The best strategy to do well on the lab exams by far is for your pair to complete the corresponding assignments; they are specifically designed to prepare you for the lab exams. Lab exams are taken individually, so it is a good idea for both members of the pair to participate fully in completion of the assignment; that way, each member is prepared for the exam.
Each lab assignment has your pair design and implement a Java program, putting to practice concepts discussed in lecture and the readings. It will be very close to the program used in the corresponding lab exam; once you complete the exam, its program should look a lot like the one you wrote for the assignment. Each assignment not only gives you the specifications for the program (and its various components) but also spells out the portions of the program that are candidates to be missing in the lab exam you take.
We will have several versions of the lab exam. You will not know which version of the test you will be taking until the start of the exam; this is also true for retakes. So, again, it’s a real good idea to complete the entire assignment, and understand it thoroughly— before the lab exam.
You are free—and encouraged—to get as much help as you need to complete the assignments from any source you like. But beware: some students get so much help that they end up doing little of the work themselves, and that usually results in a lack of knowledge and not passing the lab exam. And remember that simply copying someone else’s work is considered an infringement of academic honesty rules.
If you and your partner prepare to work on your lab assignments before you come to lab, and work diligently once there, you should have no difficulty finishing an assignment before the day of its lab exam.
It typically takes several hours in addition to your priority lab time to complete a lab. We provide additional lab time in two ways:
First, you and your partner may attend a priority ICS21 lab other than your own, provided that seats are available and your presence will not be disruptive to the section. (Of course you can—and should—attend your own priority lab section.) The TA in charge of a section, working within guidelines the instructor has set down, is the final authority as to who is, and is not, allowed to “sit in” a priority section. You may not attend another priority lab while a lab exam is being given.
Second is open lab. You may use the ICS 364 lab any time it is open and any other ICS lab when no class is in session. (See the Course Reference for more details.) Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The lab attendants on duty at those times are there to watch over the equipment and the room; they cannot help you with your assignments.