The Basics!

Know the requirements of the ICT IGCSE Understand the need for extensive reading & research Be able to describe the difference between data and information

You will have 4 lessons per week and are expected to complete 30 – 40 minutes per night homework. Homework is a vital part of this course and it is important that you ensure you put in the right amount of time and effort, in order to make sure you get the best grade possible in your exams.

The written theory exam is 2 hours long and covers a wide range of topics. Questions range from simple true/false ones, to ones requiring long, extended answers. This paper accounts for 40% of your final grade.

There are 2 practical exams, each of 2 ½ hours. Paper 2: , word processing, databases. Paper 3: Web authoring, spreadsheets, multimedia presentations. These two papers make up 60% of your final mark.

…is divided into eight sections: 1. Types and components of computer systems 2. Input and output devices 3. Storage devices and media 4. Computer networks 5. Data types 6. The effects of using ICT 7. The ways in which ICT is used 8. Systems analysis and design

The subject of ICT encompasses any technology that allows us to process data and to communicate.

What is Data? In terms of ICT, data is simply any numbers, letters or symbols that can be entered into a computer system. Here are some items of data: A, 20, DOG, , ABC123, +++ But what do they mean? Who knows? They could mean anything!

Data values don’t have any meaning unless we put them into context (context means a setting or circumstance). For instance, in the above example what does the value 20 mean? 20 cm? 20 minutes? 20 cats? Without a context the value 20 is meaningless. But, if we provide a context for our data, it becomes something far more useful: information

We might enter this data into a computer… Without knowing the context (what the data actually represents) the data is just a meaningless collection of numbers

Without knowing the context (what the data actually represents) the data is just a meaningless collection of numbers. However, if we are told that the values represent the ISBNs of books, the values now have a context. With context, they have meaning - they are now information.

Information is Data + Context

A system has three stages...

Something feeds into the system (the input) The system does something with the input (the process) The process gives a result (the output)

…consists of input devices, a processor and output devices. It also has storage devices.