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Struggling with computer science

I'm studying computer science at university and as I didn't take A level Computer science, i'm struggling with some of the content even after only 2 lectures. Does anyone have some textbooks or guides that they could suggest that i look at to kind of get myself up to date with others who have studies computer science? Any advice and help will be appreciated, thanks!

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which parts/modules are you struggling with?
Reply 2
which parts/modules are you struggling with?


I dont quite like the computer architectures lectures and the maths ones are moving way too fast for me. I thought maths wouldnt be an issue as i was quite good at maths A level. But the maths weve been taught so far is nothing like that maths.
Reply 3
Original post by Nabz99
I dont quite like the computer architectures lectures and the maths ones are moving way too fast for me. I thought maths wouldnt be an issue as i was quite good at maths A level. But the maths weve been taught so far is nothing like that maths.


Any specific college?
Reply 4
Original post by r_gup
Any specific college?


What do you mean?
Original post by Nabz99
I'm studying computer science at university and as I didn't take A level Computer science, i'm struggling with some of the content even after only 2 lectures. Does anyone have some textbooks or guides that they could suggest that i look at to kind of get myself up to date with others who have studies computer science? Any advice and help will be appreciated, thanks!


I'm in the same exact situation. I didn't even do A Levels either, I did BTEC. People told me I would be fine but I'm struggling bad after only 2 days.
Reply 6
Original post by Nabz99
What do you mean?


Maths modules for certain unis like Oxbridge/Imperial are very fast and in-depth as opposed to another like King's College which is hardly anything.
Reply 7
Original post by r_gup
Maths modules for certain unis like Oxbridge/Imperial are very fast and in-depth as opposed to another like King's College which is hardly anything.


What are you covering in your maths modules that you find difficult?
Reply 8
Original post by r_gup
Maths modules for certain unis like Oxbridge/Imperial are very fast and in-depth as opposed to another like King's College which is hardly anything.

I'm at York.
Reply 9
Original post by Awarsame5
I'm in the same exact situation. I didn't even do A Levels either, I did BTEC. People told me I would be fine but I'm struggling bad after only 2 days.

Which uni are you at?
Reply 10
Original post by Nabz99
Which uni are you at?


Kings.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Nabz99
Which uni are you at?


Yo, you guys are in good unis. I'm a student in Coventry and I only got interested in CS a couple months ago, I was going to do Engineering before. So my programming knowledge is lacking honestly. My math isn't terrible, I got a B in GCSE, but I didn't do A Level Math so that might come back to bite me in the ass. But like I said, I'm not at Oxbridge or anything like that so in theory my modules should be easier.
Original post by Nabz99
I dont quite like the computer architectures lectures and the maths ones are moving way too fast for me. I thought maths wouldnt be an issue as i was quite good at maths A level. But the maths weve been taught so far is nothing like that maths.

That kind of maths is usually a topic for Further Maths at A-Level, so in this particular instance, having A-Level CompSci wouldn't have made a huge difference. Although the computer architecture stuff would have been covered at A-level.

There's some decent YouTube videos on Linear Algebra here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2xVFitgF8hE_ab

You could try these 5 courses for different areas of Discrete Maths: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/discrete-mathematics
(Click individual courses, then "audit" after you enrol to get it all for free - no need to pay for the certificates)

Also, Maths.StackExchange is probably a good place to look for information: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/discrete-mathematics
Maybe CS.StackExchange too - but this gets a lot less traffic: https://cs.stackexchange.com/

Computer Architecture: https://www.coursera.org/learn/build-a-computer
(Again, audit to unlock for free)
Original post by Awarsame5
Yo, you guys are in good unis. I'm a student in Coventry and I only got interested in CS a couple months ago, I was going to do Engineering before. So my programming knowledge is lacking honestly. My math isn't terrible, I got a B in GCSE, but I didn't do A Level Math so that might come back to bite me in the ass. But like I said, I'm not at Oxbridge or anything like that so in theory my modules should be easier.

Am I right in thinking that Coventry start out with Python? Have a look at these if so:
https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-python (Interactive lessons for the basic language)
https://www.py4e.com/ (Python videos/lessons)
https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/index.html (Official python documentation)
.
Reply 14
Original post by winterscoming
That kind of maths is usually a topic for Further Maths at A-Level, so in this particular instance, having A-Level CompSci wouldn't have made a huge difference. Although the computer architecture stuff would have been covered at A-level.

There's some decent YouTube videos on Linear Algebra here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2xVFitgF8hE_ab

You could try these 5 courses for different areas of Discrete Maths: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/discrete-mathematics
(Click individual courses, then "audit" after you enrol to get it all for free - no need to pay for the certificates)

Also, Maths.StackExchange is probably a good place to look for information: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/discrete-mathematics
Maybe CS.StackExchange too - but this gets a lot less traffic: https://cs.stackexchange.com/

Computer Architecture: https://www.coursera.org/learn/build-a-computer
(Again, audit to unlock for free)

Wow, thanks a lot!
Reply 15
Original post by winterscoming
That kind of maths is usually a topic for Further Maths at A-Level, so in this particular instance, having A-Level CompSci wouldn't have made a huge difference. Although the computer architecture stuff would have been covered at A-level.

There's some decent YouTube videos on Linear Algebra here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2xVFitgF8hE_ab

You could try these 5 courses for different areas of Discrete Maths: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/discrete-mathematics
(Click individual courses, then "audit" after you enrol to get it all for free - no need to pay for the certificates)

Also, Maths.StackExchange is probably a good place to look for information: https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/discrete-mathematics
Maybe CS.StackExchange too - but this gets a lot less traffic: https://cs.stackexchange.com/

Computer Architecture: https://www.coursera.org/learn/build-a-computer
(Again, audit to unlock for free)

Also, how exactly do i audit. Thanks, one more!
Reply 16
Original post by Nabz99
Also, how exactly do i audit. Thanks, one more!


I managed to get the audit option for the comp architecture but it only gves me a free trial for the maths course.
Original post by Nabz99
Also, how exactly do i audit. Thanks, one more!

Sign up with an account using your e-mail address

Click on one of the individual courses - choose the link titled "Learn More..." - e.g. the first one on Proof is here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/what-is-a-proof

Click the Enrol button and there's a link at the bottom which says "Audit the course".


That should get you in to all the course material

You can do this with everything on the entire Coursera website by the way. You can also do the same thing on EdX which has other similar things from top universities and tech companies - EdX is a home to a lot of Harvard and MIT stuff.
(edited 5 years ago)
Original post by Nabz99
I I didn't take A level Computer science,


You just went and did played yourself....So did you think the information will diffuse into your head through osmosis or whats going on here?
Original post by Popsiclez
You just went and did played yourself....So did you think the information will diffuse into your head through osmosis or whats going on here?

Nearly all UK Universities teach Computer Science from basic principles, assuming no previous knowledge. It's pretty normal to find half the students have never studied CS or touched programming before. Also, the OP mentioned struggling with the Maths content, which is generally going to be a whole load of stuff which isn't actually covered in A-Level computer science. It would only have been covered by Further Maths.

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