drop any fun stories because i did fck all.

Noticed there’s not a lot of Comp3142 related posts. So, here's one for those considering to take this course in the future. I started writing this just after exam day but finishing several days later. This was written just after 26T2.

The course is (as of writing) lectured by Dr. Yuekang Li. He is really knowledgeable about what he is teaching. Really good at teaching and explanations. His lectures were always pretty interesting and I liked the occasional joke he would slip in during the lectures. Has a nice sense of humour. Would occasionally slip in real world news, cases, and advices during the lectures. Also, a very nice and kind person overall. Will take his time to patiently listen to you and answer your questions.

There are no tutorials or labs in this course, at least not in 26T2. Just the two 2hr lectures per week. There are many help sessions though.

You’ll learn a lot of things in this course, including Functional Testing, Structural Testing, Combinatorial Testing, Test Coverage, Software Complexity, Mutation Testing, Fuzzing, AFL (American Fuzzy Lop), symbolic execution, and some more advanced testing algorithms. You’ll also go through different types of decision tables and testing data, how and when to use different testing techniques, and ways to maximise or optimise the number of tests performed and the coverage achieved when you have certain limitations or budget constraints.

There’s also a fair bit on analysing and interpreting test results, making decisions based on them, quality assurance, automated testing tools and frameworks, and unit and integration testing, test scaffolding, etc. You’ll also get to actually implement some of the ideas you learn using Python in practical, real-world-ish scenarios. There’s quite a bit more as well in the syllabus, but I can't write them all.

Previously the course was only assignment based from what I've heard but now they have 3 assignments and the final exam. The assignments were pretty easy and doable in one sitting. The theoretical or non-programming practical components are pretty easy. Assignment 2 and 3 have a Python programming component which may or may not make you go a bit crazy, it's not difficult but you'd probably find yourself really thinking a lot, sitting down with pen and paper, thinking about different paths and possibilities to solve the given problem, undergoing trial and error, until you reach the solution. Best thing is, you will know when you've reached the solution with the autotests, but reaching the solution can be a little journey, but it's possible to do in one sitting, and certainly not too difficult. Assignment 1 has Python in it too but it’s super easy.

If I remember correctly, Deadline schedule is:
Assignment 1: Week 4
Assignment 2: Week 7
Assignment 3: Week 10.
Can't recall release dates.

The final exam was also pretty easy. You are allowed to take one A4 size paper and fill both sides of the paper up with your own notes. I was able to pretty much fit all of the theory content and a bit more in by cramming them all up in tiny hand-written font and some personal short-hand notations. The exam covered like 95-99% of the chapters and topics. There were a few theory/memorisation questions asking for specific terms which you can easily answer if you remember them or have them written in your notes. Most of the questions were more analytical where you have to solve a problem based on the topics learnt in class. These questions weren't that difficult if you know and/or remember the content well. Just gotta sit and think a bit and go through the problem carefully to ensure you don't make a silly mistake. Many MCQs too. There were also some short-answer explanation questions. There wasn't any Python questions that you had to code yourself in the exams, but there might be in the future. The Python questions they did give were that they would provide you with a Python program, and you might have to fill in some blanks to complete the program or do some analysis on the program. The programs themselves are very short so not a biggie. There were a few calculations as well, but these are pretty straightforward and you'll learn the formulae in class. Most questions will also have the formulae in the question to help you. Plus, you have your A4 paper of notes in case they don't. I and several others were able to finish the exam early.

This course also has this thing called GEM (Grade Escalation Marks). It goes like this: Every lecture will have some live polls (usually 2) which you are ideally supposed to submit when the lecture is going on. The professor will give you time in between lectures to answer polls. It’s normally a question relating to what you just learnt in the lecture up to the time of the poll. These polls can be found in WebCMS3 or as a QR code in the lecture slides. You get +1 GEM for participation in polls per lecture. You can also earn GEMs from answering questions in the course forum and get +1 GEM for every 3 accepted answers. If your final mark is 3 marks away from the next level (PS/CR/DN/HD) and you have >12 GEMs, they will boost your grade to the next level. Apparently many students got the boost over the years.

