Spring 2024 — Final exam guide
Tentative plan as of 15-Jan-2024Where and When
- Test date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024
- Test time: 9:00am-12:00pm EST
- Test location: Rice 130
- The exam is a paper-based exam. It will be administered in a classroom, in-person. No online version. No take-home version.
Please refer to the University Registrar Exam Schedule — Spring 2024 for additional information.
Conflicts
- All conflicts should have been reported and an alternative exam date must be arranged in advance.
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. For more information, please refer to the course's make-up exam policy.
Note on traveling
"The final exam schedule is assigned by the University Registrar and is linked from the official academic calendar. This exam schedule is published at the beginning of the semester, so your complete final exam schedule is known to you very early on, and you can plan (travel) accordingly. Final examinations must be taken at the officially scheduled time. Exceptions will be made only in the case of extenuating circumstances and require prior approval of the instructor. Conflict with travel plans is NOT an acceptable reason to reschedule an exam."
Refer to https://registrar.virginia.edu/exam-schedule-spring-2024 for information on the final exam date/time.
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.
- Your heart and soul!
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 — you decide)
with handwritten by the person taking the exam.
- A cheat sheet must be in your handwriting.
- Only handwriting on a single sheet of paper is allowed.
- **NO** writing on electronic device(s) and print.
- We must take away any sheet that violates this rule and/or assign a zero grade on the exam.
- The final exam is comprehensive.
- Only what have been introduced or discussed in Spring 2024 CS 3250 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 quizzes, POTDs, activities, and homework assignments.
- You may expect different kinds of questions:
- Short answer
- Matching (less likely but possible)
- Multiple choices (less likely but possible)
- True/false (less likely but possible)
- Problem solving
- Discussion
- Coding (to automate test cases — you are expected to know basic JUnit 5 syntax, given that we introduced and practiced JUnit 5 in this course) — skip Selenium
- Very minor syntax errors are acceptable. Major syntax errors result in points deduction.
- Some questions may ask you to test software artifacts that have similar software architecture, program structure, or pattern as the artifacts you tested for POTDs / activities / examples / quizzes / homework assignments.
- Some questions may ask you to test software artifacts that are different from the artifacts you tested for POTDs / activities / examples / quizzes / homework assignments. The intent is to assess your understanding and ability to apply the concepts to test any given software artifacts. Therefore, it is important that you thoroughly understand the concepts and being able to correctly apply the concepts to test the given software artifacts.
Things you can expect
- Some questions related to material discussed in class
- Some questions related to quizzes, POTDs, activities, examples, homework assignments
Coverage
- General understanding of software testing (meetings 2-3)
- Fault, Error, Failure, and RIPR model (meeting 4)
- Model driven test design (meeting 5)
- Test automation, JUnit (meetings 6-8) — exclude Selenium
- Coverage-based testing (meetings 11-12)
- Input space testing (meetings 13-15)
- Graph-based testing (meetings 16-22)
- Logic-based testing (meetings 23-28)
- Syntax-based testing (meetings 29-34)
Study guide
- Review the lectures / materials / slides / online resources / assigned reading (textbook)
- Review and redo quizzes, POTDs, activities, worksheets, and examples
- Review or redo homework assignments
- As mentioned in class, some homework questions are questions from previous semesters' final exams. You are encouraged to review or redo the homework assignments.
- Practice test design, analysis, and automation
- Get a good night's sleep
A sample/past final exam will be made available in Canvas/Files (tentatively, one week before the scheduled final exam date). Note: the emphasis of some content/materials may be different between semesters. The sample final exam is provided for additional practice only. Our final exam will be based on what is introduced / discussed / emphasized in Spring 2024.
Grades
- The following grade(s) have been or will be posted on Canvas ASAP
- Quizzes
- POTDs
- Homework grades including extra credits
- The final exam scores will be posted on Canvas after grades are finalized.
- You have the right to review your CS 3250 final exam. An announcement will be sent as soon as the graded exam is available.
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.
"The true subject matter of the tester is not testing, but the design of test cases" —Jeff Offutt
Good luck !
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CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.