MS Master of Computer Science 2

Question 1

Which concurrency primitive prevents multiple threads from simultaneously entering a critical section?

Accepted Answer

Mutex

Answer

A mutex (mutual exclusion lock) ensures only one thread at a time can execute the protected critical section.

Question 2

In the CAP theorem, which two properties can a distributed system guarantee during a network partition?

Accepted Answer

Consistency and Partition tolerance

Answer

During a partition, a system must choose between consistency (CP) or availability (AP); it cannot guarantee both simultaneously.

Question 3

What is the worst-case time complexity of the QuickSort algorithm?

Accepted Answer

O(n²)

Answer

QuickSort degrades to O(n²) when the pivot is always the smallest or largest element, causing maximally unbalanced partitions.

Question 4

Which normal form eliminates transitive functional dependencies from a relational database table?

Accepted Answer

Third Normal Form (3NF)

Answer

3NF requires that every non-key attribute depend only on the primary key, not on other non-key attributes.

Question 5

In TCP/IP, which layer is responsible for end-to-end error detection and flow control between hosts?

Accepted Answer

Transport layer

Answer

The transport layer (e.g., TCP) handles end-to-end reliability, flow control, and error recovery between communicating processes.

MS - Master of Science Practice Test