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Computing Drop-out rate

Not true. If you fail any of the programming tests (known as "driving tests") you will need to resit them. The written Christmas test is not pass/fail, but counts for a ridiculously tiny amount of the coursework mark. (But it should give you an idea of what Computing exams look like.)

Reply 21

Xordan

ashley.brown

Wineblood - yes, I am the guy taking the Linux lab workshops. Sadly people are treating them like lectures, which is not the point!

Can I let you know now that I won't be attending? :P

Most of the drop out people that I know of did it because the course didn't suit them, although I've yet to see how many people failed their exams :smile:

To be honest, the first year exams you can scrape through with almost no work at all and still get a decent grade as long as you do well on everything else (coursework, AI project etc.), and it barely counts for anything in the big picture anyway. But that's the point, people should enjoy their first year and not spend it studying non-stop. University is much more about getting good grades, so the easy first year is supposed to allow you to mingle and have a bit of fun. It's the same in almost every university. The other 2 or 3 years are the ones which count, so it's those which you need to work hard for.

Oh, and don't worry about having no programming experience.. the first language that you learn (Haskell) is one that pretty much nobody has any experience in. They teach as if you have no experience too (i.e. for the majority)! It can actually be harder for those with prior experience than those with none as well. It's not that easy for people to drop any bad habits, or to start a language which has a totally different style to the one they're used to.

Reply 22

v2006

So the real exams are after easter guys, so if you fail you get kicked out? Or can you retake even the summer exams later on in the year?

Reply 23

Xordan

If you fail your 'programming' module (the driving test stuff) then you get kicked out. If you fail any of the written exams then you get a resit in September. If you fail those, then you probably don't deserve to stay on the course but I think that you might be allowed to retake the year.

You've got to:

1. Achieve at least 40% in the coursework
2. Achieve at least 40% in Programming
3. Achieve at least 40% in the aggregate of written and practical examinations.

The pass mark for each written examination is 30%. All written examinations must be passed.

Pass mark for resits is 40%.

I really wouldn't be worrying about this now though :wink:

Chances of you failing a resit exam (if you have to do one) is small unless you do no work, ever. Failing all the driving tests or the coursework is a pretty hard thing to do as well :P

Reply 24

Alexthepenguin

you shouldnt be worrying about the drop out rate. chill man you havent even started the course yet!

Reply 25

xaxa

1

Relax, soon-to-be-Freshers! Make the most of the summer, now you haven't got the stress of wondering if you've passed your exams.

It's useful to know your way around Linux, I already said that in this thread: http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=9533879 so I won't repeat it all (admittedly it was off-topic in that thread).

At some point you get a letter asking how much programming experience you've had -- there's no point lying ;-)

Asking questions in lectures is probably the thing Computing students are worst at, at least in my experience. It really helps though!

Reply 26

tahngarth

To add something about the paper where they will ask you how much programming you've done before:

the answer you give for your programming experience influences tutors.
People with no previous experience will probably be put in the same tutor group for example.

Reply 27

Xordan

Yeah, that's all it's used for. They want people with similar programming exp in the same groups so they can tutor those people in the best way possible.

Reply 28

v2006

Xordan

If you fail your 'programming' module (the driving test stuff) then you get kicked out. If you fail any of the written exams then you get a resit in September. If you fail those, then you probably don't deserve to stay on the course but I think that you might be allowed to retake the year.

You've got to:

1. Achieve at least 40% in the coursework
2. Achieve at least 40% in Programming
3. Achieve at least 40% in the aggregate of written and practical examinations.

The pass mark for each written examination is 30%. All written examinations must be passed.

Pass mark for resits is 40%.

I really wouldn't be worrying about this now though :wink:

Chances of you failing a resit exam (if you have to do one) is small unless you do no work, ever. Failing all the driving tests or the coursework is a pretty hard thing to do as well :P

Thanks for your replies Xordan,Xaxa and others, much appreciated. Can you please tell me when you have to do this driving tests? for eg in january or after easter? I haven't done any further maths, do you think this will make it harder for me to understand some of the concepts? Thanks

Reply 29

v2006

Could someone please reply to my previous post? Also is it true you need to learn C before you can program in haskell, because someone I know told me that it would be extremely difficult to program in haskell without knowing c/c++ or java.

