SECTION B - Short answer questions

Answer all questions in the spaces provided.

Question 1

(3 marks)

Question 1 (3 marks)

a. State one purpose of the Spam Act 2003. 1 mark [2 lines]

Any of these will do:

• To regulate the sending of commercial emails and other types of commercial electronic messages.
• To prohibit the sending of unsolicited commercial electronic messages.
• To prevent the use of address-harvesting software.
• To force commercial email senders to provide a working unsubscribe link and information about who the sender is.

Average mark 0.6/1. (60%)

Successful responses indicated that the Spam Act 2003 aimed to stop unwanted emails sent by a business. Examples included ‘to prevent unsolicited commercial emails’, ‘to stop companies sending emails to people who don’t want them’, ‘make businesses provide an unsubscribe button for people on their email list’ or ‘prevent businesses using address-harvesting software to send bulk emails’.

b. Give one example of an online social protocol. Explain its purpose. 2 marks [3 lines]

Any of these...

• No flaming (personally abusing someone) - protects members' feelings and maintains a friendly atmosphere.
• No swearing - so people are not offended; keeps a site child-friendly.
• No uploading of copyrighted materials - so the site doesn't get into trouble.
• NO SHOUTING - because it's annoying and rude.
• Stay on-topic - so people are not flooded with material that is irrelevant to them
• No flooding (of messages, pictures etc) - to prevent overwhelming other people's inboxes or download bandwidth
• Obey the moderators - So law and order prevails and the site doesn't go feral and uncontrolled.
• Do not discuss the existence of the site anywhere else - to protect an underground site's anonymity
• No use of fraudulent identity - to prevent people's reputations being attacked if they are impersonated
• No cyberbullying or harassment - because it can have horrible effects on people
• No posting of inappropriate information - again, to protect sensitive souls and children.

There are hundreds of others. Just be sure to explain its purpose if you expect both marks.

Average mark 1/2. (50%)

Most students could identify an online social protocol; for example, ‘You must not use capital letters (uppercase text) because it’s considered to be shouting’. However, many students did not explain the purpose of the protocol; for example, ‘Shouting will frighten some users and stop them from giving their point of view’.

Question 2

(4 marks)

Question 2 (4 marks)

A wedding photographer wants to place the images from each couple's wedding on his website so that the couples can select the images they want for their albums. The photographer wants to ensure that the images cannot be viewed or stolen by unauthorised users, or accidentally deleted by his staff.
In the table below, recommend equipment or a procedure that could be used to address each problem listed. Provide a reason for each recommendation.

Suggesting the setting up of a VPN would probably be over-the-top in this case.

Average mark 3.3/4. (83%)
This question was very well answered.

Question 3

(5 marks)

Question 3 (5 marks)

The owner of a business that sells flower seeds to plant nurseries has decided to create a website with an online order form, believing it will improve her business.

a. Explain two ways in which the decision could increase sales. 4 marks [8 lines]

• The website would have a global reach and greatly increase the business' potential customer base.
• The website can provide a lot of promotional information about the seeds and the business to encourage people to buy.
• The website can provide live data about seed stock levels so buyers don't get annoyed to find their order will take weeks to be filled.
• People can buy at any time of day or night, even when the business is unattended.
• People from anywhere in the world could order quickly and easily.
• When buyers enter their own data, this would decrease data-entry effort for the organisation.
• Quick transactions will boost the business' reputation for quality service, and encourage buyers to return.
• Fewer staff will be required to man the sales desk or handle telephone enquiries since the sales and information will be online. This will save wages money for the business.

Average mark 2.8/4. (70%)
Responses to this question most frequently covered the 24/7 access and geographic reach of the internet.
Online order forms have 24/7 access so that ‘customers can order at any time’. This increases the hours available for business, leading to the possibility of increased sales.
They can also be ‘accessed immediately by people browsing’ or ‘using search engines’, which ‘increases the number of locations the business can reach’ and ‘leads to increased sales’.

b. Identify one benefit of direct data entry by customers. 1 mark [2 lines]

• If buyers enter their own data, there is less need for data-entry effort for the organisation, so staff can either be reduced to save on wages, or the staff could be used for more profitable tasks.
• There will be less chance of data transcription errors when re-typing data provided by customers (e.g. a customer might have a thick accent that makes it hard to understand them.)

Just be sure not to say the same thing for (a) and (b). If you ever find you are repeating yourself, something is probably wrong.

