There are two types of exam elements in this course:

• multiple choice tests, and
• an oral exam.

You get one combined grade based on the two parts. The oral exam has heighest weight.

Multiple-Choice Tests

Read through this entire section many days in advance of the first test.

Test Times

Multiple-Choice Test 1: March 22, 2024
8:30	Arrive at the lecture room no later than this time	Topics from lectures 6/2, 13/2, 20/2, 27/2: Network Flows: Ford-Fulkerson, Edmonds-Karp Randomized Algorithms: Contention Resolution, Global Minimum Cut, Waiting Times, MAX 3-SAT Approximation
8:45	Test starts
9:45	Test ends
10:00	Test ends for students with time extension
Multiple-Choice Test 2: April 18, 2024
8:30	Arrive at the lecture room no later than this time	Topics from lectures 5/3, 12/3, 19/3, 2/4: Randomized Quicksort and Selection Amortized Analysis Universal and Perfect Hashing String Matching: Rabin-Karp, Finite Automata
8:45	Test starts
9:45	Test ends
10:00	Test ends for students with time extension
Multiple-Choice Test 3: May 21, 2024
12:30	Arrive at the lecture room no later than this time	Topics from lectures 16/4, 30/4, 7/5: String Matching: Finite Automata, Knuth-Morris-Pratt Discrete Probability Theory Online Algorithms
12:45	Test starts
13:45	Test ends
14:00	Test ends for students with time extension

Purpose

Having the multiple-choice tests in the course is a supplement to the oral exam; they are not testing the same things. Whereas the oral exam is primarily about being able to explain algorithms and prove complete results about them - similar to what I do in the lectures, the multiple-choice tests are more about being able to apply algorithms and being able to point to central proof techniques or key elements in the proofs. Thus, to a larger extent, they test the work you do in the exercise classes. If you have been doing the exercises, you are probably well prepared for these tests. But even if you do well in these tests, you are not necessarily well prepared for the oral exam, since the focus is quite different. So even if you do well, study hard for the oral exam as well!

Scheduling

There will be multiple exams throughout the course. The plan is to conduct these using the extra lectures that have been scheduled every second week whenever possible and announce these events more than a week in advance. Thus, the tests are conducted in-class and you have to show up for that class at SDU to take the test.

Format and Expectations

No guarantees, but the plan is to have tests with approximately 10 questions, each of which are multiple-choice with four possible answers of which one is the correct one. The plan is to allow 45-60 minutes for the test. This allows you plenty of time for answering, sometimes after minor computation, provided you are up-to-date on the material and the exercises. Naturally, there is not time for learning the material, if you have not followed the course closely enough.

Equipment and Aids

You need your laptop for connecting to Itslearning and taking the exam. It's your own responsibility that your laptop, your connection to wifi, your browser, etc. works and that you can log in to Itslearning and is a participant in the course. Check beforehand - there's no IT help available! You may use all aids, except so-called AI tools which include generative transformers such as ChatGPT and many others; SDU does not allow you to use such aids for exams. I suggest you have pen and paper available for small computations you may want to make along the way.

On the Day

Show up at least 15 minutes before test start so I have time to check your student ID (remember to bring it) and set up. If you have approved permission from the study board to get extra time, let me know as early as possible (many days before the exam). As a courtesy to the other students, do not leave the exam until the end, so you don't disturb your fellow students who want to use all their available time.

Scoring

In this course, we use a more fair multi-choice grading algorithm than you may have seen before, focusing on giving you the best chances of communicating the knowledge you have.

Before beginning the explanation, I want to emphasize that all the question are multiple-choice questions, i.e., there is one correct answer and you receive maximum points only if you select the that answer and no other answer.

However, if, for instance, you can rule out two out of four answers, you may select the two answers you think contain the correct answer. If you're right, you will receive a positive score, though of course not the maximum score. Thus, you will be able to get credit for partial knowledge.

Another fairness decision in the grading is that there is no cap at zero, which you may have seen in other courses. Thus, you can get negative points for a question. The fairness considerations behind this decision is that the expected value of guessing should be zero.

Below, you can see the scoring table for a question with four possible answers out of which exactly one is correct. You select a number of answers between zero and four, and either you capture the correct answer or you don't. From those two pieces of information, you can see the score in the table, where numbers are rounded to three decimals.

Captured correct answer	Number of selected answers
	0	1	2	3	4
yes	NA	1	0.5	0.208	0
no	0	−0.333	−0.5	−0.623	NA

Disclaimer

I'm forced to use a newly introduced system for these tests in Itslearning. It has very limited built-in scoring options and may insist on telling you what it thinks your score is. However, after the exam, I can download an Excel sheet with all the test details, i.e., for each student and each question, I can see exactly which entries were selected. Based on that, I will calculate the correct score using the table above. Thus, if Itslearning gives you a score, it's likely incorrect, but it will probably correctly inform you as to which questions you got right.

