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Midterm Preparation: Study Strategies and Problem Solving Approaches

This article provides guidance on how to study effectively for the midterm, including reviewing lecture notes and homework, understanding algorithms and data structures, and solving practice problems. It also offers tips on approaching algorithm problems, such as understanding the problem statement, working through examples, writing algorithms, testing solutions, and ensuring correctness.

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Midterm Preparation: Study Strategies and Problem Solving Approaches

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  1. Midterm 2 Prep • Midterm topics • How to study • How to approach an algorithms problem Data Structures and AlgorithmsCMPSC 465 Adam Smith A. Smith; based on slides by K. Wayne

  2. Design paradigms so far • Basic iterative algorithms • Loop invariants A. Smith; based on slides by E. Demaine, C. Leiserson, S. Raskhodnikova and K. Wayne

  3. Topics A. Smith; based on slides by E. Demaine, C. Leiserson, S. Raskhodnikova and K. Wayne

  4. How To Study • Review • Lecture notes, book chapters • Homework • Exercises on homework • Problems in the book • For each algorithm / data structure • Make sure you understand • What it does • Howw it works • Reproduce it • Try out your solution • on a classmate • on a computer • (Best yet: write down psseudocode and see if a classmate can turn it into working code. This is a test of both clarity and correctness!) • Solve problems and exercises! A. Smith; based on slides by E. Demaine, C. Leiserson, S. Raskhodnikova and K. Wayne

  5. How to Approach a Problem • Make sure you understand the problem statement • Inputs, outputs • Work through some simple examples • Start small. Work up to trickier examples. • Write down your algorithm. Top-down: • Start with a high-level description (in English) • Work your way down to detailed pseudocode • Try out your solution on examples • Play devil’s advocate: try to think of inputs that could cause your algorithm to fail • Prove correctness • Try to convince yourself that your algorithm works for all inputs • Test your solution • On a classmate • On a computer At any point in the process, be prepared to return to an earlier step! A. Smith; based on slides by E. Demaine, C. Leiserson, S. Raskhodnikova and K. Wayne

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