WGU D686 OPERATING SYSTEMS FOR
COMPUTER SCIENTISTS OA PRACTICE
EXAMINATION 2026 QUESTIONS WITH
ANSWERS GRADED A+
◍ Status information.
Answer: Some programs simply ask the system for the date, time, amount of
available memory or disk space, number of users, or similar status
information. Others are more complex, providing detailed performance,
logging, and debugging information. Typically, these programs format and
print the output to the terminal or other output devices or files or display it
in a window of the GUI. Some systems also support a registry, which is
used to store and retrieve configuration information.
◍ Service.
Answer: A software entity running on one or more machines and providing
a particular type of function to calling clients. In Android, an application
component with no user interface; it runs in the background while executing
long-running operations or performing work for remote processes.
◍ client.
Answer: a computer that uses services from other computers (such as a
web-client). the source of a communication
◍ program counter.
Answer: a CPU register that holds the memory address of the next
instruction to execute
◍ System call(s).
Answer: Provides interface to the services made available by an operating
, system. It is generally available as functions written in C and C++, although
certain low-level tasks (for example, tasks where hardware must be accessed
directly) may have to be written using assembly-language instructions.
◍ power users.
Answer: users with unusually deep knowledge of a system
◍ system-call interface.
Answer: an interface that serves as the link to system calls made available
by the operating system and that is called by processes to invoke system
calls
◍ interrupt-controller hardware.
Answer: parts of the computer that manage when and how interrupts are
handled
◍ interrupt priority level.
Answer: a way of deciding which interrupts are most urgent, so that the
computer can handle them in the right order
◍ System services or system utilities.
Answer: A collection of applications included with or added to an operating
system to provide services beyond what are provided by the kernel.
◍ fault tolerance.
Answer: the ability of a multiprocessor system to handle the failure of a
processor by redistributing its tasks to other processors, ensuring continuous
operation
◍ Communications.
Answer: A category of system calls.
◍ multicore.
Answer: multiple processing cores within the same CPU chip or within a
single system
◍ Types of System Calls.
Answer: System calls can be grouped roughly into six major categories:
, process control, file management, device management, information
maintenance, communications, and protection
◍ Typical uses of threads.
Answer: An Internet server, such as an email or web page server, is
receiving many requests from different users at the same time. When each
request is implemented as a new thread, many requests can proceed
concurrently without holding up the progress of others.
◍ process control.
Answer: a category of system calls. a running program needs to halt its
execution either normally or abnormally (debugger, bugs, locking, etc...)-
create process, terminate process- load, execute- get process attributes, set
process attributes- wait event, signal event- allocate and free memory
◍ exception.
Answer: a software-generated interrupt caused either by an error (such as
division by zero or invalid memory access) or by a specific request from a
user program than an operating-system service be performed
◍ asymmetric clustering.
Answer: a configuration in which one machine in a cluster is in hot-standby
mode while the other is running applications
◍ Shared-memory model.
Answer: An interprocess communication method in which multiple
processes share memory and use that memory for message passing.
◍ solid state drive (SSD).
Answer: a storage device that uses flash memory to store data with no
moving parts
◍ shared-memory model.
Answer: an interprocess communication method in which multiple processes
share memory and use that memory for message passing
◍ byte.
, Answer: 8 bits
◍ Information maintenance.
Answer: A category of system calls.
◍ Shared memory.
Answer: In interprocess communication, a section of memory shared by
multiple processes and used for message passing.
◍ Resource control block (RCB).
Answer: It is a data structure that represents a resource.
resource_description, state, waiting_list.
◍ real-time system.
Answer: ensures tasks are completed within defined time limits, including
hard (strict) and soft (flexible) real-time systems
◍ File management.
Answer: These programs create, delete, copy, rename, print, list, and
generally access and manipulate files and directories.
◍ Create process function.
Answer: It allocates a new PCB, fills the PCB entries with initial values, and
links the PCB to other data structures in the system.
◍ Program loading and execution.
Answer: Once a program is assembled or compiled, it must be loaded into
memory to be executed. The system may provide absolute loaders,
relocatable loaders, linkage editors, and overlay loaders. Debugging systems
for either higher-level languages or machine language are needed as well.
◍ process.
Answer: a program loaded into memory and executing
◍ service.
