IGCSE / CAIE ICT Level

Table of contents

Link to Cambridge:

https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/programmes-and-qualifications/cambridge-igcse-information-and-communication-technology-0417/ 

Key Benefits

Cambridge IGCSE Information and Communication Technology provides learners with the ability to use a broad range of ICT skills and encourages knowledge and understanding of the development of ICT systems, networks and their safe use. 

I feel strongly that ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and Computer Science knowledge are indispensable in our rapidly evolving world. They hold the key to unlocking endless possibilities. Every student should have at least 1 of the 2 units.

Assessment

Compliments

"The ICT paper today was pretty good by the way. Thanks for all your help" ~ A*****

"Thank you for admitting me, cher. I enjoy your class😄" ~ C******

"Thanks for teaching . Appreciate it a lot" ~ J*****

"He enjoys ur lesson" ~ S******

All testimonials are shared with permission. Names and identifying details have been removed to protect student privacy. Results may vary 

Chapter 1 Types and components of computer systems

https://www.lenovo.com/my/en/glossary/cmos/?orgRef=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com%252F# 

The benefits and drawbacks of the choosing desktop computers

Benefits

• Better dissipation of heat

• Power consumption is not critical

• Less likely to be damaged as they are fixed in one location

• Less chance of the desktop being stolen as peripherals are separate

• Stable internet access

• Easily expanded / upgraded by changing peripherals

Drawbacks

• Less portable as they are built up of separate parts

• Has a large footprint

• Can be more trailing lead issues

• Less flexibility as students could bring in their own mobile computers

• Needs to be constantly connected to the mains electricity to use

End of support for Cortana in Windows and Teams - Microsoft Support 

https://chat.openai.com/chat 

Chapter 2 Input and output devices

~ Input

https://www.touchngo.com.my/consumer/toll/rfid/ 

https://express.adobe.com/tools/qr-code-generator 

~ Output

https://www.tinkercad.com/ 

Chapter 3 Storage devices and media

~ Backup

Chapter 4 Networks and the effects of using them

Study Tips 💡

If you are having problem visualising Networking. Try to view Networking like the Postal System

• Packets = Letters

• Router = Post office sorting center

• IP address = Home address

• Switch = Building mailroom

https://www.dbs.com.sg/personal/support/bank-ibanking-using-ib-secure-device.html 

Chapter 5 The effects of using IT

🚗 What is a "Phantom Traffic Jam"?

A phantom traffic jam (also known as a "ghost jam" or "shockwave jam") is a traffic congestion event that occurs without any physical cause — no accidents, no roadworks, and no broken-down vehicles.

How it happens (The Human Factor):

• One driver brakes slightly (due to distraction, a minor speed adjustment, or looking at something).

• The driver behind them reacts a second later and brakes a little harder to compensate.

• This reaction amplifies down the line of traffic like a shockwave.

• By the time the reaction reaches cars 10–20 vehicles back, they are forced to come to a complete stop.

Result: A traffic jam that appears out of nowhere and slowly dissipates backward.

Chapter 6  ICT applications

Point-of-sale (POS ) terminals; just think of the cashier in our supermarket.

A bank is looking into a variety of security measures to protect its customers’ data.

Describe three types of authentication technique they could use and for each give a benefit

and a drawback.

User ID and password

Benefit – each user ID could be unique/only user will know the password/data can only be

accessed by person who knows the password/Password can be changed frequently to avoid

hackers guessing them/Unsuccessful logins can throw you out of the system

Drawback – user might forget password/keylogging software can be used to intercept it

Biometrics

Benefit – each user has unique biometrics

Drawback – equipment is expensive to buy/may be difficult or expensive to get equipment to user

Magnetic/chip card with PIN

Benefit – Hacker needs to have the card and know the PIN

Drawback – can lose the card/can forget PIN

Chapter 7 The System Life Cycle

Design

https://www.diagrams.net/ 

Validation is the checking that data is reasonable or acceptable

Validation does not check that data is correct

If, for example, data is incorrect but within a given range, a range check won’t reject it

