Information Systems & Computer Applications

Description of the Examination

The Information Systems and Computer Applications examination covers material that is usually taught in an introductory college-level business course. Questions on the examination are about equally divided between those testing knowledge, terminology, and basic concepts and those asking candidates to apply that knowledge. Although the examination assumes a general familiarity with information systems and computer applications, it does not emphasize the details of hardware design, language-specific programming techniques, or specific application packages. There are occasional references to applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, and data management, but questions that involve these applications do not draw heavily on knowledge of a specific product. Rather, the focus is on concepts and techniques applicable to a variety of products and environments.

The examination contains 100 questions to be answered in 90 minutes. Some of these are pretest questions that will not be scored. Any time candidates spend on tutorials and providing personal information is in addition to the actual testing time.

Knowledge and Skills Required

The subject matter of the Information Systems and Computer Applications examination is drawn from the following topics. The percentages next to the main topics indicate the approximate percentages of exam questions on those topics.

20%	Computer/Telecommunications Hardware and Hardware Functions Devices for processing, storage, data entry, telecommunications, network, and output Functions performed by computer, telecommunications, and network hardware Digital representation of data for storage and processing (numeric, text, pictures, graphs, and motion video) Concepts of local- and wide-area network architectures Concept of mainframe vs. client/server architectures
15%	Computer Software/Programming Operating systems and network management systems Software development methods and tools Programming languages User interfaces (graphical and multimedia) Software packages
10%	Data Management Data concepts and data structures Database management systems Hypertext, hypermedia, and SQL Document images
20%	Information Processing Management System development processes and tools Types of information processing applications (batch, real-time, transaction) System, application, and personal computer security and controls Information processing careers Information processing standards
30%	Information Technology Applications in Organizations Analysis, decision support, and expert systems User applications (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations) Office systems (electronic mail, fax, conferencing, cooperative work) Internet and other online services and methods (World Wide Web, File Transfer Protocol, Web search engines, Electronic Data Interchange)
5%	Social/Ethical Implications and Issues Economic effects Privacy concerns Intellectual property rights and legal issues Effects of information technology on jobs (ergonomics and job design)

source:/www.collegeboard.com