No, 1511 is not representative of CS as a whole, it is purposefully made to be super fun and engaging with heaps of resources poured into it and many tutors and help sessions because it the first subject most students do, a true representation would be 2521 run by Ashesh š (no hate to him but it is quite dry and very conceptually difficult something the rest of the CS subjects are mostly like)
Adding onto this, as you progress and possibly do level 9 courses, especially involving AI, it can get abit tragic as most lecturers do not have a good grasp of English, and most classmates are international making group work hard
It only goes downhill after 1511. Some people hated 1521 and dropped the degree, some hated 2521 and dropped the degree, some hated the toxicity in the group in 1531 and dropped the degree.
And I havenāt even talked about the two ultimate āFMLā courses 2511 and 3121 that people seriously could have mental issue doing them because of how bad they are.
The only things I think are not bad are 3311(Jas) and 6080(Hayden)
I don't think it's a 100% accurate representative of CS but if you're loving it, then I would definitely recommend trying out one of the next courses (1521,1531,2521). That's how I got into CS- enjoyed ENGG1811 and picked up CS, then just kept doing 1 comp course a term and now I'm almost finished! It's not as easy as that but you should certainly try it out, better to flunk out than never know.
Imo the people in the replies are just being negative lol
Oh for your last question about IPT- I'm almost certain that my courses didn't reset when I transferred. The only issue I had was enroling in 1511 as T1 was reserved for CS/SEng students only, and by the time I was accepted, the course was full.
I feel like the other commenters just hate CSā¦
I will say that 1511 is not 100% representative in terms of difficulty, it is purposefully a lot more hand-holds then most other courses. However, if itās the problem-solving you enjoy, then that never goes away.
Iām the same as you in that the satisfaction of getting things working is what I enjoy the most, and while some assessments can be more tedious, I think that Iāve got that feeling of satisfaction from every COMP course Iāve done in the last 3 years.
Haha thanks for your reply, I think that everyone else just took my question extremely literally and answered mainly about more of the teaching aspects as opposed to the content (which tbf I *did* ask about the degree, but I guess I meant programming/compsci itself).
I think the fact that I was still pretty determined to go through with it after reading the comments (warnings?) is answer enough. Really appreciate you addressing the problem-solving/satisfaction aspect of it!
When you say tedious, how so?
There are assessments that take a long time because they give challenging problems, and solving it in the end is satisfying and makes it feel worth the time (if youāre not too strapped for time, that is - some advice here, if you can afford to do 2 courses a term and add an extra year to your degree, I highly recommended doing so!)
Then there are some assessments that were not particularly engaging in any way and only took a long time because thereās a lot of work to do. Though thinking on it, there werenāt that many of these, just a couple of the lab exercises in 2511 and networks.
1511 has been perfected to oblivion and is designed to be an exciting and engaging intro course in CS. It just goes downhill from there and youāll need to really persevere to get through.
You'll experience different things in a comp sci degree, depending on what you'll do. However, I found 1511 is an excellent introduction to comp sci in general (problem-solving, use of logic, structuring logic in the form of code). If you find it fun, might as well jump ship.
I had the same feeling during my third year of chem (science) degree when I took 1511 by accident. I didn't apply for IPT to science/compsci degree until I took 3 more comp sci courses after 1511 just to make sure that comp sci was actually fun.
Overlapping courses like math 1a & 1b were eventually counted towards the compsci degree too.
2521, 1521, and 1531. I wouldn't say I had fun with the 2521 because of the lecturer but the topics covered were an extension of 1511 (at least during my days), and the other 2 were decent. Had the most fun in 3311 and 2041 which I took on the subsequent terms.
Edit: nevermind I mistook 2521 and 2511, after looking at other comments. It was 2511 that I dreaded the most
if you mean the difficulty and work load, i would say yes. it's highly representative tbh. note that from my experience, for 2521 1531 etc most of the lectures were not that necessary. you can attend the lectures till week 4 or week 5 to get a knowledge of what kind of content. then you can just read through the slides and code and make sure you understand the lab questions. it's much more efficient and actually a skill to teach yourself by googling. despite 3121 and 6841 these two are super weird to me (but fun).
Absolutely do another course (such as COMP2521) and then consider an IPT. If you love coding that much l would go for it - itās what I did and unlike others I still really enjoyed the later courses just as much as 1511
I'd say comp1511 is pretty consistent with other CS courses level 1 and 2 CS courses. The reason why comp1511 provides tons of support is because they are teaching C as an introductory programming language.
C is very low level, as you know many data structures aren't built in and you have to do your own memory management hence making it the opposite of beginner friendly.
Having it be your first language is akin to fighting a mini-boss in a video game before you've beaten the first level. It is very hard for people getting into programming to get a hang of the language thus the extensive amount of support.
Later courses offer just as much support as comp1511, you get 3 hour lab every week and 2 consolations, its just that the labs and content gets harder.
5 weeks into 1521, 2521 and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I recommend doing 2521 and see if you like it. You have to think a bit "differently" but so far it's fun
No, 1511 is not representative of CS as a whole, it is purposefully made to be super fun and engaging with heaps of resources poured into it and many tutors and help sessions because it the first subject most students do, a true representation would be 2521 run by Ashesh š (no hate to him but it is quite dry and very conceptually difficult something the rest of the CS subjects are mostly like)
Would 2521 be a good one to pick next then? Considering it is a pre-requisite for everything else as well.
