Computer science HL self taught?

[Maz3212]

Hi all. I really want to switch to computer science HL (i take SL) and drop my physics hl because I am afraid it is too hard for me. I am in my first year of IB, my subjects are English A SL, Arabic B HL, ITGS HL, Physics HL, Computer science SL, Math studies SL. The problem is my school does not teach computer science HL (only sl) so I have to teach myself and I am kind of struggling with it. I scored an A- for computer science and a C+ for physics in my first term exams.

• How can I plan out lessons?
• Where can I study from?
• Are there online courses I can take or something?
• Any extra tips?

[NephKa]

Being both a CS HL and Physics HL student, I'd advise you not to. CS HL is a very tough subject, mainly because it's almost purely theoretical. There are concepts that are hard to grasp (Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms, Natural Language Processing etc) that you will be required to study in HL, and if your teacher cannot help you with that, chances are that you're gonna have a pretty hard time. Internet is helpful sometimes, but those concepts are quite specialised and there are very few places you can get validated advice and information from. Try a bit harder with physics, and if you still find yourself struggling talk to your teacher and arrange extra meetings for him/her to help you. I'm sure they won't have a problem. 

I now see this might be a late answer, I hope you're doing better

[Maz3212]

3 hours ago, NephKa said:

Being both a CS HL and Physics HL student, I'd advise you not to. CS HL is a very tough subject, mainly because it's almost purely theoretical. There are concepts that are hard to grasp (Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms, Natural Language Processing etc) that you will be required to study in HL, and if your teacher cannot help you with that, chances are that you're gonna have a pretty hard time. Internet is helpful sometimes, but those concepts are quite specialised and there are very few places you can get validated advice and information from. Try a bit harder with physics, and if you still find yourself struggling talk to your teacher and arrange extra meetings for him/her to help you. I'm sure they won't have a problem. 

I now see this might be a late answer, I hope you're doing better

Hey thanks for replying better late than never. I made the switch last week and I think it was a good idea.

Our school doesn't allow the OOP option so I will just do databases along with the class, I think that will just simplify it a whole lot for me. We started topic 4 this term and so far it's been super easy however I think it'll still be tough to learn topic 5(abstract data structures) by myself, topic 6 and 7 are easy too. My cs teacher also might offer me some help.

 

[SC2Player]

I'll just add some tips that may be useful in terms of teaching yourself material, seeing that I've effectively learned the entire physics, chemistry, math, and psychology syllabi on my own.

• When reading the textbook (which is necessary if you're mostly learning on your own), don't just skim through the pages.  Make sure you understand each and every sentence, and think about what it really means.  For example, I simply just attempted to really understand the principles behind the mechanics unit in physics when first learning it, and it helped me a lot in terms of understanding.  
• If you're really struggling with an idea, put it down for now and move on to another piece of work for about half an hour or so, then come back.  For some reason it helps significantly.  
• Make sure that you actually motivate yourself to study the material on your own, and set some goals of what topics you want to cover.  I made it a goal to cover a given chapter of some subjects in a given period of time (usually about 2-3 days during the holidays).  
• Review the material now and again.  You may even need to re-read the whole textbook again if it's been too long.  Don't fret in this case - you should understand more than you did at the very beginning, so it shouldn't take as long to simply review.