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Some Course Questions

icerider
edited November 2008 in General
I have a couple of questions for courses:

ENGL 101 (intro to ficton) or ENGL 105 (intro to issues in lit and culture)? are they both okay? or is one easier/better than the other?

whats CMPT 150 and CMPT 225 like? I won't be taking MACM 201, so which would should i pick for the spring semester (I'm a first year comp sci student). The advisor told me that CMPT 225 is the course that tells students whether they want to stick with comp sci, or change to another major. Currently, I don't know if I want to be in comp sci, so 225 seems better, but I don't know if it's harder than 150.

And does anyone know how PSYC 201, PSYC 260, and/or PSY 268 are like?

Thanks.

Comments

  • JayDub
    edited October 2008
    I can only help you with the CMPT courses.

    CMPT 150 is the very basics of logic gates and assembly programming. This helps you build the foundations for the class CMPT 250 where you learn to build a processor. 150 is an interesting class but it is not a breeze. You may also consider looking at ENSC 150 since it is the same class, same material, can be used instead of CMPT 150, but is somehow easier.

    CMPT 225 is the basics of data structures. If you did not have a problem with CMPT 125/126 then this class won't be hard though it is not necessarily that interesting.
  • Makall
    edited October 2008
    If you're a CS major, you're going to need to take MACM201 if you meant you're never going to take it.

    CMPT 225 isn't harder than 150. 225 is basically more of the same stuff you learned in 120/125.

    150 and 250 are pretty hard IMO. Don't think the class average for these courses are ever above 50. But they're required so... if there's a CS course that may make you reconsider your major, it's these two but good thing is, there are only two of these courses. Most of CS is probably going to be based on 225 stuff anyways.
  • icerider
    edited October 2008
    and yeah, I meant I wouldn't be taking MACM 201 until second year, and until I figure out I actually want to be a CS major before submitting myself to the torture of discrete mathematics once again.

    Has anyone had Michael Evans personally? Judging from ratemyprofessors, he seems to be pretty bad.....but I'm really hoping he isn't, since it'll mess up my schedule. Is there a particular 225 prof that's really good?
  • buflibufli
    edited October 2008
    i took ENGL 105 it was ezy if u have time to read all the books.. but then again its a diff teacher every semester (we had to read 5book all from the UK in British slang which was a pain in the ass but kinda fun)

    took 225 with Anne L... w/e her name is the french one lol she was pretty good

    Mike Evans.. had cmpt300 with him... his sense of humor is anything but funny... he expects u have no life outside of his class, if i were u id avoid him...

    cmpt 150 is ok.. not too bad if u take it with Dixon prob one of the better profs ive had @ sfu, boring to listen to but very detailed notes and good explanations
  • Agentbob
    edited October 2008
    Makall;39272 said:


    150 and 250 are pretty hard IMO. Don't think the class average for these courses are ever above 50. But they're required so... if there's a CS course that may make you reconsider your major, it's these two but good thing is, there are only two of these courses. Most of CS is probably going to be based on 225 stuff anyways.
    250 is soooo boring. I agree, Dixon is an excellent professor, but even then it's incredibly hard to pay attention to what he has to say.

    I also heard that 300 contains some materials that's discussed in 150 and 250. And Mike Evans was rated as one of the worst professors at SFU. Be careful.
  • IVTIVT
    edited October 2008
    225 and 150 are quite unrelated i think

    must...resist...plugging...own...site....

    LOL

    good luck with your future courses
  • JayDub
    edited October 2008
    Knowing 150/250 will help with 300 for sure.

    Mike Evan's is also horrible for 225.
  • Iran1988
    edited October 2008
    Eng 105 is a joke.
  • buflibufli
    edited October 2008
    Iran1988;39299 said:
    Eng 105 is a joke.
    i just remembered my friend took it the semester after me and they didnt read anything, they watched the matrix movie in class and had to write a paper on it or somehting like that
  • mmw4
    edited October 2008
    for english
    it really depends on the prof

    i had eng 101 with collette colligan and we read 4+ short stories EACH WEEK!
    too much readings, in my opinion
  • buflibufli
    edited October 2008
    mmw4;39324 said:
    for english
    it really depends on the prof

    i had eng 101 with collette colligan and we read 4+ short stories EACH WEEK!
    too much readings, in my opinion
    that sounds like a pain in the ass lol even tho their short stories
  • mmw4
    edited October 2008
    bufli;39326 said:
    that sounds like a pain in the ass lol even tho their short stories
    it was, one week we had to read FIVE short stories
    although 5/45 short stories were comics
    there was just TOO much reading, and too LITTLE writing
    there were only 3 short essays based on 3 different short stories (500 words, worth 10% each)
    one long essay based on two or three short stories (1200+ words i think, worth 30%)
    and final worth 30% (2 essays, 5 paragraphs/short essays)
    and tutorial participation was worth 10%
  • makoberryblue
    edited November 2008
    I took Eng 105 this semester. We read no books. It was all short article from Professor Rick Coe's custom courseware. The closest thing to a book was the Sophocles' Oedipus we read, but even then it was only like 50 pages.

