The curve was huge at the end lul
Ok, so most of the time, you have no idea what you are doing or what is going on. I took this class with Professor Stefano Lonardi. I think he is a good teacher, it's just this is a difficult class. A friend took this class before, dropped out halfway through because he failed his midterm. He retook it with me, and said he prefers Stefano to his old teacher, as he explains clearly and uses lecture notes/slides to his advantage. Do not underestimate this class though. The average on both midterms was a 62%. Stefano does curve, he drops lowest scoring question on both the midterms and the final. The midterms were 4 questions/25 points each, the final was 10 questions/10 points each. The class itself is curved, the A range is 100-80%, B is 70-79.9%, C is 60-69.9%.. etc. So you are given that 10% grace. This is the first 'hard' cs class usually taken by undergraduates, at least for me, and it's a tough one. Do not underestimate it.
Not going to lie - this class is probably the most difficult one I have ever taken (haven't taken 152 or 153 yet). It covers algorithm runtimes, Divide & Conquer (pretty hard) Greedy Algorithms, Dynamic Programming (the hard part), and Weighted Graphs. I only passed from the curve. If you can take it with Lonardi, do it. He's a great professor.
Home gradually gets harder and harder, peaking in difficulty on dynamic programing. My biggest regret is not doing more examples and asking more questions. Also, there was a huge curve and nearly half the class got A's
Try to take it with Lonardi, such a great professor. Grades very fairly, accepts regrade requests, large curve on the grades.
Took it with Professor Stefano Lonardi. I highly, highly recommend taking it with him. He is super friendly, approachable, passionate and has a great lecturing style that makes this difficult course a little more manageable. I thoroughly enjoyed his lectures, though be warned he does have an Italian accent that may occasionally be a little difficult to understand(he says algorit instead of algorithm, for example). Average for midterm in this class was 50/100.
pray for curve lol
Took it with Amr, the class is not easy be prepared to study a lot.
Took this class with Ahmed Eldawy. Honestly, this class was pretty difficult for me. In the beginning, you're dealing with Master Theorem, which isn't too hard once you study it and understand it completely. But, once you start touching upon Greedy Algorithms and Dynamic Programming is when the class really starts to feel really difficult. You must study the material as soon as you can; otherwise, you'll feel really left behind, and it will result in you not knowing what the hell you're writing about on your quizzes and/or homework assignments. After Greedy and DP, you deal with shortest path algorithms, which weren't super difficult, but still left an impact on you. Overall, CS141 is probably one of the hardest upper-division CS courses you'll ever take. It's not easy to get an A in this class; you'll be happy with a C, and you'll know exactly why.
Took this class with Ahmed Eldawy. Honestly, I thought I would have to work really hard to pass this class but instead ended with an A-. The material is relatively difficult but as long as you study all the "prime" examples for each topic then you can score decently well on the exams. Just make sure you get above the class avg for all your exams and do all your hws.
Provided you do well enough on the homework, you should do alright in the class. There's a HUGE curve at the end (if you take it with Eldawy) and it brought my D- to a C+. Ask for extra credit, and thou will receive. There are a few in-class activities that factor into your grade, but not much. The best advice I've seen for this class was written on the walls in ACM this past quarter: "try your best and ride the curve".
Are you ready to get jeffed? His lecture is actually not that bad, but the final is way harder than his lecture.
Took it with Lonardi. Lonardi is a good professor. Homeworks are hard, I had to cave in and get a chegg subscription to answer some problems because getting as many points as possibly is crucial in this course. Homeworks are similar to CS111 in the sense that it may ask you to apply a concept to answer a problem that doesn't have examples available to study from. That in mind, pay attention to homework and study the solutions because some showed up on the exam with some changes. Exam questions are hard, but easier than the homework IMO. Didn't mean I did good though cause I couldn't do the majority of hw problems without online help. You'll need to know the pseudocode for the algorithms in the slides because a couple will show up on the exam, in the sense that you need to write down the exact pseudocode or will have to use it as a part of your answer. There might be one or two really easy questions, but they'll be easy if you remember what its asking for like recurrence relations/master theorem/drawing huffman tree. Lectures are useful especially for greedy and dynamic programming, please don't skip for those or the slides won't make any sense. Plenty of people that skipped had issues with these. Only lectures I would recommend skipping are the first one(just talks about big O) and the last couple ones since what you need to know are pseudocodes for the graph algorithms. TLDR: Its a hard class. Exams and homework are hard. Exams get curved. Lectures are great, helps with understanding the info the majority of the time. Still, even if its a terrible experience you'll learn quite a lot concepts for interview questions. Also grading scale is 10% lowered. I.e A = 80-100%, B = 70-80%...D=50-60% so on and so forth. Haven't gotten my grade yet so I don't know if there is more curving.
