Exam Question

Okay guys, i’m doing a computing course for A-Level at my school, and in a mock exam, there was this question… which is just so stupid… i have to ask you guys it, i’m going to copy it word for word ( i have the exam paper with me )... bearing in mind this is an A-LEVEL COMPUTING EXAM QUESTION … please answer it.

It will be really interesting to see what you guys think the answer is, after some replies i’ll post the accepted answers, and say who got it right ( and yes, of course i have the answers! )

So here’s the question:

State two reasons why it is necessary to have at least one storage device in addition to the computer’s memory in a computer system.

There are 2 marks for this question, one for each reason. Good luck guys

It must be something….... that I don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll give it a shot after someone else does. I suck badly at theory.

It depends, if they’re referring to the compuer memory as RAM , your going to want to talk about the pro’s of backing storage.

Namely:

Backing storage allows you to save files, and keep them intact even when the computer is turned off, unlike RAM which is cleared when the computer is turned off.

Im not sure what other pro’s there are, but that’s what I’ve come up with.

I am also doing Computing Studies this year at school, but only got a B in my mocks, so meh. Hope I’ve helped xD

RAM is volatile, only stores data while it has power.

Secondary memory (media, HDDs) allows for persistence, so you can save files.

I’m guessing there’s a really silly answer.

i dont know but i sure would like to know.

but here is what i think

as rams are volatile memory and they lose their memory once the power is cut off. hence non volatile memory is needed.

secondly to speed up the processing power of the cpu. meaning if the processor keeps getting data directly from the main memory it uses lots of time hence secondary storage is required to keep the next instructions so the processor doesnt have to fetch again again.

will wait for the correct answer

secondly to speed up the processing power of the cpu. meaning if the processor keeps getting data directly from the main memory it uses lots of time hence secondary storage is required to keep the next instructions so the processor doesnt have to fetch again again.

if the second reason is CPU cache then that’s a bit harsh… so glad I did my A-Ls years ago lol

lol