computing science first & second year advices

Comments

• ryan

  August 2013

  Well in my first year I took CMPT 120, CMPT 125, CMPT 150, CMPT 165, MATH 150, MATH 232, and MACM 101. In addition to that I took 3 WQB electives. 

  
  

  In second year I did CMPT 225, CMPT 250, CMPT 212, CMPT 276, MACM 201, STAT 100, STAT 101, and 3 other electives.

  
  

  I'm in Software Systems so some of your courses might be a little different. For instance you will likely take calc II in first year, STAT 270 instead of 101, and will do CMPT 275 instead of 276. Hardest courses kind of depends on you. A lot of people find MACM difficult. If you don't have much prior programming experience though you might find some of the CMPT courses difficult.

  
  

  Some general advice. CMPT 165 is a pretty easy computing elective, especially if you have some web programming experience. In order to take it though you must not have completed any 200 level CMPT courses yet. So take it first year. As well STAT 100 is a super easy B-Sci, but it must be completed before any other STAT course. It is a good idea to keep your WQB requirements in mind, and try to complete them along the way. Some people wait until the end of their degree and cram them all in. By that point though they usually don't care much about them and end up slacking off in the courses. Also there are a lot of easy electives you sometimes miss out on if you have taken other courses.

  
  

  I would try hard to have the combo of CMPT 225, CMPT 250, and CMPT 275/276 done by the end of your second year. These courses come up a lot as prerequisites for 300 level courses, so you will want to have them done so that you don't get stuck without prereqs in third year.

  
  

  Also I would recommend Coop highly. It is a great opportunity to learn a lot while making a fair bit of money. I felt I learned more on a work term than I did in a typical school term. Plus computing offers some of the best paying coop jobs so you can easily use the money you earn to either pay for school, or spend it however you choose. Often kids will sign up for coop when going into second year. Then you spend a semester getting your documents ready and doing some workshops, then a semester looking for a job, then you work in the summer of your second year.

  
  

  If you have any questions feel free to ask.
• 112233

  August 2013

  Start your assignments early. First and second year comp courses were all easy in all honesty. Just start the assignments early. One last tip: start the assignments early. Also double check your online submissions before submitting the assignments. Sending a zip file with only half your assignment won't get you any marks... (someone punch me in the face for doing this.. TWICE!!!!!) Start learning some basic coding stuff now if you want to really be a keener.
• iStudent

  August 2013

  wow @ryan best answer right there
  
• iStudent

  August 2013 edited August 2013

  This might help you too, it's a suggested first and second year course list:
  
  http://www.cs.sfu.ca/undergraduate/programs/computing-science-major.html
  
  
• EricJ

  August 2013

  courses: for me, the math was the hardest. all of it, but especially macm. i didn't have the motivation and often skipped math assignments if i had a deadline coming up for a CS course, since those assignments were always worth way more marks. but it sure is hard to learn math without actually doing it.

  
  

  if you have any programming experience at all you won't really have to worry about struggling in any first year (and probably second year) CS courses. but yes, start the assignments early. (especially important in later courses.) there's no telling how long some of those assignments take.
  

  
  

  co-op: do it. probably learnt more there than I did at SFU. I put it off a long time, mostly because there was never a good chance for me to take cmpt 275 (and when I did, it basically sucked since we were working on an iOS app and I had no means of working on it at home)
• JackYen

  August 2013

  thanks alot!! guys!!
• BeAnBeAn

  August 2013

  No problem!
• iStudent

  August 2013

  @beanbean is so modest
  
• BeAnBeAn

  August 2013

  @iStudent is so modern (cuz iPad)
• iStudent

  August 2013

  @beanbean Yep, I just hope iStudent 2 doesn't come out then im obsolete just like that