Computer Awareness

Computer Fundamentals and Functional Units

What a computer is, its defining characteristics, the five functional units (input, memory, arithmetic-logic, control, output) and how they work together, the stored-program idea, and a summary view of the generations of computers.

Number Systems and Data Representation

Why computers use binary, the decimal, binary, octal and hexadecimal systems and how to convert between them, bits and bytes and the storage-unit ladder, and how characters are represented using ASCII and Unicode.

Input and Output Devices

What input and output devices do, the main categories - keying, pointing, scanning and imaging, audio and video - devices that are both input and output, and the idea of ports and device drivers.

Memory and Storage

Primary memory versus secondary storage, the memory hierarchy from registers to disk, RAM and ROM and their variants, cache, volatility, and the main secondary-storage technologies - magnetic, optical and solid state.

Computer Abbreviations and Terminology

The abbreviations that recur in bank exams, grouped and explained rather than just expanded: hardware and storage, data units, software and operating systems, networking, web and data formats, and the standards bodies, with the comparisons examiners like to test.

Operating Systems and Software

The difference between system and application software, the functions of an operating system - process, memory, file, device and user management - types of OS, and how files, folders and common extensions organise data.

Database and DBMS Fundamentals

Data versus information, what a database and a DBMS are, the relational model and its terms (table, row, column, primary key, foreign key), the categories of SQL commands, and the ACID properties of a reliable transaction.

Office and Productivity Suites

The word processor, spreadsheet and presentation concepts exams test: editing shortcuts, relative and absolute cell references, the everyday spreadsheet functions, formula versus value, sort and filter, chart choice, presentation views, and common file formats.

Emerging Technologies

Concept-level coverage of the terms bank exams now test: cloud computing and its service and deployment models, virtualisation and containers, AI/ML/deep learning and generative AI, Big Data, IoT and edge computing, and blockchain and distributed ledgers.

Computer Networks

What a network is and why it is useful, networks by size (LAN, MAN, WAN), common topologies, the devices that connect networks, and the basic vocabulary of the internet and the web - IP addresses, DNS, URLs, HTTP and HTTPS.

Cyber Security Basics

The CIA triad, categories of malware, phishing and social engineering, authentication versus authorisation and multi-factor authentication, symmetric and asymmetric encryption and what a digital certificate does, firewalls, and safe-backup practice.

The Internet, the Web and Email

How the Internet differs from the Web, IP addresses and DNS, the parts of a URL, HTTP versus HTTPS and status codes, browser cache and cookies, how email is sent and retrieved with SMTP, POP3 and IMAP, and the port numbers exams expect you to know.

Information Security: Attacks and Safe Banking

Building on cyber security basics: the malware families and attack types exams name, how to spot a phishing message, the scams that specifically target bank customers and what a bank will never ask, and a practical defence checklist.