Course: Amount learned
Course: Appropriateness of workload
Course: Fairness of grading process
Course: Overall quality
Instructor: Organization and preparation
Instructor: Classroom delivery
Instructor: Approachability
Instructor: Overall quality
Any additional comments (about the Course, Instructor, Virtual Hackathon, online experience, Zoom, Review Sessions, etc.)? Feel free to discuss anything and everything Advanced Programming related.
I really enjoyed Zoom sessions, it was nice to listen to lectures and then
see Jae implement lecture related material while coding.
Absoultely loved everything with AP. I think AP got the format of online
classes right out of all other CS classes I am taking. With fall online
looking likely I'd like to suggest maybe looking at Eternal Terminal which
is similar to mosh but better support for users.
I’d prefer Zoom class since I can follow up Jae better. In the classroom it
is so hard for me to look clearly what is going on on the blackboard. I had
a class just before AP so it is hard for me to get a front seat lol.
I really appreciated everything that was done this semester to give us the
most authentic experience possible. The virtual hackathon was a success as
were the lecture videos. I also really appreciated Jae’s lectures during the
schedule class time as well. I feel like I learned so much throughout this
course and it is definitely been crucial to my CS foundation. Thank you for
an amazing semester!
I really enjoyed this course, and feel like the transition from in-person to
online was very well handled. Since all the lectures from last semester were
recorded, it was nice not to lose out on any content and still have the
opportunity to attend the flipped lectures and pick up some extra knowledge
(not just about C/C++, but also about general coding tips). In terms of
content, this has been probably the most practical course I've taken so far
(especially considering I just found out my internship will be entirely in
C/C++).
Hardest course i've taken in 3 years, but i understood what i was doing up
to lab 4. Sadly, stuff just fell apart after that, but p/f made it less
stressful.
Thank you so much to Jae and the TAs. This was definitely a rough semester
with Covid but AP taught me so much and I enjoyed the class. I really liked
all of the labs, the review sessions, and lectures. Also the responsiveness
of the TAs on the listserv etc was incredible. The only thing I would change
about AP is the statement made early on that most of the course won’t be
relevant to a lot of student’s careers. I feel like this attitude leads to
some students believing the material doesn’t matter and isn’t valuable -
heard a lot of comments like “I’ll never need this again anyway”. I
personally feel like AP was an essential course for me to understand a lot
of general computing concepts like memory and the internet. The amount I
learned about programming and attention to detail I think is crucial to a
career in software for me, even if I might not be coding in C.
I'm sad we couldn't have the real hackathon :(
Hard to work with others and do screen share during the Virtual Hackathon.
Internet connection was also an issue.
I don't think the practice midterms and practice finals adequately prepare
anyone for the paper exams, but it's hard to say because we only had the
one. I'm glad I didn't have to find out as that seems to be the case for any
former students I talk to. With that said: This has been my favorite
programming class I've taken. I really, really, really didn't like classes
where they gloss over the actual programming part (because I don't know
it!!), so to actually get an explanation (deep in the weeds) of what every
single line of code means and is doing was extremely helpful. To be honest,
I really want to take operating systems with you because of this, but I'm
hesitant because I also know that I probably would've felt differently about
the course as a whole (not about what I learned) if I experienced more
problems with the paper exams. I don't want to take a class, work very hard,
and get a B/B- (with a lot of stress) that pulls down my GPA despite
learning tons and being a much better programmer b/c a lot of CVs are just
thrown out before getting a chance to show what you know. Or at least take
that risk.
I believe our Course Instructor and TA's have managed to make the classroom
interactive with the Virtual Hackathon and endless TA office hours under
these unprecedented circumstances.
Really appreciated the flipped lectures and live coding sessions with Jae.
AP has been the most organized class I’ve ever taken, and the material built
on itself in a manner that crystallized the subject matter very well. The
one on one nature of OH made for helpful sessions, but really long wait
times. Maybe fewer sessions with a couple TAs at a time would help that? I
really liked the Hackathon. I think I got a lot out of it because I already
knew a couple of people in AP. Many other “tables” I circled were not very
communicative, so fostering more of a virtual community prior to holding the
Hackathon might make students more willing to participate.
I feel like the course actually had a lot of really interesting things to
learn but because of the incredibly fast lab work it was hard to keep up
with when we knew enough to start the lab or not. Especially when we went
online, I felt myself falling behind a lot. Even more than I was at school.
Office hours were nearly impossible to attend because of conflicts w time
zone or other classes. Additionally, in one of you online zoom sessions we
were told that the class is still primarily based on the lectures you had
pre recorded and coming to zoom wasn’t required but I actually found the
zooms to be really helpful because it gave real coding experience and guided
my thinking. So in that sense I guess it did double, bc I felt obligated to
do what you said and also felt like I needed to watch zoom sessions. The TA
review notes were really helpful and a good review before I looked at each
lab. I wish I knew how long labs were before I started because I was behind
a lot because it seemed overwhelming at times.
Amazing course. Learned a ton and I really appreciate how direct and clear
Jae is with all his instructions and teaching. If you follow lecture, read
lab instructions, and practice with the materials Jae provides, there's no
reason someone should feel unclear about expectations and won't be fully
prepared for any exams or assignments.
Watching prerecorded lectures and the live lectures is a lot more work than
should be expected, especially during times like these
I think the way you changed up the course when we moved to online was
excellent and this was one of the few classes that I had that could
effectively translate online.
I went to Jae's OH twice this semester. I don't know if it is because he is
a godly professor or what, but I did feel hesitant to go more because I felt
like the questions I asked had to be **perfect**. I was comfortable asking
these stupid questions of mine to the TAs... Maybe this is my own problem ?
or maybe just a suggestion is that Jae could be a little more empathetic (I
know you've been very understanding w/ the class overall, esp w/ covid), or
maybe the better adjective is slow / explanative ?? Maybe that's what the
TAs are for? Not entirely sure, but I just maybe wish I could have been able
to ask Jae my stupid questions, and received a more helpful answer from Jae,
instead of being referred to the lab spec / review lecture notes / etc.
(because I already did those things before I came to the OH, I think I'm
just dumb). Now I feel bad for saying this, and obviously I don't know the
best solution to this issue because I understand it is multi-faceted and
partly likely my own problem. Overall, I LEARNED SO MUCH and am very
grateful to have had a professor like Jae and been in this class. I do wish
I could have interacted more with Jae, I did want to talk to him more and
ask him more questions, but I was seriously scared.. I think the Virtual
Hackathon was a great solution for our circumstances. I personally did not
benefit as much from it because I was not familiar with Discord and it felt
very overwhelming. I know if the hackathon needs to be virtual again, it
will be more organized (more ahead planning available) and better, so yeah.
