TESC Discrete Math Incase You're Wondering About It

[jam123]

I am taking Discrete Math at TESC right now and thought I would share my experiences in case anyone needs it for their degree. The discussions and written assignments are all even numbered exercises from the book. If you read the book you will do fine on these exercises. The solutions manual is awesome. If I have trouble with an exercise, usually there is an odd numbered exercise very similar. I can open the solutions manual and get a step by step answer to odd numbered questions then apply that to the even numbered question. If all else fails you can almost always find the answers on the Internet. The midterm was an open-book, locally proctored exam with 25 multiple choice questions (yes!) and lasted three hours. I only needed ~75 minutes and I think I aced it. I took a calculator but really did not use it. The question topics went in the same order as they appeared in the book. This helps because you don't have to go back and forth in the book. I only spent one day studying because I had 4 proctored midterms that week. My studying was just going through all my written assignments and the discussion forums. I also highlighted key text in the book. All I can say is do every exercise you are given and you will learn.

Background. I was really nervous about this class because I needed to take 4 classes this semester (COS-241, COS-330, COS-352, MAT-270) to graduate in September. A lot of posts made it seem very difficult. Some said take it first and if you fail switch degrees. I took Calculus I ~25 years ago at a B&M. I recently took Calculus II at Straighterline which was very hard for me. I also took Intro to Statistics via Aleks. So that's the limit of my math. I have been a programmer for 18 years so some of the logic, counting and some other aspects of Discrete Math came more easily. Having done Aleks Intro to Statistics really helped as well because Discrete Math has section(s) on probability.

I hope this will help someone down the road. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

Later

[ryoder]

Thanks a lot for the review. Did they allow you to use proctorU for the midterm?

[jam123]

The midterm had to be a local proctor. The final is not proctored.

[pawl]

Did you take the guided study or online version of the class?

[jam123]

I took the online version of the class. Lucky that I did as I will need that extra 10% of discussion grades to help my GPA. Well the class is evidently harder than I thought. I only used 75 of the 180 minutes allowed for the midterm and I actually thought I aced the 24 multiple choice questions. I just found out 4 weeks after taking the midterm that I only got a 75. Yikes! It is so frustrating to get a bad grade and not be able to know why. There's no feedback on midterms that I can find. The instructor said they will mail me a feedback card but who knows when I will get it. A month after the class is over? At this point I can only hope for a B in the class.

[ryoder]

That is what I expected Jam. These TESC courses are setup to rely on excellent homework grades to pull the student through in my opinion. I aced the computer architecture mid-term but got an 80% or so on the final. Luckily I still had my strong homework and discussion question grades at 100% to keep my A in the class.

[Outis]

That is what I expected Jam. These TESC courses are setup to rely on excellent homework grades to pull the student through in my opinion. I aced the computer architecture mid-term but got an 80% or so on the final. Luckily I still had my strong homework and discussion question grades at 100% to keep my A in the class.

To anyone who has taken this course --- does it cover algorithms at all? I see on the syllabus that it covers:

Module 1: The Foundations: Logic and Proofs
Module 2: Sets, Functions, Sequences, Sums, and Induction
Module 3: Counting Rules and Discrete Probability
Module 4: Recursion, Advanced Counting, and Graphing Models
Module 5: Trees
Module 6: Boolean Algebra and Logic Gates

[balls055]

I am taking Discrete Math at TESC right now and thought I would share my experiences in case anyone needs it for their degree. The discussions and written assignments are all even numbered exercises from the book. If you read the book you will do fine on these exercises. The solutions manual is awesome. If I have trouble with an exercise, usually there is an odd numbered exercise very similar. I can open the solutions manual and get a step by step answer to odd numbered questions then apply that to the even numbered question. If all else fails you can almost always find the answers on the Internet. The midterm was an open-book, locally proctored exam with 25 multiple choice questions (yes!) and lasted three hours. I only needed ~75 minutes and I think I aced it. I took a calculator but really did not use it. The question topics went in the same order as they appeared in the book. This helps because you don't have to go back and forth in the book. I only spent one day studying because I had 4 proctored midterms that week. My studying was just going through all my written assignments and the discussion forums. I also highlighted key text in the book. All I can say is do every exercise you are given and you will learn.

Background. I was really nervous about this class because I needed to take 4 classes this semester (COS-241, COS-330, COS-352, MAT-270) to graduate in September. A lot of posts made it seem very difficult. Some said take it first and if you fail switch degrees. I took Calculus I ~25 years ago at a B&M. I recently took Calculus II at Straighterline which was very hard for me. I also took Intro to Statistics via Aleks. So that's the limit of my math. I have been a programmer for 18 years so some of the logic, counting and some other aspects of Discrete Math came more easily. Having done Aleks Intro to Statistics really helped as well because Discrete Math has section(s) on probability.

I hope this will help someone down the road. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.

Later

SO can they even ask multiple choice questions for a discrete math course ??? :/

how does that even work lolz.

can you give an example ...Im curious.