• This will be a closed book exam.
• You may use a calculator, but you need to show the steps in solving the problems, not just write down the answer.
• You may not use a calculator (such as a cell phone) that can access a network.
• You do not need to sign into ClassQue on the day of the exam.
• You may not be logged in during the exam.
• The power on the monitor at your seat needs to be off during the exam.

You are responsible for understanding all of assignments and material from the textbook.
The exam will cover Chapter 1 and Appendix C.
Many of the problems on the exam will be similar to recitation problems and the daily questions.

You will be given a sheet of figures with the exam. You can look at a copy of this here.

The exam will have 2 parts.
The first part counts 80% and contains easier problems. Everyone should be able to finish Part 1.
The second part counts 20% and has 2 or 3 problems with multiple parts. These problems may be harder.
If you cannot do the problems from Part 1 quickly, you may not have time to finish Part 2.

Chapter 1

• Understand how to calculate speedup.
• Understand the meanings of:
  • X is n times faster than Y
  • X is n% faster than Y
• Understand Moore's Law and be able to do calculations involving trends in technology.
• Understand cost of die calculations (do not need to memorize formula).
• Understand how to do MTTF calculations.
• Understand general concepts of benchmarks and their limitations.
• Understand Amdahl's law calculations, both from the formula and first principles.
• Understand CPI and its relationship to execution time.

Appendix C

• Understand the basic 5 steps of instruction execution.
• Understand the five basic MIPS instruction types:
  • Register-Register ALU
  • Register-Immediate ALU
  • Load
  • Store
  • Branch on equal to zero
• Understand what each of the above instructions does during each of the five steps.
• Understand the classic 5-stage pipeline.
• Understand what the pipeline registers are and why they are needed.
• Understand structural, data, and control hazards.
• Be able to draw timing diagrams.
• Understand how forwarding handles data hazards.
• Understand the basic ideas concerning branch prediction.
• Understand Figures C21, C22, and C28. (Figure C28 not on exam 1, Fall 2013)
• Understand Figure A22 and how it relates the the above Figures.
• Understand exceptions and how they are handled (not on exam 1, Fall 2013).

Note: since the exam will not cover Figure C28, you will not need the bottom figure on the figure sheet.

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