COS 226 Final Information, Spring 2016

This document is intended to help you use your study time effectively. Please view it as a guide, not a contract. You may also view the exam archive to study old questions.

Time and location:

The final exam is on Thursday May 19th from 9AM-12PM.
The room is either McCosh Hall 46 McCosh Hall 50, depending on your precept.

McCosh Hall 46: Friday Precepts P06, P07, P07A.
McCosh Hall 50: Thursday Precepts P01, P02, P02A, P03, P03A, P04, P05 and P99(flipped).

Failure to go to the right room can result in a serious deduction on the exam. Final exams can be rescheduled only by the Registrar.

Rules:

In-class exams are governed by the Undergraduate Honor System.
Closed book, closed note.
You may bring one 8.5-by-11 sheet (two sides) with notes in your own handwriting to the exam.
Computers, calculators, and electronic communication devices are forbidden. Headphones attached to audio devices are also prohibited.
Sit one one seat apart from other students and avoid sitting near students with whom you've studied.
Bring a pencil (with eraser) and write darkly and legibly.

help sessions

Monday May 16th, 4:30-6:30pm. Course Review Session in Friend 101.
Tuesday May 17th, 4:30-6:30pm. Special Design Review Session in Friend 101.

Office Hours

Guna: Monday 5/2 (1:00-3:00 PM), Wednesday 5/18(12-2PM) , - 221 Nassau
Miles: Monday 5/2 (4-6 PM), Wednesday 5/18 (2-4 PM) - Sherrod 3rd Floor Common Area
Marc: Monday 5/2 (6-8 PM), 5/16 (9:30-11:30AM) - CS 001B
Maia: Tuesday 5/3, 5/17, 12:30-2:30 PM- CS 205
Harry: Tuesday 5/3, 5/17, 3-5 PM- CS 241
Shivam: Tuesday 5/3, Tues 5/17, 5-7 PM- Sherrod 3rd Floor Common Area
Arvind: Wednesday 5/4 (2-4 PM), Wed 5/18 (4-6 pm) - Sherrod 308
Ming-Yee: Saturday 5/14 , 4-6 PM- Lewis 121
Sergiy: Sunday 5/15 , 4-6 PM- Lewis 121

(Optional) Design Problem Review Session

We will be hosting an optional problem-solving session on Tuesday May 17th from 4;30-6;30 PM in Friend 101. We will discuss general strategies for handling design questions. We will also discuss specific design questions from past exams and entertain questions from students. You are welcome to come and go, as your schedule permits.

(Optional) Final Exam Review Session

We will have an optional final exam review session Monday May 16th from 4:30-6:30 PM in Friend 101. A session to review basic ideas from the course. We will present a summary of the material, discuss problem-solving strategies, and solve some old exam problems. We are also happy to answer specific questions that you have. You are welcome to come and go, as your schedule permits.
Handout
Solution
If you have questions about this handout, please click here to make notes by annotating in salon.

Material Covered

We have covered a large body of material this semester, but the exam can only contain basic questions about a small fraction of it. When you study, you should focus on understanding basic issues, not memorizing details. For each algorithm, you should make sure that you understand how it works on typical input and then ask yourself some basic questions: Why do we care about this algorithm? How is it different from other algorithms for the same problem? When is it effective?

The exam will stress material covered since the midterm, including the following components.

Lectures 13–23.
Algorithms in Java, 4th edition, Chapters 4–6.
Exercises 12–22.
Programming assignments 6–8.

The midterm itself is fair game (did you take the time to understand questions that you missed on that exam?). Also, some material before the midterm is also relevant to putting new algorithms in context. For example, you might see a question on sorting/searching that covers both standard and string algorithms.

Partial list of topics covered since the midterm

Depth-first search	Breadth-first search	Topological sort	Prim's algorithm
Kruskal's algorithm	Dijkstra's algorithm	Bellman-Ford algorithm	Ford-Fulkerson algorithm
Key-indexed counting	LSD radix sort	MSD radix sort	3-way radix quicksort
Knuth-Morris-Pratt substring search	Boyer-Moore substring search	Rabin-Karp substring search
RE to NFA	R-way tries	Ternary search tries	Reductions
Run-length coding	Huffman coding	LZW compression	Burrows-Wheeler

Questions that show awareness of advanced topics that were covered in lecture are also fair game (for example, NP-completeness and 3-satisfiability).