<p>Do you guys have any advice or tips for getting good grades for computer science majors? Also, how difficult is the courseload for compsci?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>1.) Don’t procrastinate. </p>
<p>2.) Don’t procrastinate. </p>
<p>3.) Don’t procrastinate.</p>
<p>4.) In later classes and on larger projects, be a bit of a perfectionist. For algorithms problems (in upper level courses), step through your solution several times. Always review your test answers before you turn them in!</p>
<p>For any project that involves programming, make sure you beat the hell out of your error checking/exception handling code and try to think of and account for every reasonable use case scenario. For example: I got an initial grade of 25/100 on an otherwise near-flawless custom data structure project once because I forgot to write a default case (one line of code in ~1000) for a switch statement and the thing seg faulted in the first suite of test cases that the TA ran it through. Turns out that one of the test cases violated the assumptions given to us to follow in the project write up, so I ended up with a 95 after I talked to the prof about it–but that could easily have happened on a legitimate test case, which would’ve seriously damaged my entire course grade.</p>
<p>Obviously, to do this you need to leave yourself a bit of time, which leads to…</p>
<p>5.) Don’t procrastinate.</p>
<p>The only class I got away with it in was Programming I, because I was one of the ones who “got it” and already had some programming experience going in. The projects get exponentially more difficult (or exponentially longer) as you progress through the degree program.</p>
<p>As for course load difficulty: yeah, it’s tough. The prerequisites and electives are often as difficult as some of the lower level core major courses. And apparently, professors love to conspire in such a way that you’ll have a slew of exams and project deadlines all in the same two week period, a couple times per semester. Don’t procrastinate.</p>
<p>I agree with dont procrastinate. Dont let calc hw and gen ed essays pile up ontop of programming assignments.</p>
<p>Actually, those first 2 years of a CS program are the real tough ones. First (like Kevin Tz said), you have to take your programming courses with your calculus courses. In year 2, you have programming courses with linear algebra, physics 1 and physics 2.</p>
<p>That major sucks you sit your ass on a computer all day.</p>
<p>Except you don’t. </p>
<p>There’s a grave and absurd misunderstanding that computer science is about computers. It isn’t. The computer is only a tool; what you do with it is what matters. To an extent, you can spend as much or as little time with it as you’d like, though the people leaving school with the hefty offers are ordinarily those who do put the most time in. Same applies to anything else, really.</p>
<p>I wish I had read this at the beginning of the semester. I just transferred from a blah school for CS to Purdue. I absolutely got my ass hand to me because I always underestimated the time it would take me to finish a CS Project. Next semester, going to start the DAY it is released. This is honestly the BIGGEST tip anyone could give another in CS. Don’t procrastinate and start early. You never know the error you will run into or problems you will have with your code.</p>
<p>Just want to say thanks for all your help guys just is there anything else you would like to add. Such as laptops or what this senior project is all about</p>
<p>Sent from my DROIDX using CC</p>