ECE 313 Exams, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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ECE 313 Exams

Fall 2021

Weekly Quizzes

Throughout the semester, you will take 12 quizzes via PrairieLearn. Only the highest 9 out of your 12 quiz scores will be factored into your course grade.

In addition, Quiz 0 is offered as a practice quiz, with no course credit. It shows how PrarieLearn quizzes work, and it reviews a couple of topics that come up in the course. It also has some notes to keep in mind during other quizzes, regarding multi-part questions and multi-attempt questions.

Deadline: Each quiz is to be taken at a time of your choosing within five days before the deadline. Once started, you must complete a quiz within 25 minutes, which should be more than enough time. The deadline to finish each quiz is 10:00 pm central time of the day indicated in the course schedule on the main course webpage. Any parts of a quiz that are not finished by the corresponding deadline will get zero credit.

Prepare for the quizzes! We recommend you read the notes and work out the listed problems before taking the quizzes. The questions on the quizzes are very similar to the short answer questions and even numbered problems in the course notes, as identified on the concept matrix on the main website page for the course. Typically a quiz will have two questions with multiple parts. They could be multiple choice, checkbox (select multiple options from a list), or short answer with answers being an integer, a fraction, or a number in decimal form that should be accurate to within two significant digits, or a symbolic expressions.

The questions for each quiz assigned to a particular student are selected at random from a list of possible questions, and the questions themselves may have random variations. Nevertheless, please refrain from discussing the quiz questions with other students until after the quiz period ends.

When you finish your quiz, you will see the correct answers and your score on the quiz. As you are reviewing your quiz at the end, please take a note of any questions you have regarding the quiz as you will not have access to the quiz once are finished. After the quiz period has ended, you may come to office hours and ask specific questions regarding the quiz. You will need to bring specific questions about the quiz as the TAs and instructors will not open your quiz and go through it with you.

Tip: The quizzes test your knowledge of checkpoints on your road to learning how to solve problems for this course. You will be tested over the same material again on the midterms and final exams, without benefit of focusing on a fairly narrow list of problems. So to use your time most efficiently, read the assigned material in the notes, paying special attention to the examples. Attend and participate in class. Work out the assigned problems on your own, looking at the answers only if you are truly stuck. Start early in the week; don't wait until just before the quiz. If you work the problems yourself, you will be familiar enough with the problems to do well on the quizzes. And, more to the point, you will be in a great position for the exams, and for overall success in the course and beyond.

Access to PrairieLearn: If you enroll after the first day of classes, you might not have immediate access to PrairieLearn. Please email the instructor to give you access. This might take a few hours, so do not wait until just before the first deadline to notify the instructor.

Midterm Exams on October 4 and November 8

Midterm 1 solution - regular 
Midterm 1 solution  - conflict

​Midterm 2 solution - regular 
Midterm 2 solution  - conflict

The topics covered in the exams are exactly the ones listed in the course notes.
Exam 1 covers problems, lectures, and reading material for checkpoints 1-5, which are covered in the notes through the end of Chapter 2. You should know the meanings, forms, means, and variances for the key discrete distributions for all the exams, including the final exam.
Exam 2 covers problems, lectures, and reading up until (and including) Section 4.4, with emphasis on Sections 3.1 through 4.4. You should know the meanings, forms, means, and variances for the key continuous-type distributions for Exam 2 (see the inside back cover of the Course Notes).
The final exam will cover problems, lectures, and reading material of all checkpoints, covered in the corresponding notes.

 

The exams will be online, with the logistics announced at a later point. 

 

You may bring one 8.5" by 11" sheet of notes to the midterm exams; and two 8.5" by 11" sheets of notes to the final exam. Both sides of the sheets can be used. The notes can be typed in font size 10 or larger, or written in handwriting of equivalent size or larger. The exams are closed-book and closed-notes otherwise. Calculators are neither necessary nor permitted. The exams are designed so that you will not need a calculator. You are to work out the problems on your exam using pencil and paper, and scan your exam into a file and upload into gradescope at the end of the exam period.

 

You can find copies of old midterm exams and final exams here Previous exams . The exams this semester will be similar in nature and covering the same topics as in recent past semesters.

 

The midterm exam dates were posted before the semester began and you are expected to arrange your schedules to make the exams. However, there will be unavoidable conflicts, such as with an exam for another course. A conflict midterm exam will be scheduled and students with conflicts should send an email to klevick2 at illinois dot edu (for Midterm I) or tejag2 at illinois dot edu (for Midterm II) at least one week before the midterm exam, with "conflict exam" in the subject header, explaining what the conflict is with, to request permission for the conflict exam.

 

If you miss a midterm exam, the following procedures apply: To receive an excused absence, you must either arrange your absence in advance with your instructor (i.e., prior to the absence), or obtain a letter from the Student Assistance Center in the Office of the Dean of Students for a personal excuse due to personal illness, family emergencies, or other uncontrollable circumstances. Excuses such as not being ready for the exam and going to a concert are NOT accepted. E-mail the letter to your section instructor as soon as possible. Scores on midterms due to excused absences will not be made up. Your midterm score for an excused absence will be the weighted average of the other midterm score and final exam score. An unexcused absence from a midterm will be counted as a 0.

 

Regrades: We will use Gradescope to grade the exams, so you will receive an email from Gradescope to log in and see your graded exam. If after looking at the posted solutions, you feel there was an inaccuracy in the grading of your exam, you can request a regrade within Gradescope itself. Do not submit a regrade asking for more partial credit because you did so much work nor because you think something should be worth more/less than it does. Only regrades regarding inaccurate grading will be addressed. Regrades could be subjected to a regrading of the entire exam, no just those parts you indicate. Therefore, your grade could go up or down as appropriate. You will get an email from the instructors after the exams are graded indicating when you can start submitting regrades and when the deadline to submit the regrades is. Make sure you submit regrade requests by the deadline indicated in that email, so do not wait until the last minute to submit it and then run into internet issues.

 

 

Final Exam Scheduling Information: