Please someone respond -- I need to know if I continue with CS

[chukdan]

TL;DR Summary: I'm asking if my first semester grades are good enough to be a cs major

Is 2.9 gpa bad for first semester computer science. I got a A- in statistics, B+ in calculus and linear algebra, a B- in Java 1 and a C in discrete math.I thought I did ok in everything except the discrete math. My scores would have been better in the other subjects if I understood better from the start of the semester. I only started getting the material halfway through the semester. I think my discrete math score was like that because maybe I didn't write exactly how we wanted the answers because when I was in class I understood but during like test sometimes I would go blank. Anyways any advice or comment would be greatly appreciated.

 

[phinds]

Why would you ask random strangers on the Internet instead of talking to one of your professors?

 

[chukdan]

Why would you ask random strangers on the Internet instead of talking to one of your professors?

I wanted the advice of people who are in CS field

 

[phinds]

And wherever you are studying, they have no CS professors?

 

[Muu9]

What would you do if the answer is "no"? How much real practice (i.e. solving problems without needing to peek at the solutions) did you get during discrete math?

 

[chukdan]

I studied as much I did for all the courses. It was the only course I had read in advance for

 

[WWGD]

I studied as much I did for all the courses. It was the only course I had read in advance for

You may be onto something. Can you read ahead for your other classes as well?

 

[FactChecker]

Those grades are good enough. You should find out what went wrong in discrete math. If you thought you understood the material, you should verify that. IMO, it should take more than one bad grade in one class to make a significant change.

 

[jedishrfu]

Ask the profs to evaluate your performance or tell you how to improve.

As others have said, reading ahead is your superpower; exploit it for your other courses. You'll learn the terminology and types of problems you'll encounter, and you should be better prepared.

I knew some students who used Shaums Outlines or something similar for their courses. While their approach may be dated, it can give you a head start on the essential ideas and concepts.

It always helps to read ahead and know what course you are taking.

It also helps to talk to your professors. Too often, students fear speaking to a professor for fear of being viewed as stupid.

 

[MidgetDwarf]

TL;DR Summary: I'm asking if my first semester grades are good enough to be a cs major

Is 2.9 gpa bad for first semester computer science. I got a A- in statistics, B+ in calculus and linear algebra, a B- in Java 1 and a C in discrete math.I thought I did ok in everything except the discrete math. My scores would have been better in the other subjects if I understood better from the start of the semester. I only started getting the material halfway through the semester. I think my discrete math score was like that because maybe I didn't write exactly how we wanted the answers because when I was in class I understood but during like test sometimes I would go blank. Anyways any advice or comment would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe take fewer classes?

 

[Choppy]

It's natural to start having doubts when you get that first set of grades back and they aren't as stellar as you would have liked. For many people, this comes as a result of the bottleneck between high school and university. The skills that were sufficient for good grades when your peers were more of a geographical sample than an academic one, aren't always still sufficient when you now are among a pool of peers who have chosen to pursue a given field and were also largely successful in it in high school.

We can't tell you based on a paragraph summary and some grades whether you should continue in your major. Many schools will have academic advisors who can help with decisions like that. They will be familiar with your school, the specifics of your programs, and have an experience base of seeing which students have gone on to be successful.

If your goal is to get into graduate school, a 2.9 GPA won't cut it. However, there's nothing that you've said that would suggest to me that you should absolutely drop the major. What you have in front of you is a challenge. Your courses will build on material that you've learned, and so one of the keys to doing well moving forward is some remedial work... learning that material that escaped you the first time around so that it doesn't stump you again. It might also help to take a study/test-taking skills workshop or two if your school has those. There are tools that can help you manage stress anxiety during examinations and help you focus.

 

[WWGD]

Use the time between semester to read ahead too, while also keeping time to relax. It will give you a head start.

 

[chukdan]

You may be onto something. Can you read ahead for your other classes as well?

Discrete Structures was only class I studied ahead in and it was my worst course

 

[chukdan]

Use the time between semester to read ahead too, while also keeping time to relax. It will give you a head start.

Yea I'm gonna try to do that

 

[MidgetDwarf]

Yea I'm gonna try to do that

Which is kind of hard to do with 5 courses, 4 of them being math.