Midterm 1 Preparation
Here are sample midterm keys for the last two times I taught 461:
Note that we're on roughly the same schedule as in those quarters,
but you shouldn't take these midterms as definitions of the scope of our midterm.
There will be some questions motivated by the assignments. The way
I think of those, if you've done the assignments you're prepared to
answer the questions (although they might take some thinking) - that is,
I don't think you need to go read materials about the topics, beyond
what was needed for the assignments.
There will also be questions about the material in the lectures (up
through last Friday's lecture) and in the readings in the book. Ideas
that I've repeated a hundred times in lecture are likely to come to
mind again when I make up midterm questions, but other, more specific
information from the reading appear on the midterm as well, even if it
has been barely mentioned in lecture: "What is the delay-bandwidth
product, and why is it an important concept?" or "What is a virtual
circuit?"
Most questions will not be so merely factual as the two examples
I just gave. Instead, they're more likely to be along the lines
of "Why do both virtual circuits and packet switching exist?
Why doesn't one always dominate the other? Give examples."
The parts of the book that might be the source of questions are
the readings from the syllabus:
- everything listed as reading for the lectures, up through
Section 3.2 (i.e., excluding later sections of Chapter 3)
- we've discussed some very initial parts of Chapter 4, particularly
around the concepts behind Figure 4.2. The midterm can cover
up through last Friday's lecture material. That doesn't correspond
exactly to any consecutive set of pages in the book, but relates to
the piece of Chapter 4, up through page 241 (up to the sub-sub-sub section
named Fragmentation and Reassembly for those with some other edition).
We'll spend no more than 30 minutes (probably less) in class on Monday doing
a kind of review, as preparation for the midterm.
The midterm will not be intended to test your memory for acronyms.
It's closed everything.
My target length to answer the exam is one hour. You'll have the full
class period to take it.
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