Computer Science and Math

Hello, I have completed my gen ed courses and I am left with the final courses for comp sci. I am an undergrad and did well the very first year. Last semester I had to drop all of my classes due to being in the hospital for a month. Now I am trying to make a comeback. I am programming in Java and C++ and will be doing mobile in the fall. I managed to get a B in these classes. However, my huge dilemma is math. MY GPA is a 3.8 and now I’ve hit a roadblock. For whatever reason I can’t seem to make it past pre-calc. Since I dropped it last semester I HAVE to pass it this semester or else I’d have to drop out the major program or most likely I won’t be accepted. I am aware that I have Calc1-4 along with discrete math and linear algebra ahead of me.

I feel so defeated because I have a 53%. I have taken advantage of school tutors, private tutors, online tutors, and I have spent so much money this semester on math alone. I spend about 2 hours a day practicing problems in the book and studying and going over it with my tutor. I always take notes in class and learn and review the next topic the day before. I have daily quizzes and have failed them ALL along with the tests. I have about 5 quizzes left, a test, and a final before the semester ends. I’m not sure why I can’t retain the information or how I manage to screw it up during exams but succeed on my own and with my tutor. I guess my question is if I’m struggling with pre-calc and I somehow manage to get at least a 60% to pass is it worth struggling through the rest of the math courses ? It’s obvious I’m putting in work. Should I change to information systems.

@Scott1205 What year in college are you?

I am actually somewhat surprised you’re struggling in pre-calculus after all that effort. Do you know what topics in particular? Quite a few topics from pre-calculus, calculus, and discrete math show up in CS, particular when dealing with more theoretical topics such as algorithms or complexity theory. So you will want to make sure you have a solid understanding of pre-calculus.

One of my biggest tests of understanding is whether or not you can explain or teach the topics you just learned to someone else (e.g. your tutor, or someone who hasn’t taken pre-calc). Perhaps give that a try. (I am a math w/ CS major and have TA’ed discrete math classes)

@MITer94

Beginning my second year. Last fall was supposed to be my start of my second year, but the hospital indecent ruined that. I honestly feel confident during the quizzes but manage to mess up completely. When we go over it I remember where I messed up. I have spoken to an advisor and they suggested IS, however, that requires discrete math which requires pre-calc. I am slightly scared to talk to my professor because I think she feels that I’m just not taking anything seriously even hinted at me cheating which isn’t the case, because I have receipts of my tutoring, and a notebook showing all my work from the start of the semester to now. I know that my quizzes are 15%, HW is 10%, Project is 5% and final is 40% along with my test coming up on Tuesday. I feel like as soon as I go over it before hand, I someone forget how to do it if she gives us worksheets. I try to be calm when taking tests and just take my time, yet I mess up.

I’m seriously struggling because I’m so close to finishing 2 years and being able to start the major program.

@Scott1205 Are these mess-ups usually silly mistakes (e.g. accidentally putting a + instead of a - and obtaining wrong answers, or perhaps arithmetic errors)? Or perhaps are they more serious errors that might indicate a lack of understanding? (e.g. something like, saying that every degree-n polynomial has n distinct real roots, which is clearly false). You will want to keep note of what type of mistakes you are making and find ways to fix them.

You will also want to shoot for mastery of the material, as opposed to a 60% passing score - otherwise you will have a hard time studying many CS topics (such as the ones I mentioned above) if you don’t have solid background. You are definitely capable of succeeding in the course, but you’ll need to find better ways of mastering the material.

@MITer94 Thanks for your advice ! Yes, something silly like getting square root of 36, and accidentally writing 36 as the answer. I’ve noticed that I’ll answer the question correctly and write something totally different on the paper ( for a lot of subjects) but I honestly feel like I’m not rushing. However, in my case I’ll just forget the steps during a test , for example, we are working with trig functions and I forget which step to do next.

@Scott1205 I’m still struggling to understand - I don’t think all your mistakes are attributable to silly errors; why else would you invest all that time and energy in getting tutoring?

Regardless, for minimizing silly mistakes, the Art of Problem Solving [url=<a href=“https://www.artofproblemsolving.com/articles/stupid-mistakes%5Darticle%5B/url”>https://www.artofproblemsolving.com/articles/stupid-mistakes]article[/url] might help.

Hey Guys, please help. How hard do you think it’ll be to add CS to applied mathematics as a double major. I applied for Applied Mathematics for fall 2016 as a 1 year transfer and got in. On the UCLA HSSEAS (college of engineering) website, they say that it is impossible for 3rd year, junior transfers to change to HSSEAS majors. What if I only actually have around 40 semester units completed (rest AP)? Does that still give me a chance, granted that my situation in terms of units isn’t analogous to that of a third year student? Any suggestions? The school doesn’t have a minor in CS, which is a shame. Your help is MASSIVELY APPRECIATED!

@itstheMATHlife You shouldn’t hijack threads in general.

If you’re not a 3rd year, junior transfer then that requirement shouldn’t apply. But you should ask your advisor for more advice.

@MITer94 Sorry for this late reply. Yes, I’ve invested lots of time in tutoring and I honestly have no idea what the issue is. It’s very pessimistic to say that I CAN’T succeed in upper level math classes, but I feel like I’ve gotten help from different tutors and have taken different approaches to pass my math classes but have had no success.

@Scott1205 It may be more of a conceptual issue - it’s one thing to memorize a list of trig identities (which I don’t recommend doing blindly without trying to derive them first), and it’s another to apply it in a different way than you might have done on the homework. Again, see my tips above.

You will also want to slow down and be more organized with your work when taking tests. You’ll be surprised at how many silly errors you catch, such as writing 36 instead of sqrt(36). I’ve caught quite a few myself!

I presume you will have to take an algorithms or data structures class as a CS major - I was actually a grader for an algorithms class for a few terms, and can tell you that much of the pre-calc material you are learning now will show up later (fast algorithms for matrix multiplication, analyzing runtime or space complexity, etc.). So you will really want to master the material.