=========================================================================== CSC 263H Notes about the final examination Winter 2004 =========================================================================== ------------------------ Preparing for final exam ------------------------ - Remember that for the final exam, you will be allowed to bring ONE 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper, _hand_written on both sides, and nothing else, except what you need to write the exam (pencil OK) and your student ID. (NO calculator, pager, cell phone, etc.) - Start by writing down the main topics and subtopics of the course, and review all of the lecture notes in detail; make sure that you understand everything in the notes, including all of the proofs and exercises, and ask us questions if you don't. You should also read all of the relevant chapters in the textbook, but you can safely ignore any sections that cover material that was never mentionned in lecture (e.g., details of red-black tree operations). - Make sure you go over ALL of the assignment solutions and that you understand them. Make sure that you also understand the mistakes you may have made, why they were mistakes, and what the correct answers were. (That's the whole point of learning: to make mistakes and understand the difference between what's correct and what isn't so that you don't repeat your mistakes!) Also, by reading the posted solutions carefully, you may notice things you hadn't thought of when you were working on the problem set, and maybe learn a few new techniques or tricks for solving certain types of problems. - Do the same for the midterm test. - As you're going over all of this course material, keep notes on the important points, on details you know you have trouble remembering, etc.: this is exactly the stuff that you should put down on your aid sheet! - Once you've put together your "cheat sheet", practice! Go over as many exercises and problems from the textbook as you can, and the same for previous year's assignments and tests (which you can get from the CSSU), and previous year's exams (which you can get from the web, see the link on the Announcements page). - Keep in mind that the course has three main goals: . To make you familiar with a variety of standard ADT's; this means we expect you to be able to design appropriate high-level solutions to old or new problems. . To make you familiar with a variety of standard data structures; this means we expect you to know the definitions and properties of ADT's and data structures that were covered during the course (in class or on assignments). . To understand various analysis techniques, including when and how to use them; this means we expect you to be able to apply these techniques to old or new algorithms and data structures. In particular, you should expect to see new problems, algorithms, ADT's, or data structures on the exam. ---------------- Writing the exam ---------------- - The exam will be long and difficult, but it is doable (keep this in mind in the context of the next recommendations). - READ THE QUESTIONS! If you answer the wrong question, even if it's because you were nervous and you misread it, there is _nothing_ that we can do: you'll end up getting maybe 1 mark for effort, and nothing else... If you are unsure what a question is asking, either ask one of us during the exam, of state your assumption clearly before writing your answer (so that we know what you are thinking). - SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW! Your strategy during the exam should be: first, identify the questions that you know how to answer (this means that you must read _every_ question first); second, answer those questions right away; third, go back to the questions you're not sure about, and start working on them; fourth, if you get stuck on a question, move on to the next one and come back later (don't waste your time). In particular, note that you are likely to get more marks for complete solutions to a few questions than for partial solutions to many questions. If you have an idea how to solve a question but no time to do it in detail, then of course you should write down your idea. But if you have no idea how to solve a question, don't waste time writing down random bits of information from your aid sheet (you will likely get no mark at all for doing this, as opposed to getting 20% if you simply write that you don't know how to answer): instead, concentrate on writing complete solutions for the questions that you do know how to answer. - EXPLAIN WHAT YOU ARE DOING! When you give an answer, make sure that you give at least a short statement of _what_ you're trying to achieve (including an outline of the steps you plan to take) before writing up your answer: if your answer is not quite correct, this can make the difference between getting NO mark (because we can't tell if you understand what you're doing) or getting part marks (if we see that you have the right idea but simply didn't have time to finish). - DON'T RAMBLE! As much as possible, write concise, to-the-point answers. If you ramble, it gives us the feeling that you don't know what the answer really is. Also, be aware that if you give us a correct answer followed by explanations that are clearly wrong or irrelevant, you _will_ lose marks! So make sure that you only write down what you know is correct: if you're not sure, either say so explicitly or don't say anything! Part of this also means that if you start writing down an answer and you realize that it's wrong, SAY SO! You'll get more part marks for showing that you understand your mistake, even if you're not sure how to fix it, than if you simply leave it like that (which gives the impression that you don't even realize that what you did was wrong). - READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! In particular, one of the instructions is "we left ample space on the exam for your answers". This means that if you find yourself using much more room than what is available, you're probably missing something, and in that case, you should STOP and think a little bit more: there's almost certainly a much easier way of solving the problem than what you're trying to do. It might pay off to move on to another question for a while and come back to this one later. At the same time, don't feel that you _must_ fill all of the available space: it is quite possible that a correct answer will require only part of the space for some questions (remember what I said above about rambling). - PLAN YOUR TIME! In order to avoid running out of time, you need to plan how much time you will spend on each question. For example, you could divide the number of minutes by the total number of marks on the exam to figure out how many minutes to allocate to each question. Then, when you're working on a question, if you get close to this limit and you don't feel like you're getting any closer to a solution, just stop and move on: you can always come back to this question later, and your time is probably better spent working on another question. - **RELAX**!! You'll function much better if you are well-rested and relaxed than if you are tired or tense. In particular, get a good night's sleep before the exam: having a rested mind that can easily recall and use information is more useful than being tired and having trouble remembering all of the materlal you studied. If you know that you are the type of person who gets extremely nervous during a final exam, then take the time to talk to other people to find out what they do to relax, or go to the Counselling and Learning Skills Services in the Koffler building and talk to the people there. They have lots of information about "how to relax before an exam" and similar topics: take the time to look at this stuff! It could really make a difference. And that's it! I hope you all had a good term; I know I had a good time teaching all of you! Good luck on all your final exams, and have a great summer!!