IPA FE Subject A 2024 Questions and Answers

IPA FE Subject A 2024

Questions IPA Japan published in 令和６年度基本情報技術者試験科目A 公開問題, translated into English, with IPA's answers. ITPEC is based on the same exams, so they are good practice for ITPEC too.

Question 1

X and Y are variables that each take the value 0 or 1. When X □ Y is a logical operation of X and Y, the following truth table was obtained. Which of the following is the truth table of X □ Y?

X	Y	X AND (X □ Y)	X OR (X □ Y)
0	0	0	1
0	1	0	1
1	0	0	1
1	1	1	1

a)b)c)d)

Question 2

Data whose key is one lowercase letter of the alphabet (any of a, b, …, z) is stored in a hash table of size 10. As the hash function, the digit in the ones place of the ASCII code of the letter expressed in decimal notation is used. Which of the following is the combination of keys that causes a collision? In ASCII code, consecutive binary numbers in ascending order are assigned as codes in alphabetical order.

a)a and ib)b and rc)c and ld)d and x

Question 3

In the configuration shown in the figure, there are two types of CPUs, X and Y, which differ only in the access times of the cache memory and the main memory as shown in the table, and are the same in the other conditions.

When a certain program was executed on CPU X and on CPU Y, the processing times of both were equal. In this case, what is the hit ratio of the cache memory? Here, there is no influence from processing other than that of the CPU.

Figure Configuration

Table Access times

Unit: nanoseconds

	CPU X	CPU Y
Cache memory	40	20
Main memory	400	580

a)0.75b)0.90c)0.95d)0.96

Question 4

The MTBF of a certain system in this fiscal year is 3,000 hours, and its MTTR is 1,000 hours. In the next fiscal year, when an improvement of 20% of this fiscal year’s value is made in the MTBF and an improvement of 10% of this fiscal year’s value is made in the MTTR, what is the availability in percent in the next fiscal year?

a)69b)73c)77d)80

Question 5

Which of the following is an example of a “logic mashup,” which provides a new service by linking the input and output processing of multiple web services?

a)When a page of restaurant information selected by the user is displayed, map content provided by another web service is displayed as an access map.b)When the information of an investment product selected by the user is displayed, the data of related economic indicators is obtained from multiple web services, processed into a graph, and displayed.c)A list of accommodation facilities available within the budget entered by the user is obtained from another web service, and the vacancy status of those accommodation facilities is obtained from yet another web service and displayed.d)When the user operates the map by dragging with the mouse, the map is scrolled and displayed by reloading a part of the web page instead of the entire web page.

Question 6

Same question on ITPEC: Oct 2025 Q17 +1 more

Which of the following is a method used to improve the appearance of a jagged edge of a slanted line so that it appears smooth on a screen, such as that of an LCD?

a)Anti-aliasingb)Bump mappingc)Shadingd)Texture mapping

Question 7

Which of the following is a description of the atomicity that should be implemented in a DBMS?

a)The same processing on the same database gives the same result, however many times it is executed.b)Even if a hardware failure occurs after a transaction is completed, the contents of the updated database are guaranteed.c)The processing in a transaction is either all executed or all canceled.d)The processing result of one transaction is not affected by the processing of other transactions.

Question 8

Same question on ITPEC: Oct 2024 Q23

Which of the following is an appropriate description of a device that connects LANs?

a)A bridge relays frames based on IP addresses.b)A gateway converts the protocols of only the first through third levels in the OSI basic reference model.c)A repeater extends the transmission distance by amplifying signals between segments of the same type.d)A router relays frames based on MAC addresses.

Question 9

Which of the following corresponds to a penetration test?

a)Focusing on the design documents and source code of the executable program to be inspected, check with tools or visually whether there is any security problem in each phase of the development process.b)Manage the hash value of each content file of a public web server, and periodically check whether it matches the hash value generated from each file.c)Search for vulnerabilities of a public web server or the organization’s network, and check whether it is actually possible to intrude into the server.d)From the IPFIX information of servers and network devices in the internal network, check whether there is any abnormal behavior in the communication of each PC.

