Week 6

This week, we wrapped up proofs in lecture and I believe that I finally have a decent understanding of proofs. I find the tutorials very useful with helping me stay up to date with course material and the quizzes reinforce my understanding of each week's material. I was also very pleased with my mark from assignment one. I received a higher mark than I had anticipated, even though I had started to work on the assignment very late. Assignment two appears to be more difficult, and I will be sure to start working on it after I'm done with my midterms. Another thing that I found interesting this week in class was the problem that we worked on during Friday's class. The mini problems that professor Heap assigns us every once in a while always pique my interest and have me thinking in abstract ways to try to find a solution.

Week 5

Proofs, proofs and proofs, this week of classes was all about proofs, and boy am I feeling confused. Every class I will sit and listen attentively to try and understand and follow along professor Heap developing the proofs, but somehow I still find it very hard to understand. On the slightly brighter side, I received my midterm marks and did better than I had anticipated. One thing I was shocked by was how high the average was, however. The average of a whopping 83% really diminished how well I actually did. This weekend I will allocate one day just to try and understand CSC165 proofs.

Week 4

With a blink of an eye we are already halfway in the semester. This was my busiest week of the school year so far, with two midterms and an assignment all on the same day. Because I spent so much time studying for my economics midterm and assignment, I wasn't able to spend too much time studying for the CSC165 midterm. Luckily, I was caught up with the course because of the weekly tutorials and exercises. I did manage to practice with the sample midterm and I am glad I did. The first question of the midterm, which accounted for a large portion of the midterm, was very similar to the sample midterm, to my pleasant surprise. However, I do regret not reviewing the assignment, as I struggled with the final question of the midterm about using venn diagrams to prove and disprove two similar but different statements.

This following week will pose a great challenge to me as proving things are one of my weaker skills. I believe that this is because I don't fully understand most statements before I try to find a prove for them. While I do have another computer science course midterm this week, I must allocate ample time to review the slides from the lectures I missed the previous week.

Week 3

Around weeks three and four is when classes start becoming difficult. As dates for midterms and assignments for every course all accumulate to this mid-October period, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage time effectively for every course. CSC165 is no exception. The deadline for Assignment one is tonight, October 3rd, while the midterm will be 5 days later on the 8th, which is conveniently also the day that I have another midterm and assignment for other courses due as well. One of the most important things one learns in university, I believe, is time management skills. It is up to each individual to distribute their time according to their priorities, and these next weeks will be a great challenge.

Assignment 1 was fortunately not as daunting as I had anticipated, and with the help of my two diligent partners and an extremely helpful forum, we were able to complete it with not much problem. I am actually confident that we will achieve a good mark. As I mentioned earlier, weeks 3 and 4 are especially hard for CSC165 because it is also the time when we start learning proofs. Proving things are one of my weakest points and also what ultimately led me to drop CSC165 the first time I took the course. As much as I would like to understand them, I find proofs extremely confusing. I must review class material and seek help the following weeks in order to prevent another fallout.

Week 2

During the second and third weeks of CSC165 I learned and understood many new things.  In lectures we talked about quantifiers, sentences and symbols, conjunctions and disjunctions, and implications. Although I very much so enjoyed and understood the lectures, I was caught off guard by how difficult I found the week 2 tutorial exercise. There are so many scenarios that I must consider before writing down a final answer that I often find myself lost. I still feel rather uncertain about the course materials at this point, but I think that with a bit more review, I will be caught up. I greatly enjoyed lectures this week and look forward to learning more things the following week.

Week 1

    Two weeks into the course and CSC165 has once again gotten me confused but yet piqued my interest. What always amazes me about this course is how simple everyday words we speak is capable of having so many arbitrary definitions which are often overlooked. With more logical reasoning behind the day-to-day communication, I am constantly becoming more aware of the imprecision of our words.

    As I mentioned earlier, this is in fact my second time taking CSC165. I remember my experience from the first time around being quite similar; engaged by the multitude of meanings behind ordinary sentences. Unfortunately, proofs being one of my weaker points, I decided to drop the course when this section had started in spite of doing well in the earlier chapters. I am determined to staying on top of the material this time around and dealing with problems as they come along in order to achieve a good grade and continue to learn about logical reasoning.