Validation is always carried out by the computer

Chapter 8 Safety and security

Face recognition

Advantage

• non-intrusive method

• relatively inexpensive technology

Disadvantage

• can be affected by changes in lighting, the person’s hair, their age, and if the person is wearing spectacles

Password Strength Testing Tool | Bitwarden 

https://www.csa.gov.sg/Tips-Resource/Interactive-Tools/Password-Checker 

https://www.nacsa.gov.my/index.php  National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA), Malaysia 

Chapter 10 Communication

SPAM CONTROL ACT 2007 (Singapore) https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/SCA2007 

The purpose of web browser:

• Retrieves code from the server. Downloads information resources

• Interprets the code as a web page. Uses page resources to build a web page. Runs the code

• The web page is displayed. Renders web page to view

• Allows the user to navigate to other information

• Runs 'client-side' scripts on the web page 

Chapter 11 File Management

• The video is for Windows user

• The video is for MAC user

Chapter 12 Images

Paint

• In the Paint toolbar, click the Resize button

• In the Resize and Skew dialog box, select Pixels.

• Uncheck Maintain aspect ratio.

• Enter 600 in both Horizontal and Vertical fields.

• Click on OK.

• Save your image by clicking on the File menu, and then clicking the Save As command

Photo

• Ctrl + E to activate Enhanced Editor

Chapter 15 Proofing

Explain how spell check software works.

• It scans the document

• Compares the word typed with its dictionary

• If the words match it moves on to the next word

• If the words do not match it highlights the word

Sometimes the spell check software highlights words or changes words which are correctly spelt. Why this could have occurred.

• It does not appear in the dictionary

• The word may be a person‘s name / place / noun

• The word may be a scientific / Latin word

• The spell check software may have been set up for another variant of language e.g. US English

• The word may be mistaken for another word

• Repeated words could be removed

• Does not understand the context of the word or phrase

Verification is checking that data has been accurately copied from one medium to another.

Verification does not check that data is correct. If original data is incorrect it will still be incorrect after it has been copied accurately.

Verification can sometimes be carried out by the user

Chapter 17 Document production

~ Add a new style in Microsoft Word:

• Select the text that you want to format as a new style.

• On the mini toolbar that appears above your selection, specify the formatting that you want.

• With the formatted text selected, click the More arrow in the lower-right corner of the Styles gallery, and then click Create a Style.

• The Create New Style from Formatting dialog box appears. Give the style a name and then click OK.

• The style that you created appears in the Styles gallery with the name that you gave it, ready for you to apply whenever you want to text to appear in that format

*Microsoft font references

• Arial = Sans-serif

• New Times Roman = Serif

~ Table

To create space after a table; style the paragraph immediately after the table, and your table should appear spaced properly.

~ Mail Merge

Printer Troubleshooting

There are No Printer Installed in Ms Office. But there the printer in installed in Windows.

There is an error message "The local print spooler service is not running"

Solution

Press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog, type services.msc and click OK. Then, look for the Printer Spooler service and double-click on it. In the Properties window, you can change its startup type to Automatic and click Start if it is not already running. You can also click on Stop if it is running and then click Start again.

Chapter 18 Databases

*Ms Access is NOT free

~ How to Set Region/Country in Ms Access

~ How to Import CSV file into Ms Access

Do not drag and drop a CSV file into Access. It will only create a link and not import the data

Data Type Integer; Value Range –32,768 to +32,767

Data Type Long Integer; Value Range –2,147,483,648 to +2,147,483,647

~ Decimal formatting 

~ Create Relationship

~ Create Query

Examples of query criteria - Microsoft Support  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/examples-of-query-criteria-3197228c-8684-4552-ac03-aba746fb29d8 

~ OR Operator

~ AND Operator

~ Form

It is easier to generate reports from queries

*Libre Base is free

~ How to Import CSV file into Libre Base

1. Open a libre base file

2. Open the csv file you want to import

3. Copy the contents of the csv, using e.g ctr+c (if using windows operating system)

4. Go back to the opened libre base file

5. Click on Tables tab on the left

6. On the list of tables pane, right click and choose paste

7. A Wizard dialog box will open

Set Primary Key in Libre Base

Chapter 19 Presentations

It is easier to create Charts in Spreadsheet than copy and paste it into your presentation.

