PPSC Computer Science Past Paper 2021 Solved MCQs with Answers
Solved Computer Science MCQs from the PPSC 2021 past paper, each with the correct answer and a clear explanation. Ideal practice for PPSC, FPSC, NTS, CSS and PMS. All questions are extracted from the actual 2021 paper and verified before publication.
In PowerPoint, in which group on the Insert tab can the Header and Footer button be found?
In PowerPoint the Header and Footer button sits in the Text group on the Insert tab.
What is Mozilla Firefox?
Mozilla Firefox is a web browser.
Which part of the computer is known as the “brain of the computer”?
The central processing unit is called the brain of the computer, because it carries out the instructions of every program.
What is the shortcut key for a hyperlink in MS Word?
Ctrl + K inserts a hyperlink.
A high-quality CAD system uses which of the following for printing drawings and graphs?
CAD drawings are printed on a plotter, which draws continuous lines and so handles large scale technical drawings better than a printer.
MS Excel is used for preparing what?
MS Excel is used to prepare spreadsheets.
Which one is not hardware?
Windows XP is an operating system, that is software. The processor, keyboard and mouse are hardware.
What are the minimum and maximum font sizes available in the formatting toolbar?
The font size box on the formatting toolbar offers 8 to 72 points.
Which key is used to get Help?
F1 opens help.
HTML is the ___ of a website?
HTML is the markup language in which the pages of a website are written.
Email spam is ___ messages that are sent in bulk by email?
Spam is unwanted mail sent in bulk to many addresses at once.
Junk e-mail is also known as what?
Junk email is also called spam.
Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera are the examples of?
Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera are web browsers.
Which key is used to undo?
Ctrl + Z undoes the last action.
Which key is used to open print preview?
Ctrl + F2 opens print preview in MS Word.
What is the use of the PROPER text in MS Excel?
PROPER converts text to proper case, capitalising the first letter of each word.
Which key is used for printing?
Ctrl + P opens the Print dialog.
What sign is used to start a formula in MS Excel?
Every Excel formula begins with an equals sign.
An email account has two parts? one is the user name and the other is what?
An email address has a user name and a domain name, separated by the @ sign.
Electronic record keeping is key to creating what?
Electronic record keeping is the basis of a paperless office, since records can be stored, searched and shared without printing.
PNG, JPEG, and GIF are the formats of which files?
PNG, JPEG and GIF are image file formats.
What does HTML stand for?
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language.
Into how many generations can a computer be classified?
Computers are conventionally classified into five generations, from vacuum tubes to the present artificial intelligence era.
The basic architecture of the computer was developed by?
John von Neumann described the stored program architecture in 1945, in which instructions and data share the same memory.
Magnetic tape is a ________?
Magnetic tape is a serial access medium: to reach a record in the middle you must wind through everything before it.
A binary choice offers how many options?
A binary choice offers two options, which is why one bit holds exactly one such choice.
In Microsoft Word, when the user is reading a document on the screen and may want to hide all menus and toolbars, which option do we choose?
Full screen reading view hides the menus and toolbars so the document fills the screen for reading.
Creating a new e-mail account is called what?
Creating a new account is signing up. Logging in is entering an account you already have.
A computer virus is what?
A computer virus is software, written deliberately to spread and to cause harm.
The process of transferring data from a computer to the internet is called?
Sending data from your computer out to the internet is uploading. Bringing it in is downloading.
A light-sensitive device that converts drawings, printed text, or other images into digital form is?
A scanner is the light sensitive device that converts printed text and images into digital form.
What does GUI stand for?
GUI stands for Graphical User Interface.
In MS Excel, which formula looks for a value in the leftmost column of a table and then returns a value in the same row for a specific column?
VLOOKUP, the vertical lookup, searches the leftmost column of a table and returns a value from the same row in a column you name.
When was the first email sent?
Ray Tomlinson sent the first network email in 1971, and chose the @ sign to separate user from host.
Which file launches MS Word?
MS Word is launched by winword.exe.
Which memory is used as high-speed memory in the computer?
Cache is the high speed memory that sits between the processor and RAM, holding the data most likely to be needed next.
Where is the computer BIOS stored?
The BIOS is held in flash memory on the motherboard, which is why it survives a power cut and can still be updated.
A repository for data, usually covering specific topic is?
A databank is a repository of data on a particular subject.
Smart card is what?
A smart card carries an embedded microprocessor, which is what lets it store and process data rather than merely hold a number.
In MS PowerPoint, Record Slide Show can record?
Record Slide Show captures narration, laser pointer gestures and the slide and animation timings.
The view that shows the slides of a presentation as miniature versions of the slides is called?
Slide Sorter view shows all the slides as thumbnails, so that they can be reordered.
In MS Excel, from which tab can we call a chart?
Charts are inserted from the Insert tab in MS Excel.
In MS Word, Ctrl + U is used as an alternative to?
Ctrl + U underlines the selected text.
We can start MS Word by typing ___ in the Run dialog box?
Typing winword.exe in the Run box starts MS Word.
The process of placing data into a storage location is called?
Placing data into a storage location is writing. Retrieving it is reading.
In MS Excel, the absolute cell reference is indicated with which sign?
The dollar sign fixes a reference, so $A$1 does not shift when the formula is copied.
MS Access organizes the data in?
MS Access stores data in tables. Queries, forms and reports all work on what the tables hold.
Starting a paragraph with a large dropped initial capital letter is called?
A drop cap is the large initial capital letter that begins a paragraph and drops through several lines.
Which key is used to open a new tab in Internet Explorer (and most modern browsers)?
Ctrl + T opens a new tab in a browser.
Which option is used to narrow the search results?
Advanced search lets you add filters and so narrow the results.
