Information Technology Grade 12 P2 2026 Memo (Eng)

hlayiso mock exams Practice Series: Grade 12 NSC Preparation WWW.HLAYISO.COM NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE GRADE 12 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY P2 MOCK EXAMINATION 2026 MARKING GUIDELINES MARKS: 150 These marking guidelines consist of 16 pages. Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 2 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines SECTION A: SHORT QUESTIONS QUESTION 1 1.1 1.1.1 B – Device driver ✓ (1) 1.1.2 D – arithmetic logic unit (ALU) ✓ (1) 1.1.3 C – HTTPS ✓ (1) 1.1.4 A – router ✓ (1) 1.1.5 C – Text/String ✓ (1) 1.1.6 D – 17 DIV 5 ✓ (1) 1.1.7 C – Trojan horse ✓ (1) 1.1.8 A – User-generated content and collaboration ✓ (1) 1.1.9 B – DELETE FROM tblSales WHERE Amount < 100 ✓ (1) 1.1.10 D – ’STIV’ ✓ (1) 1.2 1.2.1 Latency ✓ (Also accept: lag / ping time) (1) 1.2.2 Open-source software ✓ (Also accept: FOSS) (1) 1.2.3 Cookie ✓ (1) 1.2.4 Referential integrity ✓ (1) 1.2.5 Debugging ✓ (1) 1.3 1.3.1 FALSE – interpreter ✓ (1) 1.3.2 TRUE ✓ (1) 1.3.3 FALSE – (dynamic) IP address ✓ (1) 1.3.4 TRUE ✓ (1) 1.3.5 FALSE – (distributed) denial-of-service / DoS / DDoS attack ✓ (1) TOTAL SECTION A: 20 Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 3 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines SECTION B: SYSTEMS TECHNOLOGIES QUESTION 2 2.1.1 Multi-core processor Any TWO of: ✓✓ • A single CPU (chip) that contains two or more processing units (cores) • Each core can execute instructions independently • Several instructions/tasks can be processed simultaneously (parallel processing) (2) 2.1.2 Multithreading • A program/process is divided into smaller parts called threads ✓ • The threads can be executed concurrently/simultaneously (by different cores), which speeds up the program ✓ (2) 2.1.3 Advantages of an SSD Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Faster read/write (access) speed – faster start-up and loading of programs • No moving parts – more durable/robust, less likely to fail • Uses less power / generates less heat • Silent operation • Not affected by magnetic fields / no fragmentation slowdown (2) 2.1.4 Cache memory • Cache is a small amount of very fast memory close to/on the CPU that stores frequently/recently used data and instructions ✓ • The CPU can fetch these from the cache instead of the slower RAM, which reduces waiting time (fewer wasted clock cycles) ✓ (2) 2.2.1 Virtual memory slows a computer down Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Virtual memory is space on secondary storage (disk) that is used as an extension of RAM • Secondary storage is much slower than RAM • Data must constantly be swapped between RAM and disk (paging / thrashing) (2) Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 4 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines 2.2.2 Functions of an operating system Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Process/task management (scheduling) • File management • Managing input/output devices (via drivers) • Providing a user interface • Security / user access management (2) 2.3 Plug-and-play • The operating system automatically detects a newly connected device ✓ • and automatically installs/loads the required driver and configures the device without user intervention ✓ (2) 2.4.1 Tablets at venue gates Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Portable / lightweight – staff can move around at the gate • Built-in camera to scan QR codes • Wireless connectivity (Wi-Fi/cellular) to check tickets against the central database in real time • Long battery life / no need for a power point • Touch screen – easy to use, no separate keyboard/mouse (2) 2.4.2 Camera ✓ (1) 2.4.3 Any ONE of: ✓ • Reduce the screen brightness / shorter screen time-out • Switch off unused connections (Bluetooth, GPS) • Close apps running in the background / use battery-saver mode Also accept: use power banks. (1) 2.5.1 Software as a Service ✓ (1) 2.5.2 Advantages of SaaS Any TWO of: ✓✓ • No installation required – can be used on any device with a browser • Always the latest version – updates are done by the provider • Lower initial cost (subscription instead of buying licences) • Work can be accessed from anywhere / collaboration is easier • Number of subscriptions can be scaled up or down as needed (2) Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 5 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines 2.6 Responsible disposal Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Donate the computers to schools/community