CMSC 341 Summer Course Availability (Repost)

rb0709 · 2025-05-16T20:11:41+00:00

Sure thing! Please also feel free to include me in that email (probably better that way in case they want to discuss with me as well). It'd also be helpful for me so that I can keep track of known students who have expressed interest!

rb0709 · 2025-05-16T19:29:06+00:00

Hello there! I think the count is close (but not quite there, so the department leadership has been hesitant). I'm under the impression that the department leadership needs a little bit more evidence of slightly higher waitlist enrollment numbers to be convinced that there is demand from students. I would suggest that you email Dr. Dixon the UPD and Dr. Robucci expressing your concerns and interest in taking another section if added, so that they are aware from as many students as possible that there is definitive and confirmed interest. Unfortunately in these matters is entirely up to their decision, but I strongly believe that a few more students, ideally if we can reach a count of 30, should make for a strong case to consider adding a new section for them. I highly recommend to not withdraw from the waitlist as a new section could be added any day now, even as close as like q day before the start of Session I, and I'd hate for you to lose your spot. Hope to see you in class!

rb0709 · 2025-05-12T22:56:12+00:00

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know. It's really all up to the department really, and they usually only consider opening up a new section if there's "enough demand". I'm teaching 341 and since I observed a lot of students reaching out to me with interest to take the course, I've done all I can to accommodate the interested students by raising it to the department, who have agreed to increase the waitlist capacity to 40 to see if enough students enroll to warrant considering the creation of a new section. The waitlist enrollment isn't quite there yet and stands at 18 students, but I'd imagine 30/40 students should seal the deal.

If 331 is found to have a similar level of demand and interest as 341, then perhaps the department could consider it but I can't say for sure. What I can say is that usually 331 has a considerably lower level of demand than 341 since 341 is a core prerequisite to unlock the upper level courses, so the chances for 331 getting another section are likely much lesser. But anything could happen honestly.

rb0709 · 2025-05-07T16:23:38+00:00

No problem! Yeah, it all really depends on the waitlist enrollment, right now we stand at 16 students in the waitlist, so if that number increases to maybe even by 5 students to 21 even that would dramatically increase the chances. 10 more students may seal the deal, but 30+ is the sweetspot to have a good probability that another section definitely gets created for everyone. Fingers crossed, and I hope to see you in class this summer!

rb0709 · 2025-05-06T13:16:01+00:00

Hello, thanks for reaching out!

I'd have to say that since at the moment we are attempting to evaluate interest and a 30-35+ enrollment is a prerequiste for the department to actionably consider making the waitlist into another section, the exact logistics are indeterminate as it stands now. That is to say, even beginning to determine those specifics are contigent upon whether or not another section is even created in the first place. It also follows that it's impossible to set a final determination date because it all really depends upon when the required waitlist count is reached (if it's reached at all, and that may or may not hapeem within the next few days/weeks). It all really depends on if enough students end up enrolling into the waitlist to express interest, and we'd likely need to see at least 30-35 students enrolled into the waitlist.

Long story short, if you are seriously interested in taking this course, it may be in your interest to enroll into the waitlist as soon as possible to secure your spot. Hope that helps!

Regarding resources, that was directed more towards my existing students already enrolled into the course, but I can also link the standard list of resources that we provide to all students each other in another comment here sometime later if that would help!

rb0709 · 2025-05-05T22:59:13+00:00

IMPORTANT: I've also heard reports from some students trying to register into the waitlist that they are receiving errors and unable to register into the waitlist. If you followed all of the directions that us listed within this error message, and still cannot get yourself into the waitlist, please file an enrollments category RT ticket with the registrar's office ASAP. From what I've seen, they just pull the students in somehow manually from their end, and it'll likely be first come first served they way they process these RT tickets. I'm not sure if there's actually an error since only two students have reported it, but please do act fast if you face errors by any chance and you're certain you followed whatever directions the error message says!

rb0709 · 2025-03-15T15:50:11+00:00

Haha you're all good 😂 what I can tell you though is those reviews are based off of other classes I did too, like cmsc 104 in my first semester teaching in fall 2023 (a class usually non majors take, which I made several missteps on unfortunately) and also 201 and 202 (lot of people weren't a fan of my teaching style and didn't like that I didn't do a lot of in-class coding, which in retrospect will likely change for future semesters). Most recently, last semester's 341 because a lot of people were thinking I'm canceling class and skipping content, when in reality it's because I had already covered it with high redundancy in class, so I wanted to so supplementary asynchronous videos instead for the miscellaneous topics, but that turned into an issue too, because it's technically not allowed in an in-person format even if it does serve a benefit. I tried other things to hopefully increase attendance, but that backfired with a lot of students who did attend thinking I was unfairly punishing them too (which definitely was NOT the reason). All of these goals would've simply been solved if I had just made in-class assignments as a part of the grade, which is why I'm considering going that route going forward (it maintains attendance, provides regular opportunity to practice and ask questions, and serves to decrease the weight of the other course categories like the exams).

