Communication Technologies: Report on the Examination

As usual, the first five questions on the paper were single-mark multiple choice questions. Four of these were very well handled, with over three quarters of students choosing the correct answer. By contrast, question 3 (mobile phone personal unlocking key) proved challenging, with approximately two fifths of students gaining the mark. Q6.1 most students achieved just 1 mark here, with the most common responses being twistedpair or fibre optic; some students lost marks for writing no more than 'cabling', 'fibre', or 'light', all deemed insufficient for a mark. Q6.2 again, most students achieved just 1 mark here, students lost marks for stating, variously, that shielding 'prevents', 'stops' blocks' or 'eliminates' EMI rather than reducing, containing, or reflecting EMI. Q7.1 most students did gain a mark here for the correct answer, which was pleasing to see. Q7.2 again, most students did gain a mark here, with laptop or router being the most common responses. Q8.1 this proved to be a very well answered question, with most students achieving full marks. The mark scheme allowed some credit for correct completion of the OSI model OR the TCP/IP model, with part credit reserved for students who succeeded in putting together a correct pairing, even if on an incorrect row. Q8.2 most students did gain a mark here. Some students made inappropriate reference to 'headers and footers' (when presumably intending reference to headers used as part of packaging message data) for which a mark was not allowed. Q8.3 again, most students did gain a mark here, most commonly for UDP. IMAP and HTTP were among the many incorrect responses. Q9 It was clear students understood and had covered repetition code, with many references to the use of repetition code as a means of error-detection and error-checking. Q10.1 most students achieved 1 mark here. However some students gained no marks for making reference to 'programming' and then failing to provide any explanation or expansion, some essentially doing no more than repeating / rephrasing the question. Q10.2 again, most students achieved 1 mark here, and there was a pleasing range of examples provided. Q11 most students achieved just 2 marks. Some students lost marks by saying little more than WANs cover a wide area or that LANs cover a local area (each insufficient alone for a mark), The students that did achieve the full 4 marks typically made reference to the relationship between LANs and peripherals, and WANs and multiple LANs, and - popularly - the Internet being the