Average mark 0.7/1. (70%)
Most students gave one of the following two responses to this question.
Direct data entry is more accurate because
 details are only entered into the system once, hence reducing the possibility of further entry errors
 the person ordering is more likely to spell their own name and address correctly.

Question 4

(2 marks)

Question 4 (2 marks)

A large game development company is creating a multi-player online game to meet the needs of online gamers. The company wants its website to have a members-only section to support its collective identity.
Select two functionality factors from those listed below.

accessibility - navigation - structure - usability

Explain how each would suit the needs of online gamers. [Each explanation got 2 lines of writing space.]

Accessibility

Players with disabilities, such as colour-blindness, poor muscular coordination, poor vision etc would find the site easier to use.

Navigation

Being able to go to different parts of the site with minimal confusion. clicking and page-loading will save members time and increase their visiting pleasure because they won't get lost as much or have to click as often. A simple example is having the site logo always being a link to the homepage; and having a "Back to the top" link at the bottom of each page.

Structure

Organising a site logically makes it easier for members to intuit where they should go to find desired resources, for example having the site divided principally by the different games on offer lets a player easily choose where to go to find information relevant to the game he/she plays.

Usability

A site that is easy to use saves the user time and frustration when seeking particular resources. For example, one site might require a click on an item to go to a download page where another click is required to start the download. Another more usable site would create a direct download link on the first page where the item appears.

The word "two" in the instructions was not bolded, which is odd.

Average mark 1.2/2. (60%)
Many students chose navigation and accessibility as the design elements for discussion.
 Navigation: To feel comfortable in the virtual scenario, online gamers ‘need to find information easily and move quickly to what they want’.
 Accessibility: Gamers need text, audio and video modes to provide information quickly in a game situation because individuals respond differently to different media. Some get more details from audio, others from text and others from images.
 Structure: Gamers want their website organised into secured and non-secured sections so that members can privately reward and celebrate gaming achievements and build their collective identity.
 Usability: A gaming website must allow gamers to confidently, easily and accurately issue game instructions, or else they will leave.

Question 5

(5 marks)

Question 5 (5 marks)

A travel firm has upgraded to a new, networked, online sales system in each of its three offices.
It is considering what type of user documentation is most appropriate. Some staff want an online tutorial, but the manager believes content-sensitive help is the best option.

a. Describe how an online tutorial and content-sensitive help would each assist a staff member with using the new system. 2 marks

• online tutorial [5 lines]

A tutorial is a self-paced, step-by-step teaching tool which explains operations and demonstrates how they are done, often providing quizzes or revision to test learning. A tutorial would help staff members who are beginners and need to learn the system from the basics.

• content-sensitive help [5 lines]

This provides information based on the user's current behaviour and status. For example if they have a picture selected, the content-sensitive help would offer help on working with pictures. This type of help is useful for trained users who need relevant help as they use the system.

Average mark 1.4/2. (70%)
Most students could describe how online tutorials would help staff who are learning to use a new online sales system. They were less able to describe how content-sensitive help would be beneficial in this scenario.
Typically, correct responses described online tutorials as providing ‘step-by-step instructions on how to use all the features of the software’ and content-sensitive help as ‘providing help for a particular/specific problem at the time when it is needed’.

b. Justify your preferred user documentation on the basis of efficiency. 3 marks [8 lines]

There are arguments for providing both help systems; choosing between them is silly since they are meant to provide very different services. It's like asking a gardener whether she would want a shovel or a rake.
Effective tutorials will create users who are knowledgeable and skilled and who will work faster and with less effort than those who have no pre-training and must rely on the content-sensitive help alone.
The content-sensitive help would help people quickly find the help they need when they need it, thus saving time for them and saving money for the firm.
If I can only choose one form of documentation, I'd choose the tutorials, since completely untrained users would not know how to even begin, and they would be very slow, put in a lot of wasted effort and cost the firm lots of money in wages and lost sales.

The key to this question is to discuss only time (speed), cost, labour, and ease of use. Anything else is effectiveness and therefore irrelevant.

The very possibility that only one type of documentation is required is unrealistic.

Average mark 1.6/3. (53%)
Students who chose content-sensitive help, arguing that it is ‘used only when needed’ and that users do not have to waste time working on ‘features they will never need’, received marks.
Many students chose an online tutorial as the more efficient type of documentation, arguing that by learning the ‘whole package up front, users are less likely to stop for lots of little problems’, and that having the ‘big picture’ means users are more able to solve little problems themselves. These responses were awarded marks. The few students who argued coherently for other types of user documentation also received marks.

