Exam Preparation

How to Study You may notice after doing a few practice exams you still have a few learning gaps! Go back to fill those learning gaps before you try to re-attempt the exams in your own time.

How do YOU study?? Lets brain storm!

How to Study Print out the exams and re do them When you are done, check your answers write the correct answer in and cross out the wrong ones. The process of doing this should enforce your learning. Allocate yourself a place It could be your room, your uncles garage, etc A library eg. Monash or Springvale or clayton library Allocate yourself time to sit these exams – It can be in the morning, late at night etc – When you can get piece and quiet – Sit for the whole 2:15mins and time yourself, do not go over time!

How to Study Probably the most important PART of the Exams is the Case Study Section C. If you are going to practise anything? Practise them first!! We have enough practise of the other stuff in class

How to Study The Sac try do them again if you get time – Especially the SRS – And the last one – Evaluation – Dont worry about the programming ones Just remember what is in them! Especially the design document

What is on the exam? ? Always a mystery – MultiCh, ShortAns, ExtAns – Changes in setting panel are rare – Prediction is a lost art Better to know most Read the examiners assessment report!

What will be in the exam Everything in the study design is a possibility BUT Things I believe will DEFINITELY be in the exams – All the new things that were not included Last year paper – Things students struggle with in the previous year. TIP: read the examiners assessment report for each year

Study in groups Get together at some ones house, study together exchange ideas. You are ranked! But even if you get the same results on the exam or someone gets higher it doesnt matter. I have already rank you all based on your sac score. Ive spread you out as a group. All 7 of you will give us a better group average if everybody does well. In the exam your not compared in your group, WE are compared with the whole of Australia!

What do you need to know? SD STUDY CHECKLIST! – Areas of Study – Key Knowledge – Key Skills Exam Criteria (read the front of the practise exams) Past Exam Questions – Reports – Solutions Glossary

Things that should DEFINITELY be in the exam PSM – Problem Solving Methodology (analysis, design, develop, evaluate) EFFICIENCY (TIME, COST, LABOR) EFFECTIVENESS – (Accuracy, Attractiveness etc…How well it does something that is – NOT related to TIME, COST, LABOR) Data Collection method (surveys, interviews etc) – who to collect from, what data to collect and why)

SRS – Software Requirement Specification – Scope (what is to be covered in the SRS and what is not to be covered) – Constraints (what – Requirements – Functional and non Functional – Use Case (how the use will interact with the system, associations, initiations, extends and includes) – DFD (entities, process, data flow, database, all the DO and DONTS)

Design Document Stuff – Pseudo-code and Algorithms (pretty much all the programming stuff) – Algorithm Desk Checking – 2D arrays, Sort, Stacks, Queues and Search (most likely bubble sort!!) – Annotated Mock up Screen Design or story boarding – Object Descriptions and Data dictionaries, IPO charts – Evaluation Criteria

More Definitely! Validation (checking existence, length, data type, range, accuracy, format) Testing Table, Testing Data (actual results vs intended results) – Therefore making a change in code error – Always test below and above the condition. Malware (Virus, Worms, Spyware etc) – Measure to protect against through a network! Evaluation – Data Collection methods for evaluation, who to collect from etc. ISO Model vs TCP/IP Model (they WILL focus on physical layer) – So look at Ethernet too! Legality of programmers – ethical issues the acts (privacy, health, copyright etc)

MORE! MORE! MORE! Types of Training – On site, off-site, train the trainer. Online training/tutorials etc. User documentation User Guides, Technical manual, quick start, tutorials etc… Who would find it most useful?

STUDY, STUDY, STUDY! 1. Study the EXAM and Solutions 2. Study the Examiners Assessment Report 3. Study the SACs – Term 1 – Analysis Stage we created SRS – Term 2 – Design and Develop We created a design doc and a small program. – Term 3 – Design and Develop We created another design doc and did a bigger program – Term 4 – Evaluation We did a test on Evaluation of a System 4. Study the Glossary

Things that PROBABLY be on exams too Serial vs Random Access files Networking (VPN, intranet, internet, extranet) Wireless standards 802 Asymmetrical, symmetrical file transfer Archiving, Backing up Pretty much everything in your book!