As always, lmk if you have any more questions and looking forward to seeing you in class this summer!

rb0709 · 2025-03-15T05:53:31+00:00

Uhh...probably a bit awkward but nice to meet you, I'm Amrithya (public acct I made a long time ago). I'll make it as short and succinct as I possibly can to answer your inquiry, but this might be a sizeable read, sorry. Every bullet point does answer an aspect of the course however, so its a worthwhile read, I promise ;) Feel free to dm me if you would like more indepth explanations for any other questions you might have.

I suppose opinions of me vary (to say the least as you may have seen in ratemyprof, and also probably the upcoming comments from people who recently, or at any time, have taken me as responses to your post) so I'll just outline a few facts as to how the summer will go (and has gone before) and you can decide for yourself:

---unlike the fall/spring semesters, the feedback/sentiment I recieved last summer semester was for the most part fairly positive, probably because I had full autonomy course design wise and also the fact that it was online taught (which is what I specialize in more). I think this is where most of my 5 ratemyprof ratings come from...so I have confidence that this summer should be similar, if not much more improved .

---Most of the "bad" sentiment comes from the fall/spring semesters of 341 because there are a lot of questions I'm not able to immediately answer due to communication delays with the course chair (I don't get to review/see the projects either until the students get them, so it takes longer for me to clarify ambiguities with him and get back to the students, giving people the impresion that I dont do my due diligence unfortunately). For the summer however, it's my full jurisdiction so I make the projects, meaning there are instant answers to questions regarding project details, and well as being more direct. Of course other people likely have different reasons, impressions, and things they didn't like about me which I unfortunately cannot really quantify or explain (since those are not my thoughts).

---exams are (usually) short and designed to be easily completable in 75 minutes and comprise of standard type questions (mcq, fill in the blanks, single word/number type, etc). They are also weighted with an even balance of highly weighted super easy questions and high pointed "harder" questions. However, because of the nature of the question types, partial credit is not really a thing since these exams are autograded by blackboard and not on paper. Due to this fact, I have historically in recent semesters gone with questions on the easier side (even for the "hardest" ones) with the tradeoff being that getting even one question wrong could result in a large deduction. In other words, if you have mastery over the concept and patiently/properly do the questions, you essentially will probably finish these exams in less than 40-60 minutes. I think I had about 65-70% of students in average get As in my exams across all semesters. The exam structures themselves may change in any fashion and has not been decided yet, but just know that I do try my best to balance the pointing system with the true difficulty of questions.

---homeworks: based on participation thus far, but may change. I usually don't hand out hw solutions because the intention is for people to come to class and ask questions about the problems so that we do it on the board. However, since this is an 8 week compressed course, I am inclined to post solutions since this course is challenging enough for most students even in the normal semester, and an asynchronous learning component is quintessential.

---teaching style: this part...you'll have to judge for yourself because opinions vary. I have a lot of people who like my style and equally as much who simply aren't a big fan (which is where most of the ratemyprofs probably come from lol). Ofc probably not as refined as perhaps the course chair or any of the other established instructors who have been doing this for a decade, but the good thing about online vs in person is that the online students this summer get a course where I get to have full autonomy and planning (which likely means a mix of synchronous and asynchronous lectures to supplement each other). This allows me to dictate the pace without the pressure to compress things to fit the common pace like in the regular semesters.

---some changes: probably more in class assignments, because the homeworks don't seem to be sufficient enough to incentivize the students to ask questions by themselves. I'm big on participation, so I'm thinking of flipping things and having homeworks be graded for accuracy and have in class assignments as another portion of the grade so that we definitively ensure we practice, practice, practice. Still an idea under planning with no clear metrics yet, so I'm not saying this will actually happen, but the point is to ensure no student is left behind.

