Skip to content
CAT Study Hub

calculated field

2 sub-questions across 1 paper, 7 marks total.

Computer Applications Technology 2026

Question 5 — Database
5.1.53 marks

tblStartups already stores total hours mentored and the rate per hour. Add a new calculated field representing the total cost of mentorship per start-up.

Show answer

  1. In the first empty row type a name, e.g. MentorshipCost.

  2. Data Type → Calculated → Expression Builder.

  3. Enter [HoursMentored]*[RatePerHour] using your actual field names. OK.

  4. Set Result Type to Currency (if offered). Save the table.

  5. Save and close tblStartups.

Why this earns the marks

new field with sensible name (1), Calculated type (1), correct expression hours × rate (1) — three separately checkable parts of setting up one calculated field. Total cost = quantity × price per unit is the general-purpose formula behind this specific case (hours mentored × rate per hour), the same multiplication pattern used anywhere a total is quantity times unit price. A calculated field stores the formula, not a frozen result, so it updates whenever hours or rate changes, which is the "standardising the cost model" idea in the scenario: every start-up's mentorship cost is computed by the same rule, consistently, rather than by separately typed numbers that could drift out of sync with the real hours/rate data. Square brackets around field names are essential, because Access uses them to distinguish "a reference to this field" from plain text that happens to share the field's name.

Question 5 — Database
5.54 marks

Edit qryEligibility by adding a calculated field called Eligible that returns 'Yes' if PitchScore >= 75; otherwise the field is blank. Save and close.

Show answer

  1. In a new empty Field cell:

Code
Eligible: IIf([PitchScore]>=75,"Yes","")
Eligible: IIf([PitchScore]>=75,"Yes","")

Why this earns the marks

marks for the field name Eligible followed by a colon, IIf, the test [PitchScore]>=75, "Yes" for true and blank "" for false — each syntax element is independently checkable, the same way an Excel formula's pieces are marked individually. IIf is Access's IF with three parts (test, true result, false result): the exact query-grid equivalent of Excel's IF(test, value_if_true, value_if_false), just under a different name because Access reserves the bare word "If" as a programming keyword elsewhere in the application. Do not write "No" or "False" because the question asks for blank — an empty string "" and the word "No" are different values entirely; a check comparing the field's contents for genuinely blank would fail against either literal word.