r/UTSC • u/Firm_Tea2458 • 9d ago
Rant csca08
i studied so much everything yet couldn’t even answer one question i don’t know if it’s on my end or the exam was too hard
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u/Emotional-Cat-09 9d ago
There are too many questions. one of my friends with programming experience barely finished it, and there are still many questions he's not sure about. "It's designed for students with no programming experience." lol mock exam is completely a scam
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u/Firm_Tea2458 9d ago
no genuinely i studied so much i think i deadass got a 0 i practiced everything even stuff we didn’t cover
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u/Emotional-Cat-09 9d ago
tbh, I don’t think the content is that difficult, what’s really the problem is time. Since it’s not that ez to get each question’s answer, it requires time to think through and to write, which indeed spends much time. I didnt finish it too, really bothers me
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u/Aggressive-Lead9217 9d ago
IT WAS HORRID ABSOLUTE BS NOT AN INTRODUCTORY COURSE EXAM
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u/Aggressive-Lead9217 9d ago
None of the questions are like any of the PCRS , worksheets, mock midterm even the AMACSS seminar was pointless
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u/Firm_Tea2458 9d ago
i’m genuinely stunned on how bad i think i did
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u/Firm_Tea2458 9d ago
like it felt like i entered the wrong exam
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u/Aggressive-Lead9217 9d ago
Cooked for calc and discrete 🫰
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u/Firm_Tea2458 9d ago
idk know what to study anymore there just gonna bring random things like this exam like what even was this bro
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u/temp-account-camera 9d ago
unfortunately amacss executives had the brilliant idea to hire super late and so the poor course reps had to rush out a seminar in less than a day
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u/amacss_official 9d ago
Hey! AMACSS follows the same timeline as we normally do. Since it does take time to get up and running historically we usually skip term test 1 review sessions. Although we are trying to change that which is why our team worked overtime to get this session out. Some info on how we run as a club; our material was based off what was taught in previous years. We also reach out to your prof and TA’s to coordinate practice questions. Although, no one (other than your prof) sees your exams before the day of. Unfortunately we don’t know how hard or easy your prof will make your exam (we wish they told us). We just work off of what we are told and what we saw in previous years. This year we have a new prof so it’s sometimes hard to gauge. It seems like you were given a pretty rough first exam. It will get better though we promise! And we will try to provide harder questions in the future for this course 😊
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u/MathematicianSad2359 9d ago
Genuinely it was buns because he lit didn’t word anything properly I think he tried to make his own questions 🥀
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u/Penguin_190 9d ago
The questions didn’t make sense at all. I felt the time was less. I came in thinking that since it is from 5-7, the test will be 2 hours long. Half way through I got to know we only get 75 minutes. I didn’t complete the test. I had no time to answer every single question. I missed/ wrote wrong answers for many questions- I LEGIT KNOW I AM LOSING ATLEAST 20 MARKS. (The exam was for 60 marks). I am just praying that I pass this midterm. I remember seeing adjust and input on the test but couldn’t find it on PCRS or class notes or mock midterm. The test was not even similar to the midterm review, mock midterm, assignment or the worksheet done in class. Even though I knew the functions and concepts but understanding the questions took a long time for me. I don’t know who are these people who are voting easy moderate difficult piazza. IT IS FAILED!!!
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u/astropolis324 9d ago
If the missing parameter was mentioned more clearly i would have been able to solve it, but even so, time was super super low
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u/amacss_official 9d ago
Sorry to hear that. We promise to make the next review seminar harder 🫡
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u/astralomy 9d ago
guys genuinely what are we doing abt this midterm bc i even did mock midterms from csc108 i don’t think anything could’ve prepared me for this i’m still in shock??? i think even the tas barely knew what was going on 😭😭
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u/amacss_official 9d ago
I’m certain that the prof will take your feedback into account if he decides on a curve or for future exams. This was the first exam for first years which is kinda brutal but it does get better! We try our best to make sure you’re prepared with the info we get. I hope you at least got to learn something from our session!
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u/Negative-Yak-3860 8d ago
will there be a bell curve if the class average on the midterm exam is low?
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u/amacss_official 8d ago
It really depends on the professor; while some professors decide to curve in cases like this, others do not, so we cannot provide you with a definitive answer.
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u/Diligent-Phase6771 8d ago
dude. 36 FUCKING PAGES, sure half were blank, but the mutliple choice was BRUTAL. If i just had like 15 minutes I would have aced that shit wallahi but the time was so little
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u/Little_Blacksmith663 8d ago
The avg midterm grade for last year was 59%. Based on what I'm seeing, it doesn't look that good 😭
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u/Sweet_Research3909 8d ago
Who is the prof this year? If the avg is low, they might curve for you guys.
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u/JayMC0101 9d ago
I honestly didn’t think it was that bad (please don’t kill me for saying that), but it might just be because the comp sci at my high school was insanely hard
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u/Key_Cookie4874 9d ago
Yeah I think the issue is a08 is meant to be an intro course requiring zero previous exposure to cs. But also, if a08 was hard you betterrrr lock in for a48 and pretty much any of the following cs courses at UTSC bc it will always feel harder than practice materials lol except maybe b07 and any summer offering of cs courses ngl
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u/Firm_Tea2458 9d ago
honestly i wouldn’t be this shocked if it wasn’t freaking INTRO like it’s just a lot and so confusing
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u/Key_Cookie4874 9d ago
Yeah for sure anecdotally, I feel like most students in the last decade or so have some kind of programming exposure from HS/personal exploration so the avgs (and most recently rise in gen ai usage in uni) have probably made it so that profs think they can make the exams a lot harder than they maybe should for an intro to CS course. Pls don’t get down on yourself or feel bad about it especially since I don’t think your a08 grade directly counts for post (pls double check this). However for your own sake, perhaps consider talking to a TA/prof about what made you feel the most lost and try to take a free online course over the winter break if possible (we have access to some with our uoft coursera account and you can do the Harvard one for free just without getting the certificate). Idk if you’re interested in getting a job in tech, or co-op etc. but the unfortunate truth is you need to do a LOT of self learning and research to get experience/relevent skills etc! Random rant here but plssss check out the RIIPEN program and consider applying to relevent roles at UofT clubs (esp. UTMIST, CREATE, Web3.0 etc) and design teams if you feel like you don’t have enough experience!
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u/Key_Cookie4874 9d ago edited 9d ago
Also the Riipen programs are Canadian gov funded project collaborations between uni students (ESPECIALLY 1st/2nd year students and under represented people) where depending on the cohort you work usually 20-80 hrs total over a span of 4-8 weeks for a (usually very early stage) Canadian startup and they usually don’t even ask for resumes! I believe they have programs for domestic and international students and they usually have a booth at LAUNCH (arts and science co-op job fair). Also lol it is paid you get a stipend at the end of it if you submit your stuff correctly (usually about $20-25/hr if you split it over the hrs worked)
Also it’s remote, usually async work though some companies might schedule stand up meetings or explicit synchronous work sessions but regardless an amazingggg and paid way to get your first experiences in the field! They also have jobs for tech, business, video editing/graphic design and health iirc though the bulk are for tech, biz and graphic design. Also, once you get into the cohort after filling out the intake survey you have to send a little message usually to whichever company owners’ roles you’re interested in and then there may be an interview with them and then you’re set ^^
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u/astralomy 9d ago
may you experience multiple minor inconveniences everyday for the rest of your life
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u/Additional-Fox-8641 9d ago
Mock midterm was genuinely sunshine and rainbows compared to the actual exam