> I used the term 'pre-requisite knowledge' because I would prefer a list of what ideas/concepts are needed to be fully understood before taking the course (ex/

> I used the term 'pre-requisite knowledge' because I would prefer a list of what ideas/concepts are needed to be fully understood before taking the course (ex/ instead of saying linear algebra is a prerequisite, say you need an understanding of solving linear equations using matrices but you don't need to understand linear spaces. If you are going to cherry pick concepts it may be better to just go full bore into the classes that most interest you. You will be motivated to pick up the concepts you are lacking and the learning profile will exactly fit the specific course. You wouldn't want to do this in a college setting because you are paying a lot for each hour, but as an auto-didact the time investment is on you. If you already have a background in CS or Engineering you can probably pick up the additional concepts with focused study/refresher.