Lesson 12 of 12

Review

You've learned all the building blocks of flowcharts. Let's check your knowledge. Can you identify the shapes and recognise the patterns when you see them? Click "Reveal Answer" to check yourself.

Part 1: Name That Shape

Look at each shape. What is it called, and what is it used for?

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Terminal (Start / End) — The oval marks where a program begins or ends. Every flowchart has at least two: one for Start and one for End.

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Process — The rectangle represents an action or calculation, like SET x = 5 or count = count + 1.

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Decision — The diamond asks a Yes/No question. Two arrows come out: one for Yes, one for No. Used in if-statements, if-else, and loops.

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Input / Output — The parallelogram is for getting data from the user (INPUT) or showing data to the user (OUTPUT).

Part 2: Identify the Pattern

Each diagram below shows a common programming structure. Is it an if statement, an if-else, or a while loop?

Pattern A

Condition? Yes Action No (continues...)
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If Statement. The Yes path does an extra action, then rejoins the main flow. The No path skips straight ahead. Only one side has an action — the other side just continues.

Pattern B

Condition? Yes Action A No B (continues...)
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If-Else. Both the Yes and No paths have their own action (A and B). The program always does exactly one of the two — never both, never neither. After both paths finish, they merge back together.

Pattern C

Condition? Yes Action No (continues...)
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While Loop. The giveaway is the dashed back arrow that goes from the action back up to the diamond. This creates repetition — the action keeps happening as long as the condition is Yes. When it's No, the loop exits.

Part 3: Trace the Flowchart

Look at each flowchart below and answer the questions. Try to trace through it in your head before revealing the answer.

Flowchart A

Start SET score = 85 score >= 50? Yes "Pass" No "Fail" End
Q1: What structure does this flowchart use?
Q2: What does this program output?
Reveal Answers
  • Q1: It's an if-else — the diamond has an action on both the Yes and No paths.
  • Q2: The score is 85. Is 85 >= 50? Yes — so it outputs "Pass".

Flowchart B

Start SET n = 3 n > 0? Yes OUTPUT n n = n - 1 No End
Q1: What structure does this flowchart use?
Q2: What does this program output? (List all values in order.)
Q3: How many times does the loop repeat?
Reveal Answers
  • Q1: It's a while loop — the dashed back arrow going from the body back up to the diamond is the giveaway.
  • Q2: It outputs 3, 2, 1 (one number per loop pass).
  • Q3: The loop repeats 3 times. On the 4th check, n is 0 so the condition is false and the loop exits.

Quick cheat sheet for spotting patterns: If you see a diamond where only the Yes path has an action, it's an if statement. If both paths have actions, it's an if-else. If there's a back arrow going upward to the diamond, it's a loop.

Key Takeaways

  • The four shapes: oval (start/end), rectangle (process), diamond (decision), parallelogram (input/output).
  • An if statement has one action path (Yes) and one skip path (No).
  • An if-else has an action on both paths.
  • A while loop has a back arrow that creates repetition.
  • To trace a flowchart, follow the arrows step by step and track variable values as they change.