#how do i ask a question on piazza in a way that makes the prof give me as much of the answer as possible <333< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[kuiinncedes]

wow

[livingbutamireally]

AY2020/2021 Y2S1 Module Reviews

This semester proved to be a pain as expected. Said pain coming mostly from BT2101 and CS2030. Everything was conducted online with the exception of the weekly lab sessions for CS2030 so I only had to go to school for 1 day. F2F CS2030 recitations were optional so I gave up and just watched the recorded zoom session instead of going to school just for a class half way through the semester. I usually miss the live zoom sessions because mine was at 1pm and I am almost always still having lunch at that time and not ready at all. Also i missed about half of my BT2102 tutorials because I simply forgot I had tutorials at that time (2-4pm). They still awarded me nicely for participation much to my surprise (7/10).

BT2101 Decision Making Methods and Tools

BT2102 Data Management and Visualisation

CS2030 Programming Methodology II

GEQ1000 Asking Questions

IS1103 Ethics in Computing

CS2030: Programming Methodology II in Java

Prof: Dr Henry Chia, A.P. Terrence Sim

Weightage:

Weekly labs (5%)

Individual project (15%)

Practical assessment #1 in week 7 (15%)

Practical assessment #2 in week 12 (20%)

Class participation (5%) : includes lab participation, piazza discussions and peer learning activities

Final exam (40%)

CS2030 proved to be intensive not only in the aspect of planning code design but also the actual implementation itself.. (thinking about how to solve the problem and/or get the expected outputs)..  Really struggled my way through the start although that really was only the tip of the iceberg because I had no prior experience in Java and the introductory Winter Workshops were reserved exclusively for freshmen or I missed the deadlines can’t remember.. The first few lectures got us familiar with Java Programming before diving deep into Functional Programming which is a lot harder to grasp vs Object-Oriented Programming which was introduced to us in CS1010S already. The hardest part comes with Streams but honestly after learning streams so many processes can be coded so much more efficiently as compared to OOP, really simplifies some of the tasks when using FP rather than OOP. Interesting to note that this streams part ties in well with BT2102′s coding part where we learnt aggregation pipelines in MongoDB and MySQL i believe the concepts felt similar??

Weekly Labs

Pretty manageable imo , compared to the project ofc (rolls eyes)

This semester they changed things up a bit and shifted all the weekly labs deadlines to finals so we had more control in terms of time management and our progress in the labs. Naturally we are expected to do them every week but say we are busy in a certain week for other modules we can always come back on another. I was always behind by like a month compared to my friends who were more on task.

Individual Project

Project part 1 was still okay for the Discrete Event Simulator (DES) basically designing a system for customers to queue and be served and recording the relevant work done at the appropriate times using OOP.

The hardest part was project part 2 where you had to rewrite the whole chunk in part 1 FP style and also they added a lot of more complex simulations and cases which I really just gave up entirely after completing level 2.

It was so hard it was traumatic. Level 3 had something to do with importing a random number generator and the test cases only get more confusing and long i just really had no brain cells left for the work worth only 7% before deducting late submissions penalty (bc brain slow LOL) and the code design criteria and checkstyles. I was so mad that it takes up so much time and effort just to be worth a petty 7% that I gave up entirely didnt even finish reading the questions (which was also pretty darn long). Sorry i am dumb. Please be proud of me I am trying my best.

I have zero idea who in the department decided to rig the difficulty of this project by so much up compared to previous semesters. They really expected too much out of us i am so sorry to disappoint.

Practical Assessments 

Basically similar to weekly lab exercises but you have to do it within the time frame during a lab session. You get to take home and re-edit the code to get the full marks and are moderated according to the changes you made compared to the one submitted during the PA itself. That also means if you do not submit the correct full marks version of the code in a week, you do not get moderated and will be awarded with the marks scored in lab which is obviously 0 for me I had over 70 compilation errors and you might be thinking how. But trust me i am too, confused how. Most people will score around 0-2m in lab but taking it home and refining the whole code with minimal changes and will be graded according to the amount of changes made to get the final code. Tests you how close you can get to the correct outputs within the time frame whether you already had it in your head.

