CS 21 Final Exam Information

Exam Format

• The exam, like the quizes, is on paper (not on computers).

• It is a closed book, closed notes exam

• The exam's format will be like a longer quiz. Expect code writing, code tracing, stack drawing, expression evaluation and type identification, and questions about algorithms and code design.

• The exam is cumulative, however, it will mostly focus on material covered since spring break.

• We will list methods from any classes that you may need to use on the exam (like methods from str, lst, Circle, etc.). We do not expect you to memorize the methods from all classes we have used. However, you should know how to use the methods given our listing of them (i.e. we will not tell you how to use the methods during the exam). For example, we may list something like this for the file class:

  open(fname):  open a file specified by fname for reading. returns a new file object. 
  f.close():    close the file f. 
  f.readline(): returns the next line read from the file f including the newline character \n.
  f.readlines(): returns a list of all the lines in the file f.  each line contains 
                 a newline character (\n) as the last character in the line.
  			

Exam Preparation

• Re-take practice quizes and real quizes.
• Re-try in-class work (particularly for topics that we have not covered in quizes).
• Review your notes. Try to work out some of the problems I covered in class.
• Try writing some parts of the lab assignments again.
• Come to exam review sessions.

Exam Taking Tips

• Read every question twice before starting to answer it. You may want to underline key parts to help you remember to include them in your answer.
• If you are not sure what a question is asking, ask the professor to clarify the question.
• If you get stuck on a problem, move on and come back to it later.
• There may be examples of Python code on the exam. You can use it to double-check your syntax on any similar code you write.
• If you cannot answer one part of a multi-part question, you can often still answer other parts, so don't skip the entire thing.
• If you cannot fully answer a question, answer as much as you can. Don't leave any question blank. At the very least you can list the steps of the algorithm (and often if you can do this, then you can do one more step and convert at least parts of it to python code.)
• If you have time, go over your answers after you finish to make sure you are answering the question that was asked and to double-check your answers.