Paging, Segmentation, and Virtual Memory MCQs

1. What is the primary purpose of memory management in an operating system?
(A) To prevent hardware failures
(B) To allocate and deallocate memory to processes
(C) To schedule CPU tasks
(D) To manage input/output devices

2. Which of the following is a key function of memory management?
(A) Process synchronization
(B) File system management
(C) Memory allocation
(D) Device management

3. In which memory management technique does each process have a separate memory space?
(A) Contiguous allocation
(B) Segmentation
(C) Paging
(D) Fragmentation

4. Which of the following memory allocation schemes allows non-contiguous allocation of memory to processes?
(A) Paging
(B) Contiguous memory allocation
(C) Fixed partitioning
(D) Single-user system

5. What problem is addressed by the concept of virtual memory?
(A) Insufficient CPU speed
(B) Limited physical memory
(C) Overuse of input/output devices
(D) Fragmentation of memory

6. Which type of memory fragmentation occurs when there are small gaps between allocated memory blocks?
(A) Internal fragmentation
(B) External fragmentation
(C) Paging
(D) Thrashing

7. What is the main goal of the paging memory management technique?
(A) To avoid memory fragmentation
(B) To allocate large blocks of memory
(C) To reduce CPU scheduling time
(D) To increase input/output performance

8. In virtual memory, what is a page fault?
(A) When a process exceeds its memory allocation
(B) When the operating system crashes
(C) When a page is not found in main memory
(D) When a process is waiting for I/O

9. Which of the following is an advantage of segmentation over paging?
(A) No external fragmentation
(B) No internal fragmentation
(C) Easier implementation
(D) Logical division of program modules

10. What is the role of the memory management unit (MMU)?
(A) To manage input/output operations
(B) To handle disk scheduling
(C) To map virtual addresses to physical addresses
(D) To control access to the CPU

11. Which of the following is used to reduce the page fault rate?
(A) Increasing page size
(B) Reducing the number of processes
(C) Increasing physical memory
(D) Using a smaller swap space

12. In a paging system, what is the purpose of a page table?
(A) To keep track of free memory blocks
(B) To map virtual pages to physical frames
(C) To manage process synchronization
(D) To store file metadata

13. What is thrashing in the context of memory management?
(A) Excessive swapping of pages in and out of memory
(B) A process that crashes due to a lack of memory
(C) When the CPU is idle due to memory constraints
(D) When memory blocks become fragmented

14. Which type of memory allocation results in internal fragmentation?
(A) Fixed partitioning
(B) Paging
(C) Dynamic partitioning
(D) Segmentation

15. Which of the following best describes demand paging?
(A) Loading the entire process into memory at once
(B) Swapping processes out of memory when not needed
(C) Loading pages into memory only when they are referenced
(D) Allocating fixed memory spaces for each process

16. What is the primary disadvantage of using large page sizes in a paging system?
(A) Increased page table size
(B) Higher internal fragmentation
(C) More frequent page faults
(D) Increased memory access time

17. Which memory allocation method uses variable-sized blocks to minimize wasted memory?
(A) Fixed partitioning
(B) Segmentation
(C) Paging
(D) Contiguous allocation

18. In which memory management technique is a process divided into equal-sized blocks?
(A) Segmentation
(B) Paging
(C) Fixed partitioning
(D) Dynamic partitioning

19. What is the purpose of a translation lookaside buffer (TLB)?
(A) To speed up CPU scheduling
(B) To cache page table entries
(C) To manage input/output devices
(D) To prevent memory fragmentation

20. Which of the following describes external fragmentation?
(A) Unused memory within an allocated block
(B) Memory that is not allocated to any process
(C) Free memory scattered across the system
(D) Memory blocks that are too small to allocate