The following are standard instructions for CS 173 exams, including quizzes, full-period midterms, short examlets, and final exams. Please familiarize yourself with them ahead of the first exam.

We'll use the front screen or board to post the ending time, turn-in instructions, bug fixes, and clarifications. If your vision is poor, please sit towards the front. (Ask the proctors for help if you have trouble doing so.)

These are closed-book exams. You may not consult with other students. You may not use notes. All electronic devices including your cell phone and calculator should be turned off and out of reach (e.g. in your bag under the table). Watches are ok, as long as they are simple timekeeping devices.

Please bring any apparent bugs or ambiguity to the attention of the proctors.

Make sure your name and netID are on the exam. If the exam has separate parts (e.g. two separate sheets) or you used extra paper or the final page seems loose, put your name and netID on each separate piece.

Please do not sit next to your friends. It is very easy for others to misread close friends as cheating, which causes students to worry about cheating even when it isn't happening. If we use methods for randomizing seating, do not attempt to defeat them. For examlets lasting only part of the period, you'll have a chance to move back next to your friends after the examlet ends.

Do all work in the space provided, using the backs of sheets if necessary. Please indicate clearly if your work continues onto the back side, or if your work needs to be read in some non-obvious order. See the proctor if you need more paper.

Points may be deducted for solutions which are correct, but hard to read, hard to understand, poorly explained, or excessively complicated. Use your best mathematical style and your best handwriting.

Brief explanations and/or showing work (even when not requested by the problem) may increase partial credit for buggy answers. However, partial credit for multiple-choice questions is very rare.

Unless explicitly requested by the problem, it is not necessary to simplify or calculate out complex constant expressions such as 0.7¹⁵ or 7! or log₃ 2.

If you wish to discuss the exam with other students after it is over, you must first verify that they have already taken the exam, e.g. they aren't about to take a makeup exam.