UNSW highschool computing course - HS1917 (1 Viewer)

[_kuroo]

So by any chance has anyone or is anyone thinking of applying for the High School Computing 2013 course at unsw??

https://my.cse.unsw.edu.au/school-programs/sessions/high-school-computing-2013

 

[SpiralFlex]

Wish I had applied! It looks very good.

 

[brent012]

Yeah i was looking at it back in 2010 for 2011 which was the first year it ran. Unfortunately they really wanted students in year 11 back then which sucks because transport can be hard until you or your mates get Ps which typically doesn't happen until late year 11 at the earliest.

 

[nifkeh]

Wish I had applied! It looks very good.

it is challenging

 

[EpikHigh]

it is challenging

Can you give me idea what it's like? Like stuff people should know prior too doing this course?

 

[brent012]

Can you give me idea what it's like? Like stuff people should know prior too doing this course?

These kind of courses are the same as first semester courses at uni, and computing does not presume any prior knowledge. But being interested in computers, being analytical and willing to learn programming (not neccesarily have experience even) are a must!

 

[D94]

Can you give me idea what it's like? Like stuff people should know prior too doing this course?

You should prepare yourself by studying a bit of C (unless they have changed it, which I doubt). The first few weeks are easy, but it then increases in difficulty considerably, IMO. You make programs which deal with logic, e.g. multiply a number by 3 if it's even, reduce by 10 if its odd, print out the series of numbers; or count how many A's are in the computer dictionary without using programming hacks. You also might need to make a game; when I did COMP1917, we had to make Settlers of Catan. It's a group project, and it was fairly challenging. I don't think anyone had an error-proof game, not even the lecturer's.

But if you're intending on doing Actuarial Studies, then I wouldn't bother with 1917 because it won't be credited to your degree, so I guess it's good if you do well, but it won't mean anything in uni, academically.

 

[Troller]

I heard its really hard and a waste of time

 

[ismeta]

I did hs1917 when I was in year 10, and I found it quite challenging - I had no prior experience with programming. But it was also quite rewarding. Things you should know before you start - you'll be watching four hours of lectures each week and attending a tutorial of about 3 hours? (even though I mentored it my memory fails me...) Then you'll have a lab - set of exercises - to complete. The four hours of lectures can be challenging to watch if you have a lot of work and little time, but if you're organised it'll be fine. It can get fairly stressful around the exam periods.

(also brent012 - it first ran in 2009, however, 2011 was the first year they taught according to a different syllabus and was also more organised than it was in 2009/10.)

 

[brent012]

(also brent012 - it first ran in 2009, however, 2011 was the first year they taught according to a different syllabus and was also more organised than it was in 2009/10.)

Ahh fair enough, thanks. I'd just never heard of it before and the email seemed to suggest it was the first year it ran. My teacher didn't know about it in 2009/10 or i probably would have done it! Guess it's because there are rarely ProgComp teams and SDD classes at our school.

 

[_kuroo]

ok after reading all the comments the ultimate question is....is it worth doing it and why(considering that im doing my hsc next year when the program runs)? aside from the obvious that you get credited for your first year semester.

 

[brent012]

ok after reading all the comments the ultimate question is....is it worth doing it and why(considering that im doing my hsc next year when the program runs)? aside from the obvious that you get credited for your first year semester.

You'll get familiar with how uni works, if you are doing software design it will help you a bit there. They really want year 11s i think though, you'll need to be pretty convincing in your application i'd say and possibly have some ProgComp and MathComp results to put in.

 

[Cyberbully]

a great troll once said....do it.

i'm that great troll.