Question 6

(5 marks)

Question 6 (5 marks)

The receipt shown below is provided by BestFood supermarket as a transaction record.

A number of formats have been used to enhance the effectiveness of this receipt.

a. Identify one format and explain how it has been used to enhance the receipt's effectiveness. 2 marks [3 lines]

• The bold, large typesize of the supermarket's name makes it stand out and easy to find.
• The decimal point-justification of the prices makes their values easier to interpret.
• The left-justification of the products and the right-justification of the prices makes each item's data clear and uncluttered.
• The full justification of the EFTPOS data makes the data visually attractive.
• The white spacing and ruled lines between vertical sections of the receipt separates the data into related segments.
• The formatting of the date in standard Australian dd/mm/yy format makes it easy to understand.
• The use of 24 hour format for the time makes the time unambiguous.
• The bolding of the receipt rewards text makes it easier for the customer to notice since it may be of value to them.
• The leading (line spacing) between lines has been increased to prevent text forming hard-to-read clumps.
• Capitalising "SUBTOTAL" makes the important information stand out.
• Adding the number of items bought before the word "subtotal" makes it easy to see if the dirty, lying, no-good lousy rotten customer has tried to sneak excessive number of items through the "8 items or fewer" lane, thereby deserving a good remedial slapping by the manager.

Average mark 1.5/2. (75%)
This question was well answered. Examples of common responses include ‘bolding title font’, ‘separating the sections with spaces or lines’ and ‘using a table format to present purchases and prices’.

b. State three steps the developer could follow to test that the receipt provides accurate information. 3 marks [5 lines]

• Manually calculate the cost of goods and compare them to the receipt's total.
• Choose items that include or do not include tax to verify that the tax is only being added when necessary.
• Compare the time and date of the text with the time/date recorded on the receipt to make sure they are accurate.
• Manually calculate the number of reward points to confirm that the reciept's statement is accurate.
• Make sure that Boz was actually the manager when the receipt was produced.
• Ring the phone number on the receipt to see if the supermarket answers.
• Manually compare the ABN number with the number in company records to see that it is typed correctly.
• Eat the chicken and determine whether it really is worth nearly $13. Damn, that's an expensive bird.

Average mark 2/3. (67%)
This question was answered in two different ways. Both received marks.
Many students chose three different items on the receipt and suggested how to test each. For example, ‘scan a whole hot chicken and see if the amount is correct, manually calculate receipt rewards and check with receipt total and see if it is in the store, and hand calculate the items and check the total’.
Other students described a three-step testing procedure to check the accuracy of the calculation. For example, ‘determine test data for five random grocery items, manually calculate the total and compare the expected total to the automatic total of the scanned items’.

Question 7

(6 marks)

Question 7 (6 marks)

Harry manages a business that hires out fishing boats. The business has eight boats. Harry keeps records of the number of hours that each boat is hired. Each boat has a captain who is paid an hourly rate of $20 for a four-person boat and $30 for a six-person boat. A sample of the records and the data table that Harry keeps is shown below.

Boat and Captain data table

Harry has normalised the data so that each field cannot be divided any further. This is shown below.

Boat and Captain data table revised

a. Normalise this data into two tables so that each non-key field is fully dependent on a key field (2NF). 4 marks [33% of a page was given for the answer]

Just to show my working, I started with Version 1, the logical solution...

Then I thought that adding the CaptainID field would be unnecessary if each boat had only one captain, so I thought of Version 2, which avoided the creation of the new CaptainID field...

But the Captain_Table now has no single key field - the CaptainLastName+CaptainFirstName together would have to act as a key. And since the question said that "each non-key field is fully dependent on a key field" (not "a key" which could comprise more than one field) I decided to settle on Version 1 after all. Maybe I was reading too much into the question?

This solution assumes that each captain only has one boat, since the question says that "Each boat has a captain". If not, the schema would get a lot messier!

Also note that each boat only appears once in the sample data, suggesting that the "Boat Hours" figure is a running total, rather than the number of hours of a single voyage. This implies to me that you do not need a "Voyages" table to record multiple voyages and that the total hours are just updated in that single field.

