Fri, 12 Nov 2021, 05:59 Re: midterm topics

A student writes:


> Hi Dr. Patt, I would like to know which chapters of the book to study for
> the upcoming midterm exam. I really want to improve my score and
> understanding of the material in this course, so I thought It would be good
> to start studying ahead by a large amount of time.
> 
> <<name withheld to protect the student who wants to know which chapters >>


I decided to share this with all of you in case others wonder about which
"chapters" to study.  I could answer: Chapters 1 through 9 since there could
easily be concepts in any of these chapters that you will need to have mastered
to do well on the exam.  

But the reality is that in most university courses, and certainly in all my 
courses, it is not about studying chapters but rather about mastering concepts.
There is far too much in all the chapters of the book for me to expect you to 
master everything in all the chapters.  You should think of the book as a 
back up to what we talk about in class and what problems we ask you to solve 
on the problem sets.  The book is a good resource to go to if there was 
something in my lecture that you did not understand.  I never expect you to 
understand concepts in the book that I have not explained in class.  So, for 
example, Chapter 8 has a section on queues.  But in class, I only mentioned 
queues in passing so you can expect to not see anything about queues on the 
exam.  Look at the notes you took from my lectures.  Those are the topics 
I expect you to know.  And look at the problem sets.  Those are also topics 
I expect you to know.  

And, since computer engineering builds on what you already know, do not be 
surprised if something you studied before the first exam is something you 
will need to use on the second exam.  You do not have the luxury of scrubbing 
out everything you learned before the first midterm as soon as the first 
midterm ended.  

I hope the above helps.  Good luck on the second midterm.

Yale Patt