Why are we here? 2100 students in 2009 Pass is based on SAC participation Many in this subject know it all!!! I dont

Study score - How? Purpose of the exam – filter

Marking the exam Who? When? Where? How do we feel? – We hate pencil Use it in M/C 2B and then use biro

Results Results matter less than order or ranking Order is important Approx 4 out of 2100 get score of 50

Allocate score Standard Bell Curve 0 this end 50 at RH end

Allocate In say Software Development – 2100 students approx First 4 get 50 Next 3 get 49

Next 5 or 6 get 48

Next 7 or 8 get 47

And so on The mean is 30 Exactly half the students get 30 or better SD = 6 – So 2 sd is 42 !! – This is why 2%

Why Do It? VCAA does not believe teachers see state picture – T dont know other classes Some schools deliberately mark up – makes them look better…

What is the trick? There is no trick… so… Study Practise the exam – Refer to the case study Practice Revision – Refer to the case study

Good Exam performance Depends on – Understanding your subject – Recalling the concepts – And the examples – Express your understanding – Refer to the case study Efficiency in an exam Is related to the effectiveness of your preparation

Efficiency & Effectiveness Should NEVER appear in the same sentence Why? – confusion…… by students – Efficiency refer to time cost effort

And……. Do not panic Visualise notes, remember notes Come back to it These are things…Caused by last minute cramming

Strategies Check the time regularly (but not every 1min) – Youll go mad and waste time! Stick to the time associated with each question Answer ALL Qs Be positive Never leave early

Answering Re practise your exam and learn to use dot point not just one word No real need for sentence Must include detail – Refer to the case study Dot point Include detail Answer the question – Refer to the case study Dot point Include detail

Wasted Questions – = Poorly answered or correctly answered by all Need a good spread Justifies the question as a discriminator If it is really wasted – Makes every other mark even more important

This year Part A – Multiple Choice - 20 marks 20 Q Part B – Short Answer fact questions approx 20 marks maybe 8 or 9 Qs Part C – about 55 to 60 marks

Multiple Choice Attempt every question

What is the hardest part? Algorithms Pseudo code Both interpret and create – And translate between them – Maybe leave them till last

Algorithms When looking for a problem Problem is often found in – If statement – Assign to wrong variable – Miscount in loop ( not yet but must be soon) – Things in wrong place

Loops While = pre test – Might Never enter Repeat until = post test – Will always go once For next = pre set number of times – Number of iterations fixed before we start looping

DFD Data flow diagrams Each part of system has different symbol Everything inside system has at least one in AND one out Know Data dictionary …(you dont already?) The examiners love em

DFD more Most likely to be a fill in the blank Why? Or spot the missing bit Or interpret -- refer to the case study need… – inputs, processes, data store – so decode the case study….

DFD more more Remember DFD level 0 is a context diagram, it can only have one massive process which use be the company of interest and all external entities having data flows to and from it! DFD level 1 is a typical data flow diagram, this will be on the exam please practice producing and reading them, you can find more exercise in the DFD folder of this resource. DFD RULES Don't have processes without at least one input and output Processes always process data, make sure a data flow in changes Don't have data flows directly between entities, needs to have a process in between Don't have data flows directly between data structures, needs to have a process in between Don't have data flows directly between entities and data structures, needs to have a process in between Don't forget to label your data flows! Don't include entities that are internal to the system between analysised

Youll need to be able to distinguish between non-functional and function and explain them in the context eg…the system needs to be user friendly as customers may not have a computer savvy background to work out non-intuitive interfaces. Remember non-functional is being like attractiveness, reliability etc Function are doing stuff like calculate order, process age etc.

Backup Who does it? Who really believes in it? Off-site, on-site, frequency etc Strategy, procedure (plan of what to do – written and checked see later too )

Data Disaster Data Disaster Recovery Plan What is a disaster? – natural – man-made – accidental – deliberate Why have a plan? – under pressure (just like now) What is involved in recovery?