It might be helpful to have a permanent AP discord server like the virtual
hackathon so students know if there's someone online to help them and can
share their screen quickly
:D
I really enjoyed this course! I'm not a computer science major, but I
thought this course was still interesting because it gives a good sense of
how some very fundamental things in computers work. For that reason, I
understand why the class is not recommended for non-majors, but I think
everyone can gain from taking this class. So while I disagree with Jae's
message on Day 1 that probably scared some students off, I understand that
given the course load it may not be a good class for everyone.
I appreciated that Professor Jae is strict with clarity and reasoning and
his lectures show that he is a humble expert and is excited to teach about c
programming which made the class go by fast. I also greatly appreciated the
organization of the class and documentation of information such that it was
easy to reference back to things instead being in a state of ambiguity and
he said she said. The TAs were also the best group of TAs I’ve ever had -
they were not only patient and knowledgeable, their demeanors made them
easily approachable without any fear of feeling silly or stupid. The only
feedback would be that it would’ve been nice to have more exam like
questions reviewed during class or through small hw questions. Although it’s
understood that we should be thinking as in depth as we would for exam
questions during class, it’s hard to do so while we are learning something
new. I think more exposure to such questions would also help us code more
effectively in the long run.
Jae and the TAs are pretty awesome. Zoom is not awesome though. I feel like
I was learning a lot before we transitioned into online classes. After the
transition, my learning kinda plateaued. I know that there’s nothing we can
do about that, and that Jae and the TAs tried their best, but that’s just
the reality.
The grading was very harsh for the amount of time spent on the labs. I
poured 20+ hours into each of them, sometimes for the smallest error to make
my grade come crashing down. That's very discouraging and I felt a lack of
empathy and understanding from the TAs/professor. Other than that, this was
a valuable course that I got a lot out of! It was a great experience and the
transition to online learning was handled very well. I enjoyed the live
demos by Jae.
This class has an insane culture of stress around it, and it's completely
stupid. The course material itself isn't harder than earlier classes in the
compsci major, but the instructors and TAs encourage the idea that this
class is Difficult and Stressful. The instructors should do more to take the
pressure off and allow coding to be a fun learning process.
I appreciated the wealth of resources available to students, especially the
recitation notes, review sessions, YouTube channel and office hours. The
virtual hackathon was awesome! the TAs are organized, responsive and
knowledgeable. Even in quarantine, Jae runs a very tight ship. This class
was the one I expected to give up on during quarantine, but it ended up
being the one I stayed engaged in. It provided more stability, resources and
community than all my other classes.
This class is probably going to be useless to me in life as I am not even a
CS major, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I especially like the format of the
in class midterms (like midterm 1) that really made sure we understood the
material.
The hackathon was so nice!!!! I really liked that we had all the lecture
recordings available.
This was the best class I have ever taken—a perfect combination of a
dedicated professor and knowledgeable TAs. My only minor comment would be
classes occasionally not starting on time.
Hand down, one of the most organized and straight forward classes I have
ever taken. Super smooth transition to virtual learning.
I appreciate and thank the TA’s and Professor Lee for doing the Virtual
Hackathon and trying to make class seem somewhat normal.
The TAs were a great resource, the review sessions were well organized and
helpful, the hackathon was great! I'm hoping to take OS with Jae when it
fits into my schedule!
I honestly very much enjoyed this course, despite its notorious reputation
at Columbia. Although I was thoroughly disappointed that lectures were not
in person anymore, I liked being able to watch the pre-recorded lecture, and
then having that additional Zoom session. I felt that the live Zoom classes
were super useful to my understanding of the content, and also felt low-
stakes (in a good way), so it was more about learning because I wanted to
learn rather than having to learn. The silver lining of all this for me is
that I felt because of Pass/Fail grading, I was able to spend significantly
less time on other classes that I frankly didn't care about, and thus devote
my full attention to AP. Combined with the way that this course was
delivered this semester, I can say with confidence that I am a better
programmer. I love AP <3
I loved this course so much! Thank you for teaching us this content from the
ground up Jae; I learned so much. I think I have found an area of software
development (systems programming) that I can see myself pursuing after
school and potentially for grad school. I am really excited to take OS next
term and hope that that course is just as superb. The only comment aside
from these notes I have was that I feel this course has too large of a
stressful stigma that does not need to be there. I understand that there may
not be anything that you as a teaching staff can personally do about this,
but I just felt the "horror" stories I had heard prior to taking the class
made me so stressed about the course when in reality I feel if you just work
hard and maintain your integrity this course can be viewed as just any other
course you take at the university. It does not need to have this mystic aura
of it being some insurmountable, huge titan of a course. Again I am not sure
what you guys can do about this and I am sure you guys already know about
this issue but I figured it could help to mention. Anyways, I never usually
write reviews for courses but I truly and sincerely enjoyed this course so
much that I had to write a review. Thanks again for everything and take
care!
While the online lectures from last semester were helpful, I found the
overall experience (flipped classroom, online OHs, and recitations) much
harder to follow in the virtual format. I do, however, greatly appreciate
the efforts Jae and the TAs put into making this course as accessible as
possible. The listServ was exceedingly helpful! The virtual hackathon was
also interesting and fun--it was a refreshing opportunity to discuss CS with
my classmates. I especially appreciate Jae's transparency regarding the
grading process, lab deadlines, and overall schedule while adapting to a
virtual classroom. Personally, as a student living in the tri-state area
and self-isolating with my family for the past six weeks, it has been very
hard to motivate myself and keep up with the work. But, I am surprisingly
grateful for the weekly/bi-weekly lab schedule and both Jae's and TAs'
dedication to providing 24/7 help in AP. One of Jae's first emails after the
shift to virtual--telling us to focus more on actively learning the
material, rather than the grade--truly shifted my mindset during this time.
Thank you, Jae and TAs for making this course go as smoothly as possible!
After classes went online it was really hard to learn NEW content,
particularly anything C++ related. All the other content we learned was
mostly expanding on ideas and stuff we had learned in class, every C++ to me
felt extremely difficult to learn alone and for the first time online. I
thought Jae's class sessions were really good but I have an auditory
disorder which makes videos really hard for me, paired with my low attention
span and patience for videos, the video lectures were really really hard for
me. I wish he had provided alternatives to the video lectures such as
textbook chapters, or more in depth notes besides recitation.
I really enjoyed that we switched to a Flipped Classroom format where we got
to have a deeper dive into the material and hear Jae's tips with using Linux
and Vim. Also, thank you guys so much for hosting the virtual hackathon! I'm
glad that we got to have a hackathon experience even though we're all
remote. I think that AP is an excellently prepared class. Thanks for the
great semester!
