Progress of an exam

Briefing

The exam starts with a short briefing (15 minutes) about the organization of the exam. The explanation starts punctually and is projected by the supervisors in the examination room, so make sure you arrive in the examination room on time. Best to be there at least 5 minutes before the start of the briefing. During the briefing you can ask questions to the supervisors present.

During the briefing you can also digitally sign the following two documents via Dodona:

• Agreements for exams (this document)
• Sworn declaration

Digital signing is done by clicking the “Mark as read” button underneath the documents. You can also do this during the exam itself. You have only validly participated in the exam if you have digitally signed these two documents.

Exam

After the briefing you get exactly 3 hours and 30 minutes to solve 3 assignments. These assignments are in line with the exercises that we presented you during the hands-on sessions.

At the start of the exam, you will be given access to a closed exam environment on Dodona with the digital version of the assignments. There, you can submit your solutions for the assignments.

During the exam you can continuously submit solutions via Dodona. The number of times you submit will not be taken into account during assessment. Only the last solution submitted before the deadline will be assessed. The way in which the final score for the course is calculated can be found under “calculation of examination mark” in the course sheet and in the introduction to the Dodona course.

From five minutes before the deadline expires, you will see a notification on Dodona that the end of the exam is approaching. Solutions submitted after the deadline will not be taken into account during assessment.

During the exam you can continuously ask questions to the supervisors present in the examination room.

If corrections, general announcements or additional clarifications need to be made during the exam, this will be done orally in the examination room.

Practical agreements

• during the exam, you are not allowed to communicate with fellow students or other persons, except for the invigilators present
• you take the exam on a UGent-managed computer
  • all activity on the computer is monitored and recorded
  • brightness of the computer screen must allow invigilators to monitor activities on the computer from a distance of 2 meters
• during the exam, you only have access to the following digital resources
  • series with 3 exam assignments in Dodona
  • solutions for assignments you submitted in Dodona
  • course book
  • official Python documentation¹
  • slide shows from lectures
  • sample solutions for mandatory exercises
  • PyCharm IDE (without plugins)
• use of digital communication tools and AI-based tools is not permitted during the exam
• you can bring printed and written sources and use them during the exam (course book, manuals, exercise solutions, summaries, …)
• you can bring scrap paper and writing materials and use them during the exam
• you can bring earplugs or other hearing protectors without active components and use them during the evaluation
  • headphones that play sound are not permitted
• if you are unsure whether you are allowed to use certain tools or resources, you can always explicitly ask the invigilators
• bring your student ID card to the exam
  • you need your student ID card to register your attendance when you start and end the exam
  • place your student ID card visibly next to you on the table during the exam
• to submit a blank exam, simply notify the instructor by email prior to the exam
  • if you do so, you will not need to physically show up to take the exam pro forma

Helpful tips

• try to plan in advance how much time you initially want to spend on each assignment
• total duration of exam: 3 hours and 30 minutes
  • the available time to solve the assignments is kept tight deliberately
  • depending on your level of mastering the programming skills, you will be able to solve a larger part of the assignments and earn more points
  • if you have time to spare, check whether there are better (read: shorter or more efficient) solutions than the ones you have worked out so far; better solutions yield extra points (if necessary also comment on the improvements made during the process)
• use comments in your source code
  • give pointers on the structure and non-trivial passages of your code to the person who will review your code
• under “previous editions” in the introduction to the Dodona course, you’ll find links to previous editions of the course, including the assignments that were presented as mandatory exercises or during evaluations and exams
  • use these assignments to get an idea of the kind of assignments you can expect during the exams
  • use these assignments to get prepared for the exam, because you can also submit solutions for those assignments