Information Technology

Where the marks are

Percentages are the examinable weighting for each area. Revising in this order puts your time where the marks are.

1. Systems development, security and issues in management of information

   18%

   Approaches to systems development · Legal, ethical, governance, health and environmental issues in computing · Disruptive technologies · Stages of systems development · Computer security · Cybercrime and computer viruses · Data privacy and data protection principles · Computer forensics · Computer system disaster recovery · Big data, data analytics and visualisation · Cloud computing

2. Information processing

   17%

   Information processing techniques · Computer services: user departments, information centres and bureaux · Information systems: MIS, DSS, ESS, TPS, OIS, KMS and expert systems · Public sector systems: GIFMIS, IPPIS, UTAS, ATRRS and the Open Treasury Portal · E-commerce models and electronic payment systems · Business and government revenue models

3. Hardware fundamentals

   17%

   Basic components of a computer system · Input and output devices · Storage media and their uses · The central processing unit · Input, output and storage controls

4. Software fundamentals

   17%

   System software, operating systems and utilities · Operating environments · Application software, packages and integrated suites · Principles of programming · Computer programming languages · Grid (distributed) computing · Microsoft Windows, other operating systems and the graphical user interface

5. Computer networks and data communication

   17%

   Computer networks and network topologies · Communication channels · Data communication: transmission modes, equipment and protocols · The internet · Social and business communication on the net

6. Basic concepts

   14%

   Data and information distinguished · Data concepts: bit, byte, field, record, file and database · Data representation in number base systems · Data acquisition, cleansing, processing and analysis · The role and characteristics of information in finance and accounting · Computer systems: evolution and classification · Office automation: hardware and software requirements

Where candidates lose this paper

The Institute publishes its own past questions. What it cannot give you is an answer to these.

There is not enough time to read the whole study text before the diet.

The official study text condensed and reorganised by examinable weighting, with every claim cited back to the page it came from — so you can check anything you doubt in one click.

You write practice answers for months and never find out whether a single one would have scored.

Write by hand, photograph it, and have it marked against the examiner's own marking guide — with the marks broken down the way the examiner breaks them down, and the reason for each one.

The study text is hundreds of pages and none of it tells you which parts the examiner actually asks about.

Every syllabus topic, ordered by the share of marks it carries, so your revision time follows the marks instead of the page count.

You know the answer but lose marks anyway, and no one ever explains where they went.

The Institute's published solution beside your attempt, with the mark allocation visible — so you can see the marks sitting in the principle and the application, not only the final figure.