15-213 Introduction to Computer Systems (ICS): Exams

  • There are two online exams: a midterm and a final.
  • All exams are closed book, closed notes.
  • However, you may bring one (1) 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of notes (single-sided), which can be handwritten or typed, to the midterm, and you may bring two (2) sides of 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of notes to the final.
  • Your note sheet may not contain any pre-worked problems.
  • You may also bring blank scratch paper, but you are not permitted to use a calculator or any other electronic aid.
  • There will be questions similar to previous exams, questions that will test your understanding of the lab material, and new types of questions.

Midterm Exam - June 24th

  • The midterm for undergrads will be delivered online in a single day in a set of proctored network-isolated clusters.
  • Students in 15-513 will not need to sign up for an exam time slot, as they will take the exams from a machine local to them.
  • The nominal time for the exam is 80 minutes, but students will have 5 hours to complete the exam if they need the extra time.
  • You are responsible for everything in Chapters 1-3 and Chapter 6 in your textbook.
  • To study, read each chapter and work in study groups to review slides, review your own notes, work the practice problems in the book, and do problems from previous exams. Note that in previous years, Chapter 6 (memory hierarchy) was covered by Exam 2:

Exam 1:


Exam 2:

Final Exam - August 5th

  • You are responsible for everything in Chapters 1-3 and Chapters 6-12 in your textbook. You can expect questions on topics such as, but not limited to, floating point, assembly, stacks, caches, VM address translation, process control, Unix I/O, concurrency, and synchronization.
  • 15-513 students may also take the final exam during orientation week
  • To study, read each chapter and work in study groups to review slides, review your own notes, work the practice problems in the book, and do problems from previous exams. Note that in previous years, Chapter 6 (memory hierarchy) was covered by Exam 2: