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Grad Algos (GA Tech CS 6515) Advice from a Grad
This is an out of place page for this site which is ostensibly about students getting deals and discounts.
If you’re an OMSCS Graduate Algorithms (GA) grad, please make a comment with any additional information I may have missed or any feedback. I will incorporate selected posts into the main content.
I was talking to a couple GA students taking it this Fall 2024 semester. I started writing them two separate emails and decided to make this page instead to share what I wrote and expand on it:
My #1 advice for Graduate Algorithms — Start Early
Start early—ideally, a couple of weeks before the semester begins. Focus on studying dynamic programming from the book, and make sure you understand the problems at the end of Chapter 6. Even if you don’t know how to solve them right away, simply understanding what the questions are asking is crucial. Many students lose significant points on exams because they misinterpret the questions. By practicing over and over and getting a head start on the material, you’ll develop an important skill: interpreting questions and problems effectively. You might not have all the answers upfront, but knowing how to read and understand the questions will give you a valuable edge.
One of the best things you can do is find someone who’s taking the course for the second time and join their study group. It’s helpful to have a diverse group with varying skill levels—more on that later. Second-time students know the ins and outs of the course and can help you navigate the details, allowing you to focus more on mastering the theory and concepts.
Each week, aim to complete your work early so you can start studying for the next week ahead of time. Don’t fall into the habit of scrambling late Sunday night—it’s stressful, and by that time, your study group may be wrapping up. If you tend to procrastinate, find others who work the same way and team up—you can all share in the Sunday night grind together! 🤣
Learn to Love the Book
I assume they’re using the same book, the “DPV Algorithms” book by Sanjoy Dasgupta, Christos Papadimitriou and Umesh Vazirani.
No More Sunday Night Sessions
I’ll maybe say more about my multiple attempts at GA later, suffice it to say, I’ve been exposed to a lot of GA. Here’s my #1 advice in three pieces:
Do NOT work on the assignments late. Working late on Sunday night is just a morale killer.
Do NOT start on Sunday! At minimum, on the first day the assignment opens, read the directions.
Get done early so you can study ahead for the next week.
More Advice for Graduate Algorithms Newbs
Get started early, did I say that?
Form a study group early. Ideally you have made friends at GA Tech and you are entering Graduate Algos with a friend or two. This is the ideal basis for a study group.
Expand this study group to 5-6 people. While an actively managed study group can handle IMO up to 10-12 members (we did) it takes time to manage such a group.
Decide early if your group is chat-only, I recommend weekly meetings.
At each meeting students can present their solutions in turn for discussion in the group.
Even if a student doesn’t have a solution, they should present their understanding of the problem.
Not everyone needs this structure, some people can just do it on their own, with no study group.
If that’s you, you’re probably not reading this anyways.
Joves’ Notes are Gone Forever
There used to be a Google doc given to the GA classes, it was called “Joves’ Notes.”
I’ll steal a snippet from Reddit:
If you find yourself being offered a previous version of the notes, please report it to the class immediately. If you are a student from a previous semester, you should know these Notes were not meant to be saved or copied and any subsequent use is no longer allowed.
Joves’ Notes were fantastic. They showed well formatted solutions for every practice problem given while Joves was a student in Grad Algos. Then he shared them, and they became famous. Too famous that they became infamous, and to my perception, a number of students were sent to OSI for copying solutions from them.
My GA History
OK here’s my story. Granted I was dealing with medical issues each time I tried GA. Having said that, try to finish GA the first time you try it, LOL. I was in the Fall 22 class, the last class if I recall that got Joves’ Notes.
I finished the semester but due to some non-OMSCS related setbacks I only got a C. I tried it again in the Spring, but dropped after Exam 2 because I had biffed hard on Exam 1. I then went back in the Fall, 2023, and finished with a B and got my MSCS degree. I haven’t looked back LOL.
“You Can Do It”
I think generally people can do what they set their mind to. Having said that, they often drastically underestimate the time it takes to accomplish something that is really hard. GA, for many people, is a really hard class. Having a positive attitude is, how do they say it? Necessary, but not sufficient.
In progress, I’ll write more about this, and I want to talk about why you shouldn’t depend on the final exam to save you.
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