Data Structures: A Comprehensive Guide for Year 1 Computing Students

Question 1

What is the name for each item in an array?

Accepted Answer

Element

Answer

Value

Answer

Key

Question 2

Which of these is a data structure used to store text?

Accepted Answer

String

Answer

List

Answer

Array

Question 3

What is the purpose of a dictionary?

Accepted Answer

To store key-value pairs

Answer

To store a list of ordered items

Answer

To store a collection of values with no specific order

Question 4

Which of these is a correct way to access an element in an array?

Accepted Answer

array[index]

Answer

array.index

Answer

index[array]

Question 5

What type of data can an array store?

Accepted Answer

Any type of data

Answer

Only numbers

Answer

Only strings

Answer

Only true or false values

Question 6

What is the role of a key in a dictionary?

Accepted Answer

To identify a value

Answer

To store a value

Answer

To organize data

Answer

To create a dictionary

Question 7

What is the main difference between a list and a tuple?

Accepted Answer

Lists can be changed, but tuples can't

Answer

Tuples can hold different data types, but lists can't

Answer

Lists are organized, but tuples aren't

Answer

Tuples can be accessed by position, but lists can't

Question 8

Which method adds an item to the end of a list?

Accepted Answer

list.append(item)

Answer

list.add(item)

Answer

list[len(list)] = item

Answer

list.insert(len(list), item)

Question 9

What is the output of this dictionary expression: {'a': 1, 'b': 2}['a']?

Accepted Answer

1

Answer

2

Answer

{'a': 1}

Answer

None

Question 10

What is the primary purpose of an index in an array?

Accepted Answer

To locate specific elements efficiently

Answer

To store the number of elements in the array

Answer

To modify the values of the array elements

Question 11

Which statement best describes the role of a dictionary?

Accepted Answer

To store data in pairs of keys and associated values.

Answer

To organize data in a hierarchical structure.

Answer

To visualize data in a graphical format.

Question 12

Which method can be utilized to retrieve the value associated with a key in a dictionary?

Accepted Answer

get()

Answer

find()

Answer

retrieve()

Question 13

What is the time complexity of searching for an item in an unsorted list?

Accepted Answer

O(n)

Answer

O(1)

Answer

O(log n)

Question 14

Which data structure would be most suitable for storing a large collection of student records with information such as name, age, and grade?

Accepted Answer

Dictionary

Answer

Array

Answer

List

Question 15

What is the primary benefit of using data structures?

Accepted Answer

Efficient organization and retrieval of data

Answer

Reduced memory consumption

Answer

Faster processing speeds

Question 16

Which of the following is **NOT** a basic data structure?

Accepted Answer

Integer (Primitive datatype)

Answer

Array

Answer

List

Answer

Dictionary

Question 17

An array is a data structure that can store elements of **the same** data type.

Accepted Answer

True

Answer

False

Question 18

A list is a data structure that can store elements of **different** data types.

Accepted Answer

True

Answer

False

Question 19

Which operation can be performed on a list but **not** on an array?

Accepted Answer

Adding an element at any index

Answer

Sorting the elements

Answer

Searching for an element

Question 20

Which of the following code snippets creates a dictionary with a key 'name' and a value 'John' **in Python**?

Accepted Answer

dictionary = { 'name' : 'John' }

Answer

dictionary = ( 'name' = 'John' )

Answer

dictionary = [ 'name' : 'John' ]

Question 21

Which of these data structures allows you to store information as key-value pairs?

Accepted Answer

Dictionary

Answer

Array

Answer

List

Answer

Set

Question 22

Which of these is NOT an advantage of using data structures?

Accepted Answer

Increased code complexity

Answer

Efficient storage and retrieval of data

Answer

Improved organization of code

Answer

Reduced memory usage

Question 23

What is the purpose of a key in a dictionary?

Accepted Answer

To identify a unique value

Answer

To determine the order of elements

Answer

To store the data itself

Answer

To connect the dictionary to an array

Question 24

What is the result of running the following code: print(len([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]))

Accepted Answer

5

Answer

1

Answer

10

Answer

Error

Question 25

Which is a primary advantage of using an array data structure?

Accepted Answer

Arrays allow for quick access to any element.

Answer

Arrays can store data of different types.

Answer

Arrays are always more efficient than lists for storing large amounts of data.

Answer

Arrays cannot be sorted or searched efficiently.

Question 26

Which Python statement creates an empty list?

Accepted Answer

my_list = []

Answer

my_list = ()

Answer

my_list = {}

Answer

my_list = <>

Question 27

What's a dictionary's purpose in Python?

Accepted Answer

To store key-value pairs in an unordered manner.

Answer

To store a set of unique elements in a fixed order.

Answer

To represent complex data structures like trees or graphs.

Answer

To perform mathematical operations on numeric data.

