CS 2102

Overall this class won't be much of a struggle.
My biggest complaint is the grading scale. It's either the highest average unit (or module, there were 4 of them) score, or the lowest average unit score +10, whichever was lower (plus like 6% for some easy participation that ultimately did very little for my grade). They gave this scale to encourage people to pay attention for every unit, but I feel that a simple average would do the same thing.
Another small complaint is how Orrico addressed course material when she was sick. I'm not mad at her for missing lectures, nor am I blaming her for being sick, it's not her fault, and she had no control over her sickness. However, our class as a whole did pretty poorly on the quizzes for those weeks, and so I do blame her for failing to provide sufficient material to ensure our success for when she couldn't teach.
In terms of course material, it was pretty easy. There were review sections online that were past quiz questions. I studied those for about an hour before the quiz and got A's on a lot of them because the wording and styles of the questions were very similar.

Overall, this class is necessary for the CS major/minor, so I can't say you can skip it, but if you could, don't, it's pretty easy. Orrico was excellent, she was very kind, sweet, funny, and understanding, albeit a little unresponsive with emails. The material's pretty dry but whatever, and there's no homework, so it's doable if you're taking a heavier course load that semester.

Note: This course is being discontinued and changed to I believe CS2120? Take these ratings with a grain of salt. Elizabeth's class wasn't the most organized but wasn't terrible. Personally speaking, I prefer her style of teaching over Tycho's because its more realistic to what you'll see on assesments and has less to do with deriving theroums/postulates. Overall Elizabeth was extremely understanding as well so if you need help just ask (NOT EMAIL) her.

A pretty easy class in my opinion. I took this SP21 so it was online. The material and readings are easy to understand, but you technically don't even have to read them to prepare for class. Prof. Orrico prepares a slideshow each class with practice problems and helps prep you for the weekly quizzes. There are four modules in total that take about three weeks each and consist of two paper quizzes, two auto-graded quizzes, and a group activity. The paper quizzes mean you have to actually write out the problems, the auto-graded mean its multiple choice online, and the group activity is based on effort rather than accuracy. The class was pretty easy and the grading scale was your lowest module grade +10%. They release a compilation of all the past quizzes as practice problems so you know what to prepare for. OH was through discord and the TAs were really helpful. Prof. Tychnoviech was bascially available on discord at all times so you pop in a question and it'd be answered by him or another TA pretty quickly. The quizzes were not really hard. My lowest was an 84% but I ended up getting a 94% in the class because of the +10%. #tCFspring2021

Overall, I liked this class and Orrico. The class is structured so that you have 4 quizzes per module (unit), 2 paper and 2 autograded. They provide practice questions which are incredibly helpful to study, and I frankly never did any of the readings and still did well on most quizzes. The material is pretty straight forward once you get used to it (it's kind of an weird mix of proofs, logic, and math). Orrico had some health issues that impacted our class this semester, so we probably didn't see her at her best, but we still managed just fine. She is pretty friendly and a good teacher. She posts slides and goes through tons of examples in class to help you understand the material. Just for a heads up tho, the profs sometimes made difficult/poorly worded quizzes, but they always dropped questions and gave generous partial credit so you'll still end up with a decent grade. I would definitely recommend this class as a good low time commitment and low effort class (not easy, but in the realm of STEM, not bad). Tychonievich is a great professor too so I would say go for him first, but Orrico is another good option :)

Elizabeth is a very fun instructor. When I took the course, it was her first semester teaching but she is definitely knowledgeable with the content and easy to approach. It can be hard contacting her via email though since she seems to always be experiencing an overload of them for some reason. The course itself was not really difficult; if you have a pretty good math background I think much of it will be review. Each week we were given two quizzes on the week's material: one is written, the other is multiple choice style. As long as you look over previous years quizzes it shouldn't be too bad, plus they give you extra opportunities to replace quiz grades.

Honestly the WORST math professor I’ve ever had, take it with Tychonievich. The course is structured so your lowest unit grade is your final grade + 10%. She did not show up multiple times in the second unit causing the entire class to perform poorly. She is constantly sick, and when she is, expect no lecture video or anything supplemental besides the already assigned readings- you will do terrible on the next quiz. The practice questions, quizzes, and tests always have incorrect solutions. Free points are given back on assignments for the lacking effort put into structuring the course and content. If you have a question, you might as well ask the other instructor because she doesn’t respond to emails. If you ask “I’m lost” questions in class, you will be belittled by her for your lack of understanding. This course could have been much easier without her.

Elizabeth was an incredibly passionate and energetic instructor who made the class a lot more enjoyable. The content is quite interesting, especially if you're into the more logical abstract side of computer science. There isn't any other work aside from the weekly quizzes and an occasional group project done in class, so it's not a particularly difficult class structurally, though the concepts can become difficult, specifically due to the ambiguous nature of the English language.

This course is so disorganized it's insane. Office hours are a nightmare. Many the quizzes so far have an average of 60-70% because the questions are made EXTREMELY difficult and go over things we didn't learn in class. Orrico clearly doesn't know what she's doing :/ for multiple quizzes, they've dropped questions and gave feedback basically stating, "sorry we made this so hard! :)" The practice quizzes we are told to study with have incorrect answers on them- when you ask for help on a problem in class, the answer more than likely will either be "I'm not entirely sure" or "let me Google that". Why are we Googling things?? How does the instructor not know the answers to the questions they are giving?? I've resigned myself to the fact that this is gonna kill my GPA. This course is infuriating. Watching Tychonievich's lectures makes it a little easier- DEFINITELY take it with him.

Elizabeth is very fun and (tries to be, sometimes succeeds in being) hip and makes class entertaining. Her enthusiasm is unparalleled and it makes the simplicity of the course seem worth it. I don't know why they require discrete math as its own subject for CS majors; the course is so low-level and basic in its concepts that it's surprising you wouldn't already know most of it. The class unfortunately comes off as unnecessary for people who have a basic knowledge of logic and math.

The course is very well organized on a single website with the syllabus, quizzes, practice, and grades. There are readings to do for each class, but they are usually more advanced or slightly different from the actual coursework. As someone who did do the reading, I would say that you don't actually need to take notes on them, but you should still read them, especially if you're new to the concepts. Your grade is mostly made up by quizzes, but there are plenty of helpful, relevant practice problems made available. Even if you do badly on a quiz, the course is organized such that every few quizzes are grouped together, and you can take *two* *uncapped* makeups for each group. I only attended OH once, but they seemed well organized, accessible, and plentiful.
I don't know how Professor Orrico compares to Professor Tycho, but I think Professor Orrico was alright as a professor and quite friendly as well. I cannot imagine that she would be the reason why a student doesn't succeed in the class. As long as you put the work in, you should be able to do well.

Loved this course! Discrete is pretty fun - the topics are quite interesting. You learn about proofs, quantifiers, simple logic. etc. The textbooks are quite handy. All old practice problems are made available so you always have a decent grip on how well you understand each topic. TAs were all really nice. Discord was a great way to contact both TAs and professors. This was Prof. Orrico's first time teaching the class so she wasn't the best at it but she is so kind, fair, and hardworking so I'm sure next semester will be better. At the same time, all of Prof. Tychonievich's lectures were made available so if you ever feel uncertain about something, you have that additional resource. I really enjoyed this class and felt like I learned a lot.