plumiCommunication: AQA A‑Level Computer Science questions
Every AQA A-Level Computer Science exam question on 4.9.1 Communication, 2020–2025, with its mark scheme and examiner’s report.
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Q13.1
The whole paper ↗![June 2025 AS Paper 2, question 13.1: State what is meant by the serial transmission of data. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75162-jun25-13-1-qp.webp?v=3)
Q13.2
The whole paper ↗![June 2025 AS Paper 2, question 13.2: Explain how it is possible for the bit rate along a serial cable to be greater than the baud rate. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75162-jun25-13-2-qp.webp?v=3)
Q03.2
The whole paper ↗![June 2024 Paper 2, question 03.2: The data bus inside the computer uses synchronous parallel data transmission. Describe what synchronous transmission is. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-jun24-03-2-qp.webp?v=3)
Q03.3
The whole paper ↗
Q11.1
The whole paper ↗![June 2024 AS Paper 2, question 11.1: Describe the difference between baud rate and bit rate. [2 marks]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75162-jun24-11-1-qp.webp?v=3)
Q10.1
The whole paper ↗
Q10.2
The whole paper ↗![June 2023 Paper 2, question 10.2: An alternative data communication system uses synchronous data transmission. Describe what synchronous data transmission is. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-jun23-10-2-qp.webp?v=3)
Q10.4
The whole paper ↗
Q02.1
The whole paper ↗![June 2022 Paper 2, question 02.1: A data communications system uses parallel data transmission. Describe how parallel data transmission works. [2 marks]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-jun22-02-1-qp.webp?v=3)
Q02.2
The whole paper ↗![June 2022 Paper 2, question 02.2: State one advantage of serial data transmission over parallel data transmission. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-jun22-02-2-qp.webp?v=3)
Q02.3
The whole paper ↗![June 2022 Paper 2, question 02.3: Shade one lozenge to indicate which of these statements about data communications systems is false. [1 mark] A For a particular communications channel, the bit](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-jun22-02-3-qp.webp?v=3)
Q02.4
The whole paper ↗![June 2022 Paper 2, question 02.4: State the purpose of the start bit in asynchronous serial transmission. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-jun22-02-4-qp.webp?v=3)
Q02.5
The whole paper ↗![June 2022 Paper 2, question 02.5: State the purpose of the stop bit in asynchronous serial transmission. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-jun22-02-5-qp.webp?v=3)
Q10.1
The whole paper ↗![June 2022 AS Paper 2, question 10.1: Describe the purpose of start and stop bits in asynchronous data transfer. [2 marks] Purpose of start bit Purpose of stop bit](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75162-jun22-10-1-qp.webp?v=3)
Q10.2
The whole paper ↗![June 2022 AS Paper 2, question 10.2: Protocols are used in computer networking. Define the term ‘protocol’. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75162-jun22-10-2-qp.webp?v=3)
Q10.3
The whole paper ↗![June 2022 AS Paper 2, question 10.3: Users of a computer network will experience latency. Define the term ‘latency’. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75162-jun22-10-3-qp.webp?v=3)
Q03.1
The whole paper ↗![November 2021 Paper 2, question 03.1: Describe the exact relationship between the bit rate and the baud rate for this system. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-nov21-03-1-qp.webp?v=3)
Q03.2
The whole paper ↗![November 2021 Paper 2, question 03.2: Describe the relationship between the bit rate of the system and the bandwidth of the transmission medium that the data is transmitted through. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-nov21-03-2-qp.webp?v=3)
Q03.3
The whole paper ↗![November 2021 Paper 2, question 03.3: The system uses serial transmission. Describe the difference between the operation of serial and parallel transmission. [2 marks]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75172-nov21-03-3-qp.webp?v=3)
Q10.2
The whole paper ↗![November 2020 AS Paper 2, question 10.2: Explain how it is possible for the bit rate of a communications channel to be higher than its baud rate. [1 mark]](https://pub-e8a9dbab8e2a4d089f52b2a45e0d0b50.r2.dev/bank/75162-nov20-10-2-qp.webp?v=3)
All 21 questions on Communication, as a list
- June 2025, AS Paper 2, Q13.1 (1 mark): State what is meant by the serial transmission of data. [1 mark]
- June 2025, AS Paper 2, Q13.2 (1 mark): Explain how it is possible for the bit rate along a serial cable to be greater than the baud rate. [1 mark]
- June 2024, Paper 2, Q03.2 (1 mark): The data bus inside the computer uses synchronous parallel data transmission. Describe what synchronous transmission is. [1 mark]
- June 2024, Paper 2, Q03.3 (3 marks): Peripherals, such as a keyboard or printer, are connected to the computer using a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection. USB uses synchronous serial data transm
- June 2024, AS Paper 2, Q11.1 (2 marks): Describe the difference between baud rate and bit rate. [2 marks]
- June 2023, Paper 2, Q10.1 (1 mark): A data communication system uses asynchronous data transmission with even parity to send character codes that are encoded using 7-bit ASCII. Figure 9 shows five
- June 2023, Paper 2, Q10.2 (1 mark): An alternative data communication system uses synchronous data transmission. Describe what synchronous data transmission is. [1 mark]
- June 2023, Paper 2, Q10.4 (1 mark): Shade one lozenge to indicate which of the lines on the graph in Figure 10 shows the correct relationship between the bandwidth and the bit rate of a communicat
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q02.1 (2 marks): A data communications system uses parallel data transmission. Describe how parallel data transmission works. [2 marks]
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q02.2 (1 mark): State one advantage of serial data transmission over parallel data transmission. [1 mark]
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q02.3 (1 mark): Shade one lozenge to indicate which of these statements about data communications systems is false. [1 mark] A For a particular communications channel, the bit
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q02.4 (1 mark): State the purpose of the start bit in asynchronous serial transmission. [1 mark]
- June 2022, Paper 2, Q02.5 (1 mark): State the purpose of the stop bit in asynchronous serial transmission. [1 mark]
- June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q10.1 (2 marks): Describe the purpose of start and stop bits in asynchronous data transfer. [2 marks] Purpose of start bit Purpose of stop bit
- June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q10.2 (1 mark): Protocols are used in computer networking. Define the term ‘protocol’. [1 mark]
- June 2022, AS Paper 2, Q10.3 (1 mark): Users of a computer network will experience latency. Define the term ‘latency’. [1 mark]
- November 2021, Paper 2, Q03.1 (1 mark): Describe the exact relationship between the bit rate and the baud rate for this system. [1 mark]
- November 2021, Paper 2, Q03.2 (1 mark): Describe the relationship between the bit rate of the system and the bandwidth of the transmission medium that the data is transmitted through. [1 mark]
- November 2021, Paper 2, Q03.3 (2 marks): The system uses serial transmission. Describe the difference between the operation of serial and parallel transmission. [2 marks]
- November 2020, AS Paper 2, Q10.2 (1 mark): Explain how it is possible for the bit rate of a communications channel to be higher than its baud rate. [1 mark]
- November 2020, AS Paper 2, Q10.4 (4 marks): State two advantages of serial data transmission over parallel data transmission and explain how these are achieved. [4 marks] Advantage 1 How achieved Advantag
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