Final Exam Logistics

This post contains important information about the Final Exam.

Date, Time, and Location

The exam is scheduled for Wednesday, June 24th from 8-10AM in 1018 DOW (not our standard lecture room). Please arrive a few minutes early so that we can start on time.

Students with SSD accommodations will start at 8AM and finish according to their accommodations (e.g. 11AM with 150% accommodations).

Content and Format

The Final Exam is cumulative, and will be broken into three parts:

  1. Part 1 will be based on Midterm 1 content, i.e. Chapters 1-4 of the course notes.
  2. Part 2 will be based on Midterm 2 content, i.e. Chapters 5-8 of the course notes.
  3. Part 3 will be based on content introduced after Midterm 2, i.e. Chapters 9-10 of the course notes plus convexity, which was introduced in Lecture 10 but not tested on Midterm 2.

The approximate weighting is 30% Midterm 1 content, 30% Midterm 2 content, and 40% post-Midterm 2 content. For a sense of what this looks like, see exams from this past year here.

The redemption policy from the syllabus applies to Parts 1 and 2. If you score higher on Part 1 than you did on Midterm 1, we will replace your Midterm 1 score with the average of your Part 1 score and your original Midterm 1 score. Similarly, if you score higher on Part 2 than you did on Midterm 2, we will replace your Midterm 2 score with the average of your Part 2 score and your original Midterm 2 score. This policy can only help your grade; it cannot hurt it. All three parts of the Final Exam are required and count toward your Final Exam score.

The exam will be a 120 minute, on-paper, closed-notes exam, with the exception of three double-sided 8.5x11” notes sheets that you handwrite yourself (no typing, no writing on an iPad and printing, no screenshotting lecture slides, etc.). Feel free to bring your Midterm 1 and Midterm 2 notes sheets as two of your three sheets, if you’d like. We will be checking notes sheets to ensure compliance with this policy. Other than that, you may not refer to any resources or technology during the exam (no phones, no smart watches, no computers, and no calculators).

Like prior exams, the Final Exam will contain a mix of multiple choice, short answer, and long form proofs/derivations. You will not be asked to write code on the exam.

Like other College of Engineering exams, we will adhere to the College of Engineering Honor Code. You should take the exam entirely on your own, without the assistance of any other human or technology. After the exam, you should not discuss the exam with anyone who hasn’t taken it yet. Your cooperation in upholding the integrity of the exam is both very important and very much appreciated.

Preparation

You’ll want to make sure you have a solid grasp of:

There are two past Final Exams available on the Resources tab. Tip: Early on in your study process, take a past Final Exam. Use it to identify any gaps in your knowledge, then review the relevant course notes, labs, and homeworks for those topics, in that order. Repeat for all of the topics you’re not confident with, and then take another past exam.

The Problems by Topic section indexes past exam problems by the corresponding course notes chapter. That can help you target specific topics, especially if you know one part of the Final Exam is more important for your preparation than the others.

A few other ways to prepare:

  • Continue to make office hours appointments to ask questions!
  • Post on Slack! If any of the solutions to past homeworks, labs, or exams are unclear, let us know on Slack. We can update them or record videos of solutions if need be.
  • Come to Lecture 14 with questions to ask; we’ll have time to take up anything you’d like.

Best of luck studying!