[Year 12 IT Apps] Observations on VITTA 2013 Practice Exam #1

[Mark]

Please delete this if you're not interested, but here are my observations
on the 2013 VITTA ITA Exam - number 1.  More to follow.

I'd be interested to hear other opinions.

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VITTA 2013 ITA Exam 1

A2 - I've always interpreted a "deliberate threat" as being deliberate by
the bad person (e.g. hacking into a network) rather than by the victim.

A8 - a small quibble: how many kids would know what an "open day" is in
relation to real estate agencies? Questions have to be careful not to
assume that teenage students have adult-level experience.

A9 - encryption would certainly protect users' supplied data, but an
"encryption policy" is something else. The suggested answer refers to
"privacy, shipping and returns policies" but this does not cover encryption.

A10 - No. The suggested answer refers to timelines, so the actual answer is
D, not C.

A11 - Again, the suggested answer C should have been D, as explained in the
suggested answer.

A15 - the reference to different types of systems is a bit of a bother
since the current study design does not refer to DSS, OAS, TPS, MIS etc.
Yes, they are used for strategic, tactical and operational decisions (which
*are* in the study design) but the types of systems was relevant in the *
previous* study design, not this one.

A20 - When asked for the protocol that is necessary to "transfer files to a
server which houses the website", the suggested answer says that "Files
come from the web server via HTTP, but they are delivered to it by FTP."
Really? My Filezilla seems to use FTP in both directions, and my browser
seems to use HTTP in both directions...  Have I missed something?

B3g - I have problems with this. What DBMS does the question assume that
kids have used? The suggested answer includes a SQL query!  Filemaker kids
(at least) would have no concept of that. Also, in the table in the
solution, the criteria seem to be empty except for the invoice number. Is
it just me?

B3h - as has been pointed out on the ITA list, the Privacy Act would not
apply to this organisation since they don't turn over more than $3 million
a year, and satisfy none of the other criteria.

B6 - why are "4th or more" children charged the same as 3rd ranked
children? Shouldn't the fee structure just say "3rd or more" or have a
different rate for >=4th? Since there are no kids with a rank >=4 it's hard
to say.

B6 dotpoint 4 - "The total number of male and female players." Does this
mean one total of *all* players, or a total for *each sex*? If separate
counts of males and females are needed, COUNTIF would be needed.

B6 - there is no normalisation question at all - a big omission,
considering the examiners' (unfortunate) love of it, and their huge
investment of marks in it in last year's exam.

Over to you...

--
Mark Kelly
mark AT vceit DOT com
http://vceit.com

Day 19, I have successfully conditioned my master to smile and write in his
book every time I drool.- Pavlov's Dog
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