Lesson 4.7.4.1

4.7.4.1 Input, output and secondary storage devices Quiz: AQA Computer Science, Unit 7

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

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Lesson 4.7.4.1, Input, output and secondary storage devices: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Computer Science (7517), Unit 7: Fundamentals of computer organisation and architecture, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which device is used at a supermarket checkout to read product codes?

    • A solid-state disk
    • A laser printer
    • A digital projector
    • A barcode reader

  2. Which technology uses radio signals to identify tagged items without needing a line of sight?

    • RFID
    • Barcodes
    • Optical discs
    • Laser printing

  3. Which output device uses a laser and toner to produce pages of text?

    • A laser printer
    • A digital camera
    • A barcode reader
    • An RFID reader

  4. Why would a barcode reader suit a supermarket checkout?

    • It stores the whole product catalogue on the device, so no network is ever needed
    • It reads product codes quickly and accurately, so the price can be looked up in a database
    • It prints a receipt for each product that is scanned at the till
    • It records video of each customer at the till for security purposes

  5. Why might a digital camera be preferred to a scanner for photographing a real object?

    • It reads printed text by moving a light across a flat page one line at a time, which is slower than capturing a full scene
    • It stores the image magnetically on a hard disk built into the camera body, which keeps every photograph safe
    • It captures a digital image directly, which suits photographs of objects and scenes in real settings
    • It prints the image onto paper using toner and a drum inside the device, so the photograph is ready as soon as it is taken

  6. Why is secondary storage needed in a computer system?

    • It replaces the need for main memory in every type of computer that is made, because data can be read from disks directly
    • It holds the processor's instructions while the ALU is busy with another task, so that the processor is never idle
    • It gives faster access than the processor's registers for the current calculations, so programs run more quickly overall
    • It keeps programs and data permanently, even when the power is switched off, and holds far more than main memory

  7. Which secondary storage device stores data magnetically on rotating platters?

    • An optical disk
    • A hard disk drive
    • A solid-state disk
    • Random access memory

  8. Which secondary storage device uses NAND flash memory with a controller that manages pages and blocks?

    • A solid-state disk
    • A hard disk drive
    • A read-only memory chip
    • An optical disk

  9. What is an advantage of an SSD compared with a hard disk drive?

    • It can overwrite individual pages at any time without erasing anything first
    • Greater capacity per pound than any hard disk drive can offer
    • It does not need any controller because the data is held in a single block
    • Lower latency and faster transfer speeds, because there are no moving parts to position

  10. Why must an SSD erase a whole block before it can write to a page inside that block?

    • Pages cannot be overwritten directly, so the block must be erased before any of its pages can be written
    • Erasing is needed only when the SSD has been switched off for a long period of time
    • Writing needs a moving head to be positioned over the old data before it can proceed
    • Erasing removes the controller, so that the new data can be written in its place

  11. Which secondary storage type is read with a laser?

    • An RFID tag
    • An optical disk
    • A hard disk drive
    • A solid-state disk

  12. A file of 2400 MB is copied to a USB flash drive that transfers at 60 MB per second. How long does the copy take, ignoring overheads?

    • 400 seconds
    • 2.5 minutes
    • 40 seconds
    • 4 seconds

  13. A disk with 500 GB capacity holds 120 GB of files and gains 25 GB of new files each week. How many complete weeks can pass before the disk is full?

    • 20
    • 15
    • 16
    • 5

  14. Which storage device is most suitable for a lightweight laptop that must be shock resistant and start quickly?

    • A magnetic tape cassette, because it can store large volumes of data at low cost
    • A hard disk drive with spinning platters, because it has the greatest capacity per pound
    • An optical disc drive, because discs are cheap to manufacture in bulk
    • A solid-state disk, because it has no moving parts and lower latency

  15. Which storage medium is most suitable for a large archive that is rarely accessed and must be cheap per gigabyte?

    • A solid-state disk, which offers the fastest access times for every file
    • Main memory, which offers the fastest access times of all storage types
    • The processor's registers, which offer the fastest access times of all
    • A hard disk drive, which offers large capacity at low cost per gigabyte

  16. Why do SSDs have lower latency than hard disk drives?

    • They use optical lasers to read the data, which is faster than the magnetic reading used by a hard disk drive
    • They access stored data electronically, without waiting for a mechanical head to move to the correct track
    • They have no controller, so the data is available directly from a single block without any management of the pages
    • They store data in registers inside the processor, which are always accessible to every program with no delay at all

  17. A hard disk has a capacity of 1 TB and reads at 150 MB per second. Roughly how long does reading the whole disk take at this rate?

    • About 6.7 hours, because the disk is read one byte at a time
    • About 1.9 hours (around 6,700 seconds)
    • About 1.9 seconds, because the disk is read in parallel
    • About 19 minutes, because the transfer rate is in gigabytes per second

  18. Which statement compares main memory with secondary storage most accurately?

    • Main memory is faster but smaller and volatile, whereas secondary storage is slower, larger and keeps data without power
    • Registers are slower than secondary storage but can hold more data than any hard disk drive available to users today
    • Secondary storage is faster but smaller than main memory, and it is volatile, so its data is lost when powered off
    • Main memory is larger and cheaper than secondary storage, and it keeps its data without any power being supplied

  19. A business chooses SSDs rather than hard disks for its servers. Which trade-off best justifies this choice?

    • Higher capacity and greater durability from moving parts that spin at high speed
    • Faster access and lower latency for high-demand data, at a higher cost per gigabyte
    • Greater capacity for the same price, with slower access times for each request
    • Lower latency and lower cost per gigabyte, with no drawbacks compared with a hard disk

  20. Which of these is an input device rather than an output device?

    • A laser printer
    • A projector
    • A monitor
    • A digital camera

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