Spring 2022 — Final exam guide

Tentative plan as of 3-Apr-2022

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Where and When

• Test date: Saturday 7-May-2022
• Test time: 9:00am-12:00pm EST
• Test location: Chemistry 402
• The exam is a paper-based exam. It will be administered in a classroom, in-person.

Please refer to the University Registrar Exam Schedule — Spring 2022 for additional information.

Conflicts

• All conflicts should have been reported and an alternative exam date must be arranged in advanced.

Make-up final exam

• Per the University's policy, faculty members are not authorized to change the scheduled final exam date. Permission must be made by the Dean's Office.
• Please contact your Dean. Once your request has been approved, your Dean will notify the course instructor.
• Exceptions, including but not limited to traveling both domestic and international trips, must be approved by the Dean's Office.
• Appropriate documentation (as determined by instructor) and requisite permissions (approved by the Dean's Office, in particular) are required for make-up exam requests.
• If you know in advance that you are unable to make an exam for a valid and unavoidable reason (such as a scheduled surgery, etc), please obtain the Dean's approval and notify instructor at least one week before the scheduled exam date to make arrangements for a make-up, and bring documentation with you when you take the make-up.
• If you miss an exam due to a university-accepted excused absence (such as an illness or car accident the day and time of the exam), please contact the Dean's office and notify instructor within 24 hours of your absence to make arrangements for a make-up, and bring approved documentation with you when you take the make-up exam.
• Failure to follow either of these policies will result in a zero grade on the final exam.

SDAC accommodation

If you need accommodation, please submit proper documents to SDAC. We unfortunately cannot provide accommodation in class or during office hours. Please schedule to take the exam at SDAC.

Please visit https://studenthealth.virginia.edu/sdac or use the direct link https://yukon.accessiblelearning.com/virginia/Default.aspx to schedule your exam.

What to bring

• Pens, pencils, erasers, writing utensils
• One cheat sheet (see detail in test specific) -- this is optional
• No calculators, scratch paper, backpacks, books, laptops, or anything else should be brought. These items will be left in the back/front of the room if you bring them.

Test specific

• Final exam is closed book / notes / laptops / web / electronic devices / neighbors; paper-based, administered in class, no collaboration. No online version. No take-home version.
• The only exception is a single sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper (single / double sided, single / double spaces) with hand-written by the person taking the exam.
• The final exam is comprehensive.
• Only what have been introduced or discussed in Spring 2022 CS 4750 will be covered. We will not ask you anything that has not been covered in this course this semester.
• The format of the exam will be similar to POTDs, activities, and homework assignments.
• You may expect different kinds of questions:
  • Short answer
  • Multiple choices (less likely but possible)
  • Matching (less likely but possible)
  • True/false (less likely but possible)
  • Problem solving
  • Discussion
  • Design and diagram drawing
  • (SQL) Code reading, writing, and fixing
  • Database-related coding questions that relate to your project
• Very minor syntax errors are acceptable. Major syntax errors result in points deduction.

Major things you can expect

• Some questions related to material discussed in class
• Some questions related to POTDs, activities, examples, homework assignments
• Some questions related to project

Coverage

• General understanding of database systems (lectures 2-4, and concepts we discussed throughout the semester)
• Database design: E-R model (lectures 4-8)
• Database design: functional dependencies, normalization (lectures 8-11)
• SQL (lectures 12-20)
• Database interfacing (lectures 21-23)
• Database security, SQL injection and prevention methods (lecture 24)
• Relational algebra, mapping between SQL and RA (lectures 25-27)
• Query cost estimation (lectures 28-29)
• Indexing (lectures 30-33)
• Transactions and concurrency control (lecture 34)
• Distributed database (lectures 35)
• NoSQL database (lecture 36)
• Your project
  • Applying what we discussed (all the above) to your project

Study guide

• Review the lectures / materials / slides / online resources / class recordings
• Redo POTDs, activities, examples
• Review or redo homework assignments
• Review your project
• Practice writing SQL and RA
  • You are expected to remember the fundamental and syntax covered in class and be able to write SQL and RA with correct syntax.
  • A few very minor syntax errors is OK. But if you are really off we will take off points.
• Get a good night's sleep

Grades

• The following grade(s) will be posted on Collab ASAP
  • POTD grades
  • Homework grades
  • Project grades including extra credits
• The final exam scores will be posted on Collab after grades are finalized
• You have the right to review your CS 4750 final exam. An announcement will be sent as soon as the graded exam is available.
• How to compute your grade:
  

Final grades

Please refer to the Assessment section of the course syllabus.

By default, grades will not be rounded or curved in this course, and there is no grade bump.

A final note

Here is A Time-effective Strategy for Taking Exams by Professor Jeff Offutt.

Good luck !

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