At a glance
Individual · three hours, in the examination period · written and on paper · covers the whole course, weighted toward what you have done most
What it is for
Everything else you hand in this semester is work you had time to polish, help with, and rewrite. This is the one piece of evidence that is unambiguously yours, produced under the same conditions as everyone else’s. That is its whole purpose — not to catch anybody out.
What is on it
| Part | Roughly | What it asks you to do |
|---|---|---|
| A. Reading code | 25% | Trace programs by hand and state the exact output |
| B. Finding faults | 20% | Identify syntax, logic, and run-time errors, and say which is which |
| C. Writing code | 35% | Write programs on paper: decisions, loops, lists, strings, functions, files |
| D. Systems and society | 20% | Short answers on hardware, software, safe practice, and the impact of computing |
Part C is the largest because writing programs is what this course is. Part A is next because you cannot write what you cannot read.
What to expect, precisely
- Tracing. A program of fifteen to twenty-five lines and a table to fill in, one row per pass. The method is exactly Trace It and the tracing technique from Testing and Debugging.
- Errors. Short programs containing a fault each. Name the fault, say whether it is syntax, logic, or run-time, and give the fix.
- Writing. Two or three programs from a specification, on paper. Sensible names, correct structure, and a comment where a reader would otherwise have to guess. Perfect syntax is not the bar — a marker who cannot follow your intent is.
- Short answers. A component matched to a requirement; source code against machine code; interpreter against compiler; a protection measure and what it stops; one environmental or career question.
How to prepare
- Re-trace, do not re-read. Take three programs from Units 1 to 3 and trace them cold. Reading code you already understand builds confidence and nothing else.
- Rewrite one program from each unit from scratch, without looking at the original, then compare. This finds the parts you had absorbed from your own file rather than learned.
- Work the practice sets in the Exercises pages you did not finish the first time — they were written for this.
- Your journal is a study guide. Code Journal entries about bugs you fixed are the most efficient revision in the course, because you wrote them at the moment of understanding.
- Come to the review classes with questions, not with a hope of being told what is on it. This page is what is on it.
On paper, without a machine
Write the way you would type, indentation and all. If you get stuck on a detail like the exact method name, write what you mean, name it clearly, and carry on — a program with one imperfect line and a clear structure earns nearly full marks; a blank page earns none.
How this is assessed
Against the same expectations as everything else. Per How Marks Work, the final thirty per cent of your mark is this examination and Launch Day together — twenty and ten — so that neither one afternoon nor one project decides your grade alone. The other seventy comes from the semester’s work, The Community App included.