COMP10001: Foundations of Computing

30% Projects (x3)
10% Mid-semester test
10% Grok worksheets (A tailored version of khan academy)
50% Final exam

This is a very well taught subject.
Lecture content is useful and engaging, however, most of the actual LEARNING of python is likely to be done through the grok website.
Every week, two "worksheets" will be assigned online to be completed. Some have questions that are likely to take time to think about or wrap your head around, so try to get them done well before the deadline.
Projects are also to be completed through the grok website, in a similar vein to the worksheets. The difference being that project's questions will all relate and lead into one another to eventually form a bigger system.
This subject does ramp up in difficulty quite quickly, the first time you're introduced to a project, it'll probably seem really intimidating, but with enough time committed, they can all be done well.
As long as you've been keeping up to date on the worksheets, the mid-semester test should pose no problem.
Going through old papers for the exam and brushing up on python syntax on grok is also very useful.

Yes, with screen capture

Tim Baldwin and Nic Geard as well as some guest lecturers.

Yes, 7 exams with solutions and a few more without.

5 out of 5

None needed.

Three one hour lectures and two non-mandatory tutorials of one hour each. Tutorial one is in a class setting where lecture content is revised. Tutorial two is going through course content with tutors roaming around in a computer lab.

2019 Semester 1

93

•Project 1 (10%)
•Project 2 (10%)
•Project 3 (10%)
•MST (10%)
•Grok worksheets (10%)
•Final exam (50%)

This subject mainly teaches Python (version 3.6), topics covered included lists, dictionaries, tuples, CSV, image manipulation etc. Towards the end of the subject, algorithms, HTML and the internet were covered as well.
I had no prior programming experience while taking the subject, and found the content of the subject extremely difficult. Nevertheless, I did not regret doing this subject and it was one of the most enjoyable subject I took this semester. Consistent effort is needed in order to do well in the subjects as the online worksheets and projects are very time consuming. I see many, many positive reviews about the subject online, but I know a handful of people who absolutely hated this subject. Hence, before taking this subject, it would be wise to learn some Python online and see if you actually like it.

Yes

I did all past year papers (2012 to 2017) and find the final exam to be a bit difficult. Beware that not all questions in past exam papers are relevant, because the syllabus for each year differs a little. For this year's exam, although we learned CSV, image manipulation, HTML etc, none of them were examined. I made the mistake of revising the Grok slides instead of lecture slides. There were certain things covered in lectures that were not in Grok, and so I had to leave a few questions blank. There was also a project-related question (from Project 1). The “bastard question” was worth 25 marks, which was way more marks compared to past exams. Although Tim said to ignore this question until you are finished with all the other questions and are sure of the answer, I still tried to attempt it because there were many other questions which I could not answer. Overall, I think it is not enough to just revise for the final exam using Grok, lecture slides and past exam papers. For revision, I used sites like Edabit to try to attempt some questions and went through the solutions.

There are lots of ways to get help in this subject. While doing Grok worksheets, there is a tutor messaging feature which I find very helpful. You could send your questions and get an answer in 2 hours or so during the first few weeks of the semester. Later on, it can take up to 2 days if there are too many students asking questions (especially for projects). There is also an online forum on Grok where students/ tutors can help answer your questions. During the semester, there were a few active students who would always help answer other students' questions. I personally think the forums is a better way to ask questions because the quality of response for tutor messaging differs. Sometimes the online tutor’s reply makes me want to kill myself, but sometimes it restores my faith in humanity.

Alternatively, you could also ask Tim/Nic questions after lectures or ask your tutor/demonstrators during workshops.

Tim Baldwin, Nic Geard, Marion Zalk
Tim teaches the first half of the semester, Nic teaches the second half, and Marion runs the revision lectures

Most of the time, I have no idea what is going on during lectures, but I still attend them anyway. Lecture slides are released very late and contain little info. During lectures, Tim/Nic would use Grok to demonstrate some code. Many students skip lectures because it is sufficient to learn Python using Grok Learning.
From week 3 onwards, the third lecture will alternate between guest lectures and revision/advanced lecture. Some guest lectures are pretty interesting and worth attending. The slides are provided, and although guest lectures are examined, only basic concepts will be tested, so I personally think that attending guest lectures are not compulsory. As for the revision lectures, don't even bother attending them because they are a complete waste of time. It's poorly structured and messy. Advanced lectures were alright, and the content in these lectures were not examinable.

Despite the MST being easier than the sample test and last year’s test, I performed very poorly and failed the test. At that time, I still find it hard to understand Python code, thus I took a long time for each question and barely made it in time to finish the test. There are some fill in the blank questions, a convert for loop to while loop (or the other way around) question, and so on. If I remember correctly, the average for the test was around 55.

Yes, from year 2012 to 2017 with solutions

The three projects consisted of 4 or more individual questions. It is a must to start early for all of the projects, because it certainly cannot be completed in a short period of time (at least for me). Questions in project 1 is much easier compared to project 2 and 3, and is marked more leniently, so make sure to score well in it. There are marks allocated for style and comments, which can be easily gained if you follow PEP8. For project 3, Tim conducted a card game tournament for students to compete with each other. While the idea itself seems interesting, I find project 3 too tough and was eliminated from the game early due to having too many errors in my code. For project 2 and 3, there is an extra question for bonus marks, but I did not even have to time to try to attempt them. I got around 8 marks (out of 10) for all of my projects, and did all my Grok worksheets, which I think is what helped me got an H1 for this subject.

4.5/5

None

Three 1 hour lectures and one 2 hour workshop per week

During the first hour of the workshop, the tutor will quickly teach some new (or sometimes old) concepts, then we will proceed to do the tutorial sheet. This is where you get to practice writing code by hand. In my tutorials, there will always be insufficient time to go through all the answers in class. During the second hour, it is a lab session where students do their Grok worksheets, and there will be three extra lab demonstrators to assist you.

2018 S2

H1