12 OCR GCSE Computer Science (J277) exam-style questions on Binary Shifts (1.2 Memory & Storage), 17 marks in all. Answer them on paper or print them, then open the mark schemes and example answers to see how each is marked.
Computers represent data in binary form.
Show the result of a left binary shift of 2 places on the binary number 00011010.
Guidance
Ignore leading 0s
01101000
Why: Every bit moves 2 places left, with 0s filling the gap (1).
00110100
Why: The bits are shifted the wrong number of places (0).
00000110
Why: The bits are shifted right instead of left (0).
Binary numbers can represent different forms of data.
Tick (✓) one box to identify the result of a 4-place right binary shift on the binary number 10111110.
[ ] 00001011
[ ] 11100000
[ ] 00010111
[ ] 00000101
1 mark for
Answer: 00001011
Guidance
2+ ticks = 0 marks
00001011
Why: A 4-place right shift: every bit moves 4 places right with 0s filling the gap (1).
00010111
Why: This is the result of a shift by the wrong number of places (0).
11100000
Why: This is the result of a left shift (0).
Computers represent data in binary form.
Show the result of a left binary shift of 2 places on the binary number 10101101.
Guidance
Ignore leading 0s
10110100
Why: Every bit moves 2 places left, with 0s filling the gap (1).
01011010
Why: The bits are shifted the wrong number of places (0).
00101011
Why: The bits are shifted right instead of left (0).
Computers represent data in binary form.
Tick (✓) one box to identify the result of a 4-place right binary shift on the binary number 11001000.
[ ] 00001100
[ ] 00011001
[ ] 00000110
[ ] 10000000
1 mark for
Answer: 00001100
Guidance
2+ ticks = 0 marks
00001100
Why: A 4-place right shift: every bit moves 4 places right with 0s filling the gap (1).
00011001
Why: This is the result of a shift by the wrong number of places (0).
10000000
Why: This is the result of a left shift (0).
Binary numbers can represent different forms of data.
Show the result of a right binary shift of 2 places on the binary number 00010111.
Guidance
Ignore leading 0s
00000101
Why: Every bit moves 2 places right, with 0s filling the gap (1).
00001011
Why: The bits are shifted the wrong number of places (0).
01011100
Why: The bits are shifted left instead of right (0).
Binary numbers can represent different forms of data.
Tick (✓) one box to identify the result of a 4-place left binary shift on the binary number 11011101.
[ ] 00001101
[ ] 10100000
[ ] 11010000
[ ] 11101000
1 mark for
Answer: 11010000
Guidance
2+ ticks = 0 marks
11010000
Why: A 4-place left shift: every bit moves 4 places left with 0s filling the gap (1).
11101000
Why: This is the result of a shift by the wrong number of places (0).
00001101
Why: This is the result of a right shift (0).
Binary numbers can represent different forms of data.
Perform a binary shift of 4 places left on the binary number 01101100.
Guidance
Ignore leading 0s
11000000
Why: Every bit moves 4 places left, with 0s filling the gap (1).
01100000
Why: The bits are shifted the wrong number of places (0).
00000110
Why: The bits are shifted right instead of left (0).
Binary numbers can represent different forms of data.
Identify the binary shift that has been applied to the 8-bit binary number 10101000 to get the result 01010100.
1 mark each
Right shift of 1 place
Why: The direction (1) and the number of places (1).
Right shift
Why: The direction is right (1), but the number of places is missing; 2 marks means two points are needed.
Left shift of 2 places
Why: Neither the direction nor the number of places is right (0).
Describe the binary shift that can be used to divide any number by 8.
1 mark each
Guidance
No marks for contradictions e.g. “shifting to left or right”
Shift all the bits 3 places to the right.
Why: The direction (1) and the number of places (1).
A right shift of 8 places
Why: The direction is right (1), but it is 3 places, not 8 (0).
Shift the bits left 8 places
Why: Neither the direction nor the number of places is right (0).
Computers store all data as binary.
Identify the binary shift that has been applied to the 8-bit binary number 01001101 to get the result 01101000.
1 mark each
Left shift of 3 places
Why: The direction (1) and the number of places (1).
Left shift
Why: The direction is right (1), but the number of places is missing; 2 marks means two points are needed.
Right shift of 2 places
Why: Neither the direction nor the number of places is right (0).
Describe the binary shift that can be used to divide any number by 16.
1 mark each
Guidance
No marks for contradictions e.g. “shifting to left or right”
Shift all the bits 4 places to the right.
Why: The direction (1) and the number of places (1).
A right shift of 16 places
Why: The direction is right (1), but it is 4 places, not 16 (0).
Shift the bits left 16 places
Why: Neither the direction nor the number of places is right (0).
Computers store all data as binary.
Identify the binary shift that has been applied to the 8-bit binary number 10010110 to get the result 10110000.
1 mark each
Left shift of 3 places
Why: The direction (1) and the number of places (1).
Left shift
Why: The direction is right (1), but the number of places is missing; 2 marks means two points are needed.
Right shift of 2 places
Why: Neither the direction nor the number of places is right (0).
Teachers: print these as a worksheet with the mark schemes at the end, and sign your school up to set your classes activities on Binary Shifts.
Fetch Decode Explain isn't affiliated with or endorsed by OCR.