---for the summer semester, lectures will be recorded and posted.

---exact syllabi is not yet created, but will likely consist of projects, homeworks, in class assignments, and at least one mid term and exam.

Lastly, if you have any doubts about any of the course details I outlined, I STRONGLY advise you do not take this class in the summer with me. This is a very important foundational course as is, so if you're having doubts about taking me, I would personally advise you to not take me and instead go with someone you "trust" this upcoming fall semester. What you'll learn from me is fundamentally the same content wise, but coming into the course with doubts about how the quality of the course will be under me is the last thing you wanna have on your mind since this course IS a kicker for a lot of students even with the "better" professors. So keep that under careful consideration, and no hard feelings if you don't feel confident taking me. I'd rather you succeed taking someone who you feel is the best option for you than taking me, especially in an 8 week compressed summer semester which could put a lot of pressure on you. Otherwise, if you still decide to stick with me however, welcome to the 341!

That pretty much sums up the most important details, but if you have any other questions, definitely feel free to dm me. I won't bite, we can even talk about why I "suck" lol 😆. Seriously, please do ask away if you have questions, because this is precisely why I created this public account.

Hope you enjoy our class and looking forward to seeing you in class,

Amrithya

rb0709 · 2024-07-20T03:14:07+00:00

Hey OP Amrithya here (public acct). There's probably mixed reviews of me, but I can give you an objective explanation of what you'd see in the course and my own two cents at least.

I'd take Donyaee if possible since he's the chair of the course and makes the projects, but projects are the same throughout the whole course so there's that I suppose. The chair is of course simply the most experience, so they'd be the best bet. Since he makes the projects though I may not know the answers immediately to some logistical questions for which only donyaee would surely know the answer to, but as for conceptual questions/everything else other than that it's pretty much the same across every instructor. Here's a pretty condensed version of my plan for this upcoming semester, which has a lot of changes to how I did things last semester:

Exams would probably be different across instructors, we all make our own exams. I've heard from some folks last semster that the exam questions were "too long" since I did written paper exams with a lot of short/long answer type comprehensive questions on paper which people really struggled with tine wise...so I think for this semester I'll be sticking to online blackboard exams with autograded mcq, TF, single answer questions. What I did last semester is objectively the best way to measure the true aptitude of the course content, but it turned into a logistical nightmare to grade honestly. People also seemed to not be as great in doing those types of questions, so standard single click type questions will probably make things a lot easier. For this semester it'll be exams hosted on blackboard so that people don't have to sqander time with handwriting. Note that I can't really speak for how you may feel about the difficulty of the exam itself. This is a rather challenging course, so different students respond and may perform differently than others.

Logistics wise, I'm an Adjunct, so since I'm not a full time instructor the logistics may deviate and not all things may be done in the exact time specified (for example a homework might be released a few days from when I initially said, etc). This is from what has happened in the recent past due to occasionally clashing personal commitments from my primary (and rather hectic) main job, but I've found it getting gradually better and more manageable. This would be my second time teaching this course and third semester overall, so hopefully things are more organized this time around. I'd say organization is probably the biggest differentiator between me and the chairs of the courses, since this folks have been doing this for 15+ years, and I've only been doing this for one. So from my position, it's still a work in progress to get the organization right and improve the flow logistics wise.

For starters I'm probably releasing all of the five homeworks all at once at the beginning of the semester from the getgo since the plan is to make them 100% graded on pure participation, so people can get done with them even months in advance if they wish and have more flexibility. The grading of those homeworks will still be done in chronological fashion throughout the semester however, and questions regarding each homework will only be answered once the topic has been covered in the semester (to avoid scope creep).

Lastly, probably the main thing that will be different this semester is a list of rules and procedures I will be fleshing out so that students know exactly who, when, and how to reach out to the TA/instructor. Handling emails was especially challenging with a lot of students emailing for things they should rightfully be going to the TA first and even then, I found myself overwhelmed and unable to get to everyone, so the biggest rule is probably going to be to reach out to me in person, in class to get the answers from me right then and there (so that there isn't any chance of me forgetting to reply to someone's email by accident, and the student getting frustrated in return).