Jae is by far my most organized professor. Since we've been online/remote,
it's been VERY easy to keep up with AP material because of Jae's
organization. I greatly appreciated the decision to cover supplementary
material during zoom lectures while having us watch old lecture videos to
get the bulk of the material. Because of this, it hasn't felt like I've lost
out on very much since we've gone remote. In fact, I almost feel like I've
learned MORE than I might have in person. I also think the listserv system
is incredible, as it was a tremendous resource to consult when completing
labs earlier in the semester, and has been invaluable since we've gone
remote. I don't know that I would have gotten through the later labs at all
if not for the listserv. I know this is intentional on Jae's part, but I
also really appreciated the WEALTH of resources for each topic/unit, such as
old lecture vids, sample code, listserv, TA recitation notes & github, etc.
I never had the experience of being confused about a topic and having no
idea where to find clarification, which is more than I can say for a lot of
classes. If I'm being honest, my expectations for this class were that it
would be overly complicated and annoyingly frustrating, but my experience
has been very positive. I truly appreciate how Jae and the TAs adapted the
class for quarantine (when some of my other classes/professors struggled to
do so), and I am now convinced that Jae really did know what he was doing
when he designed this course :)
I've wanted to take this course since before I even applied to Columbia.
While ultimately this semester ended up being non-traditional, this class
ended up being better than I could've imagined. While I wish I could've had
more irl class sessions and hackathon, the month or so of in-person classes
and review sessions were fantastic. The amount of resources available, from
the review sessions (pretty much better than any review session I've had for
a class before - especially the online notes in the git repository) to the
"beyond the scope" emails in the listserv were truly immersive. The only
negative comment I have was that the virtual hackathon didn't really feel
like it fully replaced the experience of the real hackathon :(, hopefully I
can attend one of those in future semesters! This was a great class!
I liked the flipped style actually.
The virtual hackathon and the Zoom class sessions were hard to stay focused
during but the hackathon tutorials were very cool and did make it easier to
be engaged
I loved the virtual hackathon that was put together - thank you for all your
efforts!
I really enjoyed the course. Jae was amazing at transitioning to an online
curriculum, kept interesting additional lectures and the virtual hackathon
was fun! I think Jae puts on a very engaging lecture and has been added to
my personal hall of fame of professors whose class I looked forward going to
everyday (It's a short list). I really enjoyed this class and wish I could
have experienced it in full without interruption, but it was still very good
as it was. I didn't contribute as much as I would've liked to the listserv,
but, I did benefit a lot from the people who asked questions before me.
This course was executed beautifully, even despite the circumstances. I am
honestly so amazed at how Jae and the TAs pulled this off. Jae put in an
incredible amount of effort to ensure fairness especially to those who were
affected by this situation, and I appreciate that so much. Everything was
handled very well, thank you so much to Jae and the TAs for making this
possible.
This class proved to me that I can learn more than I thought possible in a
single semester. While I came in very intimidated by the stories that come
out of this class, the TAs were there week after week to help explain crazy
valgrind errors, concepts that I did not understand from class, or give
guidance on how to break the labs down into doable steps. While I agree with
other students this is one of the most challenge classes I have ever taken
it is also one of the most rewarding (and doable). I did all of the labs
(even in quarantine) because I believed this class was set up to help
students learn. Each lab was constructed to teach a different skill as I had
experienced in previous labs so I did not want to miss out on any content.
When the class switched to pass/fail, I enjoyed the ability to learn just to
learn and make mistakes without (serious) consequences. I thought the way
Jae structured the class in quarantine was effective. I liked the ability to
watch the lectures on my own and slow down/speed up or rewatch sections as
needed. The ability then to watch during class time Jae apply the lecture's
content was effective to increasing my understanding of the material. I
loved zoom office hours and thought they were more efficient and organized
than in person office hours. Overall, this class was hard but worth every
minute spend on it. Thank you so much!
The Virtual Hackathon was terrible for people who had poor Wifi/internet
access. The course should be moved to an earlier hour to account for
students who use disability services (if we are on campus in the future).
I'm not sure if the flipped class method is the best. As someone with poor
wifi/internet access I usually watched the lectures via Zoom with a friend
who screen shared for me. Zoom was great for office hours usually once TAs
got a hang of breakout rooms, and a way to keep track of a list. I
personally prefer TAs that ask the students the order or go prepared to
their OH and take note of the order they see. Perhaps something that could
be helpful during lectures are breakout rooms/paired programming for the
mini assignments Jae would prepare. This could help us learn the material in
a fair way and meet other students/build community. I remember the lecture
about chars/long etc and bytes were a few lectures into the semester, and I
feel like that type of syntax/knowledge should have been either in the first
or second lecture. Further, C++ should be introduced before Lab 9.
Jae is simply an incredible professor. I'll leave more detailed elaboration
to someone who is better at words than I am
Wished review sessions were recorded!!!! Other than that I have no
complaints and this has been my favorite CS course so so far.
After the outbreak of COVID-19, I came back to my country and self-
quarantined myself. At that time, my parents were fighting against COVID-19
on the frontline, so I could not see them at all. Being Locked down in my
room while worrying about my parents strengthens my unstable mentality. Even
worse, my beloved uncle, who was one of my biggest supporters and the man I
respect with all of my heart, passed away due to COVID-19. Going through
these, I suffered from the worst mental illness in my life- suicidal idea,
intense anxiety disorder, bulimia, lethargic. Even with this challenging
situation, I tried my best to do well in AP. I could not predict the
standard of P, but everyone said AP is the most demanding lecture, I assumed
it would be high. Thus, I put tons of times for AP, but it was still hard to
understand it. I could not join TA's OH because of a huge time zone
difference. I could not stay wake up at night alone since it strengths my
suicidal idea and lethargic, which prevented me from getting help from TAs.
Through the most painful period, I did not give up studying. It was
difficult, enhancing self-hatred, but I still tried. However, when I could
not deal with that until the due date, I get some help with solutions. I
knew I did wrong. I really know. Sadly, at that time, I could not think of a
different way since I could not reasonably think, and I was scared of
disappointing my parents, who are always proud of my academic achievement;
when they are in an extreme environment. After I slightly overcome my weak
mentality, I decided to confess all when I get an email from Jae before the
final. Also, I knew my lab score would be zero, so I studied harder to
recover the score. It turned out that the email I got from Jae was much
different than I expected. It seems he is going to report all the cases.
Maybe I will get straight F and recorded as a student with academic
dishonesty. What makes me panic was, following Jae’s P/F policy, I could
have passed this class even if I did nothing for AP after a covid-19
outbreak. I could not stop thinking that if I simply gave up this class, my
mental disorder must have been much better with passing this class. Yes, I
banned Jae’s cheating policy, but it does not mean I did not put effort into
it. Please, I am asking your favor to understand that Covid-19 can affect
individual in a various way. Give us a confession option and give zero to
the lab suspected for the cheating. Or please give any other options. Please
do not give cheaters straight F. Thanks for the biggest effort of Jae and
TAs.
The online experience for AP was by far the best out of all my courses.
Because I couldn't attend all the live lectures due to being in a different
time zone, the Listserv and the regular updates from Jae made AP the only
class I felt fully engaged in through the last two months of the semester.
