About this previous year paper
This question paper is designed to assess a student’s conceptual understanding, analytical ability, and problem-solving skills in the subject Basics of Algorithms and Data Structures. The paper covers a wide range of fundamental topics necessary for developing efficient programs and computational thinking—such as arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, graphs, sorting, searching, hash tables, recursion, algorithm analysis, and asymptotic notation.
The examination is structured into three comprehensive sections, each intended to evaluate different levels of learning outcomes:
SECTION A – Short Conceptual Questions (20 Marks)
This section contains 10 compulsory questions, each carrying 2 marks. The questions focus on testing the student’s foundational understanding of key terms and essential concepts such as algorithms, characteristics, Big-Oh notation, binary trees, circular queues, graph representation, internal vs external sorting, and basic time/space complexity considerations. These questions require concise, direct responses.
SECTION B – Descriptive / Problem-Solving Questions (30 Marks)
Students are required to attempt any three questions out of the five provided. Each question carries 10 marks and requires deeper explanation, diagrammatic representation, C programming logic, or manual algorithm computation.
Topics include:
Multi-dimensional arrays and memory address calculations
Linked list operations
Expression trees
Shortest path algorithms (Dijkstra)
B-Trees vs B+ Trees
These questions check a student’s ability to apply theoretical knowledge to solve practical computational problems.
SECTION C – Long Analytical / Application-Based Questions (50 Marks)
This section contains five sub-sections, and students must attempt one question from each part, each carrying 10 marks. These questions involve full C-program implementations, recursive vs iterative logic comparisons, tree construction from traversals, Huffman encoding/decoding, postfix expression evaluation, sorting algorithms, topological sorting, graph traversal techniques (BFS/DFS), and B-Tree insertion sequences.
These questions assess a student’s higher-order thinking skills, code-writing ability, data structure implementation knowledge, and algorithmic problem-solving capability.
Overall Purpose of the Examination
The objective of this question paper is to ensure that students:
Understand the principles of algorithmic efficiency
Can implement and manipulate major data structures
Solve computational problems by applying suitable algorithms
Analyze memory usage and time complexity
Develop strong logic-building and debugging skills
Gain proficiency in recursion, sorting, searching, and tree/graph operations
The paper is framed to prepare students for advanced courses in Data Science, Software Engineering, Operating Systems, Cryptography, AI/ML, Compilers, and large-scale application development.