COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 1 / 23
Course Goals
At the end of COMP1521, we hope that you …
can think like a systems programmer,
with an understanding of the structure of computer systems;
can describe how computers/programs work at a low-level,
with a deep understanding of run-time behaviour; and
are better able to reason about and debug your C programs
Major themes …
software components of modern computer systems
how C programs execute (at the machine level)
how to write (MIPS) assembly language
Unix/Linux system-level programming
how operating systems are structured
introduction to concurrency, concurrent programming
brief overview of virtual memory & caching
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 2/ 23
Course Syllabus and Topics
the basic components of a (MIPS) CPU
how to write programs in (MIPS) assembler
how (C) data structures are represented at machine level
how (C) programming language constructs are implemented as (MIPS) assembler
bit-level operations
representation of integers in fixed number of bits
representation of reals in IEEE754 floating point on
representation of characters as Unicode
systems programming, including:
file operations
processes
introduction to threads/concurrency
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 3/ 23
Assessment
15% Labs
10% Weekly Programming Tests
15% Assignment 1 — due week 7
15% Assignment 2 — due week 10
45% Final Exam
… above marks may be scaled to ensure an appropriate distribution.
To pass, you must:
score 50/100 overall
score 18/45 on final exam
For example … 55/100 overall, 17/45 on final exam⇒ 55 UF not 55 PS
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 4/ 23
Assessment: Labs, Tests
Labs, in weeks 1-5,7-10:
max lab mark: 2 marks with challenge exercises
max lab mark ~1.6 marks without challenge exercises
labs marks summed and capped to give mark /15.
you can get 99% for lab mark without challenge exercises
expectation: most people will get 12+/15
Tests, in weeks 3…10:
max test mark 1.7
best 6 of 8 test marks summed and capped to give mark /10.
expectation: most people will get 7+/10
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 5/ 23
Past Paper: 21T3 Final Exam
The 21T3 COMP1521 Final Exam is available at:
https://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/exam/21t3final/questions
You can complete it as a practice exam. Autotests available.
Sample answers released Friday 29th April, 12:00pm
22T1 exam will use a format similar for at least some questions.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 6/ 23
The 22T1 Final Exam
Exam will be Monday 2 May 09:00 — 12:00 Sydney time
Exam will be released on class web site at 08:50, allowing you some time to read the paper.
You will be emailed a link just before 08:50
Announcements before and during exam will be sent to your UNSW email.
Questions during exam can be sent to cs1521.exam@cse.unsw.edu.au
You will not be able to ask question in the class forum
We will place copies of emailed announcements in the class forum
as an alternative for students whose email is not working
Should look a lot like a weekly test…
except three hours long, and with slightly relaxed conditions.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 7 / 23
Exam Conditions
During the exam…
you must not communicate with anyone via any medium, except for COMP1521 staff;
you must not get help from anyone during this exam, except for COMP1521 staff;
you must not use code-synthesis tools;
you must not communicate your exam answers to any other person, even after the end of the exam.
This is an open-book examination:
you may use your papers or books; you may refer to the course website.
You may not create or modify materials on the Internet.
UNSW has exam prep materials about open-book examinations —
student.unsw.edu.au/open-book-and-take-home-exams
Deliberate violation of exam conditions will be treated as serious misconduct.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 8/ 23
Exam Format
8-15 questions … not of equal difficulty, not worth equal marks.
Each question answered in a separate file.
Some questions may involve writing programs …
some questions may ask you to write C;
some questions may ask you to write MIPS;
other languages not permitted (e.g., Python, C++, Java, Rust, …)
Some questions may not involve coding …
some questions may ask for a short answer,
similar to tutorial questions.
Answers will be submitted with give.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 9/ 23
Exam Format — Programming Questions
For questions that require you to write C or MIPS …
Questions will usually include examples.
You may, or may not, be given starting code, test data, or other files.
Autotests may be available on submission for some questions.
Passing autotests does not guarantee any marks; do your own testing.
There may be no submission tests for some questions.
It is not sufficient to match any supplied examples.
Questions may specify additional restrictions or limitations imposed on your program.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 10 / 23
Programming Questions — Assessment and Marking
Answers will be run through automatic marking software.
Please follow the input/output format shown exactly.
Please make your program behave exactly as specified.
Answers that don’t pass all automatic marking tests are hand marked, guided by automarking.
no marks awarded for style or comments …
but a human marker will be reading your program.
comments only necessary to tell the marker something.
Minor errors will result in only a small penalty.
e.g., an answer correct except for a missing semi-colon would receive almost full marks.
No marks will given unless an answer has a substantial part of a solution (> 33%).
