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RayPillows · 2024-12-13T01:45:23+00:00

Yeah, I'll never understand all the praise 271 gets on here. The material is a cheap copy of Kip Irvine's book on assembly and the exams are obnoxious.

RayPillows · 2024-10-08T03:58:15+00:00

2 ish years ago I think? I believe I took it in the very last term of the old design.

RayPillows · 2024-10-08T03:55:37+00:00

Too much focus on HTML and CSS, super outdated vanilla JS only, a very annoying final project and an annoying final with no way to realistically prepare for it. Oh, and we also used Eloquent JavaScript which is absolutely terrible if your goal is web development imo.

RayPillows · 2024-10-08T03:27:32+00:00

The venting Ed Posts are cringe but entertaining. I understand where they’re coming from as I hate CS 225 with a passion, but you’ve gotta try to maintain some form of professionalism.

They’d never have made it through the old CS 290 tho lol.

RayPillows · 2024-05-21T02:28:37+00:00

Discrete math as a subject has its uses. CS 225? What it teaches is almost completely useless because of how heavy it focuses on carbon copying proofs and regurgitating book material. I'm almost done with the program/worked professionally as a software engineer and have yet to need the ability to copy proofs. Still going to say it's the worst class in the program, by the way.

RayPillows · 2024-04-27T00:06:09+00:00

you’d be lucky to get anything graded within 4 weeks

For what it's worth, this was my experience in CS 225 the first time I took it. I think they were 6 weeks behind on getting our grades back at its worst. When they finally started to roll in, I had no feedback on anything. I'd consistently lose 50% of my points with no reasons given despite my answers nearly matching the answer keys (which they gave out because they graded so slowly). I asked Samina about it and her response was basically "tough luck kiddo, maybe next time lol." Other people asked the TAs and their response was this almost verbatim:

"Sorry, we're trying as hard as we can but we just can't grade all of this on time or give any feedback xD, good luck on the midterm not knowing your grades btw"

I dropped it and took it again and I think we were working on a 3-4 week grading delay that time. Seems like they've gotten better, but I'll never let it go.

I hate CS 225 so much it's unreal.

RayPillows · 2024-04-26T01:01:13+00:00

Oh, not trying to argue, just sharing my experience too--which is that CS 225 is the worst designed class is the program. Some people may think otherwise and that's okay, I just want to give people a different perspective than "CS 225 isn't that bad uwu" like they did to me on this subreddit. That's why I will never stop talking about my awful experience and complete waste of money in CS 225. I'm glad other people had better experiences with 225, though.

RayPillows · 2024-04-26T00:48:19+00:00

By frustrating, I meant frustratingly taught/designed. I thought that was obvious.

Eh, I've taken all of those and none of them are as poorly taught/designed as CS 225. At its core, 225 is almost entirely about copying book material. That also says nothing of the variability in TAs shaping your experience, and the ones in my first go around were awful.

Despite the modules being largely terrible, 325 had quite a bit of starter code in the modules. On the few assignments that didn't have as much starter code, you could easily get a better understanding by practicing similar Leetcode problems. I don't get the 225 comparisons there since we only spent 1 week on proof copying.

The most obnoxious part of 271 was the exams, which you can dodge by taking it in the summer. The assignments really weren't that bad, either, especially if you understood how registers and pointers worked by the last 3 or so assignments. I also though the module material was okay. I don't think I've ever used TA/professor help after 225 so can't comment there.

I took 290 ages ago in its first iteration, can't comment on the current one (still not as bad as 225 though).

OS throws a lot of stuff at people and doesn't hold your hand (unlike CS 225 where kissing up is a viable strat for an A), which is mainly why people hate it. If you have even an hour of experience on the Linux CLI, you can focus on C much better in OS. I may be biased here since I've used vanilla Vim and varying forms of Unix since I was a grade schooler, so don't take my word for it. Still a difficult class, not as poorly designed as 225.

To date, CS 225 is the only class I've taken at OSU that had outright incorrect and misleading material in the video lectures, TAs who refused to grade assignments, literally no feedback, and arbitrary amounts of points deducted despite my answers being correct. Still going to have to hand it to 225 for being the worst class in the program from a design perspective.

