CS/ECE 374 Exams

Logistics

  • This class has two two-hour evening midterms and a three-hour final exam. Times and locations of the midterms can be found on the Schedule. On the last Thursday and Friday before each midterm, we will hold optional review sessions instead of the regular lecture and lab sessions.
  • Material:
    • Midterm 1 will cover the first part of the class. (Lectures 1-8, Labs 1-5, HW 1-4)
    • Midterm 2 will cover the second part of the class. (Lectures 10-20, Labs 6-11, HW 5-9)
    • Final Exam is cumulative and will cover the entire class. (Unless explicitly stated by the instructor.)
  • 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. If you have a DRES accommodation letter,
  • You should let us know via a private Piazza post at least one week before the first midterm.
  • You should schedule your exam 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.
  • Schedule your exam the day after the midterm or final and not on the same day.

Conflict/Makeup Exams

  • We must let us know if you require a conflict exam at least two weeks before the exam date. You can send us a private message on Piazza. We will then let you know if you can take and conflict and later inform you of the time and location once we reserve it.

  • Conflict midterms: For each midterm, we will schedule a conflict exam, only if needed, 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.

  • Conflict final: We will schedule a conflict final exam, , only if needed, 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.

  • 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").