

Ask HN: advice for taking difficult CS programming courses? - tootlol

The CS program in my University only offers three programming courses in first and second year before the operating system course. The first two courses are about scheme and c while the third one is C++. Now from what I know the majority of the students could only get an average of 60 in these courses not to mention an OS course. In addition, from looking at some of my friend's performance in the OS course they are struggling really hard and can barely finish 50% of the assignments. Most student pass it by doing well on the exams which is theory based. On top of that, I was originally impress by some students who got a 96% but it turned out that they did some dirty tricks (such as dropping it half way through and taking it again; I know one guy who did this 3 times for the OS course).<p>If anyone did well in their respective OS courses could you provide some advices? I know that it varies from program to program but please share anything you can.
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namank
Take the challenge, step up your game. Since you already know what difficult
courses you have, why not work on them beforehand by studying for them or
becoming the as best a programmer you can BE in the courses you are taking
now.

I had a very basic programming course. Then an algorithms course. Then an
Assembly course, then compilers, then OS. All were in different languages and
there was very knowledge transfer. I don't think the number of courses matter
as much as how well you understand the ones you have.

OS was my second best undergrad course, right after compilers.

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erikpukinskis
Your grades will never matter.

However, the difficulty of the challenges you take on will make _all the
difference in the world_.

Grad schools and employers want people who can take on hard problems, who can
do so with autonomy, and who can get help when they need it.

Start practicing.

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tootlol
Do you feel the program is flawed since it only has 3 programming courses
before an OS course? I think the major reason is that students don't do well
is because of lack of practice.

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T-R
That could be true, or it could not be. I had more courses before my OS class,
but strictly speaking, I didn't necessarily need to take them in that order.

Either way, it seems that the thing to do would be to get more practice
independently. If you're really worried about that particular course, see if
you can read up on some of the material beforehand. If the assignments are
published somewhere publicly, you could even start on them early.

Also, dropping the course and re-taking it isn't really a dirty trick - they
just took some more time to learn the material. You could do the same by
getting a head start practicing it. If they finished with a 96% the second
time, there's a good chance they learned more from it than someone who got
through with a 50% and never touched the material again.

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bankim
Don't worry too much about grades. Take on the challenge. Before taking up OS
course, make sure you become proficient in C and understanding pointers.

