Exam Strategy practice questions.

A question reads: 'Explain one advantage of storing the finishing times in an array rather than in separate variables. [3]'. What does the mark allocation require?

• Three separate advantages, each of them given as a short phrase.
• One advantage, a reason why it follows, and a link to the scenario.
• One advantage stated, and then the same point repeated in other words.
• A definition of an array, followed by an advantage of using one.

Answer: One advantage, a reason why it follows, and a link to the scenario.

Explain asks for reasons, so the three marks are for the advantage, the reasoning that supports it and its connection to the situation in the stem. Repeating a point or offering more advantages than were asked for adds nothing.

Which description matches Paper 2 of the course?

• Problem solving and programming from Theme B, answered in Java or Python.
• Concepts from Theme A, followed by questions on the pre-seen case study.
• One extended response, chosen from a list of four given titles.
• Short multiple-choice questions drawn from both themes of the course.

Answer: Problem solving and programming from Theme B, answered in Java or Python.

Paper 2 covers computational thinking and programming (Theme B) and, since the 2025 guide (first exams 2027), the code is written in Java or Python — the guide’s pseudocode has gone. Theme A together with the pre-seen case study is Paper 1.

A Higher Level paper lasts 120 minutes and carries 100 marks. After 75 minutes a candidate has completed questions worth 50 marks. What does a pace check show?

• The pace is right, because roughly half the paper is done.
• The pace is ahead, because more marks remain than minutes.
• The pace is behind: about 62 marks should be done by now.
• No check is possible until every question has been read.

Answer: The pace is behind: about 62 marks should be done by now.

100 marks in 120 minutes is a target of about 0.83 marks per minute, so 75 minutes should have produced roughly 62 marks. Noticing the gap early leaves time to shorten later answers instead of abandoning a whole question.

A two-mark question asks candidates to distinguish between primary memory and secondary storage. A candidate describes only primary memory. What is the likely outcome?

• No marks: a distinction must set both sides against each other.
• One mark, because half of the required content has been given.
• Two marks, provided the description of primary memory is fully correct.
• One mark, provided secondary storage is named somewhere in the answer.

Answer: No marks: a distinction must set both sides against each other.

Distinguish is marked on the contrast itself, so a one-sided answer leaves nothing to credit however accurate it is. The safest form is one sentence naming a property and saying how the other side differs.

A candidate has to write an algorithm as the answer to a Paper 2 question. Which approach is the safest?

• Write it in the programming language used in class and name that language.
• Draw a flow diagram instead, because a diagram needs no notation at all.
• Write it in the pseudocode of the guide and close every block opened.
• Write numbered sentences in English describing each step of the method.

Answer: Write it in the programming language used in class and name that language.

Since the 2025 guide, Paper 2 answers are written in Java or Python — the language used in class — and the language should be stated so the examiner reads the syntax correctly. The IB pseudocode of the old guide is no longer the reference, and prose or a flow diagram may pick up structure marks but cannot show the detail an algorithm question demands.

A one-mark question begins with the command term State. Which answer strategy fits it best?

• A paragraph that names the item and then justifies the choice.
• Two possible answers, so that at least one of them is right.
• A labelled sketch with the required item marked on the drawing.
• A short sentence naming exactly the item that is asked for.

Answer: A short sentence naming exactly the item that is asked for.

State asks for a fact without justification, so added reasoning earns nothing and consumes time that later questions need. Offering alternatives is risky, because an examiner may credit only the first answer given.