Average mark 1.6/4. (40%)
Most students could separate the data into two data tables as part of completing the second normalisation of the data table. However, many did not give titles to the new tables or create primary keys. Those students who did typically used Captain Table and Boat Table for the table names and CaptainID and BoatID for the primary keys.
Very few students addressed the problem of where the BoatHours field should be placed. Each captain’s pay depends on data collected from the hiring transaction point being entered into this field. Those who placed the field in the Captain Table received marks. Others who correctly used design diagrams to represent two complete tables, their fields and primary keys also received marks.

b. Explain why this process would be important to Harry's boat-hire business. [3 lines] 2 marks

Actually, since there is a simple 1:1 relationship between boats and captains, the 2NF normalisation is actually of minimal value - actually, it's unnecessary. However, if a captain could work on several boats, the benefit would be greater since changes to boat or captain information could be done once in only one table rather than in several different places. Or if each individual booking of a boat needed to be recorded, a relational database would be needed.

With refernce to Harry, it would be important because it would make the management and future development of his database easier, and (if it actually needed more than a 1:1 relationship) the database would be faster and smaller.

Normalisation is important because it

• groups related data to make data management tidier
• allows data to related data that could not be accessed before
• reduces data repetition
• avoids errors where data is not updated consistently in several places
• keeps the size of the database down and speeds up data retrieval
• ensures the database can grow in future without hitting a brick wall imposed by poor early design
• allows easy reporting on single tables, such as searching/sorting/printing lists
• can prevent the accidental deletion of key data (e.g. key fields) that are needed by other tables (referential integrity)

I can appreciate that the examiners were trying to make the normalisation question easier this year, for which they get the Stamp Of Approval.

The problem is that by making the schema so simple that it did not need a 1 to many relationship, it scuttled the value of normalisation, which was the whole point of the exercise.

Average mark 0.9/2. (45%)
Many students stated that the process of normalising one large flat file improves the accuracy of the information Harry can produce. These students received one mark. Those who completed their answer with an explanation of why this is the case received full marks. For example, ‘creating two tables with primary keys reduces data redundancy’ and ‘allows only a single point to update data’. Some students explained that creating two tables with primary keys ‘makes it possible to create relationships and simple queries’. These students also received marks.

Question 8 (6 marks)

Nancy is the administrator at Melbourne City Secondary College, a government school. She has been asked to sell archived students' details to a marketing company. If Nancy does sell these details, she intends to use the money to buy sports equipment for the school.

a. Identify key legislation that must be considered before Nancy decides whether or not to pass on the students' details. 1 mark [2 lines]

• The Information Privacy Act 2000.

This is a tricky one. I am not at all sure whether Victorian government schools are classified as being part of the Victorian Public Service, which would invoke the IPA. I've checked the IPA Act and am none the wiser because schools are not mentioned. Is a state school "a body established or appointed for a public purpose by or under an Act" or "a public sector agency"? I sure as hell don't know, and I doubt that ITA kids would or should know either.

I'm pretty sure Victorian state schools would not be subject to the Privacy Act, but I imagine many big ones could turn over more than $3 million a year. So they might be. How big is Melbourne City SC?

I've written to the Privacy Commissioner to get some clarification on this one.

11 November - the Privacy Commissioner's office has replied and confirmed that state schools ARE subject to the IPA. This greatly affects part (c).

I wish the examiners would choose an organisation whose legal status was very, very clear and stay away from these murky special cases.

Average mark 0.5/1.. (50%)
Information Privacy Act

b. Explain Nancy's ethical responsibilities to the students and Melbourne City Secondary College. 2 marks [6 lines]

To Students - protect their physical and emotional wellbeing, and protect their personal information from disclosure or misuse.
To the College - to take reasonable steps to protect student data from misuse, damage, loss or unauthorised access.

The question does not focus on her responsibilities regarding student data. To list her ethical responsibilities in general would be irrelevant and very verbose. It needed more precise wording.

Students here need to notice the question has two parts, and they should address both the students and the college.

Average mark 1.2/2. (60%)
Students needed to consider Nancy’s ethical responsibilities towards two stakeholders: the students and the school. For example, Nancy has a responsibility to make sure past students’ details are kept private and she has a responsibility to her employer, the school, to follow all school procedures when conducting school business.

c. Recommend a strategy to help Nancy resolve the ethical dilemma. 3 marks [7 lines]

What ethical dilemma?
Who said she has an ethical dilemma?
Students were not asked to identify any ethical dilemma!
It's just assumed she has one.

