100+ Free Advanced Higher Computing Science Practice Questions

Object-Oriented Programming

Classes vs objects, attributes, methods, instantiation, inheritance with method overriding, polymorphism, encapsulation with getters and setters, abstraction; UML class diagrams; Python __init__ constructors and self parameter

Data Structures

1D and 2D arrays, parallel arrays, records and dictionaries, queues (FIFO with enqueue/dequeue), stacks (LIFO with push/pop), linked lists, binary search trees, hash tables and collision handling

Algorithms and Complexity

Searching (linear O(n) vs binary O(log n) on sorted data), sorting (bubble, insertion, selection, quicksort, merge sort) with complexities, recursion (base and recursive cases, tail vs head), Big O notation O(1)/O(log n)/O(n)/O(n log n)/O(n^2)/O(2^n)/O(n!)

Software Development Lifecycle

Waterfall vs iterative vs agile approaches; analysis, design, implementation, testing, documentation, evaluation and maintenance; modular programming, code reuse via libraries, test planning and software documentation

Computer Architecture and Memory

Von Neumann vs Harvard, CISC vs RISC, CPU pipelining, cache levels L1/L2/L3, clock speed vs cores, GPU parallel processing; SRAM vs DRAM, virtual memory paging and segmentation, swap files, ROM/EPROM/EEPROM/Flash

Operating Systems and Code Translation

Pre-emptive vs cooperative multitasking, scheduling algorithms (FCFS, SJF, Round-robin, Priority), memory and process management, thrashing; compilers vs interpreters vs assemblers, intermediate code and just-in-time compilation

Binary and Number Representation

Two's complement for signed integers, floating-point IEEE 754 with sign, mantissa and exponent, normalising floating-point representations

Networking, Protocols and OSI Model

IPv4 vs IPv6, subnetting basics, MAC addresses; TCP/IP layers, HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, SMTP/POP3/IMAP, DNS, DHCP; routers vs switches, packet structure, OSI 7 layers, client-server vs peer-to-peer, cloud IaaS/PaaS/SaaS

Security Threats and Countermeasures

Malware types, phishing/pharming/social engineering, MITM, DDoS, SQL injection, XSS; firewalls (hardware and software), symmetric (AES, DES) vs asymmetric (RSA) encryption, hash functions (SHA), digital signatures, PKI and certificates, intrusion detection

Relational Database Design and Normalisation

ERDs with 1:1, 1:N and M:N relationships resolved by linking entities; 1NF, 2NF, 3NF with atomic values, no partial dependencies, no transitive dependencies; primary, foreign, candidate and composite keys; referential integrity

SQL and Transactions

CREATE TABLE with CONSTRAINTS, INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE, SELECT with WHERE/ORDER BY, INNER/LEFT/RIGHT/FULL JOIN, nested subqueries, aggregate functions with GROUP BY and HAVING, set operations UNION/INTERSECT/EXCEPT, ACID transactions, locking, views, stored procedures, indexing

Modern Web Technologies

HTML5 semantic elements and WAI-ARIA accessibility, CSS3 Flexbox vs Grid, media queries, animations; JavaScript ES6+ (let/const, arrow functions, async/await, fetch API, DOM, event delegation); REST APIs, JSON vs XML, AJAX, SPA, HTTP methods, cookies vs sessions vs local storage