=========================================================================== CSC 373H Tips and advice for the Final Examination Winter 2005 =========================================================================== --------------------- Studying for the exam --------------------- For the final exam, you will be allowed to bring ONE 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper, HANDwritten on both sides, and nothing else (no calculator). Start by writing down the main topics and subtopics of the course, and review all of the lecture and tutorial notes; make sure that you understand everything in the notes, including all of the proofs, and ask me 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. 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 term tests. 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 your aid sheet is ready, the best way to get ready is practice, practice, 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). ---------------- Writing the exam ---------------- 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. If something is unclear, don't be afraid to ask. 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 before you start answering any of them); - second, answer those questions right away; - third, go back to the questions you're not sure about, and start working on them (while you're writing your answer to one question, your brain is working on others, whether you believe it or not); - fourth, if you get stuck on a question, move on to the next one and come back later (don't waste your time); this is where planning your time (allocating a fixed amount of time for each question) can pay off. The "20% rule" will be in effect for the exam (you get 20% of the marks for any question or part of a question where you answer "I don't know" and nothing else). However, if you have an idea how to solve a question but no time to do it in detail, then you should write down your idea: any correct element of the solution will be worth at least 20%, as long as it's not also accompanied by incorrect elements that make it seem like you don't understand what you're writing. Also, for most questions, you will get roughly half of the marks for having the correct structure, even if you cannot fill in the details. EXPLAIN WHAT YOU'RE DOING! When you give an answer, make sure that you give at least a short statement of what you're doing before giving us the answer: if your answer is incorrect, 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 made a small error, or that you have the wrong idea but wrote it up correctly). DON'T RAMBLE! Write concise, to-the-point answers. If you ramble, the feeling it gives us is that you don't know the correct answer. 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 only write down what you know is correct: if you're not sure, either say so explicitly or don't say anything. On the other hand, 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). Another part of this is that you shouldn't feel like you must fill all of the space: it is quite possible that a correct answer will require only part of the available space for some questions. RELAX! You'll function much better if you are well-rested and relaxed than if you are tired or tense. 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 "learning skills" center in the Koffler building and talk to the people there. They have experience helping people cope with "exam anxiety" to allow you to really show what you know. In particular, you will probably do better if you are well-rested, even if it means that you've studied a bit less, than if you crammed all night long and are tired (in which case all that information is no use because your brain can't recall or process it well enough) -- although this is almost a personal preference: you have to figure out what you are most comfortable with and what really works better for you.