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Recent Announcements

Fri May 15

Solutions for the Final Exam and solutions for the Conflict Final Exam are now available.

Thu May 14

As a reminder, the Final Exam will held today Thursday, May 14, from 7pm to 10pm.

  • The exam will cover all material seen over the course of the semester with some bias toward material not already covered in the midterms.
  • Please read and understand the exam policies. In particular, you are allowed to bring two double-sided 8½"×11" handwritten cheat sheets to the exam.
  • The final exam will be held in the following rooms; please go to the room that matches the first letter of your last name.

Best of luck, everybody!

Sun May 10

Solutions for Practice final exam 3 are available along with a video in two parts (part I, part II) of Emily solving it at her desk.

Please note that the recording of Part I began before the final MASSMAIL confirming restoration of Canvas and final exams, and Part II was recorded after Emily learned that final exams were to continue as scheduled but before there were any discussions on how to mitigate the damage from the disrupted schedules.

Sat May 09

Due to the extreme disruption to the Spring 2026 final exam scheduling caused by the university's response to and communications concerning the Canvas cyberattacks, we are making the following change to the computation of course grades:

Total exam scores for each student are based on either the 17 total midterm and final exam problems each weighted equally as originally established or on only the ten total midterm exam problems, whichever option results in a higher average score.

Exams still count toward 65% of the total score for the semester, meaning each problem will count toward approximately 3.8% or exactly 6.5% of each overall grade depending on which option applies. We will automatically figure out which of the two exam score options are better for each student after grading final exams, so there is no need for students to make a decision about how well one might perform. If a student fails to show up to both the regular and conflict final exam, we will treat their final exam grade as a 0 and otherwise apply the above policy as written.

A single forgiven midterm exam will be treated as if it didn't exist; total exam scores will be based on the better of 12 final and midterm exam problems or the five remaining midterm exam problems, whichever is better.

Two forgiven midterms will result in the whole exam score being based on the final exam as originally established. Students who have two forgiven midterms and cannot take either the regular final exam or the conflict final exam will have to request an Incomplete from their college (Engineering or LAS) and take a makeup final exam early next semester. Sorry, but we cannot assign a grade based only on homework, and we cannot divide by zero when computing exam averages. Please see our established policies for more information on Incomplete grades and makeup exams. There will be no other makeup final exams offered except in extreme unanticipated circumstances.

Explanation: The CS/ECE 374 Section A has no Canvas component at all and has a written final exam assigned to the latest time slot: Thursday from 7pm to 10pm. On the one hand, this combination of circumstances means the Canvas outage has affected the course about as little as can possibly be expected. Everybody should be available on the exam date, and, in theory, they have plenty of time to prepare for the exam and get ready to put on their best performance. Many students will come out of this exam with a higher course average than they began with.

However, disruptions to other classes including rescheduling of CBTF exams will make taking our exam much more difficult and stressful for some students than originally expected. Also, 374 is likely to be the most difficult and stressful course of the semester for many students, meaning anticipation of its final exam may adversely affect how well they adapt to the disruptions in their other courses.

We believe this change to the grading policy will give students a last chance to demonstrate their mastery of the class material, remove much of the risk of this week's disruptions unfairly bringing down their grade in this class, and reduce the adverse affects that worrying about this class may have on their other courses.

We encourage all students to attend their final exam as planned and make their best attempt. This policy change is intended to reduce the undue pressure from this messy final exam period. We hope it won't be treated as permission to disengage early, but we understand each student knows their own needs better than others.

Fri May 08
  • As you can see, we're currently operating under the assumption that the Final Exam will take place as originally scheduled, 7pm–10pm Thu May 14. We will make further announcements as more direction or guidance are given. However things shake out, we will try our best to make sure everybody gets a fair chance and opportunity to get the grade they would have earned had the week proceeded as normal.
  • We will hold a Final Exam review party this Sun May 10 from 2pm–4pm in the normal Sunday party location 0216 Siebel Center. To avoid conflicting with finals that were supposed to occur, there are no party events planned for Saturday or Monday.
  • Homework 12 solutions are available. We apologize for the delay.
Thu May 07
  • The conflict final exam will be held 8–11am on Wed, May 13. The location of the conflict exam will be emailed to students who have submitted the conflict registration form. However, the form will remain open through Tue, May 12 to accommodate last-minute emergencies.
  • FLEX feedback due today, Thu, May 7. We would really appreciate you giving your honest feedback so we can improve future versions of the course.
  • Final practice exam 3 (answer booklet) is now available. You will have the opportunity to work with course staff and other students on this or other things during a review party Sun, May 10 (location TBA). Handwritten solutions and a walkthrough video should be available late that evening.
Wed May 06
  • Solutions for Practice final exam 2 are available along with a video of Emily solving it from her desk.
  • Ruta and Emily will hold at least one hour of office hours in the Siebel basement each work day starting tomorrow Thu May 7 and continuing until Thu May 14. Please send either of them an email if you'd like to meet outside these times. Other staff may hold extra or atypical office hours as well. Please check the Google Calendar on the bottom of the weekly events page often for the latest information on everybody's office hours.
Tue May 05

Solutions for Practice final exam 1 are available along with a video of Emily solving part of it during Thursday's optional review session and another video of Emily finishing the exam at her desk.

Sun May 03

Final practice exam 2 (answer booklet) is now available. You will have the opportunity to work with course staff and other students during the lab session this Wed May 6. Handwritten solutions and a walkthrough video should be available late that evening.

Sat May 02

Applications to be a CA for CS 374 Section A in Fall 2026 are available as a Google form. Details are available on the first page. We'll give full consideration to applications submitted before Jul 15, 2026, but we may look over additional submissions until we've hired a full staff for the semester.

Please apply if you're interested and share the link with other students who you think would be a good fit!

Fri May 01

Final Practice exam 1 (answer booklet) is now available. One or two additional final practice exams will be made available some time in the next few days.

We strongly recommend attempting each of these practice exams under exam conditions—three hours alone in a quiet space with a two-page cheat sheet but no other notes or internet—before discussing them with others or looking at any solutions. There will be an opportunity to work with course staff and other students on part of each exam (preferably after you attempt the exam alone) in place of lecture, lab, and maybe a homework party. Handwritten solutions and walkthrough videos for each practice exam will be posted late in the evening the same day as that event.

  • Practice 1 (answer booklet) — reviewed on Tue May 5 during the wrap-up lecture
  • Practice 2 — reviewed on Wed May 6 during lab
  • Practice 3 (tentative) — tentatively reviewed in place of a homework party after May 6

The format of the actual exam will match these practice exams. At the actual exam, we will pass out the question sheet, give everyone a few minutes to read the questions, pass out the answer booklets, and then start the clock.

In addition to the practice exams, there are a collection of practice problems available on PrairieLearn. Completion of these problems will not be considered when determining your overall course grade.

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