• 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 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.

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 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.
• Understand Figure A22 and how it relates the the above Figures.
• Understand exceptions and how they are handled.

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