CIS 110 Exams

CIS 110 examinations are governed by regulations designed to prevent distraction to other exam takers. We ask that you follow these rules not only to maintain the integrity of the exam, but also out of respect for your fellow students.

Arrangements and regulations

You must take the examination at the scheduled time unless you have received explicit permission otherwise. Oversleeping and late arrival are not valid reasons to take a makeup exam.
You must take the examination in the location that is assigned to your PennKey. Proctors are not obliged to provide you with an examination paper if you arrive at a different location to the one you are assigned, and they have the right to reject your exam paper if you take the exam in a different location.
Students entitled to special accommodations must arrange to take their exam at SDS.
You will be required to submit a doctor's note if you miss an exam due to illness.

Before and during the examination

Arrive on time. If you are more than 15 minutes late to your scheduled exam, you will not be seated. In no event will you receive extra time to compensate for arriving late.
Do not enter the examination hall until you have been invited to do so by the proctor.
You may not use any notes, books, papers, calculators, cellular phones, laptop or tablet computers, smartwatches, or recording devices in the exam. Doing so constitutes a violation of the Penn Code of Academic Integrity.
Turn off all cell phones and other noise-making devices before entering the examination hall. If your phone rings or vibrates during the exam, you will receive a significant point deduction.
When you arrive, a proctor will seat you, starting in the front of the room and working back. You may not choose your own seat. Space permitting, we seat students in alternate seats, two rows out of three. This ensures that proctors can reach everyone quickly and quietly to answer questions during the exam. If you are left-handed, identify yourself to the proctors, who will help you find a left-handed desk to sit at.
You may not leave the examination hall during the first 30 minutes or last 15 minutes of the exam. Additional restrictions may be imposed if you are taking a makeup exam.
Food and drink are forbidden, unless necessary for a medical condition. Spills are extremely distracting to your fellow students.
Proctors will permit only one student to use the restroom at a time.

Instructions

Use blue or black ink for your answers. Do not use red or pink ink, which are colors we use for grading. You may use pencil for scratch work.
Please write neatly.
If you require extra space for your answer, you may use the backs of the exam pages or the extra sheets at the end of the exam. If you require it, ask the proctors for additional paper. Clearly indicate on the question page where the graders can find the work that you would like to have graded.

After the examination

You must stop writing and close your paper as soon as time is called. If you do not stop writing promptly, you may receive zero points on the exam.
You must attach all paper, including scratch paper, to your exam when you submit it. We are not responsible for any loose pages of your exam. Proctors will provide staplers to attach any additional sheets.
Present your PennCard, or any form of photo identification, when you submit your exam.
Please submit your examination paper to the correct pile as instructed by the proctors.
You are prohibited from taking any paper out of the exam room.
You may not discuss the exam until after you are told that all students have taken it.

Common midterm details

Unless you have been notified that you will sit the makeup examination, you will sit the CIS 110 Fall 2015 common midterm examination, which has been arranged as follows.

Date – Tuesday 6 October
Scheduled start time – 7:00 pm
Duration – Two hours

Grading Curve

Your curved exam grade should appear next to your raw exam score on the scores/submit page. Curved scores translate to letter grades using the usual table on the course policies page. The following table shows you how we mapped ranges of raw scores to curved percentages:

Raw Points	Curved Percentage
57.5 – 68	90% – 100%
43.5 – 57.5	80% – 90%
27 – 43.5	70% – 80%
19 – 27	60% – 70%
10 – 19	40% – 60%
0 – 10	0% – 40%

Current and previous exams

Please bear in mind that the selection and order of topics varies somewhat from semester to semester, so previous exams may include questions that are not relevant to this semester, and they may not cover all topics that may be examined this semester.

Term	Questions	Answers	Median	Total points	Standard deviation	Corrigenda
Fall 2015	Questions	Answers	52	68	12.02
Fall 2015 Makeup	Questions	Answers	52	68	12.02
Summer 2015
Spring 2015	Questions	Answers	67	98	14.56
Fall 2014	Questions	Answers	56	73	9.99
Summer 2014	Questions	Answers				5: the last bug is in line 6, which should read "tossCoins(Integer.parseInt(args[0]))" 6.2: we did not require you to add spaces between the component Strings in strArr
Spring 2014	Questions	Answers	66.5	90	13.67	Correct answer to 2, fifth last row: String, "Life = 6" Alternate answer to 2, second last row: int; 67
Fall 2013	Questions	Answers	73.5	100	16.28
Summer 2013	Questions	Answers	49	85	15.57
Spring 2013	Questions	Answers	67	90	14.73
Fall 2012	Questions	Answers	28	50	7.11
Summer 2012	Questions	Answers	40	60	11.24
Spring 2012	Questions	Answers	29	50	6.76

Please post on Piazza if you suspect there is a correction needed in any of the above files.

