aP Computer SCience PrinciPles COllege BoArd

Which of the following has the greatest potential for compromising a user's personal privacy? A A group of cookies stored by the user's Web browser B The Internet Protocol (IP) address of the user's computer C The user's e-mail address D The user's public key used for encryption

A A group of cookies stored by the user's Web browser

Which of the following is LEAST likely to indicate a phishing attack? A An e-mail from your bank asks you to call the number on your card to verify a transaction B An e-mail from a merchant asks that you click on a link to reset your password C An e-mail from a utility company asks you to enter your date of birth and social security number for verification purposes D An e-mail indicates that you have won a large sum of money and asks you to enter your bank account number so that the money can be transferred to you

A An e-mail from your bank asks you to call the number on your card to verify a transaction

A retailer that sells footwear maintains a single database containing records with the following information about each item for sale in the retailer's store. Item identification number Footwear type (sneakers, boots, sandals, etc.) Selling price (in dollars) Size Color Quantity available Using only the database, which of the following can be determined? A Which items listed in the database are not currently in the store B Which colors are more popular among men than women C Which type of footwear is most popular among adults D The total number of shoes sold in a particular month

A Which items listed in the database are not currently in the store

Which of the following best explains what happens when a new device is connected to the Internet?

An Internet Protocol (IP) address is assigned to the device.

Which of the following best describes a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack?

An attempt to deny users access to a Web site's resources by flooding the Web site with requests from multiple systems

A large data set contains information about all students majoring in computer science in colleges across the United States. The data set contains the following information about each student. The student's gender The state in which the student attends college The student's grade point average on a 4.0 scale Which of the following questions could be answered by analyzing only information in the data set? A Do students majoring in computer science tend to have higher grade point averages than students majoring in other subjects? B How many states have a higher percentage of female computer science majors than male computer science majors attending college in that state? C What percent of students attending college in a certain state are majoring in computer science? D Which college has the highest number of students majoring in computer science?

B How many states have a higher percentage of female computer science majors than male computer science majors attending college in that state?

Which of the following is considered an unethical use of computer resources? A Downloading freeware or shareware onto your home computer B Purchasing a game from an app store and downloading it directly to a mobile device C Purchasing a single-user copy of photo editing software and installing it on all the computers in a computer lab D Searching online for an electronic version of a school textbook

B Purchasing a single-user copy of photo editing software and installing it on all the computers in a computer lab

Both online newspapers and social media sites are used to distribute information on the Internet. Which of the following best describes an advantage that online newspapers have over social media sites? A The ability to distribute information instantaneously B The ability to provide credibility to the information distributed C The ability to provide information that is widely accessible D The ability to provide media-rich content for low cost

B The ability to provide credibility to the information distributed

A certain computer game is played between a human player and a computer-controlled player. Every time the computer-controlled player has a turn, the game runs slowly because the computer evaluates all potential moves and selects the best one. Which of the following best describes the possibility of improving the running speed of the game? A The game's running speed can only be improved if the game is played between two human players instead of with the computer-controlled player. B The game's running speed might be improved by using a process that finds approximate solutions every time the computer-controlled player has a turn. C The game's running speed cannot be improved because computers can only be programmed to find the best possible solution. D The game's running speed cannot be improved because the game is an example of an algorithm that does not run in a reasonable time.

B The game's running speed might be improved by using a process that finds approximate solutions every time the computer-controlled player has a turn.

A cable television company stores information about movie purchases made by subscribers. Each day, the following information is summarized and stored in a publicly available database. The day and date each movie was purchased The title of each movie purchased The cities where subscribers purchased each movie The number of times each movie was purchased by subscribers in a given city A sample portion of the database is shown below. The database is sorted by date and movie title. A table is shown with four columns titled Day and Date, Movie Title, City, and Number of Times Purchased. The first row reads Saturday 1/5/2014, Movie A, Houston Texas, and 1. The second row reads Saturday 1/5/2014, Movie A, Detroit Michigan, and 2. The third row reads Saturday 1/5/2015, Movie B, Houston Texas, and 1. The fourth row reads Saturday 1/5/2014, Movie C, Anchorage Alaska, and 1. The fifth row reads Sunday 1/6/2014, Movie A, Wichita Kansas, and 3. Which of the following CANNOT be determined using only the information in the database? A The date when a certain movie was purchased the greatest number of times B The number of movies purchased by an individual subscriber for a particular month C The total number of cities in which a certain movie was purchased D The total number of movies purchased in a certain city during a particular month

