Week 10 Journal 09

Second week of November. It is a normal week for CSC165. We had three one-hour lecture and learned some new material. New material looks more complicated and is harder to follow right away during lecture. But it is pretty cool that there are some use of the symbol which I have never seen. I also enjoy the weekly tutorial for this course. Every week I will learn something new or more detailed about the course in the tutorial.

In the tutorial this Monday, we practiced how to prove the Big-Oh which I did not quite understand during the lecture last week. Our TA explained what is the Big-Oh very detailed at the beginning, he answered questions well and even repeat the explanation again and again until nobody has questions. We practiced two proofs steps by steps on the board, so I did not have difficulty writing my weekly quiz. I really appreciate our TA's patient and hard working with us.

We learned how to disprove the Big-Oh and introduced the Big-Omega in lectures this week. The lecture was great, but I felt I don't fully understand the detail. I probably should figure out by myself since there is no tutorial next Monday. Fall break starts tomorrow! Professor Heap always great lecture and great atmosphere of learning, however, I sometimes don't understand his writing on the slides. I would like to try focusing on listening and write down whatever I heard, not just copying down what he write on the slides next week.

The fall break is started since I finished all my classes today. I appreciate that we have one short break before the final exam weeks come. Although it might be too early to say, but I hope the final exam won't be too hard for this course and other courses I am taking. I really enjoy CSC165, even though there is no coding and it is only 100-level course, it is still challenging.  Hope assignment three won't be too hard, and everything will end well at the end of semester.

Week 09 Journal 08

Finally, it's November! One month left until the end of semester. We only have four weeks left, and even the best part is the fall break is coming! We had our second assignment this Monday due and second test this Wednesday. I felt nervous about the test because it was announced that would not be similar to the past test. Course materials are almost all about ''prove and disprove'' which I am not good at it. I finished second assignment, but I felt it won't be a good grade.

While preparing the second test, I saw the announcement of professor Zhang that the second test won't be similar to the past tests. So I decided not do those past tests. However, without the past tests, I lost one source to study for the test. I only read over the entire course notes, and practice questions from the tutorial. I'm not sure if it is enough, but still go to take the test at Bahen Building during lecture hours. While waiting outside of the test room, there were lots of people waiting, too. People looks as nervous as I was. Everyone looks serious, nobody was chatting and smiling. After the tests, there are only three questions, and I felt I did okay. I felt a short period of relax.

We have regular lecture on Friday, and seems the test result won't come out until next week. Comparing to the second test, I worried about my result of second assignment more. Waiting for the grades something is as hard as preparing for the test. Although it would not make my life terrible even it's not a good grade, I believe grades are telling how well you have learned. It is great if I have learned whatever I should have, otherwise I should start studying harder from now on.

Although the crazy October has passed, I am still bust during November. There are three tests and six assignment(project) coming. Can't wait for the fall break, and it is impossible but hope the time will pass slower during the fall break. Hopefully the grades will come out before the fall break, and hope I will be happy when the results release. Hello November!

Week 08 Journal 07

Happy Halloween! October is finally ended, and the school is only about one month left. The assignment is due next week and the second term test is also coming next week. I am nervous and worried about both of them. I start thinking that if I still have enough time to catch up all the material that I haven't fully understand.

In the tutorial this week, we learned and practiced how to prove and disprove statements. During the past lectures, I did not fully understand how to disprove a statement. However, our TA showed several questions and explained every steps and the reasons. I felt I understand more how to do this type of question. I attend the tutorial of this course is not only there is a weekly quiz, but also I always learned something new or become more clear about some material every tutorial. The tutorial is helpful and interesting.

Moreover, I have not started my assignment two yet because I was too busy from other midterms. I only looked at it when professor talked about it during the lecture, and scan through the entire assignment once. There is only one page for this assignment, but I don't feel it will be short and simple. I expect that it will take me couple hours to finish the assignment. I should start soon after this weekly journal.

Everything goes faster and crazier when the finals are closer. November should go really fast and the deadly finals are coming. Although it is still too early to think about the final since we still have one more term test to go, I believe start review earlier would be better. I have six courses this semester, and hope all of my grades, of course include csc165, will have great final grades at the very end. Good luck to me and to everyone in both November and December!

Week 07 Journal 06

October is almost end which means the busiest month of this semester is almost end, too. The second assignment is posted online this week. There are many proofs questions, looks kind of scary. I probably need to decide soon if I want to do the assignment with other students as a group or not. Most of the time I like to work on assignment alone to avoid different opinions. However, in this assignment it is probably a good idea to find a partner to check if we have the same answer, so that we can discuss and submit the correct one.

I had a midterm for other course this Monday, so I did not study for the quiz this week. When I went to the tutorial, I was quite nervous. When the class started, TA started solving the problem, and I took the note and learned a lot from it. The quiz was not as hard as I expected because TA taught about it clearly. I really appreciated. Our TA always explain questions clearly, and this week I learned a lot from him.

