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CPSC 409: Midterm I Information

Exam dates/times

Midterm I: Exam breakdown (based on a rough version of the exam, final details may be slightly different)

Topic	Rough proportion of the exam
Early computation	~29%
Analog	13
Early mechanical devices	28
Charles Babbage and his engines	~29%

 

Type of question	Number of questions
Non-multiple choice1	3
Multiple choice	32

^{1 Here's a non-exhaustive list of examples: fill in the blank, matching, short answer, drawing diagrammatic explanations etc.}

Midterm I: Review question (Non-multiple choice)

How this question would be marked on an actual exam.

• Result = 17818 (moderate amount of marks for this portion)

• Indicating that the grid is fake (very few marks for this portion)

• Specific reason for your statement (majority of marks for this portion): All the partial products of the digits in each number are wrong save for those in the first column e.g. 5 x 2 = 10 or 1/0 not 1/5

How to ask questions: I will be available via a special Zoom link from 6:00 - 8:00 PM during the day of the exam. It is not the same as my regular office hour link because this link is just for CPSC 409 students whereas the other link is for all students. Here's how the exam Zoom link will work:

• URL: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/j/95167920485
• The passcode is still the same 'hope'.
• Following UC security requirements there is a waiting room enabled.
• To avoid problems (receiving a barrage of questions all at once, having students blurt out something by accident etc.) and for sake of privacy only one person will be admitted into the room at once.
• Everyone but the current person being served will be in the waiting room for the Zoom meeting.
• Try to ask your question using audio if you can because it's faster but I will give you a bit of time to type into the chat.
  • If you use chat start by quickly indicating you are using chat (e.g. "Chat question coming") so I know to wait for the rest of the question to come rather than just having everyone (including any one who may be in the waiting room) wait while you sort out technical or user interface issues on the fly.
  • Be aware that eventually if I don't hear or see a question I may have to move onto the next person if there are people in the waiting room.
• Hopefully I won't receive a huge amount of questions all at once but like a physical exam I will try to get through them as quickly as possible (there are no TAs budgeted to help me with this class) while providing whatever answers I can. E.g. sometimes I can't directly answer student questions that border closely what that question is evaluating you on.
• One difference between Zoom Q&A and a lecture room is that you can't see me busy answering questions so if I sense the queue in the waiting room is long I'll try to send an update message to those people every so often (depending upon how busy I am in the Zoom room of course).
• For the detailed [Zoom invitation link]

Quick summary of exam rules

• Open book exam, aids (e.g. course text book, notes) are allowed.

• Recording of the exam in any form is strictly prohibited

• The exam must be completed individually, no collaboration is allowed.

The submit feature of D2L:

• 'Submit' for D2L quizzes is equivalent to you handing in your paper exam in a regular in class exam.

• DO NOT submit your quiz until you really are done writing the quiz because, similar to a paper exam, you won't be able to start writing after you have done so.

• DO submit your quiz when you have finished. Similar to a paper exam if you don't hand anything in then you shouldn't expect that it will be marked..

• In D2L you will see a submit button twice, you need to click on both of them to have your exam graded.

  • First time you see it is when (I believe) when you get to the last question in your exam.

  • Second time after you click on the first button. This time you will see a warning something to the effect that you are now submitting your work for grading and you won't be able go back to your exam if you do so. Click on the second button when are really done!

Cut off scales