Course was dry until the midway point. Expect to spend 12 hours a week on it. For the open-book quiz prep, take the small quizzes on the bottom of each explore page, they’re a close reflection of the module quiz. Ignore the 3 day extension like it doesn’t exist. The mock interview was a typed response to a simple leetcode problem and the final opened Sunday of final’s week with 3 days to complete.

Submitted Sun Mar 15 2026

The modules made this course much more difficult. They were not very well made and could be hard to understand at times. They also skipped over a lot of steps in the process of finding a solution, which I found frustrating because I was not always able to follow the logic of the algorithm without it being broken down. I relied heavily on external resources such as Abdul Bari's YouTube videos to learn the concepts. Otherwise, the assignments were difficult but fair, and the exams were similar. The professor is extremely kind.

Submitted Mon Mar 24 2025

Generally, I liked the structure of the class. As of Winter 25, there is still an assignment and a quiz just about every week. For the assignments, there is a grace period of three days which was really nice. One midterm and one final which are both proctored as well. My biggest frustration was, similar to another commenter, that the modules were most definetly written by someone whose first language is not English. To many times did I have to reread and try to interpret what information was being conveyed because of confusion, not on the actual topic at hand, but simply the syntax of the English language. If I recall correctly, there were times it seemed like there was information in the module that was directly contradicting itself... sometimes in the same sentence! Honestly, this could probably be very easily fixed by throwing each module into ChatGPT, prompting it to refine it into something that is easy to read in English and maybe having it reviewed by someone whose first language is English. Really frustrating that despite paying thousands of dollars for these courses through a university no less, this is the level of quality we get. On top of that, this is the quality we get for such a consequential topic of all things... unreal. Top employers are known to ask questions about these topics specifically. Otherwise, the class was fine. I probably overly dramatized how bad the grammar is. Also, Abdul Bari is your friend.

Submitted Mon Mar 17 2025

This class covers really good concepts, but teaches them in the most god awful way possible. This class has a format of one homework assignment and one quiz every week. There's a proctored midterm and final as well, and a couple very simple group projects that shouldn't have really been group projects since there's no collaboration to do. This class is covering very math-heavy topics, and complicated things like dynamic programming, things that most people can't learn very quickly without help. The modules are written by someone who clearly doesn't have a grasp of the English language, they assume you remember every math concept, and the provided examples rarely match what you see on the homework. The homework solutions are easily found online, but that won't save you on the exams. I recommend doing your best to learn the first few weeks material the most, and for the exams, write down literally every algorithm example onto that paper in the smallest font possible so you fit it all.

Submitted Fri Oct 25 2024

I'm suspicious they've dialed back the difficulty of this course over the years. I went into it expecting the biggest challenge yet, but it wasn't that bad in reality. Like everyone says, the first two weeks suck, but there's really not that much math. The assignments usually have only 2-3 questions, and the programming questions are LC problems. You can find plenty of walkthroughs diagramming the problems, and a decent amount of them have pseudocode provided that you can cite and use. Also, the exams were easier than the HW assignments. Start the assignments early, fill out your cheat sheets on the exams, and you can get a high A. This class combines the concepts of 261 and 225, but the amount of work they ask you to do could be so much worse than it is.

Submitted Thu Jun 20 2024

Be on time, start assignments early. The first weeks are the hardest ones, don't let this discourage you. I highly recommend relying on outside sources, such as Grokking Algorithms (book) or the infamous Abdul Bari (youTube). Don't worry if you don't get the exploration materials, at some point I just skimmed them and didn't bother wasting time anymore trying to understand them. Throw everything on your study sheet that fits while you are still able to read it. I didn't add only code, also theoretical sections outlining the differences between all the individual algorithms, time complexities, etc.

Submitted Tue Jun 04 2024

Be consistent, don't stress about learning everything, and study for the tests. I am taking this as my 13th class in the program, and I think it is one of the easier ones in terms of time commitment and effort. I feel like the ratings for this class are misleading.

Submitted Mon May 13 2024

Students tend to exaggerate the level of difficulty of this class. While I agree that the exams were tough, they were certainly fair! Anyone who spends a few hours studying for them, or at least watches the review session and makes their own cheatsheet will be fine. I am terrible at implementing algorithms, and frankly I'm not the best at programming in general, and I managed get out with an A. Do not stress out about understanding everything from the start, finish your assignments on time (grace days are nice but you might fall behind) and give yourself ample time for the quizzes (only 2 attempts allowed). You're gonna do great!

Submitted Sat Mar 30 2024

Less hours spent per week than 261, but the hours are more painful. Difficulty is sorta consistent throughout the term. Homework can finished in 1 good day. What makes this class hard is exams are worth 40% of your grade so it's challenging to land a solid A, but if you just want to pass, its easy peasy. Course materials are probably the worst in the program but there's great resources online, I recommend skimming the modules for the topics, looking at outside resources and then coming back to the modules to see if you missed anything.

Submitted Fri Mar 22 2024

The modules aren't great at explaining the concepts, but there are plenty of resources available online. The assignments aren't terrible - there is enough time to figure things out with outside resources and get perfect or near-perfect scores. The exams are ridiculous, however. Exams are proctored, only one sheet, single-sided notes allowed. No scratch paper, but a whiteboard is allowed. Final is cumulative. Exams will often use strange wording for concepts, making it difficult to know what the right answer is. Know the differences between big O, big Theta, and big Omega, and know them well. And be able to describe them in different ways (upper bound, lower bound, etc). Learn P vs NP vs NP-Complete complexity classes and be able to describe them. I wouldn't say it's hard to pass this class, but the exams make it really difficult to keep that A.

Submitted Mon Dec 11 2023