Exam Policy

The Boring But Important Details

Exams in CS 307 will be scheduled using PrairieTest, proctored in the CBTF, and completed using PrairieLearn.

You are expected to read the documentation for both services!

The exams will be completed on the PrairieLearn platform. You will not need to directly access PrairieLearn, as PrairieTest will direct you to the exam on PrairieLearn at the start of the exam.

The policies of the CBTF are considered policies of this course. Academic integrity infractions related to the CBTF are infractions in this course.

Dates

You may begin scheduling your exams on the reservation dates listed below. To do so, head to PrairieTest. You may schedule your exams any time between the start and end date, provided there is capacity in the CBTF.

Exam 01

  • Reservation: Thursday, 2025-02-13
  • Start: Monday, 2025-02-24
  • End: Wednesday, 2025-02-26

Exam 02

  • Reservation: Thursday, 2025-03-13
  • Start: Monday, 2025-03-31
  • End: Wednesday, 2025-04-02

Exam 03

  • Reservation: Thursday, 2025-04-17
  • Start: Monday, 2025-04-28
  • End: Wednesday, 2025-04-30

Content

All exams will be cumulative, both explicitly and implicitly. Any and all course material that was needed to complete homework assignments leading up to an exam may appear on an exam. For Exam 02 and Exam 03, questions will be weighted towards material that was introduced after the preceding exam.

Format

Exams will be very similar to homework in both content and presentation. In the CBTF, you will be directed (via PrairieTest) to PrairieLearn to complete your quiz.

New to the CBTF? Consider taking their orientation quiz to learn about the process!

Each exam will consist of some number of checkbox, numeric, and model fitting questions. Importantly, code questions will not appear on quizzes. However, you will certainly still need to write code to complete the checkbox, numeric, and model fitting questions.

Unlike homework, with unlimited attempts, you will have multiple but limited attempts at each question. Additionally, you will only ever have one variant of a question. That is, follow-up attempts after an incorrect submission will not have any random elements change.

Also unlike homework, there will be no timeout between submissions.

Some proportion of the questions on the exams will be randomly sampled from the relevant homework assignments.

You will have five attempts for each numeric question:

  • The first two attempts will grant 100% credit.
  • The remaining three attempts will grant decreasing credit: 80%, 60%, 40%

You will have three attempts for each checkbox question:

  • The first attempt will grant 100% credit.
  • The remaining two attempts will grant decreasing credit: 75%, 50%

You will have six attempts for each model fitting question:

  • The first three attempts will grant 100% credit.
  • The remaining three attempts will grant decreasing credit: 80%, 60%, 40%

Like homework, partial credit is possible. Don’t worry too much about how partial credit interacts with the credit ranges above. Importantly know that your score can never go down. You always want to correctly answer questions on attempts with the highest possible credit.

Also like homework, you will be given access to a VSCode Workspace. This will be your only method for accessing Python, so you will need to use it! Any definitions or formulas provided in Workspaces in the preceding homework assignments will be provided. You are responsible for all other information. Model fitting questions will have their own workspaces.

Issues

During an exam, there are two types of issues you could encounter:

  • CBTF specific issues
  • CS 307 specific issues

Issues specific to the CBTF are those that are outside the control of the course staff, for example an inoperable keyboard or an inability to access PrairieLearn. If you encounter an issue of this type, you must immediately raise your hand, alert a proctor, and file an incident report if they are unable to solve the issue. Without an incident report, there is no record of the issue, and we will be unable to make an adjustments or modifications.

Issues specific to CS 307 are those that are caused by the questions on the exams themselves. If you believe there is an issue with an exam question, first, realize that it is much more likely that you are simply not solving the problem correctly. The exams questions are thoroughly tested before each exam. It is probably a better use of your time to simply start over and try the question again.

If you would like to contest an exam question, you must:

  • Be sure your work for the question is clearly marked in the provided notebook within the VSCode Workspace.
  • Use the “Report an error in this question” and clearly indicate the issue, and where the course staff can find your work in the provided notebook.

Failure to do any of the above will make it nearly impossible to return any lost points if indeed the question is broken.

Additional information about what to do during exam if you encounter an issue can be found on the CBTF website.

DRES Accommodations

If you have accommodations identified by the Division of Rehabilitation-Education Services (DRES) for quizzes, please upload your letter via the CBTF website. Letters can take up to five days to process, so please upload as soon as possible.

Once accepted, your accommodations will be automatically applied within PrairieTest and automatically administered in the CBTF!

TODO: Add note about practice exam.