The National IT Olympiad Test Questions (Ages 11-14)

Nikolay Kostov (Nikolay.IT)
Montana, the town hosting the olympiad

Two or three weeks ago (10-11 May 2014) I visited the National Olympiad in Information Technologies in Montana and had the chance to look at a large part of the students' projects. There were many good ideas and quite a few good implementations. I had not been to the olympiad since I last took part four or five years ago (I was in the 12th grade). The feeling was rather strange. I was reminded of Montana - a small but beautiful town.

Now to the point. :) You can see the results and the award-winning projects on the olympiad's site: https://edusoft.fmi.uni-sofia.bg/. We managed to photograph the test, and in this post I present the questions from the test for the younger age group (5th-8th grade), together with their correct answers (in bold).

  1. Which of the following computer system configurations is possible? (33 correct answers)
    1. RAM 2GB, HDD 50kHz, Intel Core i7
    2. RAM 4kB, FDD 7200 rpm, Intel Core i5
    3. RAM 8GB, SSD 128GB, Intel Core i3
    4. RAM 16MB, HDD 500GB, Intel Core i1
  2. Which of the components has a characteristic measured in hertz? (32 correct answers)
    1. Monitor
    2. PS/2 keyboard
    3. USB 3.0 external drive
    4. Fingerprint sensor
  3. Which of the following devices could be used through a USB port? (28 correct answers)
    1. Motherboard
    2. Sound card
    3. Video card
    4. Processor
  4. Which of the following is the odd one out? (56 correct answers)
    1. Question 4, answer option A
    2. Question 4, answer option B
    3. Question 4, answer option C
    4. Question 4, answer option D
  5. To achieve an ergonomic workplace, the top edge of the monitor should be: (28 correct answers)
    1. at eye level
    2. above eye level
    3. below chin level
    4. at chin level
  6. Which of the listed items is NOT a basic function of the operating system? (40 correct answers)
    1. Managing the central processor
    2. Managing memory and the disk
    3. Providing a way for users to interact with the computer
    4. Providing the ability to edit a document
  7. Which of the statements about a directory and a folder is true? (17 correct answers)
    1. A directory is a file-system concept, a folder is a graphical-interface concept
    2. Directory and folder are completely equivalent synonyms
    3. Directory is an outdated term and folder is used instead nowadays
    4. A directory is a list of all folders a user has access to
  8. What has to be changed in order to configure a user interface for a left-handed person? (38 correct answers)
    1. Move the vertical scrollbars to the left of the windows
    2. Put the menus on the other side of the cursor
    3. Use text written right to left
    4. Swap the functions of the left and right mouse buttons
  9. What does the abbreviation GUI stand for? (51 correct answers)
    1. Graphical User Interaction
    2. Graphical User Interface
    3. Geometrical Ultra Inputs
    4. Graph Under Influence
  10. Which of the following has NOT been used as a traditional information medium for computers and computing systems? (23 correct answers)
    1. Magnetic disk
    2. Metal drum
    3. Punched card
    4. Paper tape
  11. A data packet contains a sequence of 1024 digits, 0 and 1. Which statement is true? (15 correct answers)
    1. The information in this packet is 1024 bits
    2. If the digits are treated as separate characters, the information is textual
    3. If the digits are treated as separate bits, the information is binary
    4. The information in the packet depends on the interpretation of the data
  12. Which of the listed methods is most suitable for protection against a brute-force attack? (22 correct answers)
    1. Choosing a longer and less trivial password
    2. Using a more complex password hashing algorithm
    3. Packing the data into blocks with a size that is a power of two
    4. Only one user may be active at any one moment
  13. What can we NOT protect ourselves from by creating a backup copy of the data in a physically remote location? (12 correct answers)
    1. A hardware failure in the main system
    2. The data being read by an unauthorised person
    3. Accidental deletion of the data caused by human error
    4. Loss of network connectivity
  14. What does a monochrome image mean? (27 correct answers)
    1. An image engraved on a chromed surface
    2. An image made up of a single tonal colour