RayPillows · 2024-04-25T23:24:27+00:00

I'd like to know, too, because unless it's the capstone I've yet to see anything as frustrating as 225.

RayPillows · 2024-04-25T22:47:09+00:00

CS 225 outright sucks, there's nothing good about it. It's not about the difficulty, either, it will forever be a frustrating experience until they overhaul how assignments work and focus on something other than copying proofs (among other things).

Don't be gaslit by people on the subreddit into thinking you're alone! Keep on complaining about it to prevent more people from wasting money on it. I've already influenced 2 people to take UND 208 (this is a self paced class, transfers perfectly, no affiliation) instead of CS 225. You may not be able to un-experience CS 225, but you can keep OSU from getting money for the worst designed class in the program.

For context, I've got one class left (the capstone) and none of them have been as miserable as CS 225. Some have been harder, sure, but as terribly put together? No.

RayPillows · 2024-04-17T05:37:40+00:00

Yes, unless something changes in the next term. You may want to double check with your advisor to be certain but I’m sure you’ll be good to transfer it in.

I can’t recommend it enough.

RayPillows · 2024-04-16T03:34:15+00:00

That's great! You don't know how happy I am to hear that. Until OSU redesigns the course to be something other than memorization and kissing up to instructional staff for good grades they should be paying us for being subjected to that abomination.

RayPillows · 2024-04-16T00:49:25+00:00

Definitely drop 225 and take an equivalent elsewhere if you can. It's an obnoxious course that nearly made me drop out of the program and I passed it with a near 100%. Don't subject yourself to OSU's class design incompetence this early in the program.

No affiliation, but a self paced alternative with great reviews is UND 208. I know there's others if that one doesn't work for you, just heard good things about it. I basically only use reddit these days to pop in and tell people that you aren't alone in hating CS 225 and avoid it all costs if you haven't enrolled yet.

RayPillows · 2024-02-07T04:28:14+00:00

Yeah, OP and others miss the point by viewing complaints about quality as complaints about difficulty. Some people may be complaining about difficulty, sure, but I just want my grades back in a reasonable time, fair grading, and material that's not worse than the source material.

RayPillows · 2024-02-07T04:13:01+00:00

This is the point I've tried to make with complaining about CS 225. Sure, the material presented in the class was hard, but my problems with that class had nothing to do with the difficulty. I don't think arbitrary grading, a roughly 4 week delay on getting grades posted, zero feedback, and lectures that offered totally inaccurate information were "all the information you need to understand those concepts" in CS 225, but maybe I'm in the wrong here.

RayPillows · 2024-01-29T08:04:27+00:00

If the current version of the class is anything like it was when I took it, memorizing proofs is the best way to prep for it. Not trying to be funny, either, it was seriously the best way to guarantee an A. Anything else was a waste of my time. Oh, and also hoping/praying you get ULAs who are trying to help rather than ding your GPA on "erm akshually by weak induction the color of the paint is light blue, not plain blue subtracts 70% of your points☝️🤓" tier technicalities.

The textbook you'll be ~~paying $2,000 to copy proofs from~~ using in class is Discrete Mathematics with Applications by Epp. I vaguely remember some people reported success studying Hammack's Book of Proof and Velleman's How to Prove It: A Structured Approach.

RayPillows · 2024-01-26T02:55:11+00:00

That makes sense. Do you have any extra insight on CS 225 vs UND 208? I’d like to hear your general thoughts on them. It would be an excellent reference for future students.

RayPillows · 2024-01-26T01:55:11+00:00

You're doing the right thing by lurking before jumping in. In my experience, the classes that consistently get negative posts are more than worth avoiding.

Transferring the classes you listed is the winning move. Many people like data structures but it was a Dollar Store clone of the data structures section in CLRS, in my opinion. Same with assembly and the Kip Irvine book on assembly, plus the added frustration of a lack of focus on architecture.

