hku-examinations Directory Reference

Detailed Description

Analyzing HKU examination course types

Retrieve data

Steps:

1. Proceed to http://www.exam.hku.hk/tt_faclist.php (http-only, disable HTTPS-only mode in your browser settings if needed)
2. Pick your favourite discipline

3. Copy the timetables without the reminders part at the end, e.g.:

   BASc(AppliedAI) Examination Time Table for the First Semester of 2024-2025
   (As at Nov 13, 2024)
   Date  Time   Course Code  Description  Venue
   Dec 7 SAT  6:30 pm - 8:30 pm   ECON2280  Introductory econometrics  Rm 217 Main Bldg.
       Introductory econometrics  Rm 218 Main Bldg.
       Introductory econometrics  Rm 256 Main Bldg.
   Dec 9 MON  9:30 am - 11:30 am   CHIN1117  General introduction to classical Chinese language  Rm 5 Library Ext.
   Dec 9 MON  9:30 am - 11:30 am   FINA2320  Investments and portfolio analysis  3/F, Multi-purpose Zone, Main Library
       Investments and portfolio analysis  CPD-LG.07-10, Centennial Campus
    
   (...)
    
   There are changes in time, venue or special note for those courses in red color and bold. Details of the changes made can be found at the Examinations Office website (www.exam.hku.hk) under the section "amendments to timetable".
   Note: All in-person examinations are close-book examinations, unless otherwise specified.
    
   Electronic Calculators
    
   # Copy till here

4. Paste the content into a new .txt file

5. Run the bash command below, you will see an result like this:

   123er@Eric  /d/Personal Data/Repositories/personal-repo/misc/hku-examinations (main)
   $ cat 2024-sem1/ai.txt | grep -E "[A-Z]{4}" --only-matching | sort | uniq -c | sort -r
       17 COMP
       9 STAT
       8 MATH
       4 FINA
       3 IMSE
       3 GEOG
       3 ECON
       3 APAI
       2 SOCI
       2 PHYS
       2 CUND
       2 CHIN
       2 CCST
       1 URBS
       1 PSYC
       1 MECH
       1 IIMT
       1 CSCI
       1 CCGL
       1 BUSI
       1 BSTC
       1 BIOL
       1 ACCT
    
   123er@Eric  /d/Personal Data/Repositories/personal-repo/misc/hku-examinations (main)
   $

Shell command

cat <your_new_text_file>.txt | grep -E "[A-Z]{4}" --only-matching | sort | uniq -c | sort -r

Run on all of the text files come with this repository:

cat **/*.txt | grep -E "[A-Z]{4}" --only-matching | sort | uniq -c | sort -r

Sorted by course type, including title

awk '
  {
    if (match($0, /[A-Z]{4}[0-9]{4}/)) {
      code  = substr($0, RSTART, RLENGTH);
      rest  = substr($0, RSTART + RLENGTH);
      gsub(/^[[:space:]]+/, "", rest);
      # title = text up to the next run of whitespace (tab or ≥2 spaces)
      n = split(rest, a, /(\t|[[:space:]][[:space:]]+)/);
      title = a[1];
      print code "\t" title
    }
  }
' **/ai.txt | sort -u -t $'\t' -k1.1,1.4 -k1.5,1.8n

Important things to consider in this data analysis

• Only courses with examinations were appeared on the website
• The result only shows the diversity of type of courses student enrolled into, but not the majority of students enrolled into

Sidenote when trying to collect new datas

• Previous semester examinations data will disappear after some time
• Current semester data only appear after the examination timetable has been announced for the majority of students (typically around the end of October for semester 1)

Automating data collection

If you want to download all of the examination timetables without manually copying once for each degrees/faculties, follow the instructions below:

1. Disable "Always ask for location before downloading" in your browser settings.
2. Paste this JavaScript code into the browser console while you are on http://www.exam.hku.hk/tt_faclist.php
3. Press Enter.