Gathered from 2015F. Presented almost verbatim except for some minor editing, which includes eliding names of students and correcting one or two dangerous recommendations (it should be obvious which ones)..

• Don't procrastinate
• Do the exam ASAP
• Pray that you don't have to deal with massive projects due around the same time as this exam, but if that is the case, ask Sam if you can turn it in later.
• Make sure to leave yourself enough time.
• Dedicate a day, after you have implemented everything, just for testing.
• Ask questions.
• Email Sam.
• Pay attention to everything.
• Quickly get used to spending a lot of time on exams.
• Allow plenty of time
• Ask Sam Questions
• Get sleep
• Be sure to do the readings as well as their self-checks.
• Don't be afraid to ask Sam questions on the exams.
• Go to the mentor/review sessions.
• I should have started this exam over break, so they should start early when they have a chance to. I also would recommend them to ask you questions, because getting unstuck isn't easy. Also, I would recommend them to take advantage of mentor sessions, as I found them to be very helpful.
• Submit the epilogue in a timely matter
• Learn how to make your email send from the correct account
• Don't work on the exam for more than two hours at a time. You will start to see the problems everywhere you go.
• If you get stuck on a question either move on to another question or start the question over without looking at what you've written previously.
• If you're stuck for a period of time, ask Sam.
• Do the readings. And do the self checks after the readings.
• When struggling with a problem (everybody will at some points) don't think about the things you can't do that you want to do. Instead, think about what you can do. That will help you break the often daunting problems into very manageable components.
• Don't let Sam's demeanor scare you away from him. He can come off condescending a lot of the time but he really cares about you and is always eager to help. He's just more open with students about his sense of humor than many professors.
• Put the time in. Make it consistent. Make it productive. Make it focused. There is a lot to learn and you have a whole slew of wonderful tools to help you (classmates, mentors, Sam, etc.), but you won't be able to make as good of use of them as you could if you try to skirt around the leg-work.
• Meet with Sam! It is so unbelievably helpful.
• Keep scrap paper next to you to work out problems and take notes.
• Start early so that when you feel brain dead you can walk away and eat come chocolate and sleep and have plenty of time to come back the following day(s).
• start early, ask sam
• Practice coding often, even if it's simple concepts. Practice promotes proficiency.
• Start exams early and understand commitments for other classes that you have during the week so you can plan accordingly.
• Sleep is underrated. You can always get more sleep. Physical and mental health is crucial to doing well in life in general.
• Talk to Sam in person. Meeting with him when confused on class, assignments or exam questions provides the most help. Go to mentor sessions, and go to class.
• Start early
• Ask Sam
• Refer back to old readings, labs
• Do the labs all the way through. Write out your ideas or talk them out, which ever works better for you. Sometimes talking to Sam in person is extremely helpful. Don't be afraid to ask for an extension. Plan ahead. Copy and paste your exam into a word doc and spell check it (ignoring all the words it will say are spelled incorrectly). Dry erase boards/drawing things out. Think about problems like while you're doing other things. I often use the exam problems to go to bed faster and I think I process them while I'm sleeping. Take breaks; Sometimes when I come back to a problem after a break I see my errors clearly and fix them immediately.
• Start very early. Don't work on the exam for a single long session.
• Be creative when answering questions.
• Keep up with lab work and readings. Otherwise, you will get very far behind and exams will be really difficult.
• Always do the reading, make sure you understand it by the end of the lab.
• Never be afraid to talk to Sam. Always ask questions.
• Start Early on Exams so you'll have time to develop questions
• do the readings
• understand the root of how code works
• Go to every mentor session from the start of the semester on. Go see Sam in office hours more often maybe once a week. Ask a lot of questions even ones you might know the answer to.
• email Sam a lot, work during a time when you are least tired, and don't ever do any work ever around [name elided] because he is the single most distracting person to ever exist, but he will be abroad next semester so I guess they don't have to worry about that
• Do the readings.
• Use modulo.
• Start with the easiest problems. Don't just stare at hard ones because they all carry the same marks.
• Finish up the lab if fail to so in class.
• Don't be afraid to ask for help.
• Stay positive.
• Make sure you plan what you think you are going to do for each problem. Take the Prologue seriously
• Start early and ask Sam a lot of questions!!!
• When you get stuck, go through the labs and readings again
• Do the easiest problems first
• Try solving the hardest problems first, or once you get the exam figure out right away which exercise is the hardest and either start the exam by solving that problem first or stretch it out over the weekend; break down the hard problem and solve it little by little every day.
• Try to start early and if you're stuck on a problem and trying to solve another one, email Sam to help you out with one of them.
• Take small breaks, don't give in to laziness - it's a trap!
• Try to enjoy the small moments after every time you solve that damned problem.
• Start it early and finish the lab.
• Look at everything that is related to a topic online.
• E-mail Sam as soon as you get stuck.
• Check older lab solutions for help.
• Do not do the exam all at once because your brain processing power will decrease and you will spend many hours on a straight-forward problem, so if you are stuck take a break!! in order to do this work on it a little every day because studies show that psychological distance helps people to solve problems
• Do the lab writeups on time and finish the labs outside of class because they will really help you understand the material so you are familiar with it by the time the test comes around
• If the code seems way too muddled and complicated, it is probably wrong
• Talk to Sam!!! He is a valuable resource!
• Practice a lot, you will need it.
• And enjoy it- it might be the hardest class and exams you've taken, but I guarantee it will feel good once you do stuff right.
• Keep up with the readings!!!
• The first exam is intimidating but don't let it discourage you. Keep up with the readings and do the self-checks.
• Take lots of breaks and don't sit for too long, you'll get hemorrhoids!
• Schedule office hours as soon as you can.
• Go to mentoring sessions.
• Start early on assignments.
• Have fun with code, it's time consuming but you learn a lot. Also pay attention to patterns in code because it''s basically the same template used over and over again.
• Break the problems up and figure out how to deal with individual parts.
• Outline and/or document each problem before you attempt to write it, just like you would do for any other paper you might write for a Humanities class--you'll have less errors and the coding won't take to long.
• Open up a new tab and work out smaller parts of the exam or problem--think of it as a testing environment where you can experiment without accidentally screwing up other parts of the code; this will also prevent excessive scrolling.
• If the problem seems too intimidating, start with what you know. For example, in the extra credit for the last exam you know that l-s usually takes a function and a parameter. So start experimenting there.
• READ ERROR MESSAGES and UNEXPECTED OUTPUTS and understand what they mean--a lot of times these messages tell you a whole lot more than you think they do because computers do EXACTLY what you tell them to do. If you can find out how the computer came up with that error or output then you can understand how to fix your code.
• Start early so that you have time to take breaks, and start with the easiest problems on the exam--that little boost of confidence can help with your outlook on the entire exam.
• Simpler is better--instead of trying a long workaround for an issue, think of a way of simplifying the concept. Sometimes the solution might seem like a little trick, an unconventional way of thinking.
• Start Early, or at least do the prologue early to begin thinking about the problems. Also write the notes you wrote about the problems down.
• Start Early, Take notes on the questions that you can look at if need be, and get plenty of sleep.Oh, and don't be afraid to ask for help from Sam.
• Start Early
• Ask the professors always if you have questions
• Utilize the mentors as a source of help
• Start early, even if you don't make much progress. It's good to keep it in your head.
• Work in a group if it is offered. (Sam says: Not on exams!)
• Don't be nervous to email with questions.
• Start early.
• Start early.
• Ask questions.
• Keep up with work prior to Exams.
• Do not get side-tracked trying to solve a problem you do not actually have to solve or using a method that is just not working-stop and ask Sam for help.