AQA 7517 4.7.3.1: The processor and its components
The free BugBot lesson that teach this point, a robot to try it on, and the past-paper questions that test it.
What it covers
At GCSE (F9.4) you met the control unit, the ALU, the clock and four registers. At A level the list of registers grows, you need to say exactly what each part of the processor does, and you need to know the status register: the bits that record what the last operation did, which is how a processor makes decisions.
- The components of the processor
- General-purpose and dedicated registers
- The status register's flags
- How flags make decisions
- Registers, cache and memory
Or do it in the simulator, with tasks that mark themselves
Lessons that teach it
- A9.2 The processor and its registers Computer architecture
The ALU, control unit and clock, general-purpose and dedicated registers, and the status flags an 8-bit ALU sets.
Try it on a robot
The task from A9.2 The processor and its registers, running here. Change the program and press Run.
The specification is AQA's own document; this page says which of our lessons teach point 4.7.3.1 and is not endorsed by the board.