Dear Students of CS-456,
as you have heard the EPFL has shifted the exam session to August and
has asked teachers to communicate any potential change of rules.
1. The basic rules do not change: the miniproject counts 30 percent and
the exam 70 percent toward to the final grade.
2. Given the shift of the exam session to August, we decided to relax
the time line for the miniproject. NEW DEADLINE: Miniprojects need to be
submitted by June 15. This gives you basically two extra weeks after the
end of the term.
3. The exact date of the exam is not yet known. The Service Academique
will communicate this in due time. It is a written exam and takes place
on the campus of the EPFL.
4. Sample exams from the two previous years are available on the Moodle.
Please have a look at these to get familiar with the style and contents
of the exams.
5. The written exam is inspired by the type of questions we cover in the
exercises. A good preparation for the written exam is to do all
exercises and go over all questions of previous exams.
6. The contents of the written exam and the miniproject are to a large
degree complementary and check different skills. Being at ease with the
miniproject does not automatically imply being at ease with the written
exam and vice versa. Please do not spend all your time that you plan to
devote to this class for the miniproject. It is a good idea to work
already during the semester on the exercises.
7. The only tool allowed for the written exam is one sheet (single-sided A4 or double-sided A5) of HANDWRITTEN notes.
8. There will be a discussion session for exam preparation online, the
date will be communicated.
I know that shifting to online has been a challenge for everybody. I hope that you like the set of video lectures that I post every week - and that these might actually be useful and understandable.
I wish you good luck for the second half of the semester, for the miniprojects, and for the final exams!
... and see you tomorrow morning for a lecture on LOSS LANDSCAPE AND OPTIMIZATION METHODS
Wulfram GERSTNER