Picking up your exam

You can pick up your exam starting Tuesday, October 13 from Laura Fox in Levine 308. Laura is available most days from 9:00 – 4:00 with a break for lunch. If she is not in, you will need to try back another time to get your exam. Laura can only give you your own exam, so you will not be able to pick up exams for your friends or roommates.

Grading Curve

Raw Points	Curved Percentage
64 – 74.5	93% – 100%
60 – 64	90% – 93%
56 – 60	87% – 90%
50 – 56	84% – 87%
44 – 50	80% – 84%
30 – 44	73% – 80%
24 – 30	70% – 73%
18 – 24	63% – 70%
10 – 18	40% – 63%
0 – 10	0% – 40%

Picking up your exam

You can pick up your exam starting Friday, January 8 from Laura Fox in Levine 308. Laura is available most days from 9:00 – 4:00 with a break for lunch. If she is not in, you will need to try back another time to get your exam. Laura can only give you your own exam, so you will not be able to pick up exams for your friends or roommates.

Regrade Requests

See the Regrades tab for information on how to request a regrade and for the deadline. Regrade procedures are different for the final exam from the midterm!

Current and previous exams

Term	Questions	Answers	Median	Total points	Standard deviation	Corrigenda
Fall 2015	Questions	Answers	49	76	12.42
Summer 2015
Spring 2015	Questions	Answers	50	95	17.14
Fall 2014	Questions	Answers	61	113	17.15	Solution to 4g should read "adj has too many rows or adj[row] has too many columns" Solution to 6, fifth line from bottom of table: "Point AA" should read "Point A1"; second line from bottom of table: "Point B4" should read "Point B5"
Summer 2014	Questions
Spring 2014	Questions	Answers	54	84	11.91	1.4 choice (d) should read "You can't call a non-static method without instantiating an object first"
Fall 2013	Questions	Answers	50	85	13.65	Correct solution to 3.1, third question: a, b, d
Summer 2013	Questions	Answers	44.5	70	11.45
Spring 2013	Questions	Answers	45	98	13.48
Fall 2012	Questions	Answers	55.5	96	15.81	Correct answer to 4b: "Returns the index of the letter of the alphabet passed into the function"
Summer 2012	Questions	Answers	43	80	12
Spring 2012	Questions	Answers	40	90	15

Please post on Piazza if you suspect there is a correction needed in any of the above files.

Although we take great care grading exams, errors do occur. We encourage you to pick up your exams promptly and review them carefully for grading errors, including clerical errors copying scores from inside pages to the front of the exam. Once grades are available in the online system, verify that these match the scores written on your exam.

If you believe there may be a grading error on your exam, please submit a brief, written explanation of the problem using the Regrade request form, attach it to your exam, and submit it according to the instructions below. (If you prefer, you may submit a cover letter including all the information on the regrade request form instead of using the form.) We can only consider regrade requests submitted on time and according to the procedures below, even for obvious clerical errors.

Midterm: Submit your written regrade request together with your midterm to yous TAs, no later than your recitation on October 26/27. You will receive an e-mail from the instructors after this deadline with the result of your regrade and information about where to pick up your regraded midterm.
Final Exam: Hand your written regrade request in person together with your final to Laura Fox in Levine 308, no later than Friday, January 29, 4:00pm. Laura is usually available 9:00am-4:00pm, with a break for lunch. If she is not at her desk, you will need to come back another time. Do not leave this to the last minute! If you come at 3:00 on the 30th and Laura is not available, you'll be out of luck.
Do not leave your request on Laura's desk, give it to a TA or an instructor. Do not slip it under an instructor's office door, or leave it in a mailbox. Incorrectly submitted requests will get lost!

If your final exam grade changes as a result of a regrade request, you course grade will automatically be adjusted if necessary.