organisations • Take them to a registered e-waste recycling centre • Return them to the supplier/manufacturer (take-back scheme) • Re-use parts / refurbish the computers NOTE: Data must be wiped first – do not award a mark for this alone. (2) 2.7 UPS / uninterruptible power supply ✓ It contains a battery that supplies power for a short time when the electricity fails, so that work can be saved and the computers shut down properly ✓ (2) TOTAL SECTION B: 25 Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 6 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines SECTION C: COMMUNICATION AND NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES QUESTION 3 3.1.1 Star topology ✓ (1) 3.1.2 Switch ✓ (Also accept: hub) (1) 3.1.3 Router ✓ (Also accept: modem/router) (1) 3.2.1 Hotspot • An area where a wireless access point provides a Wi-Fi connection ✓ • through which users can access the internet (often in public places) ✓ (2) 3.2.2 Security risks of public hotspots Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Data sent over an unencrypted connection can be intercepted (sniffing / eavesdropping) • Fake (’evil twin’) hotspots set up by criminals • Man-in-the-middle attacks / session hijacking • Malware can spread to the device from other devices on the network • Login details/passwords can be stolen (2) 3.2.3 VPN • A VPN creates a secure/private connection (tunnel) between the device and the VPN server over the public network ✓ • All data in the tunnel is encrypted, so data intercepted on the hotspot cannot be read ✓ (2) 3.3 MAN / metropolitan area network ✓ (Also accept: WAN) (1) 3.4.1 Why video is compressed Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Uncompressed video files are very large • Compression reduces the file size / amount of data to be transmitted • Less bandwidth is required, so the video can be streamed faster with less buffering • Uses less data (lower cost) for viewers (2) Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 7 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines 3.4.2 Lossy vs lossless • Lossy compression permanently removes some data (detail) – the original cannot be restored exactly ✓ • Lossless compression reduces the size without losing any data – the original can be restored exactly ✓ (2) 3.4.3 Factors influencing stream quality Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Bandwidth/speed of the viewer’s internet connection • Network congestion / number of users • Resolution/bit rate of the stream • Latency of the connection • Processing power/screen of the viewer’s device • Capacity of the streaming server (2) 3.5 Disadvantages of cloud storage Any TWO of: ✓✓ • An internet connection is required to access the files • Uploading/downloading large files uses a lot of data and takes time • Security/privacy risks – data stored on third-party servers • Ongoing subscription costs • Dependence on the service provider (service may be unavailable) (2) 3.6.1 Digital certificate Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Issued by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA) • Verifies/authenticates that the website belongs to the organisation it claims to be • Contains the public key of the website used for encryption (2) 3.6.2 TLS / SSL (HTTPS) ✓ (1) 3.7 BCC Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Recipients cannot see the e-mail addresses of other recipients • Protects the privacy of subscribers (POPIA) • Prevents addresses from being harvested for spam • Prevents ’reply all’ to everyone (2) Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 8 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines 3.8 DHCP server • Automatically assigns (dynamic) IP addresses to devices when they connect to the network ✓ • Prevents duplicate IP addresses / no manual configuration needed (also provides subnet mask, gateway, DNS settings) ✓ (2) TOTAL SECTION C: 25 Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 9 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines SECTION D: DATA AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT QUESTION 4 4.1.1 Problems caused by data redundancy Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Wastes storage space • Data inconsistency – the same data may be stored differently in different records • Update, insert and delete anomalies occur • More time and effort needed to capture and maintain data / more errors (2) 4.1.2 Update anomaly ✓ The price must be changed in every record of ’Jozi Jazz Trio’ – if one record is missed, the data becomes inconsistent ✓ (2) 4.1.3 Completed