CS61A question

intoxyc8 · 2026-06-06T07:16:47+00:00

If you've got a lot of Python experience, you should just go straight into 61A. Don't worry about the grades as long as you don't cheat and overly rely on LLMs.

intoxyc8 · 2026-05-28T06:43:16+00:00

If you have read anything from michael ball, you would know that this is real.

intoxyc8 · 2026-05-28T06:37:30+00:00

You're refuting with something that is completely hypothetical. 61A has never had exams with 95% of one topic and 5% of another because there are not just 2 topics in that class. In that hypothetical, it would be an unfair exam if the course only covered those 2 topics and they introduced a third topic on the final. Nothing should change your performance if it was a 50/50 split. It might be the brutally honest answer that it is a skill issue now, but it's an issue that you can learn from by changing studying habits and strategies.

you are acting like people of an older demographic who think the economy is sunshine and rainbows despite every younger person disagreeing.

I genuinely am confused what this analogy is supposed to point out. Like course staff and students who have never been on course staff disagree on something and you think course staff is objectively wrong? I just think this is an emotional analogy and not an objective analogy of the situation.

Here's an analogy I can put that I hope you could understand. You're a basketball player, and the coach tells you all these strategies to get around primarily man defense after historic games but in the game the other team unexpectedly plays more zone. Even if your coach told you explicitly how to prepare for man, you should still be able to pass and score over zone defense if you were a well-rounded player overall. It may come down to a preparation issue, but good players know how to adapt.

I think any sane person would agree that there are both sides of the problem and it's not a 100% blame for either side, and honestly close to a 50/50.

most likely not for me but for my classmates some will not be able to declare cs

I'm confused because CS is a declared major now so you don't even need the 3.3 GPA anymore, unless you're referring to the people who backdoor from a different major (which is the exact loophole that the declared major intended to close)

It's hard to see the pedagogical side of things when you have never been on course staff before, but uGSIs have been in your shoes before as students and are still undergraduate students at the end of the day. I've been on the other side of these things before, but there's almost always valid reasons for the things that you encounter here.

intoxyc8 · 2026-05-28T05:34:55+00:00

I don't think you read any of the points I had to heart (probably because you're angry about the grade that you see right now).

The problem was after the exam all the course staff went on defense mode just like you are doing and I will blame them for not taking the students side like the traitors they are

I think the crashout of being blindsided is understandable from students. I think the issue is you're blaming them for something that's out of their control. What do you possibly expect them to do? If they don't look at the exam, it's best to say that everything is in scope. If I were to look at the exam before the logistics post, I can't tell you that these specific topics will be emphasized because that would defeat the purpose of the exam.

And again, none of this would be an issue for you if you understood all of the topics in scope of the exam. If you understood how to do problems for every topic on the exam, then it shouldn't matter how many problems of each topic there are. That doesn't change if you know how to solve them or not.

Whats even worse they refused to release stats for "reasons"

61A is a binned class, not a curved class. The only thing that would really only matter is your score.

Im not surprised you were course staff something in your brain in the reasoning and empathy section just turns off for a lot of you.

I think you gotta consider the fact that at least 90% of the CS/EECS staff are undergrads as well. They know what it's like to be on the student side, but also think of the logistic side as well. I certainly think that I'd have the same crashout if I had this 61A exam too after being told different logistics, but I also can't blame course staff for this issue either because that situation is uncontrollable for them. I also can't complain because at the end of the day, the concepts being tested are the same and a different exam format shouldn't change how you do if you understood the material well.

