This semester finally ended! Time to share what courses I took this term. Which courses are worth taking multiple times, which to avoid—consider this information sharing! This share isn’t limited to just this semester’s courses, since I didn’t know how to blog before.
The following is personal opinion—please don’t choose courses based solely on my reviews. What seems easy to me doesn’t mean it’s easy for you, and what seems hard to me isn’t necessarily really hard. So please gather multiple opinions and follow your own interests when selecting courses.
Required Courses
Calculus — Deng Junhao
The professor teaches very earnestly, and I’ve heard the instruction is good. Why “heard”? Because I never attended class. The professor said: “I won’t fail you just because you don’t come to class.” Basically, pass the exams and you’re good. But since this semester started teaching entirely in English, I don’t know if the difficulty has changed. Personally, the difficulty isn’t high, but there’s a lot of homework—about 200 problems per exam, mostly dirty work. I’d recommend students from other departments not take this—you won’t have time for homework. For department juniors… you can’t escape this. If you want to coast through, study ahead during winter/summer break. Finish early, relax early (that’s how I passed). Even so, you’ll see many upperclassmen in Calculus II—reasons unknown, probably good courses are worth taking repeatedly.
Linear Algebra — Xie Bowen
This course is hard! Super hard! The class is basically all about proofs—not just matrix operations and eigenvalue calculations. If time allows, every theorem gets proven in class, so you understand the origins of all this abstract stuff, and learn how to communicate with spirits. Taking lecture notes is a must: one reason is you might not have material to study at home since the professor doesn’t follow the textbook (and you won’t want to read it anyway); second reason is they need to be submitted at the end of term. If you fail but have notes submitted… he might treat you to Haidilao, no wait, he might fish you out from the depths. Apparently he pulls up people whose scores were 30-40 on average! Don’t be afraid of failing or withdrawing—he might fish you out. Though if you’re concerned about GPA, that’s a different story.
Data Structures — Guo Zhi-en
Super chill! You can get the grade, and if you pay attention you can actually learn something—assuming you have absolutely zero background. If you already know something and want to actually learn, I’d recommend taking Data Structures from the CS department, but if you’re in our department, ask the office about credit transfers. This course has four exams total: two quizzes (20% each), midterm (25%), final (25%)—basically means taking four midterms. But all the exam papers look exactly like past exam questions. Memorize the answers before the test and scoring high is easy.
Want my past exam questions? If you want them, I can give you all of them. Go look for yourself! I put all the past exams there!
Programming — Peng Guan-ju, Tu Jing-ting
One of the chillest courses, plus I already know it, so it’s extra extra chill. First half of the semester is Peng Guan-ju—class is basically watching videos. Attending is the same as watching at home, except, no—going to class and getting interrupted by break time halfway through, watching at home doesn’t have that problem. My suggestion? Don’t bother going. Second half is Tu Jing-ting, who teaches differently from the first half and takes attendance. When I took this course last year, there were assignments and exams, but this time I heard there are no assignments and weekly quizzes instead. Seems like things keep changing year to year, so this intel isn’t very useful.
Operating Systems — Yan Zeng-chang
Teaches from custom handouts with blanks to fill, so you need to pay attention in class (at least fill in the blanks). He’s one of the more conscientious professors in our department. If you pay attention, you’ll understand everything. But after seeing the dinosaur book, I feel his teaching is superficial—a large portion got cut. He only teaches what’s really important. Three exams per semester, all he says are optional. If the two add up to 180 points, you can skip the final. As for last-minute saves when you almost fail? Submit your notes! I’ve heard submitting can add up to 10 points on the final. If you want to preview my notes, I put them in the notes section.
Computer Organization — Li Pei-ru
This is the most闷 class I’ve taken—physically闷, I mean. I don’t know why I always feel闷 during this class. The air is filled with carbon dioxide, making it impossible to think clearly. Plus the professor’s voice makes people fall asleep directly. So if you want to learn, studying on your own is more efficient. I’d recommend the NTHU Open Courseware—the explanations are very clear. But NTHU uses MIPS, while the professor uses RISC-V, so you’d need to relearn the assembly part yourself. Both midterm and final aren’t easy. The hardest part is being a human compiler—averaging 30-40 points. Be prepared if you take this.
Freshman Chinese — Chen Chang-yuan
A great teacher deserves lifelong recommendation! Class feels like chatting, though it’s one-sided—he just talks. But if you listen carefully, you’ll learn a lot, the kind of life wisdom level, and some ancient people’s ways of thinking. His course only has a final report, self-introduction nine-grid, and the school’s required reading reflections. Sometimes they’ll watch Farewell My Concubine. Really recommend this. Also gives high grades.
Even though it might sound bad, as long as you attend group work and presentations, your grade won’t be bad. Quick, select it!!!!
Freshman English — Lin Jian-guang
There’s a quiz every class, 10 questions, usually findable in the textbook. About every two topics you need to submit a video, content varies by topic. This course isn’t relaxing, but you can feel the professor tries to make it not so boring—teaching assistants lead activities and discussions, though these don’t count toward grades. His grading is transparent—only the final report counts. But my grade in this class wasn’t high, not because my English is bad, just because I didn’t buy the textbook. His exam papers almost all come from the textbook, quizzes and exams alike. The reading comprehension on the final gives you the article but won’t provide the text. I think this design sucks because I can’t get points. Want a high grade? Read the textbook thoroughly! As for how I passed without a textbook? I might be able to communicate with spirits—with spirit communication comes answers.
General Education
Beginning Piano Performance
The prerequisite for this course is knowing how to play piano, even just a little (and by “a little” I mean around Kawai Piano Certification Level 13, not just one-finger-ing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star). Because you can’t learn piano just from class time. This course has two people per electronic piano. Midterm is playing for the teacher, and the final is like a showcase—you perform on stage. Those who already know how to play choose their own songs, while those who don’t have a set range. If you want to choose, pick sections 3 or 4, so you don’t have to help carry the piano, and you can stay and practice after class if you want. As for grades? They must be high, otherwise I wouldn’t recommend them, right?
Other Departments
Introduction to Information Security
This course is required for MIS and CS majors. Most of it covers information security defense—attacks only get briefly taught in TA sessions. Not very useful if you want to be a hacker. It’s all theory—if you want hands-on practice, do it at home, since there are 100+ students in that class. All exams are short-answer questions—though everything’s in the slides, memorizing it all is exhausting. Unless you can get past exams from someone, I don’t recommend this course.