• 50 questions

Introduction to Computers DSST Practice Test

Unofficial DSST computer and information technology practice test, in the six areas of the exam's outline.

Which kind of memory is a pre-recorded storage medium that can be read from but not written to?

Pick an answer, then press Check answer. Then you see Correct or Not quite, with the reason. Keys: A to D pick, Enter checks.

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Exam mode: 50 questions, 60 minutes.

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with Prometric. Bank checked October 8, 2026.

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Computer organization and hardware 9

  • A processor is rated at 3 gigahertz. How many cycles per second is that? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 2, Processing Data: The CPU. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, I. Computer Organization and Hardware (17%), f. Units of measurement
  • Compared with a hard disk, what is true of a solid-state drive (SSD)? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 2, Solid State Drives. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, I. Computer Organization and Hardware (17%), c. Peripherals
  • How many bits make up one byte? NIST Computer Security Resource Center glossary, byte. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, I. Computer Organization and Hardware (17%), e. Data representation
  • One nanosecond is what fraction of a second? National Institute of Standards and Technology, Metric (SI) Prefixes. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, I. Computer Organization and Hardware (17%), f. Units of measurement
  • RAM is described as volatile. What does that mean? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 2, Random-Access Memory. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, I. Computer Organization and Hardware (17%), b. Primary storage
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Computer organization and hardware, continued

  • What is the binary number 1010 in decimal? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 2, sidebar Understanding Binary. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, I. Computer Organization and Hardware (17%), e. Data representation
  • What is the term for the number of bits a processor can process at one time? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 2, Digital Devices. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, I. Computer Organization and Hardware (17%), e. Data representation
  • Which kind of memory is a pre-recorded storage medium that can be read from but not written to? NIST Computer Security Resource Center glossary, read-only memory. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, I. Computer Organization and Hardware (17%), b. Primary storage
  • Which sequence names the three main stages of the cycle a CPU repeats to process each instruction? Wikipedia, Instruction cycle. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, I. Computer Organization and Hardware (17%), a. Processing components

Systems software 5

  • The 1984 Macintosh is noted for the first commercially successful version of which kind of user interface? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 3, Operating Systems. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, II. Systems Software (10%), d. User interfaces
  • In virtualization, which component manages the guest operating systems on a host and controls the flow of instructions between them and the physical hardware? NIST Computer Security Resource Center glossary, hypervisor. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, II. Systems Software (10%), b. Features and functionalities
  • Linux is described as open source. What does that allow? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 3, Operating Systems. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, II. Systems Software (10%), a. Operating systems
  • Which of these is a key function of an operating system? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 3, Operating Systems. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, II. Systems Software (10%), b. Features and functionalities
  • Which of these is an example of utility software? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 3, Utility Software and Programming Software. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, II. Systems Software (10%), c. Utilities

Application software 11

  • A photo saved as a JPEG or PNG file is a raster image. How is a raster image defined? MDN Web Docs glossary, Raster image. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), e. Graphics
  • A presenter wants the same font and logo on every slide and wants to make the change in one place. Which feature of presentation software does this? Microsoft Support, What is a slide master in PowerPoint?. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), c. Presentation software
  • An analyst wants to show what share of one year's budget went to each of five departments. Which chart type fits best? Microsoft Support, Available chart types in Office. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), b. Spreadsheets
  • An office must send the same form letter to 300 customers, each with its own name and address filled in. Which word processing feature is built for this? Wikipedia, Mail merge. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), a. Word processing and desktop publishing
  • Cell A1 holds 4, A2 holds 6 and A3 holds 10. What does the spreadsheet formula =SUM(A1:A3) return? Microsoft Support, SUM function. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), b. Spreadsheets
  • The formula =$B$4*$C$4 is copied from cell D4 to cell D5. What does the formula in D5 read? Microsoft Support, Switch between relative, absolute, and mixed references. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), b. Spreadsheets
  • In an email message, what is special about addresses placed in the Bcc field? Internet Engineering Task Force, RFC 5322, Internet Message Format, section 3.6.3. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), d. Electronic communications
  • What sets desktop publishing software apart from basic text entry? Wikipedia, Desktop publishing. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), a. Word processing and desktop publishing
  • Which chart type is ideal for showing a trend in sales at equal intervals, such as months or quarters? Microsoft Support, Available chart types in Office, Line chart. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), b. Spreadsheets
  • Which email protocol is used to retrieve and store messages and allows folders to be kept on the server? MDN Web Docs glossary, IMAP. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), d. Electronic communications
  • Which kind of business application uses one central database for the whole organization, so that sales and finance work from the same customer table? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 3, Enterprise Resource Planning. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, III. Application Software (22%), f. Business application software

Data communications and networks 9

  • A company links its offices in three different states into one network. Which type of network is this? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 5, LAN and WAN. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, IV. Data Communications and Networks (19%), b. Network architectures
  • A firm uses web-based email that runs entirely on a provider's servers and is reached through a browser. Which cloud service model is this? NIST Computer Security Resource Center glossary, software as a service. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, IV. Data Communications and Networks (19%), b. Network architectures
  • An employee at home needs secure access to resources inside the company network, behind its firewall. Which technology provides this? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 6, sidebar Virtual Private Networks. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, IV. Data Communications and Networks (19%), d. Safety and security
  • How does an intrusion prevention system (IPS) differ from an intrusion detection system (IDS)? NIST Computer Security Resource Center glossary, intrusion prevention system. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, IV. Data Communications and Networks (19%), d. Safety and security
  • On the Internet a message is broken into packets that may travel by different routes. What lets the destination put them back in the right order? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 5, sidebar An Internet Vocabulary Lesson. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, IV. Data Communications and Networks (19%), a. The Internet
  • What does HTTPS add to HTTP? MDN Web Docs glossary, HTTPS. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, IV. Data Communications and Networks (19%), c. Protocols
  • What does the Domain Name System (DNS) do when you enter a website name? MDN Web Docs glossary, DNS. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, IV. Data Communications and Networks (19%), a. The Internet
  • Which protocol guarantees that data is delivered, and in the same order it was sent? MDN Web Docs glossary, TCP. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, IV. Data Communications and Networks (19%), c. Protocols
  • Which wireless technology turns an Internet signal into radio waves that nearby devices with a wireless adapter can pick up? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 5, Wireless Networking. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, IV. Data Communications and Networks (19%), e. Mobile networks

