Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science
2 Midterms and a final. Homework due once every 2 weeks. Rather than individual exams being curved, he curves the end grade.
~7 problem sets. 2 midterms and a final. All very standard, he gave out practice stuff from the 90s. You can see it on the website.
20% problem sets, very long 40% very easy midterm 40% not so easy final
Very straightforward problem sets, weekly and recitation problems, and text book readings. Recitation problems were sometimes tricky but helped a lot. Don’t cheat on the homework or any of the problems because they help to prepare you for the exams. Learning latex was the hardest part but also kind of rewarding. Really the hardest part of this class for me was proofs because they just take a lot of practice to make sense.
6 long problem sets, due about once every three weeks. 2 midterms, 1st one easier than the second. 1 final. Curved to either a B+ or an A-.
Not too bad for a CS course, even though when I began I had almost no experience writing proofs. Homework 1 was certainly an adjustment, but the workload remains on a more or less even keel from that point onward and actually became easier in the second half. Basically, nothing to be too worried about.
HW assigned weekly (5-8 questions usually) - Both proofs and computation - Generally quite doable given the time frame - Harder than the tests 2 Midterms (75 minutes each) - Each covered several chapters - Reasonable in difficulty, and she gave hints on the one question everyone got stuck on - She adjusted the scores on one of them Final - Cumulative, but with the bulk of the material covering the last third - comparable to a midterm but longer
Genuinely the hardest class I have ever taken at Columbia. BUT he does curve significantly to compensate for the extra rigor. You will probably be fighting for your life at some points of this course, which has to happen at some point of one's academic career - this is an ivy after all! Don't freak out if you have to take this class with Dear - he is very nice, and you will probably learn more than the other section of Discrete.
Professor Gross has retired and probably won't be teaching again. CULPA wants me to write more. Let me say simply that he taught this class for ~30 years, and it shows in ways both good and bad. His lectures were polished, sometimes a little too polished and he was more focused on the small talk and jokes than the materials. However with his lecture slides, and the fairly good textbook, it mostly went well. His exams are what you expect, and since they're open book they are much lower stress than you might otherwise think.
This review is for the summer session Discrete Math class with prof. Robert Holliday. He only teaches in the summer, and apparently he has been teaching at Columbia for many years. He seemed really nice in the beginning, but that turned around quickly. He doesn't care about the students actual learning the material; every lecture felt rushed. The homeworks were very long. However, they made up mere 20% of the final grade. I thought it was unfair given the amount of work you had to put in in them. The midterm was very easy, too easy, I'd say. He gave us a study guide and said that what wasn't on the study guide would not be on the exam. That wasn't true: one problem asked to use a formula that didn't appear on the study guide. The final was much harder than the midterm. It seemed that he made it so intentionally to force a better grade distribution. If he's the only option for the summer, don't take it. Just take the regular class in the fall or spring.