What were the points for Computer Science last year?

conormurphy

Can someone please tell me what the points were? How many hours a week is this course and also, is a science subject from school required?

Mark200

The points were 355 last year, 355 the year before that, and 355 the year before that.

At least a C3 in Higher Level maths is required.

No science subject is required, but physics would be an advantage.

It's about 26 / 28 hours a week

Jonathan

The points do not reflect the course difficulty.

Mark200

jmccrohan wrote: »

The points do not reflect the course difficulty.

Yup

After one week my brain needs a break....I'd be pretty depressed if I hadn't done physics before because the guy just flew through what took me weeks to understand in school and grinds.

Digital Logic Design isn't that nice either

Peslo

AFAIK if you get Your C3 in maths you will almost certainly get in. The points for the course are liturally the points of the lowest scoring person who got a C3 and applied for CS.

Hope this helps.

Crash

Yup. the course technically still has a capacity far higher than the number of folk who apply for it, so generally provided you pass the matriculation requirements, you're in.

Peslo

I was talking to Gerard Lacey about it and he said there used to be (years ago) 120 doing the course!
I think nowadays, they have 65 places in the course? (open for correction)
But there is only ~40 in the class this year and from what I hear, that's big!

Epic Tissue

Mark200 wrote: »

Yup

After one week my brain needs a break....I'd be pretty depressed if I hadn't done physics before because the guy just flew through what took me weeks to understand in school and grinds.

Digital Logic Design isn't that nice either

Who do you have for electrotech?

Peslo

Epic Tissue wrote: »

Who do you have for electrotech?

O'Nualain.

karlr42

Peslo wrote: »

But there is only ~40 in the class this year and from what I hear, that's big!

It's huge, based on what I saw at the CS lunch during the week(I was the one playing table football), your class is almost bigger than the regular attendance of the other years put together.
To anyone thinking of doing CS, the points don't reflect the difficulty- it can be really, really difficult. You need to be good at maths and have an interest in mathematical ideas and algorithms.

Peslo

karlr42 wrote: »

To anyone thinking of doing CS, the points don't reflect the difficulty- it can be really, really difficult. You need to be good at maths and have an interest in mathematical ideas and algorithms.

+ 1.

bluplr

Really? From what I've read on other topics, the course isn't too difficult, but it's only a step in the right direction, and that you do alot of work on your own accord. Also, what would the average points be?

Jack Sheehan

This is the course I'm after aswell. The points are ludicrous, presumably because not many people want to do it. Can anyone who is doing or has done it tell me if it's the right way to go if you want to get into computer game design?

Peslo

bluplr wrote: »

Really? From what I've read on other topics, the course isn't too difficult, but it's only a step in the right direction, and that you do alot of work on your own accord. Also, what would the average points be?

Seriously dude don't worry about the points. If you meet the matriculation criteria, then it is unlikely that a points contest will be necessary.

Anyway, average points aren't a good indictaion. Say, for example, the minimum poins this year was 300, the average points could be like 550.
Unlikely, I know, but you get the idea.... (I hope)

Peslo

Jack Sheehan wrote: »

This is the course I'm after aswell. The points are ludicrous, presumably because not many people want to do it. Can anyone who is doing or has done it tell me if it's the right way to go if you want to get into computer game design?

BE SURE TO GO TO THE OPEN DAY THIS YEAR!!!
That's pretty much how I decided. As regards computer games design, many would say that this is THE place to go for that, when you consider all the spin off companies set up by Trinity CS graduates!!!

bluplr

I'm not worried about points, I just wanted to get a picture of who does the course, and points are the only thing I can use as comparison. So that average points of 550? Also, you seem to do the course, is the course as they say on other topics and "not too difficult, but you do most of the work on your own accord."? Thanks.

Peslo

bluplr wrote: »

I'm not worried about points, I just wanted to get a picture of who does the course, and points are the only thing I can use as comparison. So that average points of 550? Also, you seem to do the course, is the course as they say on other topics and "not too difficult, but you do most of the work on your own accord."? Thanks.