Final Exam

Comes in MCQs, a few case questions consisting of subparts if i remembered correctly some of which required you to write out a possible code (2-3 lines) converting oop to streams, synchronous to asynchronous etc. There are plenty resources (pyps) floating around in the gc so you can use them well for revision.

Theoretical content was tested i dont really know how to put in words but you may be able to code well even though you may have some of the concepts wrong

We only did pure coding work in labs, projects and practical assessments so this really reinforces your understanding of the material

Considering I didnt finish project part 2 this is quite a decent grade already really thankful i dont have to go through this ordeal again. See you never.

BT2101: Decision Making Methods and Tools

Professor: Rudy Sentiono, A.P. Huang Zhiyong

Weightage:

Group project (20%)

Written assignments - 3x 5% (15%)

Tutorial participation (5%)

Midterm - open book (20%)

Finals - open book (40%)

This is the second module that I have been struggling with since the start of the semester. Tutor changed after the first session, the former tutor was much better and clearer in her explanations. This is quite a math-intensive course and requires some knowledge of linear algrebra and thus the pre-requisities. Maths has never been my strong suit (well except in primary school) so I struggled hard with this module. Nearing the end we learnt about deep learning neural networks which was pretty interesting and really broadened my perspectives on the future of machine learning. The pace was okay, but the lecturer seems to just repeat the words on the lecture slides in his lectures. The lectures were seemingly simplified from the reference texts he used but is nevertheless still daunting to look at to revise. Project was a 4-5 people groupwork where we had to conduct all the stages of data analytics from data exploration, cleaning of data to data mining, conclusions etc. There were an additional 3 assignments that we had to do together with our groupmates by the stipulated deadlines. This module requires a lot of work and preparation. Am glad to be able to pass.

BT2102: Data Management and Visualisation

Weightage:

Assignment 1 (Group):  25 marks

Assignment 2 (Individual): 35 marks

Assignment 3 (Group):  30 marks

Class Participation: 10 marks (Participation in Tutorials and Group Assignment Discussions)

IS1103: Ethics in Computing

Weightage:

FPAQ (50%)

Missions (50%)

Expected Grade: B+

Final Grade: A-

For this module, all 13 missions are to be done by the last date of submission for finals which was a 300 question quiz held on LumiNUS. Missions are assigned weekly where we go to the WordPress website the professor has built, a server that he regularly does maintenance on and in it he uses a tracker to track our progress through clicking links and submitting short answer questions sometimes. Most of them were done by clicking of links and we were told to disable our Adblockers if any to prevent interruptions or his system not capturing our data. We were encouraged to do it weekly although the deadline was the end of the semester. One of the missions included us doing some Linux practice penetration questions on Kali, it was a bit tough but other than that the other missions were pretty simple and straightforward. After every mission done we were to do a practice PAQ which is not graded and upon submission would give us the model answers to study in preparation for FPAQ the final week submission. PAQ consists of 5 themes * 7 questions = 35 questions, whereas FPAQ has 300 over questions to be done over the span of a week, the reading week. Carpal tunnel.

GEQ1000: Asking Questions

Weightage: 

Tutorial attendance/participation (36%)

Forum participation - forum 1 and 2 (14%)

MCQ quiz (36%)

Final paper (14%)

This is a general education module everyone in NUS is required to take. I dont think I learned much so I am really only there to go through the motion. There are a few pillars that the department touches on mainly Physics, Engineering, Design, etc to show how the different disciplinary courses are interconnected and how/why is questioning important. Really low maintenance course, we do a 6 or 10 MCQ quiz every week prior to the lecture for that pillar. Tutorial was online via zoom and really low workload in general. Final week was on design and we had to make a wallet for our partner and explain why or how we chose the designs, and also submitting a word essay on our reflections of things we learned.

