CS/ECE 374 A: Exam Policies

• Logistics
• DRES accommodations
• Conflict and makeup exams
• "I don't know", Deadly Sins, etc.

Logistics

• This class has two two-hour evening midterms and a three-hour final exam. Times and locations of the midterms will be announced on the course web page well in advance. On the last Thursday and Friday before each midterm, we will hold optional review sessions instead of the regular lecture and lab sessions.
• Cheat sheets:
  • For each midterm, you may bring one double-sided 8½"×11" sheet of paper with anything you like written on both sides. (Two single-sided sheets are okay.)
  • For the final exam, you may bring two double-sided 8½"×11" sheets of paper with anything you like written on both sides. (Four single-sided sheets are okay.)
  • Your cheat sheets must be hand-written by you, not photocopied or printed.

    I used to allow printed/photocopied cheat sheets, but too many students were including reduced photocopies of complete homework solutions, lecture notes, and/or old homework/lab/exam solutions, or just photocopying cheat sheets created by other students. (The most extreme example I've seen consisted of 144 pages of notes and solutions — four 6×6 grids of reduced pages, one on each side of each sheet of paper — none of which was actually readable by normal human eyes.) Those students performed significantly worse on the exams than students with their own hand-written cheat sheets.

  • Everyone must submit their cheat sheets with their answer booklets. We strongly recommend copying/scanning your cheat sheet before the exam. Yes, that means if you want to use one of your midterm cheat sheets at the final exam, you have to write it again.
• Except for cheat sheets, all exams are closed-everything. In particular: No medically unnecessarily electronic devices are allowed in exams; leave your cell phones turned off in your backpacks. Bring writing instruments, your cheat sheet, appropriate clothing, and your brain. We will provide answer booklets with scratch paper, and there will be a clock on the wall.

DRES accommodations

• Students requiring extra time or other exam accommodations should first discuss their needs with DRES, and then give Jeff a copy of the DRES accommodation letter at least one week before the first midterm.
• We strongly prefer that students who require accommodations schedule their exams at DRES. Please do not attempt to schedule exams at DRES at the last minute; they normally require reservations one week in advance for midterms, and two weeks in advance for final exams.

Conflict/Makeup Exams

• Conflict midterms: For each midterm, we will schedule a conflict exam to accomodate students who cannot attend the regular exam for any of the reasons listed in the student code:
  • Another simultaneous exam scheduled earlier
  • A regularly scheduled class
  • A regularly scheduled performance or rehearsal
  • Sickness, regular employment, or other extenuating circumstances
  • Religious accommodations
  “Extenuating circumstances” do not include out-of-state job interviews. (Do not believe recruiters who tell you rescheduling is impossible; they work on commission.) Students who have registered with DRES for exam accommodations are also welcome to take the conflict midterms.
• We may forgive midterms under extreme circumstances, such as documented illness or injury, that prevent taking both the regular exam and the conflict exam. We will compute your exam average as though the forgiven exam does not exist. Please ask Jeff for details.
• Conflict final: We will schedule a conflict final exam to accomodate students who cannot attend the regular final exam for any of the reasons outlined in the student code:
  • Another final exam at the same time
  • Three consecutive final exams in 24 hours
  • National or state professional examinations
  • Sickness, regular employment, or other extenuating circumstances
  • Religious accommodations
  “Extenuating circumstances” do not include already-purchased plane tickets; the date of the final exam was announced before the start of the semester. Students who have registered with DRES for exam accommodations are also welcome to take the conflict final.
• Makeup final: Students who cannot take either the regular final exam or the conflict final exam because of serious extenuating circumstances, such as illness or injury, should request an Incomplete from their college (Engineering or LAS). Any student who does not take the final exam and who does not have an Incomplete will be given a grade of ABS (“absent from final”).

  If necessary, we will offer a makeup exam early next semester for students who miss the final exam, either with or without an Incomplete. Please ask Jeff for details.

Other Policies

• Answering any exam problem or subproblem with “I don't know” is worth 25% partial credit. Readable, correct, but suboptimal solutions are always worth more than 25%; reasonable progress toward a correct solution will receive partial credit, which could easily exceed 25%. However, missing answers are not the same as “I don’t know”; synonyms like "IDK" or "WTF" are fine, but you must write something.
  • Leaving the page blank is not the same as writing “I don’t know”.
  • If you find yourself answering “I don’t know” frequently, espeically on exams, something is wrong—Ask for help!
  • Students who answer more than five (complete, numbered) exam questions with "I don't know" during the semester will be treated as outliers in the final grade calculation.
  • Deadly Sins are automatic zeros, just as they are for homework. Write general solutions, not just examples. Algorithms require English specifications, especially for dynamic programming. Greedy algorithms require formal proofs of correctness. Never use weak induction. Don't cheat.
  • Except for greedy algorithms, proofs are required on exams if and only if we explicitly ask for them.