No, I have no idea what the avergae points are, I only used 550 as a theoretical em, theory.
In relation to, "not too difficult, but you do most of the work on your own accord.", well I'm only in first year and only into the second week. One of the classes is based entirely on one book, so if you read that book, and can understand it, you "can choose not to come to lectures", so I gues in that respect it's true to a certain extent. But like I said, I'm only in my second week and that's only one class, so it's hard to say. But I haven't found anyhting difficult yet.

Mark200

Jack Sheehan wrote: »

This is the course I'm after aswell. The points are ludicrous, presumably because not many people want to do it. Can anyone who is doing or has done it tell me if it's the right way to go if you want to get into computer game design?

if you're into games and all, maybe you've heard of Havok?

They do the physics engines for a lot of major games.

List of games they've done:
http://www.havok.com/content/blogcategory/29/73/

Their founders (I think all, but at least one) did Computer Science in TCD.

They'll probably be doing a talk in TCD during the open day, they're usually involved.

bluplr wrote: »

I'm not worried about points, I just wanted to get a picture of who does the course, and points are the only thing I can use as comparison. So that average points of 550? Also, you seem to do the course, is the course as they say on other topics and "not too difficult, but you do most of the work on your own accord."? Thanks.

If you're concerned about the average points, go to cao.ie
Click on "points" on the left hand side. Choose 2007 (because the 2008 ones aren't up yet) and that gives the average points beside every course.

I'd link you put the browser keeps crashing when I go into it (always happens here...)

I agree with Peslo (I'm also in my first year), so far there's really only one difficult subject. I stayed back in college an extra two hours today just to read up on a book so I can understand what the lecturer is talking about in class.

There's another subject that is basically just physics. If you're doing physics in school now you should be ok, if not you'll need to work hard on that subject too.

Crash

It doesnt really get up to difficult until 3rd and 4th year, THEN it actually becomes something you'd consider hard. where people usually suffer is that they don't really manage to up their workload over the course of the years enough to deal with the gradually increasing workload. OP, have a search on this forum for CS threads, there are lots with a full run down of the course through all four years if you can find them.

leninbenjamin

Jack Sheehan wrote: »

This is the course I'm after aswell. The points are ludicrous, presumably because not many people want to do it. Can anyone who is doing or has done it tell me if it's the right way to go if you want to get into computer game design?

it doesn't really matter what you do as long as the desire and ability to learn is there. i'm on the MSc IET and half my undergrad was Economics, the other IT (so there wasn't a huge emphasis on programming skills doing it).

the games industry isn't simply restricted to what you'll learn in a computer science degree. the AI has a strong link to economics (though it isn't widely known for some reason) and other aspects link more with psychology. for some areas you'd be better off with a strong background in maths and physics. and then there's the entirely aesthetic aspects such as concept art, graphic designers, script writing, level designers etc. where you'd be better off with an artistic background. it's an industry with lots of specialization.

if you're seriously interested in getting into the games industry i'd recommend doing a bit of reading on the different roles and specialities and choosing what suits you best. maybe it's computer science, but that's not the only way to get into it.

and the main thing to do when picking a course is to choose one you'll enjoy.

karlr42

Don't go into it purely for games, because there's a lot of basic hardware level design, telecoms and other non-programming, non-maths areas of computer science that you won't find relevant. The course is aiming to teach you how a computer works almost from the level of a transistor changing voltage in a microscopic area from 0V to 5V; up into abstract, high-level programming.

JC 2K3

Jack Sheehan wrote: »

This is the course I'm after aswell. The points are ludicrous, presumably because not many people want to do it. Can anyone who is doing or has done it tell me if it's the right way to go if you want to get into computer game design?

Well yes, one aspect of it anyway, but make sure you understand exactly what game design involves before you pick the course and make sure you're interested in computers beyond games.

Also, read leninbenjamin's post and realise that game design is so much more than just programming.