MT3 Info
Spring 2026 Canary: The following information HAS NOW been updated for Spring 2026!
Overview and Process
The test will be IN PERSON
- Time/Date: 7pm-8:40pm Apr 23rd
- The test will be set for 1 hour, 40 minutes
- If you have USC approved accommodations, you must upload your accomodation information HERE 7 days before the exam, otherwise you will not be able to use your accommodations.
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Location: THH 101 & 102
- If you have OSAS accommodations you should schedule your exam at the OSAS offices on Thursday during OSAS hours
- The test will be taken on paper. Be prepared a pencil/pen.
- The exam is Closed book, Closed notes, Closed Internet (search/reference). You may use your mind, and blank scratch paper but nothing else. No referencing your labs, homeworks, etc.
Topics and Style
The exam is a mix of short answer, multiple choice, analysis, tracing, and coding. For coding, we will visually grade your code and be fairly lenient with small syntax errors (e.g. a missing semicolon).
Unit 10 - Graph Representations and Traversals
- Graph Algorithms (no specific Dijkstra/A*), but general understanding of graph representation.
Unit 11 - Recursive Graph & Tree Traversals Algorithms
- BFS
- DFS
Unit 15 - Hash Tables Intro
- Introductory hash-table
Unit 16 - Counting
- All relevant counting rules and approaches taught in lecture and on HW
Unit 17 - Recursion: Combinations & Backtracking
- Recursion
- Combinations & Backtracking
Unit 18a,b - Probability
- All relevant probability rules and approaches taught in lecture and on HW
- Basic probability calculation
- Conditional probability and its definition
- Law of total probability
- Definition of (mutual and pairwise) independence
- Bernoulli trials and binomial distribution
- Bayes Theorem
- Random Variables and Expected Value
- Linearity of Expectation
- Geometric Distribution
Unit 19a,b - Number Theory
- Definitions of modular congruence
- Performing modular arithmetic
- Modular exponentiation techniques
- Properties of primes
- Euclid’s algorithm for finding
gcd - Finding multiplicative inverses for modulo-n systems