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  • Exams in study year 2021–2022

    The following exams are available for the study year. Exam dates will be updated here as the are arrangements are decided.

    • December 8th to 21st, 2021: Course exam using the EXAM studio platform (with instructions below), enroll to exam 9.12.2021
    • Retake exam in Feb 2021, approximately during Week 8 (arrangements subject to change)
    • Retake exam in May 2021, approximately during the last week of Period V (arrangements subject to change)

    The following instructions are available on this page:

    The bolded parts of these instructions are available during the exam as an attachment, but you should familiarize yourself with them beforehand so that you have more time to think during the exam. Information related to the contents of the exam is available in the Course Requirements section. 

    The EXAM studio offers exams in a separate space under video surveillance with a restricted environment. EXAM's own instructions are here, describing the general process and instructions. There are differences that concern the exam of this course, and they are given below. Here you can find a guidance video of the EXAM Studio. The usage terms are given in Student's EXAM guide, under Guidelines and terms of use for Exam.

    The exam arrangements are done by university lecturer Sanna Suoranta (responsible teacher of the Finnish version of the exam).

    The instructions below are crated November 8th, 2021 and updated November,15th.

    Modifications:
    • How to get parenthesis and other characters (15.11.2021)

    • Enrolment to the exam

      1. First, make sure you are enrolled in the exam in Sisu.
      2. If you do not need special arrangements, go to 3. If you need special arrangements, please check the additional instructions at the end of this page and then send an email to barbara.keller@aalto.fi.
      3. Check that your Aalto account works and that you are able to sign in to your Aalto email. 
      4. Go to the address https://exam.aalto.fi and log in with your Aalto account. You can change the language to English from the bottom of the left-hand menu. Note that your Aalto username is NOT your email address – instead, it is a short word (about eight characters long) usually combining the first few letters of your surname and first name (possibly also including a number). Once you have logged in, accept the terms and conditions of the EXAM studio.
      5. Choose "Exams" from the left-hand menu and search using the course code CS-A1113.
      6. Choose the appropriate exam, and press the button "Book an Exam time". The exam is organized at certain times (listed above). You may book your slot up to 30 days ahead.
      7. For the room, choose OK1Y339A (3rd floor Y-wing of Otakaari1), OK1M321, or OK1M327 (3rd floor M-wing of Otakaari 1) NOTE! Machines at Lento have not been tested for this course exam.
      8. Choose a time that suits you. The exam takes at most 175 minutes.
      9. You'll receive a reservation confirmation to your email. Check it, and note the number of the computer you have been given. Your exam will only work on that computer.
      10. Prepare for the exam and read the rest of the instructions on this page before the exam.
      11. Check more instructions from the course homepage before attending the exam in case something has changed (due to the pandemic situation). 
      Changing or canceling the exam reservation

      For changing or canceling your EXAM studio reservation, choose three dots on the right of your EXAM studio reservation. The first one is for changing the time and the second for canceling the reservation. (Pictures can be found from the Exam's instruction page that is unfortunately only available in Finnish.)

    • Arriving to the Exam

      1) Entering the building at Otakaari 1 (Undergraduate Centre / "Kandidaattikeskus")

      Come to the main door (map below) early enough before your reservation starts. Remember to go to the bathroom beforehand (the main lobby of Otakaari 1 has several toilets, up on the third floor there is only one), because you cannot leave during the exam.

      You may wear a mask during the exam (coronavirus information for students is here). However, if/when someone comes to check your identity, you must show your face.

      Your exam time starts when your reservation starts, and your reservation is 175 minutes from that time, regardless of when you actually start taking the exam. When your reservation ends, the computer logs you out automatically. The EXAM studio shows the time that is left in the upper-right corner of the screen. Remember to submit your answers to A+ during the reservation, because there is no last-minute automatic save function. 

      2) Outside the exam room

      Leave your belongings in a locker. Take only your ID card or student card (a phone is not allowed for this because it cannot be shown during the exam) because your identity may be checked during the exam. Do not take anything else to the exam with you (check the EXAM instructions).

      Before entering the room, check your reservation for the number of the machine you are supposed to use. Next to the door, there is a map that shows the locations of the machines. You can only use the computer you have reserved, others will not let you log into the exam.

      3) Exam time: start and end

      You can enter the exam classroom when your exam time begins. The door is open.

      Your exam time starts exactly when marked on your reservation, and it lasts 175 minutes from that time, regardless of when you actually begin working. 