Answer: a software entity running on one or more machines and providing a
particular type of function to calling clients. in Android, an application
component with no user interface; it runs in the background while executing
COMPUTER SCIENTISTS OA PRACTICE
EXAMINATION 2026 QUESTIONS WITH
ANSWERS GRADED A+
◍ Status information.
Answer: Some programs simply ask the system for the date, time, amount of
available memory or disk space, number of users, or similar status
information. Others are more complex, providing detailed performance,
logging, and debugging information. Typically, these programs format and
print the output to the terminal or other output devices or files or display it
in a window of the GUI. Some systems also support a registry, which is
used to store and retrieve configuration information.
◍ Service.
Answer: A software entity running on one or more machines and providing
a particular type of function to calling clients. In Android, an application
component with no user interface; it runs in the background while executing
long-running operations or performing work for remote processes.
◍ client.
Answer: a computer that uses services from other computers (such as a
web-client). the source of a communication
◍ program counter.
Answer: a CPU register that holds the memory address of the next
instruction to execute
◍ System call(s).
Answer: Provides interface to the services made available by an operating
, system. It is generally available as functions written in C and C++, although
certain low-level tasks (for example, tasks where hardware must be accessed
directly) may have to be written using assembly-language instructions.
◍ power users.
Answer: users with unusually deep knowledge of a system
◍ system-call interface.
Answer: an interface that serves as the link to system calls made available
by the operating system and that is called by processes to invoke system
calls
◍ interrupt-controller hardware.
Answer: parts of the computer that manage when and how interrupts are
handled
◍ interrupt priority level.
Answer: a way of deciding which interrupts are most urgent, so that the
computer can handle them in the right order
◍ System services or system utilities.
Answer: A collection of applications included with or added to an operating
system to provide services beyond what are provided by the kernel.
◍ fault tolerance.
Answer: the ability of a multiprocessor system to handle the failure of a
processor by redistributing its tasks to other processors, ensuring continuous
operation
◍ Communications.
Answer: A category of system calls.
◍ multicore.
Answer: multiple processing cores within the same CPU chip or within a
single system
◍ Types of System Calls.
Answer: System calls can be grouped roughly into six major categories:
, process control, file management, device management, information
maintenance, communications, and protection
◍ Typical uses of threads.
Answer: An Internet server, such as an email or web page server, is
receiving many requests from different users at the same time. When each
request is implemented as a new thread, many requests can proceed
concurrently without holding up the progress of others.
◍ process control.
Answer: a category of system calls. a running program needs to halt its
execution either normally or abnormally (debugger, bugs, locking, etc...)-
create process, terminate process- load, execute- get process attributes, set
process attributes- wait event, signal event- allocate and free memory
◍ exception.
Answer: a software-generated interrupt caused either by an error (such as
division by zero or invalid memory access) or by a specific request from a
user program than an operating-system service be performed
◍ asymmetric clustering.
Answer: a configuration in which one machine in a cluster is in hot-standby
mode while the other is running applications
◍ Shared-memory model.
Answer: An interprocess communication method in which multiple
processes share memory and use that memory for message passing.
◍ solid state drive (SSD).
Answer: a storage device that uses flash memory to store data with no
moving parts
◍ shared-memory model.
Answer: an interprocess communication method in which multiple processes
share memory and use that memory for message passing
◍ byte.
, Answer: 8 bits
◍ Information maintenance.
Answer: A category of system calls.
◍ Shared memory.
Answer: In interprocess communication, a section of memory shared by
multiple processes and used for message passing.
◍ Resource control block (RCB).
Answer: It is a data structure that represents a resource.
resource_description, state, waiting_list.
◍ real-time system.
Answer: ensures tasks are completed within defined time limits, including
hard (strict) and soft (flexible) real-time systems
◍ File management.
Answer: These programs create, delete, copy, rename, print, list, and
generally access and manipulate files and directories.
◍ Create process function.
Answer: It allocates a new PCB, fills the PCB entries with initial values, and
links the PCB to other data structures in the system.
◍ Program loading and execution.
Answer: Once a program is assembled or compiled, it must be loaded into
memory to be executed. The system may provide absolute loaders,
relocatable loaders, linkage editors, and overlay loaders. Debugging systems
for either higher-level languages or machine language are needed as well.
◍ process.
Answer: a program loaded into memory and executing
◍ service.
Answer: a software entity running on one or more machines and providing a
particular type of function to calling clients. in Android, an application
component with no user interface; it runs in the background while executing
