Advice on project exams (and MSc and BSc thesis exams)

• The presentation in the project exam should summarize the work you have done in the project. The teacher and external examiner have read the project report, but you must demonstrate that you can explain orally what you have done, what is particularly important to you, and what you would do differently given better time and knowledge. You must also demonstrate that you can put your work and contributions in a relevant context, and that you can reflect on its significance.
• A project exam will usually have these parts:
  • your presentation (during which only few, clarifying questions will be asked);
  • questions about the report and the work, technical details as well as high-level considerations, such as alternative architectures, design, tools, theoretical approaches or whatever is relevant;
  • a brief vote on the grade (only the teacher and external examiner will be present).
• In a software construction project, the presentation might comprise:
  • background and context for the project;
  • goal of the project (for instance, requirements on the software);
  • design considerations, the chosen solutions or architecture or tools;
  • experimental results, time and space measurements, usability results, and so on;
  • a reflection on the usefulness and quality of the resulting software (to what extent is the software "complete" and well-tested enough that it is usable for its purpose).
  It is usually not a good idea to display actual program code, except to point out clever ideas or subtle algorithms, or to give examples of the input to or output from interpreters, compilers, program transformers and similar.
• It may be useful to give a demo of developed software, in particular if the user interface is complex or impressive or somehow the whole goal of the project. But do not waste too much of your precious exam time on it. Moreover, a demo must be very carefully prepared, or it will invariably go wrong and may derail an otherwise convincing presentation.
• Use Powerpoint (or similar software) or plastic overheads or blackboard to support your presentation, unless you are an extremely skilled orator. Never read from a manuscript.
• There will usually be a projector, blackboard or whiteboard, and network connection. But better check the room before the exam.
• Tell us how many minutes you will spend on the presentation, and stop after that time. The presentation only gets worse and worse the more you exceed the set time.
• Do NOT say again and again "very briefly, I'll present ..." or "as the very last thing, I'll ..." -- instead, speak briefly, or stop speaking altogether. The examiners are eager to ask you questions, don't prevent that!
• It may be useful to give a trial presentation to a few fellow students the day before.
• You are welcome to bring a glass of water, to fight nervousness and a dry throat. But do not bring a bottle of water that you unscrew, drink from, and reseal, 500 times in the course of half an hour. The teacher or examiner may explode from irritation.
• Don't fidget with water bottles, ball pens, keys and so on during the examination. Stay focused.
• Mobile phones, PDA's and other evil gadgets must be turned completely off or left outside the room.