Final
Logistics
The final will happen from 12:30-2:20pm on Monday December 8th. You will take the exam in Kane 210 or 220. We will be posting seating assignments for the final exam -- as there are a limited number of left-handed desks in each room, please fill out the Left-Handed Seating Request form by Tuesday, December 2 so we can create the seat assignments.
But what happens if...
- I have a conflict with the exam time that I know about right now? Fill out the Final Exam conflict form by Tuesday December 2 so we can schedule a conflict.
- I'm sick? Email Robbie and Miya as soon as you can. We'll schedule you for the conflict if you'll be well enough by then (in-person if you'll be able to be in a room with others). Otherwise we'll find some other way for you to take the exam safely when you're ready to work. If you aren't well enough to take an exam by the time grades need to be submitted, we can give an incomplete and finish the quarter when you're ready to work.
- [other emergency] happens Let Robbie and Miya know as soon as you know something unusual is going to interfere with your ability to take the exam. These must be significant and beyond your control, but we will accommodate them (an example of this might be you got into a car accident on your way to campus).
The Exam Itself
What to bring
- Please bring an ID (Husky card or government-issued photo ID) to the exam.
- Don't forget to bring your note sheet (see below)
In-Exam Resources
- The exam is closed-book and individual.
- We will provide you with the Propostional Equivalences sheet and the Inference Rules sheet (the same as you got for midterm 1), but you are less likely to need them.
- We will allow each student one 8.5x11inch-sheet (both-sides) of hand-written notes during the exam.
- Hand-written means either really handwritten (like with pencil or pen) OR a facsimile of handwritten, e.g., you hand-wrote on an iPad and printed it out. If you use technology you may NOT use it to artificially shrink your handwriting.
- We may remind you of some key definitions, but only when they aren't the main point of the problem
- For example, we won't remind you what irregular means when asking you to prove a set is irregular, or what the definition of a subset is when we ask you to prove that one set is a subset of another (those are part of the point of those problems!), but we might remind you of the definition of mod so you remember whether it's n|b-a or n|a-b.
- We recommend you consider writing proof templates on your note sheet! We will not provide those templates on the exam.
What could be covered?
- Everything from the slide deck for lecture 1 through the slide deck for lecture 27 (Wednesday Nov 26) can show up in any way on the exam. (Note this is the deck rather than the lecture itself; that content may extend to the next lecture meeting).
- There will be one problem that gives you the option of proving a language irregular (lecture 28) or proving a set is uncountable (lecture 29). It will be your choice which to do.
- We will not directly test you on the content only in the deck for lecture 30.
- "directly" means, for example, we won't expect you to know or have anything memorized from that lecture. However, we could still use the content of that lecture to inspire us to write a problem. If we do so, we will write a problem that can be solved even if you never saw the last lecture.
Where will the emphasis be?
- We will focus on writing problems for aspects of the course that are critical for future classes, and on topics that were covered after midterm 2.
- You can expect some training wheels questions (e.g., translation, quantifiers, taking contrapositives, etc.)
- There will be two induction proofs
- Proofs will all be English proofs; we won't ask you to write a proof that just applies equivalences from the big chart (though we can still ask you to take a contrapositive, which might require correctly applying DeMorgan's Law, as an example; we just won't ask you to list the names of the rules).
What won't be covered?
- Items we identified as non-testable during the quarter, e.g. the DFA-minimization algorithm won't be covered.
- We will not ask you to execute the Euclidian Algorithm
- Items not covered at all this quarter may appear in previous quarters (e.g., relations) and therefore are in the practice exams---you are not responsible for this content.
Study materials
The materials below are intended to help you study. They are not a guarantee of what types of questions will be on the exam. Note that prior quarters had slightly different sets of topic coverage, so you may find questions on "non-testable" topics in these materials. The materials may also have extraneous old announcements or advice that you can ignore (e.g. the old final incorrectly claims your final will be open-book; yours is still closed-book).
How should we study?
- Take the given final under exam conditions (e.g., timed, not googling or asking others for help) so you get more practice trying to write proofs in a time-constrained way.
- Look back old homework problems and solutions; the best way to use these is to try problems, and then compare your solution to the solutions provided.
- Look back at old section problems; the best way to use these is to try problems, and then compare your solution to the solutions provided.
- When studying, intentionally focus on doing problems not just reading solutions. Reading 20 induction proofs will help you check a given induction proof, but it might not help you much with writing your own induction proof, which is what we'll ask you to do on the exam.
- Think carefully about what you want on your note-sheet. With a limited time, you'll want to be able to find what you're looking for quickly, not simply list every fact.