      When your exam time comes to an end, the computer will close down. The EXAM studio will show the remaining time in the upper right-hand corner. Remember to turn in your answers to A+ within the time limit, because there is no automatic turn-in at the end of the allotted time. 

      4) Logging into the EXAM machine

      First, log in using the common account, not your own Aalto account. The common account’s username is on your cubicle wall. The password is on the bottom of the computer display.

      Then, once the computer is logged in and has launched a browser window, you log in to the browser with your own Aalto account. This will redirect you to the front page of the EXAM platform (picture below). If the computer does not let you access the browser, you are using the wrong computer. 

      exam frontpage

      (Despite the language of the user interface in these pictures, the UI will be in English during your exam.)

      5) Starting the exam and the A+ system

      The EXAM system randomly assigns you questions that you will have to answer. Any answers to any other questions are not graded. For this reason, navigate between the tasks ONLY on the EXAM platform. However, the answers still need to be submitted to the A+ system.

      exam page for task


      Each EXAM studio question has a link to the A+ system (this is similar to the A+ platform that was used during the course but it is not the same instance). You can access the questions by clicking the link, but the first time A+ will require logging in. (The EXAM studio A+ is not connected to A+ used during the course, so it does not know you nor what you have done earlier during the course.)

      When logging into A+, choose "Aalto-yliopiston käyttäjät" (users of Aalto university) i.e. Aalto login (A+ uses single sign-in, so it probably won’t require a password, because you already logged in to the EXAM studio).

      sign into a+

      In addition, you have to "ilmoittautua kurssille" (enroll to the course). So, when you try to submit your first answer, you will get a warning. Click the "ilmoittaudu" (enroll) button to proceed.

      enroll

      After this, you may end up on the front page of A+, but do not get confused. Go back to EXAM and press the link to the question, so you can get back to your task.

      Always check that the assignment on the EXAM studio window has the same title as the assignment on A+. Only the assignment that the EXAM studio randomly assigned you will be checked.

      do not navigate in a+

      The course material is available in the menu on the left, and there is also a link to Python documentation.

    • Writing your answers and submitting the tasks

      The exam environment

      EXAM studio uses its own "Safe Exam Browser" environment, which is restricted. It is based on the Windows operating system. Note (particularly for Mac users): some familiar buttons do not work the same (and the mouse scroll wheel works the other way). The Finnish keyboard layout for Windows is as follows:


      The EXAM environment utilizes the Finnish keyboard layout. If you are not familiar with it, the above diagram shows some common character locations. The most useful ones are also listed below.

      Hold down Alt Gr to type the characters that are marked on the bottom right of the keys on this keyboard diagram (blue), e.g. the following examples:

      • Hold Alt Gr and press 7 results in {
      • Hold Alt Gr and press 8 results in [
      • Hold Alt Gr and press 9 results in ]
      • Hold Alt Gr and press results in {
      Hold down Shift ⇧ to type the characters that are marked on the top left of the keys on this keyboard diagram, e.g. the following examples:

      • Hold Shift and press 1 results in !
      • Hold Shift and press 2 results in
      • Hold Shift and press 3 results in #
      • Hold Shift and press 5 results in %
      • Hold Shift and press 7 results in /
      • Hold Shift and press 8 results in (
      • Hold Shift and press 9 results in )
      • Hold Shift and press 0 results in =
      • Hold Shift and press (next to 0 key) results in ?
      • Hold Shift and press (next to Enter key) results in *
      • Hold Shift and press . results in :
      • Hold Shift and press - (between period . and Shift on the bottom right) results in _


      PyCharm in the exam

      On the bottom of the screen, there is an icon for PyCharm that you can use to write and run your code. Other programs are not available. If you have not used PyCharm during the course, it is strongly recommended that you install it on your own computer and try it out before the exam.

      pycharm icon

      When you run the PyCharm for the first time, it asks you to accept the license (nothing else can be done).

      You can create new files by clicking the right button of the mouse on the Project part of the window. Name your files so that you can easily find them later for submission (more below).

      new file

      You can write all your answer files to the same project (despite that the exam tasks talk about separate projects), you do not need many projects. However, each task should have its own file (and you have two files with specific names for the fifth task).