No marks just for starting a question and writing some code.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 11 / 23
Exam Format — Non-coding Questions
Answers must be an specified file, e.g. q1.txt
Question may specify format of file:
e.g., 5 integers, one per line …
follow this format exactly
Question will give you an initial file to complete.
Submit completed file with give.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 12 / 23
Special Exam Conditions
Any extra time specified in your ELS exam conditions is allowed in this exam.
All students see the same exam question text.
The text shows the standard exam deadline, any extra time is additional to it.
give configured to know about extra time …
should show a deadline that includes your extra time
email cs1521.exam@cse.unsw.edu.au immediately during exam
if you have concerns regarding ELS conditions
If ELS conditions prevent you taking exam, let us know.
Likely outcome: supp in T2 week 0.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 13 / 23
Exam clashes
About 7 students have afternoon exams.
UNSW policy is that you may be required to take two exams in one day.
One student has an all-day law exam.
Exams Unit generally don’t consider all-day exams a clash and special consideration is not generally offered.
Otherwise there are no clashes that exams are aware of.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 14 / 23
If It All Goes Wrong…
If a problem occurs during the exam, e.g., internet failure:
Please document the problem as much as possible; e.g., take screenshots
email cs1521.exam@cse.unsw.edu.au ASAP
follow any instructions given (eg. “move to a different quesrion”, “stop the exam”, “submit a special consideration
application”).
keep us updated as the situation evolves (internet returns, computer reboots. etc).
you have to contact us ( cs1521.exam@cse.unsw.edu.au) IMMEDIATELY not an hour later
When possible have a backup plan:
If VScode is down use VLAB.
If VLAB is down use SSH, or work local and copy across once the issue is resolved.
If there is an issue with a question:
refresh the exam page (it might have already been fixed).
email us cs1521.exam@cse.unsw.edu.au.
move to a diferent question.
If the problem is of short duration, we may be able to give you extra time.
Otherwise, you will need to apply for special consideration
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 15 / 23
Special Consideration (“Fit-to-Sit”)
This exam is covered by UNSW’s Fit-to-Sit policy.
By starting the exam, you are saying “I am well enough to finish the exam.”
If you are unwell before the exam:
see a doctor, apply for Special Consideration.
If you become unwell during the exam:
email cs1521.exam@cse.unsw.edu.au ASAP.
If you cannot continue the exam, you will need to see a doctor, and apply for Special Consideration.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 16 / 23
What should you study for?
Important Areas to Focus Your Study On…
anything covered in a standard lab exercise
anything covered in a weekly test
anything covered by the assignments
Less Important Areas
may still be questions on these topic but not many
challenge lab exercises
topics not covered in labs, tests or assignments
complex aspects of creating processes / threads
virtual memory & caching
(might or might not be a question on these)
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 17 / 23
Timeline: Provisional Results
Marking will take time — likely 10-12 days.
When marking is complete, exam marks will be available via class marks database.
I’ll send email announcing this.
You will receive marks for individual exam questions.
You will have an opportunity to have your marking reviewed.
Final results will appear on myUNSW.
T1 Release of Results: Thursday 19 May.
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 18 / 23
Supplementary Assessment
If you miss the original exam due to illness/misadventure,
you may be eligible for a supplementary exam; apply for special consideration.
Schools and individual courses cannot offer supps.
Students with borderline results are not offered supps.
(… except potential graduands.)
Similar format to final exam
Supp exams centrally timetabled for 23-30th May (T2 week 0)
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 19 / 23
What did you like?
One aim of COMP1521 is to give a taste of many topics:
liked MIPS, Assembly?
⇒ COMP3222, COMP3211 …
curious about programming languages?
⇒ COMP3131, COMP3141, COMP3161, …
liked operating systems?
⇒ COMP3231/3891, COMP9242, …
liked concurrency?
⇒ COMP3151, COMP3153, COMP6721, …
liked *nix shell?
⇒ COMP2041
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 20 / 23
Upcoming Course Offerings (2022)
COMP1531: Software Engineering Fundamentals
22T2, 22T3, …
COMP2511: Object-oriented Programming
22T2, 22T3, …
COMP2521: Data Structures and Algorithms
22T2, 22T3, …
COMP3231: Operating Systems
COMP3891: Extended Operating Systems
23T1,
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 21 / 23
myExperience
How did we do?
What worked well?
What could we do better?
Let us know.
myexperience.unsw.edu.au
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 22 / 23
And that’s all!
Good Luck!
I hope what you’ve learnt in this course will be useful.
I hope you get the mark you’re aiming for!
https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs1521/22T1/ COMP1521 22T1 — Course Review, Final Exam 23 / 23