WGU C952 Computer Architecture Exam | Objective Assessment | 150+ Verified Questions with Answers & Rationales | Complete Study Guide for Computer Architecture Certification

This is a comprehensive and fully updated exam preparation guide for WGU C952 - Computer Architecture, specifically designed for the academic year. This document contains an extensive collection of 150+ verified exam questions and key concepts, complete with correct answers and detailed rationales to ensure a deep understanding of computer architecture principles, processor design, memory hierarchy, and performance evaluation. This resource covers all critical domains of the WGU C952 Objective Assessment: Computer Abstractions & Technology: Five Classic Components: Datapath, Control, Memory, Input, Output Moore's Law (Transistor density doubles ~18-24 months) Computer Classes: Personal Computers, Servers, Supercomputers, Embedded Computers System Software vs Application Software Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) as Hardware-Software Contract Compilers, Assemblers, Operating Systems Abstraction in Computer Architecture Volatile vs Non-Volatile Memory (SRAM, DRAM, Flash) The Eight Great Ideas of Computer Architecture Performance Measurement & Evaluation: CPU Performance Equation: CPU Time = (Instruction Count × CPI) / Clock Rate Clock Rate and Clock Cycle Time Relationship CPI (Cycles Per Instruction) - Average cycles per instruction Speedup = Old Time / New Time Amdahl's Law (Maximum speedup limited by unimproved fraction) Bandwidth vs Latency (Throughput vs Response Time) Benchmark Suites (SPEC, Dhrystone) Execution Time Calculation Instruction Set Architecture & Data Representation: Machine Language vs Assembly Language R-Type, I-Type, J-Type Instruction Formats Register File Operations (Read and Write access) IEEE 754 Floating-Point Standard Endianness (Big-Endian vs Little-Endian) Binary, Hexadecimal, and Decimal Conversions Overflow in Binary Addition Addressing Modes (Immediate, Direct, Base/Indexed) Stack Pointer (SP) and Stack Operations Program Counter (PC) and Instruction Register (IR) Processor Design & Pipelining: Pipeline Stages: IF (Instruction Fetch), ID (Instruction Decode), EX (Execute), MEM (Memory), WB (Write Back) Pipeline Hazards: Structural, Data, Control Data Hazards: RAW, WAR, WAW Control Hazards (Branch hazards) Pipeline Stalls/Bubbles Superscalar Architecture (Multiple instructions per cycle) Load-Use Data Hazards Branch Prediction and Misprediction Penalty Pipelining vs Parallel Processing RISC vs CISC Architectures Load-Store Architecture Fixed-Length Instructions Memory Hierarchy: Memory Hierarchy Levels (Registers → Cache → Main Memory → Secondary Storage) SRAM vs DRAM (Volatile, speed, refresh requirements) Cache Mapping: Direct-Mapped, Fully Associative, Set-Associative Cache Hit, Cache Miss, Miss Penalty Average Memory Access Time (AMAT): Hit Time + (Miss Rate × Miss Penalty) Cache Write Policies: Write-Through vs Write-Back Spatial and Temporal Locality Translation Look-aside Buffer (TLB) Virtual Memory, Page Tables, Page Faults Virtual vs Physical Addresses MMU (Memory Management Unit) Storage & I/O: Volatile vs Non-Volatile Memory Frame Buffer (Video display memory) Input Devices vs Output Devices Data Bus, Address Bus, Control Bus Endianness in Memory Storage Wafer and Semiconductor Manufacturing Advanced Concepts: Multiprocessor Systems: UMA (Uniform Memory Access) Multicore Processors Parallel Processing (Strong vs Weak Scaling) Virtual Machines (Software abstraction, hardware separation) Harvard Architecture (Separate instruction/data memory) Dependability (Reliability, availability, redundancy) Principle of Locality Instruction Set & Assembly: ADD, SUB, AND, OR Instructions Load/Store Operations Branch Instructions (Conditional) Jump Instructions (Unconditional) Immediate, Register, Base/Indexed Addressing LEGv8/ARM Assembly Syntax Binary & Number Systems: Binary, Hexadecimal, Decimal Conversions Two's Complement Representation IEEE 754 Single Precision Format (32 bits: 1 sign, 8 exponent, 23 fraction) Biased Exponent Calculation Signed and Unsigned Integers Key Equations: CPU Time = (Instruction Count × CPI) / Clock Rate Clock Rate = 1 / Clock Cycle Time Speedup = Old Time / New Time Amdahl's Law: Speedup = 1 / [(1 - f) + (f / n)] AMAT = Hit Time + (Miss Rate × Miss Penalty) Average CPI = Σ(Frequency_i × CPI_i) Key Terms: ISA, ABI, CPI, TLB, MMU, ALU, PC, IR, MAR, MBR, SP, SID SRAM, DRAM, EEPROM, PROM, EPROM, Flash RISC, CISC, SIMD, SMT Each question is presented in a clear, easy-to-read format followed by the correct answer and a concise rationale that explains the underlying computer architecture principles. This study guide is ideal for exam preparation, reinforcing computer architecture concepts, and mastering the critical thinking skills required for WGU C952 success.