don't take this course asynchronously. if you have no other choice, start learning python right now or else you're going to struggle A LOT. the weekly review sessions help but most of the time you're left to fend for yourself. i'm literally begging all future students to reconsider this course, it's genuinely so hard.

Exams are AWFUL. 50 mins to code 4 separate questions, despite the lab (where you take the exam) going for 2 hrs, and often several definitions in those blocks. Wildly unhelpful, was told to "think about it" after asking a question about a project. Some projects taking more than 30 hrs a week to complete despite me having lots of coding experience

Capable of teaching just chooses not to it feels like, no lectures, just crappy textbook and videos. Also course policies are hyper unreasonable for an introductory class, 1 hour to code four problems on an exam, you have so many projects that your grades in other classes slip and you are still struggling to get a c in this one. 0/5 if I could.

Every week I need to do four assignments. Pre-lab, lab, exercise, and project. Each project spends almost 2 or days and worth almost about 60 credits, and if you lose 100 credits, you will get 3.5, lose for the second 50 credits you will get 3.0 and go on. That means if you want to get a good grade need to finish all the projects and get full score

The class structure is absolutely horrible, because how is it that everytime there is an exam there's no project that week but for the final exam which is the heaviest and most important one, there is a project due and a penalty added at the last minute. This is ridiculous

As a CS major, I would rather touch grass than retake this class. When I asked her about getting credit for one of the mistakes in the exam she told me that her "mistake" wasn't a mistake as there were better academic ways to "trick" us and told me how I should have known the intention behind the question.

It is truly an impressive feat that the professors for CSE 231, including Dr. Zaabar, have accomplished: taking an easy-to-learn concept (Python) and making it a struggle. If you want to do well in this course, you must read the textbook and take thorough notes. You will not do well if you don't understand the concepts taught by the textbook.

It's hard to evaluate Dr. Zaabar because this class is primarily run by the TAs, and most of the content made by professors no longer involved with the course. For an "introduction" class, the exams are unnecessarily difficult and brutal. Be prepared to grind on the projects to absorb the damage from exams. Be sure to pirate the $120 textbook.

Only 3 weeks in, and I already regret it. I read that this was an intro to coding class and thought that this class couldn't be too bad. I was wrong. There are so many assignments with so many tears, I am very new to coding and have received very little help. The only people that teach are the TAs and you receive no feedback from the professor.

By far the worst class I have ever taken. I had no knowledge about coding and took the class because I was interested, but the amount of tears and hours spent on this class not even a month in has not been worth it. Maybe the in person sections are a bit better, but good luck if you have never coded before.

She doesn't give partial credit at all. If your code does everything except print a space wrong or something like that and fails the check, you will get no credit at all. My exam grade dropped off a cliff because I couldn't get it to perfectly do the checks. Not to mention that you have so little time that you have to rush through the exam.

Professor Zaabar is the most inspiring person I've ever met. I mean it. No one has inspired me more to jump off a cliff and kill myself in a slow, antagonising, brutal way than she has. Her unnecessary in-lab quizzes and exam-heavy policy is prob the reason 90% of my class will eat batteries for breakfast, dinner, and lunch. Mission accomplished?

Zaabar has shown up to a couple of my labs. However, she has not actually participated in any of the course content. The review videos are hard to grasp and dragged out, the textbook is absurdly expensive and underutilized, and the quizzes and tests are excessively difficult for the course content taught. The HW projects can take 20+ hours to do.

womp womp, drop this class

Ever wanted to take an intro class that required absolute perfection? No actual grading (or very very minimal) is done on the exams/quizzes, that would require the profs/TA's to actually do something, so it's all auto-graded and must match the instructor results PERFECTLY. A grammar mistake or missing word can take you from a 100% to 0% quiz grade.

I understand this is a weeder class but there should be no reason an intro level CS class should be designed so poorly. The content is completely self taught and mostly online. The weighting is very unnecessary and the professor herself only does review sessions and comes to some labs, and most of the content is taught by TAs.

Imen Zaabar was the worst professor I have ever had. She doesn't teach students at all, TAs do. The worst thing about the class is the unfair grading. Quizzes and tests are all or nothing. You can go from 100% to 0% based on a grammar mistake. This is not an Intro class, it's more about exams than actually learning. Codeo doesn't even let you debug

shes bad. unhelpful, condescending, and makes the class unreasonably hard. for the amount of effort the projects take, they should really be more than 4% of the grade for 12 hours of work.

This is the worst class I have taken in my academic career. my MSU advisor even told me not to take it. Only saw the professor one time, the TA's run her class. The exams are graded so harshly and are weighted at 60%. when the projects are a measly 25%. Do not take this class. Take it at a community college, I wish I listened to my advisor.

i went bald

I don't think this professor wanted many students pass this class, because most people I know, who picked this class all failed in the coding exam.

Prof. Sands and her both make the TA's "teach" all the classes, even though the TA's explicitly said they wouldn't teach the material. The lecture videos only explain the bare minimum and don't help. This class has a lot of homework even though exams are 60% of your final grade. Save yourself and take this class anywhere else. Worst class at MSU.

If you want to 4.0 this class, you either need 2+ years of previous coding experience or you either need to sell your soul.

I'm a 4.0 senior Physics major, and this class just ruined my GPA. It also ruined my hair. Thanks.

Had no python experience and struggled all the way through. I spent all of my free time in the help room, where every TA knows me by name. I understood the material, but the quizzes and exams (totaling 70% of grade) were all or nothing, ruining my grade. She should be more interested in improving the curriculum instead of researching pavement.

