Day 14 — Dress Rehearsal
Debrief
Fill this in the evening of Mon Sep 21, then read the cheatsheet once and stop.
Scores
| Paper | Score /68 | % | Pass (47)? | Time used | First pass done by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 09 (FULL) | /90 min | ||||
| Paper 10 (FULL) | /90 min |
Misses by section
| § | Section | Wrong | Unsure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create quantum circuits (18%) | ||
| 2 | Perform quantum operations (16%) | ||
| 3 | Run quantum circuits (15%) | ||
| 4 | Sampler primitive (12%) | ||
| 5 | Estimator primitive (12%) | ||
| 6 | Visualization (11%) | ||
| 7 | Retrieve and analyze results (10%) | ||
| 8 | OpenQASM (6%) |
Miss log
| Q | What the answer was | Why my answer looked right |
|---|---|---|
Trap check
- Little-endian bit ordering (counts keys, Pauli labels, qubit indices)
- Sampler needs measurements; Estimator must not have them
- Observables need
apply_layoutafter transpilation - Primitives require ISA circuits — untranspiled circuits are rejected
-
resilience_levelis Estimator-only -
data.<creg>naming — the attribute is the classical register's name - Suppression (DD, twirling) vs mitigation (ZNE, TREX, PEC)
- Optimization level semantics (0–3)
- Job vs batch vs session
- Entangled state ⇒
plot_bloch_multivectorshows a zero vector
Pacing verdict
- Did the first pass finish inside ~60 minutes? If not, tomorrow you answer and flag faster — an answered guess beats a perfect answer you ran out of time to reach.
- Were any questions left unanswered? There is no penalty for a wrong guess. Tomorrow, nothing is left blank.
The five rules for tomorrow morning
Write them out from memory. If one will not come, that is the one to look up tonight — and the only thing you look up tonight.
Exam day — Tue Sep 22, 2026
- Cheatsheet, 20 minutes, morning only
- No new material
- Pacing plan: first pass ~60 min · second pass ~25 min · 5 min buffer
- Nothing left blank
Stop by 9pm tonight. Sleep is worth more than another hour of revision.