CSCI 0190 · Fall 2026
Exams
Why Exams?
First, you learn better. Education research has documented well the “testing effect”, which is that tests are useful not only for assessment but also for learning. See, for instance, this survey paper that summarizes research on the benefits of testing.
With the use of AI, we do need to make sure that our grades still mean something.
Dates
Please make sure you are able to attend class on these days! There are no makeups!
Content
The first exam is essentially a replay of the placement process. You can expect to see problems at a similar level, in both Racket and Pyret. There will not be any math questions.
There is then an exam after roughly every 2–3 weeks of class material. Each exam will almost completely focus on the material covered since the previous exam (for the second exam, from the start of class), up to and including the most recent day of class and the most recently completed homework. The second, third, and fourth exams may slightly re-test earlier, basic materials as well. The fifth exam is cumulative: it will range over the entire semester.
The exams in this course will be simple. There will not be any complicated, open-ended questions. Rather, the questions will ensure you have understood basic factual material you have seen so far in the class. For instance, you will be shown simple programs and asked to find errors in them or to predict their output. You will be asked simple written questions that require at most a sentence of response. The general rule is: If you have actually attended class, done the homeworks, understood the work you turned in, read the text, and followed on EdStem, you should not have trouble on the exams.
Note that you are not allowed to make copies of the exams in any way, nor upload them anywhere. Doing so would violate the Copyright policy.
Accommodations
If you have any accommodations that are relevant to the exam, please work out the details with Shriram at least one week before the exam.
The exams will use both CIT 368 and the third floor atrium. Because using the atrium is disruptive to people who work there, if you have an extra-time accommodation, you must take the exam inside CIT 368. That way, when regular time elapses we can return the atrium to general use, but you can continue the exam until your allowed time.
Study and Response Tips
The exam is designed to be done in the allotted time. But doing so requires you to work smartly and efficiently. Not following the other tips can cause you to run out of time. Getting bogged down on a low-value question and robbing time from a high-value question would be especially unwise!
As noted above, the questions are meant to be straightforward. There are no puzzles to solve, trick questions, etc.
Everything you need to know has been covered in class, on EdStem, in the textbook, and/or in homeworks. So as long as you have been following along, asking questions about things you haven’t understood, etc., you should do very well.
After the first exam, you will rarely be asked to write code.
Every question that requires you to write something will have a box in which to respond. The box is an upper-bound on how much you will need to write; often, much less writing will suffice.
You are not being graded on spelling, grammar, full sentences, etc. You need to write only as many words as needed to demonstrate that you understand the answer. Sometimes even one word will suffice! In general, when you know the answer, you can write something very concise. When you don’t, you may be tempted to write a lengthy, fuzzy answer. That will not help your grade; you won’t get partial credit for saying enough words. You may also squander time you may need elsewhere.
For questions that ask for computer output (e.g., “What does this program produce?”), use reasonable syntax. You don’t have to answer character-for-character what the computer would print: your answer is being read by a human (me), not a computer. However, it does have to be clear what you mean. The more you make up random notation, the less clear it will be. If, even after a good-faith effort, I still can’t recognize what you’ve written as the expected answer, it’ll be marked wrong.
How Exams Are Scored
You will receive a letter grade for your exam work.
Each part of each task will be designated in “letter grade” (LG) units (e.g., a question might be 0.25 LG). We just add up all your correct answers (a small number of questions might have partial credit, but most have a straightforward “right answer”), and that’s your letter-grade for the exam.
The whole exam weighs 3 LG. We will also round up some scores. Thus, your LG score will translate to a letter grade as follows:
≥
<
Grade
0.0
1.0
NC
1.0
1.7
C
1.7
2.6
B
2.6
3.0
A
3.0
A
The exam pages will show weights for every individual sub-problem. Let’s say problem 3 is worth 1 LG, with sub-problems 3.1 and 3.2 each marked as 0.5 LGs. That doesn’t mean problem 3 is now worth 2 LG; instead, it shows how problem 3’s 1 LG is divided up. Furthermore, you may see 3.2.1 marked 0.3 LG and 3.2.2 marked 0.2 LG. This explains how 3.2’s 0.5 LG are split. The weights of all sub-problems will add up to the weight of the immediate super-problem.
Impact on Course Grade
Make sure you’ve read the syllabus on Grades.
For the first exam, you should score 2.0 or more. The exam will play no further part in your course grade (since it is viewed as an extension of the placement process).
Second and third exams: Your course grade is at most two letter grades higher than your exam grade. So to get an A in the course, you need at least a C on each one.
Fourth and fifth exams: Your course grade is at most one letter grade higher than your exam score. So to get an A in the course, you need at least a B on each one.
In addition:
To get an A in the course, you must get an A in at least one of the third, fourth, or fifth exams.
To pass the course, you must get at least a C in every exam after the first.
This is designed so that, if you do poorly in the second and even third exams, you can still get an A if you improve your performance. But knowing what has happened, if you still get a C in subsequent exams, you won’t get better than a B in the course.
Logistics
The exams will be held in person.
The exams will take place during class time.
Please make sure you have access to your Banner ID (which looks like B12345678). This is not your Brown ID number. I believe the Banner ID is also printed on your ID card, but be sure to copy the right one!
You must do the exam on paper, which we will provide.
Because the questions are very simple, the exams will be closed-“book”. The only thing you can bring in is a small slip of paper that contains your Banner ID, printed at whatever size or in whatever way you need for visual impairment.
The paper will contain boxes where you should write your answer. Write neatly, and stay within any boxes provided. The boxes are sized to be an upper-bound on how much we expect you to write. Gradescope uses computer vision to identify the boxes to simplify grading, so it’s especially important you stay within their bounds. Time is limited; you never need to be verbose.
We will not supply writing implements. Please bring your own. Bring backups.
Please make sure you write with a dark pen (recommended: blue or black). If you write with a light pen or pencil, it will often not be picked up by the scanner, and will appear illegible (or even blank) when we view it, which will make it impossible to grade.
No electronics should be present. The only exception is if you have an accommodation that you have discussed with me for which you will do the exam on your computer. If you do this, the exam should be the only thing on screen, and it should cover your whole screen, from start to finish.
We will use CIT 368 and the third floor atrium (which will be reserved for the exams). Students will be expected to space out enough between these two areas to not be able to see each others’ work.
You will have 30 minutes for the exam. This means if you have a 1.5x time accommodation, you will still finish within the class time. If you have a 2x time accommodation, you can either start 10 minutes before or end 10 minutes after the end of class. Please discuss this with the professor at the beginning of the semester.
The exam will begin at class time sharp. Therefore, please arrive a few minutes before class time. The exam will begin on the hour whether you are here or not, and end your allocated number of minutes later irrespective of when you began it.
We require you to:
start by 20 minutes after the hour at the latest;
stay until at least 20 minutes after the hour even if you finish early.
That is, nobody can leave until the latest starting time; nobody can begin after people are eligible to leave.
If you have questions about any details, please get them clarified on EdStem well before the exam dates.