Computer Studies Exam Questions for SS2 First Term

You’re welcome to our school exams series where we provide you with termly examination questions in different subjects. In today’s post, we will focus on Computer Studies exam questions. We will cover Computer Studies exam questions for SS2 First term with answers. This means that we’ll be providing you with answers to the questions at the end. Also, you will get a few success tips on how to pass Computer Studies examinations with flying colors. Remember to use the comments sections if you have questions, and don’t forget to join our Free Online Tutorial Classes on YouTube. (Subscribe to the Channel)

Introduction to Computer Studies as a School Subject

Before we venture into Past Computer Studies Exam Questions for SS2 First term, here’s a brief introduction to the subject:

Computer Studies is a school subject that introduces students to the world of computers and information technology. It helps learners understand how computers work and how they can be used to solve real-life problems. Through this subject, students learn about computer hardware, software, data processing, programming, and the safe use of technology.

The study of computers also develops students’ problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity. In today’s digital age, Computer Studies prepares learners to be confident users of technology and equips them with the skills needed for further studies and future careers in science, business, and technology-related fields.

Computer Studies Exam Questions for SS2 First Term

Computer Studies Exam Questions for SS2 First Term are divided into two sections:

• Section A
• Section B

The first section, namely, Section A is the objective test, and students are expected to attempt all questions in the section. Section B is the theory part, and students are expected to follow specific instruction and answer the required number of questions.

Note that what you have below are SS2 Computer Studies First Term Exam Past Questions made available to assist students in their revision for 1st term examinations and also teachers in structuring standard examinations.

SECTION A: Objective Test

Instruction: Answer all questions in this section by choosing from the options lettered A—D. Each question carries equal marks.

1. The operation of the computer is coordinated by the:
A. Control unit
B. Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
C. Storage unit
D. RAM

2. Which of the following memories allows simultaneous read and write operations?
A. ROM
B. RAM
C. EPROM
D. None of the above

3. A 3.5-inch floppy diskette typically has a storage capacity of:
A. 1.44 MB        B. 1 MB
C. 44.2 MB        D. 2.44 MB

4. A set of wires used as a communication path inside a computer is called:
A. Accumulator
B. Adder
C. Bus
D. Register

5. Which of the following best describes cloud storage?
A. Local storage on your hard disk only
B. Remote storage accessed via the Internet
C. Storage only on USB flash drives
D. Read-only local file system

6. Which register keeps track of the address of the memory location containing the next instruction?
A. Memory Address Register (MAR)
B. Memory Data Register (MDR)
C. Instruction Register (IR)
D. Program Counter (PC)

7. Main memory works in conjunction with the:
A. RAM
B. CPU
C. Special wired cards
D. None of these

8. Which of the following is a word-processing software?
A. MS Excel       B. Notepad
C. Oracle           D. Photoshop

9. 1 megabyte is equivalent to how many kilobytes (binary convention)?
A. 1000 KB       B. 1024 KB
C. 1034 KB       D. 1204 KB

10. The following BASIC program lines are given. Which action does it perform?
REM …
OPEN “TESTFILE.DAT” FOR INPUT AS #10
PRINT “Name”, “English”, “Mathematics”
DO WHILE NOT EOF(1)
REM process the entire file
INPUT names$, Math$, Eng$
LOOP
CLOSE #10
END
A. Create a sequential file
B. Access a sequential file
C. Delete a sequential file
D. Close a sequential file

11. Which of the following storage devices can store the largest amount of data?
A. Floppy disk
B. Hard disk
C. Compact disk (CD)
D. Magnetic optical disk

12. Which of the following is a read-only memory storage device?
A. Floppy disk
B. CD-ROM
C. Hard disk
D. None of the above

13. Which of the following best describes a Flash drive (USB stick)?
A. Volatile storage that loses data when power is off
B. Non-volatile removable storage
C. Read-only memory only
D. A type of CPU register

14. A name or number used to identify a storage location is called:
A. A byte
B. A record
C. An address
D. All of the above

15. Which of the following stores the operating system files permanently?
A. Flash drives
B. Hard disk
C. RAM
D. Cache

16. A spreadsheet package is primarily used for:
A. Games
B. Typing of text
C. Drawing
D. Calculating

17. Which of these storage media has the lowest capacity?
A. CD-ROM
B. Flash drive (USB)
C. Floppy disk
D. Registers

18. A bus has a width of 16 bits and a frequency of 100 kHz. Its theoretical transfer speed (bits per second) is:
A. 8 × 10^5 bits/s
B. 16 × 10^5 bits/s
C. 8 × 100 bits/s
D. 16 × 100 bits/s

