boarder line. depending on how things line up I expect you will have some stressful weekends.
CMPT 307 - This is a tricky course, and how it is graded can vary greatly from math style where you have homework worth a little, some midterms and finals worth a lot, to a bunch of tests each worth like 15% and a final worth the rest. For most people this is a course that would require a pretty consistent effort each week to keep up with the material, plus some extra effort around tests.
CMPT 373 - When taught by Shermer this is my favorite course at SFU. I see he doesn't appear to be teaching it this semester, which is unfortunate.Assuming Nick teaches it similarly there will be minimal homework between classes, but a lot of project work to do due periodically throughout the term. If you are an active contributor to your team (which you should be =) ) the course will likely take up a medium amount of time on the average week, and a lot of time on the weeks a milestone is due. Great course though, and I think it is a good one for students to take as early as possible when entering their third year.
CMPT 433 - I only saw this course offered once at SFU, and always hoped it would be offered again so I could take it. Fraser is great. I expect this course will be like most of his others where the workload is quite consistent throughout the term. I imagine it will also have crunch time though. If 433 crunch time lines up with 373 crunch time you might find yourself in a pinch.
CMPT 473 - I took an early offering of this course also by cameron and it was pretty meh. He is a good prof, but the material is a little dry. I imagine it has developed since then. Assuming it is similar though I would say it would require a little time each week to do readings, and then again some extra time around assignments. This is probably the easiest of the 4 courses, but also the least valuable.
Where are you at in your degree? Based on these four courses I would either guess you are rushing to wrap up a SoSy degree, or you are entering third year and are a little ahead of yourself. 373 is technically a prereq for 473, so taking both at the same time is unusual. Also 433 is generally a course you take out of interest.
I would probably advise against this course load unless you really need it. if you are near the end of your degree I would not do 433 and instead do something else. If you are in third year I would not do 473, and may or may not do 433 depending on what other courses you intend to do.
That said though if you need the courses and are interested in the courses and strong at computing then the course load is doable. You will spend a lot of time on them though, and your grades will likely still suffer.
For comparison I did CMPT 307 and CMPT 373 with ECON 103 and IAT 267
and CMPT 473 with CMPT 300, CMPT 383, and EDUC 465.
Both of those semesters were comfortable ones. I could have done more, but what you are looking at would be equivalent to about twice as much.
Yeah, that looks better. It might be a little tricky to have two largely project driven classes (assuming that is what 238 is, I haven't taken it), but it should be manageable. Plus you will have groups.
Being in third year you still have time to take more courses. I know 433 offerings can be sporadic (unless it is offered every fall now?), so if you are really interested in embedded programming you could try to do that instead of 383 (which is offered often) and probably still be okay. I think 383 would be more manageable though.
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