15-213/18-213/15-513 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) double-sided 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of notes, which can be handwritten or machine-printed, to the midterm, and you may bring two (2) double-sided 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.
  • Note: These practice exams use the IA32 architecture. All present and future exams will solely use the x86-64 architecture. A detailed comparison between the two architectures can be found on the CSAPP website under the ASM:IA32 heading.

Midterm Exam - October 16-19

  • The midterm will be delivered online over a span of 4 days in a set of clusters.
  • The nominal time for the exam is 80 minutes, but students will have 3 hours to complete the exam (plus 1 additional hour for regrade requests), starting from the beginning of the time slot.
  • You are responsible for everything in Chapters 1-3 and Chapter 6 in your textbook.
  • Your TAs will hold an exam review.
  • 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 - December 10-14

  • The final will be delivered online on five different days in a set of clusters.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • You will be given four hours to complete the exam, plus one additional hour for regrade requests.
  • Each day, there is a 10 am slot (ending at 3 pm) and a 3 pm slot (ending at 8 pm). Thus there are 10 possible slots to sign up for, across the 5 days.
  • If you require more than four hours, due to an accomodation, please sign up for a 10 am exam slot and contact the teaching staff beforehand. You will be given back-to-back slots, i.e., 10 am to 8 pm.
  • All regrade requests must be made immediately after you take the exam. For the 10 am slot, regrade requests must be completed by 3 pm. For the 3 pm slot, regrade requests must be completed by 8 pm.
  • We will not accept any reqrade requests once you have left the exam room. No exceptions!