She is bound by the IPA (according to the Privacy Commissioner's Office), so she has a legal responsibility not to sell student data, so there is no ethical issue. It's like asking whether it's ethical to murder someone: you have no choice in the matter. The law dictates what is right and wrong. Ethics don't enter into it!

This question causes more of a dilemma than Nancy ever faced.
I keep telling kids not to turn an ethical dilemma into a legal one, but it seems the examiners are making it very hard for them to do that.

Let's assume for a moment that the question is bad, and they examiners want students to talk about Nancy having to decide whether to sell student data for the sake of money for sports gear. In that case, you'd compensate for the bad question and go on about...

- Nancy must decide which is better: to sell student data and possibly adversely affect students' privacy; or to not sell the data and not be able to buy the sports equipment which would benefit the students.
- Nancy could use a decision support framework (e.g. college policies) to see what administrators should do in such cases.
- She could refer to the college's code of ethics to decide what to do.

Dare I suggest that she impose sanctions upon herself to teach herself a lesson?

This is not a good question.

Average mark 1.4/3. (47%)
Responses that coherently outlined a strategy Nancy could follow were awarded marks. Most frequently, strategies included consulting with stakeholders, locating relevant information, evaluating the options, applying a process for making decisions and recording (or publishing) decisions.

Question 9

(8 marks)

Question 9 (8 marks)

Pine Industries, a timber company, is considering two different designs for its new website. The home page must contain the title, a logo, links to five major sections, a copyright statement and options for a range of other languages. Pine Industries hopes to raise community awareness of its environmental projects. The two designs have been prepared and are shown below.

design 1

design 2

a. Select one design element related to appearance from those listed below.

consistency orientation contrast

Explain how this design element has been used in each design to enhance the appearance of the Pine Industries website. 4 marks

Again, the number "one" in the question was not bolded on the paper.

selected design element: consistency

use in design 1 [4 lines]

• Each link has its text followed by an icon - the icon makes it quicker to identify the link at a glance without having to read the text.
• Each link is in uppercase - this makes the links stand out from other text on the page.
  

use in design 2 [4 lines]

• Each of the links is shown as white text on a black background - this groups the links and makes them visually stand out from other items on the page.
• Each link is in uppercase, which again makes them visually stand out.

selected design element: orientation

use in design 1 [4 lines]

• The links are oriented vertically so they stand out on the left of the page.
• The title is vertical, which makes it stand tall, like a subliminal tree without branches.

use in design 2 [4 lines]

• The links are grouped horizontally, which... makes them easier to read (?)

selected design element: contrast

use in design 1 [4 lines]

• The "Feature of the week" box and text are black upon the grey tree logo, so the text is not obscured by the logo.
• The white icon image stands out from the dark grey icon background.
• Overall, the page features black text on a white background, which makes it easy to read.

use in design 2 [4 lines]

• The links' white text on black background is very readable.
• The other text is black on a white background, which is also very readable.

Average mark 2.9/4. (73%)
Complete answers provided an example of the chosen design element and an explanation of how it was used to enhance the appearance of each website. For example, ‘contrast is seen in design 1 with the logo – a grey tree on a white background. This catches the reader’s eye and gives an underlying idea of what the site represents’.

In design 2, reverse blocking in the navigation bar (white text with black background) contrasts with the black text on white background for the remainder of the website.

Accepted answers for the design element of orientation included the use of either vertical (design 1) or horizontal (design 2) navigation links that complemented other design features. For consistency, students typically referred to font type and size, explaining that changes in font size appropriately matched the hierarchy of information; for example, the largest font size was allocated to the name of the organisation, with the copyright statement being in the smallest font size.

b. Recommend and justify your preferred home page design based only on functionality. Your response must make reference to two design elements that are related to functionality. 4 marks [8 lines]

• I prefer design 2.
• It does not have overlapping information (e.g. the text on the logo in design 1) which still tend to obscure the text even if the contrast is not so bad.
• Its links are grouped well, and near the top of the page where they are quickly found.
• There are links to copyright and further information that are easy to find, but don't get in the way.
• All of its contents are appropriate and relevant to the Pines mission.

Note how I used dotpoints for the answer - it makes life easier for you and the exam marker because you are well aware of where different points beginning and end, and the marker can see you can differentiate between ideas.

