Advanced Topics in Algorithms

Advanced algorithms is known to be one of the most complicated courses in the School of Computer Science and Engineering. However, I was not aware of this before taking the module. I wanted to take it because I was curious as to what it would be like and what concepts would be covered.

Some topics dealt with in the module include function complexity analysis, lower bounds, complexity theory, reductions and dynamic programming theory in the first half, and computational geometry including Graham Scan and Jarvis March on a convex hull and maximum flow problem for flow networks in the second half.

The topics in the first half all seemed very vague to me and I was having a lot of difficulty in understanding them. I also found the explanation of the course instructor insufficient and lacking in terms of providing more information than what was printed on the lecture material. It felt like the lectures were only for reading the lecture material and not for understanding it. I was very worried about how I would make it through the module given the situation.

The assessment would be conducted using 5 quizzes out of which the best four would be considered for final grading. The quizzes were spaced evenly through the semester with one quiz being held every two weeks. This pattern had its pros and cons- the pro was that only recently discussed content would be tested making the studying lighter, but the con was that the quizzes would be very frequent giving very little time to prepare in between each quiz.

As I had somewhat expected, the three quizzes of the first half all went quite badly as I was lacking enough understanding on the topics despite my best efforts. Of course, I did not fail but I did not perform well either. So I was determined to make up in the second half, or at least in other modules or my semester GPA would drop severely if I got below a B- grade. Although I was half-prepared to see a C for this module, I had never had such a concern before since that was the minimum grade I had ever scored in the previous three years of university.

But I was extremely relieved to see that the topics in the second half were much better explained and much more intuitive to understand and follow. The lectures were extremely informative with many quiz-format questions discussed and their solutions provided for reference. I performed very well in both the quizzes, I even scored full marks in one of them.

Overall I did manage to score a B as the final grade, preventing a large drop in my CGPA. But I decided not to focus on the grade and focus more on the effort and hard work I put into creating that grade. I was proud of myself for not giving up and putting in my best effort until the last moment.