CS 184: Foundations of Computer Graphics
HOW TO PREPARE FOR IN-CLASS EXAMS
Review all previous Quizzes, Warm-up Questions and Exams
We are not trying to surprise you! By now it should be quite clear
what we expect you to know and understand. The previous exams should
give you a good sample of what to expect in the midterm / final
exam. Whatever we felt was important material in the first half of the
course, we still consider important.
Thus, take the time to carefully review all the exams so far. Make sure
that you fully understand the problems and how to solve them. If you missed
them the first time around, try to analyze why that happened and make a
plan to prevent it from happening again. Take some of the key problems,
say one concerning transformations, and try to solve them again in some
modified form. Think about other similar questions that you would ask if YOU were the instructor.
Think through the conceptual aspects of the Lab Assignments
The lab assignments cover important concepts and algorithms in computer
graphics. Make sure you understand what you - or your partner - have been
doing on all the assignments. Try to understand the tasks that you implemented
not just at the level of your code, but in more generality, and the way
it might be attacked by a professional team of programmers that have the
goal to make a robust usable product.
Review the Topics List 2011
In this course we have gone through a fair number of topics and concepts.
Check that each topic on the list produces some meaningful mental image
in your mind. All the topics are related to and tied together by the various modeling-viewing-rendering
pipelines. Try to see the various topics in this context and try to understand
how they fit into this framework.
Prepare Sheet of Personal Exam Notes
Remember that you may bring one (TWO for Final Exam) double-sided sheet (size 8.5 by 11 inches)
of your own personal notes to the exam, but not books, calculators, or
other help devices. If your note-sheet is to be of any help to you, it
will take some care preparing it. Based on the list of topics, and with
the aid of the on-line lecture/lab/discussion notes, as well as the course
textbook, you want to pick out the most important definitions and formulas
and put them down on your note-sheet in a well-organized manner. (Just
by organizing this sheet you will get a very valuable preparation for the
exam.)
If you like, you may label your first three fingers of your right hand
"x", "y", and "z".
Be calm, well-rested, alert
The above preparations should be done several days in advance of the exam.
"Cramming" the night before the exam is not productive. You will need the
problem-solving part of your brain during the exam, not just your memory.
Thus you should be well rested, and have plenty of oxygen in your lungs.
Get a good night's sleep, and then take a walk the last half hour before
the exam.
In the exam itself, (try to) stay calm, but alert. Read all questions
carefully, definitely more than once! If appropriate (most of the time),
make a little sketch to help you to visualize the problem situation, then
check all the statements in the exam question again. Finally, look for
a simple way to solve the problem (there normally is !).
Exam time is quiet time !
To avoid noise and disturbances, I do not allow people to ask question -- or to leave the room (except in a real emergency).
Thus, don't drink too much coffee before the exam, and go to the bathroom before you settle down in the class room.
If a problem statement seems ambiguous (it really shouldn't if you have
actively participated in class), state your dilemma and your
assumptions on your test papers.
Last update of this page: 2011/5/03
Page Editor: Carlo H. Séquin