Data Structures and Algorithms

Week 10: Final Exam Cancelled & Other Updates

Thank you, everyone, for your patience and understanding as your course staff works through the logistics of UW’s shutdown. At a high level, our plan will be:

• Final exam: Cancelled, but see “Extra assignments”.
• HW8 (Seam Carving): No change, still due.
• Drop-in Times: Converting to online DITs starting next week; check @591 for logistics/updates.
• Workshops: Cancelled for the remainder of the quarter.
• Quiz Sections: Cancelled for the remainder of the quarter.
• Final review session: Cancelled.
• Lectures: Topics ended with RadixSorts. Monday and Wednesday lectures are pre-recorded videos for your enrichment, and Friday is an optional Q&A with Hannah.
• Extra assignments:
  • A mandatory Gradescope assignment covering post-midterm topics. This will be released at 4:30pm on Monday, March 16th and is due at 4:30pm on Thursday, March 19th. The format will be similar to a reading quiz (ie, online only; question formats include multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, short-answer, and long-answer), except that you won’t receive immediate feedback about whether your answer is correct/incorrect.
  • An optional Gradescope assignment covering the midterm topics. This optional assignment’s logistics (eg, format, timing, policies) are identical to the mandatory assignment except that it will be worth a small amount of post-curve extra-credit.

Regarding the extra assignment(s):

• The mandatory assignment is worth 5% of your final grade (equivalent to 5 QuickChecks or one programming homework). It will not materially change your grade; its purpose is to encourage you to review post-midterm materials and discuss these materials with others – not to stress you out. It may be helpful to think of this as a graded “final review packet” rather than as an assignment.
• Both assignments are open-book and open-collaboration. If you choose to work in groups, please list your group members (there is no group size limit) and turn in only one submission.
  • You are not required to work in a group. Remember that the assignment’s purpose is to structure your review
  • You may ask questions in Piazza and Drop-in Times.
• The optional assignment will increase your grade by a maximum of 0.1. So if you got a curved 3.0 for the course, the most this assignment will do is push you into a 3.1. The purpose of this assignment is to help students who felt they needed a final exam to “recover” from a bad quarter. Feel free to ignore this assignment if you’re not in that category; most folks will not need a “midterm review packet”.

As always, check Piazza for the latest announcements and updates. And don’t forget that HW8: Seam Carving is due at 9pm on Friday, March 20; we will not accept late submissions after this time.