B The number of movies purchased by an individual subscriber for a particular month

Central High School keeps a database of information about each student, including the numeric variables numberOfAbsences and gradePointAverage. The expression below is used to determine whether a student is eligible to receive an academic award. (numberOfAbsences ≤ 5) AND (gradePointAverage > 3.5) Which of the following pairs of values indicates that a student is eligible to receive an academic award? A numberOfAbsences = 3, gradePointAverage = 3.5 B numberOfAbsences = 5, gradePointAverage = 3.8 C numberOfAbsences = 6, gradePointAverage = 3.4 D numberOfAbsences = 6, gradePointAverage = 3.6

B numberOfAbsences = 5, gradePointAverage = 3.8

Biologists often attach tracking collars to wild animals. For each animal, the following geolocation data is collected at frequent intervals. The time The date The location of the animal Which of the following questions about a particular animal could NOT be answered using only the data collected from the tracking collars? A Approximately how many miles did the animal travel in one week? B Does the animal travel in groups with other tracked animals? C Do the movement patterns of the animal vary according to the weather? D In what geographic locations does the animal typically travel?

C Do the movement patterns of the animal vary according to the weather?

A city government is attempting to reduce the digital divide between groups with differing access to computing and the Internet. Which of the following activities is LEAST likely to be effective in this purpose? A Holding basic computer classes at community centers B Providing free wireless Internet connections at locations in low-income neighborhoods C Putting all government forms on the city Web site D Requiring that every city school has computers that meet a minimum hardware and software standard

C Putting all government forms on the city Web site

Which of the following activities poses the greatest personal cybersecurity risk? A Making a purchase at an online store that uses public key encryption to transmit credit card information B Paying a bill using a secure electronic payment system C Reserving a hotel room by e-mailing a credit card number to a hotel D Withdrawing money from a bank account using an automated teller machine (ATM)

C Reserving a hotel room by e-mailing a credit card number to a hotel

Which of the following is a true statement about cloud computing? A Cloud computing is convenient to implement but has a negative effect on the scalability of systems. B Cloud computing is useful for large businesses but is not useful for individuals. C Storing data using cloud computing can help ensure that data are not lost if a user's computer stops functioning. D Storing data using cloud computing improves security over storing data on a personal computer.

C Storing data using cloud computing can help ensure that data are not lost if a user's computer stops functioning.

Historically, it has been observed that computer processing speeds tend to double every two years. Which of the following best describes how technology companies can use this observation for planning purposes? A Technology companies can accurately predict the dates when new computing innovations will be available to use. B Technology companies can plan to double the costs of new products each time advances in processing speed occur. C Technology companies can set research and development goals based on anticipated processing speeds. D Technology companies can spend less effort developing new processors because processing speed will always improve at the observed rate.

C Technology companies can set research and development goals based on anticipated processing speeds

A certain social media Web site allows users to post messages and to comment on other messages that have been posted. When a user posts a message, the message itself is considered data. In addition to the data, the site stores the following metadata. The time the message was posted The name of the user who posted the message The names of any users who comment on the message and the times the comments were made For which of the following goals would it be more useful to analyze the data instead of the metadata? A To determine the users who post messages most frequently B To determine the time of day that the site is most active C To determine the topics that many users are posting about D To determine which posts from a particular user have received the greatest number of comments

C To determine the topics that many users are posting about

Digital images are often represented by the red, green, and blue values (an RGB triplet) of each individual pixel in the image. A photographer is manipulating a digital image and overwriting the original image. Which of the following describes a lossless transformation of the digital image?