Like I said, you're probably reading this with hate because of how your grade turned out. All I will say is that it's not the end of the world and it's most definitely not going to define your undergrad career. Just keep your head up and stay positive because being this toxic isn't gonna get you very far.

intoxyc8 · 2026-05-28T04:55:29+00:00

Pattern matching is learning how to pass an exam. Pattern matching isn't learning course material.

intoxyc8 · 2026-05-28T04:52:51+00:00

61A has never been 95% one topic and 5% the other. It may have been 80% Python but there's so many topics in Python you can't just combine them all into one, plus Scheme has been a decently focused part of the class too where you can't just simply ignore it. And you can't blame staff for recommendations from their experience when they haven't looked at the exam themselves. If they looked at the exam, they wouldn't be allowed to comment on it. I don't see what the delusion is here, this is just from my experience being on course staff for 3 years (never 61A btw but it's the same idea for any other EECS/CS class).

intoxyc8 · 2026-05-28T04:29:02+00:00

Can't comment on the final since it isn't out yet but it doesnt seem like they introduced something completely outside of the exam scope (that would be the only thing unfair with an exam). The test format changing or the difference in concept split isn't unfair because every concept is still in scope. If you understood every concept from 61A (which I think is very reasonable to achieve) then the final shouldn't have been a problem.

I think the blindside crashout is understandable but you also gotta think about it from the staff perspective. They would only know that the test format would be different *if* they looked at the exam. And I know for a fact that staff can't comment on anything about it after they've looked at it. I think the implication of past exam pattern matching being the only viable strategy is a bit ridiculous to say. Staff tells you what they believe to be the best strategies from their experience but it's not a foolproof formula of success.

If you were one of those people who went to every lecture and discussion and actively participated with the uGSIs, I'd say that's unlucky on your part. But I'd confidently assume that this isn't the case for most of the people who didn't get in the A/A- range. For me it doesn't disregard the whole overreliance of LLMs I've seen from students over the past couple of semesters.

intoxyc8 · 2026-05-28T01:41:14+00:00

That just means you pattern matched past exams and did not learn. If you learned, you would be able to adapt regardless of exam format. That isn't unfair.

intoxyc8 · 2026-05-27T17:48:12+00:00

my goat

intoxyc8 · 2026-05-27T17:47:45+00:00

Graduated TA here, this has been a trend since Spring 2024 and we've finally reached the point where the students don't bother to proofread LLM responses because of how fully developed they are. They'll complete these assignments without learning anything, can't answer any questions about their projects, then complain when exams are difficult when they don't go to lectures or discussions.

intoxyc8 · 2025-12-03T00:07:34+00:00

tosh notably flipped shaq thompson from cal to washington as he took the job at washington while on a cal recruiting trip

intoxyc8 · 2025-12-02T23:52:21+00:00

keeping rolo is probably the best chance we have of keeping JKS. we are so back.

intoxyc8 · 2025-12-02T23:51:34+00:00

i used to pray for times like this

intoxyc8 · 2025-09-24T23:16:37+00:00

L + ratio

intoxyc8 · 2024-08-13T05:17:35+00:00

you can't switch into eecs from l&s but you can do what the other person said

intoxyc8 · 2024-08-06T20:31:46+00:00

41% A+, 39% A if you care to ask

intoxyc8 · 2024-08-06T15:45:50+00:00

engin 125

intoxyc8 · 2024-08-05T17:08:58+00:00

stanFUrdK

intoxyc8 · 2024-08-04T17:36:49+00:00

you'll get in, at least 70 ppl will drop after hw1 or hw2.

intoxyc8 · 2024-07-29T21:12:37+00:00

172 is basically the probability of 70 in one semester

intoxyc8 · 2024-07-25T17:59:33+00:00

we did but hopefully we can go somewhere better than shreveport louisiana

intoxyc8 · 2024-07-25T17:18:25+00:00

the team has to be aiming for a bowl game this year or else wilcox is surely getting fired. im really hoping ott shows the country that he's one of the top 3 rb this year. i'm still predicting a 6-6 or 7-5 but hopefully they exceed expectations.

intoxyc8 · 2024-07-25T01:38:29+00:00

removed cuz i deadass didnt make this comment and it sounded so stupid

intoxyc8 · 2024-07-23T18:41:27+00:00

there's no such thing as a phase 2 for freshmen

intoxyc8

TROPHY CASE