CPSC 217: Final Exam Information

Nov 15: You should check back at this link periodically as updates, additional information may be added.

Date/location:

• The final exam is scheduled by the Office of the Registrar. You can find the date/time/location on the [university Peoplesoft web portal]
• It will be a duration of 120 minutes

Review material:

• During lecture as I covered the material I will provided suggestions of what an exam-like question may look like. You can look to your class notes for this info and note the details as it comes up.
• During lecture as I cover the material I have provided 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.
• Multiple choice exam review questions: They can be found in D2L under: Assessments->Quizzes
• Short answer questions: as I get time I will add them here (not D2L as D2L cannot automatically grade written work and it doesn't allow solutions to be easily posted along with a quiz that includes written questions).
  • Functional decomposition (tracing): [Question] [Solution - don't look at it or view the program output until you have made a real attempt at the question]
  • Multiple topics (tracing): [Question] [Solution - don't look at it or view the program output until you have made a real attempt at the question]
  • Functions, lists (code writing 1D lists): [Question] [Solution - don't look at it or view the program output until you have made a real attempt at the question]
  • Functions, lists (code writing 2D lists): [Question] [Solution - don't look at it or view the program output until you have made a real attempt at the question]
  • Computer history: [Question] [Solution - don't look at it or view the program output until you have made a real attempt at the question]
  • Introduction to computer science, first question: [Question] [Solution - don't look at it or view the program output until you have made a real attempt at the question]
  • Introduction to computer science, second question: [Question] [Solution - don't look at it or view the program output until you have made a real attempt at the question]
  • Introduction to computer science, third question: [Question] [Solution - don't look at it or view the program output until you have made a real attempt at the question]
• Still want more practice questions?
  • Try working through the sample problems in the [recommended textbook]
  • Finished all the textbook problems and want still more? Try working through practice problems in the (Python v3.X) textbooks that you can find via the [UC-library website]. (Note that I haven't personally vetted the textbooks for quality or match for this course so you will need to do that beforehand).

     

Instructions for the day of the exam (instructions that you should read and become familiar with before you start writing)

• This is a closed book exam: No aids of any sort will be allowed (e.g., cell phones must be shut off and out of sight, calculators, laptops, hand held computers, slide rulers, abaci should not be brought into the exam room) will be allowed.
• DO NOT OPEN the exam until you are told to do so.
• Unless told otherwise you won't be graded for style and documentation.
• You can assume no syntax errors in the instructions unless told otherwise in a question.
• This exam will follow python 3.x syntax.
• Multiple choice instructions:
  • Fill in the contact information for all labeled categories
    • Instructor: James Tam
    • Date: It's the day that you write the final exam and that information is listed in [PeopleSoft]
    • Course name: CPSC
    • Course number: 217
    • Lecture section: 01 (10 AM) or 02 (1 PM)
    • Version: Don't need to fill this in for this exam
    • Use an HB pencil or darker (don't use pen) to mark the best answer to each question
    • Important backup for the Scantron answer sheet: In addition to filling in the bubbles make sure you print the required information as well (e.g. mark you student ID number into the bubble but you also need to print your name in the appropriate location as well).
• Instructions for the written questions:
  • You must use a pen for the written questions. If you use a pencil then you will lose your ability to have grading changed.
  • Put your answer in the specified space.
• To be awarded credit for your exam you need to hand in both your multiple-choice answer sheet and the question booklet with the Scantron sheet inside of the booklet.

Instructions for the written questions:

• You must use a pen for the written questions. If you use a pencil then you will lose your ability to have grading changed.

• Put your answer in the specified space.

To be awarded credit for your exam you need to hand in both your multiple-choice answer sheet and the question booklet with the Scantron sheet inside of the booklet.

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: what TAs cover in tutorial can also be evaluated in the exam.

Exam topics

The exam will be cumulative. You are expected to be familiar with material covered before the midterm. But the bulk of the questions will focus heavily on material you saw after the midterm. The exception is functions. Because it's difficult to write useful or even just semi-useful program by applying just one programming concept some exam questions will relate to material from several topics (e.g., you could be required to apply branches, functions, files and lists in just a single question or even in the body of a single function). Consequently it won't be possible to give a topic by topic break-down of the proportion of the exam that relate to a particular topic. However what can be specified is the major topics (worth a greater proportion of the final exam) and the minor topics (still important but will tend to be worth a lesser proportion).

Exam questions¹

^{1 It's based on a rough version of the final exam (exact proportions may vary somewhat}

Again: You are expected to be familiar with common functions that have been covered in class such as but not limited to: print(), input(), int(), float(), str(), randrange().