Cambridge Assessment International Education

Cambridge International Advanced Subsidiary and Advanced Level

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9608/23

Paper 2 Written Paper October/November 2019
MARK SCHEME
Maximum Mark: 75

Published

This mark scheme is published as an aid to teachers and candidates, to indicate the requirements of the
examination. It shows the basis on which Examiners were instructed to award marks. It does not indicate the
details of the discussions that took place at an Examiners’ meeting before marking began, which would have
considered the acceptability of alternative answers.

Mark schemes should be read in conjunction with the question paper and the Principal Examiner Report for
Teachers.

Cambridge International will not enter into discussions about these mark schemes.

Cambridge International is publishing the mark schemes for the October/November 2019 series for most
Cambridge IGCSE™, Cambridge International A and AS Level components and some Cambridge O Level
components.

This document consists of 13 printed pages.

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Generic Marking Principles

These general marking principles must be applied by all examiners when marking candidate answers.
They should be applied alongside the specific content of the mark scheme or generic level descriptors
for a question. Each question paper and mark scheme will also comply with these marking principles.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 1:

Marks must be awarded in line with:

• the specific content of the mark scheme or the generic level descriptors for the question
• the specific skills defined in the mark scheme or in the generic level descriptors for the question
• the standard of response required by a candidate as exemplified by the standardisation scripts.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 2:

Marks awarded are always whole marks (not half marks, or other fractions).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 3:

Marks must be awarded positively:

• marks are awarded for correct/valid answers, as defined in the mark scheme. However, credit
is given for valid answers which go beyond the scope of the syllabus and mark scheme,
referring to your Team Leader as appropriate
• marks are awarded when candidates clearly demonstrate what they know and can do
• marks are not deducted for errors
• marks are not deducted for omissions
• answers should only be judged on the quality of spelling, punctuation and grammar when these
features are specifically assessed by the question as indicated by the mark scheme. The
meaning, however, should be unambiguous.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 4:

Rules must be applied consistently e.g. in situations where candidates have not followed
instructions or in the application of generic level descriptors.

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 5:

Marks should be awarded using the full range of marks defined in the mark scheme for the question
(however; the use of the full mark range may be limited according to the quality of the candidate
responses seen).

GENERIC MARKING PRINCIPLE 6:

Marks awarded are based solely on the requirements as defined in the mark scheme. Marks should
not be awarded with grade thresholds or grade descriptors in mind.

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Question Answer Marks

1(a)(i) One mark for each (different) data type ... 6

... and one mark for a corresponding example value

Acceptable types: Integer, Real, String, Char, Boolean, Date,

1(a)(ii) Declaration 1

1(b) Two from (max 2): 2

• A list of identifier / variable names

• Explanations/descriptions (of what they are used for)
• Data types

1(c)(i) One mark for each stage (Input, Output) 5

One mark for each correct example

Stage Example statement

Input Next = Console.Readline()

Process x = INT(y/3)

Output Console.Writeline("Goodbye")

1(c)(ii) One mark for statement in program code that includes (at least) two 'stages' 1

Example correct answers:

• Next = LEN(Console.Input())
• Console.writeline(Name & Address)
• Console.WriteLine(Console.Readline() & " is what you
entered")

1(d) Three from the following (max 3): 3

• Blank lines
• Capitalisation of Keywords
• Sensible variable names
• Use of (library/built-in) functions
• Comments
• PrettyPrint / keywords coloured

1(e) White-box 1

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Question Answer Marks

2(a)(i) • Count-controlled // FOR loop 2

• Used when the number of iterations is known / fixed

2(a)(ii) REPEAT 4
CALL AlarmReset()
Status1 ← GetStatus(Sys_A)
Status2 ← GetStatus(Sys_B)
UNTIL (Status1 = TRUE AND Status2 = TRUE)

One mark for each of:

1 REPEAT ... UNTIL

2 Call to AlarmReset()
3 Asignment of Status1 and Status2
4 correct logical test

2(b) 5
Feature Answer

The symbol used to indicate an assignment :=

The line numbers for the start and end of a count- 180/190 and 230
controlled loop

The step value of the count-controlled loop 2

The character that indicates a comment %

The name of a function Mult // Read

2(c) Compiler / Interpreter 1

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Question Answer Marks

3 5

One mark for each of the following:

• all three boxes correctly labelled

• parameters in to GetPassword()
• value back from GetPassword()
• parameters in to UpdateFile()
• BOOLEAN value back from UpdateFile()

Question Answer Marks

4(a) One mark for each point. 3

Valid string must contain:

• at least one '.' characters

• one '@' character
• more than 5 other characters.

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Question Answer Marks

4(b)(i) One mark for each area as outlined: 5

Index NextChar NumDots NumAts NumOthers

0 0 0

1 'J' 1

2 'i' 2

3 'm' 3

4 '.' 1

5 '9' 4

6 '9' 5

7 '@' 1

8 's' 6

9 'k' 7

10 'a' 8

11 'i' 9

12 'l' 10

13 '.' 2

14 'c' 11

15 'o' 12

16 'm' 13

4(b)(ii) TRUE 1

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Question Answer Marks

4(c) One mark for string and one mark for correct explanation. 4

Same for second answer providing it results in a different path through the
algorithm.

Correct answers may be:

• without the correct number of '.'

