Honours Oral Exam


CS 498 is a zero-credit hour, credit/no-credit course taken by all Honours students. The only requirement of this course is to take and pass the Honours Oral Exam. Students who register in CS 498 should contact the current Undergraduate Coordinator early in the term.

The purpose of the honours oral examination is to ensure that honours students have mastered a broad range of material in Computer Science at the fourth-year level. A student is examined in his/her three selected areas of Computer Science, and additional questions may be asked about the student's honours seminars. An area represents a related group of important Computer Science ideas, rather than the content of of a specific course. Some areas that might be selected are identified in the Example Areas section of this document. More general, more specific, or separate areas may be chosen, with the agreement of the Undergraduate Coordinator. Examination questions typically test for a broad understanding of the material rather than the more specific details tested on written examinations.

Possible Topic Areas for Consideration:

  • Algorithm Analysis and Data Structure
  • Animation
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Audio
  • Computer Games
  • Cryptography
  • Databases
  • Distributed Computing and Networks
  • Formal Languages and Compilers
  • Graphics
  • Hardware and Computer Architecture
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Image Processing
  • Management Support Systems
  • Multi-media
  • Numerical Analysis and Mathematical Programming
  • Operating Systems
  • Programming Languages
  • Software Engineering
  • Topics suggested by the honours student.

Three subject areas must be chosen by the student for testing. The student should also recommend the names of three professors who will administer the exam. For information on which professors do research in the chosen subject areas students are encouraged to consult the Department of Computer Science website here.

The date of the exam is to be suggested by the Honours student to the Undergraduate Coordinator for a time that is convenient to them. The department recommends that this be in their final semester of studies toward the middle to the end of the semester, but not so close that it will conflict with their final exam preparation.

Students can expect the exam to take approximately an hour.

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