2019 HMC CS Department Placement Survey

HMC CS site    HMC main site

Welcome!    Please take a moment to tell us a bit about your background with computer science and/or computer programming. We will use this to help us place you into an appropriate CS course in the upcoming fall term of 2019.

     Thank you!

HMC CS placement options

Most often, one of these sections is appropriate:
  • The CS 5 "green" and CS 5 "gold" sections are designed for students without CS or programming experience. In addition, doing well on the AP CS Principles exam flows naturally into cs5 gold or green. Both sections cover the same foundational material and provide students with the same preparation for subsequent CS courses. The "gold" section draws its context and examples from across engineering, the natural sciences, mathematics, the humanities and the arts. The "green" section motivates the same material through current problems in the life sciences and asks students to write programs to solve these problems (e.g., determining why certain bacteria cause diseases while others do not, analyzing DNA to determine if someone is lactose intolerant, etc.).

  • The CS 5 "black" section is designed for students with about a year of high-school CS or programming experience (in any language). Doing well on the AP CS A exam provides placement into cs5 black. This section covers the same material as in "green" or "gold," but spends less time on topics that will be familiar to students with some programming experience. "Black" uses this extra time to explore applications of CS such as cryptography and data compression, among other topics. Students without the AP CS A exam who request placement into CS 5 Black will be asked to complete a placement exam when they arrive at HMC. The instructor of CS 5 black will decide on final placements after that. The "black," "green," and "gold" sections prepare students equally well for CS 60.

  • The CS 42 course is appropriate for students with significant CS experience (e.g., two or more years of rigorous high-school or college CS experience). CS 42 is a fast-paced introduction to many topics in CS including models of computation, computability, functional programming, analysis of programs, software engineering, data structures, and algorithmic techniques. Because of students' prior experience, the focus is much more on the Computer Science than the programming. Students who request placement into CS 42 will be asked to complete a placement exam when they arrive at HMC. The instructor of CS 42 will decide on final placements after that. CS 42 prepares students to take CS 70, HMC's third CS course. (Please note that CS 70 also requires sophomore standing; students are eligble to take CS 70 starting in their second year.)
Your name  
Your email  
Background with computer science
Do you have any background with computer science and/or computer programming? We're interested in everything: courses taken, self-taught activities, job-related experiences, etc.
Placement preference? Other comments?
If you have a placement preference - or any other comments or concerns - please let us know here:


Feel free to contact Zach Dodds (dodds@cs.hmc.edu) or any other member of the CS department!
We look forward to seeing you in the fall!

            —    the HMC CS department.

Here are some frequently and not-so-frequently asked questions:

Q: When is the CS 5 "Black" and CS 42 placement exam in 2019?
A: That exam is at 7:30pm on Wed. Aug. 28 in the Galileo Lecture Hall. Here is the orientation schedule.

Q: Is CS 5 "Black" more work than CS 5 "Gold/Green"? How about "42"?
A: The workload across CS5 is calibrated to be consistent, presuming students in CS5 "black" have some background in CS and/or programming. CS5 "green" and "gold" do not require any background. CS42 is intended to be an accelerated introduction to CS for students with AP-level background or more; students report that CS42 takes a bit more time than CS5's sections. Times vary from person to person: common reports are ~7-8 hours/week for "42" and ~5-6 for CS5.

Q: Which version of Python are you using in 2019?
A: This fall (2019) we're going to use Python 3 (Anaconda). Hooray!

Q: Which IDE/editor will CS5 suggest in 2019?
A: This fall (2019) our default is VSCode

Q: I want to take CS 5 "clear." When will you offer that section?
A: Every HMC student is stealth-enrolled in CS 5 "clear." You will be contacted by its overseers when you least expect it.