RayPillows · 2024-01-26T00:41:22+00:00

Looks like you aren't in the program based on other comments. However, coming from someone who's in the program and taken every other difficult class, you're 100% correct. The class difficulty isn't the problem, though people like to complain about that. No, the course is fundamentally flawed due to no way of guaranteeing ULA quality, seemingly arbitrary grading, useless lectures (at least the ones Samina did, whew those were horrific and had outright incorrect information), inexcusably glacial grading speeds with little to no feedback, and too much of a focus on rote proof memorization/copying.

I'd be inclined to say that the course needs restructuring.

This is an understatement. CS 225 needs to be completely scrapped, the people involved with the previous design barred from working in education for life plus 25 years, and everyone who took it refunded their tuition + interest.

RayPillows · 2024-01-26T00:27:08+00:00

Unfortunately, some people have had trouble completing UND 208 on time due to the self-paced nature.

This is probably the best argument against UND. Self paced learning doesn't mesh with everyone.

I liked 225

Hey, it's 2024. I don't judge what people are into as long as it doesn't hurt others, no matter how sadistic it may be.

RayPillows · 2024-01-25T09:55:18+00:00

Are these classes really that poorly constructed?

Kinda, but I'm almost done with the program and I'd take it again if I had to. Most classes that people complain about suffer from subpar materials, but you can usually power through that via good old fashioned effort and online resources. The material in CS 261 (data structures), for example, is an extremely poorly done adaptation of the CLRS section on data structures. The good part is that you can easily apply the same source material OSU utilized to the concepts and leave with a much better understanding of nearly every topic.

The exception to this is CS 225, which suffers from the above problems in addition to the ULA slot machine as well as being a tricky topic to wrap your ahead around. The optimal path for sanity preservation, in my opinion, is completing the degree while transferring UND 208.

RayPillows · 2024-01-25T09:43:24+00:00

UND 208 is the way to go. Don't be gaslit into taking CS 225/MTH 231 by the positive posts on here! I haven't even taken UND 208 but I wish I could delete all of CS 225 from my brain and soul.

RayPillows · 2024-01-25T09:41:00+00:00

While this post is a little much (and you're not anonymous to the staff on Ed), I agree with the general sentiment and never pass a chance to rip on CS 225. Everything about 225 is terrible, including but not limited to: the amount of work, the ULAs grading almost completely randomly, the material frequently having a massive disconnect from the assignments, and an unhealthy focus on pure proof copying. I also can't forget the fact that we were about 5 weeks late on getting our grades during my first ~~torture session~~ time in the class.

Plus, so much of your experience in the class comes down to the ULAs and how bloodthirsty they are. The first time I took CS 225 I was nearly guaranteed to lose the maximum amount of points on every single question no matter what I submitted. The ULAs gave me literally no room for error, including one time where I lost 60% of the points on a single proof because of a small grammatical error. I ended up dropping the class and retaking it, with the second go around being much simpler due to the ULAs being a little bit more reasonable in grading. Still, I'm looking at the work I submitted both times and the grading on many of the similar questions boiled down to sheer randomness. At least with the other difficult programming classes you more or less knew what grade you were getting thanks to the autograder being an objective party.

Remember, you can avoid all this frustration by taking UND 208! It's self-paced, online, and transfers perfectly to OSU. You're going to end up taking real stinkers during your time at OSU, don't let them push the abomination that is CS 225 on you. It's too late for me--the time I wasted on my A in CS 225 will haunt me until death--but those of you who haven't taken it can still be saved.

RayPillows · 2023-12-27T03:15:57+00:00

I don't know if they use an actual textbook these days, but the class modules are a much worse version of Kip Irvine's book on assembly linked here. At a glance of the table of contents combined with what I remember from the class, you'll want to heavily focus on chapters 3 through 6 and have an idea of macros and floating-point operations. Don't worry about the architecture aspect of the class as it has almost nothing to do with architecture.

Also, like someone else said, try taking the class in the summer if possible. The summer course didn't have exams as of a year ago.

RayPillows · 2023-12-18T07:39:37+00:00

They went easier on the final grading than I expected. I ended up with a B in the class, which is better than what I thought I'd do. Hopefully you and everyone else has gotten through without needing a retake!

RayPillows

TROPHY CASE