Unit 4: A4 Machine learning

Topic 4.1: Machine learning fundamentals Questions

Practice 20 exam-style questions for IB Computer Science Topic 4.1. Review the question stems below, then unlock the full Question Bank to access markschemes, model answers, and AI grading.

1Choose1 mark
2026
Choose why a GPU suits machine learning training.
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2State2 marks
2026
State the three broad types of machine learning.
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3Outline3 marks
2026
Outline how supervised learning works.
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4Outline3 marks
2026
Outline how unsupervised learning works.
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5Identify2 marks
2026
Identify which type of machine learning suits teaching a program to play a board game well, and justify your answer.
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6Outline2 marks
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Outline what is meant by training data.
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7Explain4 marks
2026
Explain why a model's accuracy figure can be misleading.
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8Suggest4 marks
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Suggest two ways the environmental cost of training could be reduced.
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9Define1 mark
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Define the term machine learning.
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10Outline3 marks
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Outline how reinforcement learning works.
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11Identify2 marks
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Identify which type of machine learning suits sorting customers into groups with similar buying habits, and justify your answer.
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12Identify2 marks
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Identify which type of machine learning suits deciding whether an email is spam, and justify your answer.
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13Explain3 marks
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Explain why training and test data must be kept separate.
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14Outline2 marks
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Outline what is meant by overfitting.
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15Explain4 marks
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Explain two ways overfitting can be reduced.
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16Determine3 marks
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Determine the accuracy of a model that correctly classifies 456 of 600 test images, and suggest one further figure that should be reported.
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17Suggest4 marks
2026
Suggest why access to machine learning hardware raises questions of fairness.
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18Determine3 marks
2026
Determine what proportion of a 20 000-example dataset should typically be held back for testing, and explain the trade-off.
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19Explain3 marks
2026
Explain why a machine learning model may be described as a black box.
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20Suggest4 marks
2026
Suggest why a hospital might prefer a simpler, slightly less accurate model.
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