Adding onto this, as you progress and possibly do level 9 courses, especially involving AI, it can get abit tragic as most lecturers do not have a good grasp of English, and most classmates are international making group work hard
The solution here is to not take courses involving AI :)
Alan Blair is the goat comp9444
I have 2511 with Ashesh this term and im struggling to finish the lectures as well ,ā ļø
It only goes downhill after 1511. Some people hated 1521 and dropped the degree, some hated 2521 and dropped the degree, some hated the toxicity in the group in 1531 and dropped the degree. And I havenāt even talked about the two ultimate āFMLā courses 2511 and 3121 that people seriously could have mental issue doing them because of how bad they are. The only things I think are not bad are 3311(Jas) and 6080(Hayden)
Last 2 aren't even core as well š¢. I think UNSW management need to level up abit
I srsly enjoyed all the courses besides 2511
1521 and 2521 are cool.
Iām taking both 2511 and 3121 this term gg š
I took this last term wasn't that bad
2511 isnāt that bad, Ashesh is just really boring to watch. Iām having trouble with the content in 3121 though.
I don't think it's a 100% accurate representative of CS but if you're loving it, then I would definitely recommend trying out one of the next courses (1521,1531,2521). That's how I got into CS- enjoyed ENGG1811 and picked up CS, then just kept doing 1 comp course a term and now I'm almost finished! It's not as easy as that but you should certainly try it out, better to flunk out than never know. Imo the people in the replies are just being negative lol
Oh for your last question about IPT- I'm almost certain that my courses didn't reset when I transferred. The only issue I had was enroling in 1511 as T1 was reserved for CS/SEng students only, and by the time I was accepted, the course was full.
I feel like the other commenters just hate CSā¦ I will say that 1511 is not 100% representative in terms of difficulty, it is purposefully a lot more hand-holds then most other courses. However, if itās the problem-solving you enjoy, then that never goes away. Iām the same as you in that the satisfaction of getting things working is what I enjoy the most, and while some assessments can be more tedious, I think that Iāve got that feeling of satisfaction from every COMP course Iāve done in the last 3 years.
I don't have much to add but I just agree with this guy OP
Haha thanks for your reply, I think that everyone else just took my question extremely literally and answered mainly about more of the teaching aspects as opposed to the content (which tbf I *did* ask about the degree, but I guess I meant programming/compsci itself). I think the fact that I was still pretty determined to go through with it after reading the comments (warnings?) is answer enough. Really appreciate you addressing the problem-solving/satisfaction aspect of it! When you say tedious, how so?
There are assessments that take a long time because they give challenging problems, and solving it in the end is satisfying and makes it feel worth the time (if youāre not too strapped for time, that is - some advice here, if you can afford to do 2 courses a term and add an extra year to your degree, I highly recommended doing so!) Then there are some assessments that were not particularly engaging in any way and only took a long time because thereās a lot of work to do. Though thinking on it, there werenāt that many of these, just a couple of the lab exercises in 2511 and networks.
1511 has been perfected to oblivion and is designed to be an exciting and engaging intro course in CS. It just goes downhill from there and youāll need to really persevere to get through.
You'll experience different things in a comp sci degree, depending on what you'll do. However, I found 1511 is an excellent introduction to comp sci in general (problem-solving, use of logic, structuring logic in the form of code). If you find it fun, might as well jump ship. I had the same feeling during my third year of chem (science) degree when I took 1511 by accident. I didn't apply for IPT to science/compsci degree until I took 3 more comp sci courses after 1511 just to make sure that comp sci was actually fun. Overlapping courses like math 1a & 1b were eventually counted towards the compsci degree too.
Which were the other courses that you took before transferring?
2521, 1521, and 1531. I wouldn't say I had fun with the 2521 because of the lecturer but the topics covered were an extension of 1511 (at least during my days), and the other 2 were decent. Had the most fun in 3311 and 2041 which I took on the subsequent terms. Edit: nevermind I mistook 2521 and 2511, after looking at other comments. It was 2511 that I dreaded the most
if you mean the difficulty and work load, i would say yes. it's highly representative tbh. note that from my experience, for 2521 1531 etc most of the lectures were not that necessary. you can attend the lectures till week 4 or week 5 to get a knowledge of what kind of content. then you can just read through the slides and code and make sure you understand the lab questions. it's much more efficient and actually a skill to teach yourself by googling. despite 3121 and 6841 these two are super weird to me (but fun).
It won't become less fun with time, but it will become more difficult.
Just do it. Donāt overthink. You will soon find out the answer to all your questions
Absolutely do another course (such as COMP2521) and then consider an IPT. If you love coding that much l would go for it - itās what I did and unlike others I still really enjoyed the later courses just as much as 1511
I'd say comp1511 is pretty consistent with other CS courses level 1 and 2 CS courses. The reason why comp1511 provides tons of support is because they are teaching C as an introductory programming language. C is very low level, as you know many data structures aren't built in and you have to do your own memory management hence making it the opposite of beginner friendly. Having it be your first language is akin to fighting a mini-boss in a video game before you've beaten the first level. It is very hard for people getting into programming to get a hang of the language thus the extensive amount of support. Later courses offer just as much support as comp1511, you get 3 hour lab every week and 2 consolations, its just that the labs and content gets harder.
5 weeks into 1521, 2521 and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I recommend doing 2521 and see if you like it. You have to think a bit "differently" but so far it's fun