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.

Midterm Exam - March 6th-9th

  • The midterm will be delivered online over a span of 5 days in a set of clusters.
  • The nominal time for the exam is 80 minutes, but students will have 4 hours to complete the exam, 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 - TBD

  • The final will be delivered online on three different days in a set of clusters. Please sign up for an exam slot at https://www.ugrad.cs.cmu.edu/examreservation/.
  • 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 five hours to complete the exam.
  • If you require more time, due to an accomodation, please sign up for an exam slot that will allow enough time (the clusters will be open each day until 10:00pm), and contact the teaching staff beforehand.
  • All regrade requests must be made immediately after you take the exam. You will be allowed up to one hour to complete your regrade requests.
  • We will not accept any reqrade requests once you have left the exam room. No exceptions!