19. The type of memory based on capacitor technology that must be periodically refreshed is called:
A. SRAM          B. DRAM
C. EPROM        D. EEPROM

20. The Boolean operator that returns true when inputs differ is:
A. AND         B. OR
C. NOT         D. XOR

21. The spreadsheet is used for:
A. Games
B. Typing of text
C. Drawing
D. Calculating

22. Which logic gate outputs “1” when at least one of its inputs is “1”?
A. AND gate
B. OR gate
C. NOT gate
D. XOR gate

23. In the program above, the file reference number is:
A. 1
B. 10
C. 1 and 10
D. None of the above

24. What does CD-ROM stand for?
A. Compactable Read-Only Memory
B. Compact Data Read-Only Memory
C. Compatible Disk Read-Only Memory
D. Compact Disc Read-Only Memory

25. Which of the following stores the operating system files permanently?
A. Flash drives
B. Hard disk
C. RAM
D. Cache

26. Which of the following is found inside the CPU?
A. Main memory
B. Modems
C. Registers
D. Zip drives

27. The keyboard shortcut to print in MS Word is:
A. Ctrl + P
B. Ctrl + F2
C. Shift + P
D. Shift + F2

28. What is the primary purpose of an operating system?
A. To create application software
B. To manage hardware and provide services to applications
C. To act as an antivirus program
D. To store user documents

29. The acronym WORM stands for:
A. Write Once, Read Many
B. What Of ROM Memory
C. Write Off, Read Many
D. Write Only Ready Memory

30. The word-processing task associated with changing the appearance of a document is called:
A. Debugging
B. Editing
C. Writing
D. Formatting

31. If P = 1 and Q = 1, what is the value of NOT(P · Q)?
A. 0
B. 0 and 1
C. 1
D. 1 and 0

32. Which device is best described as non-volatile primary storage containing firmware?
A. RAM          B. ROM
C. Cache        D. Registers

33. Which of these is NOT a valid cell reference in spreadsheet A1 notation?
A. A1            B. B$2
C. $C$3        D. 1A

34. Superscript, subscript, outline, emboss and engrave in MS Word are known as:
A. Font effects
B. Font styles
C. Text effects
D. Text styles

35. The element that displays the content of the active cell in a spreadsheet is the:
A. Formula bar
B. Name box
C. Row heading
D. Title bar

36. The main functional parts of the central processing unit are:
A. ALU and CU
B. Bus and ALU
C. CMOS and Bus
D. RAM and ROM

37. Which among the following is NOT a type of computer register?
A. Memory Address Register (MAR)
B. Current Instruction Register (CIR)
C. Personal Computer (PC)
D. Accumulator

38. A collection of related fields is called a:
A. Data item
B. Data element
C. Record
D. Field

39. Which logic circuit is shown if the diagram (assume diagram shows an OR gate) is an OR gate?
A. AND gate
B. XOR gate
C. NOT gate
D. OR gate

40. Which of the following is a word-processing software?
A. MS Excel
B. Notepad
C. Oracle
D. Photoshop

41. Which of the following would you NOT recommend as a way to guard a school’s computers against viruses?
A. Data backup
B. Employing a data analyst
C. Installing an antivirus program
D. Use of passwords

42. What is the name of the file used in the program above?
A. TESTFILE.DAT
B. OPEN
C. INPUT
D. EOF

43. A character set that contains letters and digits is called a(n):
A. Alphanumeric character set
B. Numeric character set
C. Reserved character set
D. Special character set

44. The operation of the computer is coordinated by the:
A. Control unit
B. ALU
C. Storage
D. RAM

45. A computer addressable unit made up of 8 bits is called a:
A. Bit          B. Nibble
C. Byte       D. Word

46. Which of these is NOT a valid cell reference in spreadsheet A1 notation?
A. A1           B. B$2
C. $C$3       D. 1A

47. A device that compares the magnitudes of two binary quantities to determine which is greater is called a:
A. Comparator
B. AND gate
C. OR gate
D. NOT gate

48. In binary arithmetic, adding 1 + 1 gives:
A. 0 with carry 0
B. 0 with carry 1
C. 1 with carry 0
D. 2 with carry 2

49. In a spreadsheet, the entry error “###” usually means:
A. The cell contains a number
B. The column width is insufficient to display the value
C. The entry is wrong
D. The cell is not properly formatted

50. Which of the following devices is used to convert analog signals to digital signals for the computer?
A. Modem        B. Printer
C. Scanner        D. Monitor

51. A file extension that indicates a compressed archive is usually:
A. .exe          B. .zip
C. .docx        D. .xlsx

52. Which of the following best describes cloud storage?
A. Local storage on your hard disk only
B. Remote storage accessed via the Internet
C. Storage only on USB flash drives
D. Read-only local file system

53. Which of the following is a presentation software?
A. MS PowerPoint
B. MS Access
C. MS Excel
D. Notepad

54. Which of the following best describes a Flash drive (USB stick)?
A. Volatile storage that loses data when power is off
B. Non-volatile removable storage
C. Read-only memory only
D. A type of CPU register

55. Which device directly executes machine instructions of a program?
A. Hard disk      B. CPU
C. RAM              D. Printer

56. To open the Symbol dialog box in MS Word, click on the:
A. Home tab
B. Insert tab
C. Page Layout tab
D. View tab

57. The process of copying files to an optical disc (CD/DVD) is commonly called:
A. Storing      B. Burning
C. Pasting      D. Copying

58. A file extension that indicates a compressed archive is usually:
A. .exe        B. .zip
C. .docx      D. .xlsx

59. Which device is best described as non-volatile primary storage containing firmware?
A. RAM        B. ROM
C. Cache       D. Registers

60. Which of the following file operations permanently removes a file from disk (assuming no recycle bin)?
A. Copy      B. Delete
C. Paste      D. Rename

SECTION B: Essay / Theory

INSTRUCTION – Answer only five (5) questions in this section. Write your answers clearly and show working where necessary.

1. (a) Define primary memory and secondary storage. Give two examples of each.
(b) A school wants to choose a backup medium for storing students’ records. Recommend a backup strategy and justify your choice.

2. Explain the difference between RAM and ROM. In your answer, state two features of each and give one example of when each type is used in a computer system.

3. (a) Describe the steps required to create and save a basic Excel spreadsheet that calculates the total score from three subject marks.
(b) Explain how you would protect the worksheet from accidental editing.

4. (a) Draw and label the main parts of the Central Processing Unit (CPU).
(b) Describe the roles of the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) and the Control Unit (CU) during the fetch-decode-execute cycle.

5. (a) Explain what an operating system is and list four functions it performs.
(b) Describe two types of user interfaces provided by operating systems and give one advantage of each.

6. (a) State the Boolean laws for AND, OR and NOT. Give one simple truth table for the AND operation.
(b) Using logic gates, show how to implement the Boolean expression X = A·B + A·C and explain your diagram.

7. (a) Explain what a bus is and list three types of buses in a computer system.
(b) For each bus named, briefly describe its function.

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Answers to Computer Studies Exam Questions for SS2 First Term

Answers to Section A (Objective Test)

The following table gives the correct answers to the objective section of Computer Studies exam questions for SS2 First term. If you are using a mobile device, hold the table and scroll to the right or left for a complete view.

So here you have the answers to the objective section of Computer Studies Exam Questions for SS2 First term. Use the comments section to let me know if you have any questions you would want me to clarify or discuss further.

Answers to Section B (Theory)

Answers to Question 1.

(a) Primary memory refers to the internal memory of the computer that temporarily stores data and instructions currently being used. It is fast and directly accessible by the CPU. Examples include Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read-Only Memory (ROM).
Secondary storage, on the other hand, refers to external storage devices used to store data permanently. It retains data even when the computer is turned off. Examples include hard disks and flash drives.

(b) A suitable backup strategy for storing students’ records is the use of external hard drives or cloud storage with scheduled automatic backups. This ensures that important data is saved regularly and can be recovered in case of system failure or accidental loss.

Answers to Question 2.

RAM (Random Access Memory) is a volatile memory that temporarily stores data and instructions being used by the CPU. It loses its contents when power is turned off. Features of RAM include high speed and read/write capability. It is used when running applications or performing calculations.

ROM (Read-Only Memory) is non-volatile and permanently stores essential programs required for booting the computer, such as the BIOS. Features of ROM include read-only access and permanence. It is used during the computer’s startup process.

Answers to Question 3.

(a) Steps to create and save a basic Excel spreadsheet that calculates total scores:

1. Open Microsoft Excel.
2. Enter the students’ names and subject scores in rows and columns.
3. Click on the cell where you want the total to appear.
4. Type the formula, for example: =B2+C2+D2 to sum three subject marks.
5. Press Enter to calculate the total.
6. Click File → Save As, choose a folder, type the file name, and click Save.

