WGU C952 - COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE EXAM
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS STEP-BY-
STEP SOLUTIONS 2026
• Personal computer (PC) -✓✓ A computer designed for use by an individual,
usually incorporating a graphics display, a keyboard, and a mouse.
• Server -✓✓ A computer used for running larger programs for multiple users,
often simultaneously, and typically accessed only via a network.
• Supercomputer: -✓✓ A class of computers with the highest performance and
cost; they are configured as servers and typically cost tens to hundreds of millions
of dollars.
• Embedded computer: -✓✓ A computer inside another device used for running
one predetermined application or collection of software.
• Personal mobile devices (PMDs) -✓✓ are small wireless devices to connect to the
Internet; they rely on batteries for power, and software is installed by downloading
apps. Conventional examples are smart phones and tablets.
• Cloud computing -✓✓ refers to large collections of servers that provide services
over the Internet; some providers rent dynamically varying numbers of servers as a
utility.
• Software as a Service (SaaS) -✓✓ delivers software and data as a service over the
Internet, usually via a thin program such as a browser that runs on local client
devices, instead of binary code that must be installed, and runs wholly on that
device. Examples include web search and social networking.
,• Multicore microprocessor -✓✓ A microprocessor containing multiple processors
("cores") in a single integrated circuit.
• Acronym -✓✓ A word constructed by taking the initial letters of a string of
words. For example: RAM is an acronym for Random Access Memory, and CPU
is an acronym for Central Processing Unit.
• Terabyte (TB): -✓✓ Originally 1,099,511,627,776 (240) bytes, although
communications and secondary storage systems developers started using the term
to mean 1,000,000,000,000 (1012) bytes. To reduce confusion, we now use the
term tebibyte (TiB) for 240 bytes, defining terabyte (TB) to mean 1012 bytes. The
figure below shows the full range of decimal and binary values and names.
• Systems software: -✓✓ Software that provides services that are commonly
useful, including operating systems, compilers, loaders, and assemblers.
• Operating system -✓✓ Supervising program that manages the resources of a
computer for the benefit of the programs that run on that computer.
• Compiler -✓✓ A program that translates high-level language statements into
assembly language statements.
• Binary digit -✓✓ Also called a bit. One of the two numbers in base 2 (0 or 1) that
are the components of information.
• Instruction -✓✓ A command that computer hardware understands and obeys
,• Assembler -✓✓ A program that translates a symbolic version of instructions into
the binary version.
• Assembly language -✓✓ A symbolic representation of machine instructions.
• Machine language -✓✓ A binary representation of machine instructions
• High-level programming language -✓✓ A portable language such as C, C++,
Java, or Visual Basic that is composed of words and algebraic notation that can be
translated by a compiler into assembly language.
• Input device -✓✓ A mechanism through which the computer is fed information,
such as a keyboard.
• Output device -✓✓ A mechanism that conveys the result of a computation to a
user, such as a display, or to another computer
• Liquid crystal display: -✓✓ A display technology using a thin layer of liquid
polymers that can be used to transmit or block light according to whether a charge
is applied.
• Active matrix display -✓✓ A liquid crystal display using a transistor to control
the transmission of light at each individual pixel.
• Pixel -✓✓ The smallest individual picture element. Screens are composed of
hundreds of thousands to millions of pixels, organized in a matrix.
, • Integrated circuit -✓✓ Also called a chip. A device combining dozens to millions
of transistors.
• Central processor unit (CPU) -✓✓ Also called processor. The active part of the
computer, which contains the datapath and control and which adds numbers, tests
numbers, signals I/O devices to activate, and so on.
• Datapath -✓✓ The component of the processor that performs arithmetic
operations.
• Control -✓✓ The component of the processor that commands the datapath,
memory, and I/O devices according to the instructions of the program.
• Memory -✓✓ The storage area in which programs are kept when they are running
and that contains the data needed by the running programs.
• Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) -✓✓ Memory built as an integrated
circuit; it provides random access to any location. Access times are 50
nanoseconds and cost per gigabyte in 2012 was $5 to $10.
• Cache memory -✓✓ A small, fast memory that acts as a buffer for a slower,
larger memory.
• Static random access memory (SRAM): -✓✓ Also memory built as an integrated
circuit, but faster and less dense than DRAM.
