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The Fetch–Execute Cycle

AQA 75174.7.3A-levelLesson packSubscription
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Question types: multi-part, multiple choice, fill the gap, matching, ordering.

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Explain how the fetch–execute cycle is used to execute machine-code programs, including the three stages (fetch, decode, execute) and the exact register transfers — PC, MAR, MBR/MDR and CIR — that occur at each stage.

18 slides.

Lesson outline

  1. Retrieval: Registers Recap (from last lesson)
  2. Key Vocabulary
  3. Hinge Question: What Does the PC Actually Store?
  4. One Cycle, Billions of Times a Second
  5. Stage 1: FETCH — the Register Transfers
  6. Task: Order the Fetch-Stage Steps
  7. Stage 2: DECODE
  8. Hinge Question: Which Register Gets Decoded?
  9. Stage 3: EXECUTE
  10. The Full Fetch–Execute Cycle
  11. Task: Which Register, At Which Stage?
  12. Hinge Question: MAR or MBR?
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