OCR GCSE Computer Science (J277) · Computer systems (Paper 1) › Networks, connections and protocols › Networks and topologies
Practise Network hardware. 12 exam-style questions on this subtopic, at up to four difficulty levels, with full mark schemes and a progress tracker. Free, no account needed.
Cover the answers and test yourself. The app has these as flashcards that come back just before you'd forget them.
State what the letters NIC stand for.
Network Interface Card / Controller
Sample questions
Written for this site in the style of OCR exam questions. They are not taken from real past papers.
Question 1Easy3 marks
(a) State what the letters NIC stand for.[1]
(b) Which transmission medium uses pulses of light to carry data? Tick (✓) one box.[1]
Copper (Ethernet) cable
Radio waves
Fibre optic cable
Coaxial cable
(c) State the name of the device that connects a home network to the Internet.[1]
Show the answer and mark scheme
(a)Answer: Network Interface Card / Controller
Network Interface Card / Controller
(b)Answer: Fibre optic cable
(c)Answer: router
router
Question 2Medium3 marks
Describe the role of a switch in a LAN.[3]
Show the answer and mark scheme
it connects devices together on a LAN
it receives data (frames / packets) from the devices
it reads the destination MAC address
it sends the data only to the device / port it is intended for
it keeps a table of which MAC address is connected to each port
Question 3Hard6 marks
A small café wants to offer Wi-Fi to its customers and a wired network connection for its till. The café's network must also be connected to the Internet.
Identify three items of hardware the café needs and explain the purpose of each.[6]
Show the answer and mark scheme
router
connects the café's network to the Internet / directs data between the LAN and the Internet
wireless access point (WAP)
lets customers' devices connect wirelessly to the network
switch
connects wired devices, such as the till, to the LAN
network interface card (NIC) in the till / devices
lets each device connect to the network
Ethernet (copper) cable
physically connects the till to the switch / router