Update. I only pray to hover above or maintain at this current CAP lemao PLEASE YOU NEED TO

[mitthroughmylens]

Celebrating my academic advisor, Professor Leslie Kaelbling

#YouCanDoItOnlyYouCanDoItYouCantDoItAlone

Summary: Academic advisors exist for a reason that goes beyond approving your registration for the semester. Every relationship is defined by what you make of it, so think critically about what you are looking for.

Also, it’s important to speak up if you think that something is not working for you. If you don’t seek help, you will never experience better. BUT, speak up with respect and appreciate good effort; do not focus solely on the negatives.

———————————————

Professor Leslie Kaelbling. One of the best academic advisors in the EECS department.

I did not have a great experience with my first Course 6 advisor. Whenever I visited their office, I could sense the pressure to finish quickly and leave. It’s not that they were rude or mean to me. No, never. But they just had this air about them that made me want to hurry so that they could move on to the next thing. Sometimes I had to suppress my questions or concerns so that they could run off to their next meeting. That was not what I was looking for in an academic advisor. I hadn’t come to MIT with a well-thought-out plan for every class I wanted to take so I needed guidance in exploring my interests. I needed someone who had time to discuss my options and not someone that made me feel like I was standing in their way.

The first time we had to choose advisors, I did some research but I honestly didn’t know enough to choose someone. So when I went to Anne Hunter’s office to request a change of advisor, I made sure that I did my due diligence. I asked as many people as I could, read almost every post on the Course 6.AcAd piazza, and looked at subject evals as well as the HKN Underground guide. Based on her thoughtful responses on Piazza, her rate of response, and the extensive positive feedback I garnered, I requested Prof Kaelbling as an academic advisor.

Prof Kaelbling is incredibly brilliant and yet one of the few professors I have met who is slow to speak. Before she makes a call or jumps to a conclusion, she will patiently wait for your input and ask clarifying questions where necessary. She will then pause and reflect, all the while giving you time to also reflect on what you have said. She has this peace and calm around her that makes you feel at home in her office.

Every time I showed up for registration, her first question (before looking at my grades from the previous semester or the classes I had pre-registered for) would be : “How did last semester go? How did you feel about your classes? Which ones did you enjoy and why? Did you have time to pursue other interests? ” Then, based on my response, we would evaluate the classes I had selected for the upcoming semester.

Sometimes Prof Kaelbling agreed with my choice of classes, but other times she would push back: “I think you should try to take Class X at this point because it is critical for every engineer to know this material and it will serve you well later.” She understood that her students had different goals so when I told her that I wanted to take at least one project-based class every semester because I learned by doing, she allowed me to.

I called Leslie “Prof Kaelbling” for a very long time although she signed off all her emails with “Leslie”. So one day, after our meeting, I said to her “I have noticed that you sign off your emails with ‘Leslie’. Are you okay with me calling you Prof Kaelbling?” She had this heart-warming smile that she broke into whenever something amused her. Then she said: “Mm, I prefer Leslie. Whenever people say ‘Prof Kaelbling’ I look over my shoulder and wonder who they are referring to…” We both laughed, and I decided to go with ‘Leslie’ moving forward.

Leslie was more than an “academic” advisor. Halfway through my Course 6 journey, I had a “mid-Course 6” crisis. 😂 I emailed Leslie because I wasn’t sure what made the most sense to do post-MIT : should I pursue an MEng? should I go to grad school? should I apply for fellowships?

I know that I tend to exaggerate but you need to believe me on this one - Leslie’s response rate is a little under 5 minutes regardless of time of day. She responded and scheduled time to chat about my goals and how things aligned. Even at her distinguished position, she was not afraid to acknowledge what she didn’t know: “I’m not really the best person to give you advice about this because I did Y instead. But I know someone who did this and I can put you in touch with them.” During our conversation, she gave candid advice and offered to leverage her network to support me where possible.

