CPSC 231: Final exam information for L02

Grades

 

Exam review:

There will be an exam review when I'll go over a few sample exam-type questions.

Date / Time: Friday December 14, 3 PM ~ 5 PM
Location ENA 201
Review materials [Sample questions] [Solution key]

Breakdown of the exam components1

Multiple choice questions Approximate proportion of the exam
  Number of multiple questions 8 9%
Written questions  
  Number of conceptual questions: 1 14%
  Number of program tracing questions: 1   9
  Number of code writing questions: 5 68%
1) These breakdowns were based on a near final version of the final exam. The proportions may vary slightly on the final version but not by any great extent.

Exam format

  • Most of the exam will consist of written questions (there will be a few multiple choice questions).
  • The exam will be cumulative will a heavy emphasis on the material subsequent to the midterm (except for modular design/problem decomposition).
  • Topics which are likely candidates for the larger (higher worth) written questions.
 
  1. Modular design/problem decomposition
 
  1. Homogeneous types (in Pascal it's implemented as an array)
 
  1. Storage (in this course it was done using files)
 
  1. Heterogeneous composite types (in Pascal it's implemented as a record)
 
  1. Pointers
 
  1. Dynamic linked lists
  • Topics which may be covered in the multiple questions or smaller (lower worth) written questions.
 
  1. Material covered before the midterm (excluding problem decomposition/modular design)
 
  1. Recursion
 
  1. Sorting
 
  1. The introduction to Computer Science
  • Topics which you won't be examined on.
 
  1. The history of computers
  • Types of written questions that you may see on the exam
 
  1. Writing programs: typically such a question will have a partially implemented solution and you will be required to write a single function or procedure.  Or you may have to write a small but complete program.
 
  1. Tracing programs: given a program or fragment of a program you could be asked to indicate what the output of the program will be.
 
  1. Conceptual questions: could involve describing a concept or defining a term. It could be combined with one of the above types of questions too e.g., what is a bus error, why might the program below cause such an error to occur or write the code that may result in a bus error.