4 ms·

It's a shame you can't get credit for your previous experience, and join in Year 2. That would allow the real beginners to get confident in the first year, too.

It's a shame you can't get credit for your previous experience, and join in Year 2. That would allow the real beginners to get confident in the first year, too. I have an incredibly smart friend who went to Oxford to do maths. His "competition" at Eton had sat the maths A-Level a year before normal, and had spent the last year studying university-level texts, and he was playing catch-up. Not sure who that benefits.

greggman 11y ago
I'm old but at my uni I went to the head of the computer dept and said "I know this stuff can I skip these classes?". He said "Yes, no problem. If you want credit for them you're free to take the tests". I guess I assumed that was the norm.
joncrocks 11y ago
I think this depends on whether the course is 'Computer Science' or 'Software Engineering'. While I agree that people might have a good amount of experience of writing software before university/school, I'd be surprised if they were well versed in Computer Science (which I think is more focused on the mathematical/algorithmic side at first). (I studied CompSci at Cambridge)
- naasking 11y ago
  I doubt they have experience in software engineering either, which takes a principle approach to structuring software to reduce bugs and improve maintainability.
- lmm 11y ago
  I did the first year of CompSci at Cambridge. The algorithms and data structures course covered nothing I hadn't covered in the discrete mathematics modules of Further Mathematics A-level (they can't assume Further Mathematics because not every school offers it and even those that do often do different modules). The ML and Java courses were just basic programming (which isn't taught in schools at all). The operating systems course was interesting but much of it was general-interest stuff I'd read on the internet.
  - joncrocks 11y ago
    Good point, I think I was thinking that my second year lectures were actually first year. Been a while since I was there! :-s

greggman 11y ago

I'm old but at my uni I went to the head of the computer dept and said "I know this stuff can I skip these classes?". He said "Yes, no problem. If you want credit for them you're free to take the tests". I guess I assumed that was the norm.

joncrocks 11y ago

I think this depends on whether the course is 'Computer Science' or 'Software Engineering'. While I agree that people might have a good amount of experience of writing software before university/school, I'd be surprised if they were well versed in Computer Science (which I think is more focused on the mathematical/algorithmic side at first). (I studied CompSci at Cambridge)

naasking 11y ago
I doubt they have experience in software engineering either, which takes a principle approach to structuring software to reduce bugs and improve maintainability.
lmm 11y ago
I did the first year of CompSci at Cambridge. The algorithms and data structures course covered nothing I hadn't covered in the discrete mathematics modules of Further Mathematics A-level (they can't assume Further Mathematics because not every school offers it and even those that do often do different modules). The ML and Java courses were just basic programming (which isn't taught in schools at all). The operating systems course was interesting but much of it was general-interest stuff I'd read on the internet.
- joncrocks 11y ago
  Good point, I think I was thinking that my second year lectures were actually first year. Been a while since I was there! :-s