November/December 2022 Level Two – Database Management

This page presents a detailed breakdown of the November/December 2022 Level 2 Database Management examination. The purpose of this past question blog is to help students better understand the structure and logic behind database design and management questions, including practical tasks and theory. This resource was created by Armstrong Computers College—an institution where vision meets excellence.

Our core goal is to make ICT education accessible, equipping students with tools to enhance their knowledge and develop careers in IT and database systems.

SECTION A – Theory

1. Discuss three anomalies of un-normalized database.

Insertion Anomaly: Inability to add data due to missing other data.
Update Anomaly: Updating one value requires multiple entries to be changed.
Deletion Anomaly: Removing a data item also deletes important related data.

2. What do Ascending and Descending mean in DBMS?

Ascending means sorting from smallest to largest (A-Z, 0-9); descending means largest to smallest (Z-A, 9-0).

3. Three advantages of DBMS over traditional file-based systems?

Reduces data redundancy
Improved data security and integrity
Easy access and data sharing

4. Types of relationships in DBMS

One-to-One: Each record in Table A matches one in Table B.
One-to-Many: One record in Table A can relate to many in Table B.
Many-to-Many: Multiple records in Table A can relate to many in Table B.

5. Difference between a record and a field

A field is a column (e.g., Name), a record is a row of complete data (e.g., John, M, Accra).

6. Roles of Database Administrator and Analyst

Administrator: Manages access, backups, performance, and security.
Analyst: Designs the structure and workflow of database systems.

7a. Reasons DBMS may run slowly

Large database size
Too many users accessing at once
Poor indexing or queries

7b. Solutions to slow performance

Optimize queries
Archive old data
Upgrade hardware or indexing

8a. Define RDBMS

RDBMS (Relational Database Management System) is a type of database that stores data in related tables using keys.

8b. Explain Data Redundancy

Data redundancy means storing the same data in multiple places, which leads to wastage and inconsistency.

9a. What is Normalization?

Normalization is the process of organizing data to minimize redundancy and improve integrity.

9b. Types of normalization

First Normal Form (1NF) A table is in 1NF if it contains only atomic values (single values in each cell) and has a primary key to uniquely identify each record.
Second Normal Form (2NF) A table is in 2NF if it's already in 1NF and all non-key attributes are fully functionally dependent on the entire primary key. This means no non-key attribute should depend on only part of a composite primary key.
Third Normal Form (3NF) A table is in 3NF if it's in 2NF and there are no transitive dependencies. This means no non-key attribute should depend on another non-key attribute.

10a. What is Structured Query Language (SQL)?

SQL is the standard language for managing and manipulating databases.

10b. Three basic SQL statements

SELECT, INSERT, DELETE