Ceist Eile

Ceist Eile is in development. Features, questions and prices may change while we refine it.

Subjects · Leaving Cert Computer Science

Leaving Cert Computer Science: ASCII & Unicode

How often ASCII & Unicode comes up on the Computer Science papers, every year it was asked, and questions to try.

HL Asked on 2 of the last 5 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025.

OL Asked on 3 of the last 5 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025. most years

ASCII & Unicode, Higher Level(7 marks)

Quick ones on ASCII & Unicode.

(a)What does ord('A') return in Python?
  1. 97
  2. 65
  3. 64
(b)What does chr(98) return in Python?
  1. a
  2. B
  3. b
(c)Why is Unicode used instead of ASCII in modern software?
  1. It can represent far more characters and scripts
  2. It works only for English, so text is simpler
  3. It uses fewer bits for every character it stores
Show the answers

(a) 65

(b) b

(c) It can represent far more characters and scripts

Your turn: Higher Level questions on ASCII & Unicode.

Higher Level

Asked on 2 of the last 5 Higher Level papers, most recently in 2025.

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2025A2
2024Not asked
2023Not asked
2022Not asked
2021A8

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More ASCII & Unicode questions

ASCII & Unicode, 3 marks

What does print('B' < 'a') display?

  1. False
  2. Error
  3. True
Show the answer

True

Strings compare by character code. 'B' is 66 and 'a' is 97, so in Python every capital letter comes before every lowercase letter.

Ordinary Level

Asked on 3 of the last 5 Ordinary Level papers, most recently in 2025. most years

Every paper, year by year

YearWhere it came up
2025A4
2024Not asked
2023Not asked
2022B13
2021A3

Links open the State Examinations Commission’s paper for that year.

More ASCII & Unicode questions

ASCII & Unicode, 3 marks

The ASCII code for A is 65. What is the code for D?

  1. 67
  2. 69
  3. 68
Show the answer

68

Capital letters have codes in alphabet order: A 65, B 66, C 67, D 68.

ASCII & Unicode, 2 marks

Why was Unicode created?

  1. To speed up the CPU when it reads text
  2. To represent far more characters than ASCII
  3. To make every file smaller than in ASCII
Show the answer

To represent far more characters than ASCII

7-bit ASCII has only 128 characters, enough for basic English. Unicode covers many languages, including Irish letters with a fada like á, plus emoji.

ASCII & Unicode, 3 marks

Standard ASCII uses 7 bits. How many different characters can it represent?

  1. 128
  2. 256
  3. 7
Show the answer

128

7 bits give 2 to the power 7 = 128 codes (0 to 127). Extended ASCII uses 8 bits, giving 256.

Other Computer Science topics

All of Leaving Cert Computer Science