It was disappointing not to have an in-person hackathon, but I really
appreciated the work put into organizing the Virtual Hackathon by the entire
AP teaching staff.
Being a very bad exam taker, I felt like the exam punished me. It was
extremely hard and the questions felt like they were meant to be trick
questions and trick you. The exam felt not very constructive basically, and
could maybe be done more so. I know some people got a 100, and I do
understand that you have to create an exam that reaches all kinds of
individuals. It is also such a short amount of time to take the exam and I
did not even get any significant time to think about the second part, I just
had to guess on it basically. If one part is to be about analyzing code and
answer short questions/ filling in the blanks, the second part can maybe be
something less intense, like compilation or Valgrind like some sample exams.
I know you've been creating exams for a long time and obviously know what
you're doing [Jae], but just trying to give some kind of constructive
feedback and not just making it a complaint :). In contrast, even though
the labs were also tough, they were very constructive and it was extremely
awarding to do well on them. You could really feel the purpose of doing them
and what we were meant to learn, and that a lot of thought was put into
them. This brings me to the course overall - I think that Jae's commitment
to making us really really understand the material and dive deep into the
details is extremely unique. Other courses (and also from other universities
that where I have studied), it is very easy to notice that the material is
just rushed through and not dived into. Although it obviously makes the
course tougher (I mean, it's a 4-credit class tho), it really makes you
learn the material properly, and that I am extremely GRATEFUL for!!! Very
much thought and time is put into this class by Jae, and of course also all
the amazing TAs - great individuals, kind, smart as hell, really wants to
help out, and does an amazing job. Final verdict: This class is world-
class, keep doing what you do (but maybe take some feedback on the exams^^).
I thought maria was an excellent TA. Hans, eh. Big fan of AP, he’s the best
course I’ve ever taken
I felt devastated (and a little bit guilty) that I wasn't getting the
traditional AP experience that I had been looking forward to so much, but
all the TAs and Jae absolutely killed it. They went above and beyond in
making sure that we learned all the information we had signed up to learn
and developed the skills we had wanted to develop. I'm so so thankful for
all of you guys!
The best computer science (maybe best class period) that I have ever taken.
Gave me an understanding of programming I would never have without it.
The course was incredible. While I miss the in person lectures, the online
ones were just as informative, and I really appreciated getting to know
Jae's workflow (incremental coding, debugging, etc). Thank you to the TAs
for caring a ton and putting extra hours into office hours and hanging out
during hackathon (and for having a hackathon at all!) (And admittedly,
virtual office hours made it a lot easier to reach Jae. It made it possible
for me to speak to him at all. He's a bit hard to reach in person,
especially with the long line outside his office 20 minutes before office
hours even start.) I wish we got to have more practice with c++ but the
course was cut a bit short by everything, which is fine. I would like to
know what the next steps are after this course, and what skills build on
this course/how to maintain what we've learned.
Overall, the course has been truly excellent. It's very easy to tell that
Jae and the TAs have put in so much effort towards each lecture, lab, and
exam. I am very grateful. I found listserv ANNs sometimes tricky to
manage. I have folders and filters for ANNs, Q&A, and such. But I still
found myself confused of the expectations for labs because I missed an
email. For example, one email said that we can't use memset in the labs.
Unfortunately I missed that email until it was too late. I wish Jae could
also post these ANNs (that has lab expectations) on Jae's website or just
put them as a part of the lab instructions. (Also, perhaps it's a learning
moment for us to learn how to navigate the email). Besides these ANNs,
everything else with listserv worked very well. Furthermore, when we
transitioned to online learning, I wish Jae had articulated the expectations
a little bit more clearly (zoom lectures were optional). I know that many
things were changing and there was a lot of uncertainty. But I think some
people were confused about if they needed to attend the zoom lessons as well
as watch the lectures.
Sad that I couldn’t join the virtual hackathon because of the time
difference, but thank you Jae for your dedication to all students during
this hard time
Despite the circumstances, I really loved the flipped class structure. I
think it actually made learning the content easier because I was able to
take my time with it/replay the videos whenever I needed and it really gave
us more time to practice in the zoom classes! This has been amazing, thank
you! Virtual Hackathon as amazing too--thank you to all of you for putting
in so much work so we could finish the semester strong.
This class and its teaching staff held my mental health together for the
entire second half of the semester. Lectures were the focus point of my
entire schedule, and I went to so many office hours I lost count. The
virtual hackathon was the happiest I'd ever been in weeks. Thank you for
staying in touch, being lenient with grading, and for the supportive
attitude.
Before I took this class, I didn't understand why it got so many shout-outs
on Columbia Confessions. Having taken it and met all the TAs, I can say I
definitely understand why. Some of them are truly brilliant and crushworthy
I really really like the overall Online format. Instead of having to review
material on my own after a lecture, I could listen to Jae's live office
hour-type lecture. Among all my classes, this was possibly the best
transition to remote teaching. One note about the final for a possibly
remote next semester: If you give students 24 hours to do an exam, there is
a strong chance they will spend a lot of those 24 hours on the test. With 4
tests over the course of finals week, having 4 24-hour exams is EXTREMELY
tiring, more so than a normal finals week. Thankfully the AP final was quite
simple, so I didn't need more than 3 hours, but I think a better format
could be having ~4 hours to submit the final from the time you first clone
the final repo. Those 4 hours can be used at any point in time during the
day. Also regarding the difficulty of the final: I found it to be
extremely simple since it only required a cursory knowledge of what we did
this semester. Possibly adding a written/non-coding component to the test
could be a better way of testing? Like copying the short-answer format from
a traditional final. Overall, I really enjoyed the course, but I really
like finals as a way for me to reflect on what I learned throughout the
semester. I don't think I really got the opportunity with this final format.
I am so glad I took this course. I found it extremely challenging and had
very little sleep this semester because of it but I truly feel like I
learned a lot. There were many resources available, including all the TA
office hours, which were so helpful - they were all incredibly knowledgable
and helpful. Also, lectures were engaging and information-packed. If
anything, this class has increased my interest in Computer Science, so I
think I'll keep doing it.
I really liked the class and I thought it translated well to an online
format. The labs and especially the zoom hackathon helped this situation
seem way more normal and Jae and the TAs were super helpful.
I had a fantastic time!! Thank you for everything.
Discord seem like a worthwhile substitute for Office Hours. It seemed to
work very well during the Hackathon, and I liked it more than breakout rooms
in Zoom. Overall, this class was one of the two I had that handled the
transition to online incredibly smoothly. I know there was plenty of work
and time put into it, so it definitely shows!
