CPSC 219: Midterm Final Exam Information

Additional details will be added over time...

Date/location:

• The exam will be held during regular exam week, scheduled by the Registrar. You can find your exam information via the university [portal]. Unfortunately the building is sometimes locked during exam week.  (Before you write me letters of outrage about this practice :) keep in mind that it's not my doing and unfortunately haven't been able to change this practice even though I have tried). I highly recommend that you come quite a bit before you exam is to commence so you have a better chance of encountering someone who can let you in.

Review material:

• There was an in-class review completed during the last lecture on April 13. If you missed class and would like to see the questions an extra handouts that I have left over can be found on  the table outside my office.
• If you want additional review then I would recommend the following:
  1. Try the practice assignments for the course. The first exercise is somewhat similar to the your A3 in difficult while the second is similar to A4.
  2. Work through the exercises in the recommended textbook. You can see in the course schedule for a list of the recommended problems. (See the column labeled: Suggested practice questions "Self-Test Exercises")
  3. Recall that in class I gave you all a few ideas of how to create your own "exam-type" questions (especially tracing questions) as I went through various topics during the term.
  4. You completed the above and still want more? Login to the Safari website and try working through the practice exercises in the Java/O-O books that you find there. I haven't had time to look through all the books so you will have to use your own judgment as to which exercises in which books will be useful.

Front cover from the actual exam (so make sure you look at this beforehand...important so make sure you read them beforehand!). Notice that you need to enter your ID number on the inside cover of the examination (don't forget to to this).

Flip side of cover - top of page showing where you write your student ID number)

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.
• Text books: can 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.
• Tutorial exercises and the tutorial handouts: I won't be directly examining you on this material (unless it overlaps with the lecture material or you hear otherwise regarding a section)

Exam topics: the final exam will be cumulative

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., a GUI question that includes file input/output). That's because you've gotten to the point that you see questions on the examination that are more realistic and "real programs" don't include single concepts in isolation. 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 questions¹

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