Thu, May 17 7:00 PM

Exams

There are three scheduled exams: two prelims and a final.

EXAM DATE TIME PLACE REVIEW
 WHAT IT COVERS
Prelim 1 Tue 03/13/18 5:30-7:00
7:30-9:00		 OLH155, OLH255,
PHL101		 Sun 03/11/18
Kimball B11
1:00-3:00pm
 P1-StudyGuide.pdf
Prelim 2 Tue 04/24/18 5:30-7:00
7:30-9:00		 Statler 185 Sun 04/22/18
Kimball B11
1:00-3:00pm
 P2-StudyGuide.pdf
Final Thu 05/17/18 7:00-9:30PM Barton Hall West
 Sun 05/13/18
Gates G01
1:00-3:00pm		 FinalReview.pdf

About the Final: Read Carefully

BRING YOUR CORNELL ID CARDS TO THE FINAL. WE WILL SCAN THEM IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN RECORDS AND PREVENT MISTAKES.

The final is optional. As soon as we have graded everything, we will determine tentative letter grades and make them available on the CMS. You will have until midnight Monday, 13 May to complete a quiz on the CMS. It is titled "Accept Course grade". You either accept the tentative course grade as your course grade or decide to take the final.

If you accept the grade, it is your course grade. It will not be changed.

If you walk into the final room, you must complete the final. For example, you may not decide half way through the final that you don’t want to take it.

A few students missed one of the two prelims and are required to take the final unless other arrangements have been made.

Taking the final may lower or raise your course grade. Our past experience: Taking the final changes the letter grade for very few ---perhaps 20 in a course of 600. A few lower their grade, more raise their grade, most stay the same.

For those who want to take the final but either (1) have a conflict or (2) are authorized to have a quiet room or extended, email Jenna Edwards, jls478 at cornell.edu.

After the tentative grades are made available, we cannot answer questions like "How close was I to a C? Why didn't I get a B+ instead of a B? My friend got an A+ and I was close to her, why didn't I get it also? What do I have to get on the final to raise my grade? We can't answer those questions.

Read the course web page "Course info" on Grades. You will learn why exams are the major influence on the course grade.

About prelim 2: Read Carefully

1. BRING YOUR CORNELL ID CARDS TO THE PRELIM. WE WILL SCAN THEM IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN RECORDS AND PREVENT MISTAKES.

2. The following tells you when you should take prelim 2.
Note that the assignments are different than the P1 assignments. Please read carefully.

5:30PM EXAM (302 Students) Netids starting with l..z

7:30PM EXAM (309 Students) Netids starting with a..k

3. If you are authorized to have a quiet room or more time, you will take your exam in Gates 405. This room will be staffed beginning at 5:00PM. Come when you want, early enough to be finished by 9:00. Complete assignment P2Conflict on the CMS BY THE END OF Wednesday, 18 April, telling us what time you will come. If you have an issue with this, consider yourself in the group discussed in point 5.

4. If you have a conflict with your scheduled time (e.g. 5:30) but can make the other time (e.g. 7:30), complete assignment P2Conflict on the CMS BY THE END OF Wednesday, 18 April, giving details of the conflict. Unless you hear from us, just go to the prelim you can attend. If we have an issue with it, we will contact you to discuss it, but that will be the exception.

5. All other conflicts (e.g. you won't be in town because of an athletic event). Email Jenna Edwards jls478@cornell.edu BY THE END OF Wednesday, 18 April. State your name and netid. State your conflict clearly and thoroughly. We will get back to you as soon as possible. DO NOT complete P2Conflict on the CMS.

NOTE: It is standard practice at Cornell to take two prelims in one evening if you have a conflict. Sorry about that.

We apologize for this process of handling conflicts for the prelim. With so many students (~614), it's the best way to handle this issue. Because the course is so large, we have permission to hold the prelim twice. If we were not able to give it twice, resolving conflicts would be a nightmare.

 

About the final.

The final is optional. As soon as we have graded everything, we will determine tentative letter grades and make them available on the CMS. You will have until midnight, Sunday, 3 December to complete a quiz on the CMS: you either accept the tentative course grade as your course grade or decide to take the final.

If you accept the grade, it is your course grade. It will not be changed.

If you walk into the final room, you must complete the final. For example, you may not decide half way through the final that you don’t want to take it.

A few students missed one of the two prelims and are required to take the final unless other arrangements have been made.

Taking the final may lower or raise your course grade. Our past experience: Taking the final changes the letter grade for very few —fewer than 20-30 in a course of 500. A few lower their grade, more raise their grade, most stay the same.

After the tentative grades are made available, we cannot answer questions like "How close was I to a C? Why didn't I get a B+ instead of a B? My friend got an A+ and I was close to her, why didn't I get it also? What do I have to get on the final to raise my grade? We can't answer those questions.

About course grades

If everyone did A work, everyone would get an A. That has never happened because of the wide range of abilities in this class. For the past 5-6 years, the average grade has been about a B to a B+. We expect that to be the case this semester.

Please read about grades on the course website: courseinfo.html#grading

Review sessions for final

Two review sessions will be scheduled, one on Java and the other on data structures and algorithms.

Conflicts

If you have a conflict with another exam or other university-sponsored event:

By University policy, courses are not obligated to provide makeup exams for students taking concurrent courses, and we will not do so in this course. The Courses of Study states: "Students are expected to be present throughout each semester at all meetings of courses for which they are registered."  The term "meetings" includes exams, even when scheduled in the evening.

Past Exams

Prelim 1

Prelim 2

Final

Quizzes

There may be occasional in-class quizzes.

Quizzes will count for a small percentage of your final grade.  Any unused quiz "weight" will be shifted to the exams or assignments.