9/20/04

A student asks (Already!):

     Can you please tell me a practical way of remembering
     the structure of gates, because I heard we have to know how to
     draw those on the test. Thanks once again.
     Regards,
      << name withheld to protect the horrible -- aka test-conscious >> 

Already it starts! What do we have to memorize for the test?

So, I may as well tell you now, although the TAs can fill you in since almost all of them have been in my class and gone through this.

I cannot give you a closed book exam, since then you will waste your time memorizing everything in sight, and while it worked in high school, it is a prescription for failure here.

I cannot give you an open book exam, since then you will assume the answer is somewhere in your notes or book, and you will waste your time flipping through pages looking for the answer which is not there.

So, what to do?

Answer: the exam is closed book BUT you are allowed to bring in three sheets of paper containing anything you want on it, provided it is original writing in your own handwriting. No printouts, no xerox copies, no typing. ONLY handwritten by you. Pages can be as large as you want, writing can be as tiny as you want. You are allowed to refer to these three pages throughout the exam.

So, anything you feel compelled to memorize, just write it on one of these three pages and don't waste your time memorizing.

It turns out life after graduation is a lot like that. You will have to solve problems, and the answers will not be there in the book. But the books will contain lots of formulas, definitions, tables, etc. that will be useful to solving the problems.

OK?

Good luck with 306.

Yale Patt