The study design's glossary defines functionality design elements as "structure, usability and accessibility, including navigation and load time, appropriateness and relevance."

Did anyone prefer design 1?

I predict that most students did not know what the functionality design elements were, and just repeated what they said in part A of the question.

Average mark 1.7/4. (43%)
Students who began by stating a preferred design and identifying two design elements associated with functionality established the foundations for a good answer. For example, ‘design 2 is my preferred homepage. In relation to functionality it provides better accessibility and navigation’. Students who went on to explain how features in their preferred homepage influenced each design element received marks. For example, ‘Accessibility is improved with larger and bolder links and black writing on a white background’ or ‘it makes it easier for older people to read’. Navigation is easier due to ‘the consistency of the menu placement’ or ‘navigation bar at the top and the logo’.

Question 10

(10 marks)

Question 10 (10 marks)

Fruit First wants to take orders online and manage its sales effectively. Examples of Worksheet and Data table designs that the manager can use are shown below.

Worksheet

Data table

Hang on a spaniel-slapping minute - what does "QuantitySoldPerKg" mean? Does it mean the number of kilograms sold of each fruit, or the number or each fruit that constitute a kilogram?
I can only assume the meant to say "KgSold" or "QuantitySoldInKg" or somesuch. An opportunity to award the first Illiteracy Award for the year.

Indicate with a tick one software type that your answers will refer to.

spreadsheet (SS) relational database management system (RDBMS)

a. Explain how the manager could
• report on sales trends for each fruit
• identify the fruits that have had more than 500 kg in sales
• test that the solution operates as intended. 6 marks. [1.5 blank pages for the answer]

SPREADSHEET OPTION

• report on sales trends for each fruit

• Create a bar chart of QuantitySoldPerKg (or Total, depending on what 'Sales trends' means) showing all 4 fruits.

But 'sales trends' usually refer to sales over time. The data has only one data point for each fruit. How can you show trends with a single data point? That's why I answered 'bar chart' instead of 'line graph'. It does not make much sense to me, unless the examiners meant to say "Sales figures" instead of "Sales trends."

• identify the fruits that have had more than 500 kg in sales

OK. What does "identify" mean in this context? "Find and Isolate"? "Highlight"? The question is too vague to mandate a strict answer.

• Use conditional formatting to highlight cells in row B with a value >500.
• In row E, use a formula like =IF( B2 > 500 , "Over 500kg!" , "" )
• Use a filter to find values in row B over 500.

• test that the solution operates as intended.

• For each fruit, enter valid values for QuantitySoldPerKg, PricePerKg and compare the spreadsheet's Total value with a manually-calculated answer.

RDBMS OPTION

• report on sales trends for each fruit

Well, this is a problem. Does MS Access do charts? I have no idea. I know that Filemaker didn't create charts up until very recently. Perhaps student could cheat and say "Create a chart..." and dare the examiner to guess what make and model of RDBMS they used for their SACs.

Without chart functionality (as my kids last year would have been), you'd have to say something like...

• Create a report listing each fruit and its corresponding QuantitySoldPerKg.

Any other suggestions?

• identify the fruits that have had more than 500 kg in sales

Well, again we have fun. Filemaker has had conditional formatting functionality for a couple of versions now. I can't speak for MS Access. Again, kids could just repeat the spreadsheet answer and dare the examiner to prove them wrong. The only alternative would be...

• Create a query/find (Filemaker) like "QuantitySoldPerKg > 500" and display the found records.

• test that the solution operates as intended.

• For each fruit's record, enter valid values for QuantitySoldPerKg, PricePerKg and compare the database's Total value with a manually-calculated answer.

Average mark 2.8/6. (47%)
Many successful explanations of how the manager could perform the three tasks were set out under the three subheadings shown below.
Report on sales
Many students explained that the manager could use a graph to report on sales trends for each fruit. Some drew graphs to represent a trend calculated from the QuantitySoldPerKg or Total columns. Others explained how a trend graph or table could be created. For example, ‘calculate the QuantitySoldPerKg for apples in Jan, Feb and March and make a graph to see if sales are going up or down’ and ‘Use the Total column/field to compare the sales of each fruit for three weeks and report it in a table.’
Identify fruits with sales greater than 500 kg
Successful responses included a conditional statement or formula QuantitySoldPerKg > 500. Those who chose spreadsheet software explained how this statement could be entered into the column and return a message of ‘Yes’ or ‘sales above 500 kg’ or ‘font colour change’ if the condition were true. Those who chose RDBMS software explained how the statement could be used in a query or filter to return a list of fruits whose sales were above 500 kg.
Test the solution
Data to test the report of fruit sales typically included varying values for QuantitySoldPerKg so that the trend was altered as expected. For example, ‘change the data from increasing to decreasing and see if the graph changes in the same way.’
Data to test the fruits with sales greater than 500 kg were most commonly 499, 500 and 501. Statements such as ‘below the boundary, at the boundary and above the boundary’ also received marks.

