This page is for a previous semester (Fall 2024). Please visit this page to select a more recent semester to find updated details.

Information about the Exemption Exam for ES2 for Fall 2024.

Tufts Communication: What students need to know about Tufts Intro to Computing Courses and Exemption Exams

Logistics of the Exemption Exam for ES2

– Day/Date: Wednesday, October 9th 2024
– Duration: one hour
– NEW for 2024: window for completion is 9am to 9pm
– Online Support: Zoom support available from 12pm to 1pm (Open Block)
– Format: Virtual (e.g. complete independently, on your own, on your own computer, and submit results/solutions digitally)

New for Fall 2024: the 1-hour test is self-administered during exam window (9am to 9pm) and submitted virtually when you are done.

Note: if you have accommodations, issues, or concerns that affect that logistics presented above, please email Prof. Ethan Danahy at ethan.danahy@tufts.edu so he can address and present you with a modification or alternative setup. (To help facilitate communication, please include “ES2 Exemption Exam” as part of your email subject.)

Use this form to “register” (optional) and stay updated on information leading up to the exam, and contact Ethan Danahy (ethan.danahy@tufts.edu) with direct questions or concerns.

Content of the Exemption Exam for ES2

The Exemption Exam for ES2 is designed to identify students for whom taking ES2 would not be beneficial to their education (e.g. they already have had significant prior exposure to the content of the ES2 course). See the section below for more details of the ES2 requirement based on major at the bottom of this page.

See more about the overall course content for ES2 to understand the topics covered in the course.

Exam Programming Language: You (the exam taker) can choose to answer the exam questions in the language of your choice (e.g. based on your own background and strengths). When taking the exam you should pick a language (see list below) and then answer all the questions using the appropriate syntax and programming structures for that language. All code (files) you create for answering the exam questions will be in that language.

  • – Matlab
  • – C
  • – C++
  • – Java
  • – Python

Exam Topics: The exam mostly tests programming basics (user input of data, assignment statements, use of variables and variable types, program control statements, logical and relational conditions, loops, arrays, functions and sub procedures, use of common intrinsic functions, and formatting program output) and the application of those basics to solve typical engineering problems. These higher-level concepts include:

  • – Data Manipulation: converting data to appropriate formats for analysis and evaluation
  • – Data Analysis: doing statistical analysis on data sets
  • – Simple Modeling: modeling systems (physical or theoretical) in code
  • – Quantifying Error: identifying and minimizing error in a solution

Note that the purpose of the exam is to demonstrate the above (programming basics and ability to solve problems) and thus evaluation of the exam looks at your demonstration of those (understanding how the syntax and language is used as well as your algorithmic thinking as applied to the problems). As such, it is NOT required that you have perfect code that executes and performs flawlessly, so it is more important that you demonstrate the above (your overall coding and thinking abilities) than obsess over the minutia and exact details of any particular solution. In fact, some exam questions may be written so that it’s actually impossible for you to actually test your code (e.g. “assume you have a sensor that gives you a stream of data…”), in which case you should focus on the concepts and computation vs exact syntax/compiling/execution.

New for Fall 2024

Exemption Exam for CS10 vs. Exemption Exam for ES2

On Wednesday October 9th there is ALSO an Exemption Exam for CS10 happening simultaneously.

CS10 is a (new) prerequisite for CS11 (the new intro CS sequence is CS10 → CS11 → CS15). If you have prior programming background, you should take either the Exemption Exam for CS10 or Exemption Exam for ES2 to be exempt from these classes and to get placed into CS11. See Tufts communications (and talk to your advisor) about the differences of the courses, details of the exams, and information about subsequent classes to determine the right path for you.

More information about CS10 and the Exemption Exam for CS10 here.

See also: What students need to know about Tufts Intro to Computing Courses and Exemption Exams

Format of the Exemption Exam for ES2

The Fall 2024 Exemption Exam for ES2 is a VIRTUAL exam. You will need to work on and complete the exam on your own (independently, remotely) and submit your solutions (code files) electronically at the end of the exam. The exam should take 1-hour to complete.

Exam Day/Date: the exam will take place on Wednesday October 9th, 2024. The exam will be available from 9am to 9pm (the “exam window”) during which students will self-administer the exam. The exam is a “one hour” exam in duration.

At the conclusion of completing the exam, students should submit their answers digitally via a Google Form. There is online Zoom support from 12pm to 1pm (during the Tufts Open Block) if students have questions or issues.

The following is a Practice Exam that provides example questions similar in scope, scale, and content to those found on the exam (although more examples are presented here; the actual exam will be shorter in length, so it can be completed within one hour):

Download a copy of the practice exam here
(exam no longer available; contact Coordinator of SoE First Year Courses for more information)

See Practice Exam for the same instructions that will also appear in the actual exam to understand completion and submission requirements.

Comments on Academic Honesty

Tufts University holds its students strictly accountable for adherence to academic integrity. The consequences for violations can be severe. It is critical that you understand the requirements of ethical behavior and academic work as described in Tufts’ Academic Integrity handbook. If you have a question about the expectations concerning this as related to the Exemption Exam for ES2, be sure to ask the Coordinator of First Year Courses for SoE (Ethan Danahy) for clarification. The Faculty of the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering are required to report suspected cases of academic integrity violations to the Dean of Student Affairs Office. As the one giving this exam, if I suspect that you have cheated or plagiarized on this exam, I must report the situation to the dean.

