Exam Info

The Quest will be 50 minutes long and held in-person from Wednesday, September 16 to Friday, September 18. Self-reservations for time slots will be made available starting Wednesday, September 9 at 8:00 AM. There will be a Quest Retake the following week from Thursday, September 24 to Friday, September 25. Self-reservations for the Quest Retake time slots will be made available starting Thursday, September 17 at 8:00 AM.

There will be two CBTF-based Midterms, both 50 minutes long and held in-person.

  • Midterm part 1 will be open from Wednesday, October 28 to Friday, October 30. Self-reservations for time slots will be made available starting Wednesday, October 21 at 8:00 AM. Midterm part 1 Retake will be open the following week from Monday, November 2 to Tuesday, November 3. Self-reservations for the Midterm part 1 Retake time slots will be made available starting Monday, October 26 at 8:00 AM.
  • Midterm part 2 will be open from Monday, November 9 to Friday, November 13. Self-reservations for time slots will be made available starting Monday, November 2 at 8:00 AM. Midterm part 2 Retake will be open the following week from Thursday, November 19 to Friday, November 20. Self-reservations for the Midterm part 2 Retake time slots will be made available starting Thursday, November 12 at 8:00 AM.

All CBTF Exams will take place in Moffitt 175 for Fall 2026.

The CBTF will hold general CBTF Orientation Quizzes during Week 2 of the semester (Monday, August 31st - Friday September 4th) that are not worth any points. These are intended to familiarize you with the facilities. They are optional, but recommended in order to understand the policies and space before taking your official Quest and Midterms. The orientation quiz will last 20 minutes, and can be self scheduled on PrairieTest. Additionally, there will be a remote orientation quiz available starting Week 3. Students can retake as many times as they would like on their own devices.

The final will be held in-person on Monday, December 14th, 11:30 AM - 2:30 PM PT. There are no alternate exams.

Quest

Quest Details

The Quest is a 50-minute PrairieLearn-style assignment designed to be taken in-person at the Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) in Moffitt 175. This is a secure, proctored facility where you take computer-administered exams on managed CBTF computers. You may directly self-schedule a 50-minute block of time on any of the available time slots via PrairieTest once the self-reservation window opens. If you have DSP accommodations, please submit your letter of accommodation directly via the AIM portal, and you will automatically receive your accommodations when you check in.

CBTF Logistics

For Fall 2026, the CBTF is located in Moffitt 175. Please carefully review the following CBTF resources to make sure you understand the policies and procedures for CBTF exams, as well as the tasks needed to be done on your side prior to the exam.

Please read over all facility logistics carefully!

Action items

  • You must log in to PrairieTest with your CalNet ID to instantiate your PrairieTest account.
  • Submit any DSP accommodations ASAP so this can be entered in your PrairieTest account. Note: you must instantiate your account before CBTF Staff can enter your accommodations.
  • When self-reservations open up on Wednesday, September 9th at 8:00AM PT, make a reservation for your exam. Instructions on how to do so are detailed here. You can change a reservation up to 90 minutes before the session starts.
  • Download and set up Duo Mobile with your CalNet account. Computers in Moffitt 175 will require you to authenticate using Duo before accessing your exams. Text messaging may be spotty in the CBTF and is not recommended as a Two-Factor Authentication method. Extra time will not be granted for authentication problems.
  • If you miss your reservation, please email cbt-help@berkeley.edu for assistance.

Exam Day Reminders

  • You must bring your Cal ID to the CBTF for the exam (or government ID as a backup). CalCentral is not a valid form of identification. Without proper identification, you will not be allowed into the library to take the exam.
  • Have your CalNet password ready when you arrive. You will need this to log in for the exam and will not be provided additional time to find it once your exam time begins.
  • Make sure to arrive 10 minutes before your scheduled session to get checked in on time. Exams start right at listed session time.
  • Please use the restroom before your scheduled exam time. Students taking 50-minute exams (i.e. the Quest) will not be allowed to leave the room to use the restroom during the exam unless they have provided an accommodation beforehand.

General Reminders

  • You are not allowed to use any unauthorized devices during your exam (smart phones, individual cheat sheets, smart watches, smart glasses, etc.).
  • Proctors will be monitoring the CBTF and will report any instances of Academic Dishonesty to course staff directly.
  • CBTF Proctors can not answer any content related questions during your exam.
  • Use the PrairieTest shortcut on the desktop of the CBTF computers.

If you have any concerns about logistics regarding your situation, please email cs61c@berkeley.edu.

Practice Quest

A Practice Quest will be released on our Homework portal for PrairieLearn (not PrairieTest itself). The Practice Quest is intended to get you familiar with the format of the quest and topics that may be tested. We highly recommend completing the practice quest before taking the Quest or Retake.

Quest Scope

The quest covers Number Representation, C, and Floating Point, which were covered in the following:

  • Lectures 1 through 8
  • Discussions 1 through 3
  • Labs 0 through 2
  • Homework 1 through 3
  • Project 1

Rubric

The quest will have 20 points (question breakdown will be posted closer to the Quest).

Retake

The Retake is scheduled for the week after the Quest. All students are eligible for the Retake, and your score on the quest will be the superscore of your performance on the Quest and Quest Retake. For example, the below table shows an example scoring computation. Note: The sample scoring breakdown may not be indicative of the actual breakdown of the Quest. It only serves as an example of computing your score.

Quest Retake Superscore
Num Rep (Bases) 1 / 2 2 / 2 2 / 2
Num Rep (Signed / Unsigned) 2 / 2 0 / 2 2 / 2
C (IEC) 1 / 1 0 / 1 1 / 1
C (Code) 9 / 12 11 / 12 11 / 12
C (Bitwise) 3 / 4 4 / 4 4 / 4
Floating Point (Mechanical) 1 / 2 1 / 2 1 / 2
Floating Point (Conceptual) 0 / 2 2 / 2 2 / 2
Overall 17 / 25 20 / 25 23 / 25

Since the Retake offers all students a second chance to take the exam, there will be no other retakes or alternate testing arrangements outside of the specified times. Note that due to the superscoring policy, there is no penalty for skipping the Quest or the Retake, but if you are unable to take both exams, you will receive a zero for the Quest portion of your grade. There are no exceptions to this policy, since there are already 5 possible days to take the Quest/Retake.