(b) To protect the worksheet from accidental editing:

• Select the cells to remain editable (if any) and unlock them via Format Cells → Protection.
• Then go to Review → Protect Sheet and set a password.
• This prevents unauthorized changes to the data or formulas.

Answers to Question 4.

(a) The main parts of the CPU are:

• Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU)
• Control Unit (CU)
• Registers

(b) The ALU performs all arithmetic operations such as addition and subtraction, and logical operations such as AND, OR, and NOT.
The CU controls the operations of the computer by fetching instructions from memory, decoding them, and coordinating their execution by directing the ALU and other components during the fetch-decode-execute cycle.

Answers to Question 5.

(a) An operating system (OS) is a system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides services for computer programs.
Functions of the operating system include:

• Managing files and directories.
• Handling input and output operations.
• Allocating memory and processing resources.
• Providing user interfaces and system security.

(b) Two types of user interfaces are:

• Command-Line Interface (CLI): Users type commands to interact with the computer. Advantage – Fast and powerful for advanced users.
• Graphical User Interface (GUI): Users interact through icons and windows. Advantage – Easy to use and user-friendly for beginners.

Answers to Question 6.

(a) Boolean Laws:

• AND Law: A · 1 = A, A · 0 = 0
• OR Law: A + 0 = A, A + 1 = 1
• NOT Law: ¬(¬A) = A

Truth Table for AND Operation

(b) The Boolean expression X = A·B + A·C can be implemented using AND and OR gates.
First, use two AND gates to produce A·B and A·C, then connect their outputs to an OR gate to obtain X.
This means X will be true if either (A AND B) or (A AND C) is true.

Answers to Question 7.

(a) A bus is a set of parallel wires used to transfer data, control signals, and addresses between different components of a computer system.

(b) The three types of buses and their functions are:

• Data Bus: Carries actual data between the CPU, memory, and peripherals.
• Address Bus: Carries memory addresses that specify where data should be read or written.
• Control Bus: Carries control signals from the CPU to other components to coordinate operations.

Read Also: Computer Studies Exam Questions for SS1 First Term

How to Pass Computer Studies Exam Questions for SS2 First Term

Passing your Computer Studies exam questions for SS2 First term requires a combination of preparation, understanding, and strategy. Here are actionable tips to help you excel:

1. Know the syllabus

Get the SS2 first-term scheme of work. List the topics you must cover. Study the topics in that order. Do not skip any topic that is on the syllabus.

2. Build a simple study plan

• Set daily study times — 30–60 minutes for theory and 30 minutes for practice.
• Cover one major topic each week and revise small topics every day.
• Keep a short checklist and tick off what you finish.

3. Understand concepts, don’t just memorize

Know what hardware and software do. Learn how CPU, memory and storage work. When you understand, questions become easier. Use diagrams and short notes.

4. Practice past questions

Collect past WAEC/NECO-style objective and theory questions. Time yourself when answering. Mark your answers. Learn from mistakes and repeat weak topics.

5. Master key facts and formulas

• Binary to decimal and back.
• Units of storage (bit, byte, KB, MB, etc.).
• Common shortcuts and commands (e.g., Ctrl + P, Insert → Symbol).

6. Improve practical skills

Spend time in the computer lab. Practice typing, using Word and Excel, and saving files. Create a simple spreadsheet that sums three subjects. That skill often appears in theory or practical questions.

7. Learn how questions are asked

Objective tests test facts and definitions. Theory questions ask for explanations, diagrams, and step-by-step procedures. Plan short, clear answers for theory questions.

8. Exam technique

• Read questions carefully. Shade options clearly for objective tests.
• Answer easy questions first. Return to hard ones later.
• Show diagrams neatly. Label parts (CPU, ALU, CU, registers).
• In calculations, show steps. Examiners give marks for method.

9. Revision tips

Do short, regular revision sessions. Use flashcards for facts. Teach a friend — explaining helps you remember.

10. On the exam day

• Arrive early with allowed materials (pens, ruler, calculator if allowed).
• Read instructions and time distribution before you start.
• Stay calm. Work steadily. Check answers if time remains.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Relying only on memorization without practice.
• Ignoring practical skills and past questions.
• Poor time management during the test.

Do these things. Practice every week. Keep your notes simple and clear. You will do well.

It’s a wrap!

If you need more clarification on SS2 First Term Questions on Computer Studies, you can use the comments box below. We’ll be there to answer you asap. Don’t forget to join our Free Online Tutorial Classes on YouTube. (Subscribe to the Channel)

Best wishes..