• without the correct number of '@'
• without the correct number of 'other characters'

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Question Answer Marks

5 FUNCTION Abbreviate(Name : STRING) RETURNS STRING 8

DECLARE NewString : STRING

DECLARE NextChar : CHAR
DECLARE Index : INTEGER
DECLARE Space : BOOLEAN
CONSTANT SPACECHAR = ' '

Space ← TRUE
NewString ← ""

FOR Index ← 1 TO LENGTH(Name)

NextChar ← MID(Name,Index,1)
IF Space = TRUE
THEN
NewString ← NewString & NextChar // first char
of next word
Space ← FALSE
ELSE
IF NextChar = SPACECHAR
THEN
Space ← TRUE
ENDIF
ENDIF
ENDFOR

RETURN NewString

ENDFUNCTION

1 mark for each of the following (max 8):

1 Function header, ending and return parameters

2 Declare and Initialise NewString to either "" or first character of
name
3 FOR loop picking out all characters from Name:
4 extract an individual character in a loop
5 check for space character in a loop
6 concatenate the next character to NewString in a loop
7 Return NewString
8 Accommodate a string with trailing space

Question Answer Marks

6(a)(i) One mark per underlined section: 3

DECLARE Result : ARRAY [0:99, 0:1] OF STRING

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Question Answer Marks

6(a)(ii) 'Pseudocode' solution included here for development and clarification of 8

mark scheme.
Programming language example solutions appear in the Appendix.

FUNCTION FindBooksBy(SearchAuthor : STRING) RETURNS

INTEGER

DECLARE Title : STRING

DECLARE Author : STRING
DECLARE Isbn : STRING
DECLARE Location : STRING
DECLARE Count : INTEGER

Count ← 0

OPENFILE "Library.txt" FOR READ

WHILE NOT EOF ("Library.txt")

READFILE "Library.txt", Title

READFILE "Library.txt", ThisAuthor
READFILE "Library.txt", ISBN
READFILE "Library.txt", Location

IF SearchAuthor = ThisAuthor
THEN
Result[Count, 0] ← Title
Result[Count, 1] ← Location
Count ← Count + 1
ENDIF

ENDWHILE

CLOSEFILE("Library.txt")

RETURN Count

ENDFUNCTION

One mark for each of the following:

1 Function heading (and ending) including parameters

2 Declaration of variables used
3 Open file for reading (Allow Library or Library.txt)
4 WHILE loop checking for EOF():
5 Read all information 'fields', in the correct order, in a loop
6 If the author matches write Title and Location to Result array
in a loop
7 And increment array index in a loop // number found
8 Close file and RETURN Count

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Question Answer Marks

6(b) PROCEDURE DisplayResults(Author:STRING, Count:INTEGER) 7

DECLARE Index, GLen : INTEGER
DECLARE Gap : STRING

Gap ← " " // 25 spaces

IF Count = 0
THEN
OUTPUT "Search found no books by: " & Author
ELSE
OUTPUT "Books written by: " & Author
OUTPUT "Title" & LEFT(Gap, 20) & "Location"
FOR Index ← 1 TO Count
GLen ← 25 – LENGTH(Result[Index, 0])
OUTPUT Result[Index, 0] & LEFT(Gap, GLen) &
Result[Index, 1]
ENDFOR
OUTPUT "Number of titles found: " &
NUM_TO_STRING(Count)
ENDIF
ENDPROCEDURE

One mark for each of the following (max 7):

1 Procedure heading and ending including parameters

2 Declaration of local INTEGER variable for use as index
3 Test if count = 0 and if so output suitable message including Author
for no books found otherwise output the two header strings (exact
format not important)
4 A FOR loop for Count times
5 ... output two array elements from Result array in a loop
6 Final output statement
7 A reasonable attempt at calculating the number of spaces required to
align 'Location' column:
8 Alignment correct

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Program Code Example Solutions

Q6 (a) (ii): Visual Basic

FUNCTION FindBooksBy(ByVal SearchAuthor As String) As Integer

Dim Title As String

Dim Author As String
Dim Isbn As String
Dim Location As String
Dim Count As Integer

Count = 0

FileOpen(1, "Library.txt", OpenMode.Input)

While Not EOF(1)

Title = LineInput(1)
ThisAuthor = LineInput(1)
Isbn = LineInput(1)
Location = LineInput(1)

If SearchAuthor = ThisAuthor Then

Result(Count, 0) = Title
Result(Count, 1) = Location
Count = Count + 1
End If
End While

FileClose(1)

Return Count
END FUNCTION

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Q6 (a) (ii): Pascal

function FindBooksBy(SearchAuthor : string) : integer;

var
Title : string;
Author : string;
Isbn : string;
Location : string;
Count : integer;
MyFile : text;

begin
Count := 0;
assign(MyFile, 'Library.txt');
reset(MyFile);

while not EOF(MyFile) do

begin
readln(MyFile, Title);
readln(MyFile, ThisAuthor);
readln(MyFile, Isbn);
readln(MyFile, Location);

if SearchAuthor = ThisAuthor then

begin
Result[Count, 0] := Title;
Result[Count, 1] := Location;
Count := Count + 1;
end;

end;

close(MyFile);
FindBooksBy := Count;

end;

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Q6 (a) (ii): Python

def FindBooksBy(SearchAuthor):

## Title : STRING
## Author : STRING
## Isbn : STRING
## Location : STRING
## Count : INTEGER

Count = 0
MyFile = open("Library.txt", 'r')
Title = MyFile.readline()

while Title != "":

ThisAuthor = MyFile.readline()
Isbn= MyFile.readline()
Location = MyFile.readline()
if SearchAuthor == ThisAuthor.strip():
Result[Count][0] = Title
Result[Count][1] = Location
Count = Count + 1
Title = MyFile.readline()

MyFile.close()
return(Count)

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