b. Using the software that you selected in part a., answer the following questions.

i. Describe how the manager can identify and display on a web page the cheapest fruit available. 2 marks [5 lines]

"display on a web page"? Do the examiners want students to come out with something as trite as "Open a web page editor, create or load the web page, type in the number, save the page and upload it with FTP"? That really would be a waste of a year of study.

Or do the examiners expect student to explain how to extract the data from a spreadsheet or database, feed it into a webpage with PHP, SQL, Cold Fusion or whatever and display it? I'll be spanked with a saucy sausage dog if I could explain how to do it.

Either way, the answer will either be trivially simple, or monstrously difficult.
I think the examiners need to go and sit on the naughty step and think about what they've done.

To identify the cheapest fruit is a different matter, but not much easier if you think about it.
To find the mininum price is easy with the MIN( ) function, but the question asks for the "cheapest fruit" (i.e. its name) fruit to be displayed. This is very hard to do in Excel.
Refer to the ITA paper for 2008 question B12e which asked a similar question. The answer then would have to have been
="The biggest sales were for " & INDEX( A2:C12 , MATCH( MAX( C2:C12 ) , C2:C12 , 0 ) , 1 ) & " which sold " & MAX( C2:C12 )

FEEDBACK

Laurie suggested using VLOOKUP, which was a good idea. This would work...
=VLOOKUP( MIN(C2:C5) , price_table , name_column, FALSE ) 
But you'd need the prices in the first column of the table, and you need FALSE for the range lookup if the fruits are sorted by name rather than by price. I wonder how many kids would be capable of such a formula, however.

Roland suggested GoogleDocs spreadsheet with the security pegged at a public view setting for putting the value on a web page.

SPREADSHEET

The dumbest, but probably expected answer is:

The manager should:
- put the formula =MIN(C2:C5) in the cell where the minimum price should be shown.
- look at the answer very carefully with his/her eyes, open a web page editor such as Adobe Dreamweaver, create or load the webpage in question, type the value into the page using a QWERTY keyboard and managerial fingers, carefully save the page, and upload the HTML file to the web server using FTP.

Is that really what the examiners were after? Or did they want something like...

- Sort the fruits in acending order by the PricePerKg column so the cheapest fruit appears at the top.
- Look at the answer very carefully... (etc)

I only hope they accept variations of answers for their vague and impossible question.

RDBMS

- Create a calculated field (Filemaker) or an expression in a query with the formula MIN(PricePerKg) and display the value in a report.
- Look at the answer... (etc)

Average mark 0.9/2. (45%)
To gain full marks students had to clearly state the technique for identifying the cheapest fruit as well as a way of presenting this information on a web page. Accepted answers included sorting the price per kg column or field from lowest to highest (technique) and either displaying the cheapest fruit name in a text box or bolding it.

ii. Recommend a format or convention that the manager could apply when displaying the cheapest fruit to the user. 2 marks [5 lines]

Use a leading dollar sign, then the price with 2 decimal places.
O, and use comma separators to separate the thousands if the cheapest fruit is over $999.99.

Really - they gave 5 lines of writing for that? What else could one say? Black Arial 12 point?

Average mark 1/2. (50%)
There is still some confusion regarding the difference between a format and a convention. A convention is a generally acceptable rule governing the layout or presentation of a format – for example, a receipt has a date; however, the way in which the date is presented or arranged is a formatting decision. There are a variety of date formats such as 28 February 2013; February 28, 2013; 28/02/13; 28-02-2013.
Examples of accepted formats and conventions included a title (convention) or the title being in bold or in all capitals (format) or a title (convention) with an image (format) of the cheapest fruit.

