Examius
🇵🇰 ECAT · flashcards
ECAT Computer Science Flashcards
50 question-and-answer cards covering Computer Science as it is examined in ECAT. 24 of them are printed below, taken from across the deck — no signup, no paywall on the preview.
24 sample cards from the Computer Science deck
Sampled from the end of the deck, so these are different cards from the ones shown on the syllabus page.
Name the three categories of storage technology with an example of each.
Magnetic (hard disk, magnetic tape), Optical (CD, DVD, Blu-ray), and Solid-state/Flash (SSD, USB flash drive, memory card).
What technology do CDs and DVDs use to read and write data?
Optical technology — a laser beam reads and writes data by detecting reflections from pits and lands on the disc surface.
What is the difference between system software and application software?
System software manages and controls the computer hardware and provides a platform for other software (e.g., OS, utilities); application software performs specific user tasks (e.g., word processor, browser).
Give two examples each of system software and application software.
System software: operating system, device drivers, utilities. Application software: MS Word, web browser, games, media players.
What is an operating system?
An operating system is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources and provides common services and an interface for the user and programs.
List four major functions of an operating system.
Process management, memory management, file management, device (I/O) management — plus providing a user interface and security.
What is the difference between a single-user and a multi-user operating system?
A single-user OS allows only one user at a time (e.g., MS-DOS, Windows desktop); a multi-user OS allows many users to access the system simultaneously (e.g., UNIX, Linux servers).
What is multitasking in an operating system?
Multitasking is the ability of an operating system to execute multiple tasks (processes) seemingly at the same time by rapidly switching the CPU among them.
What is a utility program? Give two examples.
A utility program is system software that performs maintenance and optimization tasks. Examples: antivirus, disk defragmenter, file compression tool, backup utility.
What are the three main types of language processors (translators)?
Compiler, Interpreter, and Assembler.
What is the difference between a compiler and an interpreter?
A compiler translates the entire source program into machine code at once before execution; an interpreter translates and executes the program line by line.
What is the function of an assembler?
An assembler translates assembly language (low-level mnemonics) into machine code (binary).
What is the difference between guided and unguided transmission media?
Guided (wired) media transmit signals through a physical path such as cables (twisted pair, coaxial, fiber optic); unguided (wireless) media transmit through air using radio, microwave, or infrared signals.
Name the three main types of guided (wired) transmission media.
Twisted pair cable, coaxial cable, and fiber optic cable.
What are the advantages of fiber optic cable over copper cable?
Fiber optic offers much higher bandwidth and speed, longer transmission distances, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and greater security.
What are the three modes of data transmission? Define each.
Simplex (one direction only, e.g., keyboard), Half-duplex (both directions but one at a time, e.g., walkie-talkie), Full-duplex (both directions simultaneously, e.g., telephone).
List four common network topologies.
Bus, Star, Ring, and Mesh topology (also Tree/Hybrid).
Describe the star topology and its main advantage.
In a star topology all devices connect to a central hub or switch. Advantage: failure of one cable/node does not affect others, and it is easy to manage; disadvantage: if the central hub fails, the whole network fails.
What is the main disadvantage of a bus topology?
In a bus topology all devices share a single central cable (backbone); if the main cable fails, the entire network goes down, and performance degrades with heavy traffic.
Differentiate between LAN, MAN and WAN by geographic coverage.
LAN (Local Area Network) covers a small area like a building; MAN (Metropolitan Area Network) covers a city; WAN (Wide Area Network) covers large areas such as countries (e.g., the Internet).
What is the Internet?
The Internet is a global network of interconnected computer networks that communicate using the TCP/IP protocol suite to share information and resources.
What do the protocols HTTP and HTTPS stand for, and how do they differ?
HTTP = HyperText Transfer Protocol; HTTPS = HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure. HTTPS adds encryption (SSL/TLS) for secure data transmission, while HTTP is unencrypted.
What is the role of TCP/IP on the Internet?
TCP/IP is the core protocol suite: IP handles addressing and routing of data packets to their destination, while TCP ensures reliable, ordered, error-checked delivery of those packets.
What is an IP address and what does DNS do?
An IP address is a unique numerical identifier assigned to each device on a network. DNS (Domain Name System) translates human-readable domain names (e.g., www.example.com) into IP addresses.
What this deck covers
The Computer Science deck follows the ECAT Computer Science syllabus — 8 chapters and 23 topics — so questions land on material that is genuinely examinable rather than trivia around it. That works out to roughly 6.3 cards per chapter.
Answers are written to be recallable, not just readable — averaging about 149 characters, which is long enough to carry the reasoning and short enough to say out loud.
A deck like this earns its keep on the second and third pass. Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then use the cards to find the specific facts that have not stuck.
Computer Science flashcards FAQ
How many Computer Science flashcards are in this ECAT deck?
50 cards. This page previews 24 of them, sampled evenly across the deck so you can judge the difficulty before installing anything.
Are these ECAT flashcards free?
Yes. The preview here is free to read with no signup, and the full 50-card deck is free inside the Examius app.
What do the Computer Science cards cover?
They follow the ECAT Computer Science syllabus — 8 chapters and 23 topics — so the questions track what is actually examinable.
How should I use these flashcards?
Read the syllabus first so you know the shape of the subject, then drill the deck. Examius schedules each card with spaced repetition, so cards you keep missing come back sooner and ones you know drift further apart.