This class was really difficult. The homeworks took several hours per problem in general, although I'm sure some people turned to the internet for the solutions. Those same people do terribly on the exams, so don't bother, force yourself to work on the homework alone, start the day it is assigned, and you will do OK. Always study the material before/after class, it will make much more sense.
I took this course with professor Lonardi. Lonardi makes sure you get the material and is very forgiving in how he grades. He gives out practice exams for all exams except the final. The practice exams are not exactly similar, but the material in them is similar. The homework assignments due every week was a bit difficult.
Took with Amr Magdy. Make sure you do well on the homework. All the answers are online. Also his tests aren’t hard and are not meant to trick you. Just make sure you review classic examples through YouTube and you will be prepared for his class. Also he curves FAT
I'm going to be real. CS111 was hard asf but this class was fairly easy. I took this course with Amr. Don't get me wrong, please study ALOT! The average for test were C's and D's.My friends scored around C's and D's and studied a lot.
Let's just say I was surprised I passed the class. I was mentally prepared to retake it but I passed. So trust the curve. Took it with Amr.
Took this with Lonardi, got an A+. Lonardi is an amazing teacher and you'll have to make the effort to go to class because the lectures help out a lot. He also makes sure everybody understands what's going on and is willing to repeat the concept again if you ask. The homeworks are a lot harder than the exams, so don't stress out too much but take the time to learn the material. He dropped the lowest question for the exams.
This is the one CS course that is infamous for its difficulty. Even the professors I had kept reiterating how it was the most difficult undergrad CS course at UCR. Be prepared for fast paced lectures that are more abstract than concrete and little time to grasp major concepts. Though I feel if you did great in CS 111, you should have a leg up in this class.
Took 141 with Eldawy. He's a great professor who teaches really well. The concepts in this class are fairly difficult to wrap your head around. A solid foundation of DS&A from CS014 (CS010C) is required to do well in this class.
Extremely hard, I gave CS111 a 10/10 rating and if there was an option for 12/10 in this database I would give it one lmao. This class made 111 look like an average difficulty class, this class is so heavy on proofs and concepts (sometimes you just gotta take the L and make up random stuff out of thin air and put in on your paper). CS141 with Elena was brutal but honestly she's not as bad as people say, it's just the class structure and material tbh.
Probably the hardest computer science course I've taken so far. It's not easy and you will need to be ready to spend hours outside of class looking up other resources if you want to pass. Have a good understanding of Data Structures and Algorithm Analysis going into this class.
Took it with Amey and the whole time I was questioning whether I would pass or not but he came with a fat curve in the end. Study the study guide and examples to pass the class. Try to get average or above the average to get B and higher. Also he's very understanding with the whole class as its in pandemic so he push back deadline for a bit. Trust the process.
Genuinely the hardest class I have ever taken. Foremost, I took this class with Amey in spring 2021, rated it a 10/10 difficulty, and received a B grade by some miracle of god. This class is significantly more difficult than cs111; to pass this class you will need to have a solid study schedule. I watched every lecture 3 times since it was an online class. The real challenge of this class is that every problem is nothing like any problem you have ever seen; every question is completely unique and you must rely on basic principles to figure out an optimal solution. Midterms that were 20% of your grade often only had 2 problems, each question being 10% of your grade. So you MUST get them correct. The curve was probably around 30% at the end I would bet.
Took this class with Fuad Jamour over summer 2021, PLEASE take it with him if you can or take it over summer. I probably wouldve failed it if I took it during the school year tbh. the class was so damn hard, but most of the hw/test questions are already from code that is online so that makes things a bit easier.
Took this class with Yan Gu in Fall 2021 and honestly he is a GOAT. Class itself is hard but I found it easier and more interesting than CS111. For his class you have to do Homework assignments and Programming assignments, but others only have HW. They may or may not be a curve, but for there was and the class average grade was an A-. If you take Gu or Yihan, it will definitely prepare you more for coding interviews than other professors. This is coming from someone who got a C+ in CS111 with Elena. I suggest getting a head start on Dynamic Programming since that is hardest concept to grasp for most students.