Question 11

(9 marks)

Question 11 (9 marks)

Healthy Cooking is an online community where users can share information about cooking for a healthy lifestyle.

a. Design a screen mock-up for a new forum page that meets Healthy Cooking's need to

• provide an identity for the site
• offer recipe books for sale under food categories and allow users to proceed to a secure check-out
• allow users to communicate safely. 6 marks.

b. Annotate your design with explanations to show how it has met these three user needs. 3 marks [Half a page blank for the answer to parts a and b]

There are many approaches to achieving this - here is one attempt. Yours would probably want to be less frivolous, 'cos the examiners tend to be Very Serious People who don't seem to appreciate levity.

The main thing is that you try to provide something that looks like a standard webpage, with conventional adornments such as logos, large heading, underlined links, login/password combinations, Privacy policy/Contact links etc.
Then you need to address the specific needs of the question and show where those needs have been met.
I don't think most students would have any trouble with this question.

11a - Average mark 3.9/6. (65%)
Successful designs included words and/or icons to represent each of the following requirements specified in the design brief.
 a title and logo
 forum
 indication that the forum is reached by login/password
 link to recipes with three clear food categories
 link to a checkout
 some indication that the checkout is secure.

The design below is a compilation of examples taken from many successful responses. The design shown features a padlock symbol next to the ‘Shop’ link, indicating a secure payment process. There were many other successful responses. Some, for example, included a shopping trolley symbol and/or the word ‘PayPal’ in their design.

11b - average mark 1.7/3. (57%)
Annotations that made clear statements about how links/fonts/images met users’ needs received full marks. In the examples above, the design feature being discussed is clearly identified at the beginning of each explanation.

Question 12

(7 marks)

Question 12 (7 marks)

Kelly is a writer who keeps a data table of the images that she uses in each of the 12 chapters of her new book. The table has the following field names.

FileName, Chapter, FileFormat, Description, FileSize

When she sorts the Chapter field of her data table, she gets the following result.
Chapter1
Chapter10
Chapter11
Chapter12
Chapter2
Chapter3
Chapter4
Chapter5
Chapter6
Chapter7
Chapter8
Chapter9

a. Explain why this happens. 2 marks [3 lines]

Because she has defined the Chapter field as being of type TEXT, the chapter names are being sorted purely as text with no recognition of the value of the position of the numerical digits. In that way, "12" comes before "2" because the digit 1 is alphabetically before the digit "2".

This is the same knowledge as was tested in ITA 2011, question A13. I still think its domain is more SD than ITA. Only 13% of kids got it right in 2011. I wonder how many will get it right this time...

Average mark 1/2. (50%)
Many students explained that the data type was text and as such 10, 11 and 12 ‘have no place value’. This means only the ‘1 is compared to 2, 3 and 4’. These students received full marks. Others who stated that the problem arose because the numbers were sorted as text received one mark.

b. Recommend a procedure that Kelly could follow to ensure chapters are displayed in the correct numerical order. Explain how she could test the procedure. 3 marks [6 lines]

Fixing: Insert leading zeroes as place-holders, such as Chapter01.
Testing: After inserting the leading zeroes, sort the chapters again by the Chapter field and check that they are now in the correct order.

Notice how the question had two parts to it and my answer was very clearly divided into two parts as well. Don't mix one answer up in another as a large amorphous blob and give the impression you can't tell the difference between them.

B11b was a very trivial question, in my opinion. A bloke off the street could have guessed that one without a year's intensive study IT.

Average mark 1.4/3. (47%)
Many students suggested that Kelly remove the word ‘Chapter’ from the list and use it as a heading or label. She could then ‘change the data type to number and sort the list’.
Other students suggested Kelly add a leading or spacing zero or format mask so that all the ‘number’ parts of the data have the same number of characters; for example, ‘Chapter01, Chapter02, etc’. Then when Kelly sorted the text data, ‘Chapter02 is less than Chapter11’.
Those students who went on to recommend that Kelly should then test her solution by sorting the list and checking that the output was as expected, received full marks.

c. Kelly wants to list all of the GIF-formatted images (.gif) that are less than 50 KB.
Explain how she could efficiently create this list. 2 marks [3 lines]

She should create a query/find of this sort:
FileFormat = "gif" AND FileSize < 50

Average mark 0.9/2. (45%)
Students who stated that a query needed to be created and correctly wrote the query were awarded full marks. The commonly provided correct answer was: FileFormat = GIF AND FileSize <50

END OF QUESTION AND ANSWER BOOK