Data Structures and Algorithms, spring 2026

The course consists of two five credit course units, Part I and Part II. You can complete both parts during Spring 2026 by solving automatically checked exercises online with each part followed by an on-site exam.

The course format is the same for degree students of the University of Helsinki and for Open University students.

To take the exam and receive official course credits, you need to register to the course: Part I and Part II.

Material and Lectures

The self-study material found on this MOOC page is sufficient to complete the course, but further material in Moodle (see the official course pages) regarding lectures may provide additional insights.

Part I covers the sections 1–8 (one section per week).

Part II covers the sections 9–16.

Course lectures take place on Fridays at 10-12 on the Exactum Campus (Room B222 for part I and D123 for part II in the Exactum building). Lectures offer additional guidance to weekly topics.

Exercises and Grading

Each part consists of 8 weeks with 8 exercise problems in each week. All exercises of a part have the same deadline and you can solve them at your own pace.

To complete a part, you must solve at least 5 problems from each week. The grading is determined by the number of problems solved as follows:

• 40-44 problems: Grade 1 *)
• 45-49 problems: Grade 2 *)
• 50-54 problems: Grade 3 *)
• 55-59 problems: Grade 4 *)
• 60-64 problems: Grade 5 *)

*) in addition, you must verify the grade in an on-site exam:

• you need to get 50% correct of the multiple choice part of the exam to get any grade. When passing this minimum criteria:
• to verify grades 2,3, and 4 you need to get 60%, 70%, and 80% correct of the multiple choice part of the exam, respectively, otherwise the grade based on the exercises will be lowered by one
• to verify grade 5 you need to get 80% correct of the multiple choice part of the exam and you need to solve a specific assignment, otherwise the grade based on the exercises will be lowered by one

The deadline for Part I is Sunday, March 8 at 23:59. The exercise problems will be published according to the following schedule:

The deadline for Part II is Sunday, May 10 at 23:59. The exercise problems will be published according to the following schedule:

Guidance and contact information

Guidance is available on Friday lectures, offered usually in study group style to encourage discussions.

There is a Discord channel, where you can discuss with other students. Join the group

In person guidance is available on the Kumpula Campus on Wednesdays 12–16 and Fridays 12–16 in room BK107.

Discord and in person guidance are shared with the Finnish version of the course.

The responsible teacher of the course in Spring 2026 is Veli Mäkinen. You can contact him by email.