In spite of her phenomenal research, Leslie makes time for her advisees and her students. Given that she is an incredible advisor, I should have known that she would make an even more exceptional teacher and I deeply regret waiting this long to take 6.036 (the one semester that she didn’t teach it 😭).

I loved watching her 6.036 lectures.

She had "study questions" during the lecture that made you stop and think about what you were learning: What happens if epsilon is 0? Does our theory still hold? What if it goes to infinity? Does it still make sense?

She also equipped students with an intuition - Think about the discount factor when calculating the expected value for infinite horizon this way: rewards that happen sooner are worth more than rewards that happen far in the future. The intuition for dropout is that everyday you might miss a few team members at random, so you need to train your system in order to cover for one another when this happens.

Becoming one of Prof Kaelbling’s advisees was one of the best decisions I made at MIT. My experience with her made me appreciate the impact of good mentorship and support. I know many people have different opinions on this topic but I believe that academic advisors exist for a reason and it certainly goes way beyond approving your registration for the semester. Every relationship is defined by what you make of it, so think critically about what you are looking for.

[slogoct06-blog]

Slog of 104-Updated by Dec. 06

→ Reasons I chose CSC104

I am a commerce student studying Accounting without any CS background. I chose CSC104 due to the following reasons:

1.     I know that there is a tendency that more and more accounting works are replaced by AI robot, and more and more students without financial knowledge but CS background get involved into accounting industry. Definitely, accounting will tie closely to computer science and the cooperation between AI and humans will be more and more frequent. To become outstanding in the financial industry, I will have to be comfortable for using or even adjusting CS tools to support my work. As Canada’s biggest university, U of T offers various CS courses which can satisfy my needs.

2.     CSC 104 is the most entry-level CS course in this university, which I think is an ideal starting point for me. By taking this course, I can get the most basic idea about CS languages, laying a solid foundation for me to take any further CS course in the future. Besides, I hope to see if I am interested in CS courses and decide how far I will get into this field in the future. Thus, it is less risky for me to take an entry-level course at current stage.

→ Takeaways I expect

The most basic idea about computer science;

Interest towards this field which can guarantee my success in any further CS courses

→ Programming language I expected previously and how I feel about it now

I once thought that the programming language will be very inaccessible with fancy codes and is hard to understand at the beginning of this course. Also, I expect the language will be extremely logical so once I understand, nothing requires to be memorized.

 Now I think it is much more accessible than what I expected. The language is still “human language” and can be understood easily. Still, it is as logical as I thought so I spend limited time on memorizing it.

 I think it is very interesting because as I worked on Rr. Rocket, it seems that I become a robot and can communicate with Dr. Rocket fluently using its language. I can do many interesting things on it including playing with pictures.

 I think the difficulty level is fair. Course material is accessible for a beginner, which is good. However, there are still some abstract materials that require me to spend time to fully understand them. It is a little bit easier than what I expected, but I still need to take time on it.

  → Quiz

I reviewed my class notes before practicing and then I practiced the materials provided by Profs (those for our preparation of the quiz) on Dr. Rocket to be familiar with the knowledge. I am not satisfied with my second quiz because I got marks deducted. It may because that I ignored the reminder on top of my quiz which indicated the size of a triangle.

 → Topic I am interested in

For the topics that I am interested in, I think if the Prof can give us more introduction to the history of CS, that will be great.

NEW CONTENT AFTER OCT.6 (posted on 10,14):

Up to now, I found that the course becomes harder and harder. This is mainly due to the accumulative knowledge. As for the new concept itself, it is not that hard, but because it has to be linked with the concepts that we have learned some times I got confused. Furthermore, the logic thinking process sometimes is difficult for me. I have to handle more than one “repeated cycle” to deal with one question, and my brain gets hurt...especially in the quiz if time is urgent.

The first test seemed to be easy and I only reviewed for it in one night(of course I followed my Prof’s lecture step by step before my review). But I know that the first term test is very easy and as the knowledge gets accumulated, the questions will be more difficult.

