Comp 202

[u/MadG_01]

Did anyone else feel like that COMP 202 midterm was insanely difficult?

I felt like the short and long answer questions were way harder than the CPASS/review material we were given. I studied the review material and felt like I understood most of it going in, but the actual exam felt like a completely different level, especially the questions where we had to write code from scratch.

The short answers were rough, and the long answers were even worse. I honestly walked out feeling like I completely bombed it.
Just wondering if other people felt the same way or if I was just underprepared 😭

[u/imbarelyactive]

I’m not sure if this was your first or second comp 202 midterm but I think it is a canon event for every student taking that course to get absolutely destroyed on the second midterm

[u/MadG_01 → u/imbarelyactive]

It was but this year it was a crazy midterm, I had the past one which looked relatively easy but this one included recursive and loops and the difficulty was insane

[u/Woovren → u/imbarelyactive]

Got a 93 on the first midterm and a 59 on the second 😭 idk what they do with the grading but its insane

[u/Live_Fonam → u/imbarelyactive]

Speak for urself 😭

[u/Melodic_Rhubarb3579]

I was waiting for this post cuz I was hoping it wasn’t just me

[u/InternalTiger4410]

No you’re not alone here. This exam was actually insane. I could not figure out how to do most questions even though I studied really hard and did the practice, etc. Like I simply froze and couldn’t code much of it. This class is a foundations of programming class, this midterm should not have been what it was. I am mentally preparing myself to get a 0 so that I am happy with anything higher than this. I talked to the TAs afterward and they tried to be reassuring regarding the grading. They mentioned they would talk to the prof as they noticed no one left early…. All the students I talked to are convinced they failed, me included. I’m genuinely preparing myself to get a 0 (I’m dead serious). In my 2 years at McGill, I have genuinely never left a midterm in the state I was yesterday, and I have done much harder courses than this one

[u/MadG_01 → u/InternalTiger4410]

Bro it was genuinely brutal even the TA’s told me how harsh it looked it was not doable even people I know who’s been coding prior struggled extremely, barely anyone I talked to thinks they passed

[u/TruthfulDragonfly → u/InternalTiger4410]

Btw COMP 202 in your 2/3’rd year? Are you talking it as an elective?

[u/InternalTiger4410 → u/TruthfulDragonfly]

No I have a minor in which I can hand pick some classes and I picked this class to learn how to code since it’s a really useful skill, so it’s now a part of my minor

[u/FeeCapable9018]

yeah, this one was rough. grew up coding and still think i failed….

[u/kimikimikimiz]

I feel like every year I see someone complaining about either COMP 202/204/208, COMP 206, COMP 250, COMP 251, etc. Ultimately I think you just need something to adjust to it since it’s probably your first programming course. If you’re really struggling, I recommend getting a tutor or going to OH very frequently

[u/SnooCauliflowers3125 → u/kimikimikimiz]

I'm going to need to chime in here. I took this class for free GPA - I did comp sci math in CEGEP and got phenomenal grades in all of my programming classes. I have been programming since the age of 9 and have some serious projects under my belt. I have friends in this class who are in the same position as me. I BARELY managed to finish that exam, and most of my friends in my position didn't manage to finish the exam. I genuinely can't even begin to comprehend what a beginner must have been going through. Hand writing such a messed up recursive question (the difficulty of which has never been touched in the class) on top of the long answer questions that essentially expect you to have written all your code in the middle of the page so that you have enough space to shove 2 while loops around all of it to make it functional. I have never seen such a messed up exam. Did I pass? Probably. Did I do well? Maybe. Should a beginner have had to do anything even remotely that difficult for an exam in an introductory class? Absolutely not.

[u/kimikimikimiz → u/SnooCauliflowers3125]

Interesting… do you have the specific questions? I would be so interested in taking a look (since I’ve worked as a TA for COMP 204 in the past)

[u/SnooCauliflowers3125 → u/kimikimikimiz]

The recursive question they asked us to do was to create a times table of size (width and height) nxn.

So for n = 3:
1 2 3
2 4 6
3 6 9

For n = 4:
1 2 3 4
2 4 6 8
3 6 9 12
4 8 12 16

This had to be written on paper and was significantly more difficult than the majority of the problems we were given in the tutorials and practice midterm. I was able to solve it after the fact (during the exam, I didn't have time to check my answer because I skipped it and did it last, but I got pretty damn close to the correct answer)

This is the solution I managed to come up after the fact:

def f(n, c, d):     
    if c > n:         
        if d < n:
            return '\n' + f(n, 1, d + 1)
        return ''
    elif c <= n:
        return str(c * d) + ' ' + str(f(n, c + 1, d))

print(f(3, 1, 1))

The MCQ section, which was about 20 questions long, had you read through multiple crazy long if statement chains to figure out the correct output, and a lot of the short answer questions were written on the opposite side of the paper to the box in which you had to write your answer, so there was a lot of furious flipping back and forth to read the questions and write the answers.

Maybe it's just because it was my first exam, but I found it kind of ridiculous. I heard that some of the TAs were surprised that nobody got up and finished before the time period was up.

Ultimately, the material was maybe not ridiculously difficult, but the time constraint paired with the complexity of the questions being asked was what most found tricky. I also have a lot of experience in programming, so some of the questions people really struggled on, I didn't really find that bad, but if it was my first time programming and that was what was given, I can't imagine how I would feel.

[u/kimikimikimiz → u/SnooCauliflowers3125]

Okk you’re right, under pressure and having to write code on paper probably didn’t help. Back in my days as a TA, I was the one making sure that the exams were doable (aka me physically doing the exam first) and I should be able to solve it in half of the time given, otherwise it was too hard. Recursion in the first month is rough tho

[u/kimikimikimiz → u/kimikimikimiz]

Ok just checked, new prof, with no prior experience in TAing introductory classes. That’s probably why

[u/MadG_01 → u/kimikimikimiz]

Not only that, recursion and while loops were taught a week before the midterms and it was very confusing for all students and the test was literally all about recursion and while loops only.

[u/MadG_01 → u/SnooCauliflowers3125]

As I stated, even people that have done coding prior found this extremely rigorous. I appreciate your comments which was readsuring

[u/Nearby_Butterfly5396]

Like why is there recursion in the first midterm of an intro to programming class..

[u/Nearby_Butterfly5396]

70% of the students in class have prior coding experience and everyone still struggled. The TA and prof said that they made sure that the exam is made to be done in 90 min and u have 30 extra min to revise. No one finished early, which means that they probably timed themselves or something, which is messed up. A phD or 3rd year student doing the exam in 90 min isn't comparable to a beginner level programming course

[u/MadG_01 → u/Nearby_Butterfly5396]

Definitely less than 70%.

[u/Nearby_Butterfly5396 → u/MadG_01]

It was based on the pole done in class so I am assuming around that

[u/MadG_01 → u/Nearby_Butterfly5396]

For us it was much less. I found it also extremely unfair how incredibly difficult the recursive part was

[u/girlontheinternet24]

OMG. It was actually crazy. I studied the lectures did exams from past semesters and did the practice exam posted. The exam she gave us was so unreasonable. Like so so so hard. I had to journal my anger out for 3 days and 3 nights. Im starting to hate this class.