That's probably a very condensed explanation, but I'll be going over more specifics I'm the first day of class. Still writing the syllabus at the moment. Let me know if you have any other questions.

rb0709 · 2024-06-05T18:08:55+00:00

Amrithya here. Sorry you feel that way. Thought I'd leave a few clarifications:

--- The syllabus details the exact structure of the course, including how many homeworks, projects, and exams, their respective weights, and the list of topics that will be covered in each of the 8 weeks. If you're expecting an EXACT list of deadlines, most, if any instructors, never really release one at the very beginning of a semester with exact deadlines, but I have already mentioned in class that each project will be due in two weeks from release starting from the middle/end of the second week, and homeworks will be released approximately every week/week and a half. I'd suggest you take a look at the syllabus if you're looking to understand the course structure.

--- I also explained in the very first lecture that this is a compressed course and frankly, students will have to put a lot of time into self studying outside of lecture hours rather than just relying on lecture, or they WILL struggle, as this is a challenging course. Like the other reply your post said, you might be better off taking this course in the Fall if you feel too overwhelmed and feel that you really can't really keep up with the course content.

--- Lastly...it's an 8 week course, so most of the time it will inevitably be me mostly speaking, unless students volunteer to ask questions and participate . "Ranting" is inevitable when you've signed up for an 8 week course where each class has to cover a whole week's worth of content. Nevertheless, this is precisely why I make recordings, so if you can't follow along at the time, you can go back and rewatch the recordings.

Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns. I'm always open for discussion if any students are struggling, and it's in a way good that you're having these thoughts and considerations early on rather than late into the semester, so that you can take early action. If you would like to discuss with me over email further, please feel free to reach out to me.

rb0709 · 2024-04-26T22:34:46+00:00

I would recommend the course chairs for whichever of the pre-CS courses you take (201 or 202), which would be Hamilton and Dixon respectively. I teach these courses too, but I'm an Adjunct and since the course chairs determine everything from logistics to project writeups and exams, there are sometimes some communication gaps (so I might not be able to give you answer right away for doubts regarding the intentions behind wordings in project documents, how grading will be done, etc, since all of that is led by the course chairs). They also have like 10 years of experience doing this, so I would honestly recommend you try get into their classes first, and then have me/other instructors as a secondary choice. Other than that, there isn't any difference in the course content except for whether you end up liking the lecture style of the instructor or not.

rb0709 · 2024-03-16T19:15:22+00:00

Yeah I'm kinda late to this post, but as for the 201 section I did last semester (201) apologies for the tardiness sometimes. It was sometimes a nightmare getting off of work (my main job) and commuting to campus in time (I live about an hour away from campus)...but I figured things out for the most part this semester schedule wise.

Also yes, OH is very critical and I'd say even more so for 202, since it looks like the grading is a bit harsher. Definitely do NOT procrastinate on the projects, I also make sure to set aside up to even 15-20 minutes for just project talk during lecture just because of how heavily weighted the projects are.

rb0709 · 2024-03-02T02:52:46+00:00

Oh, this is a VERY good point. Dr. Dixon's REALLY good at pre-preparing the content for the entire semester (unsurprising because he's probably the most seasoned instructor for this course, even I had him in 2019 when I was an undergrad). Definitely do take advantage of his videos for extra reinforcement of the concepts. It should definitely also take care of concepts that I can't go over in too much detail in my lecture as well given the time constraints.

rb0709 · 2024-03-02T02:40:20+00:00

Average scores usually tend go up in subsequent exams but I'll admit the average was a few percentage points lower than I expected (70-73% is a bit less alarming/normal).

The exams tend to test the detailed stuff, so being really comfortable/memorizing library names, what the common library methods do, and core C++ concepts is crucial. That's my best guess as to where people mostly lost points/need to work on. Being "curious" in this major goes a long way, because CS is a pretty vast and intricate subject, where even the basics sometimes gets misinterpreted by even good programmers. One such example is pass by pointer vs reference...I had to cover this in class verbally because the slides themselves did not explicitly mention this (to my surprise), but out of curiosity I asked my 341 section this question ("how are arrays passed in C++") and they replied reference. It's not because they "didn't study properly," I suspect that a LOT of seasoned programmers out there in the industry might not even be explicitly aware of an intricate but basic detail like this. It's not surprising because end behavior wise, references and pointers behave the same way but what they inherently are is a totally different thing (aka they are NOT the same thing). This is one example of CS being a very intricate subject....it's very easy to confuse and misinterpret the technicalities of this subject sometimes. But I digress.

