MCQ

Results

I scored a 64/70, or 91.4%

Proof of Completion

proof

Corrections

Q6

Q6

My answer: (A) When a user resets a password for an online bank account, the user is required to enter the new password twice.

Correct answer: (C) After entering a password for an online bank account, a user must also enter a code that is sent to the user’s phone via text message.

Users are usually asked to enter a new password twice to help them avoid making an error when typing a new password. This is not an example of multifactor authentication.

Multifactor authentication is a method of computer access control in which a user is only granted access after successfully presenting several separate pieces of evidence to an authentication mechanism. In this case, the user provided a password and showed evidence of having the phone associated with the user account.

Q14

Q14

My answer: (B) In line 6, < should be changed to ≥.

Correct answer: (C) Lines 8 and 12 should be interchanged.

By making this change, the procedure will immediately return true any time it encounters a value that is greater than or equal to the preceding value. It will not check any subsequent values in the list.

As is, the procedure traverses numberList from left to right and returns true whenever it encounters a value that is less than the preceding value. If it never encounters such a value, false is returned. This has the effect of returning true whenever the list is not increasing and returning false whenever the list is increasing, which is the opposite of what is intended. By interchanging lines 8 and 12, the procedure will return true or false appropriately.

Q19

Q19

My answer: (C) Unauthorized individuals can exploit vulnerabilities in encryption algorithms to determine a user’s password from their encryption key.

Correct answer: (D) Unauthorized individuals can use data mining and other techniques to guess a user’s password.

The exploitation of encryption algorithms is not related to password strength.

A strong password is something that is easy for a user to remember but would be difficult for someone else to guess based on knowledge of that user. Weak passwords can often be guessed based on publicly available information about a user. Other weak passwords (such as “password” or “1234”) can often be guessed because they are commonly used.

Q50

Q50

My answer: (D) Symmetric encryption uses two keys. The key used for encryption should be made public, but the key used for decryption should be kept secret.

Correct answer: (A) Symmetric encryption uses a single key that should be kept secret. The same key is used for both encryption and decryption of data.

Symmetric encryption uses a single key. Public key encryption uses a public key for encryption and a private key for decryption.

Symmetric encryption uses a single key for both encryption and decryption of data. Since the key can be used to unlock the data, it should be kept secret.

Q53

Q53

My answer: (D) Step 4: Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the value of count is greater than n. Step 5: If count is greater than or equal to 2, display true. Otherwise, display false.

Correct answer: (A) Step 4: Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the value of position is greater than n. Step 5: If count is greater than or equal to 2, display true. Otherwise, display false.

It is not possible for count to be greater than n. Steps 2 and 3 will be continually repeated until the algorithm eventually attempts to access a list element at an index beyond the end of the list.

Step 4 checks every element of the list, incrementing count each time target appears. Step 5 prints true if and only if count appears multiple times in the list.

Q64

Q64

My answer: (A) Line 3 and (B) Line 8

Correct answer: (B) Line 8 and (C) Line 10.

Line 3 should not be removed. The variable result is assigned the value “adult” by default and then assigned the value “senior citizen” or “minor” only when appropriate.

Line 8 should be removed. This return statement causes execution of the procedure to end early. As a result, if age is less than 18, result will never be assigned the value “minor”.

Line 10 should be removed. This statement causes result to be assigned the value “adult”, even if it should have been assigned the value “senior citizen”.

Reflection

I feel like I’m pretty well prepared for the exam. I’m confident in my Create Performance Task to get at least a 5/6, which will leave me with a minimum score of 60/70 on the MCQ in order to get a 5 on the exam (according to the 2022 curve). I’m glad I’ve been able to complete practice MCQs to get a feel for what the questions are like.