Orrico left halfway through the semester but she was great and a little eccentric which made the class fun to sit through. We had various replacements afterwards, each with their own teaching style which was awful. I'd heard so much about this class being easy, but it was the hardest class I took this semester. Tests are ridiculously difficult, and the questions are insanely harder than any examples used in class. The homework assignments are also difficult because they try to confuse you, which isn't conducive to learning. There's no curve or extra credit, which seems unfair due to the circumstances of having 3+ lecturers in a single semester. Attendance taking is wonky because they only take attendance a few times in the semester and if you attend all classes except for the small few they take attendance in, you fail the attendance portion of the class which is ridiculous.

The class this semester was difficult because there were about five teachers that were brought in to teach the class for this semester. The class itself is not difficult, but there are not that many questions on the exams so you do have to get almost all of them correct or it will have a somewhat big impact on your score for that exam. Make sure to understand all the homework and the unit practices that are given, and the tests are pretty straightforward otherwise. Overall, I think the class should be an easier class, but because of the special circumstances during Fall of 2024, I would not say it was the easiest class for me with the variety of teachers that substituted in after our original teacher left. Otherwise, its an interesting class to take. The only exception to that is if you have a burning hatred for proofs and logic, then I would recommend you to not take this class because half the class if proofs, but they are honestly not too bad. I hate Geometry but found the proofs to be interesting and pretty straightforward once you get a hang of them.

i was in the semester where orrico had to leave and we had a bunch of substitute lecturers instead (it was a bit of a mess bc there was so much going on). before taking it, people said the class was rlly easy, but in my experience some of the concepts can be tricky so don't underestimate them (and i'm a math person). workload wise, it was super light (again, it might be because my semester was an anomaly but it seemed like this is just how the class is in general). if note taking habits matter to u, the homeworks r all mcq in gradescope and i found it easiest to take screenshots and import the questions into a note taking app i could annotate on (makes it easier to check answers w other people if u disagree on something).

If Elizabeth ever decides to teach this class again, I would definitely recommend her. She's a bit eccentric and her teaching style wasn't the most effective for me, but she was so so passionate that it made me more motivated to learn. The subject itself isn't the most interesting but she was always energetic and would make lectures entertaining. Attendance was required but since the slides were pretty confusing I would usually just use lecture time to write my own notes. She encouraged us to use ChatGPT so I used it to explain concepts to me and help with the homework. Grade was made up of groupwork, participation, homework, tests (which were more like quizzes), and the final exam. The homework was the most challenging, tests were slightly easier and based off the homework, and the final exam was the easiest. We were allowed cheat sheets for each test and for the final, and there were also review sessions. The content is pretty simple, it can seem confusing/tricky at first but once you understand it it's pretty easy. I would definitely recommend writing your own notes, but besides that the workload for this class is not bad at all. Elizabeth really cares about her students and wants them all to succeed!

#tCFS24
Reviewing the practice materials and homeworks helped prepare me for the exams. Going to office hours was really helpful, as well as having a group to do and check homeworks with. The material all builds on itself throughout the class and the final was kind of like the 4 exams taken throughout the semester combined.

I wouldn't call this subject an easy A, but it wasn't super difficult either. Lectures were a mixed bag—Elizabeth is a fun professor who often goes on unrelated tangents and rushes to get the content in at the last minute of class, and she overexplains some things, plus the lectures were mandatory (with attendance checks) and I think she forgot to record them a few times. I'd also agree with the other reviewer saying that she really gives a lot of attention to those who participate.
The grading structure doesn't really afford any room to mess up: 2.5% for 8 homeworks each, 12.5% for each of 4 midterms (yes, there is a midterm on the last week of class), 20% for the final, 7% for "participation" (just show up to class), and 3% for in-class group activities (if you were in class to do them, you'll almost certainly get a perfect score for this category). Probably my biggest tip would be to make sure you are confident in every homework answer (e.g. go to office hours and whatnot), because I didn't go to office hours and lost a few points on each assignment, which really added up.
For the midterms (which I feel are medium difficulty), TA review sessions are provided (which could've been better because the TAs seemed out of sync with what the course covered now) as well as practice questions, which had errors and touched on stuff that the course did not cover. The final was much easier than the midterms.
Overall, I think this course is fine if you vibe with the content. #tCFS24

Prof Orrico is one of the most disorganized and all over the place profs I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. Her notes are nonsensical meanderings that are barely legible, lectures are hard to grasp and very poorly put together. Content is not the most difficult, however given the style of the class it can easily become confusing. The grade breakdown consists of mostly exams, which means do poorly on one and it becomes tough to climb back up. I would not take this class with Orrico ever again she genuinely made this class unbearable to take and as much as she parades around as a friendly figure her class is catered towards few students and barely does much for the rest. DO NOT be fooled by the positive reviews from before the class structure was changed. If you must take the class with Oricco make sure you're on top of your assignments, and try your best to absorb the lectures, you can still do pretty well if you try hard enough as like I said before the content is not the worst thing in the world.

This is indefinitely Orrico’s last semester ever teaching, but I felt it necessary to leave her a review. She is genuinely one of the most passionate professors I’ve studied under. She advocates for students and is fairly flexible about test rescheduling as long as you’re timely and kind about it. I've loved our conversations and her willingness to provide advice and insight. This semester saw a lot of controversy over how she handled cheating during exams and on attendance checks. However, I personally am grateful for a professor that takes honor seriously and gives out consequences as needed. I hope it sets a necessary precedent for other professors in the department. As for the class itself, it’s pretty manageable content, and there are a lot of resources available if you don’t understand lectures, including TAs, practice problem sets, and Orrico herself. It’s honestly pretty fun course content, and you'll have a good time if you apply yourself.


#tCFS24

The content isn't interesting, but Prof Orrico tries her best to keep people engaged. The homework can be difficult, but you can work with anyone and you have a week to do them. The content itself can be difficult because it's really different from anything that I've learned before, but going to TA hours helped a lot. The tests are significantly easier than the homework.

The attendance policy was kind of wack (i.e. attendance was MANDATORY), but I think the lectures were helpful for understanding the content, so I didn't skip many.

I'm sad she won't be teaching next semester because she's a good prof and genuinely cares about her students. #tCFS24

just mid overall. orrico is a little quirky but its dismissable. concepts are pretty easy to learn but you should make sure you understand them for quizzes and what not. weekly homework and that's it.