Office of Digital Humanities

DigHT 210
Fundamentals Exam “Debugging” Assignment

In real life programming there is always a debugging phase after the testing phase. It is only in school that you never get a chance to fix your mistakes. In this assignment you will be “debugging” your Fundamentals Exam stack.

When I graded your exams I went through them thoroughly and scored each part according to a scoring rubric. In the chart below you will see each part broken down according to the requirements given in the exam. Each requirement has a certain number of possible points. Next to the possible points I list the points I gave you on each requirement. Your task will be to discover why you lost points and to attempt to correct your errors.

This assignment is separate from the exam—you can’t change your exam score. Here is how I score this assignment: The total number of possible points for this assignment is 15. Whatever percentage of your errors you correct, will determine how many of the 15 point you get. For example, if you got an 88 on the exam and you correct all 12 points, you get all 15 points for this assignment; if you only correct 8 out of 12, you get 67% of 15, or 10 points, and so forth. Each error that you fail to correct will lower your score for this assignment commensurately. (Note: If you got 100% on the exam you don't have to do anything—you automatically receive the 15 points.)

You may take as much time as you like for this assignment, but it must be returned one week from the date given for full credit.

To avoid a "double jeopardy" situation in which you are penalized twice for the same error, I am providing a safety valve in case you just can't find the errors. In the Keys folder on the server there is a stack called FundExamKey2010.rev. It contains my solutions to all of the problems on the exam. If you just cannot figure out what you did wrong, you may consult the key. (Remember, however, that my solutions may differ from yours in some cases. That does not mean yours is wrong. In programming there may often be more than one correct solution to a problem.)

You may consult any source in making your corrections, including the instructor, TA, other students, and the exam key. But please try to find and correct your errors by yourself before you resort to these sources, since this will provide the very best learning experience.

If you find an error that I missed in the grading and point it out you will not lose points.

If you find something in your exam that I marked incorrect, but you think is correct, please ask me about it. If you can convince me you're right, I will adjust your exam score.

This is what you should turn in:

1. A copy of your exam stack, renamed something like "YourName--FundExam-Corrections".
2. On each card, make the corrections to the mistakes you found.
3. On each card you should add a text field in which you list the errors you found and how you fixed them. Don't get too verbose in this list--just short statements will suffice.
4. On the first card please tell me whether you resorted to checking the exam key stack to make your corrections. This is simply for my own information.There is no penalty for checking the key!

Turn this in to the Assignment Drop folder one week from the date given.

Fundamentals Exam Scoring Rubrik