Systems development life cycle — AS & A Level Information Technology (9626) questions by topic
Evaluating IT projects sits at the heart of the systems development life cycle topic: describing ease-of-use aspects of a new system, distinguishing corrective maintenance from other types, and evaluating project management software or prototyping rather than merely describing what they do.
Describe, evaluate, discuss, explain and identify carry marks worth 6 to 10 across 13 questions from 2023 papers. Because 'evaluate' demands a judgement, not just a description, submitting drafts for instant marking flags quickly whether a response has stopped at description and missed the weighing-up examiners are actually looking for.
What examiners look for
- A recurring criticism is answers that describe how prototyping or project management software is used without ever making a judgement on that use.
- Examiners repeatedly note weaker responses drifting into other aspects of evaluation, such as efficiency, when the question specifically asked about ease of use.
- Reports flag bulleted lists of brief statements that fail to score well, since discussion points need expanding rather than just stating.
- A common error is restating the question itself, for example noting a WBS is used in PERT, which scores nothing.
- Strong answers made a statement and then expanded it, for example noting prototyping requires greater client involvement but risks inadequate analysis of underlying needs.
February–March 2023, Paper 32
A newly developed computer system is being evaluated for ease of use. Describe four aspects of the ease of use of the new system that could be examined in the evaluation.
Answer this question and get it marked →A retail company has a computer system used by all of its departments. Pilot running will be used to implement a new computer system. Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using…
Answer this question and get it marked →A Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), included in the Performance Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), is created during the planning of a project. Explain the purpose of a WBS.
Answer this question and get it marked →Evaluate the use of prototyping in software development.
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 32
Project management uses specific terms. Describe the project management term 'dependencies'.
Answer this question and get it marked →A system is developed using the system life cycle. Explain how the stages of the system life cycle are related.
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 31
Technical documentation is created during the development of a software application. (a) Describe the purpose of technical documentation.
Answer this question and get it marked →A new head office is to be designed and built for a company. Evaluate the use of project management software for supporting this project.
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 32
A healthcare organisation has many locations across a country. They are implementing a new management information system (MIS). Evaluate the use of pilot implementation for this…
Answer this question and get it marked →Corrective maintenance is one type of software maintenance. Identify and describe two other types of software maintenance.
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 33
Technical documentation is created during the development of a software application. Describe the purpose of technical documentation.
Answer this question and get it marked →A new head office is to be designed and built for a company. Evaluate the use of project management software for supporting this project.
Answer this question and get it marked →Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of the use of data mining by businesses.
Answer this question and get it marked →Other AS & A Level Information Technology topics
- Spreadsheets (30)
- Software (22)
- Security (21)
- The impact of IT (21)
- Multimedia (20)
- Data and information (17)
- Databases (16)
- Networks (10)
- Web authoring (8)
- Programming (8)
- Hardware (7)
- Monitoring and control (7)
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