IPA IP 2025 Question 75
A question IPA Japan published in 令和7年度 ITパスポート試験 公開問題 問75, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.
Among the following storage media, which of the following lists all and only those that use semiconductor memory as their storage elements?
Explanation
RAM, SSD and USB memory — these three store data in semiconductor chips; CDs and DVDs store it on an optical disc.
- •A CD-ROM: an optical disc; a laser reads the pits on its surface
- •B DVD-RAM: also an optical disc, rewritten by phase-change recording; “RAM” in its name means it can be rewritten freely, not that it is semiconductor memory
- •C RAM: semiconductor memory (DRAM or SRAM), used as main memory
- •D SSD: a drive built from flash memory, a semiconductor memory, with no moving parts
- •E USB memory: flash memory with a USB connector
So the media that use semiconductor memory are exactly C, D and E.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) — CD-ROM and DVD-RAM are optical discs; only RAM of the three is semiconductor memory
- •(b) — includes the two optical discs and leaves out RAM and SSD
- •(d) — RAM and USB memory are right, but an SSD is semiconductor memory too (flash memory)
Key rule: Semiconductor storage has no moving parts: RAM, flash memory, SSDs, USB memory and SD cards; CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs are optical, and HDDs are magnetic.
Computer Component · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.