(a) A school stores student records in a database. Define the following database terms. (i) Record [1] (ii) Field [1] (iii) Primary key [1] (b) The student ...
Question 1 Report
(a) A school stores student records in a database. Define the following database terms.
(i) Record
[1]
(ii) Field
[1]
(iii) Primary key
[1]
(b) The student database has the following fields: StudentID, FirstName, LastName, DateOfBirth, YearGroup.
State which field would be the most suitable primary key. Give a reason.
[2]
(c) State appropriate data types for each field in the table.
| Field | Data type |
|---|---|
| StudentID | |
| FirstName | |
| DateOfBirth | |
| YearGroup |
[4]
Answer Details
(a) Database term definitions: [3]
- (i) Record: a record is a complete set of related data about one entity. In a database table, a record corresponds to one row. For example, one student's complete entry (ID, name, date of birth, year group) is one record. [1]
- (ii) Field: a field is a single item of data within a record. In a database table, a field corresponds to one column. For example, "FirstName" is one field that stores just the student's first name. [1]
- (iii) Primary key: a primary key is a field (or combination of fields) that uniquely identifies each record in a table. No two records can have the same primary key value, ensuring every record can be distinguished from all others. [1]
(b) The most suitable primary key is StudentID. [1] This is because it is guaranteed to be unique for every student. Other fields such as FirstName or DateOfBirth could be shared by multiple students (two students could have the same name or birthday), but each student is assigned a distinct StudentID. [1]
(c) Appropriate data types for each field: [4]
| Field | Data type | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| StudentID | Integer (or String if it contains letters) | A numeric identifier for each student. [1] |
| FirstName | String / Text | Names consist of alphabetic characters of varying length. [1] |
| DateOfBirth | Date | A date data type stores day, month, and year and allows date-based sorting and calculations such as calculating age. [1] |
| YearGroup | Integer | Year groups are whole numbers (e.g. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11) with no decimal component. [1] |
Download The App On Google Playstore
Everything you need to excel in your exams
