The following are standard instructions for CS 173 examlets. Please familiarize yourself with them ahead of the first exam. See this information about how to make up missed examlets, and also this information about disability accomodations.

Time and location

All of the weekly examlets will be taken remotely over Zoom and proctored by course staff on Mondays 11-11:50AM CDT starting week 2. The final exam will also be on Zoom but at a different time.

General rules

You have 50 minutes to do the exam, starting from when you open it.

Before taking the exam, please arrange your zoom camera so that it can see your entire workspace (your face, keyboard, scratch paper, and screen). If you don't have a movable webcam, you can install the zoom app onto your cell phone. Here are some hints on how to position your camera.

To take the exam, you must be logged in to zoom using your U. Illinois (netID) credentials. Ahead of time, go to U. Illinois zoom and make sure that your display name is correct.

This is a closed-book exam: no books, no notes, no looking on the internet, no consulting other people (e.g. friends). Scratch paper is ok, but it must start off blank. 

Foam earplugs are ok, but headphones and earbuds are not allowed.

Electronic devices other than your computer and web camera must be turned off or put where you cannot see/use them. Your cell phone can only be used to connect to the zoom session. You do not need, and should not use, a calculator.

For open-answer questions, your answer must be typed directly into the answer box. You cannot upload scans of handwritten work. Cut and paste from other editing windows may be possible but can result in messed-up formatting or cause the exam window to lock up.

Save your work frequently. PrairieLearn will autosubmit saved work if you run out the clock without pushing the submit button.

Doing the exam

Points may be deducted for solutions which are correct, but hard to understand, poorly explained, excessively hard to read, or excessively complicated. Use your best mathematical style.

Open-answer questions asking for a short factual answer normally also require brief justification or work. Provide this unless there are clear indications to the contrary, e.g. the question is worth only a couple points. You can lose significant points for a short answer with no justification. You can also lose points for leading up to the final conclusion but never actually stating it.

Starting with Examlet 3, LaTeX formatting is required when writing equations that contain elements (e.g. exponents, summations, math symbols) beyond ordinary plaintext.

Unless explicitly requested by the problem, it is not necessary to simplify or calculate out complex constant expressions such as 0.7¹⁵ or 7! or log₃ 2. However, you should simplify expressions such as logarithms inside exponents (e.g. 3^{log₂ n}).

Use whitespace to make your math easy to read, e.g. use paragraphs and linebreaks, do not make any individual equation very long.

Regrades, broken questions, etc.

See here for information on regrades and broken questions.

Academic integrity

You may not leave the view of the proctor for a significant length of time and then come back and continue working on your exam. If an emergency (e.g. upset stomach) forces you to leave before you have had time to finish, stop working on the exam and email a full explanation to your instructor. We'll schedule you to take a makeup. Very brief interruptions (e.g. to answer a knock at the door of your room) are ok. This rule doesn't apply to the final exam.

Similarly, if you start an exam but discover you are too sick to continue, we'll abort the exam and have you do a makeup. Tell the proctor at the time. Then email a full explanation to your instrutor.

If possible, you should be the only person in the room while you are taking the exam. If someone else must be in the room, e.g. a dorm roommate, do your best to act as if they are not there.

Obviously, you may not look at the exams of other students, share answers, and so forth. But, also, do not do things which look like cheating. If you have to do something that could be misinterpreted, e.g. your phone rings, deal with it quickly and (if it's not obvious) tell the tell the proctor what is going on.

If you are confused about a question or how it was graded, ask the course staff (office hours, regrade request, private Discord ticket).

A single cheating offence on an examlet will result in an undroppable zero on the examlet in question. A second cheating offence will typically result in a failing grade for the course.