    Easy course. Nice prof. For TA, I suggest Amy Russel.
    The coming semester I will be taking the 101.
  • echicken
    edited November 2008
    For psyc
    I have done 260 and I'm doing 201 now
    260 is relatively easy, but the average is high
    201 is not hard, u may have to answer some short questions in the first few labs tho
    and the research counts a lot
    268...my friend said you may learn some of the materials in the first yr psyc courses
  • icerider
    edited November 2008
    Thanks everyone. I've decided to take psyc 260, cogs 100, cmpt 150, and crim 101 (at surrey...hopefully I won't be robbed or something....) for spring. It should be a nice change to all the math I'm forced to this this semester, and it means I won't have to wake up at 6am for my Calculus class.
  • makoberryblue
    edited November 2008
    icerider;40057 said:
    Thanks everyone. I've decided to take psyc 260, cogs 100, cmpt 150, and crim 101 (at surrey...hopefully I won't be robbed or something....) for spring. It should be a nice change to all the math I'm forced to this this semester, and it means I won't have to wake up at 6am for my Calculus class.
    Hey, I'm in your COGS 100 class. Hope it will be easy. Theres only 100 students and theres no tutorial... thats awesome! Heard students compile their notes together and they do something called wikis?

    I found their wiki site, http://www.zanyt.com/cogs_wiki/index.php?title=Welcome

    Still no idea what is ;X
  • JayDub
    edited November 2008
    A Wiki is a website that includes the collaboration of work from many different authors. A wiki site allows anyone to edit, delete, or modify the content on the web.

    See: wikipedia.
  • Jimmy
    edited November 2008
    i was lookin into cogs 100, it seems hard. Ill stick with first nations studies
  • schmoey
    edited November 2008
    makoberryblue;40089 said:
    Hey, I'm in your COGS 100 class. Hope it will be easy. Theres only 100 students and theres no tutorial... thats awesome! Heard students compile their notes together and they do something called wikis?

    I found their wiki site, http://www.zanyt.com/cogs_wiki/index.php?title=Welcome

    Still no idea what is ;X
    My gf is taking this class right now, and it doesn't seem too bad.. very interesting mix of arts and science. That's probably one of the harder things to get over, understanding concepts that bridge the two. As for the content, it seems it starts out with some more arts-ish stuff (discussion on some psych and phil regarding the brain) and gradually incorporating some comp sci ideas into it. You have to do what's called a "short" (assignment) every week, most often a 500-word essay, sometimes science-ish assignments (logic problem solving, working with graphs). I sit in sometimes to listen.. the prof (Mark Blair) is great, extremely funny, energetic, encourages discussion, and even learns (or at least tries to) everyone's name.
  • makoberryblue
    edited November 2008
    Thanks for the information schmoey

    Can you elaborate on what you mean by Comp sci ideas?
    Also, do you know if they submit those essays through WEBCT, or is it a LONCAPA sort of thing? since there is no tutorials for this class
  • schmoey
    edited November 2008
    makoberryblue;40124 said:
    Thanks for the information schmoey

    Can you elaborate on what you mean by Comp sci ideas?
    Also, do you know if they submit those essays through WEBCT, or is it a LONCAPA sort of thing? since there is no tutorials for this class
    Well, I might be wrong on this because I'm not too sure myself (plus they're just getting into it), but they try to incorporate ideas about algorithms and computations into how the brain works.

    They use Moodle to submit all their assignments.
  • icerider
    edited November 2008
    schmoey;40097 said:
    My gf is taking this class right now, and it doesn't seem too bad.. very interesting mix of arts and science. That's probably one of the harder things to get over, understanding concepts that bridge the two. As for the content, it seems it starts out with some more arts-ish stuff (discussion on some psych and phil regarding the brain) and gradually incorporating some comp sci ideas into it. You have to do what's called a "short" (assignment) every week, most often a 500-word essay, sometimes science-ish assignments (logic problem solving, working with graphs). I sit in sometimes to listen.. the prof (Mark Blair) is great, extremely funny, energetic, encourages discussion, and even learns (or at least tries to) everyone's name.
    Cool, one of my friends said they had quizzes every Wednesday and essays due every Friday, but honestly, anythings better than Calc and MACM right now.
  • Myname
    edited November 2008
    makoberryblue;40124 said:
    Thanks for the information schmoey

    Can you elaborate on what you mean by Comp sci ideas?
    Also, do you know if they submit those essays through WEBCT, or is it a LONCAPA sort of thing? since there is no tutorials for this class
    Artificial Intelligence.

    Turing Test.

    What is consciousness?

    What is a mind? What is a brain?

    Descartes stuff.

    And a lot of other abstract philosophical stuff about the mind.
  • makoberryblue
    edited November 2008
    That sounds like a very hard course to get my B-SCI credits. =(
    I wish HSCI 130 or 160 gave B-SCI credits... Now I need to look for something else haha.

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