Question 10

Which of the following is effective as a countermeasure against SQL injection?

a)When outputting a URL to a web page, allow only URLs that start with “http://” or “https://”.b)Do not directly specify a file name in the web server by a parameter from outside.c)Do not make it possible to load style sheets from arbitrary websites.d)Build statements by using placeholders.

Questions 11–20

Question 11

Same question on ITPEC: Oct 2023 Q46 +1 more

The integration test for software composed of modules arranged in a hierarchical structure is performed from a high-level module. In such a case, which of the following is a test module that is used as a substitute for a low-level module?

a)Driverb)Emulatorc)Simulatord)Stub

Question 12

Among the events that are defined in Scrum, which is one of the agile development methods, and are conducted in a sprint, which of the following is held every day at a fixed time and at a fixed place, and is the event where all members of the development team share the progress since the previous one and the upcoming work plan?

a)Sprint planningb)Sprint retrospectivec)Sprint reviewd)Daily Scrum

Question 13

What is the minimum number of days required to complete the project represented by the arrow diagram?

a)105b)115c)120d)125

Question 14

Same question on ITPEC: Oct 2018 Q56

When the development department and operations department of a system are organized separately, which of the following is an appropriate method of smoothly and effectively proceeding with the design and migration of a new service that needs system development?

a)After the completion of the operational test, the development department explains the system specifications and operation methods to the operations department.b)The development department conducts operational test, creates the operation manuals, and passes them over to the operations department.c)The operational test is conducted only by the operations department without the support of the development department.d)The operations department also participates actively in the extraction of requirements concerning the system operations.

Question 15

Which of the following is a case that describes the processing of converting unstructured data into structured data as a preliminary stage of big data analysis?

a)Data that matches the necessary conditions is extracted from a large amount of financial data accumulated in a relational database, and is converted into spreadsheet software data that is easy for users to handle.b)In order to further utilize big data that contains personal information, the data is anonymized so that specific individuals cannot be identified.c)The mixed use of “ヶ” and “が” and the inconsistent notation of block and lot numbers in the address data item are processed in order to unify them into a standardized notation.d)Word-of-mouth reviews on social media are broken down into individual words by machine learning, summaries are made, and the reviews are processed into data that can be analyzed and stored in a relational database.

Question 16

Same question on ITPEC: Spr 2021 Q66

Which of the following is an explanation of core competence?

a)The basic mindset and action guidelines behind management activitiesb)The business opportunities and threats in the environment around a companyc)The management resources that form the source of competitive advantage over other companiesd)The objectives to be achieved through the execution of a business strategy

Question 17

Which of the following is an appropriate explanation of the blue ocean in marketing strategy?

a)An unknown market where no competition existsb)An existing market where commoditization has advancedc)The period until an idea for a new business is developed into an actual businessd)The barrier that lies in the process of bringing a developed product to market

Question 18

Which of the following is an explanation of HR Tech?

a)A solution that uses ICT to enable the monitoring of energy usage in a house, the remote operation and automatic control of devices, and so on, and that supports energy management in householdsb)New ICT or a new business model that has an impact so great that it destroys the industry order and vested interests built on existing business modelsc)New information technology for realizing financial services such as services that manage information related to an individual’s funds in an integrated manner and marketplace lendingd)A solution that targets operations in the human resources area, such as recruitment, development, evaluation, and placement, and uses the latest ICT, such as big data analysis and AI, to improve operations and increase employee satisfaction

Question 19

Same question on ITPEC: Oct 2024 Q57

The relationship between the value “x” of a certain factor in the manufacture of a product and the value “y” of a quality characteristic of the product is plotted in the figure below. Which of the following is an appropriate interpretation of this figure?

a)In order to estimate y from x, a quadratic regression coefficient needs to be calculated.b)The correlation coefficient between x and y is negative.c)The correlation coefficient between x and y is positive.d)The regression expression for estimating y from x is the same as that for estimating x from y.

Question 20

In Japan, which of the following are the four rights that are collectively called industrial property rights?

a)Industrial design right, utility model right, trademark right, patent rightb)Industrial design right, utility model right, copyright, patent rightc)Industrial design right, trademark right, copyright, patent rightd)Utility model right, trademark right, copyright, patent right