CITS2002 Systems Programming  
 

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Final examination information - 2023

  • The final exam contributes 50% of your assessment in the unit.

  • The duration of the final exam will be 2 hours (no additional reading time).

  • The exam paper will be taken by students in-person, on campus.

  • The final exam is closed-book - no lecture notes, textbooks, or electronic devices.

  • You may bring to the examination AT MOST ONE A4 (DOUBLE-SIDED) PAGE of your own handwritten or typed notes.

  • The final exam will consist of 6 pages and 5 QUESTIONS. Each question has an equal value of 10 MARKS. You are required to attempt ALL 5 QUESTIONS.

    Questions may have one part (contributing 10 marks) or two parts (contributing 5 marks each).
    NOTE: In recent years, the exam paper has contained either 4 or 6 questions, but the exams were run under different conditions.

  • All questions will be programming- or short-answer style questions (no multiple choice).

  • A question may require you to draw a diagram.

  • The C code and functions that you write will not be rigorously assessed for its syntactic accuracy, although clear use of identifier names, control-flow, and indentation, will be sought to assess the intention of your answers.

  • Write your answers in the standard 10-page examination answer book. You may also use your answer book for any rough working; clearly identify your rough working, and it will be ignored when marking.

  • During the exam there is no opportunity to ask for any clarifications so, near the top of any answer, state any (unusual) assumptions that you have made in answering each question.

  • Questions may be drawn from material covered in lectures; from recommended reading (textbooks); from laboratory, workshop, and project work, and their sample solutions.

  • The focus of the 5 questions will be -

    • 2-3 questions on features provided by the C11 programming language, including C11 features and their interaction with operating systems facilities, assessed through your writing one or more short functions meeting a stated requirement;

    • 2-3 questions focusing on operating system fundamentals, assessed by reading your definitions and explanations of operating system features;

  • You can find past exam papers via the UWA Library website - search OneSearch for CITS2002
    They have past papers from 2014-2022.

  • Sample answers to past exam papers will not be provided.

The 2020 final exam paper PDF (2020 marks - average of 24.5 / 40, stddev of 7.8),
attempt all 4 questions, all questions relevant for 2023.

The 2021 final exam paper PDF (2021 marks - average of 28.2 / 50, stddev of 9.1),
attempt all 4 questions, all questions relevant for 2023, except Q5(i).

The 2022 final exam paper PDF (2022 marks - average of 27.7 / 50, stddev of 10.0),
attempt all 5 questions, all questions relevant for 2023.

All may be used as representative sample final papers.
When discussing these questions on help2002, please include the year and question number in the subject line of your post.

Good luck,

Chris McDonald.

The University of Western Australia

Computer Science and Software Engineering

CRICOS Code: 00126G
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