Discouraged about CS major

[Requoter]

I'm a computer science major and this is my junior year and up until now I didn't have any troubles with courses I took. So far I've had two courses of Problem Solving with C++, Assembly Language, and Data Structures, I've made A's on all of them. But this semester I've been taking Operating Systems and Artificial Intelligence and this stuff just seems over my head, I'm studying really hard, but I don't understand the material, especially in OS class. My average from tests and projects in both classes is a borderline between C and D. I'm thinking what if the rest of the courses are going to be even harder than this? Should I start thinking about changing my major or try and stick with this one?

[Luminal]

I'm a computer science major and this is my junior year and up until now I didn't have any troubles with courses I took. So far I've had two courses of Problem Solving with C++, Assembly Language, and Data Structures, I've made A's on all of them. But this semester I've been taking Operating Systems and Artificial Intelligence and this stuff just seems over my head, I'm studying really hard, but I don't understand the material, especially in OS class. My average from tests and projects in both classes is a borderline between C and D. I'm thinking what if the rest of the courses are going to be even harder than this? Should I start thinking about changing my major or try and stick with this one?

 

I'm also a junior CS major. I begin my AI course during the summer, and I've read most of the book to acquaint myself the last few weeks; I'll admit it's leagues beyond what I've done so far, but I think I can handle it.

 

What particular aspects of it are you having trouble with?

[Pangloss]

Ah, you've hit the wall. I know this wall. I hit that wall many times myself -- I know how frustrating it can be.

 

Ultimately it's something you have to answer yourself, but I would just say that you really won't know the answer that question until you've explored all the avenues available to you for getting help. Talking to the professor is just the beginning. You can get help from other students, tutors, other professors, and any campus facilities that may be available, and there are also thousands of resources available on the Internet.

 

With undergrad it's sequential (it's different with grad studies -- the wall can show up at any time), so you can also take into consideration that the material was supposed to get harder as you moved forward. But this very much works in your favor when it comes to answering your question, because the fact that you got As on all the prerequisite course means you are positioned exactly where you are supposed to be, and that your instructors have full confidence in your ability to handle the next step.

 

That doesn't mean you're an idiot for hitting a wall, though -- it happens to virtually everyone who stays with academic studies, sooner or later. Every time you tackle something new you roll the dice and maybe you'll hit that wall and maybe you won't. But the wall isn't an insurmountable obstacle, it's just a hurdle. All you need is the proper ladder to get over it.

 

The good news is that (in answer to your other question) it's actually NOT likely that you will have the same problem in all your remaining courses. You may well get something that seems "easy" next term. In my experience as both student and teacher it really has a lot to do with the subject -- some students have trouble with certain subjects, others have trouble with other subjects. Of course a bad instructor or textbook can also cause trouble.

 

I also have had some luck doing what I call "simplifying". Break the problem down into steps or components, and then figure out what it is you need to do to accomplish each of those steps. Then you can figure out where your specific bottlenecks are, and and whenever I do this I don't feel quite so overwhelmed.

 

So simply put, my advice is to try every single resource that's available to you. What've you got to lose?

 

Good luck!

[Requoter]

Good luck!

 

Thanks Pangloss. I was kind of thinking the same thing you said. It's just one of the reasons I've been losing confidence is that it seems I'm the only person in both classes who's having troubles with the material. That's why I felt really lame.

 

What particular aspects of it are you having trouble with?

 

On overall I'm doing better in this class than OS fundamentals, but writing a final project in LISP is something I don't think I can handle.

[john5746]

I'm a computer science major and this is my junior year and up until now I didn't have any troubles with courses I took. So far I've had two courses of Problem Solving with C++, Assembly Language, and Data Structures, I've made A's on all of them. But this semester I've been taking Operating Systems and Artificial Intelligence and this stuff just seems over my head, I'm studying really hard, but I don't understand the material, especially in OS class. My average from tests and projects in both classes is a borderline between C and D. I'm thinking what if the rest of the courses are going to be even harder than this? Should I start thinking about changing my major or try and stick with this one?

 

If I had to do it all over again, I would have tried to find more study buddies in my major.

[Adrian]

Thanks Pangloss.

On overall I'm doing better in this class than OS fundamentals, but writing a final project in LISP is something I don't think I can handle.

 

 

I also had to write a final project in LISP...it was my programming language concepts class. It was a syntax analyzer...and I hated it.

 

Just stick through your classes...with any major that you decide to switch to, you will also hit a wall.

 

 

good luck.

[Pangloss]

Yup. Look at it this way: If you never hit a single stumbling block in your entire program then you probably picked something that was too easy and you have sold yourself short.

 

What's really crazy is that years from now it's those stumbling blocks, those walls, that will really bring back the best memories. You'll jump up and down and curse about how awful they were, but you'll be smiling because you beat them or you at least tried and gave them your best shot. It's funny how that happens.