When I first started AP, I was petrified - petrified of the class, the
lectures, the assignments, the students, and Jae. So much has changed since
then. I was always weary of my coding ability but that stemmed from a lack
of knowledge of the programming and language inner workings. I can easily
say now that I am a much better programmer - thanks to this class, the TAs,
and Jae. Surprisingly and oddly enough, AP has become my favorite course of
the semester - irrespective of the remote learning. The fact that the labs
took up a majority of my livelihood was something that I honestly needed. It
kept me engaged and grounded. I am finally that person that can just write
out programming concepts on paper and translate it to code because I
understand how things work and what is being asked of me more (success rate
is like an 8/10, but we’re gettin there). I can tell that Jae loves his job,
and even though I was unable to see it all the way through in person, I felt
his effort and determination to give us the best learning environment
possible. Thank you for everything. P.S. 1. I very much enjoy the online
office hours because I was able to attend a lot more and do other things
during the wait. 2. The Virtual Hackathon was nice! Connected with more
people in the class and learned from the workshops. Definitely want a
t-shirt!!
The Virtual Hackathon was very well-executed and helpful. The review
sessions were one of the best parts of this course and I would always
attend.
Having the recorded lectures to refer back to was helpful while doing the
labs and studying.
I love how everything is so organized and how well the labs line up with
lecture and textbook readings! Review sessions were helpful too!
I personally found the listserv to be a really frustrating way of organizing
information. I would have strongly preferred to use Canvas for important
updates/assignment postings and Piazza for questions. Even with the filters,
it becomes very overwhelming to manage so many emails. One thing I liked
about this class is that the quality remained the same when we went online.
I did feel like the workload was often excessive, especially considering
that C isn’t a language we’ll likely spend a lot of time coding in in the
future.
Thanks for all your hard work!
The TAs and Professor Lee made the transition to online learning pain free
and seamless. As a student who struggled with the course, having a library
of online lectures, and the live exercises conducted by the Professor was a
tremendous benefit. The TAs were amazing, and I have never experienced such
a competent and enthusiastic group of TAs while at Columbia.
I really enjoyed this course — I feel like I really learned a lot by putting
time into understanding every concept. The labs were well formulated to test
specific concepts, and Jae’s lectures very clearly taught everything that we
were expected to know. The TAs were helpful and approachable. This class did
require more of a time commitment than other classes, but not nearly as much
time as people rumor it to require. The time that I put in genuinely made me
a better programmer and I am glad that a class that is this demanding
exists. However! This is also my largest problem with the class — it’s
reputation is that it is a class that is astronomically more difficult than
anything else, and I believe that the reputation is especially detrimental
to women and minorities considering going into CS and taking the course. A
lot of the reputation is passed on by students, but the teaching staff also
does not do much to minimize stress etc. Please please do something to
address the tone set, or else this class will continue to impose the stress,
competitiveness, and imposter syndrome that take so much away from the
actual learning done in AP.
Gustaf Ahdritz
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GUSTAF IS AMAZING - I COULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED AP WITHOUT YOU. YOU ARE SO
NICE AND HELPFUL AND SERIOUSLY INCREDIBLE, I SERIOUSLY COULD NOT HAVE GONE
THROUGH AP WITHOUT ALL OF YOUR HELP. YOU DESERVED THAT TA AWARD, YOU SHOULD
BE SO PROUD - IM PROUD TO HAVE BEEN TA'ED BY YOU, SO GLAD I CAUGHT YOU
BEFORE YOU GRADUATED AWAY. GOOD LUCK ON ALL YOUR FUTURE ENDEAVORS
Gustaf is friendly and very knowledgeable, and one of the most well-spoken
TAs I've gotten to interact with. Despite occasional Zoom connectivity
issues, he was always positive and thorough in office hours.
Very helpful!
Went to his office hours for lab 7. As a senior I've only been to about 5
office hours ever and his certainly stood out. After going to his OH, I
regretted not taking advantage of OH for other classes earlier during my
time as a student. Gustaf conveys information very well and I learned a lot
just by going through one problem I had in lab 7.
A little intimidating, but incredibly patient. Thanks for staying an hour
after office hours to help me with my labs!
Gustaf was amazing! I've been struggling with my mental health since leaving
campus and became so overwhelmed by a lab once that I logged onto his OH
probably 2 hours late and in the midst of an emotional breakdown. Despite
the fact that I was mostly incoherent, he was really patient with me and
made me more confident in what I knew. He spent so much time with me beyond
his regular OH slot to make sure I understood what was going on and I am so
grateful. Gustaf and all the TA's really go above and beyond. (And congrats
on your teaching award Gustaf!)
Congrats again on the Andrew Kosoresow Teaching Award!
Such a supportive TA!! Truly knows what he is doing!!
Very smart and well-spoken! Thanks for your help!
Spencer Bruce
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Thank you Spencer!
SPENCER!!!! ABSOLUTELY AMAZING TA - ESP FOR YOUR FIRST TIME TA'ING AP, YOU
DID IT YOU WERE INCREDIBLE. SPENCER, I REALLY COULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED AP
WITHOUT YOU. I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON, BUT I WOKE UP EARLY AT 930AM BECAUSE
I LOVE GOING TO YOUR OHs. THEY ARE SO INCREDIBLY HELPFUL AND FUN TO BE AT.
YOU ARE SO APPROACHABLE AND NICE, AND VERY GOOD AT EXPLAINING NITTY-GRITTY
DETAILS ABOUT C PROGRAMMING. YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH YOU'VE HELPED ME WITH
LEARNING C. THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE TIME & EXTRA TIME YOU PUT IN- THEY
HELPED SOMEONE!! ALSO, HOPE TO BECOME CLOSER FRIENDS W/ YOU NEXT YEAR
BECAUSE you are SO COOL!! - BIG FAN OF SPENCER
I have never been to Spencer's OH but I did hear him delivering Zoom OH
through my Wien wall and from what I could hear it sounded very good
So amazing <3
I started going to Spencer's office hours after we switched to Zoom. He was
very patient and walked me through each error thereby teaching me how to
debug if I got the same errors later. He was also great at helping me think
through logically the larger coding assignment. For example, during the
hack-a-thon, he helped me lay out how I would break down part 2 of the
assignment into smaller sections. I appreciated how approachable and
friendly always.
Spencer Bruce was an AMAZING TA. One of the best if not the best TA for the
following reasons: He was one of the first to get a hang of Zoom (he was
able to connect his iPad and draw out structures effectively) over Zoom. He
stayed an extra hour at the hackathon. He never made you feel dumb. He
welcomed all questions. He had a positive attitude, and ensured you
understood the material. His knowledge on the subject was clear.
Spencer was an excellent TA. He was always willing to answer questions, draw
diagrams, and explain concepts and was extremely approachable.
Spencer was always extremely quick and efficient in making diagrams and
explaining things extremely well using that visual. That style really helped
things for me and I learned how to make more effective diagrams with his
help. His Valgrind error email was great as well; I visited it more than a
few times. Thank you Spencer!
Spencer is always super approachable and willing to spend time to help you
learn. He is very patient and knowledgeable.
