CS240, Winter 2025: Testing/Exams

Crowdmark Note:

We will usually use Crowdmark for grading our exams and distributing midterm results to students. For this course (and many others) Crowdmark associates an exam with a student by their Quest Username (maximum 8 characters) @uwaterloo.ca email. When Crowdmark sends exam results to this email address it is resolved by your Mail Routing Address in WatIAM. If you have more then one email account in Crowdmark then you can merge the accounts so that all your Crowdmark assessments are visible under any of your Crowdmark accounts; follow account merging instructions.

Information on this page will be updated as information becomes available.

Final exam

Date:	Thursday, April 17, 2025
Time:	7:30PM - 10:00PM
Location/Seating:	The final will take place in M3 1006. You will be assigned a seat and you must use your assigned seat (the exam will be pre-stamped with your name). Look up your assigned seat here in advance of the final.
Reference Sheet:	Students are allowed to bring a single letter-sized (8.5x11) or smaller paper with anything written or printed on it on both sides. Reference-sheets must be handed in with the exam. The greatest value in creating a reference sheet is the studying that you do while deciding what to put on the sheet and writing out the information. Photocopying or printing a classmate's reference sheet has little value and may hinder performance as you try to look up information. No reference sheet will be provided by us.
Instruction Page of the Exam:	Instruction Page
Coverage:	The coverage of the final will be cumulative with a focus on post-midterm content. Specific topics which will not be tested are the good suffix heuristic with Boyer-Moore, stream based algorithms, and red-black trees.
Final Help Session:	Sunday April 13, 5:00pm - 7:20pm in DC 1351.
Office hours:	We will be following a new schedule for Office Hours from Monday, April 11th. Please check Piazza for detailed schedule.
Allowed Aids:	No Calculators are Allowed
Bring to exam:	Pens, pencils and an eraser. Watcard (the actual card with the photo). You are permitted to bring in a clear water bottle, but remove its label.
What to expect during the exam:	We will follow the University Policies, Guidelines, and Academic Regulations for Assignments, Tests, and Final Exams as well as the Registrar's Office Instructions for Final Examinations. Arrive no sooner than 20 minutes before the start of the exam. Only the South and West entrances of PAC are open. All students must remain for the first hour. Students who arrive more than an hour late will not be admitted. No food or drink (with the exception of water in a clear bottle with no label). Should you require short nutrition breaks, you must contact us before the exam. Furthermore: Students will be let into the room 10-15 minutes before the exam starts, depending on when set-up is ready. Do not enter the room until proctors let you in. Before entering, verify on the posted (outside the room) seating list (by ID #) that this is the correct room for your exam. Also note the seat (given as row and column when facing the front of the room). Once let into the room students may not leave the room until the exam is over or unless being escorted to the bathroom (i.e. before entering, go to the washroom). Students may arrive up to an hour late but no extra writing time will be given: everyone ends at the same time. Find your exam (it will have your name and photo on it). Put your photo-ID WatCard, pens, pencils, erasers on the desk. Put your backpack, bags, hats, etc. under the desk, closed, clear from the aisle and out of sight. No electronic aids allowed: All laptops, cell phones, smart watches, etc. must be out of reach. Read the instructions on the first page and sign where indicated on the front page in pen. Listen to instructions from the proctor(s). Do not start until the proctor tells you to. During the exam, a proctor will come around with a signature (attendance) list that you must sign in pen. Proctors will also look at your WatCard to verify you are writing the right exam and check that you have signed the front page of the exam. Raise your hand if you think there is an error on the exam, or if you have need for a washroom break, or if you want to leave early (but not before one hour has passed), or if you need to get something out of your bag/backpack after the exam has started. You may not leave during the first hour of the exam or within the last 10 minutes. Stop writing at the end when the proctor tells you to. Failure to stop when told to will lower your mark. Remain seated until the proctors have collected all exams and tell you that you may leave. Once you are allowed to leave at the end, leave the room promptly.
Incompletes:	Students who cannot attend or finish the final exam due to illness or other reasons beyond their control must follow the procedure to request an Incomplete (INC). Requests will not be granted automatically and are based on a reasonable demonstration of understanding and learning from work submitted throughout the term.
Grades and exam viewing:	Grades (for the entire course, not just for the final) will begin to appear on Quest on April 27th, 2025. Course personnel are not allowed to share grade information with you before this day. Final exams are primarily diagnostic tools for evaluating how well the course material was learned and understood at the end of term are not intended as learning tools. As such, solutions are not provided and the marked exam is not released to students.

