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Math 186  —  Winter 2020
Introduction to Probability and Statistics for Bioinformatics
Exam Information

Updated 3/16/20


Midterm: Friday February 7

When:
The midterm is in class on Friday February 7.

Material:
The midterm covers topics on Homeworks 1-4; Chapter 2 and part of Chapter 3; and the corresponding lectures and slides, up through the “Multiple random variables (discrete)” slides. The slides on “Multiple random variables (continuous)” will not be covered on the midterm, even though they will be presented in lecture before it (they're on Homework 5).

Study your lecture notes, course slides, the homework problems and answer keys, and the textbook. For additional practice, do problems similar to the assigned ones. Also see the Practice Exam questions on Canvas under “Files”.

Supplies:
Please bring your student ID card, pencils, erasers, calculator, and “cheat sheet”; see details below. We'll supply a test book, so you don't need a blue book or scantron.

Pencils: We will be scanning the tests. Please use only black pencils (#2 pencil or darker; HB or B lead for a mechanical pencil). Black or blue ballpoint pens are also OK. Do not use pens that bleed through the paper. Please don't write near the edge of the paper or the stapled corner.

Calculator: Please bring a scientific calculator or a graphing calculator. The calculator must be just a calculator, not a laptop, tablet, phone, or other device that happens to have a calculator. You may only use it for doing arithmetic calculations; not for storing notes, communicating with others, using the internet, programming, etc.

Cheat sheet: You may bring one 8.5”×11” sheet (front and back) of hand-written notes. It must be written by hand by you in pen or pencil; it may not be produced by any other means (computer, photocopying, purchasing pre-made reference cards, etc.).

No other resources are permitted. Phones, tablets, laptops, pagers, and other electronic devices besides an approved calculator must be silenced and put away.

Assigned seats:
There will be assigned seats. Please watch for an email with your seat assignment. If you would like to be assigned a left-handed desk, or if you have any other seat assignment issues, please notify the professor by email by Friday January 31.

Seat number map for Center 105 (the regular classroom).

Review session:
T.A. Lin Zheng will hold a review session on Wed. Feb. 5, 2-2:50 p.m. in MANDE B-210. Attendance is optional. Practice questions for the review session are posted on Canvas under “Files”. On the practice questions, note that #9 (Poisson distribution) and #10(b) (joint pdf of continuous random variables) are beyond what's eligible for the midterm, but will be of use later in the quarter when preparing for the final.

Final Exam: Wednesday March 18, 11:20 a.m.-2:40 p.m., online

When and Where:
The Final Exam has been changed to a remote online format:
  1. The final exam will be posted online at 11:20am on Wednesday March 18th. This is 10 minues prior to the scheduled final start time. Each student will have an individualized exam booklet. Go into "Assignments", select Final - DOWNLOAD BOOKLET, and download it.

  2. You are strongly encouraged to print out the final exam in the initial 10-minute window. If you do not have reasonable access to a printer, you may either write on your own blank paper, or use a tablet/touchscreen to write over the exam booklet PDF.

  3. You will take the exam from 11:30am-2:30pm remotely in your own space. This is the scheduled final exam time. You will be responsible for starting and finishing on time.

  4. You will upload your final exam to Gradescope by 2:40pm. Use the assignment Final - UPLOAD COMPLETED EXAM. If you do not have access to a scanner, you may take clear photos; see more info below in the Gradescope section below. If you write it on your tablet screen, you should know how to generate a PDF suitable for uploading.

  5. The exam will be open lecture notes, open textbook, and open class slides. You may also use a calculator (see below). You are NOT allowed to use the internet (aside from the class slides, and downloading and submitting your exam). You are also not allowed to collaborate with other humans or use any other resources.
Material:
The final is comprehensive. It covers the whole quarter except for the slides on “Microarrays” and “Lander-Waterman Sequence Assembly Statistics.”

Study your lecture notes, course slides, the homework problems and answer keys, and the textbook. For additional practice, do problems similar to the assigned ones. Also see the Practice Exam questions on Canvas under “Files”.

Supplies:
This information has changed in view of the change in test modality.

We will provide tables similar to the Z, t, and χ2 tables from the textbook.

Calculator: A scientific or graphing calculator (including a calculator app on your phone/tablet/laptop) is permitted for arithmetic calculations.

Review Session and Office Hours:
The finals week review session and office hours originally announced are cancelled. Solutions to the Practice Exam questions are posted on Canvas under “Files”. In lieu of office hours, please send any questions to the professor or your T.A. by email.

Gradescope:
Please prepare for using Gradescope today, in advance of the test:
  1. I posted a "Gradescope Practice" assignment for you to practice the steps of downloading the exam, printing it out (or putting it on your device), doing it, and then scanning and uploading it at the end. See the assignments
    Gradescope Practice - DOWNLOAD BOOKLET
    Gradescope Practice - UPLOAD COMPLETED EXAM

  2. Verify today that you can login to your Gradescope account. It's the same system we used for the midterms. If you do not remember your password, go to gradescope.com, click on "Log In", then "Forgot your password?", and enter your username@ucsd.edu email address.

  3. At the end of the exam, you will upload a PDF of your exam to Gradescope. If you write on your tablet, be sure you know how to make a PDF of it. If you write on paper (a printout of the exam booklet or your own blank paper), you will need to scan it to a PDF file and upload it. If you do not have access to a scanner, these two phone apps let you take photos of each page with your phone, crop them, and combine them into a PDF; please install one of these or something similar in advance if you'll need to use it: Be sure to scan it at high quality into a single PDF file. Make sure it's legible; if the photos are illegible, retake the photos.

  4. Read Gradescope's help on scanning/uploading assignments for futher help.