Office hours, especially with the T.A.s, were really helpful. The instructor really cares about the success of the students and their development
of better problem-solving habits and skills. Easy to consult about developing better study habits for the class, as well as for guidance for
practice problems during class. While I am not a fan of the flipped classroom model, I feel like it helped me a lot in terms of understanding the
content. I was not too fond of the Cornell notes, but at the same time, they were also pretty helpful. I definitely learned a lot in this class, and
despite the struggle and the challenges, I consider it to be one of the better ICS classes that I have taken so far. Content in class is fine and
well organized; I believe that because lower ICS division classes were too lenient with their grading, a lot of people struggled. This class
helped me to refresh and really learn those skills that I did not really retain well from lower-division classes.
The first half of this class is significantly easier than the second half. Even if you are doing well in the course, don't start to get complacent once you reach dynamic programming. This is when
the class actually "begins" and you will need to put in even more effort than you originally have to do well in the course. Also do NOT cheat in this class. Nodari means it when he says that he
doesn't take cheating lightly and unfortunately class mates of mine have been reported to the office of judicial affairs for academic dishonesty this semester. My one tip to pass this class is to
attend every single office hour you can. There will never be an instance where you don't learn something during this office hour and thinking you can solve something yourself to later find out
you are stuck will be a huge regret.
The professor and TAs are professional and very willing to
help. There is not much I could do to be successful because
the course is designed poorly, with very little active instruction.
I was largely unable to take part in office hours which I think
may be where the majority of instruction took place. The
grading for the assignments was pretty awful as there was no
real rubric provided, and the expectation that students can
come up with solutions to such complex problems after
reading a few chapters in a book is unrealistic without a strong
background/foundation or direct help from the professor or
TAs. The assignments definitely identified some deficiencies
for me, and I learned many concepts but was unable to
reproduce anything to the standards set by the TAs. Mostly, I
felt this course is designed for someone who already knows
everything about the subject or has time to memorize the
entire book and/or screencasts, and not just the course
textbook, but material from several previous classes is also
required. I would not recommend this class for anyone taking
other classes or if you are a slow reader. Do not try to take the
class after attending Discrete Math from other institutions.
Some other students I spoke with seemed to get by without the
textbook though so I really don't know. I just know that no
matter how hard I tried I was unable to meet the expectations
of the teacher, even at times when I attended office hours.
Hopefully an intermediary summer course can be offered to
help students prepare but maybe the course is just designed to
break people's spirits. It would be nice if the class is offered
free of charge since the majority of learning takes place
independently of the teachers, or similar to Coursera courses
which require payment only upon successful completion of all
requirements. The grading policies and homework feedback
served to demean and demotivate at every step, despite the
professor's attempts to encourage everyone. To sum things up,
yes, I read the textbook, and no, I did not memorize it, yet. A
ton of effort went into building the course, and I can respect
that, and I definitely respect the hard work of the professor and
TAs, but I feel it's a bit wasted by not offering traditional
lectures. I struggle learning some complex materials on my
own and that is why I am attending college in the first place. It
should be called ICS311 Office Hours, and not pretend this is a
real class.
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