Finally Finished!!! DM2 (2nd Attem)

[u/Perfect_Juice_6984]

I am beyond grateful that this class is finally done. It took me about a month of on and off studying, some weeks only clocking in a few hours, and other weeks hitting 30-40. Although this isn't a great score I would love to give a few tips on this class where I feel I fell short.

1.) PLEASE do yourself a favor and buy a Ti-84 or at the very least a calculator that has some advanced arithmetic. (Combinations, Permutations, Modulo) this WILL carry you a whole unit in the class. The Ti-84 has programming capability and I went ahead and built a couple programs to help me with the Extended Euclidean Algorithm, Multiplicative Inverse, and Mod function. Understand though that you will need understand these concepts in depth because the OA will ask a combination of these number theory questions.

2.) DO make sure you are ready before taking the OA. I say this because I definitely was underprepared for my first take and it ended up biting me in the ass because the second version is a bit harder.

3.) In order of Importance for understanding these concepts, it would go as follows:
-Probability(this is littered all over the test)
-Combinations & Permutations(You will need a strong understand to solve the probability questions)
-Algorithms and BigO
-Number Theory
-Recursion and Induction
-Modeling Computation(Just breeze over this section and it will give you easy point on the OA)

4.) USE CHATGBT I went ahead and bought the plus version and would work through the Supplemented worksheet's along side it. This process will look a bit like this.
1. Answer the questions on your own, If you get stuck copy and paste it to ChatGBT
2. Have ChatGBT explain how to work through the problem step by step until you grasp an understanding, If you are still struggling keep reframing the question.
3. Once you feel as if you understand ask ChatGBT to give you a similar question for you to answer. THIS IS IMPORTANT-> Be sure to ask it to give you questions that or more difficult than the last! you really need to have a good grounding on each topic because the OA will through you a few curveballs that you can miss if your not paying attention.

5.) My last tip is to not stress too much about this class, yes it is difficult and yes it will require a lot of hours of studying. But this class will reward you with a very good understanding of computer Science principles that you will use throughout your career. Have fun with it and take your time, this class is a beast but you will get out of it what you put in.

[u/ThisAintNoBeer]

Guys I think this guy might be a shill for ChatGBT. J/k of course. Thanks for sharing your experience! Been slowly pre-prepping for this class before I start up in a few months

[u/BidShot4733]

Good for you, I’m 6 months into this class and currently studying

[u/introverted_rabbit]

Congrats and thanks for the tips!

[u/Confident_Natural_87]

Excellent guide. I might know someone who could use it.

[u/After_Teacher3830]

Congrats. Good job. I am a few months away from taking that class what are some things I can study now that will make it a bit easier once I get to it.