• Instruction set architecture -✓✓ Also called architecture. An abstract interface
between the hardware and the lowest-level software that encompasses all the
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS STEP-BY-
STEP SOLUTIONS 2026
• Personal computer (PC) -✓✓ A computer designed for use by an individual,
usually incorporating a graphics display, a keyboard, and a mouse.
• Server -✓✓ A computer used for running larger programs for multiple users,
often simultaneously, and typically accessed only via a network.
• Supercomputer: -✓✓ A class of computers with the highest performance and
cost; they are configured as servers and typically cost tens to hundreds of millions
of dollars.
• Embedded computer: -✓✓ A computer inside another device used for running
one predetermined application or collection of software.
• Personal mobile devices (PMDs) -✓✓ are small wireless devices to connect to the
Internet; they rely on batteries for power, and software is installed by downloading
apps. Conventional examples are smart phones and tablets.
• Cloud computing -✓✓ refers to large collections of servers that provide services
over the Internet; some providers rent dynamically varying numbers of servers as a
utility.
• Software as a Service (SaaS) -✓✓ delivers software and data as a service over the
Internet, usually via a thin program such as a browser that runs on local client
devices, instead of binary code that must be installed, and runs wholly on that
device. Examples include web search and social networking.
,• Multicore microprocessor -✓✓ A microprocessor containing multiple processors
("cores") in a single integrated circuit.
• Acronym -✓✓ A word constructed by taking the initial letters of a string of
words. For example: RAM is an acronym for Random Access Memory, and CPU
is an acronym for Central Processing Unit.
• Terabyte (TB): -✓✓ Originally 1,099,511,627,776 (240) bytes, although
communications and secondary storage systems developers started using the term
to mean 1,000,000,000,000 (1012) bytes. To reduce confusion, we now use the
term tebibyte (TiB) for 240 bytes, defining terabyte (TB) to mean 1012 bytes. The
figure below shows the full range of decimal and binary values and names.
• Systems software: -✓✓ Software that provides services that are commonly
useful, including operating systems, compilers, loaders, and assemblers.
• Operating system -✓✓ Supervising program that manages the resources of a
computer for the benefit of the programs that run on that computer.
• Compiler -✓✓ A program that translates high-level language statements into
assembly language statements.
• Binary digit -✓✓ Also called a bit. One of the two numbers in base 2 (0 or 1) that
are the components of information.
• Instruction -✓✓ A command that computer hardware understands and obeys
,• Assembler -✓✓ A program that translates a symbolic version of instructions into
the binary version.
• Assembly language -✓✓ A symbolic representation of machine instructions.
• Machine language -✓✓ A binary representation of machine instructions
• High-level programming language -✓✓ A portable language such as C, C++,
Java, or Visual Basic that is composed of words and algebraic notation that can be
translated by a compiler into assembly language.
• Input device -✓✓ A mechanism through which the computer is fed information,
such as a keyboard.
• Output device -✓✓ A mechanism that conveys the result of a computation to a
user, such as a display, or to another computer
• Liquid crystal display: -✓✓ A display technology using a thin layer of liquid
polymers that can be used to transmit or block light according to whether a charge
is applied.
• Active matrix display -✓✓ A liquid crystal display using a transistor to control
the transmission of light at each individual pixel.
• Pixel -✓✓ The smallest individual picture element. Screens are composed of
hundreds of thousands to millions of pixels, organized in a matrix.
, • Integrated circuit -✓✓ Also called a chip. A device combining dozens to millions
of transistors.
• Central processor unit (CPU) -✓✓ Also called processor. The active part of the
computer, which contains the datapath and control and which adds numbers, tests
numbers, signals I/O devices to activate, and so on.
• Datapath -✓✓ The component of the processor that performs arithmetic
operations.
• Control -✓✓ The component of the processor that commands the datapath,
memory, and I/O devices according to the instructions of the program.
• Memory -✓✓ The storage area in which programs are kept when they are running
and that contains the data needed by the running programs.
• Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) -✓✓ Memory built as an integrated
circuit; it provides random access to any location. Access times are 50
nanoseconds and cost per gigabyte in 2012 was $5 to $10.
• Cache memory -✓✓ A small, fast memory that acts as a buffer for a slower,
larger memory.
• Static random access memory (SRAM): -✓✓ Also memory built as an integrated
circuit, but faster and less dense than DRAM.
• Instruction set architecture -✓✓ Also called architecture. An abstract interface
between the hardware and the lowest-level software that encompasses all the