Chapter 20 Spreadsheets

~ Excel Basic

IF function - Microsoft Support https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/if-function-69aed7c9-4e8a-4755-a9bc-aa8bbff73be2 

AND() & OR() Function

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/using-if-with-and-or-and-not-functions-in-excel-d895f58c-b36c-419e-b1f2-5c193a236d97 

VLookUp notes:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vlookup-function-0bbc8083-26fe-4963-8ab8-93a18ad188a1 

HLookup notes: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/hlookup-function-a3034eec-b719-4ba3-bb65-e1ad662ed95f 

Chapter 21 Website authoring

Web pages are built using three distinct layers:

• Behaviour

• Content

• Presentation

-Notepad++

-Notepad

-Useful link for HTML

https://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp 

-HTML: Set target

Set the target attribute to _self for each hyperlink in your HTML.

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

    <base target="_self">

</head>

<body>

    <!-- Your content goes here -->

</body>

</html> 

Set the target attribute to _new for each hyperlink in your HTML.

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

    <base target="_new">

</head>

<body>

    <!-- Your content goes here -->

</body>

</html> 

-HTML: Insert Image

Absolute file paths contain a complete URL/full file path with file name.  Contents of the URL include protocol, the website's domain name, specific file, subfolder, page name.

example: "http:\\One\Pictures\Samantha Sung.png"

Relative file paths only include a specific file or page. This is relative to the current path//starts from the same folder as the web page.

-HTML: Image inline style attribute, in a cell

<table>

  <tr>

    <td>

      <img style="width: 100%" src="image.png" />

    </td>

  </tr>

</table>

-HTML: Insert mp4 Video

<video width="100%" controls loop>

<source src="j31balloon.mp4" type="video/mp4">

Your browser does not support the video tag.

</video>

-HTML: Hyberlink

A hyperlink allows the user to move from one web page to another web page/website

The code within a hyperlink can be "href..", "rel..”, “target..”

A hyperlink can be attached to a block of text or image

A hyperlink can be clicked on to cause another web page or part of the same web page to be displayed

A hyperlink can redirect a user to an anchor by including its name

A hyperlink is clickable

-HTML: Anchor

An anchor allows the user to move from one part of a web page to another part.

An anchor is a label that identifies a specific position in a document. An anchor is within a hyperlink

An anchor needs a point set in the document and a link

The code within an anchor will either be "name.." or "id.."

An anchor determines a fixed point on a web page that is used as a bookmark

An anchor can be placed at any point on a web page 

-Useful Link for CSS

https://www.w3schools.com/css/ 

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS 

https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/computer-programming/html-css/intro-to-css/pt/css-basics 

Learn CSS  |  web.dev  https://web.dev/learn/css 

-CSS Comments

/* This is a single-line comment */

/* This is

a multi-line

comment */

Set the background for the web page so that it has a colour with a:

• blue component of 36

• red component of 21

• green component of 2f

Set the background for the web page so that the image j2131bg.png is placed in only the top left corner of the window.

Set the font for styles h1, h2, h3 and for the paragraph style, so that the browser selects and displays the font San Francisco. If this font is not available, the browser selects and displays the font Calibri. If neither of these fonts are available, the browser should display its default sans-serif font.

Set the paragraph style so the text is fully justified with a 12 point font.

Right align all tables in the browser window.

All colour codes must be displayed in hexadecimal. 

Textbook