Exams

Exams Grading FAQ
  • Will there be a curve? I don't plan to curve the exam per se. What I do is curve the final letter grades, if necessary. For reference, the median letter grade in CS106X is usually well into the group of A- grades.
  • Where can I get my exam? Pick up your exam in class on Friday, October 30 or afterward from the large filing cabinets in the foyer of Gates Bldg that faces in the general direction of the Oval.
  • May I get a regrade? Yes, if there is an error in grading. You must staple a clearly explained request to the front of your exam and put it under my office door or give it to me in class (only SCPD students may submit by email). Regrade requests of the form, "I think what I wrote deserves more points" will not be reviewed. You must explain why what you wrote is correct and points should not have been deducted. The reason is that we are following a rubric so the deductions for various things were consistent with other students and we cannot change it for one student. Regrade requests are DUE no later than one week from today (5pm Nov. 5).
  • What is my grade in the class? You can do the arithmetic on your grade using the % final grade breakdown in the course information sheet. The course information sheet also has a HW grading explanation to give you an approximate idea how those scores translate. All assignments are weighted equally. For reference, through the first three assignments, the average homework grade was a ✓+ on functionality and a ✓ on style (both in aggregate and on each individual assignment). If you enter your scores in Excel, you can even easily run the numbers on different hypotheticals with your final exam and remaining assignment grades. [Excel Grade Calculator]
  • Should I drop? That is always a very personal decision, and I think usually depends more on a variety of factors outside this course than factors inside this course. Check the Excel spreadsheet (see above), but mathematically it is almost always possible to recover from a midterm, no matter how disappointing the score. So it comes down to whether you will have the bandwidth to really ramp up effort in this class. I have seen really dramatic turnarounds post-midterm when students were able to do that. The good news is that we pack in so many of the hardest topics before the midterm (pointers, recursion, Big-O), and after the midterm is (I think) just some time to really let those early topics sink in and gel better, with just a few new topics (trees, graphs, inheritance). I would only consider dropping if you anticipate that you won't have the bandwidth to spare to really make an investment in turnaround. This most often happens when there are other classes that need similar turnarond investment and you can't do it in all of them, or when there are other challenges going on.
  • Can I just count my final double if I improve on the final? Can I do extra credit or other extra things to compensate for my midterm grade? No, the course work is what it is. The points allocation and other policies in the course information sheet are like a contract, and that is how we will grade. There is almost always something you can do on our assignments for extra credit, but keep in mind that this gives only a small amount of extra credit.
Midterm
  • Tuesday, October 27, 7-9pm
  • LOCATION: Gates B01 (same as lecture)
  • Midterm Exam [solutions]
  • Median: 103/120
  • Mean: 96.8/120
  • Stdev: 17.9
  • Please refer to the Course Information Sheet for exam policies including book/notes and OAE accommodations. Here is the relevant section:
    • No alternates: If you must miss an exam due to an unavoidable academic schedule conflict (an exam in another class at the same time), you must contact the instructor immediately [fill out the web form at the link below]. There are no discretionary alternate exams. Vacation, internship, etc., are not allowable reasons to miss an exam.
    • Open-book, limited-notes: 106X exams are open-book (the official course textbook), and only one page of notes. I know textbooks are expensive and that some students choose not to purchase one, so a few copies will be available for loan during the exam. A reference page will be included in the exam itself, containing commonly needed information (for example, documentation on the Stanford C++ library classes). The purpose of my open-book, limited-notes policy is to reduce the need for rote memorization of anything (this is a problem-solving course, not a memorization course), but still standardize the playing field in terms of precisely what information students have with them.
  • All students are REQUIRED to fill out this form (deadline is passed, but if you haven't yet filled it out please do so).
  • The exam booklet will include the following Library Reference page. You may want to review its contents so you don't duplicate this information in your limited quota (1 page) of notes.
  • The first page of the practice exams includes the same information and instructions that will be on the first page of the actual exam. Take a minute to review the contents while you're studying. One less thing to worry about on the actual exam day.
  • Practice Exam #1 [solutions]
  • Practice Exam #2 [solutions]
  • CS106B has a number of midterm practice exams that will be easier than our exam, but provide good rapid-fire/drilling practice for the 106X problems. You might start with those problems to study, and then use our two practice exams as a kind of "dress rehearsal" when you think you're getting close to full readiness. (Note: 106B exams do not cover the memory/pointer topics that our exam will cover)
  • Our section problems are an excellent source of exam practice. The handouts are designed to be a length that we rarely finish all of the problems in section, and the intention is that you will use the extras as exam practice.
Final Exam
  • Monday, December 7, 8:30-11:30am
  • LOCATION: Gates B01 (same as lecture)
  • Median: 51.5/60
  • Mean: 49.5/60
  • Stdev: 7.6
  • Please refer to the Course Information Sheet for exam policies including book/notes and OAE accommodations.
  • The final exam is open-book, limited-notes: the final exam is open-book (the official course textbook), and only TWO PAGES of notes (4 sides--this is twice as much as for the midterm).
  • All students are REQUIRED to fill out this form (deadline is passed, but if you haven't yet filled it out please do so).
  • The exam booklet will include the following Library Reference page (note it is different from the midterm version because it includes classes we covered after the midterm). You may want to review its contents so you don't duplicate this information in your limited quota (2 pages) of notes.
  • Final exam topics study list (section handout)
  • Practice Exam #1 [solutions] [solution code zip for Q5]
  • Practice Exam #2 [solutions]
  • Practice Exam #3 [solutions] (UPDATED 1:30pm 12/5 because original version had a problem where you wrote your own template class, which is not being tested this quarter)