      Running the programs can be done through the menu (Run → Run) or with the right mouse button, this time clicking it within the coding window. They can also be run with Ctrl+Shift+F10. The Debug option is also in the same menu. The output of the run code will appear in the bottom part of the PyCharm window.

      running code

      Navigating between the task webpage and PyCharm

      The Exam environment opens the A+ task page to the right. If you shrink it a bit vertically, you can see the clock in the Exam. If you open PyCharm after this, it is handy place it on the left. The windows fit side by side, especially if you close the Project part of the PyCharm. 


      changing between windows

      You can also navigate between different windows by clicking on the button in the bottom-left corner:



      Copying given template files into PyCharm

      Some of the tasks come with either text files for testing purposes or Python files as templates for code. These can be copied to PyCharm by clicking the “Näytä pohjatiedosto” (Show template file) button on the title bar of the A+ assignment. This will open a window, and the code in the window can be copied by pressing the blue “Copy to clipboard” button near the top of the window. After copying the code, switch to your PyCharm (with an empty python file open) and press CTRL+V (hold down CTRL and press V) to paste the code.

      moving code from A+ to pycharm


      Submitting the answers to A+ for grading

      A+ does the initial grading, giving feedback similarly as in the course assignments. Try to not get stuck on one task for too long!

      In order to get the initial grading, you have to submit your answer. For this, you have to know where that file exists. PyCharm's Project window shows the path to the location where the files are stored. You need this information when you choose which file to submit. 

      location

      When you press the “Lähetä” (submit) button in A+, you get a file system dialog that you can use to find the file. The default PyCharm directory can be found from the folder aalto-exam -> PycharmProjects:


      Inside the folder PycharmProjects, you can find the project directory. Inside this are the files you wrote for the exam tasks:

       

      A+ gives feedback the same way as during the course. Each task can be returned 99 times. For safety, it is good to submit even unfinished answers, especially in tasks that have several parts (this can give partial points, depending on the task).

      Remember to go back to the EXAM system between the tasks! Do not navigate between tasks using A+.

    • Course materials available

      During the exam, you will have access to the preceding instructions as a file on the EXAM platform.

      In addition, the course materials (excluding the assignments and their answers) are available on A+ by clicking the Course materials (“Kurssimateriaali” in Finnish) link on the left-hand side. The same menu has a link to the Python documentation (https://docs.python.org/3.7/), which can also be used during the exam. In addition, there is a link to a page displaying the current points, but be careful when clicking on this, so you don’t accidentally switch to the wrong task. The page shows how many points you have been automatically given by A+ for each task.

      You can quickly jump between windows using ALT+TAB. Using CTRL+F to browse the materials does not work.

      Exam structure and timing of exercise solutions

      The EXAM system assigns each student exercises to complete.

       The exam will consist of six exercises:

      • A small coding exercise: A whole program (14 points)
      • Fix the codes: Four snippets of code that must be corrected (20 points)
      • A slightly bigger exercise: A whole program (20 points)
      • An explanation exercise with code snippets to explain (20 points)
      • A object-oriented programming exercise (25 points)
      • Feedback. Feedback will grant you one point, if you have also given verbal feedback for three exercises in the exam in addition to a time estimate (note that course feedback will be separate) (1 point)

      The exercises are mostly similar to ones seen on previous iterations of this course's sister course, CS-A1111, so you might want to check tenttiarkisto.fi for old exams. Total points for the exam will be 100. Passing requires 50 points.

      You should watch out during the exam that you do not get caught up doing one exercise for too long. You can return to previous exercises during the exam, and you do not have to complete exercises in order. 

      You may receive points for non-functional code even if A+ does not grant them if you have clearly started solving the exercise correctly but have not managed to make it functional. Final grading will be performed by course staff, A+ only gives initial points.

      You may run and debug your code with PyCharm during the exam. A+ grants initial points for the coding exercises as well as hints for fixing the solution.

      Remember to also submit your exercises to A+ within the exam time! There is no automatic saving of working files in the exam. Only exercises submitted to A+ can be evaluated. Every exercise has 99 submission attempts.


    • Submitting the exam i.e. ending the exam attempt

      When you have submitted all of your exercises to A+, you can confirm this at A+ at Exercise results in the navigation. Only exercises submitted to A+ can be evaluated.

      When you are finished, return your exam in the EXAM studio. After a while, the system signs you out automatically. This also occurs automatically when 175 minutes have passed since the beginning of the time slot you booked. Therefore, it does not matter if you do not have the time to press submit in EXAM studio. The critical part is that you have submitted your answers to the exercises to A+.


      Exam grading and publishing of the results

      Evaluation will be performed by a human, A+ only gives initial points. You may also receive points for non-functional code. A+ gives 20 points for the first submission of the explanation exercise, which will change when the exercise is evaluated.

