Edexcel GCSE Computer Science (1CP2) Exam Questions

Award one mark for any of the following:

• More files/data can be stored (in the same storage space) (1)
• The files take up less storage space (1)
• The backup is quicker/faster to complete (1)
• Less data needs to be transferred to the backup device (1)

Do not accept 'makes the files more secure' or 'encrypts the files'.

Award one mark for:

• 2048 (1)
• 2 × 1024 (1)
• 2^11 (1)

Allow 2048 bytes.

Do not accept 2000, which is the number of bytes in two decimal kilobytes.

Do not accept 1024, which is the number of bytes in one kibibyte.

Do not accept 16, which is the number of bits in two bytes.

Award up to two marks for a linked explanation such as:

• The capacity is easier to read/write (1) because a tebibyte is 1024^4 bytes so the same capacity in bytes would have many more digits (1)
• The number is shorter (1) because writing 16 TiB instead of 17 592 186 044 416 bytes uses far fewer digits (1)
• There is less chance of making a mistake when copying the value (1) because a long byte count of many digits is easy to mistype (1)

For both marks, the expansion must follow/associate with the statement and must refer to the number of digits/length of the value.

Allow 'fewer digits'/'shorter number'/'less chance of error' on its own for the first mark; the second mark needs the linked reason that a tebibyte is 1024^4 bytes, so the value in bytes would be very long/have many more digits.

Do not accept 'it is bigger'/'tebibytes are larger' on its own, as this does not give a benefit of using them.

Do not accept 'easier' on its own without saying what is easier, e.g. fewer digits/shorter number.

Do not accept 'because tebibytes are used for large storage' without a reason about the number of digits/readability.