0478 Feb/March 2021 Past Papers — IGCSE Computer Science
IGCSE Computer Science — the Feb/March 2021 examination series: 2 question papers with their mark schemes, the examiner report and the grade thresholds. Under each paper is ZAK's question map: the topic, marks, command words and assessment objectives of every question, each one a click away from its mark scheme in the past-paper practice tool.
Papers
2
2 papers × 1 variant
Questions mapped
13
125 marks
Examiner report
Yes
per-question comments
Grade thresholds
Yes
marks needed for each grade
Paper 1 — Computer Systems
1h 45m · 75 marks · 50%
0478/12 Paper 1, variant 2
| Q | Marks | Topic | Command words | AO mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 12 | Data Representation+ Data Transmission (8) | Describe, Explain, Give, Show | AO1 7 · AO2 2 · AO3 3 |
| Q2 | 10 | The Internet and Its Uses+ Data Representation (4) | Describe, Explain, Give, Draw | AO1 9 · AO3 1 |
| Q3 | 4 | Hardware | Complete | AO1 4 |
| Q4 | 10 | Hardware+ Data Transmission (4) | State, Explain | AO1 9 · AO3 1 |
| Q5 | 8 | Boolean Logic | State, Draw | AO1 3 · AO2 5 |
| Q6 | 10 | The Internet and Its Uses | Explain, Identify | AO1 10 |
| Q7 | 13 | Software | State, Describe, Explain, Define, Compare | AO1 9 · AO2 4 |
| Q8 | 8 | Hardware+ Software (1) | Describe, Explain | AO1 6 · AO3 2 |
Q links open the question with its mark scheme. 8 questions · 75 marks mapped.
Paper 2 — Algorithms, Programming and Logic
1h 45m · 75 marks · 50%
0478/22 Paper 2, variant 2
| Q | Marks | Topic | Command words | AO mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | 20 | Programming | State, Explain, Identify, Give, Write | AO1 14 · AO2 6 |
| Q2 | 11 | Algorithm Design and Problem-Solving | State, Describe, Give | AO1 3 · AO2 8 |
| Q3 | 4 | Algorithm Design and Problem-Solving | Draw | AO1 4 |
| Q4 | 9 | Algorithm Design and Problem-Solving | Identify, Complete | AO2 9 |
| Q5 | 6 | Databases | State, Complete, Show | AO2 3 · AO3 3 |
Q links open the question with its mark scheme. 5 questions · 50 marks mapped of 75 — questions that lean on pre-release material, or that the bank could not slice cleanly, are left out.
Topics in this session
Marks per topic, added up over every variant of the paper (a question that spans topics shares its marks between them). See how each topic behaves across all sessions on the Statometer.
Paper 1 75 marks over 1 variant
- The Internet and Its Uses16 marks · 21% · trend
- Data Transmission12 marks · 15% · trend
- Data Representation8 marks · 11% · trend
- Boolean Logic8 marks · 11% · trend
Paper 2 50 marks over 1 variant
- Algorithm Design and Problem-Solving24 marks · 48% · trend
- Programming20 marks · 40% · trend
Command words in this session
How many of the session's questions use each command word — each one tells you what the mark scheme wants.
Question papers, mark schemes, examiner reports and grade thresholds are © Cambridge Assessment International Education; the links open the PDFs on PapaCambridge (BestExamHelp or Cambridge's own site where PapaCambridge lacks a file). The question map shows references, marks and ZAK's topic and assessment-objective tagging only — topics and AOs are estimated from the question and mark-scheme wording.