3 · Hardware
3.1 Computers and their components — input/output, memory and storage, embedded systems, principal operations of devices, buffers, RAM/ROM, SRAM/DRAM, PROM/EPROM/EEPROM, monitoring and control. 3.2 Logic Gates and Logic Circuits — the six gates, circuits, truth tables, logic expressions.
🧩 Jigsaw
94 concepts mapped to the syllabus
🎯 Pack
87 question/answer pairs
| 9618 tested | 9608 only | Untested | From SME | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jigsaw | 54 | 7 | 17 | 16 |
| Pack | 53 | 7 | 16 | 11 |
What to know about this topic
Two sub-topics are new in 9618
Embedded systems (3.1.2) and PROM/EPROM/EEPROM (3.1.7) have no 9608 questions at all. Embedded systems has been examined in almost every series since 2021.
The clearest untested gap: RAM vs ROM differences
The bullet is titled “explain the differences between RAM and ROM”, yet 9618 has only ever asked what each one stores. The differences question exists only in 9608. Volatility — the single most important fact — appears in 9618 only implicitly.
3.2 is a skills sub-topic, with fixed tariffs
Draw a circuit from an expression is always 2 marks. Complete a truth table is always 2, marked in blocks of four rows — one wrong row loses half. Write an expression from a circuit is 2–3, marked per sub-expression. Practise the format, not the recall.
Source material
- 9618 — Computers and their components · 9618 — Logic Gates and Logic Circuits
- 9608 — Computers and their components · 9608 — Logic Gates and Logic Circuits
⬅ 2 · Communications · ➡ 4 · Processor Fundamentals · 🧩 Architecture