Every week in CSE 1223 (Programming in Java) we have a project due to test what we learned in the chapter. This past week the project was a simple arithmetic program that output addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and the average of two numbers that the user inputs into the program. I made it about halfway through the project and found myself struggling with how to get the right output. I tried to figure the problem out on my own for a couple days and could not make progress. Luckily, my professor set up hours where undergraduate students, who did well in the class, are available to help current students out with code they are struggling with.
Throughout middle school and early high school I never experienced an academic problem like this to where I could not solve a problem using a textbook or my notes from a class. I knew college would definitely be a change in which I would need to seek help, but I was not planning on having to look for guidance this early.
Seeking help on this assignment was very easy since my professor made it so accessible to meet with undergraduate students that were very knowledgeable on the class I am taking. Last Thursday when I went to get help I was nervous I would not have time to actually understand the problem I was having because I had a physics lab about 30 minutes after I went to get help. But, the student that helped me knew what I was there for and at the time I went to get help there were two other students that I recognized from my class that were having the same issue as me. Having familiar faces helped a lot. When I told the undergraduate student what my problem was I almost expected him to just tell me what my issue was, but he helped me understand the concept I was missing by practically reteaching the material to me. This helped a ton because I understood right away what I needed to fix and I would be able to get past this problem in the future if it came up again.
Being able to get help has been a big problem for me in my middle school and early high school years. I felt that getting help meant I was not as intelligent as I thought I was and held myself up to be. But, as I moved through my last two years of high school I found out you cannot do everything by yourself and it is perfectly acceptable and even encouraged to work with teachers and other students to improve your learning and make you a better student. I’m glad I was able to understand that before I got to college. There is no way I’d be able to get through these first couple weeks of college without asking a classmate, friend or my roommate to explain a problem or help me understand a concept I am missing.