The official web page for this course is http://www.austincc.edu/baldwin/Fall07/Cosc1301WebPage/COSC1301.htm

This document may be modified as the semester progresses in order to incorporate new instructions or clarify existing instructions.  Therefore, you should review the instructions immediately before submitting each exam to confirm that you are in compliance.  I will modify the revision date given above whenever I make changes to the document so that you will know when it has been modified.

Purpose of this document

The purpose of this document is to spell out the mechanics of taking and submitting the exams.

The submittal deadlines for the exams are specified in the Schedule.

General

Both of the exams require you to submit written answers on paper.  Neither of the exams require you to submit material in electronic format.  However, both of the exams may require to go online and to process one or more documents as part of the exam.  You will then be required to answer written questions regarding the processed documents.

The exams must be completed in 90 minutes or less.  You will be allowed to use your textbook along with written notes and the computer while taking the exams.

You can take and submit the exams early if you wish to do so, but you must submit the exams by the deadlines specified in the Schedule.

Location and times for taking exams

Exams must be taken in the laboratory during the regularly scheduled period for your class.  Under certain circumstances, exams may also be taken during Prof. Baldwin's office hours.  Prof. Baldwin will post a notice on the Official Web Page for the course when each of the exams is ready and available for you to take.

Review material for Exams

The online Practice Tests, which can be accessed here, are provided to assist you in preparing for each exam.

Although the Schedule page shows the use of the Practice Tests on a one-time basis immediately prior to the submittal deadline for each exam, I strongly encourage you to use these Practice Tests on a continuing basis to reinforce what you are learning with your hands-on projects in the laboratory.

Structure of the exams

Each exam will consist of approximately 25 questions selected at random from the questions in the Practice Tests, and may also contain one or more hands-on computer projects.

The hands-on projects for Exam 1 will be based on the sections of the textbook covered by the Practice Tests for Exam 1  The hands-on projects for Exam 2 will be based on the sections of the textbook covered by the Practice Tests for both Exam 1 and Exam 2.

Possible errors in online Practice Tests

The online Practice Tests were created using a test generator program on a CD that was provided by the author/publisher of your textbook.  Because of the large amount of material covered by the Practice Tests, it is possible that the author/publisher may have made clerical errors in producing the Practice Tests.

I will score your exams using the answers provided by the test generator program.  If your answer for each question matches the answer produced by the test generator, you will get credit for the question, even if there is a clerical error in the Practice Test for that question.

If you elect to challenge any of those answers, you must do so in writing prior to taking the exam, explaining your rationale and referring to the page and paragraph in the textbook that supports your challenge.  When you submit your exam, you must identify any questions for which you have previously mounted a challenge.  If you succeed in convincing me that your answer is correct and the answer provided by the test generator is incorrect, I will give you credit for the question.  I request, however, that you don't waste our time by mounting frivolous challenges.  Before you mount a challenge, please make absolutely certain that you are correct in your assessment.

Please note that I will not respond to challenges after I have submitted your grade for recording at the end of the semester.  You must complete your second exam sufficiently far in advance of that date to make it possible for any challenge that you mount to be resolved by that date.

Different versions of the exams

I will score your exam when you finish it and report your score to you at that time if there is sufficient time before my next schedule commitment.  You will be allowed to take the completed exam with you after I score it and record your grade.

Because you will be allowed to take your exams early, and because you will be allowed to keep the exams after I score them, students will receive different versions of each exam.  Please don't get copies of the exams from someone who has already completed them and use those exams as your study guide.  That may cause you to do very poorly on your exams.  Instead, use the Practice Tests that I have provided along with your textbook to prepare for your exams.

Because you will be allowed to complete and submit the exams early, there will be no grace period and no makeup possibility.  Barring a genuine emergency (such as an extended stay in the hospital) failure to submit an exam by the deadline will result in a maximum allowable score on the exam of zero.

Before you ask, let me tell you that business travel, problems at work, extreme work pressures, divorce, depression, receipt of a "Dear John letter", automobile repairs, flat tires, computer problems, power failures, total eclipses, extremely high outside temperatures, high pollen count, broken lawnmowers, the Super Bowl Schedule, and other assorted and interesting excuses are not valid excuses for failing to meet the submittal deadline.  About the only excuse that I might be willing to accept would be something on the order of extended hospitalization or extended serious illness on the part of you or an immediate member of your family.  If your excuse is not on that order of magnitude, I really don't want to hear it.

-end-

File: ITSE2321ExamInstructions.htm