missed. Good luck with your test.
More in this series
1:21Inside the CPU
The control unit, ALU and registers, the Von Neumann architecture and the three buses.
1:36The fetch-decode-execute cycle
Follow one instruction through the PC, MAR, MDR, CIR and ACC registers, then run a small program.
1:28What makes a CPU faster?
Clock speed, number of cores and cache size, with the run times worked out.
1:00Embedded systems
A computer built into a device for one job: examples, and how it differs from a general-purpose computer.
1:45Input devices
Keyboards, mice, touch screens, microphones, cameras, scanners and barcode / QR readers.
1:41Output devices
Screens, projectors, printers, 3D printers and speakers: what each one does.
1:06Sensors and actuators
A control loop: a sensor measures, the processor decides, an actuator acts. A thermostat shown step by step.
1:29Primary storage: RAM, ROM and virtual memory
Volatile RAM, non-volatile ROM with the boot program, and what virtual memory does when RAM is full.
1:30Secondary storage
Magnetic, optical and solid-state storage, plus cloud storage.
1:34Network hardware: NIC, MAC, IP and routers
What a network interface card, MAC address, IP address (IPv4 and IPv6) and router each do.