I took Elena and got a B, the class ranges from difficulty(Also the class is composed of only quizzes) This is How I studied for the course. Do all the Homework, do the practice quiz's, do the old practice quizzes she provides, and go to office hours and ask for help whenever you need it. The material is inherently difficult but what CS class aren't, her quizzes from when I was taking her were similar to her practice quizzes and homework so if you do what I said you should be fine.
I took it with Ahmed Eldawy Winter 2022. I think of all the professors who teach this class, he is definitely the easiest. 3 midterms, 5 hws, 1 final project. Even gives us two days of late passes to use without penalty on the hws. The only thing I wish could've been improved is being able to have open notes for the exams :(
Took this class with Amey during Spring 2022. Class is hard. Go to office hours for help. Hw 30%, Quiz 10%, Midterms 50%, final presentation 10%. Make sure to understand what each algorithm is used for and learn how to explain proofs to get full points. Also include runtime when you can.
Try and take it when Luta(Yuta) isn't the TA, most useless TA i have ever had. He ruined my computer science experience for me at this school
Professor Yan and Yihan will do everything they can to make sure you pass. They care more about you learning algorithms than the content of your grade and they know that by the extra credit they consistently give out throughout the class. The professors will also give out prizes at the end of the quarter if you're really interested in algorithms and done their extra credit assignments whether that be some candy or a brand new hard drive. The programming assignments they have are good practice and may save you from failing if you don't do well on the homeworks. You can turn in late homeworks and assignments but that will use a 'late day' similar to a point system in which you're at default 4 for my class. My recommendation is to start early on the homeworks because you will need that time to proof read your work. Upon learning greedy proofs and DP those are the main topics to focus on if you want to pass the midterm, especially on DP as it can be quite confusing at first but if you go to the professors office hours they will explain it clearly enough to understand. As someone that got a 'D' in CS 111 and heard this was like the sequel class, I thought I wouldn't do well in this class, and I was wrong. The class average was an 'A' at the end.
Took this class with Yan Gu and Yihan Sun in Fall 2022. The class is essentially combined together and you could attend either one of their lectures as they keep the same pace. They are really friendly and super helpful with any problems encountered. It was a bit more challenging than previous iterations as they decided to add mandatory programming assignments in the class. Although they offered ample extra credit and multiple bonus problems I only did a few of them. I was on time on my assignments and spent most of the quarter on this class. Somehow made it out with an A
Wanted to kms after calculating my final grades, but push through to the end because the curve is prettyyyy preetttyyyy good. Possibly the most difficult course you will take in your whole undergraduate CS career. Do not wait until the last day to do assignments, you will regret it every time!!!!!
Had it with Amey. He's very fair and lenient considering the horror I've heard about the course. Grading felt very greedy, had to talk to TA about every score cause the grader didn't understand my answer... but that's not Amey's fault, I guess. Go to tutoring and discussion when you don't understand, and you'll do fine. Honestly, I enjoyed the course.
Take it with Patrick Miller, the best CS professor ever. He's here for amusement, and you guys amuse him. He has great life advice and resume tips. He covers CS 142 topics but without the stress of doing well. PA has no testing scale and just evaluates whether you tried or not.
It was alright, I had it with Amey, the final was online and I we had quizzes instead of a midterm. He has a weird accent and his lecture isn't that helpful. Reading the book is better and going to ULA to help with understanding is better.
took it with Elena Strzheletska and got an A+, if you go to class and put in effort you'll be fine. definitely one of the hardest CS requirements though, dont pile on too many other thing in the quarter you're taking this
Take it with Amey Bhangale in Spring 2025; overall experience is challenging to say because I heard he's the easiest between Yan Gu and Mingxun Wang. Yan gives extra coding assignments, which need more time. If you don't like it, avoid it. But unfortunately seems like Ahmed Eldawy has not been teaching 141 for a pretty long time. Amey's lecture overall is good and understandable. I really learn and understand the concepts he teaches in class. Unlike Elena, she doesn't know how to teach CS111, so I barely attend CS111 lectures. Yes, this is indeed a tough class, but it is also an essential skill for a CS major. Dynamic programming, in my opinion, is both interesting at most and most complex topics. Be prepared to put more time into this class.