James Yang
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JAMES MR JAMES ...ALSO THE BEST. SERIOUSLY, COULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED AP
WITHOUT YOU. I REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME I WENT TO YOUR OHs, I WAS SCARED TO
ASK YOU A Q BECAUSE YOU SEEMED REALLY SMART. AND WELL YOU ARE. YOU'RE SO
INTELLIGENT AND SO HELPFUL!!! YOU ARE GREAT AT EXPLAINING - YOU SHOULD BE A
TEACHER / CS PROFESSOR, SERIOUSLY. OR IF YOU WANT TO WORK IN INDUSTRY, also
AMAZING. VERY GLAD I CAUGHT YOU BEFORE YOU GRADUATED AWAY, BECAUSE I TRULY
COULD NOT HAVE GONE THROUGH AP AND HAD A PLEASANT EXPERIENCE LEARNING C
WITHOUT YOU. YOU ARE SO NICE AND absolutely HILAR KEEP DOING YOU - NEVER
CHANGE - YOU'RE THE BEST - SO THANKFUL - GOOD LUCK W EVERYTHING. I FEEL LIKE
I'M WRITING IN SOME SORT OF AP YEARBOOK LOL BUT YOU'RE AWESOME, THANK YOU
FOR ALL THE TIME (EXTRA TIME TOO!!!!) THAT YOU PUT IN FOR HELPING US, BYE -
BIG JAMES FAN
I really appreciated his deep understanding of the material so that whenever
I asked a question I never got an answer like, "I am not sure what's going
on here or what that means exactly but you don't need to know that; here is
an easier way to approach it..." which was a reply I received sometimes from
TAs. Thank you for explaining concepts so well James!
I recognize "James Yang" as the TA who answers a large bulk of listserv
emails. Thank you for your help in this regard!! I am very grateful to all
TAs of this course for how quickly and thoroughly they respond to questions
in zoom chats and the listserv, and I am always super impressed at the depth
of their knowledge. I've singled out James Yang as being noticeably helpful
and available, but this applies to all AP course assistants!
Cheers, James.
James is a great TA. He was very patient and would always take extra time to
make sure you understood his suggestions. James always asked good questions
that would help lead me to the answer without giving it to me. He would also
give suggestions not only to get your code error free but also to become a
better programer in general. I always found his office hours helpful and
well organized.
One time James stayed an hour extra over his office hours when a lab was due
while he was home/some students were still on campus. James is committed,
intelligent on the material, and he always answers any question. He was an
even better TA over Zoom. He had a nice approach to students, and led you to
understand the problem in order to answer your own questions. He was
encouraging, and would lead you in the right direction. James will be missed
as a TA in this course.
I really appreciated James's presence on the listserv during the C++ part of
the class.
James was one of the best CS TAs I have had. He was really knowledgable but
also willing to explain concepts and ideas to you. During office hours, he
would efficiently get through everyone, but also spend as much time as you
needed to help get you on track. He would also crash other TAs hours, either
just to hang out or help, but shows how dedicated he is!
James is such a knowledgable, approachable, helpful, and friendly TA! I
could ask him any question I had and he would always patiently explain it to
me. His passion for AP is contagious and his dedication to teaching the
material is so inspiring. Thank you for an amazing semester!
Very frequently in the zoom lectures answering questions in great detail.
Really nice compliment to Jae's live teaching and very much appreciated.
Where do I even begin? James is an absolute godsend. He not only cared about
the material, but he also loved the students. He was always ready to help in
truly understanding the material. I enjoyed his random appearances at other
TA office hours as well. I’ll never forget to read the man page ever again
because of him.
James is very knowledgeable and patient. He is great at conducting review
sessions and answering questions during office hours.
Bill Chen
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BILL YES BILLLLL - HEYY YOU'RE GREAT - IT'S ALWAYS SUCH A FUN AND HAPPY
TIME IN YOUR OHs - I CAN ALWAYS EXPECT TO HAVE A GOOD TIME AND HAVE A GOOD
LAUGH, WHILE (PRODUCTIVELY) LEARNING C FROM YOU. I HOPE WE CAN BECOME
BETTER FRIENDS NEXT YEAR - BECAUSE YOU'RE HILAR ALSO, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR
HELPING ME WITH AP, YOU WERE A FUN AND HELPFUL TA - BEST OF BOTH WORLDS <3
Bill is another TA where you can't ask "dumb" questions. He was only "good"
if you had a major bug in your program, and he would try and fix it for you.
Not many teaching assistant qualities.
I only started going to his virtual hours, but he was extremely helpful and
willing to help. He would jump around breakout rooms to make sure everyone
was being helped during his hours!
You are so kind and so intelligent! Your office hours were always a blast
Michael Jan
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Honestly, everytime I asked an out of scope question on listserv doesn't
matter if it was about C++ at the very start of AP or asking about OS
related questions. it was always micheal who answered my questions and I
really apperciated that.
He is also so helpful and explains things so well.
Michael was a great TA - I liked his humor and approachability.
Super knowledgeable and very helpful. Thanks so much!
Super impressed with Michael's knowledge and commitment to the course and
listserv.
MICHAELLLLLLL, ... THE BEST. YOU SERIOUSLY HELPED ME SO MUCH BEGINNING OF
THE SEMESTER - BREAKING THINGS DOWN, ASKING ME THE IMPORTANT Qs SO THAT I
ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT I'M DOING AND WHY, DRAWING THINGS OUT, STAYING MORE THAN
2 HOURS OVER YOUR USUAL ENDING TIME THAT ONE TIME FOR LAB 4, you are THE
MAN. I COULD NOT HAVE SURVIVED AP WITHOUT YOU - ALSO COULD NOT HAVE HAD AN
ENJOYABLE TIME IN AP WITHOUT YOU- YOU'RE SO SMART AND HILAR THANK YOU
SERIOUSLY FOR ALL THE TIME (EXTRA TIME) YOU PUT IN FOR HELPING US, LITERALLY
AN AP LIFESAVER. GOOD LUCK ON ALL YOUR FUTURE ENDEAVORS - BIG FAN
Coming from the least unbiased but also most unbiased student possible:
Michael Jan is an awesome TA :) :) <3
I went to Michael Jan's Monday office hours whenever I could and he was
amazing. He was able to break down complex issues into simple problems I
could understand and figure out where I was going wrong. He is very
approachable and I always learned so much from his him during OH.
10/10 exam questions.
Michael was very approachable and knowledgeable. His enthusiasm and energy
was greatly appreciated.
Julia Guo
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Really helped me to solve the problem. Thank you so much!
I think one of Julia's greatest qualities as a TA is how approachable she
is. She is always happy to help and work through questions slowly and step-
by-step. I am always happy to stop by her OHs and ask her questions -
because I know I won't be judged for asking stupid questions / having stupid
errors. Thank you Julia for all of your help this semester, you are a
wonderful TA!
