On Mon/Tue (2/19-20/2024) our first exam will be given. I will email exam instructions to you shortly before the exam opens. The exam can be taken anytime between 9AM ET Monday and 11:59PM ET Tuesday (it needs to be finished and submitted by 11:59PM ET Tuesday).
You will get 50 continuous minutes to work on the exam. Note this time period includes any break you may take. Think of it as being in a normal classroom where there is no extra time given beyond the end of class. Every semester there are cases where someone takes too long on an exam. Please be aware this is very easy to detect and you will be penalized points (best case) and possibly lose all credit for the exam (worst case for a first offense).
As you'll find, exams are very similar to HW assignments - you'll be given a set of instructions to follow, probably some data to import and will create a finished project to submit (on our course website, just as you submit HW files). Exams are closed book, closed notes, etc. The only help you can use is the Help function within the application at hand (Excel in this case).
One commonly missed fundamental part of Excel is using different cell reference types. Please be sure you review the different type (relative, absolute, mixed) before the exam. Here is a brief refresher:
This is a relative reference: C5
This is an absolute reference: $C$5
This is a column absolute mixed (note $ in front of only the column letter): $C5
This is a row absolute mixed (note the $ in front of only the row number): C$5
Just remember that "absolute" means "$". That "$" tells that column letter or row number "stay put and don't shift around if I copy you to other cells".
If you have any questions about the exam, please let me know.