Question 28

What's the time complexity of searching for an element in a list of size n?

Accepted Answer

O(n)

Answer

O(1)

Answer

O(log n)

Answer

O(n^2)

Question 29

What's the difference between a mutable and an immutable data structure?

Accepted Answer

Mutable data structures can be changed, while immutable data structures cannot

Answer

Immutable data structures are more efficient, while mutable data structures are more flexible.

Answer

Mutable data structures are stored in contiguous memory locations, while immutable data structures are not.

Answer

Lists are mutable, while dictionaries are immutable.

Question 30

Which data structure is used to store key-value pairs?

Accepted Answer

Dictionary

Answer

Array

Answer

List

Question 31

Which data structure would be most suitable for storing a list of students' names?

Accepted Answer

List

Answer

Array

Answer

Dictionary

Question 32

What is the index of the first element in an array?

Accepted Answer

0

Answer

1

Answer

The last index of the array

Answer

It varies based on the array size.

Question 33

Which data structure stores values in a specific order and allows you to find a value quickly using its position?

Accepted Answer

Array

Answer

List

Answer

Dictionary

Answer

Tree

Question 34

What is the main purpose of using an array? (Think about the primary reason why arrays are commonly employed in programming.)

Accepted Answer

To store a collection of data items of the same type and access them using an index

Answer

To store a collection of data items that change frequently and need to be accessed and modified efficiently

Answer

To store a collection of data items that are related to each other and need to be kept in order

Answer

To store a collection of data items that need to be accessed and updated quickly

Question 35

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of using dictionaries? (Identify the statement that does not describe a benefit of using dictionaries.)

Accepted Answer

Automatic sorting of data in ascending or descending order

Answer

Fast lookup of data based on unique keys

Answer

Organised storage of data in key-value pairs

Answer

Easy modification of individual key-value pairs

Question 36

What is the primary purpose of an array?

Accepted Answer

To store a collection of elements of the same data type at contiguous memory locations.

Answer

To store a collection of elements in a first-in, first-out (FIFO) manner.

Answer

To store a collection of key-value pairs.

Question 37

Which operation on an array has a time complexity of O(1)?

Accepted Answer

Accessing an element by its index

Answer

Inserting an element at the end

Answer

Deleting an element from the middle

Question 38

What advantage does a linked list have over an array?

Accepted Answer

Flexibility in inserting and deleting elements without affecting the ordering of other elements.

Answer

More efficient use of memory.

Answer

Faster access to elements by index.

Question 39

Which data structure is best suited for storing a collection of unique key-value pairs?

Accepted Answer

Dictionary

Answer

Array

Answer

List

Answer

Queue

Question 40

What is the fundamental difference between a stack and a queue?

Accepted Answer

A stack follows a last-in, first-out (LIFO) principle, while a queue follows a first-in, first-out (FIFO) principle.

Answer

A stack stores elements in a random order, while a queue stores elements in a specific order.

Question 41

What is the primary use of pointers in data structures?

Accepted Answer

To store the memory address of another data element.

Answer

To create a new instance of a data element.

Answer

To store the value of another data element.

Question 42

Which data structure is suitable for representing hierarchical relationships?

Accepted Answer

Tree

Answer

Linked List

Answer

Array

Answer

Queue

Question 43

What is the average time complexity of searching for an element in a hash table?

Accepted Answer

O(1) on average

Answer

O(log n)

Answer

O(n)

Answer

O(n^2)

Question 44

Which of the following data structures allows direct access to elements using their index?

Accepted Answer

Array

Answer

Linked List

Answer

Dictionary

Answer

Queue

Question 45

How do you declare a list in Python?

Accepted Answer

[1, 2, 3]

Answer

{1, 2, 3}

Answer

1, 2, 3

Answer

(1, 2, 3)

Question 46

Which data structure follows the Last-In-First-Out (LIFO) principle?

Accepted Answer

Stack

Answer

List

Answer

Array

Answer

Queue

Question 47

What is the primary use case of a linked list?

Accepted Answer

Representing data with varying record lengths efficiently.

Answer

Storing data in contiguous memory locations for optimal access.

Answer

Storing key-value pairs for fast lookup.

Answer

Providing quick access to data using indices.

Question 48

Which data structure is considered non-linear?

Accepted Answer

Tree

Answer

Queue

Answer

Array

Answer

List

Question 49

What is the fundamental difference between a queue and a stack?

Accepted Answer

Queues follow the FIFO (First-In-First-Out) principle, while stacks follow the LIFO (Last-In-First-Out) principle.

Answer

Stacks have dynamic size, while queues have fixed size.

Question 50

What is the time complexity of searching for an element in an unsorted linked list?

Accepted Answer

O(n)

Answer

O(n^2)

Answer

O(log n)

Answer

O(1)