Algorithmics HESS

perfectvelvet

I really only have two questions (for ex- or current algorithmics students), so if you want to save time, please scroll down to the end of my post; the questions are in bold. I am planning (hoping) for quite a high atar as both the university and undergrad course that I am trying to apply for are HIGHLY competitive. The paragraph below is a (ironically long) context summary.

I'm going to start off this post with a very disappointing statement for ex-Algorithmics students: I have zero prior experience in coding. However, as my electives, I am taking robotics and information technologies, which will briefly introduce me to coding (and algorithmics in general; what a great bonus!). My school suggests that possible vce pathways for these two electives are computing and algorithmics, and that no prior knowledge of coding is necessary for algorithmics. This has spurred two major questions:
Is coding knowledge ACTUALLY not necessary for algorithmics HESS? Majority of students argue that their background in python has helped them immensely (I am going to briefly learn coding as part of my robotics and information technologies electives and I go to a selective entry school in Victoria (does that even make a difference?))?
If there is something you could do differently to earn a higher RAW study score for VCE Algorithmics, what would you do?

Bonus: What resources did you use to get ahead/do well in class?

perfectvelvet

Also, I will really appreciate it if former or current algorithmics students would allow me to ask them questions in DMs. There is not a lot of discussion, information, or resources for this particular subject, so I am quite scared to take it. Additionally, please do NOT advertise for tutoring services. I would rather not push tutoring bills onto my middle-class parents, for the middle class in this economy, to put it in colloquial terms, is broke!

NOSSALSUCCESSBUTNOTGOING

hey i wanna do this usbject in my vce

perfectvelvet

NOSSALSUCCESSBUTNOTGOING so real. im so scared at the same time tho. cause im trying to get into a competitive course at a competitive school. what if i dont do well and flunk my atar 😭😭🙏

StallmanAprecciator

As someone Who is doing Algorithmics, I would say coding definitely helps, but if you know the basics you should be fine. Most of the subject deals in pseudocode, where you have to write out algorithms kind of like code but the syntax is flexible and unimportant details of the implementation can sometimes be abstracted (eg. you could often include a line to just say "reverse the order of MyList" as a line instead of writing out a function for this. My teacher also used python in order to let us implement some algorithms, but this is not officially part of the curriculum. A good part of the course also deals with other things such as truth operators, algorithmic proof, data types and algorithm types. TLDR: you don't need to be good at coding but if you are the type of person to which coding comes naturally this will be good at algorithmics

perfectvelvet

StallmanAprecciator but if it heavily relies on pseudocode, then how does coding help so much? also, do you think my electives will be enough to cover the "basics" of coding/python. the definition of basics seems to be a bit flexible.

perfectvelvet

StallmanAprecciator also, thank you so much for your detailed response! i really, really appreciate it

perfectvelvet

is there anything else i should know??