About Test

Per the course’s syllabus, the test will be released 20201209T120000-0500 and will be due 20201214T235900-0500. There are no extensions allowed on the test, so please plan accordingly. Gradescope will not allow late submissions, and we cannot accept submissions by email or in any other format, so we encourage you not to wait until the last minute.

You may spend as much time in those 5+ days working on the test as you’d like. (You should expect to spend several hours on it, but it will certainly not be designed to take the full window of time!)

The test itself will be comprehensive, and all of our seven main topics are fair game to show up. You should expect questions that are similar in spirit to those seen on quizzes, though questions may combine multiple subjects together. The format of the test will largely resemble a longer quiz (though we do reserve the right to ask code-based questions as well).

During the test itself, it is not permitted to solicit or receive help from any humans (including the teaching fellows), other than by writing to both Brian and me directly for clarifications or administrative questions. This includes a prohibition on asking any questions in online forums. Note that we will not be able to answer any content-related questions. Collaboration between students is not permitted in any way on the test. It is otherwise open-book, and you may reference any material to craft your answers.

A schedule of review sessions and final office hours has been posted to the course website.

Ultimately, how best to prepare depends on how you learn best. But allow us to recommend that you prioritize your studies by:

  • Reviewing each lecture’s notes.
  • Reviewing each lecture’s slides.
  • Reviewing each lecture’s source code.
  • Attending or watching the review sessions.
  • Reviewing each lecture’s video, using its table of contents to focus on topics with which you’re less comfortable.
  • Reviewing each section’s video.
  • Reviewing each of the course’s projects and your feedback thereon.
  • Reviewing each project’s staff solution if it has been made available.
    • Project 6’s will not be made available during the test. The others have been.