Department of Computer Science Honours Oral Examination (CS498) Unofficial Guide

Purpose

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 given below. More general, more specific, or separate areas may be chosen, with the agreement of the head of the department. Examination questions typically test for a broad understanding of the material rather than the more specific details tested on written examinations.

Candidates

The examination is typically taken by fourth-year honours students in their final semester. The examination may only be administered to honours who have registered for CS498 for the current semester. Ordinarily, it is concurrently or after CS499-002, i.e., the second honours seminar course. Students taking a Math-CS double honours may take it concurrently or after CS499-001, their only CS honours seminar course.

Examination Committee

For each student, the Head of the department appoints an examination committee consisting of a chair and three examining professors. The Chair has the responsibility and authority to ensure that the examination is fair and that a decision is reached. One professor is assigned to each area selected by the student.

Result

The result of the examination will be one of:

Pass:  resulting in credit (C) for CS498.

Fail:  resulting in no credit (NC) for CS498.

Repeat:  resulting in an incomplete (IN) for CS498;
**this result occurs only in unusual circumstances.**

Example Areas

Artificial Intelligence
Databases and Information Retrieval
Distributed Computing and Networks
Hardware and Computer Architecture
Human-Computer Interaction and Graphics
Management Information Systems and Software Engineering
Numerical Analysis and Mathematical Programming
Operating Systems and Systems Programming
Programming Languages and Data Structures
Simulation and Computational Modelling
Theory

Procedure

Typically, the following steps are followed:

The student chooses three areas for the examination and suggests an professor for each area. Approval from the head of the department is obtained for areas not listed above.

The student suggests a date for the examination.

The Head of the department chooses the examination committee.

The date and time of the examination are decided by the Head in consultation with the student.

The examination begins with an explanation of the procedure by the chair.

Each examining professor is given an opportunity to ask questions in his/her assigned area.

Each examining professor is given an opportunity to ask questions in other areas or about either of the student's seminar topics.

The student leaves the examination room.

The committee discuss the examination and decide upon a result.

The student and the Head of the department are informed in writing of the result of the examination.