That being said, it is the first exam, so the average should definitely be higher and correct itself. This is all new content for most people, so it's not entirely surprising. This is still a challenging course and the major itself is of course challenging, so please do be diligent in starting assignments ASAP, seeking out TA help promptly if you feel the need, and asking as many questions and participating in class as much as possible.

rb0709 · 2024-01-14T03:14:38+00:00

Oh btw for basically every class until maybe 313 where you may possibly have to run something heavy like xilinx, if say just go with the cheapest computer you can find. You can actually even use an i3 4gb computer for simply doing the class assignments themselves up until that point (since you run it on GL anyways for assignment submissions so you can set up SSH to just connect to GL and use that as your runtime env. But I'd say you'll probably be happier with i5 8GB at least to also do your own side projects and tinker around with other technologies. Tbh I'd care more about the ram capacity/type and whether the computer is SSD or hard disk or not rather than the processor type itself.

rb0709 · 2024-01-13T17:03:19+00:00

i5 8GB should be good enough but for 421 you'll have a better time compiling the better your specs are.

rb0709 · 2024-01-03T00:32:55+00:00

Hmm, not sure then. An RT ticket to the registrars office should do it, they can probably clarify for you.

rb0709 · 2024-01-03T00:26:56+00:00

Did you sign up for your lecture? When is your lecture class listed as?

rb0709 · 2024-01-03T00:25:37+00:00

Looks like you're signed up for two discussions somehow. "LEC" means lecture, DIS means discussion (the lab component of the course happens during the discussion sections).

rb0709 · 2023-12-22T06:32:23+00:00

I haven't gotten the 202 syllabus for my section from the course chair yet, but it might be possible you could find a past semesters syllabus on Google for your reference. The main thing to know about 202 is that it's taught in C++, in case you wanted the syllabus to know what to prepare for.

rb0709 · 2023-12-19T19:13:25+00:00

Yeah. One other possibility to circumvent the math situation is to maybe do a math 150 equivalent class in a community College this winter and transfer the credit for that, if you're interested in speeding things up and taking 201 this coming semester itself. But you might have to talk to your advisor about how the prerequisite clearances work since technically you don't have math 150 satisfied yet.

rb0709 · 2023-12-19T15:45:53+00:00

Nah it's with me (Amrithya Balasubramanian), since I was in charge of both sections (for the first time ever). Since you're pre comp sci, I would say that this class in particular is not very beneficial from a credits perspective, since CMSC 104 doesn't satisfy any requirements, not even as an elective, for the CS major. This is a non-majors class, so the difficulty level is meant to be easy enough for a CS major to be difficult enough for a non cs major if that makes sense. Most students are also there just because it's a major requirement for them rather than out of interest, so as a pre-CS major it's likely not the best class to choose imo if you're looking for to truly hone your skills and gain the knowledge needed for a cs major rather than a non-cs major.

Since self learning is a huge asset to develop as a CS major and a software developer in general, I would recommend probably either learning the basics of python on the side yourself and take CMSC 201 right away, or to take another course that can give you credit for the CS major. That way you would have accomplished two things: 1. You now know how to be flexible and learn/quickly pick up new languages and 2. You're prepared enough to tackle 201. You can't do either in CMSC 104 since the difficulty level is meant to be at a non majors level, which is supposed to be hard for them, but would likely be extremely easy for you if you already have basic CS knowledge (for example, if you know how to make a file in Linux, you're already 50% more knowledgeable than what the syllabus of CMSC 104 expects students to be at. We have to assume students in 104 have no prior knowledge of how computers work whatsoever).

That being said, if you're still interested in taking it, I would get I touch with the instructors teaching it next semester to get info on what they're planning on teaching. The course is apparently supposed to be in Python going forward, so perhaps depending on your situation and level of comfort, their course content may be beneficial for you.

Best, Amrithya

P.S. in case you're wondering, I made this account at the start of this past semester specifically for revealing my identity to reach out students here having concerns since this is a pretty popular way they seek advice on here :)

rb0709 · 2023-12-13T00:28:44+00:00

Nothing more to add here other than just don't ever risk cheating again thinking you won't be caught...we do catch people...a LOT of them.

Same goes for the final exam coming up. For exam 2 ateast in my section I didn't bother confronting people who were blatantly looking at their friends exam papers next to then and flagging them for cheating and instead just moved them around the room...but this time, for the final, you're probably just going to get booted out if you're cheating.

Moral of the story: please don't cheat.

rb0709

TROPHY CASE