Reply 30

Spiker

Haskell and C/Java have nothing remotely to do with each other at all.

Reply 31

v2006

Do you think it is possible to pick up haskell and prolog without any programming experience? Does anyone know roughly the % of students that go into computing at Imperial with no prior experience? I am asking this because when I went on the Open day EVERYONE knew like 3 or 4 languages.

Reply 32

tahngarth

v2006

Do you think it is possible to pick up haskell and prolog without any programming experience? Does anyone know roughly the % of students that go into computing at Imperial with no prior experience? I am asking this because when I went on the Open day EVERYONE knew like 3 or 4 languages.

Really easy, with haskell the others will have no advantage over you( except the very few who have done haskell before).

Reply 33

Xordan

It's actually harder for those with C experience to learn Haskell than those with no experience at all. :smile:

Even those few who already know some Haskell will have bad habits which will lose them marks.

Just don't worry, it's assumed that you have no prior experience and you will be taught as such. Just make sure you go to lectures and complete all the tutorials and you will do great!

If you're really keen to do some pre-reading, I recommend this: http://www.cs.utah.edu/~hal/docs/daume02yaht.pdf

Reply 34

v2006

Thanks for the reassurance Xordan :smile:

. Could you please check if this tutorial is any good for beginners-->http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Haskell/Print_version
Thanks for your help

Reply 35

RObTRIP

9

can we just get this straight please!
you do not need any prior programming knowledge before entering as a fresher into computing.
i had none and I learnt haskell, prolog, kenya, java etc.. totally fine.

its a bit of hard work at the start trying to understand haskell but with a bit of work its fine.
there is really no need to study it in advance as the first few weeks guide you through it all and hopefully you'll have Tony Field in lectures so you'll be sorted!

you're just wasting your time trying to understand it now, if you're really anxious to study work on some further maths, pick up the p4, p5 and p6 books and study that stuff

Reply 36

Xordan

RObTRIP

you're just wasting your time trying to understand it now

Not really. I learnt half the module in the month before term started. Having a decent understanding now makes life easier later, as long as you don't get complacent. It's not really that hard.

However yes, learning your maths might be more useful. Make sure you know your vectors, matrices, differentials and limits (maybe skip this one, it sucks :P) and you'll fly through the mathematical methods module.

v2006: That looks okay to me. Hard to say as I'm not a beginner any more :smile:

It seems to guide you pretty well.

Reply 37

Ben

12

I'm learning Haskell for fun and read YAHT, it's a very good tutorial.

Reply 38

Babyangel452

Xordan

Not really. I learnt half the module in the month before term started. Having a decent understanding now makes life easier later, as long as you don't get complacent. It's not really that hard.

However yes, learning your maths might be more useful. Make sure you know your vectors, matrices, differentials and limits (maybe skip this one, it sucks :P) and you'll fly through the mathematical methods module.

v2006: That looks okay to me. Hard to say as I'm not a beginner any more :smile:

It seems to guide you pretty well.

I agree... programming's all well and good, but its the maths that nearly killed me...

Make sure you know your maths... you'll be programming all year round so you'll always have that mind set, but you'll only do maths in the first term... I didn't do FMaths before I came, and I played around during first term cos I thought... hey, how much damage can you do in your first year...

... a lot!

Damn near killed myself when it came to cramming for the summer tests...

Reply 39

fais

15

It's hard enough work as it is if you've not come across the stuff before but the dry lectures coupled with lecture notes that I'm sure are at least part gibberish (*cough*harrison*cough*) don't exactly make for comfortable comprehension during revision/cramming!

Moral: brush up on your maths. The programming is a cinch once you get your head round it, and you'll have plenty of time to do so.

Computing Drop-out rate

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