Computer Science for the EmSAT Exam

Common failure modes

These are the patterns that cause most candidates to lose marks on this topic. Recognising them in advance is half the work.

• !Algorithm tracing errors: not correctly tracing conditional and loop statements step by step
• !Not understanding the difference between procedural and object-oriented programming paradigms
• !Database: confusing primary keys, foreign keys, and their roles in relational databases

Study tips

• 1Practice algorithm tracing: given a pseudocode program, trace through it manually for specific input values.
• 2Learn basic Python syntax and be comfortable reading simple Python programs.
• 3Study relational database concepts: tables, primary keys, foreign keys, SQL SELECT statements.

Sample EmSAT Computer Science questions

These sample items mirror the format and difficulty of real EmSAT questions. Practice with thousands more on the free Koydo question bank.

1. 1

   What is the output of: x = 5; if x > 3: print("A"); else: print("B")

   • AB
   • BACorrect
   • CError
   • D5
   Why this answer?

   Since x = 5 and 5 > 3 is True, the if-branch executes and prints "A". The else-branch ("B") is not executed because the condition is True. This tests basic conditional statement tracing in Python.