1. Rob Gleasure R.Gleasure@ucc.ie robgleasure.com
IS6126 Databases for Management Information Systems Lecture 12: Exam Revision
Rob Gleasure
robgleasure.com

2. The exam

3. Making new connections
Types of learning
Application
Doing things
Reflection
Examples
Understanding things
Making new connections

4. Exam structure Three questions, answer two 90 minutes
You must answer Question 1
You may choose to answer either Question 2 or Question 3
All questions carry equal marks
Dictionaries may be used for international students, however you will need to coordinate with the International Office in advance
Students registered with DSS may be allocated additional time or alternative resources, however you will need to coordinate with the DSS Office in advance

5. Exam structure (continued)
Question 1 and 2
Balance of understanding and doing things
Discuss topics referencing real-world examples
Typically broken down into multiple parts
Question 3
Extrapolation question
Provocative statement for you to discuss
Just one part
Most questions will combine multiple themes

6. Theme 1: Structured data, DBMS, and SQL
Why are structured SQL-based relational databases useful? What needs do they address that other technologies do not?
How are the different DBMS better or worse than one another – when would you use one over another (e.g. MS Access over Oracle)?
What are views, indices, defined procedures, triggers, etc. and why are they useful?
What practical examples can you draw upon to illustrate the value of these different features of relational databases?

7. Theme 2: Unstructured data and business analytics
What is unstructured data, what are the sources of unstructured data, and why is it important?
What are regression, t-tests, and analysis of variance and what types of problems do they solve?
What are classification, clustering, text mining, and social graphing and what types of problems do they solve?
What practical examples can you draw upon to illustrate the value of these techniques?

8. Theme 3: Semi-structured data
What is semi-structured data, how is it different from structured and unstructured data, and why is it important for modern organisations?
How can crowds on the web act to create and organise information dynamically on the web?
What’s value can be obtained by analysing social media data?
What’s a practical example of this?

9. Theme 4: Alternative data stores
What’s the difference between OLTP and OLAP and why is each important?
What types of NoSQL data stores exist and what are the advantages/disadvantages associated with each
What are examples where you might use one over the other?
Why might you use multiple complementary data-related technologies?
Explain the mapreduce concept and how it is applied in Hadoop
What practical examples can you draw upon to illustrate the value of analysing OLTP and OLAP data?

10. Questions? This is your chance to ask!
Do you feel confident about the structure of the exam?
Do you feel confident you know what to revise?
Do you feel confident you know what I’m expecting in an answer?