The CAT Grade 12 NSC examination is divided into two papers: Paper 1 and Paper 2. Each paper assesses different aspects of the subject, offering a comprehensive evaluation of students’ knowledge and skills.
Computer Application Technology CAT Grade 12 NSC Paper 1 and Paper 2 Exam Topics and Structure Guide Syllabus
Paper 1 Topics
Paper 1: one 3-hour practical paper of 180 marks (25% of the total marks for the subject)
This will be a practically oriented paper covering questions on Solution Development.
To successfully complete this paper, each learner must have access to his or her own computer in the exam room. Provision needs to be made for sufficient computers to enable the examination to be completed in two sittings.
This paper assesses the practical skills pertaining to Solution Development, that is the application packages studied, namely word processing, spreadsheets and databases as well as creating a simple web page using HTML. Presentations will only be assessed in the Practical Assessment Task and NOT in the examinations.
These skills will be assessed in an integrated manner based on real-life scenarios. Problem-solving and aspects of file management will form part of the assessment of the application questions in this paper. The paper will comprise of questions based on a scenario and will cover the following content areas in an integrated manner:
- Word processing (± 50 marks)
- Spreadsheets (± 50 marks)
- Databases (± 40 marks)
- Web development (± 20 marks)
- General (integration and application of techniques, knowledge and procedural skills to new situations) (± 20 marks)
An information sheet with HTML tags will be provided for use with the question on web development.
The learner will not be required to enter large amounts of data. The required data could be retrieved from the data disk or imported from documents such as a text file, word processing document, a database table or a spreadsheet.
Paper 2 Topics
Paper 2: one 3-hour written paper of 150 marks (25% of the total marks for the subject)
The paper will cover all theory aspects of all topics, including elements of Solution Development (viz. application packages and file management). A section will also assess the understanding of the technologies studied to make informed decisions in a real – life end – user scenario, ranging from choices of technology to its responsible use.
Section A
• short questions (± 25 marks)
A range of short questions covering all topics that could include:
- –  Multiple choice,
- –  Modified true and false, and
- –  Matching columns.
Question 3: systems technologies (± 25 marks)
Questions related to the content, concepts and skills in the systems technologies topic area.
• Question 4: internet and network technologies (± 15 marks)
Questions related to the content, concepts and skills in the Internet and WWW, e-communication and network technology topic areas.
• Question 5: information management (± 10 marks) Questions related to the management of information.
• Question 6: social implications (± 10 marks)
Questions are focused on the content, concepts and skills in the social implications focus area, namely impact of ICTs on society and health, social, legal, ethical, security and environmental issues.
• Question 7: solution development (± 15 marks)
Questions focused on the solution development topic area, namely the knowledge and understanding that supports the practical application of skills.
• Question 8: integrated scenario (± 50 marks)
This section is based on a single scenario and will be aligned to all the topics.
This section will also assess the understanding of these technologies to make informed decisions in a real-life end-user scenario, ranging from choices of technology to its responsible use.