    3. A graphics format created specially for the Chrome browser
    4. Any image in which the colour of a pixel is encoded in 1 byte
  15. In an anaglyph stereo image, if one of the colours is light blue, the other is best made red, because: (18 correct answers)
    1. That is how the first anaglyph glasses were designed
    2. These are the two main colours in the RGB colour model
    3. These colours are complementary to each other
    4. The choice of colours is for aesthetic reasons
  16. In the RGB colour model the colour red is represented by the triple [255, 0, 0], green by [0, 255, 0] and blue by [0, 0, 255]. What is the colour represented by the triple [125, 125, 125]? (32 correct answers)
    1. purple
    2. grey
    3. yellow
    4. black
  17. Images obtained by scanning are: (28 correct answers)
    1. Vector
    2. Mixed
    3. Fractal
    4. Raster
  18. A clock showing 9:30 is drawn in the following sequence: one hand is drawn in the correct place, the other is drawn on top of it and then rotated by a certain angle. How many degrees is that angle? (5 correct answers)
    1. 90
    2. 95
    3. 105
    4. 270
  19. For high-quality listening to a stereophonic piece of music, the equipment must support: (16 correct answers)
    1. WiFi
    2. SciFi
    3. MiFi
    4. HiFi
  20. Which of the following characteristics can apply to an audio recording? (23 correct answers)
    1. Sampling rate
    2. Frame rate
    3. Refresh rate
    4. Transfer rate
  21. Which of the following file formats contains sound information? (41 correct answers)
    1. WMF
    2. WMV
    3. BMP
    4. GIF
  22. If a text editor is WYSIWYG, it is characteristic of it that: (12 correct answers)
    1. It supports exchanging documents in the WYS/WYG format
    2. It shows the document in the most realistic way possible
    3. It can only use vector fonts
    4. Text editing is carried out solely and only online
  23. What is determined by the COLLATE option when printing a text document? (20 correct answers)
    1. The order in which the pages are printed when printing several copies
    2. Whether the pages are printed front to back or back to front
    3. Distinguishing left-hand from right-hand pages
    4. Single-sided or double-sided printing of a document
  24. One of the columns of the table below is presented in the pie chart. Which one is it? (52 correct answers)The data table and the pie chart for the column-matching question
    1. Column C
    2. Column D
    3. Column A
    4. Column B
  25. A formula is entered in cell B2 of a spreadsheet. What will the result be in cell B5 when the formula is copied downwards? (17 correct answers)
    The spreadsheet showing the formula entered in cell B2
    1. 0.00 BGN
    2. 0.20 BGN
    3. 1.20 BGN
    4. 20.00 BGN
  26. You are preparing a presentation that will be shown with an overhead projector. In what format will you need to bring the slides? (14 correct answers)
    1. Printed on transparent film
    2. Saved in PowerPoint format
    3. Photographed on colour negatives
    4. Converted to JPEG images
  27. Multimedia is the name for: (35 correct answers)
    1. a specialised device that displays sound, video and other information
    2. the parts of the computer that reproduce sound, video and other types of information
    3. a concept for combining sound, animation, video and other types of information
    4. the utility programs that control sound, video and other types of information
  28. Which characteristic of the hall in which you will give a presentation will NOT affect the design of the multimedia presentation? (44 correct answers)
    1. The size
    2. The lighting
    3. The temperature
    4. The acoustics
  29. You receive a message in an unknown language with a hyperlink to a site. What is the best thing to do? (46 correct answers)
    1. Check whether the displayed and the real address of the hyperlink are the same
    2. Forward the message to a friend who can read it
    3. Delete the message without visiting the hyperlink
    4. Follow the hyperlink to a site with probably additional information
  30. Can you receive an email message from someone before you have written to them? (55 correct answers)
    1. No, because they have not read your message yet
    2. Yes, if the two of you are online at that exact moment
    3. No, because there is no way to fill in the "reply to" field
    4. Yes, receiving and sending messages are not linked
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