Although this class was taken in the summer, the difficulty is substantial, the pacing of the class is already fast, but the summer version was ALOT faster(will be decently paced for fall and spring). Overall spent about 15-20 hours outside of lecture each week, Either reviewing notes and completing HW. Prof Yi's teaching style is Topic -> Example, as CSO 1 covers a lot with not too much depth there is a enormous list of things to know for each exam. In terms of exam difficulty, Midterm 1 was lower in scoring around 79% average, and Exam 2 scoring above that(have not taken final will update post). It is very possible to score high on these exams if you have enough prep time, structure of the exams are exactly the same as the practice given.
My take is to finish all assignments besides Midterms, as even with lower exam scores the bands for final grades heavily take in Lab and HW grades. It is very possible to score high on Midterm and Final, but dont bank on that.

Professor Yi is a really kind and patient professor. This class covers a lot of material and is definitely not easy, but she is very good at explaining complicated concepts in a way that is easier to understand. She is always happy to answer questions, and her office hours are very helpful. Whenever I was confused about something from class, she would take the time to explain it again until I actually understood it. She is also very friendly and approachable, so I never felt nervous or uncomfortable asking her questions. This class does require a lot of time and effort, but I think it is worth it because you can learn a lot. Professor Yi also makes the class feel much more manageable. Overall, I really enjoyed taking her class and would definitely recommend her.

My experience with Professor Yi in CSO1 was very positive. Lecture simply consists of her going over her own slideshows, all the while giving plenty of opportunities to ask questions. If this not detailed enough, students are provided access to Professor Hott’s material in addition. Homework assignments are somewhat demanding, but grading is reasonable and working with others is often permitted. Exams are typically difficult, with averages lying in the C range. However, achieving a higher score is absolutely possible if one puts in the necessary time. As for the nature of the content, Professor Yi is very passionate about what she teaches and clearly enjoys her profession, which is refreshing to experience. This, along with the many interesting topics present in this course (Binary, iCode, Assembly to name a few), made learning genuinely enjoyable. Overall, I highly recommend Professor Yi if you are a student that is willing to put in that little bit of extra effort.

One of the hardest courses you'll be taking if you're in the CS pathway, but not for the reason you'd think.

The issue here is that the course is extremely rushed in terms of content. There is a *lot* of content to cover within this course, so it's obvious that the professors *will* go through slide after slide quickly. From this, there are many minuscule details that are left out within lectures that will appear on the midterm exams, which I assume is the bulk of why people miss easy points. It's pretty easy to get a B or C on a midterm since missed points add up quickly.

This does *not* mean that it's hard because it's hard to comprehend or too complex. The content being too hard is not an issue here, it's just that there is *too much* content to cover. Every topic can be understood with a decent amount of practice, but it can get overwhelming with just how many topics there are.

This means to go to office hours or lectures to ask questions. This shouldn't be an optional thing, and *should* be a mandatory thing if you really want to get all of your bases down on what to know. If you don't ask questions in lecture or office hours, chances are you're going to miss a good amount of questions because you missed the small details you *could* have asked about. No, the professors and TAs don't bite.

Just be very cautious of the increasing difficulty that CSO1 has. It's no DSA1.

Professor Yi is very nice, but she has a thick accent so it's hard to follow along in lecture. She sometimes would be a bit confused by lecture content, and overall her lectures were worse than Hott's. I recommend just going to Hott's or watching his recordings. Outside lecture, she's super kind and helpful. She posts annotated versions of her slides after class, and if you go to her in office hours she's much more put together and usually is prepared to address mistakes/misunderstandings from the lecture. Overall, it doesn't make much difference between her and Hott (you can go to the other person's lectures). It was her first semester teaching overall, so she might have improved by the time others take this.

(Took in F25, but could only list as S26)

I took this course in Fall of 2025 and I found this course to be difficult but enjoyable under Professor Yi's teaching. She is a recently graduated PhD student but is very knowledgable in the CSO field and her research is also related to this course! One piece of advice I would recommend is to always go to office hours! They are extremely useful, in general any questions that you may have could be answered and the concepts taught in class could be clarified. ONE note is that the CSO curriculum is just rushed (how Professor Hott designed it) so a lot of information will be just breezed by and it WILL still appear on the exam so do take note of it and make sure to have everything clarified and understood before the exam. Overall, I think Professor Yi is an fabulous professor and would love to take a class with her again!

Professor Yi is very kind and knowledgeable, and she is also very accessible outside of office hours. She does have an accent, which may take some time to get used to, but her office hours are extremely helpful. Additionally, Profesor Yi posts detailed, annotated notes after each lecture that clearly explain the material, which I frequently use when studying. Overall, she is a great professor who wants her students to succeed.

The course can be challenging but interesting. There is homework and a quiz every week. Homework often takes several hours to complete (especially the first assignment), so I recommend starting early and going to TA office hours if needed (gets busy near deadlines, up to an hour wait). There is also an option to extend homework deadlines by two days by submitting a form one day in advance with valid reasoning. The readings are helpful and serve as good references.

Note: I took this course in Fall 2025, but it wasn't an option when creating this review.