It is expected that the work you do on this exam represents your abilities in using computation to solve engineering problems. As such, you should not be getting code from an external source as part of this exam. You should not submit code written by another person or directly copied from another resource (e.g. online solutions). Note these sources include, but are not limited to: solutions generated by other students taking the exam, solutions generated by people outside the exam, solutions generated automatically (e.g. by generative AI or other systems), or solutions generated and posted by the instructor (e.g. example or previous solutions).

When submitting your exam solutions, you’ll be required to complete an Academic Honesty/Statement of Individuality. It will read: For this exam, I make the following statement: I affirm that I have not given nor received any unauthorized help on this exam, and that all work is my own.

Exemption Exam for ES2 (active 9am – 9pm on Oct 9th)

ON EXAM DAY, AT THE START OF THE EXAM WINDOW, RIGHT HERE IS WHERE
THE OFFICIAL EXAM LINK WILL BE POSTED

Coding IDE (Integrated Development Environment): you are welcome to use whatever coding environment with which you are familiar (software on your computer, online system, etc).

– If you are using C, C++, Java, or Python (e.g. not Matlab) and need an IDE, you can use an online browser-based environment like Replit or VSCode Online. If you haven’t used these previously, make sure you create an account, log in, and are familiar with the interface before the exam.

– If you are coding in Matlab and are a student within School of Engineering, you have access to either the web-based online version of Matlab or the Engineering Virtual Lab that has the desktop version of Matlab installed. Note that an individual MATLAB license will be required for use on personal and Tufts machines, including virtual desktops.

Submitting the Exemption Exam for ES2

When you are finished with the exam (e.g. you have created code for solving each presented problem), you will submit your code (either as a single ZIP file or as separate files for each question) via the following Google Form.

Note that you *must* log in with your first.last@tufts.edu email and verify your identity using Tufts password/Tufts two-factor authentication. (Do NOT “request access” via your personal Google account. Access to this form is open for all Tufts users, so please use your first.last@tufts.edu account to access it.)

SUBMIT SOLUTIONS HERE:

GOOGLE FORM FOR SUBMISSIONS
Use your first.last@tufts.edu Google Account to access

Once you submit, you are done. You do NOT need to check in with anyone unless you have issues or concerns.

Real-Time Help During Wednesday Open Block: On Wednesday, October 9th during Open Block (from 12pm to 1pm), if you have questions or need assistance, you should join the following Zoom session where Prof. Ethan Danahy will be available to answer questions about the content of the exam or solve real-time technical issues you might have. YOU DO NOT need to join this Zoom Room; this is only if you have issues or concerns.

ZOOM LINK: https://tufts.zoom.us/j/99313509084?pwd=frU8QWsAtruWGbTOAqXRwtaC7wUgLw.1

Meeting ID: 993 1350 9084
Passcode: 643791

Details of ES2 Requirement

Depending on matriculation year/declared major/degree sheet, the Tufts School of Engineering has a computing requirement (and most majors within the School of Engineering satisfy this with COMP11 and/or ES2, depending on matriculation year/declared major/degree sheet). Students should check their major (or intended major(s)) and see if ES2: Introduction to Computing in Engineering is a degree option or requirement. If ES2 is necessary, an exception may be granted to those students who can demonstrate proficiency in the ES2 course material.

For more details on particular majors for particular class years, please visit the Engineering Degrees webpage.

If your major/degree sheet requires ES2, and you pass the Exemption Exam for ES2, you are exempted from the ES2 requirement, but the test is worth zero credits towards graduation. Thus, students needing the ES2 requirement on their degree sheet will still need to replace the ES2 requirement with another appropriate course that equivalently fills that required spot on their degree sheet.

For any questions regarding the ES2 requirement, major degree sheets, or selecting appropriate classes, please contact one of the following:

View Bigger Version

Do I need to take the Exemption Exam for ES2?

The following are some questions we have received in the past regarding the Exemption Exam for ES2.

QUESTION: I am in CS 15 (by permission of instructor) but did not take CS 11.

ANSWER: If a degree requires CS 11, but you did not take CS 11 (as in case above), then you need to petition to substitute a new course for the missing course. This petition should be filed once you determine the substitution course (not before) at some point before you graduate. Once that petition is approved, then you have satisfied the CS 11 requirement, and any degree that requires “CS 11 or ES2” will then be satisfied (and you don’t need ES2 nor to take the Exemption Exam). Note: if your degree requires “CS 11 and ES2” then you still need to satisfy the ES2 requirement, either by taking the ES2 course or taking the Exemption Exam for ES2.

QUESTION: In high school I took a AP CS course, have AP CS credit, or took the AP CS Exam.

ANSWER: We currently (Fall 2024) do not accept HS AP CS coursework, credits, or exam scores as an alternative to ES2 or the Exemption Exam for ES2. Therefore, you still need to either take ES2 or the Exemption Exam for ES2 to satisfy the ES2 requirement.

QUESTION: I am a transfer student and took an equivalent to the CS 11 course at another institution before coming to Tufts.

ANSWER: A course transferred to Tufts from another institution will appear on your Tufts transcript as a Tufts equivalent course. If the course transfers in as CS 11 or ES 2 and is then used to completely satisfy the computation requirement as detailed on your major’s degree sheet (see notes above about “CS 11 or ES 2″ vs “CS 11 and ES 2″), then you do not need to take ES2 nor the Exemption Exam for ES2.

For more information about the Exception Exam for ES2, please contact Professor Ethan Danahy (ethan.danahy@tufts.edu) who will be administering the exam. (To help facilitate communication, please include “ES2 Exemption Exam” as part of your email subject.)