1617-257/The Final Exam

Our final exam will take place on Thursday April 20th in the Haultain Building room 403, 2-5PM. The room is hard to find! I strongly recommend that you make an advance reconnaissance trip.

The exam will cover material from the start of the course up to and including what was covered in the lecture on Friday March 31st. It will be of a similar style and difficulty as the term tests, except somewhat longer (3 instead of 2 hours). No material other than stationery will be allowed.

How to prepare? We each have our own ways. My own (and it worked quite well) was concentrate on totally knowing all the material, and not so much on doing exercises. So before an exam I'd make a list of "class material divided into (say) 100 points", and then I'd go over that list again and again crossing out those points which I was confident I fully understood, until there was nothing left. Yet given my declared intent that some questions will be coming directly from the homework assignments or the term tests, you'd probably be wise to go over these too.

Pre-exam Office Hours. Please note that the information below is subject to last minute changes. If you are unsure, it is always better to check the website once again. Old assignments and term tests will be available for pickup at all of these times.

• Wednesday April 12, 10:30-11:30: Dror's office hours, Bahen 6178.
• Tuesday April 18, 10-12: Dror's office hours, Bahen 6178.
• Tuesday April 18, 3-6: Jeff's office hours, Huron 215 10th floor lounge.
• Wednesday April 19, 10-1: Jeff's office hours, Huron 215 10th floor lounge.
• Wednesday April 19, 2-5: Dror's office hours, Bahen 6178.
• Thursday April 20, 10-12: Dror's office hours, Bahen 6178.

Remember. Neatness counts! Organization counts! Language counts! Proofs are best given as short and readable essays; without the English between the formulas one never knows how to interpret those formulas. When you write, say, "$x\in V$", does it mean "choose $x\in V$", or "we've just proven that $x\in V$", or "assume by contradiction that $x\in V$", or "for every $x\in V$" or "there exists $x\in V$"? If you don't say, your reader has no way of knowing. Also remember that long and roundabout solutions of simple problems, full of detours and irrelevant facts, are often an indication that their author didn't quite get the point, even if they are entirely correct. Avoid those!

The Results. 84 students took the test, and the results were as follows (median 85/120):

118 117 116 116 115 111 111 110 109 108 108 108 107 106 106 106 105 105 105 105 104 104 104 104 102 101 100 100 99 98 98 97 97 95 95 93 91 87 87 87 86 85 85 84 84 84 84 83 82 81 81 79 79 78 77 77 77 76 76 75 75 74 72 72 72 71 70 70 70 69 68 67 65 64 60 57 55 52 47 46 41 37 30 19

I've applied the formula $m\to 100(m/120)^{0.87}$ to these marks, before using them to compute the course mark. This done, and after averaging with the HW marks, the TT marks, and after taking account of the good deed points (when relevant), the overall course marks were as follows (median 77/100):

99 98 94 94 94 94 93 93 93 92 92 92 92 91 91 91 90 90 90 89 89 89 88 87 87 87 86 85 85 84 84 84 83 82 82 82 80 80 80 80 77 77 77 77 77 77 76 76 76 76 75 74 73 73 72 71 70 70 70 70 70 67 67 67 66 66 66 65 65 64 62 61 60 60 57 54 54 51 51 50 50 47 47 39 39 24 21 17 1

(By university rules, "Exam No Shows" count as 0 even if there is a valid reason. Hence there are 89 marks here, and some stand to rise when makeups are given).

The exam itself is here (PDF).

 Dror's notes above / Students' notes below