Exams

Midterm Details

Midterm Policies

The midterm will be administered as a Gradescope quiz that will consist of short-answer questions. The midterm will be open from Wednesday, February 9 at 12:00 am until Saturday, February 12 at 11:59 pm. During this window, you may open, close, and submit the quiz as many times as you would like to; only your last submission will be graded.

You are to write up and work on the midterm on your own. We want the work you submit to be a representation of your own thoughts. However, we acknowledge that your peers are often one of the best resources for understanding concepts; therefore, we are allowing the "Gilligan's Island Rule."

The Gilligan's Island Rule: You are free to meet with fellow students and discuss assignments with them. Writing on a board or shared piece of paper during the meeting is acceptable; however, you should not take any written (electronic or otherwise) record away from the meeting. Everything that you derive from the collaboration should be in your head. After the meeting, engage in at least a half-hour of mind-numbing activity (like watching an episode of Gilligan's Island), before starting to work on the assignment. This will assure that you are able to reconstruct what you learned from the meeting, by yourself, using your own brain.


Midterm Structure

On Gradescope, you will find reflection questions for each of the exercises and homework assignments that have been due up to this point (ex1-ex7, hw1, hw2). As these are reflection questions, the reasoning and explanation matter more than the statement of a fact or opinion. Where possible, please try to be brief/concise while still getting your point across.

When we ask for "distinct" comparisons or "distinct" pros and cons, we mean not to effectively repeat the same point but worded differently. For example, if I was comparing C and C++, and listed out the comparisons:

  • A pro of using C++ is that it has bool defined as a type by default
  • A con of using C is that it doesn't have bool defined as a type by default

These would NOT be two distinct comparisons.

Final Details

Final Policies

The final will be administered as a Gradescope quiz that will consist of short-answer questions. The final will be open from Sunday, March 13 at 12:00 am until Wednesday, March 16 at 11:59 pm. During this window, you may open, close, and submit the quiz as many times as you would like to; only your last submission will be graded.

You are to write up and work on the final on your own. We want the work you submit to be a representation of your own thoughts. However, we acknowledge that your peers are often one of the best resources for understanding concepts; therefore, we are allowing the "Gilligan's Island Rule."

The Gilligan's Island Rule: You are free to meet with fellow students and discuss assignments with them. Writing on a board or shared piece of paper during the meeting is acceptable; however, you should not take any written (electronic or otherwise) record away from the meeting. Everything that you derive from the collaboration should be in your head. After the meeting, engage in at least a half-hour of mind-numbing activity (like watching an episode of Gilligan's Island), before starting to work on the assignment. This will assure that you are able to reconstruct what you learned from the meeting, by yourself, using your own brain.


Final Structure

The final will be composed of reflection questions on the assignments not covered on the midterm and overall course reflections.

Assignment Reflection Questions

On Gradescope, you will find reflection questions for each of the exercises and homework assignments not covered on the midterm (ex8-ex12, hw3, hw4). As these are reflection questions, the reasoning and explanation matter more than the statement of a fact or opinion. Where possible, please try to be brief/concise while still getting your point across.

When we ask for "distinct" comparisons or "distinct" pros and cons, we mean not to effectively repeat the same point but worded differently. For example, if I was comparing C and C++, and listed out the comparisons:

  • A pro of using C++ is that it has bool defined as a type by default
  • A con of using C is that it doesn't have bool defined as a type by default

These would NOT be two distinct comparisons.

Course Reflection Questions

Also on Gradescope, you will find a few reflection questions on the goals and learning objectives of the course as a whole. The same rules and suggestions apply to these reflection questions.