<p>I have no idea what to do. Im a freshman at a pretty high-profile school. I am taking four classes for my first semester (total of 13 credits). In three of those classes, Im doing pretty well (Italian, a freshman foundation course, and a sociology course). However, I also added another class, Computer Science.</p>
<p>My original intention for taking this class was a future goal of mineto combine my English major with some COMPSCI skills/minor to create programs for educational and creative purposes.I actually like technology a lot and am pretty good at webdesign, etc, so I thought Compsci would be a great addition to that.</p>
<p>I was very wrong. This class, which was supposed to be an intro, turned out to be the most difficult thing I have ever done. I am absolutely terrible at math and the entire course is as suchmultiple problem sets. I stayed in the class past the date where withdrawal is an option, because I thought I was only starting up and it would get better as I learned. Again, I was very wrong. What has happened instead is this:</p>
<p>I am having trouble grasping even the most basic CompSci concepts
the course is moving too fast for me to grasp the material
office hours and TA hours fall at times where it isnt possible for me to go
friends in the class (and anyone who tries to help me) assume I have more knowledge than I do, and get impatient when I continuously struggle with them trying to explain
I think I understand in class, but when I try to do a problem that is similar I am once again lost.
I just dont have the time per week to study to the extent I need to (explained below)
I am anxious and depressed</p>
<p>At this point, I cannot drop out (or I would have below 12 credits which is not allowed). I did Pass/D/Fail the course but it is not likely at this point that I will even get a P. In order to pass this course even at a level of C- (I have been so confused I cannot even turn in the due homeworkI just dont know how to do it at ALL), I would have to have someone try and explain the course to me from the beginning and study double the amount by the end of the semester. And I dont have time to do this because if I fail this class I have to make sure my grades are high in other classeswhich means I have to study for those and I dont have enough time to study for CS. I MUST keep my entire GPA above a 2.0 or I risk being booted from this school.</p>
<p>For gods sake be civil with your responses. Yes, I have talked to my advisor (she suggested i talk to my years dean and the professor) and e-mailed my professor (no reply). Yes I have tried to go to extra help when its in my schedule. Yes I understand that I should have dropped the course when I had a gut feeling it wasnt going to work out. Any suggestions you have may help.</p>
<p>Do problems, lots of them, starting with simple ones and moving gradually up within each topic.</p>
<p>What will your GPA be if you do fail the course? Figure it out because it may very well be true that you won’t drop below a 2.0 even with the failure.</p>
<p>If that’s the case, do not go overboard spending time on trying to understand the problems. Spend your time instead getting the best grades possible in your other three classes to offset the F.</p>
<p>That’s my thing–it takes me a long time to understand even the simplest problems. And I’m so behind I don’t see how that’ll help.</p>
<p>CS is hard… especially if you’ve never done programming before and your school has a good CS program.</p>
<p>Speaking specifically as an EECS major at Berkeley:
Here, the first course in the CS series is technically an intro class. I say technically because honestly, it’s not meant to be an intro class. They let everyone in, and they start with the basics, but it moves at an insane pace. Anyone who doesn’t have prior experience has to work really really hard or be left in the dust. Of course, many students already have experience going in, whether it’s self-taught, from another class, or AP, they’ve got the basics down when they come in. How much they know varies, but understanding even basic things like the flow of a program or the concept of variables/scope is a big advantage. Oftentimes it’s recommended that students without any experience take the humanities-ish CS class first, so they aren’t totally lost in the intro class.</p>
<p>And yes, I realize most of that probably doesn’t relate directly to your situation, but it could be a similar issue. Different schools have different levels of classes, and sometimes the problem is that the intro class is really hard, not that you don’t deserve to be there.</p>
<p>I’d suggest asking your TAs for help. You said you cannot attend their office hours… can you arrange to meet them outside of the scheduled times? Your TA doesn’t want to see you fail, I’m sure they’d be happy to try and walk you through things. Or, they might be able to point you to the appropriate tutoring resources on campus. But just because you can’t go to the scheduled office hours doesn’t mean you can’t get help from them. TAs are also more likely to respond to emails etc than professors are, since they typically have fewer students to keep track of and such.</p>
<p>As for studying… how are you studying? The best way is to learn by doing. Pick a simple problem, maybe textbook exercises, and try working through it. For CS, and any technical subject really, you have to practice to grasp the concepts.</p>
<p>Hi. Yes this makes a lot of sense. My worry for going to the TAs at this point is this (And this is going to sound awful but here it is)
We have 6 homework assignments in the semester, and alternating programming projects. I’ve so far only been able to turn in 3 of them–two of which i did horribly on and the third one i was able to procure a seriously “walk me through it step by step” kind of help. The other two I just…don’t get it. AND I have a midterm next week oh god.</p>
<p>The longer you wait, the worse it’ll get. I’m assuming since this is an intro class, your TAs are probably undergrads too. They know what it’s like to be a student. They know students procrastinate, they know it’s hard to catch up. And they want you to do well. They’re students, just like you.</p>
<p>But they can’t help you if you don’t want help, and the longer you wait to get help, the harder it’ll be. Go talk to your TAs, they can give you school-specific suggestions, they can help walk you through concepts/assignments, and they might be able to get you back on track.</p>
<p>I went through this with a Physics course I was able to take P/F. I worked my way through school and had little money but found a way to pay for a grad student to tutor me. I did pass. I would not have otherwise. If you cannot withdrawal, you need a tutor and need to make the time for tutoring sessions. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>As a TA, I can say that we really, really want our students to do well. It’s very sad when the averages on exams are Cs or Ds and still no one comes in for help. Most of us are very happy when someone comes in for office hours. We love helping people, that’s why we’re TAs.
I’m in a similar situation right now so I totally understand how difficult it is. But we can do this!!!</p>