(Part 2) Best products from r/ucla

Personally, I use one of these

It serves a dual purpose of weeding out the girls who won't go on an adventure to "obtain a view" ;)

You can get it all off Amazon or if you want you can buy them from these guys.

https://www.amazon.com/Safety-Works-817691-Economical-Glasses/dp/B000BO6RWK/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1466305366&sr=8-10&keywords=safety+glasses

https://www.amazon.com/Student-Lab-Notebook-Spiral-duplicate/dp/1930882742/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466305354&sr=8-1&keywords=carbon+copy+lab+notebook

https://www.amazon.com/Bulwark-Flame-Resistant-Cotton-Collar/dp/B0078QUK6I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466305343&sr=8-1&keywords=bulwark+coat

I took CS 31 last quarter with Smallberg, so not sure how similar the class logistics are compared to Stahl, but the grading seems the same.

For us, the midterm was is divided into two parts, with midterm 1 being 35 points and midterm 2 being the other 65 points. I felt really sick while taking the first midterm, so I ended up not finishing and got a 10/35, while the class average was a 30. However, I did significantly better on the second midterm; I got a 52/65, which meant my total midterm score was a 62/100.
I still passed with a B, but my project average was proabbly about an 80ish (got a 90-100 on all of them except one which I got a 50ish on and turned one of them in super late so it went from a 95 to a 70. Also, I got an 88/100 on the final, which I thought to be much easier than the midterms.

So even if you do not do that well on the midterm, if you do okay on the projects and final, I think you should be able to pass with at least a C. I also heard that the averages for CS 31 are lower in the winter and spring because there are less CS majors, etc., so there’s that to take into account as well. The class averages for almost everything when I took it was a 90 something.

To add, I did have a little programming experience in a formal setting since I took two introductory Python courses at the university I transferred from. However, I got a B for the first course, which was supposedly easy with the professor I had (almost 50% of the class got A’s), and failed the second one horribly, so I wouldn’t say that I had much programming experience nor was I that good at it in the first place. In my opinion, I think that Python differs vastly from C++, so when I took Cs 31 it felt like I was starting to learn CS with no programming experience at all.

What helped me personally while taking CS 31 was reading the textbook, which might not be of help to you since most people didn’t bother looking at it, but reading through it and understanding the examples in there was useful to me. Also, I went to TA office hours a lot while working on my projects and that cut down my time wokring on them, and I think they are very helpful; I understood some of their explanations of concepts more than Smallberg’s. Other than that, I just paid attention to every lecture and discussion. Try going to discussion sections, too. My TA had us work in groups, too, which I thought was helpful.

Currently taking CS 32 and CS 35L right now and I think that getting through CS 31 was harder. So far, the material is not too difficult to understand and every assignment/midterm was pretty easy for me, although they do take a lot of time.

Edit: My bad, just checked my email for my grades, and I got a 98 on the final, not an 88. Also, I forgot to say that I also worked out every problem in this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Practice-Problems-Beginners-Moving-Beyond/dp/0998544000

It was suggested by Smallberg and was written by a professor who taught CS 31 at UCLA before. The problems in the book are similar to the code writing problems in the midterm/final.

If anyone is still looking around for audio advice, I have one word for you: Grado.

Seriously, for under $100, the only thing better than these are these (both of which you can find for cheaper if you look around).

It depends what your workout is. If its body weight and not in the gym then you could probably just go to Drake Stadium and workout there without headphones. There are dip bars and pull up bars in the back of the track area. If you want to be in the gym and don't want to spend a lot on headphones these are decent cheap ones that I work out with:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0753GRNQZ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The price is usually 17-18$ if you want to wait for a sale.

A sleeping mask is another (probably cheaper) option.

If you're willing to carry it around, a midsize scooter is both faster and more maneuverable than a skateboard or longboard. I use one of these and can get from Rieber Terrace to La Kretz in about 10 minutes. The downhill speed when compared to a board is much higher since you can break much later.

"I dont want to do the CS major as it seems too bureaucratic and without direct application in the employment sector" uh what? CS has a very direct application, which is software engineering or algorithm development. Both are essential in industry. Really confused by what you mean by "too bureaucratic"

1. If you're looking to get employed in software look at Cracking the Coding Interview
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-Questions/dp/098478280X
   
   
2. Take CS111 as well, you will probably get asked operating system concepts during your interviews

Econ 106V with Rojas. Textbook: Investments 10e

Completely unnecessary textbook. The problem is that the textbook wasn't integrated into the class at all. Its only use was for access to the bullshit Mcgraw Hill online homework, which was barely correlated to what we were learning in class. $125 for online access by itself. A total ripoff. Definitely smelled like some sort of collusion. There was even a publisher rep that came to class on the first day and lied to us about a free trial period for the online access.

To be fair, Rojas, while not the most engaging professor, has very complete and organized presentations and lectures. There was very little need for the book other than as an optional additional resource for students.

I'm mostly pissed off about the increasing use of these online homework sites which are even more overpriced, mandatory for every student, and nontrasferable so students can't save any money by buying used or sharing.