WAEC Computer Studies 2024 past questions

Checked by the Skolra question team · Last updated 23 October 2026

Ten questions from the 2024 WAEC Computer Studies paper, with answers and explanations. We hold 40 questions from this paper, and the Skolra app has all of them.

WAEC Computer Studies 2024 questions and answers

1. 1.30. New comment can be added to a cell in MS Excel by using the procedure
   1. A
      Click the Page Layout tab and select Comments
   2. B
      Right-click the cell and select Insert Comment, or go to the Review tab and click New Comment
      Correct
   3. C
      Click the Home tab and select Format Cells
   4. D
      Click the Insert tab and select Text Box
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   Right-clicking the cell and selecting "Insert Comment" (or using the Review tab's "New Comment" button) is correct. This is the standard way to attach a comment/note to a specific cell in MS Excel — a small yellow box pops up for you to type your note, and a red triangle marker appears on the cell afterward.

2. 2.Which of the following statements is true about the rules of flowcharting?
   1. A
      Flowlines may be allowed to cross one another to save drawing space
   2. B
      Every flowchart must begin and end with a terminal (start/stop) symbol
      Correct
   3. C
      Arrowheads on flowlines are optional once the chart flows downward
   4. D
      A decision symbol should have only one line leading out of it
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   In flowcharting, a set of standard drawing rules governs how the symbols and lines are used.

   Every flowchart must begin and end with a terminal symbol (the oval/rounded shape), labelled "Start" and "Stop"/"End". This is one of the basic rules of flowcharting, and it is the true statement here.

   The other statements describe common mistakes, not rules:

   A decision (diamond) symbol does not have only one exit line — it must have at least two outgoing flowlines, one for each possible outcome (e.g. Yes/No), so that tempting option is wrong.

3. 3.The equivalent of the letter A in the standard ASCII is
   1. A
      65
      Correct
   2. B
      41
   3. C
      66
   4. D
      97
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: A

   In the standard ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) table, the uppercase letter A has the decimal value 65. The uppercase letters run consecutively from A = 65 to Z = 90.

   The value 97 is a common mix-up: that is the ASCII code for the lowercase letter "a", not the uppercase "A" — uppercase and lowercase letters have a difference of 32 in ASCII.

4. 4.Read Only Memory (ROM) contains
   1. A
      data currently being processed by the CPU, which is lost when power goes off
   2. B
      permanent instructions placed in it by the manufacturer, which the user cannot change
      Correct
   3. C
      temporary storage used by running applications that is cleared when the computer is restarted
   4. D
      user files and documents that can be edited, saved and deleted at will
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   Read Only Memory (ROM) is a type of permanent, non-volatile memory. It contains instructions and data that are placed into it by the manufacturer at the time the computer (or device) is built, such as the bootstrap/start-up instructions a computer needs to begin operating. The key feature is that this content is fixed: the ordinary user cannot write to it, change it, or erase it.

   So the correct description is that ROM contains permanent instructions placed there by the manufacturer, which the user cannot change.

5. 5.Set of characters used to authenticate a computer user is called
   1. A
      Personal Identification Number (PIN)
   2. B
      Password
      Correct
   3. C
      Encryption key
   4. D
      Username
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: B

   Password is the set of characters (letters, numbers and symbols) that a computer user types in to prove he or she is really the owner of an account. This is why it is called an authentication detail — it confirms "you are who you say you are" before access is granted.

6. 6.Debugging in program development is the process of
   1. A
      writing structured comments within a program
   2. B
      compiling a program to check for syntax errors only
   3. C
      converting a program's source code into object code
   4. D
      detecting, locating and correcting errors in a program
      Correct
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: D

   Debugging is the stage of program development where the programmer finds the mistakes (bugs) in a program, works out exactly where they are, and fixes them so the program runs correctly. This covers syntax errors, logic errors and runtime errors alike, so detecting, locating and correcting errors in a program is the correct description.

7. 7.Which of the following logic devices is considered as equivalent gate?
   1. A
      NOR gate
   2. B
      XOR gate
   3. C
      XNOR gate
      Correct
   4. D
      NAND gate
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: C

   The XNOR (Exclusive-NOR) gate is the one known as the equivalence gate. Its output is HIGH (1) only when its inputs are the same as one another (both 0 or both 1) — that is, when the inputs are "equivalent". Because it literally tests whether inputs agree, textbooks and WAEC materials call it the equivalence gate.

8. 8.Which of the following hard disk drive memory capacities can store the largest size of data?
   1. A
      500 GB
   2. B
      500 MB
   3. C
      750 MB
   4. D
      1 TB
      Correct
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: D

   1 TB (terabyte) is the largest of the four capacities given.

   To compare storage sizes correctly, you must know the order of memory units from smallest to largest: KB < MB < GB < TB. Each unit is about 1,000 (or 1,024) times bigger than the one before it.

9. 9.The ASCII character set represents alphabetical and control characters using numeric code ranging from
   1. A
      1 to 128
   2. B
      0 to 255
   3. C
      0 to 256
   4. D
      0 to 127
      Correct
   Show answerHide answer

   Answer: D

   The ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) character set is a 7-bit code, so it can represent 2⁷ = 128 different characters, numbered from 0 to 127.

   This range covers:

   - Codes 0–31: control characters (e.g. carriage return, line feed, tab)
   - Codes 32–126: printable characters (letters, digits, punctuation, space)
   - Code 127: the DELETE control character

10. 10.A user observed that a certain file in a removable storage device changed to a shortcut icon. This implies that
    1. A
       the file has been compressed automatically to save space on the device
    2. B
       the file or drive has been infected by a virus
       Correct
    3. C
       the file was not properly ejected before the device was removed
    4. D
       the file has been converted to a system file by the operating system
    Show answerHide answer

    Answer: B

    Correct answer: the file or drive has been infected by a virus.

    So the presence of a shortcut icon where a real file used to be is a strong, specific indicator of virus infection, not of compression, system conversion, or careless removal.

The questions come from past JAMB, WAEC and NECO papers. We use software to help write the answer options and explanations, and every answer is checked twice before it goes on the site. How we check

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