I don't think she has enough experience to be a TA.
Julia was extremely approachable and helpful. She was willing to explain
ideas to you and was super approachable!
Amanda Liu
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She answer my email real quick that I can solve my problem on time. Thank
you so much for all of your help!
Loved all of the TAs! You're all amazing and probably too overworked for
your pay grade <3
Really helpful in explaining concepts. I appreciated her drawing a diagram
to better my understanding
I went to Amanda a couple times but found her explanation of errors hard to
understand. When I would ask for clarification she would give me the same
explanation that I had not understood the first time. I found her sometimes
hard to approach and her zoom office hours disorganized.
Amazing TA but who tf eats cereal with water. I ran out of milk this week
and thought about it, almost booted
Amanda is extremely knowledgeable, and I found her explanations a bit
difficult to understand because she often assumed I had more knowledge than
I did. I was scared of asking her to slow down and define the terms she was
using because I didn't want her to think I was wasting her time. While she's
really nice and puts a lot of attention into her office hours, I often had
no idea what she was talking about. I appreciate her optimism though!
I only started going to her virtual hours, but Amanda was super helpful and
would help you work through your problems and questions. She didn't seem in
a rush and was willing to help you really understand.
Congratulations again on the Andrew Kosoresow Teaching Award!
Lucie Le Blanc
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Lucie was so helpful - I went to a lot of her review sessions and she’s
always been very clear, kind, and knows so much about the material.
LEFT THIS ONE FOR LAST BECAUSE JAE JAE JAE JAE JAE - LUCIE is a KEEPER of a
TA. SHE IS SERIOUSLY THE BEST! I want to be Lucie le Blanc. / Lucie le
Blanc's friend. BIG LUCIE FAN I actually am not a regular at Lucie's OHs,
because I have class during her OHs :( But the few times that I was able to
make it to the last 5 min of her OHs or when she would hop in to help other
TAs, she is so helpful. First of all, Lucie is so intelligent. I just had to
say that. Also, she is so willing to help and explain to people step-by-step
how things work in C! The very first OH I was in, Lucie emphasized drawing
diagrams and writing everything out on paper. Since then, every time I came
across a pointer question, I would draw it out, thinking "what would Lucie
do". This advice she gave and the way she walked us through how to correctly
draw diagrams, and even just how she took the time to slowly explain
everything was a for lack of a better word, GAME-CHANGER. Even Spencer
recommended I go to Lucie's OH, because ... obviously Lucie is THE BEST. I
would NOT have survived AP without you Lucie, you're awesome. Also, right
before the midterm, she was so kind and calming for the few of us that were
freaking out. So glad to have had such a PERSONABLE, while helpful TA.
also so glad I was able to catch having Lucie as my TA because she
graduated, but also ALSO so glad to find out that Lucie is not graduating
yet! So we could (potentially) hang out next year. hehe THANK YOU LUCIE FOR
ALL OF YOUR TIME (& EXTRA TIME) YOU PUT IN TOWARDS HELPING US, YOU'RE AN
ABSOLUTELY AMAZING TA - YOU SHOULD SERIOUSLY BE A TEACHER / CS PROFESSOR, or
DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO- aMAZING. -big FAN
Lucie is awesome on the listserv, and review sessions, and on the cello.
What a legend.
Lucie is so awesome. She’s the best. She’s so patient with us and spends as
much time as she needs to ensure that no student is left behind. One time,
she spent about 30 minutes with AFTER her time slot had ended to help me
with my homework. I know a couple of people from last semester who just
loved being helped by her. I am no surprised.
Actually brilliant. She knows how to make material engaging and interesting
for everyone. Every time I was curious about how something works, she always
had the answer. I was really surprised to hear she's only a junior. In
addition to being a good TA, she's one of the most inspiring people I've met
at Columbia.
Lucie is the TA I felt most comfortable asking questions to. She's a good
listener. She never made me feel judged or stupid, even if I'm behind in
lecture material. I've never had a TA tell me that the class they teach was
hard for them too, and the fact that Lucie did that made me feel so much
better about not getting it right away. The way she ran office hours was
nice. I like the way she broke down and diagrammed concepts from lecture
with examples before going to breakout rooms. I also really like how she
helped people debug only by looking at Valgrind errors and output. It made
it possible to learn from other people's experiments and avoid common
mistakes without looking at their code. When she did have breakout rooms she
always stayed for a long time to make sure all my questions were answered
and I had a plan of action for the rest of the lab.
Lucie from the beginning was always super helpful in empowering you to
understand the material through asking questions that helped lead you to
understand what exactly was going on. She also really understood the
material I felt and I appreciated that. Thank you!
Lucie is so amazing! I'm awed by her in depth knowledge with the course
material. Super helpful in explaining complex topics
Lucie was amazing! She got me through some really tough spots in AP this
semester. She is kind, a great teacher, patient, understanding, and honestly
one of the best TAs I have ever had.
I went to Lucie's office hours starting the first week of class. She was
always calm and approachable. She explained topics that I did not understand
through the use of diagrams and examples. I appreciated her patience
(sometimes it took me a few examples to understand). I went to her office
hours less over zoom but the ones I did attend over zoom were very helpful.
Lucie is amazing! She explains everything very clearly and is so kind and
patient and truly wants you to learn.
Thank you Lucie for such thorough, in depth comments. I'm always learning
when I go through even the most questions of problems with you.
I met all of the TAs in office hours at some point, but Lucie helped me so
much. She's kind and genuine. She gives me space to explain my thought
process. She's very good at using diagrams and writing things down, so I
didn't feel lost even if I spaced out for a bit. She always knows exactly
what to explain and how to explain it.
Lucie is a gem. She's really positive and encouraging without being annoying
or overly enthusiastic. I appreciated her gentle and focused guidance in
office hours and her awesome collaborative file I/O review session. I really
liked how she always defined terms and drew diagrams before explaining
anything complicated, so everyone could follow what she was saying. I also
appreciated how much she cared about students on a personal level. She
helped me go over pointers again and again until I got it right. She told me
about how difficult she found AP when she took it, and helped me understand
the rationale behind the difficulty of the class and Jae's teaching style.
Honestly, I can see why everyone talks about her on Confessions, she's
really lovely
Lucie was one of the TAs I always made sure to go to. Not just for help on
programming assignments, but also exam review and questions about concepts
because she was always willing to explain with diagrams and drawings. She
didn't judge any question and was willing to explain and answer anything
related!
Extremely helpful review sessions and lots of helpful diagrams. I learned a
lot from each session and Lucie frequently stayed late to answer questions,
which is VERY much appreciated!
Icon. Queen. A visionary. I was always excited to see how she would
draw/sketch out a new concept from whatever material we were learning at the
time. She has a gift for explaining and illustrating the material.
Lucie is very kind, approachable, knowledgeable, and always willing to help!
