OCR GCSE Computer Science Complete Practice Exam 2025

The Accumulator register is a special-purpose register within the CPU that plays a crucial role in arithmetic and logic operations. When calculations are performed, the result of those operations is stored in the Accumulator. This is primarily because the Accumulator acts as a temporary storage area where intermediate results of calculations can be held for further processing or for output. For example, when adding two numbers, the sum will be placed in the Accumulator so that it can be used in subsequent instructions or calculations.

The other options pertain to different functions within the CPU architecture. The next instruction and the current instruction refer to the program counter and instruction register respectively, which are responsible for fetching and executing instructions, rather than storing calculation results. The address of the next instruction, similarly, is maintained separate from the Accumulator’s purpose and relates to the sequence of instruction execution. Thus, focusing on the function of the Accumulator leads us to the conclusion that it specifically stores the results of calculations.