Which key is used to refresh a webpage?
F5 refreshes the current web page.
What is the topic of the email called?
The subject line states the topic of an email.
Personal records of diary entries published on the web are known as?
A blog is a personal journal published on the web, its entries shown newest first.
Which cannot be included in a standard E-mail address?
A space is not allowed in an email address. Underscores, hyphens and periods are.
Which key is used to highlight an entire column in Excel?
Ctrl + Spacebar selects the whole column. Shift + Spacebar selects the row.
MOD () function is used in MS Excel to obtain what?
MOD returns the remainder after division. So MOD(10,3) gives 1.
Which is the default alignment in MS Word?
Text in MS Word is left aligned by default.
In MS Excel, which key is used to insert a new worksheet?
Shift + F11 inserts a new worksheet in MS Excel.
Which allows access to the world of online information by using simple user interface operations like hyperlinks?
The World Wide Web gives access to online information through hyperlinks and a simple browser interface.
Sending an E-mail is similar to what?
Sending an email is like writing a letter: it is composed, addressed and delivered, and the recipient reads it later.
Which function in MS Excel is used to calculate the monthly mortgage payment?
PMT calculates the periodic payment on a loan at a constant interest rate, which is how a monthly mortgage instalment is worked out.
In MS Office, the current window or document is ____ by using CTRL+W?
Ctrl + W closes the current window or document.
SEO is the process of getting traffic from search engines by what means?
Search engine optimisation aims to earn traffic from organic search results, that is unpaid listings.
HTML is primarily used for what?
HTML structures a web page, marking out headings, paragraphs and links. CSS then styles it.
Which shortcut key is used to align text to the left in MS Word?
Ctrl + L aligns text to the left.
Which shortcut key is used to align text to the right in MS Word?
Ctrl + R aligns text to the right.
The 'Insert Function' dialog box (sometimes called formula palette) can be used to do what?
The Insert Function dialog helps you build and edit formulas containing functions, prompting for each argument in turn.
Which symbol is used in Excel to include all the cells within a range between two endpoint cell references?
A colon defines a range, so A1:A10 covers every cell between the two endpoints.
The Home key typically moves the cursor to the?
The Home key moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line. Ctrl + Home goes to the start of the document.
In MS Excel, to add cells A1 and A2 together, which of the following formula is used?
The formula =A1+A2 adds the two cells. Without the equals sign Excel would treat the entry as text.
The default file extension for a document saved in recent versions of MS Word is?
MS Word documents are saved with the .docx extension.
Deleted files on a Windows operating system typically go to which place?
Deleted files go to the Recycle Bin, from which they can be restored until it is emptied.
The crop function in image editing software is used to adjust the visible area of what?
Cropping adjusts the visible area of an image by cutting away its edges.
Which shortcut key is commonly used to scroll down to the next page or screen?
Page Down scrolls down by one screen.
Binary-coded decimal is a combination of what?
Binary coded decimal represents each decimal digit with four binary digits, so 9 becomes 1001.
Which key is used to move the cursor to the end of the line?
The End key moves the cursor to the end of the current line.
In PowerPoint, on which tab can the Header and Footer button be found?
Header and Footer is on the Insert tab in PowerPoint.
________ are word processing programs?
MS Word is the word processing program.
To convert Word into PDF using?
Save As, with PDF chosen as the file type, converts a Word document to PDF.
Which key is used to paste in MS Word?
Ctrl + V pastes.
In MS Excel, the Go to command is located in?
Go To is in the Find and Select menu on the Home tab in Excel, and is also reached with Ctrl + G.
When you open a new presentation, a slide with the default ___ layout appears?
A new presentation opens with the Title Slide layout.
What is the capacity of a floppy disk?
The 3.5 inch high density floppy disk held 1.44 MB.
How can you use the Format Painter several times before turning it off?
Double-clicking the Format Painter locks it on, so the formatting can be applied repeatedly until Esc is pressed.
Which is not a component of the Control Panel?
My Documents is a folder, not a Control Panel component. System and Security, User Accounts and Network and Internet are.
1000 million bytes are equal to?
A gigabyte is about 1000 million bytes, and exactly 1024 megabytes in the binary scale.
For printing a PowerPoint presentation, which shortcut key has to be pressed?
Ctrl + P prints, in PowerPoint as in the other Office applications.
Which enables text to be drawn in an MS Word document?
WordArt draws text as a graphic object, with shaping and effects a plain text box cannot give.
Which includes superscript, subscript, outline, emboss, and engrave?
Superscript, subscript, outline, emboss and engrave are font effects, applied in the Font dialog.
Which term is used when a person has to press and hold the mouse key and move the mouse around the slide?
Pressing and holding the mouse button while moving the mouse is called dragging.
Which software application was not included in the first version of Microsoft Office?
The first version of Microsoft Office, in 1990, contained Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Outlook was added later, in Office 97.
About the PPSC Computer Science Past Paper 2021
Every MCQ above is taken from the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) Computer Science papers held in 2021, with the correct answer and a written explanation for each. Past-paper practice is the most dependable way to prepare for PPSC, FPSC, NTS, CSS and PMS, because these papers repeat their themes, and often the questions themselves, from one year to the next.
Questions were checked against reliable sources before publication. Where a circulating source sheet carried a factual or wording error, we corrected it rather than reproducing the mistake. For chapter-wise preparation, work through our Computer Science MCQs hub, which also lists every other year’s paper. Further reading: Pakistan Movement and the PPSC official website.
How to Use This Paper
Attempt the full quiz before looking at any answer, then read the explanation for every question you got wrong, including those you guessed correctly. A past paper is only useful if you close the gaps it exposes. Pro members can download the complete paper as a PDF with all answers and explanations for offline revision.