Final (Oral)

The semester's closing oral exam — the same format as the midsem, now covering everything after it and worth the same as it was

Due: 10 May 2027 · Weight: 30%

Same as the midsem: the exact angle is decided and released at the last minute, per course policy.

The brief

Say something for ten minutes about the second half of this course, and mean at least one sentence of it.

Same room, same format as the midsem, different stakes: by now the course has asked you to make one genuine attempt, and the final oral is where that attempt has to hold up next to everything that came before it.

What you submit

Nothing in advance, same as the midsem. What’s different is what you’re expected to have: an answer you can actually stand behind, alongside everything you learned to fake.

The spec

The brief poses the problem and leaves room for a response. The spec is the fixed part: what a marker checks. Some lines can be checked mechanically; the rest call for judgement.

you attend, at the assigned time, and stay for the whole slot
you can defend at least one claim from weeks 6–11 when it is pushed on
you can speak, without notes, to what changed between week 1's bit and week 11's genuine attempt

How it is marked

Marked the same way as the midsem — on the performance, not a transcript — but now against everything from week 6 onward, including the genuine attempt from week 11. Confidence still counts, but by this point it has to be confidence in something.