Putting it together

One program uses several constructs

• A 9618 answer mixes DECLARE, ←, IF … THEN, FOR and OUTPUT.
• Indent the body of a loop. Put THEN on the IF line.
• A short comment with // says what a block is for.

// Total the five marks, then say whether the total reaches 20.
DECLARE Mark : ARRAY[1:5] OF INTEGER
Mark[1] ← 4
Mark[2] ← 8
Mark[3] ← 6
Mark[4] ← 2
Mark[5] ← 5
DECLARE Total : INTEGER
DECLARE I : INTEGER
Total ← 0
FOR I ← 1 TO 5
  Total ← Total + Mark[I]
NEXT I
OUTPUT "Total = ", Total
IF Total >= 20 THEN
  OUTPUT "target met"
ELSE
  OUTPUT "below target"
ENDIF

Worked example: plan, then two passes

Question: how many of the five marks are above the average?

• Input: the five marks, stored in an array.
• Process: you cannot compare a mark with the average until you know the average. So loop once to find the total, then loop again to count.
• Output: the average, then the count.

DECLARE Mark : ARRAY[1:5] OF INTEGER
DECLARE Total, Above, I : INTEGER
DECLARE Average : REAL
Mark[1] ← 4
Mark[2] ← 8
Mark[3] ← 6
Mark[4] ← 2
Mark[5] ← 5
// Pass 1: the average needs every mark first
Total ← 0
FOR I ← 1 TO 5
  Total ← Total + Mark[I]
NEXT I
Average ← Total / 5
// Pass 2: compare each mark with the average
Above ← 0
FOR I ← 1 TO 5
  IF Mark[I] > Average THEN
    Above ← Above + 1
  ENDIF
NEXT I
OUTPUT "Average = ", Average
OUTPUT "Above average: ", Above

The total is 25, so the average is 5.0. The marks 8 and 6 are above it, so the count is 2. The mark 5 equals the average and is not counted.

Common mistakes

• Setting Total ← 0 inside the loop. It is reset on every pass, so only the last mark is kept.
• Counting in the same loop that builds the total. The average is not known yet.
• Using I without a DECLARE. A 9618 answer declares every variable, loop counters too.
• Writing >= when the question says "above". Check what happens to a value that is exactly equal.

What this course left for A2

• Random files, classes, enumerated types and pointers are in the full 9618 guide.
• They are assessed at A2, not in this AS course.
• The IGCSE course on this site uses the 0478 rules for 2026–2028. Do not copy those into a 9618 answer.

Now you try

• Total an array, then choose a message with IF.

Independent transfer

The final task has no supplied algorithm. Plan its inputs, processing and outputs, then solve it before opening support. Check more than the sample case.