New content after 10, 14 (posted on 10, 20)

Well, I found recursion really really difficult. Firstly, the thinking process is complicated and sometimes I got confused. Secondly, even if I know the answer, writing down the steps is very tedious and sometimes gets me into trouble.

I still tried to use the practice problems posted by Profs to prepare my quiz because I found the questions are very relevant. But even if I can handle the practice well, if my brain is under bad condition under pressure during the quiz, I can hardly get full marks. I will have to calm myself down in the quiz.

New Content updated on 27 Oct.

 Right now, I think I am on a right track of this course.

 I prepare the quiz every week by first reviewing the new content that I just learned this week, and then I do the practice problems on Dr. Rocket. Sometimes, even if there is no enough problems available, I will try some ideas on Dr. Racket that I am interested in or am not sure. If I have any questions or something that I found confusing, I would go to my professor’s office hour to find out the answers. For most of the time, this is the most efficient way for me to study.

 For the image that I made, I think the image of a Miffy Rabbit made me proud. It was created imply by overlaying two small solid circles on a big outline circle, making two ellipses above the circle, and creating a cross for her mouth. Well, although this is simple, I am so happy to create my own Miffy by the knowledge I learned from the course.

 For the difficult concepts I have figured out, I think recursion is the one. I first found that this is so confusing because one recursion function may contain several steps and cycles that repeated. It was difficult because I got lost easily and found my brain just gets hurt. But as I kept practicing, I am more and more comfortable about the logic style behind the function, and I gradually got used to the logics as if my brain just becomes the Dr. Rocket. Practice makes perfect!

 I think everything goes well as for asking my questions. I am not that used to using Piazza, but I found professor’s office hour is really accessible and helpful.

 I love CSC104 very much because this is a completely new world for me! I will keep studying hard and enjoying the materials. All the TAs are very helpful. Thank you for bringing so much fun for me.

Update on 2017, 12, 6

1.     Suggestions regarding how to define a function:

As for me, before everything gets started, I first imagine that I was a machine, using the CS language to communicate with Dr. Racket. This is a very first and most important step for me because it helps me to think in a logic way;

 Secondly, know about your purpose of designing the function: what you want to do based on this function? What steps may be required? What is the relative functions related to each step?

This process acts as the foundation for any further function design, helping you be clear about what you should do.

 Thirdly, break down the function into several parts. No matter how difficult the function is, it just includes header and body. Plug the related function into the body with appropriate order. This helps you to design a function in a very clear way step by step.

 You should be very precise at this stage, because any carelessness in design or even just the mistake in brackets may cause huge error.

 Lastly, try try try! Use Dr. Racket to check whether your function works or not. Plug in different inputs to ensure that everything goes well.

 After a function is successfully designed, always think about whether there are any other ways to design the same function, completing the same work with less complexity. This is not just about the specific function itself, but also about expanding your ideas and may help you succeed in the long-run.

 2.     Suggestions regarding the preparation towards this course:

Firstly, office hour is really really important! Sometimes the Profs may be rush in the lecture, and you may not follow them perfectly. But all the profs are amazingly nice during the office hour. They always try to inspire your ideas and you can handle the knowledges easily during this process.

 Secondly, always practicing on Dr. Racket. Notes on paper is less useful than your efforts on Dr. Racket. Trying more so you can have deeper impression on those functions and CS language. Also, it is very interesting to see that you can always find some other ways to complete the same work.

 Lastly, be precise. Computer is a machine and the CS language accepts zero “gramma mistake”. Take care about your every input, even if it is just a bracket! One small mistake may take you hours to fix it!

 Lastly, I hope to express my appreciation to the profs and TAs in this course. They are really nice and helpful, inspiring me every time as I asked them for help, which allowed me to explore a completely new world. CSC 104 is just a starting point for me, and I will definitely go further in this field! To some aspect, CSC 104 not only offered me knowledge, but also inspired my enthusiasm towards a new world!