Here is the study guide for the first midterm exam. Exam review is the first 90 minutes of class on October 5 (or until you run out of questions), followed by a short break, and then the 50-minute exam period.

Format for review is:

• Unstructured, for my part. I do not have an agenda for topics to cover. I will field questions as you ask them, but only if you ask them.
• I won’t answer questions like “what’s going to be on the exam”.
• Conceptually, the following are subject for valid questions:
  • Anything on the study guide
  • Anything from the readings
  • Anything from the slides and in-class activities
  • Anything from the Assignments
  • Anything from the quizzes and weekly questions
• When the questions stop or we reach 90 minutes, exam review will end.
• On the matter of questions:
  • There are no dumb questions.
  • Don’t self-censor. Ask your question, and leave it to me to determine if it’s one I’m inclined to answer, discuss, or if it’s too close to the “what’s on the exam” slant to respond to.
  • Remember if you have the question, likelihood is someone else does too, and they’ll probably thank you for asking it.
  • And lastly, do come to class with questions in hand.

Suggested study approach:

• Review the Study Guide first, then:
• Start with the slides
  • Look at the major concepts
  • Where a slide is associated with a reading, review the reading that covers the major concept
  • Understand how the reading is associated with the slide, and the reading’s key concepts
• Then look at the quizzes
  • Review the questions and answers to the quizzes
  • Understand where all the answers came from, review those readings
• Then review the In-Class Exercises
  • If we did it in an exercise, it’s probably important.
  • Focus on topics we emphasized in the Exercises.
• Then, review your Assignments.
• Lastly, re-read any readings you didn’t review in the prior study steps.

What will be on the exam, in order of likelihood, are:

• Things we talked about explicitly in class
• Slides, and readings directly associated with them
• Things I quizzed you on
• Things we worked on in class through the exercises
• Things you used while completing Assignments
• Other things from readings that may not have otherwise been emphasized in class discussion or readings

As a follow up to Module 1, we talked about a few examples of open data. Here are some others you might want to check out throughout the course. Consider how having these data sets freely available to the public might transform various industries:

• Business: data.gov’s “Impact” section
• Science: The Genomes Unzipped project
• Government: New York City parking violations
• Journalism: Swarmize