MCQ Blog Tri 2

MCQ Improvement Blog

Overview

I retook the practice MCQ and improved my score from 22/42 to 36/42. This post breaks down what changed, where I improved, and which questions I still missed so I can target them next.

Evidence (Screenshots)

Below are the screenshots showing the questions I missed. I will keep these here as proof of growth.

Score Growth

• Baseline: 22/42
• Latest: 36/42
• Net change: +14 (about +33% of the total exam)

flowchart LR
    A[Practice Exam 1: 22/42] -->|+14| B[Practice Exam 2: 36/42]

Improvements by Category

The questions I missed cluster around tracing code behavior, loop execution counts, and selection sort mechanics. I will keep drilling these topics.

pie title Incorrect Questions by Topic Code
    "2.12" : 1
    "4.15" : 1
    "4.10" : 1
    "4.4" : 1
    "3.2" : 1
    "1.3" : 1

Incorrect Questions (Leave Room for Corrections)

Also, the flowcharts that I added above seem to be not loading, so here is a github issue on them: text

I left space to add my fixes and explanations for each missed question.

Question	Topic	Skills	Time Spent	Result	Fix / Notes
Q41	2.12	4.15	00:02	0/1	Compare runs 15 times; assign to temp runs 5 times (outer loop length is 5).
Q40	4.15	4.15	00:54	0/1	After 3 passes of selection sort: {1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 6}.
Q38	4.10	4.10	00:03	0/1	Use enhanced for loop: if (b.getPages() > maxPages) maxPages = b.getPages();.
Q27	4.4	4.4	01:44	0/1	Loop adds every other index; sum is 7.
Q21	3.2	3.2	00:18	0/1	Improve reliability by testing with a wide variety of conditions.
Q10	1.3	1.3	01:06	0/1	Operator precedence: a=9, b=5, c=6, so x=20.0.

Reflection

The screenshots show a big jump from 22/42 to 36/42, which means my studying actually worked. I improved most on broad concept recall and basic tracing, but the misses were mostly short, high-pressure trace problems where I rushed.

What I noticed from the missed questions:

• Selection sort mechanics: I mixed up how many times comparisons happen and what the array looks like after a few passes.
• Loop tracing: I lost track of counter changes in small code segments, especially when the loop jumps by 2.
• Logic rules and conditionals: I overthought the reliability question instead of sticking to best practices (test with varied conditions).
• Operator precedence: I rushed the arithmetic question and forgot that division happens before addition.

Overall, I’m closer to consistent performance, but I need to slow down on short tracing questions and verify each step instead of guessing.

Next Steps

• Redo each missed question and fill in the Fix / Notes column.
• Drill selection sort traces and loop iteration counts.
• Do a timed set of 10 trace problems and check each step before final answers.