Midterm

Date:	Thursday, February 27, 2025
Time:	4:30PM - 6:20PM
Location/Seating:	Look up your assigned seat here on or around 2025-02-24.
Reference Sheet	Students are allowed to bring a single letter-sized (8.5x11) or smaller paper with anything written or printed on it on both sides. Reference-sheets must be handed in with the exam. The greatest value in creating a reference sheet is the studying that you do while deciding what to put on the sheet and writing out the information. Photocopying or printing a classmate's reference sheet has little value and may hinder performance as you try to look up information. No reference sheet will be provided by us.
Instruction Page of the Exam:	Instruction Page
Bring:	Pens, pencils, eraser, your WatCARD, and your Reference Sheet (if you created one -- see above). A pen is needed for signatures (a signature list that the proctor will bring around and your signature on the front page of the exam). The exam will be hand-written on paper; you are encouraged to use pencils (bring more than one in case one breaks) so you can erase in case of minor errors. If you choose, you are also allowed to use any kind of pen to write your answer as long as it will be visible on the scan; do not use colours other than blue or black. You must bring your Watcard. You are permitted to bring in a clear water bottle, but remove its label. Food is not allowed.
Coverage:	The midterm will cover the entirety of Module 1-6
What to expect at the exam and after:	Consulting hours and Piazza-monitoring will go no later than 3:00pm on Thurs Feb 27 as course staff prepares for the midterm. Masks are encouraged but not required. Students will be let into the room 5-10 minutes before the exam starts, depending on when set-up is ready. Do not enter the room until proctors let you in. Before entering, verify on the posted (outside the room) seating list (by ID #) that this is the correct room for your exam. Also note the seat (given as row and column when facing the front of the room). Once let into the room students may not leave the room unless during specified periods (see below) or unless being escorted to the bathroom (i.e. before entering, go to the washroom). Students may arrive up to an hour late but no extra writing time will be given - everyone ends at the same time. Find your exam (it will have your name and photo on it) Put your photo-ID WatCard, pens, pencils, erasers, reference sheet on the desk and put your backpack, bags, pencil cases, hats, cell phone (turned off), etc. under the desk, closed, clear from the aisle and out of sight. Read the instructions on the first page and sign under the instructions in pen. Read the blackboard/whiteboard/projected instructions and listen to instructions from the proctor(s). Do not start until the proctor instructs to do so. Stop writing at the end when instructed. Failure to stop when told to will lower your mark. You may not leave during the first hour of the exam or within the last 10 minutes. At the end, remain seated, until the proctors have collected all exams and announce that you may leave. During the exam, a proctor will come around with a signature (attendance) list that you must sign in pen. Proctors will also look at your WatCard to verify you are writing the right exam and check that you have signed the front page of the exam. Write your answers legibly and clearly. If graders cannot read your answer, they cannot mark it. Also do not answer close to a paper's edge or faintly since this may not be picked up by the scanning done to upload your exam to Crowdmark for marking (i.e. graders will not see it). Raise your hand if you think there is an error on the exam or if you have need for a washroom break or if you need to get something out of your bag/backpack after the exam has started. Once you are allowed to leave and have received permission from the proctors to do so, leave the room promptly. Marking will take a few days. There will be an announcement and post mortem released when grading is ready and you will get an email from the Crowdmark mailer with the link to your marked exam.
Midterm Help Session:	MC 2066 Monday February 24, 5:30-7:20PM
Postmortem:	MTPM.pdf
Midterm Remark Requests:	Deadline Thursday, March 13, 2025, 5:00PM. Re-mark requests will only be accepted using this form (authentication is required to ensure requester is on the classlist).