CCEA GCE A Level Digital Technology (479) Past Papers 2026

AS Unit 1

Duration: 1h 30m

AS Unit 2

Duration: 1h 30m

A2 Unit 1

Duration: 2h 30m

A2 Unit 2 (Controlled Assessment)

Duration: 60 hours (coursework)

Cloud computing — business use cases, hosted instances, data security implications

Flagged as a significant weakness in A2 1 across all three series. In 2023 most candidates described personal file storage. In 2024 the report noted 'Issues around cloud computing continue to cause problems.' In 2025 candidates were 'not properly familiar with the inference engine' and cloud computing evaluations 'lacked the required depth and justification.'

A2 1

Multithreading — distinct from multitasking

In 2023 AS 2: 'Almost all candidates were completely unfamiliar with multithreading, most assuming it was similar to multi-tasking.' In 2024 AS 2: 'multithreading which was poorly understood.' This distinction — a single process divided into concurrent threads vs multiple processes sharing the CPU — recurs as a discriminating question.

AS 2

Communication protocols — VoIP, Ethernet, CSMA/CD, RFID — insufficient technical detail

In 2023 A2 1: 'Very few candidates were familiar with the two communication protocols at all, let alone the required detail. The Ethernet protocol was reduced to an Ethernet cable, VoIP equated with calls over the Internet.' In 2025: 'CSMA/CD was better understood than RFID. In the latter case, many candidates failed to provide appropriate technical detail.'

A2 1

Object-oriented programming — inheritance, classes, code reusability

QWC questions on OOP appeared in 2023 and 2025 AS 1. In 2025: 'Most candidates were not properly familiar with the object-oriented approach. Many understood inheritance as simply copying and pasting code or taking on values.' Very few candidates reached the top band on OOP evaluation questions in either series.

AS 1

Bandwidth vs broadband — precise technical distinction

In 2023 A2 1: 'Bandwidth was frequently equated with speed, broadband with high/good bandwidth.' In 2024 A2 1: 'Only a very small number of candidates could distinguish between bandwidth and broadband as required.' Bandwidth is the capacity of a channel (bits per second); broadband refers to a high-bandwidth always-on connection type.

A2 1

Prototyping — use in UI design and data model design specifically

In 2024 AS 1: 'The overall level of response was weak with many candidates describing prototyping in general, often very inaccurately, but disregarding its use in the design of the user interface.' In 2025: 'Most candidates interpreted Part (i) and Part (ii) as the same question and proceeded to describe prototyping itself. Only a small number of candidates achieved any marks in these two question parts.'

AS 1

Expert systems — inference engine, knowledge engineer role, medical application

In 2025 A2 1: 'Most candidates were not properly familiar with the inference engine.' On roles: 'There was confusion among many candidates about the role of the medical consultants … Even more confusion surrounded the knowledge engineer who was credited with nearly all aspects of the design and use of the system.' Expert systems in medicine is a named specification application requiring detailed knowledge.

A2 1

Error detection — parity bit mechanism; CRC correction ability

In 2023 A2 1: 'As has frequently been the case in previous sessions, many candidates struggled to explain the use of a parity bit in a concise manner. Most candidates failed to refer to the correction ability of CRC and so could not access full marks.' In 2025 A2 1 the parity bit QWC was set again: 'many candidates struggled to explain the purpose of a parity bit accurately. Some candidates suggested that the choice between odd and even parity … were performed by the user.'

A2 1