Something special this week in Friday lecture. We have an activity sheet called ''Penny Piles''. It is a problem solving activity. We separate even coins to left side and right side by diving them to half. and then pick one side to divided the half and add the the other side. It is really cool that at the end will always get both side odd number coins. We did not finish the activity before the lecture end. I guess there is a pattern that can be showed to this kind of exercise. I probably will work on it later and find the pattern of it.

Although CSC165 is one of the less pressure course I have, I still felt a bit lost in this course. I attend all of the lectures and take note on the slides I printed out before the class. However, while I was taking the note, I pay less attention on what professor is saying, so sometimes I still get lost in the lecture. I know this feeling was there since the beginning of the semester. The only way to solve this problem is practice more questions, ask for helps and pay attention during lecture. I should catch up as soon as possible before the final comes.

Week 06 Journal 05

This week is an up-and-down kind of week for me. Since I wrote my test last week, my mind has never stopped panicking. As it turned out on Wednesday,  it was not all that bad. Moreover, I did better than most of my fellow classmates. The result is obviously much better than what I expected, yet I find myself a lucky person. I am fortunate enough that some partial credits are generously given. As a result, I received a very good solid grade on this test.

On the other hand, as the course proceeds forward, I now encounter more and more difficulties. This week, we look at more proof in depth and I find this week's lectures are much harder to follow than previous ones. Although every course has progressively getting harder, I find this course particularly harder. As I am spending more time on this course, I find myself always catching up the course instead of studying the course material. Perhaps it is time to seek help from office hours.

We are going to have our weekly quiz in tutorials as usual, but this coming quiz is uncertain. Honestly, I am able to guess what kind of questions may appear on the quiz so far. However, I have no idea what may show up. I hope my TA could explain more explicitly and clearly on some examples because tutorial is where I actually learn all the course materials, and hopefully he can provide some hints one the quiz in class.

All in all, this week is like a roller coaster to me, nervous, scary, and exhausted after all. I expect the rest of the year is going to be the same, or more intense. I wish I could have 30 hours a day since I find my time is very condensed and not enough. Hopefully, I can find a new balance soon and work more efficiently in the future.

Week 05 Journal 04

It is the second week of October.  In the beginning of the course, I had a feeling that CSC165 is one of those course that require a tremendous amount efforts. However, I find this course a nightmare.The course seems to be getting harder as we went through the solutions for our assignment 1 because most of my them are different from mine. This was a enormous shock to me.

The nightmare continued with the test on Wednesday. I felt fully prepared for this test because I did a lot of readings and practice questions as well as the past tests. I had only little trouble when I was doing my review. However, the test was a different story. Although the questions on the test were similar to past tests, I could not figure out the right was to approach the questions. I am not sure why this happened to me; perhaps, I was too nervous.Nonetheless, the test was not all that bad. I really appreciate that we were allowed a double-sided cheat sheet. It guided me through the first two questions on the test, yet my brain reflected uncertainty. The 'real' nightmare began with question 3 where it asked to provide an example. I felt hopeless since my brain was empty at the moment. I almost passed out! I have never had such miserable experience in my life. All I am hoping is that I can successfully pass this test, fingers crossed.

Even though the course is getting harder, it is not all negative. The course materials that we went through in lecture this week was quite beneficial to me, especially to my critical thinking skill. The skills we learned to prove with the combination of the materials we have already learned in previous weeks has significantly impacted the way I look at things. More importantly, it enables me to tackle many problems from various aspects.
 
All in all, I will try to work a little bit harder whenever I can, and hopefully things will turn out differently in the next two months. This has been a very busy week as many assignment and tests from other classes are all packed together. I am glad it is over now.

Week 04 Journal 03

A month has passed since the semester started. Almost all the students have settled down what courses they want to take in this semester. And I have decided that I would really like to take CSC165 this semester. The material we learned from the lecture seems getting harder. Sometimes I did not understand right away during the lecture. However, it is still possible to learn by myself, and try to understand it outside of class. That's how I find the interesting part of this course. 

There is a good resource that I just found out this week. Piazza is really helpful and useful. People who are taking this course can ask or answer questions online. If you don't want to show your name, you can write as an anonymous. All the questions will be kindly answer by instructors and students. Besides that, I also saw people looking for partner for the assignments on Piazza. It is a great chance to find other students to study with and be friends. When I got questions or not sure the meaning of assignment 1, I looked up online and see if other people had the same questions. Most of the time my questions will be solved. It is a great website for us to use.

Moreover, as I mentioned above, the due date of our first assignment is coming. Actually, it is due today October 3rd, 10pm. When I first scan the assignment, I thought it was quiet simple. However, after read carefully through the entire assignment, I found out that was not quite simple. It request some deeper thinking. I spent more than three days working on this assignment. It was fun to think about all the questions, and I hope my answers are correct, and most importantly, my grade for first assignment will be fine. 

There is a thing that was kind of bothers me. I don't know if it is better to work individually or with other partners when doing the assignment. At then end, I chose to work individually this time, and probably will find partner and work with other people for next assignment. To see what kind of person am I when doing the project. The midterm is coming next. It is my first midterm of this semester, and I felt nervous and worried about it.