The WORST class of MSU. I have over two years of coding experience and yet this class was equivalent to climbing mount everest. the professors aren't teaching at all, and the TAs are useful only in the helproom hours. tbh you cannot score in this class and do not bring your morale down or change your major if you're barely passing this class.

Very unkind to new learners, very tough grader, lots of tough assignments, and so unfortunate to be around. MSU needs to revise this class and not make it so hard for a beginner class. Turns many off of coding as a whole.

Do not take this class. Do not come to this school if you want to study CSE. Please just leave. I am actually losing hair over this class. There is a special place in hell for Imen and I'm not just saying that. She is horrible and deserves the worst. This class is uncompletable. Look up the grade distribution for this class.

I got a 4.0 in this class. Because of her, I transferred out from MSU. The whole CS department is a joke here, especially because of her. Thank you, Imen, for your great effort in prompting me to leave this university! Not to even mention her horrible TAs. Can't solve your questions but at the same time will berate you over a small single mistake.

Do not take this class! Take it somewhere else over the summer

Imen was one of the worst professors i've ever had, she may seem nice on the outside but she's cruel. She barely taught anything and always responds with, "Well everything's easy for me...".She's horrible and relies on her TA's for everything, I don't think she does anything but talk in slow motion on the bad lecture videos she tries to teach in.

I did well in this class but Zaabar made me consider dropping out. She's the worst.

I hate my life and it's all her fault.

The person who commented saying people are just learning that college gets hard is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. I took 10 AP's in my high school career before this and I graduated with a 4.1 GPA. Yet I'm learning college is hard and I'm not trying enough??? I got a 4.0 in this class ON MY OWN, ALL SELF TAUGHT. She contributed nothing to that.

Good luck to those required to take this course. If you don't have a significant history with coding before taking this class you're screwed.

Every week the students are given material to teach themselves, then once a week in class it is reviewed. She was always an hour late. Why pay money to teach yourself something? It doesn't make sense. Everything in this class is a confused mess and it's way too unnecessarily hard for no reason.

Are you a fan of ambiguous online grading of assignments, leaving you stranded hopelessly staring at Codio desperately mulling over the endless things that "Code Co@ch Buddy" claims could be wrong? Then this class is for you! I would criticize her somniferous lectures, but she was hardly ever there to give them. Thank you, Imen!...for nothing.

just dont for your own mental health sake, its not worth it, ive lost like 20 pounds starving myself for these projects

Guys don't trust ANY of those good reviews, they are all lies. Get ready to work very hard and not get any recognition back for it. I got a 4.0 in this class and let me just tell you, neither of the professors helped with that. Sorry to those who have to take this class in advance, I salute you.

guys I'm so tired of this, please make it stop

Spends more time flirting with the other professor and walking around then she does actually teaching the class. The only "teaching" she does is a exam review video where she explains nothing and just solves problems while you watch. She puts all of the teaching into 90 pages a week of reading, TAs that don't know anything and horrible videos

Imen Zaabar is the type of person to smile at you while you told her your dog just passed away.

Have you ever felt like you were set on fire, getting a panic attack, giving birth, and twisted your ankle? Well you are about to the second you step into this classroom. Trust me when I say this, take this class over the summer.

I'm dropping out of MSU now, thanks Imen Zaabar.

Just horrible. At this point I'm better off learning from YouTube because I took NOTHING away from this class. TA's don't even know what's going on half of the time. This class is an absolute joke and a waste of time. Nice professor, but poorly structured class.

Professors don't help (esp. khalifeh and his gf imen), TAs admit they don't know anything, videos are useless, and lectures barely happen. Asked for help, got a 10 min rant of how knowledgeable they are instead of an explanation. They don't care and put in no effort. TLDR: Avoid this class in person. Actually worst profs at MSU.

*Disclaimer I took this class in 2024* Worst prof I've had so far at MSU. Taught absolutely nothing in class, relied on the textbook and terrible lecture videos that were just taken from COVID-era courses. The other professor that taught this class has thankfully been fired but from what I hear his replacement is worse. Take CSE231 at LCC/similar.

this class has taken years off of my lifespan.

TAs don't know what's going on nobody knows what's going on. This class is a joke and the professors are barely ever there to teach you. Waste of money waste of time waste of energy.

Do not take this professor for CSE 231. I came into this class with basically no coding experience and had to teach myself everything in this course. The TA's are not helpful and the exams are worth 60% of the overall grade. Those who do understand the course are unwilling to help. Make sure you review some coding before this course at least.

If possible, take this course over the summer unless you're a CS major and hold lots of passion for coding. As a mechanical engineering major, I see no reason why I needed to take this class. The professors and TAs are not helpful in any way and there are lots of assignments, each very time consuming.

This professor is terrible the entire class it abnormal to say nicely there rumour that the class is a weed out class Im starting to believe it I don't understand the point of even going to class beside the attendance being mandatory you have to teach yourself they should just make the entire class online it not like there helping much anyway

No point in attending class but you have to cus it's mandatory. What a joke.

i had to learn everything on my own at this point i'm the professor like what

Took this class last semester. Professors do not care about the students, do not actually teach, and rely strictly on the TAs to do their work. In the rare instance they are present, they proceed to get mad when you do not understand the material. Please take CSE 231 at another college and transfer the credits. The class is unnecessarily hard.

Take CSE 231 literally ANYWHERE else in the summer. It's needlessly hard at MSU, If i had taken CSE231 in my time at MSU whoever my professor would've been would have thought that I had a crazy family tree with 25 grandpa and grandmas who all unfortunately passed during that semester. (I didn't take this class or this teacher but just know its bad)