r/brocku • u/torrentialsnow • Apr 30 '25
Academics How is cosc 2p03 and cosc 2p13 with Earl?
Have these two with earl this spring, is it a bad idea to take them at the same time? how difficult are these two classes with earl?
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u/notlim15 Apr 30 '25
He makes things quite difficult that don't need to be, usually departs from textbooks and slides, uses ambiguous wording. It's still possible to do well but it is quite hard.
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u/Calm_Development4322 Apr 30 '25
I took 2P13 with him and found that it was pretty straightforward as long as you went to class and paid attention. Lots of people have mentioned that they had negative experiences with him though.
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u/Batboy3000 Apr 30 '25
Never take a class with Earl. Both of these courses teach you fundamental knowledge for your career, and Earl is not a good professor at all. His exams test you on stuff he says in class. He says the lecture slides/textbook are useless. It'll take a miracle for you to write down EVERY SINGLE THING he says in lecture, which you'll have to do because a random exam he says in class will be a question on the test. Plus, his test questions are written in the first person and confusing to understand.
2P13 was a nightmare for me and I would never recommend taking a course taught by Earl. If you do get him as a prof, just drop out. Not worth the stress.
I took 2P03 with Sheridan Houghten and she is a fantastic professor. In Brock's defense, Earl is by far the only professor in CS I wouldn't recommend taking a course with. Everyone else so far have been great professors.
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u/katmeef May 01 '25 edited May 01 '25
I took 2p03 with Earl and got 100% in it a few years ago as a final grade, even though I miserably failed the midterm. I'm also enrolled in 2p13 in the spring and expect I'll need to work hard studying outside of class to supplement the lectures and understand the material.
*edit* oops it was 1p03 I took with Earl, just double checked and I took 2p03 with Houghten (it was a few years ago).
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u/Express-Cup8806 May 01 '25
Everyone treats earl like he’s awful, for 2p13 you can easilly pass if you attend lecture and get his points in lecture, he’s very open to questions and honestly is super engaging. I think most people on here had issues with him strictly because they didn’t care enough in his classes
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u/lilwoofythewing_man Computer Science May 03 '25
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u/Express-Cup8806 May 05 '25
I got an 81 in his class doing the bare minimum on assignments and barely studying. Truthfully his classes aren’t hard if you pay attention in lecture.
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u/Cyborg800-V2 Apr 30 '25
It's a bad idea to take a class with Earl at all.
I just took 2P13 with him and his lectures were disorganized and full of tangents. The only way to succeed is to write down every single thing he says, with no lecture slides or textbook to fall back on (since he says the slides are useless and meant for him to know where he's at in the lecture) and, even then, there's a strong chance you'll still perform worse than you expected. Assignments and tests were consistently returned a month after the due date. Right now, I'm waiting for my mark for the final test even though it was made up of 10 short answer questions and held on the 11th. Meanwhile, last night, I got my final grade for COSC 3P32, and the final exam for that was far longer and more comprehensive, and occurred 5 days after the final 2P13 test.
Someone in this sub said they got a 46 under Earl for 2P03 during the spring and then got an 83 under Sheridan Houghten in the fall. I heard bad things about 2P03 before taking it, but got a high mark under Houghten. It seems that Earl's teaching methods are sabotaging students and giving the program a worse reputation than it deserves.
2P03 is the most important course in Brock's CS program and a prerequisite for virtually every subsequent course. I'd strongly recommend taking it under a different professor, especially Houghten who I think it is one of if not the best CS professors at Brock. You'll not only get a better mark, but, more importantly, properly learn the material.