Creating the gray scale of an image by averaging the amounts of red, green, and blue in each pixel and assigning this new value to the corresponding pixel in the new image. The new value of each pixel represents a shade of gray, ranging from white to black.

A car manufacturer uses simulation software during the design process for a new car. Which of the following are reasons to use simulation software in this context? I. Using simulation software can save the company money by helping to compare designs early in the process, before prototype cars are built. II. Using simulation software can help to identify safety issues by providing data about how different mechanical components will interact in a wide variety of situations. III. The manufacturer can present simulation software to customers to demonstrate different design possibilities. A I and II only B I and III only C II and III only D I, II, and III

D I, II, and III

The table below shows the time a computer system takes to complete a specified task on the customer data of different-sized companies. The figure shows a table with 4 columns and 5 rows. The top row contains the column labels, from left to right; column 1, Task; column 2, Small Company (approximately 100 customers); column 3, Medium Company (approximately 1,000 customers); column 4, Large Company (approximately 10,000 customers). From top to bottom, the data is as follows: Row 2; Task, Backing up data, Small Company, 2 hours, Medium Company, 20 hours, Large Company, 200 hours. Row 3; Task, Deleting entries from data, Small Company, 100 hours, Medium Company, 200 hours, Large Company, 300 hours. Row 4; Task, Searching through data, Small Company, 250 hours, Medium Company, 300 hours, Large Company, 350 hours. Row 5; Task, Sorting data, Small Company, 0.01 hours, Medium Company, 1 hour, Large Company, 100 hours. Based on the information in the table, which of the following tasks is likely to take the longest amount of time when scaled up for a very large company of approximately 100,000 customers? A Backing up data B Deleting entries from data C Searching through data D Sorting data

D Sorting data

A new bank plans to make customer convenience a priority by minimizing the amount of time a customer waits in line. The bank is considering two options: a single line where the customer at the front waits for the next available teller, or separate lines for each teller. The bank decides to use a computer simulation of these two options to determine the average wait time for customers. Which of the following is NOT true about the bank's plan? A The bank can incorporate other factors, such as the number of tellers, in the simulation. B The bank can use the simulation to investigate these two options without causing inconvenience for customers. C The bank may consider new alternatives based on the simulation results. D The simulation will not produce usable results because actual customer data are not available.

D The simulation will not produce usable results because actual customer data are not available.

Consider the following numbers. Binary 1100 Decimal 11 Hexadecimal D Which of the following lists the numbers in order from least to greatest?

Decimal 11, Hexadecimal D, Binary 1100

A programmer is writing a program that is intended to be able to process large amounts of data. Which of the following considerations is LEAST likely to affect the ability of the program to process larger data sets?

How many programming statements the program contains

Which of the following are true statements about digital certificates in Web browsers? I. Digital certificates are used to verify the ownership of encrypted keys used in secured communication. II. Digital certificates are used to verify that the connection to a Web site is fault tolerant.

I only

When a cellular telephone user places a call, the carrier transmits the caller's voice as well as the voice of the person who is called. The encoded voices are the data of the call. In addition to transmitting the data, the carrier also stores metadata. The metadata of the call include information such as the time the call is placed and the phone numbers of both participants. For which of the following goals would it be more useful to computationally analyze the metadata instead of the data? I. To determine if a caller frequently uses a specific word II. To estimate the number of phone calls that will be placed next Monday between 10:30 A.M. and noon. III. To generate a list of criminal suspects when given the telephone number of a known criminal

II and III only

Which of the following is a characteristic of the fault-tolerant nature of routing on the Internet?

The ability to provide data transmission even when some connections have failed

A program is expressed in a programming language. Which of the following is true of the program?

The program can also be expressed as binary code, but will be more easily understood by humans when expressed in a higher-level programming language.

Which of the following is a true statement about data compression?

There are trade-offs involved in choosing a compression technique for storing and transmitting data.

Under which of the following conditions is it most beneficial to use a heuristic approach to solve a problem?

When the problem cannot be solved in a reasonable time and an approximate solution is acceptable