      Exams will be graded at the end of the examination period when all attempters have had a chance to take the exam. Despite the automatized help, this will take time as every solution is read manually. (According to the rules of Aalto, exam evaluation may take up to four weeks unless the head of the department grants the teacher more time for good reasons.)

      Results will be published to the course's page on MyCourses, not to the EXAM system.

      Thank you for reading these instructions. Good luck with the exam!


    • Special Arrangements

      If you need any special arrangements and cannot complete the usual English exam:

      1. Contact your department's learning services if you have, for example, dyslexia, ADHD, or some other learning difficulty or disability which prevents you from partaking in teaching in the usual way. Learning services will grant a certificate about the need for special arrangements to those who need it. Individual course teachers do not judge, for example, the effect of different diagnoses on equal treatment of students; that is performed by learning services.
      2. The exam of this course can only be completed under supervised conditions, but the EXAM platform also has available an unobstructed space where the exam-taker is alone. This space can be booked only with an aforementioned good reason for which the teacher has given the permission to book the space.
      3. Log in to the EXAM system: https://exam.aalto.fi
      4. Send the certificate you received in step 1 to the course teacher by email (barbara.keller@aalto.fi) and say that you need special arrangements.
      5. The teacher will create a personal exam for you, for which you may book a time slot at the unobstructed space (XS OK1M131).
      6. For example, if you have been granted 4 hours of exam time:
        • Book two consecutive 2 hour (115 min) time slots at the aforementioned space. If the slots are not consecutive, only exercises submitted during the first slot will be evaluated.
        • The first one should be called "XS Y1-kurssin tentti erityisjärjestelyin (versio x A)" (i.e. XS Y1 course exam with special arrangements (version x A) but please use the Finnish text provided), and the second similar but with (versio x B), where x is the same number in both. (If you do not do this, the exam exercises will change between the slots, and only the exercises of version A will be evaluated.)
        • Remember to submit your exercises on A+ before the end of the first time slot ends! EXAM does not save files in-between even in this case. You may retrieve your half-finished exercises from A+ via the light blue "my submissions" part at the top of the exercise. The window which opens will have a section "Tiedostot" / Files, from which previously submitted files may be saved, or opened and copied to clipboard and pasted to PyCharm.
        • You may use the bathroom between these two slots, i.e. after two hours have elapsed.
      7. Read the instructions above concerning the usual exam.


    • Table of content of the material available in the exam

      The course material without assignments and their answers is available in the exam both in Finnish and in English. In the examA+ navigation on the left, press "Kurssimateriaali" (course material) and scroll down. The following sections from (normal course's) A+ is available:


      10. Round 1, The basics of Python programming


          10.1 Computers and computer programs

          10.2 Giving single commands to the Python interpreter

          10.3 Saving a program as a file

          10.4 Writing and running programs with IDE

          10.5 Variables, assignment statements and user input

          10.6 Data types

          10.7 Arithmetic operations

          10.8 The assignment statement revisited

          10.9 Dividing a program into functions

          10.10 Example programs

          10.11 Comments


      11. Round 2, Control statements: conditions and loops


          11.1 The conditional statement ”if”

          11.2 Logical operators

          11.3 Nested and chained if-statements

          11.4 The repetition statement

          11.5 The while-loop

          11.6 Example: A selection statement inside a loop

          11.7 An iteration example


      12. Round 3, More about control statements


          12.1 The for-loop and the range()-function

          12.2 Formatted output

          12.3 Mortgage example


      13. Round 4, Functions


          13.1 Simple examples

          13.2 Parameters

          13.3 Return values

          13.4 Repetition: Parameters, variables and return values

          13.5 Summary of function usage


      14. Round 5, Lists


          14.1 Lists

          14.2 A list as a function parameter and as a return value


      15. Round 6, More about lists, strings and dictionaries


          15.1 List search

          15.2 Other functions and methods for handling lists

          15.3 Multidimensional lists

          15.4 Strings

          15.5 Tuples

          15.6 Dictionaries

          15.7 Values and references

          15.8 Summary of data structures presented in this chapter


      16. Round 7, Exceptions and processing files


          16.1 Exceptions

          16.2 Handling text files

          16.3 Reading a text file


      17. Round 8, More file processing


          17.1 Writing to a file

          17.2 File usage

          17.3 Summary of important commands


      18. Round 9, Classes and objects


          18.1 What are objects?

          18.2 Class definition and usage

          18.3 Another example

          18.4 An object as a method parameter: class Vector

          18.5 Attribute privacy

          18.6 Lists as object attributes

          18.7 Lists of objects

          18.8 Summary of classes and objects