Instructions for Exam 2

This is a take-home examination. You may use any time or times you deem appropriate to complete the exam, provided you return it to me by the due date.

This examination has a prologue that must be completed by the Friday evening before the exam is due. The prologue is intended to help you get started thinking about the examination. The prologue is required. Failure to fill in the prologue by the designated time will incur a penalty of five points on the examination.

This examination has an epilogue that must be completed by the evening after the exam is due. The epilogue is intended to help you reflect carefully on the examination. The epilogue is required. Failure to fill in the epilogue will incur a penalty of five points on the exam.

You may find it useful to read the tips from past CSC 151 students on doing well on the exam. (Those tips were submitted as the epilogue for the fourth examination. I may ask you to submit something similar at the end of the semester.)

There are seven problems on this examination. Each problem is worth the same number of points. Although each problem is worth the same amount, problems are not necessarily of equal difficulty.

Please read the entire exam before you begin.

We expect that someone who has mastered the material and works at a moderate rate should have little trouble completing the exam in a reasonable amount of time. In particular, this exam is likely to take you about four hours, depending on how well you've learned the topics and how fast you work. You should not work more than five hours on this exam. Stop at five hours and write “There's more to life than CS” on the cover sheet of the examination and you will earn at least the equivalent of 70% on this exam, provided you have recorded the time spent on each problem, filled in the prologue by the specified deadline, filled in the epilogue, and arranged for a meeting with me within one week of receiving your graded exam. You may count the time you spend on the prologue toward those five hours, but not the time you spend on the epilogue. With such evidence of serious intent, your score will be the maximum of (1) your actual score or (2) the equivalent of 70%. The bonus points for errors and recording time are not usually applied in the second situation, but penalties (e.g., for failing to number pages) usually are.

You should not count time reviewing readings, laboratories, or assignments toward the amount of time you spend on the exam or on individual problems.

We would also appreciate it if you would write down the amount of time each problem takes. Each person who does so will earn two points of extra credit for the exam. Because we worry about the amount of time our exams take, we will give two points of extra credit to the first two people who honestly report that they have completed the exam in four hours or less or have spent at least four hours on the exam. In the latter case, they should also report on what work they've completed in the four hours. After receiving such notices, we may change the exam.

This examination is open book, open notes, open mind, open computer, open Web. However, it is closed person. That means you should not talk to other people about the exam. Other than as restricted by that limitation, you should feel free to use all reasonable resources available to you.

As always, you are expected to turn in your own work. If you find ideas in a book or on the Web, be sure to cite them appropriately. If you use code that you wrote for a previous lab or homework, cite that lab or homework as well as any students who worked with you. If you use code that you found on the course Web site, be sure to cite that code. You need not cite the code provided in the body of the examination.

Although you may use the Web for this exam, you may not post your answers to this examination on the Web. And, in case it's not clear, you may not ask others (in person, via email, via IM, via IRC, by posting a please help message, or in any other way) to put answers on the Web.

Because different students may be taking the exam at different times, you are not permitted to discuss the exam with anyone until after we have returned it. If you must say something about the exam, you are allowed to say “This is among the hardest exams I have ever taken. If you don't start it early, you will have no chance of finishing.” You may also summarize these policies. You may not tell other students which problems you've finished. You may not tell other students how long you've spent on the exam.

You must include both of the following statements on the cover sheet of the examination.

Please hand write, sign, and date each statement separately. Note that the statements must be true; if you are unable to sign either statement, please talk to me at your earliest convenience. You need not reveal the particulars of the dishonesty, simply that it happened. Note also that “inappropriate assistance” is assistance from (or to) anyone other than Professor Rebelsky.

Exams can be stressful. Don't let the stress of the exam lead you to make decisions that you will later regret. Violations of academic honesty and exam policies will be handled through the Committee on Academic Standing, the College Hearing Board, or the Computer Science Department's Academic Honesty Policy, as appropriate.

You should submit your exam electronically, via email to rebelsky@grinnell.edu.

While your electronic version is due at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, your cover sheet will be submitted in class on Wednesday.

In many problems, we ask you to write code. Unless we specify otherwise in a problem, you should write working code and include examples that show that you've tested the code informally (by looking at what value you get for various inputs) or formally (by using the Rackunit testing framework). In addition to the examples provided in the exam, you should also provide additional examples. Do not include resulting images; we should be able to regenerate those.

Unless we tell you otherwise, you should assume that you need to provide 6P-style documentation for each primary procedure you write. If you write any helper procedures, you must document them with 6P-style documentation using at least the first four P's (Procedure, Purpose, Parameters, Produces).

Just as you should be careful and precise when you write code and documentation, so should you be careful and precise when you write prose. Please check your spelling and grammar. Because we should be equally careful, the whole class will receive one point of extra credit for each error in spelling or grammar you identify in the preliminaries and problems on this exam. (This policy does not go into effect until after midnight on Wednesday night.) We will limit that form of extra credit to five points.

We will give partial credit for partially correct answers. We are best able to give such partial credit if you include a clear set of work that shows how you derived your answer. You ensure the best possible grade for yourself by clearly indicating what part of your answer is work and what part is your final answer.

I may not be available at the time you take the exam. If you feel that a question is badly worded or impossible to answer, note the problem you have observed and attempt to reword the question in such a way that it is answerable.

I will also reserve time at the start of classes the week the exam is due to discuss any general questions you have on the exam.

Since many students regularly seem to miss different elements of the exam, these checklists serve as a way to help you remember everything that you have to do.