Midterms
Twice this quarter you’ll sit a midterm in the form of a mock technical interview, the kind you’d have for a standard software engineering role. Midterm 1 covers the first block of the course (algorithm analysis through balanced trees); Midterm 2 covers the second (heaps through union-find). Each is worth 15% of your grade.
These aren’t meant to catch you out. The point is to give you a low-stakes rep at the thing data structures knowledge is actually for: explaining your reasoning out loud, under a little pressure, to another person.
Format¶
You’ll have a roughly ~10 minute conversation with a TA about a course-related problem. You’ll work through your approach, the structures involved, the tradeoffs, the runtime together. It’s meant to be a conversation: your interviewer can nudge you when you’re stuck, the way a good real-world interviewer would. You can take your interview online or in person, whichever you prefer.
Preparing¶
Review the material from the block the midterm covers — lectures, your homework problems, and the section worksheets. The best preparation is practicing out loud: explain a problem to a friend, or walk through a structure as if you were teaching it. You won’t be asked to memorize anything obscure. You will be asked to reason.
How it’s graded¶
These midterms are graded mostly on effort and engagement, not on getting a flawless answer. Roughly:
Preparation & engagement (the majority of your grade): you showed up ready, worked the problem, and stayed in the conversation.
Communication: we can follow your reasoning as you go.
Technical reasoning (a smaller slice): your thinking about structures, tradeoffs, and runtime is sound. A wrong turn costs little if you reason through it; only being consistently, unrecoverably off takes meaningful points.
In practice: come prepared and engage, and you’ll land at or near full marks.
Accommodations¶
If you have DRS accommodations, or you can’t make any of the available interview slots, contact the instructor at vagar343@uw.edu as early as possible and we’ll arrange an alternative.