Software development 10

  • How does a procedural program differ from an object-oriented program? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 10, Procedural vs. Object-Oriented. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), b. Programming paradigms
  • In a relational database table, what is a record? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 4, Data Models and Relational Databases. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), d. Database
  • In the hierarchical database model, how many parents may each child record have? Wikipedia, Hierarchical database model. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), d. Database
  • In which phase of the systems development life cycle are users interviewed and requirements documented, with no programming done? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 10, Systems Development Life Cycle. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), a. Software development life cycle
  • What is machine learning? NIST Computer Security Resource Center glossary, machine learning. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), e. Artificial intelligence
  • What is the job of a primary key in a database table? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 4, Designing a Database. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), d. Database
  • What is the main idea of a low-code development platform? Wikipedia, Low-code development platform. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), b. Programming paradigms
  • What is true of an interpreted language, compared with a compiled one? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 10, Compiled vs. Interpreted. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), c. Software development tools
  • Which test checks single parts of the code for errors, before the parts are tested together? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 10, Systems Development Life Cycle, Testing. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), a. Software development life cycle
  • Which tool converts an assembly language program into machine code? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 10, Generations of Programming Languages. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, V. Software Development (21%), c. Software development tools

Social impact and history 6

  • The ARPANET, from which the Internet grew, was a project of which U.S. agency? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 5, A Brief History of the Internet. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, VI. Social Impact and History (11%), a. History
  • In the United States, how long does copyright protection last for a work owned by its individual author? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 12, Copyright. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, VI. Social Impact and History (11%), b. Ethical and legal issues
  • Under the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), a website must obtain parental consent before collecting information from users under what age? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 12, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, VI. Social Impact and History (11%), b. Ethical and legal issues
  • What did Tim Berners-Lee introduce in 1990? Bourgeois, Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019), chapter 5, The Internet and the World Wide Web. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, VI. Social Impact and History (11%), a. History
  • What was the stated goal of the Telecommunications Act of 1996? Federal Communications Commission, Telecommunications Act of 1996. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, VI. Social Impact and History (11%), b. Ethical and legal issues
  • Which kind of malware is a self-contained program that spreads through networks without attaching itself to another program? NIST Computer Security Resource Center glossary, worm. Written to the DSST Computing and Information Technology outline, VI. Social Impact and History (11%), c. Safety and security

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the exam content outline in the DSST fact sheet for Computing and Information Technology (Prometric, Rev 6/2024, https://getcollegecredit.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Computing-Information-Technology-Fact-Sheet.pdf, read 2026-10-08): Computer Organization and Hardware 17%, Systems Software 10%, Application Software 22%, Data Communications and Networks 19%, Software Development 21%, Social Impact and History 11%. This bank holds 50: 9, 5, 11, 9, 10 and 6. Every fact was read on the public page named under its question, each opened 2026-10-08: the open textbook Information Systems for Business and Beyond (2019) by David Bourgeois, the NIST Computer Security Resource Center glossary, MDN Web Docs, RFC 5322, NIST's SI prefixes page, Microsoft Support, the FCC and Wikipedia. Two answers are arithmetic from a rule the source gives. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.

How it works

This introduction to computers DSST practice test follows the fact sheet for Computing and Information Technology, area by area. It is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Prometric, which owns the DSST exams.

Read the full guide

What the exam covers

The fact sheet (Rev 6/2024) lists six areas: computer organization and hardware 17%, systems software 10%, application software 22%, data communications and networks 19%, software development 21%, and social impact and history 11%. This bank holds 9, 5, 11, 9, 10 and 6 questions.

Length and timing

The real exam has 100 questions to answer in 2 hours. Exam mode keeps that pace: 50 questions in 60 minutes.

Where the answers come from

Each explanation names the public page the fact was read on: an open information systems textbook, the NIST glossary, MDN Web Docs, an Internet standard and others.

  • A nonprogrammable calculator is permitted on the real exam, and computer-based exams have a calculator function.
  • Application software and software development together are 43% of the exam, more than hardware and networks combined.

Questions and answers

Is this the Computing and Information Technology DSST practice test?

Yes. Computing and Information Technology is the exam's name on Prometric's fact sheet, and each question here is tagged with one of its six content areas. None is copied or reworded from a real exam or from the fact sheet's sample questions.

Is there an intro to computing DSST practice test?

This is it. The fact sheet gives the exam's course equivalent, from the American Council on Education, as Introduction to Computer and Information Technology.

Is there a Computing and Information Technology DSST study guide?

The free one is the exam's fact sheet, which holds the content outline and names two reference textbooks. On this page every question links the public page its answer was checked on, so a missed question comes with something to read.

What score do you need on the DSST Computing and Information Technology exam?

The American Council on Education recommends 3 semester hours of lower-level credit for a score of 400. Each school sets its own policy, so ask yours which score it accepts before you register.

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