Computer

DBMS for UPSC ISS is a small topic that punches above its weight, because the same two ideas keep coming back and one of them carries the most repeated trap in the entire Computer section. Quick answer. Databases have produced 6 questions in the last ten papers, about 0.6 a year, worth 1.5 marks. Four … Read more

Data and Information for UPSC ISS is the shortest article in this series, and it earns its place on the strength of the section’s own name. Quick answer. The section you are preparing is called Computer Application and Data Processing. This article covers the second half of that title: what data is, what information is, … Read more

Packages and Utilities for UPSC ISS is written into the syllabus in those exact words, and almost nobody covers it. It is also the one part of the Computer section that was clearly written because this is a Statistics examination. Quick answer. Packages and utilities have produced 6 questions in the last ten papers, about … Read more

Operating Systems for UPSC ISS is the second heaviest topic in the entire Computer section, behind only internet and security. Quick answer. Operating systems have produced 28 questions in the last ten papers, an average of 2.8 a year, or 7 marks. That is a seventh of the whole Computer section sitting in one article. … Read more

System Software for UPSC ISS is the layer nobody sees and the paper keeps asking about. Not the operating system, which gets its own article, but the quieter machinery underneath it: the programs that turn what you wrote into something a processor can run. Quick answer. System software and language translators have produced 15 questions … Read more

Input and Output Devices for UPSC ISS looks like the easiest topic in the Computer section, and it is. That is exactly why the paper sets traps inside it rather than asking hard questions. Quick answer. Peripherals have produced 12 questions in the last ten papers, an average of 1.2 a year, or 3 marks. … Read more

CPU for UPSC ISS is the first thing the syllabus names after “operations of a computer”, and it is the one hardware topic where candidates stop at the surface. Everyone knows the CPU has an ALU and a control unit. Very few know which register holds the next instruction, and that is the question the … Read more

Computer Memory for UPSC ISS is the heaviest article in this hardware module, and the third heaviest in the whole series. Quick answer. Memory has produced 23 questions in the last ten papers, an average of 2.3 a year, or about 5.75 marks. That is nearly twice what the CPU and peripherals produce individually. Only … Read more

Binary Codes for UPSC ISS is the half of the number systems syllabus that nobody teaches separately, which is why candidates who have carefully practised conversions still lose these marks. Quick answer. Codes and binary arithmetic have appeared 10 times in the last ten papers, an average of one question a year, or 2.5 marks. … Read more

Number Systems for UPSC ISS is the only topic in the Computer section that you can be certain about. Every other part of this section rewards recall. This one rewards method, and a method either works or it does not. Quick answer. Number systems has appeared 16 times in the last ten papers, an average … Read more