USE CASES! USE CASES are new to the study design understand it! remember the bubbles are use cases they are actions that users can do in with the system such as order cake, login etc the arrows are NOT data flows! they mean initation of usage, without arrow head means they handle the user request! The stick figure that are ACTORS can be human or a computer or system. remember they are NOT people in jobs nessecarily but roles. eg.. in reality a manager could do all jobs in the company but! in use case they would only manage, if they were to say do a clerical job they switch roles in the usecase! Make sure you know the difference between extend and include. Remember extends are conditional! But includes arent. Also includes extend from the most general to the more specialised and the extends vice versa

Use Case USE CASE Don't have data flows as Action/function. Don't have extends or includes between Actors and Actions. Don't have Use case that are negatives eg "Not create invoice". Actors are Roles not Users. Association Arrows are NOT data flows.

How to answer data collection method Programming Company (you or another) The people who need it (the client) – These people have customers – These customers are part of the them – Dont need them separate!

Nested? Means – If else statement within an if else statement – Or loop within a loop

GLOSSARY! Look at Study Design GLOSSARY and know every word

Exam Layout Part A Part B Part C – Refer to the case study

Exam Layout style Format for the exam – Fill in the gaps – Reason 1, Reason 2 – Boxes to fill out Case study

Strategies Leave Multiple choice til the end of reading time. 1 st eliminate the obviously wrong 2 nd is there a question in the rest of the paper that can help you answer this? Stay with your first impression – i.e. do not second guess yourself

Part B: Are you ready for… Short Answer Questions Core knowledge - generic One fact, thing, item per mark 20 marks - approx

Common mark losers One word answers Good when says list Bad when says outline, describe – Read question stems Carefully – Respond directly to Q Acceptance testing Bandwidth : – Amount of Data in time – Mention both words

Mark losers What is a strategy? Method Set of steps or things that are justified – Who does it (and why ) – What needs to be done (and why ) – When does it happen (and why ) – Etc (and why !! )

Mark Losers What is a procedure – Series of steps – Something to do – And then what you actually do in each step Random access / serial access – Yes there is a difference, KNOW it

Simple algorithm – 63% scored zero in 2006 Why? ? ? ? ? Do NOT rewrite the question – Do you really believe the examiner is so stupid that s/he does not already know the question? Apply your knowledge to the question – Dont just recite it

Part C Case study Answers – boxes, blanks etc – Refer to the case study Refer to the case study in every answer – Why? 23/75 in /70 in /53 in 2007

Consequences Generic answers got Zero Good answers that were in context but did not refer to case study Explicitly got lower marks Do you want easy marks? So: Refer to the case study

Use these words sparingly Customer People She He User Business Company The system The data The Machinery Anyone Equipment The Computer

Part C If choose something – Say why (link to case study) and JUSTIFY – Also Say why not choose other and JUSTIFY Give detail in answer Dot point is good if include detail Dot point is bad if just give one word answer

Bench testing – Examinable Coding – not examinable Can you do Bench Testing? In answers use the persons name – Link to case study Evaluation is different to testing Beware of the word: Strategy

What This Means It is easy to do well Study Practise the exam, under exam condition

Next Steps Summarise the course – Re read the chapter – Re do the chapter review – Re read the lecture notes – Study the lecture notes I hadnt gone through for more knowledge! Learn it Practise your learning Practise the exam Ask for help – I can be contacted through the wikispace . – But is slow, you may add me on skype also

What, Where…… Past papers – see your teacher, library, VCAA web site etc. Solutions – youre kidding see VCAA web site for reports by examiners Past practice papers E.g. Octobers up to 2001 & Solutions & E.g. Vitta papers , E.g. Insight publications 2006, 7, 8, 9 Under exam conditions (at home?)

Summarise what Use the study design checklist Use the text book Use your class notes Use the internet to research for better understanding Use past papers