CS 481: About Test #1

Here is the breakdown of the 36 grades in Test #2:

2 earned at least 30 but below 40
1 earned at least 30 but below 40
6 earned at least 40 but below 50
7 earned at least 50 but below 60
7 earned at least 60 but below 70
6 earned at least 70 but below 80
3 earned at least 80 but below 90
3 earned at least 90 but below 100
1 earned 102 (congratulations!)

Overall, the median was 65, the low grade was 22.5, and the high grade was 102 (from an undergraduate -- in fact, 5 of the top 6 grades were from undergraduates). For graduate students (13 tests), the median was 68, the high grade 90, the low grade 41; for undergraduate students (23 tests), the median was 61, the high grade 102, the low grade 22.5.

Rough equivalent in letter grades are as follows. For graduate students, below 60 is failing (5 tests); 61 to 70 is a C (4 tests), 71 to 85 is a B (3 tests), and 85 and above is an A (1 test). For undergraduate students, below 50 is failing (5 tests); 51 to 59 is a D (4 tests), 60 to 70 is a C (3 tests), 71 to 79 is a B (3 tests), and 80 and above is an A (6 tests).

One recurring problem was purely mechanical: many of you did not know powers of 2 or the value of 1K or 1M or 1G, or had trouble with percents, or confused nanoseconds, microseconds, and milliseconds. The ability to do quick "back-of-the-envelope" calculations is crucial in design and so should be cultivated at every opportunity.

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