Oral Exam

The administration has set aside June 3-4, 2024 and June 6-7, 2024 for this exam. We will likely only use three of those days. More information will follow later regarding sequence and room allocation.

Disclaimer: The below is an early draft of a description of the oral exam procedure. It may be revised, questions, curriculum, and other information will be added, and further details will be given in a late lecture and exercise session.

Procedure

The examination form is oral exam with preparation. When it is your turn for examination, you will draw a question. The list of questions can be found below. Then you will be placed alone in a preparation room. You will have approximately 25-30 minutes of preparation time and you are allowed to use any material that you are bringing yourself, excluding communication devices and so-called AI tools which include generative transformers such as ChatGPT and many others; SDU does not allow you to use such aids for exams.

After the preparation time, the actual exam takes place. This part also lasts approximately 25-30 minutes. You should start by presenting material related to the question you drew. Aim for a reasonably high pace and focus on the most interesting material related to the question. You may bring a short list of keywords for the actual exam to remember what you have decided to present. Thus, you are not supposed to use note material, textbooks, transparencies, computer, etc. for this part.

We, the examinator and the censor, will supplement with specific questions when appropriate, and after a while, we will end the discussion of the exam question that you drew and turn to material from other parts of the curriculum. Note that all of this as well as discussion between examinator and censor about the grade is included in the 25-30 minutes, so you only have 10-12 minutes for your own presentation.

Some of the questions below cover a whole lecture or more, so you will have to choose what to cover. You will of course also be evaluated based on your selection of material. If you only present the simplest material, you limit the grade you can obtain. On the other hand, a good presentation of the simple material is better than a poor presentation of the harder material. For most questions, it is natural to first sketch the algorithm or data structure and then present essential elements of the analysis, keeping in mind that you should focus on parts that you understand.

Further Advice for an Oral Exam

• You have 10-12 minutes, so speed is important. Don't try to immitate my calm speed when I lecture. I spend time setting the scene, mentioning topics from earlier courses and applications, and I go through the material slowly because you haven't seen it before. When you cover a topic, go much more directly to the algorithms and the analyses and go through arguments much faster than I do in a lecture. Of course, there are limits; we should be able to understand what you are saying. Don't use the blackboard for sentences; use it for illustrations, formulas, and deductions.
• On the same note, don't stall. Some students behave like they think they enter with a 12 and then just want to drag out the time, so they don't say anything wrong. That's not how it is. You enter with nothing. Whenever you convince us that there is something non-trivial you can do correctly, your grade increases. If you stall or make wild guesses to questions where you don't know the answer, the time you spent on that comes out of the time you have to explain something correctly. Of course it reflects negatively on you if there are topics where you don't know the material. However, then it's all the more important to move on and demonstrate that you know other parts of the curriculum.
• The topics below are very broad and you are not expected to start from the beginning and see how far you can get. As an example, if the question is network flows, you can explain the problem in a minute or so, and then it's fine if you go directly to the Edmonds-Karp algorithm. Similarly for string matching. The problem can be explained in one minute and then you could jump to the material from the second lecture I gave on string matching. Some subjects may not even need an introduction. For instance, one could introduce dynamic tables and along the way explain how amortized analysis works through that example.
• Before the exam day, you need to write down for each question what you want to cover and how. These notes will be useful for you during the preparation time. In other words, you should already be prepared before the preparation time; the preparation time is basically for memorizing the flow of the arguments in your 10-12 minute presentation. It's not that we're big fans of memorization; it's just hard to give any credit for someone reading aloud from a manuscript that could have been produced by another student. In principle, the notes you use during your preparation time could have been produced by someone else, but we will discover this quickly if this means that you don't understand the material.
• Try not to panic. I will of course check to see if there are parts you don't know, but many of my questions are meant as a help. If you say something incorrect or unclear, but I think you know it, then I may ask a question so you get a chance to correct. If you get stuck, I will try to ask a question or give you a hint that will enable you to proceed. So, listen to my questions and be cooperative. I really want you to pass!
• When you have decided what you want to say for each of the questions I have announced, remember to read up on the entire curriculum. After your presentation, we will ask questions in the entire course material. Those questions will be rather specific. For example, can you argue for the time complexity of the Edmonds-Karp algorithm. We then expect a fairly direct answer. In other words, we don't want to hear the presentation you prepared on network flows just because the question falls in that topic.
• Place your list of keywords on the table. If you hold it in your hand, you will - if you're like most people - look at it whenever we ask a question. And even though the answer is basically never on your piece of paper, it doesn't look so convincing.

Curriculum

• All written material on the literature page at the end of the course, including the books and lecture slides. For the books, you are of course only responsible for the sections that have been announced via the lectures and exercises page at the end of the course.
• All the exercises posed via the lectures and exercises page at the end of the course.

Questions

The below is the list of questions you draw from at the exam.

1. Network Flows
2. Randomized Algorithms
3. Amortized Analysis
4. Universal and Perfect Hashing
5. String Matching
6. Online Algorithms

 

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