Cambridge International AS & A Level

COMPUTER SCIENCE 9618/21

Paper 2 Fundamental Problem-solving and Programming Skills May/June 2024
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 May/June 2024 series for most
Cambridge IGCSE, Cambridge International A and AS Level and Cambridge Pre-U components, and some
Cambridge O Level components.

This document consists of 12 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
descriptions 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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Mark scheme abbreviations

/ separates alternative words / phrases within a marking point

// separates alternative answers within a marking point
underline actual word given must be used by candidate (grammatical variants accepted)
max indicates the maximum number of marks that can be awarded
() the word / phrase in brackets is not required, but sets the context

Note: No marks are awarded for using brand names of software packages or hardware.

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Question Answer Marks

1(a) 4
Assignment statement Data type

A  LEFT(MyName, 1) CHAR / STRING

B  Total * 2 INTEGER / REAL

C  INT(ItemCost) / 3 REAL

D  "Odd OR Even" STRING

One mark per row

1(b) 4
Expression Evaluates to

Tries < 10 AND NOT Sorted TRUE

Tries MOD 4 1

TO_LOWER(MID(ID, 3, 1)) 'a' // "a"

LENGTH(ID & "xx") >= Tries TRUE

One mark per row

1(c)(i) The names do not reflect / indicate the purpose of the variable // the names 1
are not meaningful

1(c)(ii) They make the program more difficult to understand / debug / maintain 1

1(c)(iii) One mark from: 1

 Indentation / use of white space
 Capitalisation of keywords
 Use of comments
 Use of modular programming
 Use of local variables
Note: max 1 mark

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Question Answer Marks

2(a) 5

One mark per outlined region:

1 Initialise both counts
2 Increment Tries every time a pair is input
3 Compare A > B and increment Count if TRUE
4 Test for Count = 10 (10th time A > B) – MUST include Yes / No labels
5 If so output Tries, otherwise loop

2(b) One mark per point: 2

1 A (variable of type) string will be input // by example e.g. “67,72”

2 A special / identified character would need to be used to separate each
numeric value // all numbers are fixed length

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Question Answer Marks

3(a) One mark per point: 3

1 The PS contains a null pointer

2 The PF points to the first element on the free list
3 All the nodes are on the free list

3(b) Max 2 marks for 'Variables': 5

The two variables will be of type Integer

The two variables will be used as pointers / indexes to the

arrays.

The values stored in the two variables will indicate the first
element in each list

The first 1D array will be of type String

The first 1D array will be used to store the values // data items
// User IDs

The second 1D array will be of type Integer

The second 1D array will be used to store the pointers // point

to next item

Mark as follows:

One mark for each of the first three rows

One mark for both Array 1 rows
One mark for both Array 2 rows

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Question Answer Marks

4 Example: 6

FUNCTION Check() RETURNS STRING

DECLARE Odd, Even, Index : INTEGER

Odd  0
Even  0

FOR Index  1 TO 100

IF Index MOD 2 = 0 THEN
Even  Even + Data[Index]
ELSE
Odd  Odd + Data[Index]
ENDIF
NEXT Index

ENDFUNCTION

Mark as follows:
1. Function heading, ending and return type
2. Declare local variables Odd, Even and Index as integers
3. Initialise Odd and Even
4. Loop for 100 iterations // through array
5. Sum Odd and Even element values in a loop
6. Compare Odd and Even after the loop and Return appropriate string

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Question Answer Marks

5(a) 6

One mark per zone.

