CPSC 219: Final Exam Information

Date/location:

• The final exam is scheduled by Student Service, you can find information via the [university portal]

Additional review material:

• There are not old versions of final exam exams that I will officially hand out. This is for a number of reasons: (1) the course has changed quite a bit (e.g., last term's final exam included a great detail of advanced material on arrays and even linked lists) (2) when students see topics on old exams they tend to focus specifically on these topics. However the exams in subsequent semesters don't usually cover the same topics (otherwise the exam is just about memorizing past questions not truly learning the material).
• However there are a number of sources of review material that are pertinent to this semester:
• TopHat questions can give an idea of what some of the (easier - in most cases) multiple choices may look like.
• During lecture as I cover the material I will provide suggestions of what an exam-like question may look like. You should attend class for this info and note the details as it comes up. If you missed class then you should try talking to a friend that attends class and takes thorough notes. (I actually did this a lot towards the end of the semester with the final exam plus I included study tips so it may be even more valuable than was the case for the midterm exams).
• You may receive exam type questions that have been created this year (as I make up the actual exam I make up these review questions). To get the most out of the review I won't provide the solutions to these questions, you need to actually try them yourself. If after you have actually tried to work out the question on your own and you still have questions then I would be happy to provide explanations (be prepared to show me what have done to work out the question so I can see where things might have gone awry). [Extra review questions and extra-extra review ideas]
• Looking for more practice? Try the two practice assignments [Problem solving] [Inheritance] course web page) and try practice problems you find in text books (make sure they are dealing with the topics that we have already covered this term).

Front cover from the actual exam (so make sure you look at this beforehand...important so make sure you read them beforehand!):

(Flip side of cover - top of page showing where you write your student ID number): DON'T FORGET THIS ON THE EXAM

Material that you should study

• The lecture material: the PowerPoint slides will provide you with an outline of the topics to be covered. However studying the information just listed on the slides won't be sufficient to do well on the final exam. You will also need to take notes in class and to study and understand those notes. If you have any questions then make sure that you ask me for help and clarification.
• The text book: should be used as another source of material to help you understand the material as you prepare for the exam. I won't however directly examine you on material that is listed in the textbooks that I didn't cover in class. Keep in mind that the textbook is a supplement, if you use it then you should still go through the lecture notes and examples that I created for this class.
• Tutorial exercises and the tutorial handouts: I won't be directly examining you on this material (unless it overlaps with the lecture material).
• You should also be familiar with the methods of the classes that have been covered in lecture e.g., Random, Scanner, GUI classes and interfaces etc.

I won't be able to provide a breakdown by topic because there will likely be a number of overlap in the topics that need to be applied for a particular question (e.g., displaying a linked list require knowledge of list operations but could also require recursion). However I can provide you with a general idea of which topics will likely result in a higher proportion of the final exam (the 'major' exam topics shown below)

Exam questions^1: 69 marks total

^{1 It's based on a near-final version of the final exam (exact proportions may vary *slightly*)}

^{Cutoffs used for the final exam}