I’ve been reviewing some of the content of the CS61A curriculum. I just took a practice Midterm 1, and it was extremely difficult. I probably got around a 40-50% on the test. Assuming I get around this average on all the tests, I’ll likely lose 20-30 points on each of the three main tests. I don’t know the exact grading scale, but I know a 210/300 is not good.
Is this just how the class is? Is there something I’m missing. Maybe I’m just not studying hard enough right now.
Additionally, I noticed that around 5% of the class usually gets an A+, or 298/300 points in the class. Does this mean there are typically 5% of the class getting a 100% on these midterms?
No, its a total point system that is also curved. The class is hard, and is one of the most failed on campus. Its very common for people to only get a C in this class, only to never get a C again in any other CS class. I am not sure on the curve, but rest assured it is. It is not the case that you must get 298/300 for an A+
thanks. I understand my current ability isn’t gonna cut it for 61A. This is still reassuring though. @ANormalSeniorGuy
Since you presumably have not taken the course or any equivalent yet, why would you expect to do that well on its exams?
After attending class, reading the book and other materials, and doing the assignments and projects, you should be able to do much better on the exams than you can now.
I’ve been watching the online lecture videos and doing the HW. I wanted to have a basic understanding before taking the course.
I understand that once I’m in the real atmosphere, I will absorb more details, but this was still shocking to me.
http://inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61a/fa17/articles/about.html#grading
This was the grading policy for Prof. DeNero’s class for fall of 2017.
Midterms and finals are together worth 165 points, and there are plenty of options to keep the rest of the grades perfect so it compensates for any drop in grades from the exams.
@kjake2000
I’m really curious about how people who transferred from CCC to UCB fared in these CS series. I’m transferring with programming I, II, C, C++, Data Structures under my belt and I know python quite well, still those exams seem really challenging considering you only have two hours to finish everything…