5(b)(i) OTHERWISE : CALL Error(C) 1

5(b)(ii) After the 'Z' clause in the CASE construct // before the ENDCASE 1

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Question Answer Marks

6(a) FUNCTION IsRA(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3 : INTEGER) RETURNS 6

BOOLEAN
DECLARE Len1, Len2, Len3 : INTEGER

Len1  (x1 - x2) ^ 2 + (y1 - y2) ^ 2

Len2  (x1 - x3) ^ 2 + (y1 - y3) ^ 2
Len3  (x2 - x3) ^ 2 + (y2 - y3) ^ 2

IF (Len1 = Len2 + Len3) OR__

(Len2 = Len1 + Len3) OR__
(Len3 = Len1 + Len2) THEN
RETURN TRUE
ELSE
RETURN FALSE
ENDIF

ENDFUNCTION

Mark as follows:

1 Calculate the square of the length of at least one side

2 Calculation of all three lengths squared correctly
3 One correct comparison of square of three lengths
4 All three comparisons…
5 combined using logical operators / nested IF // completely correct
selection
6 Return result correctly in both cases

6(b) 1 mark for statement of problem: 2

Problem:
 The function will return an incorrect value // the test will fail

1 mark for solution:

Solution:
 Round the calculated values (to a known number of decimal places)
 Define a threshold below which any difference can be ignored

Question Answer Marks

7(a)(i) To make the solution easier to design / implement / solve 1

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Question Answer Marks

7(a)(ii) One mark per item and justification 3

Item: mobile phone number

Justification: to send the text message

Item: name
Justification: to personalise the text message

Item: exercise interest

Justification: to determine whether this member would be interested

7(a)(iii) Examples include: 2

 Add a member to a list of those interested in the new class

 Remove the member from future SMS messages
 Read/process Message
 Identify who from

One mark for each.

Max 2 marks

7(b)(i) 2
Means that Update calls (one of) either Sub-A, Sub-B or Sub-C

One mark for each point:

 reference to selection / decision / if
 naming all four modules correctly

7(b)(ii) PROCEDURE Sub-A (Name : STRING, BYREF P2 : BOOLEAN) 4

FUNCTION Sub-B (P1 : REAL) RETURNS REAL

One mark per underlined part in each case

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Question Answer Marks

8(a) FUNCTION DeleteComment(Line : STRING) RETURNS STRING 8

DECLARE NewLine, TwoChars : STRING
DECLARE Count, TrimTo : INTEGER
CONSTANT Comment = "//"

NewLine  Line
TrimTo  0
Count  1
WHILE Count < LENGTH(Line) AND TrimTo = 0
TwoChars  MID(Line, Count, 2) // extract 2 chars
IF TwoChars = Comment THEN
TrimTo  Count
ENDIF
Count  Count + 1
ENDWHILE

IF TrimTo <> 0 THEN

NewLine  LEFT(Line, TrimTo - 1)
ENDIF

RETURN NewLine

ENDFUNCTION

Mark as follows:

1 Loop to length of Line (parameter) // length of Line -1

2 Terminate loop on first double slash
3 Attempt to extract one/two characters in a loop
4 Check for "//" after attempt at extraction in a loop
5 Record start position of comment // Calculate amount of trim required
6 Attempt to trim Line from start of comment
7 Completely correct trimmed Line from start of comment
8 Return Line after a reasonable overall attempt

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Question Answer Marks

8(b) Example: 7

FUNCTION Stage_1(StudentName : STRING) RETURNS INTEGER

DECLARE OldFile, NewFile, Line : STRING

DECLARE Count : INTEGER

OldFile  StudentName & "_src.txt"

NewFile  StudentName & "_S1.txt"
OPENFILE OldFile FOR READ
OPENFILE NewFile FOR WRITE
Count  0

WHILE NOT EOF(OldFile)

READFILE OldFile, Line
Line  DeleteComment(Line)
IF LENGTH(Line) <> 0 THEN
WRITEFILE NewFile, Line
Count  Count + 1
ENDIF
ENDWHILE

CLOSEFILE OldFile
CLOSEFILE NewFile

RETURN Count
ENDFUNCTION

Mark as follows:

1 Generate filenames condone missing “_”

2 Open both files in correct modes and subsequently close
3 Loop to EOF(OldFile)
4 Read a line from OldFile and execute DeleteComment()in a loop
5 Skip blank lines after DeleteComment()in a loop
6 Write Line to stage 1 file and increment Count
7 Return the number of lines after a reasonable attempt at counting

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