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Not sure my course is for me

Hello,
I am a first year studying Computer Science, who achieved a BBB in A-Level ICT, History, and Geography.
Having not studied Computer Science at A-Level (ICT studied instead), I decided to enrol in a university which prided itself on being for complete beginners.
Unfortunately, my first assignment has been released and I feel although I am going to fail. I don't even know where to begin. I feel useless, and hate the thought of failing.
I think I'd be seen, and also see myself, as a disappointment if I were to drop out now. I'm considering powering on through the year and seeing how I do, as if i don't do well in May, I can hopefully apply for a different course at the same university. This would mean studying a completely different subject, and obviously starting from year 1 again. At this moment in time, I really don't mind that right now.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do?

Thank you all.

Reply 1

999tigger

Original post by iappletom

Talk to tutor and maybe support services. Maybe you would have been better on the course with foundation year? These sorts of threads are not uncommon when it comes to UC. You dont seem to have a problem with the uni, just struggles with the course. You have all year in terms of funding.

If it ends up poorly then be realistic and imo either take a gap or choose another course. You can explore those options now.

Reply 2

winterscoming

As the other reply says, you've already paid for the year and are only really a couple of months into it so you've barely started - there's not much point dropping out yet. Nearly universities should be teaching the first year of Computer Science from basic principles (Most of it is probably just repeating A-Level stuff), so you should have plenty of time to catch up, but that requires a lot more work to keep up with the pace of the material compared with the people who studied it at A-Level.

Firstly. check with your lecturer whether the assignment you've been given includes any concepts which are yet to be covered in future lectures - there may be parts that you're not expected to be able to do just yet, although you should at least have covered enough to be able to make a good start. Assignments are also usually a learning exercise in themselves as well as an assessment, so it's likely that you're expected to research some of the concepts as part of the assignment.

The other thing to say is that computer science concepts tend to be taught progressively, and the effect of falling behind is cumulative - so each new concept often depends on having a firm understanding of everything which came before it. Things might only make sense if you're already confident with the concepts from the earlier lectures. If you feel like you've fallen behind, then you don't need to worry just yet, but consider going right back to the beginning and revisiting everything from the earlier lectures for anything you may have missed - e.g. if you skipped out some/most of the exercises, or didn't read very much into some of the topics they covered, or maybe just things which didn't really sink in very well first time around.

Reply 3

anon12344321

Original post by iappletom

firstly what is your assignment? alot of people who start a compsci/coding struggle with confidence. maybe some context would help me understand the situation more but losing confidence would just make you hate the subject and you would be sitting there in class waiting for the lesson to be over. it doesn't hurt to ask for help. when i started coding I was scared, I thought I couldn't do it ,had to copy what the teacher did all the time etc, I was too scared to ask for help infront of the class. but if you believe you can do something you will be able to do it. my point is, losing confidence is the worst thing to do when it comes to coding. in the end programming is about solving problems and if you lose confidence how are you meant to solve the problem? it's like giving up before you even started.

Reply 4

Liverpool Hope University

Official Rep

Original post by iappletom

Hi there @iappletom

As @999tigger and @winterscoming says, you're only a couple of months into the course, so maybe talk to your personal tutor or student support services about how you are feeling? (Undergraduate courses can feel overwhelming at times in first year) It could also help to talk to the tutor about the assignment and ask for some help or pointers on how to start it/where to look before thinking about changing course/dropping out. If you find at the end of the year the course isn't for you, then at least you'll know you tried all the options available to you and can move forward to a different course.

Fi :horse:

Reply 5

MKay101

@winterscoming @999tigger @iappletom
im a year 11 student and want to do IT A level and is it hard as i am studying Imedia (equivalent to a GCSE) at secondary school.

Reply 6

winterscoming

Original post by MKay101

@winterscoming @999tigger @iappletom
im a year 11 student and want to do IT A level and is it hard as i am studying Imedia (equivalent to a GCSE) at secondary school.

I studied A-Level Computing rather than IT/ICT. I'm not sure whether you're aware of the differences, but just in case, IT/ICT courses are usually on the user and business side of IT, usually covering topics like MS Office applications, Web browsers, IT Project planning, System Requirements analysis, IT Management, Databases and Data modelling, Web design, Social media and Legal+Ethical issues.
On the other hand Computing/Computer Science is usually on the technical side of how-computers-work, logic, programming, hardware, networking, etc.

Either way, the courses will be designed around people who haven't studied any kind of IT/Computing subject before, so everything should be taught from basic principles onwards. I'd recommend looking closely at the syllabus for the course to try to get an idea of what its content looks like, and make sure you're definitely looking at the right one (either IT or Computer Science).

The difficulty of any subject at A-Level depends a lot on you just spending enough time outside of lessons keeping up with the assignments (and of course making sure you turn up to all the lessons, making the most of your contact hours with the tutors). A-Level subjects usually have around 5 hours per week contact time and 5 hours per week on assignments/homework, so if you keep up with that, then most A-Levels are very managable - you get plenty of time to learn everything so long as you don't fall behind.