design: tblCustomers tblShows CustomerID (PK) ShowID (PK) CustomerName ShowTitle CustomerEmail Venue ShowDate 1 TicketPrice tblBookings 1 ∞ BookingID (PK) ✓ ∞ CustomerID (FK) ✓ ShowID (FK) ✓ NumTickets ✓ ✓ ✓ • BookingID as primary key of tblBookings ✓ • NumTickets in tblBookings ✓ • CustomerID as foreign key in tblBookings ✓ • ShowID as foreign key in tblBookings ✓ • One-to-many relationship from tblCustomers to tblBookings ✓ • One-to-many relationship from tblShows to tblBookings ✓ Also accept: a booking date field in tblBookings; crow’s-foot notation for the relationships. (6) Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 10 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines 4.2 Validation checks for NumTickets Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Range check (e.g. 1 to 10 tickets) • Type check (must be a whole number/integer) • Presence check (may not be empty) • Check against available seats for the show (existence/consistency check) (2) 4.3.1 Data mining • Analysing large sets of data (e.g. in a data warehouse) ✓ • to discover hidden patterns, trends and relationships that can be used to make decisions/predictions ✓ (2) 4.3.2 Any ONE of: ✓ • Identify the most popular types of shows/artists to book again • Identify the busiest days/times to schedule popular shows or add extra performances • Identify which venues sell out to allocate bigger venues • Identify the age groups/areas visitors come from for targeted marketing (1) 4.4 Audit trail • A record/log of who accessed or changed the data, what was changed and when ✓ • Used to trace unauthorised changes or fraud / to hold users accountable ✓ (2) 4.5 Advantages of a distributed database Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Data is stored close to where it is used – faster local access • If one server fails, data is still available at the other site (reliability/availability) • Less network traffic / load is shared between servers • Each site can manage its own data (2) Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 11 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines 4.6 Any ONE of: ✓ • Data type: Date/Time • Format: yyyy/mm/dd (e.g. short date) • Field name / description of the field • Validation rule / required property (1) TOTAL SECTION D: 20 Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 12 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines SECTION E: SOLUTION DEVELOPMENT QUESTION 5 5.1.1 3✓ (47 MOD 10 = 7; 7 DIV 2 = 3) (1) 5.1.2 13 ✓ (1) 5.1.3 TRUE ✓ (1) 5.2.1 • The / operator returns a real value, which cannot be assigned to the integer variable iAverage (incompatible types) ✓ • Correction: iAverage := iTotal DIV 5; OR declare rAverage as Real and display with FloatToStr ✓ (2) 5.2.2 • Line 5 ✓ • The loop runs only 4 times – change to for iDay := 1 to 5 do ✓ (2) 5.2.3 • Example: a non-numeric value such as ’ten’, ’12.5’ or an empty string ✓ • StrToInt cannot convert the value to an integer, so an exception (EConvertError) occurs while the program is running ✓ (2) 5.3.1 getTitle ✓ (1) 5.3.2 Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Encapsulation / information hiding • Attributes cannot be accessed or changed directly from outside the class • Values can only be changed through methods, which can validate the data (protects data integrity) (2) 5.3.3 procedure TPerformance.addTickets(iNum: Integer); begin if iNum > 0 then fTicketsSold := fTicketsSold + iNum; end; • Procedure heading with class name and Integer parameter ✓ • if iNum > 0 ✓ • fTicketsSold := fTicketsSold + iNum ✓ (3) Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 13 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines 5.3.4 objShow := TPerformance.Create✓('Marimba Nights', 'Thando and the Keys', 90); ✓ (Second mark: arguments in the correct order and with the correct data types.) (2) 5.4.1 iNum iNum > 0 iDigit iSum sOut 2026 TRUE 6 6 ’6’ 202 TRUE 2 8 ’62’ 20 TRUE 0 8 ’620’ 2 TRUE 2 10 ’6202’ 0 FALSE • iNum column: 202, 20, 2, 0 ✓ • Condition column: TRUE (4 times) and FALSE ✓ • iDigit 6, 2, 0, 2 and iSum 6, 8, 8, 10 ✓ • sOut ’6’, ’62’, ’620’, ’6202’ ✓ Accept any trace table layout in which the values are shown in the correct sequence. (4) 5.4.2 It reverses the digits of the number (and calculates the sum of the digits) ✓ (1) 5.5 Algorithm (example): Loop k from 1 to 5 arrFreq[k] ← 0 ✓ Loop i from 1 to iCount ✓ arrFreq[arrRatings[i]] ✓ ← arrFreq[arrRatings[i]] + 1 ✓ iMost ← 1 Loop k from 1 to 5 ✓ Display k, arrFreq[k] ✓ If arrFreq[k] > arrFreq[iMost] then iMost ← k ✓ Display 'Most frequent rating: ', iMost ✓ Alternatives: an IF/CASE statement on the rating to increment the correct counter (2 marks for the counting part); storing the highest count and its rating in two variables. (8) TOTAL SECTION E: 30 Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 14 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines SECTION F: INTEGRATED SCENARIO QUESTION 6 6.1.1 Any TWO of: ✓✓ • GPS / satellite positioning • Cellphone tower triangulation • Wi-Fi positioning (known hotspot locations) • Bluetooth beacons (2) 6.1.2 Any ONE of: ✓ • The user’s movements can be tracked / stored without their knowledge • Location data can be sold to third parties / used for targeted advertising • Criminals could use location data to find or follow the person (1) 6.2.1 Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Available 24/7 • Can answer many visitors at the same time – no waiting • Reduces the workload/cost of staff • Consistent answers / can answer in different languages (2) 6.2.2 • AI chatbots generate answers based on patterns in data and can produce incorrect/made-up information (hallucinations) or outdated information ✓ • Visitors may act on wrong information (e.g. wrong venue or time), which harms the festival’s reputation / the festival is responsible for the information ✓ (2) 6.3.1 • Many compromised computers (a botnet) are used ✓ • to flood the server with so many requests at the same time that it slows down/crashes and legitimate users cannot access it ✓ (2) 6.3.2 Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Use a firewall / intrusion detection system to filter malicious traffic • Use a DDoS-protection service / content delivery network (CDN) • Increase server capacity / load balancing over several servers • Rate-limit / block suspicious IP addresses (2) Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 15 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines 6.3.3 • A CAPTCHA presents a test that is easy for humans but difficult for computers/bots to solve (e.g. distorted text, selecting images) ✓ • Purchases can only be completed after the test is passed, so automated software cannot buy tickets in bulk ✓ (2) 6.4 • The unique code is checked against the central database when it is scanned and marked as ’used’ ✓ • When a copy is scanned again, the database shows that the code has already been used and entry is refused ✓ (2) 6.5.1 • The trail of data/information that a person leaves ✓ • through online activities, e.g. posts, comments, searches and websites visited ✓ (2) 6.5.2 Any ONE of: ✓ • Check the official festival website/app or verified social media accounts • Check whether reputable news sources report the same • Use a fact-checking website / contact the festival (1) 6.6.1 • The performance is the intellectual property of the artist/creator ✓ • Recording and distributing it without permission of the copyright holder is illegal / the artist loses income ✓ (2) 6.6.2 Others may use/share the photographs free of charge under conditions set by the festival (e.g. with attribution, non-commercial) ✓ (1) 6.7.1 Near-field communication ✓ (1) 6.7.2 Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Less cash on site – reduced risk of theft/robbery • Faster transactions / shorter queues • Sales data is recorded automatically – better tracking of income and stock • No need to give change / fewer counting errors (2) Copyright reserved Please turn over

Information Technology/P2 16 Hlayiso/Mock 2026 NSC – Marking Guidelines 6.7.3 Any ONE of: ✓ • Unused credit may be lost / refund process • Wristband can be lost or stolen • System failure/no network means visitors cannot buy anything • Visitors must load money in advance / transaction fees (1) 6.8.1 • Everyday objects/devices with sensors that are connected to the internet ✓ • that collect and exchange data with other devices/systems without human intervention ✓ (2) 6.8.2 Any ONE of: ✓ • Staff are alerted when a venue is full, so entry can be stopped to prevent overcrowding • Crowds can be redirected to other entrances/venues • The number of people inside is known in case of an emergency evacuation (1) 6.9 Any TWO of: ✓✓ • Collect only the personal information needed for the purpose (ticket sales) • Obtain consent and inform visitors why the information is collected • Keep the information secure / protect it against unauthorised access • Do not share/sell the information without consent • Allow visitors to access/correct their information • Delete the information when it is no longer needed (2) TOTAL SECTION F: 30 GRAND TOTAL: 150 Copyright reserved