System Software, Architecture, Memory and Storage Practice Test

The CPU’s job is to execute the sequence of instructions that drive the computer, coordinating how data moves and is transformed. It fetches instructions from memory, decodes what each instruction requires, and executes the operation—performing arithmetic or logic, moving data, and controlling other parts of the system. In practice, this means it takes input from devices (like a keyboard), processes that data according to the program, and outputs results to memory or an output device (like a display). That ability to run software and manage data flow between memory and I/O is what the CPU is all about. The other components handle different roles: memory management units deal with paging and virtual memory, GPUs render graphics, and network interface cards manage data transfer over networks.