Lucie I would die for you. You’re so smart and never made me feel bad when i
asked dumb questions. Thanks for all your help!!!
Catherine Chu
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Very communicative when I emailed her. Office hours once we went remote were
not convenient
All her review sessions and emails are enthusiastic! I love her energy.
Cat was a great TA. Her best attribute was being able to understand the
question being asked of her. At times it's difficult for students to
communicate where their misunderstanding comes from, but she didn't get
frustrated, and took her time to explain concepts. She would have benefitted
from learning how to draw out concepts via Zoom, but she was always nice.
Always very personable and helpful! <3
Catherine is by far one of the most approachable TAs, which says a lot,
considering that all of them are very sweet. She makes talking about AP
material less intimidating.
I only started going to her virtual hours, but she was so helpful and
willing to explain concepts and ideas, and was super helpful in breakout
rooms make you feel comfortable with your code so you can keep going!
Excellent TA!
Most of my assignments were graded by Catherine, and on the rare occasion I
had a dispute or question, she was always extremely responsive and cleared
things up very quickly. I appreciate the promptness on my lab 9 dispute,
especially with finals. Congrats again on the Andrew Kosoresow Teaching
Award!
Amazing at what she does and you can tell that she loves her job!! Super
lively and supportive!
Super approachable and knowledgeable! Great at conducting review sessions.
So smart and intelligent and you explain things so well!!! What a rockstar
Maria Kogan
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Maria was so happy to always help!
AHHH MARIA!!! - ALSO ALSO THE BEST!!!!! Maria has helped me so much with
getting through AP. Also, I always look forward to going to her OH because
she is so approachable and easy to talk to. She has helped me so much with
figuring out the fundamental misunderstanding I had with my code, and
explaining to me why it was wrong or what the right thing to do was instead.
She is so incredibly INTELLIGENT and KIND, and so so helpful. Thank you
for staying long after your OHs ended to help as many people as possible, so
grateful for the extra time and help you put in. You're the best! Also,
MARIA is one of the COOLEST PEOPLE, hope we become better friends next year.
-BIG MARIA FAN
Maria is a great TA who spent a lot of time during the hack-a-thon trying to
locate a problem with my code. She was always positive and took her time
with debugging by explaining each error or what she thought was going wrong.
She is very approachable and gave me great advice about class registration.
Maria is a great TA over Zoom. She was encouraging and understood the
material.
A thoroughbred computer science. Pure mastery. 10x TA. Love her
I only started going to her virtual hours, but she was extremely
knowledgable and so friendly. I just remember one time office hours were
extremely crowded, but she stayed a long time after her hours ended to make
sure everyone was helped.
I attended Maria's review sessions and they were exceptionally well
conducted. Although rare, I really appreciated the time she took to look
through errors when they came up. Thanks a lot for great reviews sessions!
Literally the sweetest TA!! Goes above and beyond in making sure that you
feel comfortable with the material! She always made me feel less lost.
Maria is very approachable, knowledgeable, and kind! Always there to listen
and help.
Hans Montero
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Very helpful during the hackathon!
Hans made me feel like crying. He approaches you without regard of your
emotions or understanding/self-awareness of the way he delivers
explanations. He would only talk to you if you understood everything before
speaking to him, otherwise it was difficult to receive help. The reason why
we are at office hours is because we don't understand something or sometimes
big concepts. He should work on empathy, which is a huge part of being a
teacher/teacher's assistant.
Eh. Too memey
He made me cry. He was consistently rude and I, along with other students,
purposefully avoided attending his office hours unless absolutely necessary.
He was not approachable in the slightest, and was often times condescending.
He never actually helped me understand anything - in fact, he would most
times tell me to “just google it”. Thank goodness that I did not feel too
defeated, and luckily sought support from the other amazing bunch of AP TAs.
I don’t understand his choice in being a TA for the class if he doesn’t
actually want to help students understand the material??? When asking about
concepts and trying to connect the dots of lectures, he did not help to make
anything clearer and would often make me feel “less than” which is beyond
unfortunate. I’ve learned a lot in this course - no thanks to Hans.
Kent Hall
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Kent is really nice, and is great at pointing out problems in my code to
help me debug things. Although I was a little nervous approaching him at
first, he ended up being one of the friendliest TAs. His review sessions are
really good. He somehow manages to explain an hour's worth of material
completely in 20 minutes, yet I don't feel lost.
The only TA with the name of a building on campus!
Kent was a great TA! I went to his office hours every Monday. He helped me
understand how to breakdown the labs into steps instead of trying to attempt
the entire problem at once. I really appreciated his patience and the time
he spent helping me.
Kent, another amazing TA. Kent's only downfall is being unable to draw
structures out. Maybe that's not his teaching style, but sometimes drawings
do help students. Kent is a great programmer and was always willing to look
at your code in physical/virtual office hours. He was willing to slow down
the steps for you, and break down the lab spec. He is one of the nicest TAs
as well, and I never felt dumb for asking him any questions.
Kent's comments during lecture are very helpful and succinct enough that I
don't get lost trying to read and understand them. He also gives you the
time and space to try and explain what your problem is during office hours.
Thanks Kent ٩(^ᴗ^)۶
Kent was an excellent TA! He really took the time with everyone at office
hours to explain concepts and help with programming assignments. He would
take the time to explain thoroughly. Super helpful and super knowledgable!
Such an amazing TA!! Always ready to help and actually dedicates time to
help you understand every detail.
Stanley Ye
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Very helpful in understanding concepts with the labs. Thank you for the
overtime you put into your office hours!
I didn't find Stanley very helpful. At the beginning of the semester, it
sometimes felt like he hadn't read the lab specs so he sometimes gave me
wrong advice. His way of communicating on the listserv was also a little
weird, and he often didn't really answer the question the person was asking.
I have only been to Stanley's hours a couple times and worked with him
during the hackathon, but he was extremely helpful and a great TA!
Brennan McManus
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Brennan is a nice TA. I enjoyed his last review session with a slideshow
deck from a previous TA. He also drew diagrams over Zoom, which is a great
skill. He may get flustered when encountered with a frustrated student. It's
clear he understands the material.
Whoops thought this was Spencer
Brennan was an excellent TA. I only started going to his virtual hours and
review sessions, but I just remember a time when hours weren't super busy,
so he really took the time to help me understand the concept we were dealing
with in the lab, which was so helpful. He was very approachable and helpful
and even talked about the future of CS at Columbia which was super helpful.
Benjamin Most
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Ben would benefit from being more sociable with students. He was a better TA
over Zoom, but it was hard to connect with him.
Worried about him. Last time I saw him it looked like he was trapped in a
warehouse.
Ben was really helpful and willing to answer many different types of
questions. He was very approachable and was a great TA!
Lauren Ogden
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Lauren was really helpful and willing to explain concepts and guide you
through the labs!