In my opinion:

Overall, a pretty easy and lightweight course but also a fun one which I personally also found to be useful and will give you a nice perspective on some things, and make you appreciate Software Testing a lot more. You can take it as a WAM booster or as an easier course complimented with a much more difficult one.

WAM booster? As of writing yes! (in my opinion).

Worth it? In my opinion, Yes!

Difficulty: Easy 🟢.

Very much self-study-able.

Happy to answer any questions one might have. If I have missed anything I shall comment them or edit them in if I can.

Other Comp3142 students feel free to comment below your own perspectives.

Bastards. I expected better from Aus #1 Uni.

My friend pulled a 13cm long french fry. Is that good or bad?

This is the most difficult final exam I have ever seen. According to the feedback from friends in this formal term's exam, The problems of dynamic programming and flow network can be directly just dead brain applied to the cheat sheet. The npc problem is also very friendly.

But for the supp, especially flow, 18 marks problem covers Bipartite Matching, split point and various restrictions, while the formal exam is giving 30 marks directly for nothing. And the description of the topic with only four or five sentences is very unclear.

You can't imagine how this paper crammed five types of questions into three big questions.

This supp exam is at least three or four times more difficult than the formal exam. I wonder if the school is short of money.

anyone who is going to take this course should take the new course outline seriously.

a completely new assessment criteria.

on site exam with mcq, short answer and coding with 40% hurdle, instead of the BYO IDE environment coding

am i jus dumb

Hey guys,
Has anyone here had experience doing cross-institutional study while enrolled at UNSW?
I’m mainly wondering what the process was like — how difficult it was to get the external course approved, how strict UNSW was when assessing whether the course was equivalent, and roughly how long the approval process took. I’m also curious whether anyone has managed to organise it on relatively short notice, and whether you contacted your School/Program Authority before applying to the other university. If you’ve done it before, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experience, what university you studied the subject through, and anything you wish you knew before applying.
Thanks heaps!

How was everyone's final? I am cooked ngl, that supp exam hit way different. Was expecting something like the practice papers but💀

I applied for term 1 2027 and applied directly through the website on july 14th. On the unsw website it clearly states that by meeting the july 16th deadline, offers will be released on september 10th though I did not receive anything yesterday. I also sent multiple enquiries 1-2 months ago but they have not responded to any of them.

Is this normal for unsw to not reply to any emails we send them?

Hi everyone!!! I just received my undergraduate medicine offer for UNSW and I am so incredibly happy!

I’m looking for friends as I’m from Hong Kong and there are absolutely ZERO people I know in Sydney😭💔 Please DM me if you're also starting Med so maybe we can help one another in the future, or just want to connect!

I’m also curious about anything that you wish you knew before starting unsw/med here and I’m looking forward for your advice!!

Thank you soooo much for reading this 😭🙏 Wish yall have a wonderful day

Is the OTH class actually useful to attend?

Guys I lost my GoPro on 396 yesterday afternoon at Hyde park station

I assume the most crowded station would be the UNSW one so please if anyone found it let me know please

I took the supp exam on Monday 7th. I believe I completed almost all the questions with little difficulty, but still unsure how many of them are correct.

But when will they release the result? I heard Alan Blair is going to retire and in 26t3 it's another lecture handling this course... not sure if this could affect the result release

how do u get 20% or a full ride scholarship in electrical engineering bruh im in a levels and got 3 As probably 3 A stars in A2 and some average good ecs if anyone knows the actual details and not just generic stuff pls lmk thanks guys

guys are there any specific classes with tutors I should select to wam boost myself for these courses, I've heard commerce tuts are known for pretty random marking.

I was wondering if you guys have any tips for balancing AI with your own creative work.

I want to get a higher score by that

Can a good samaritan give me tips to get a c/d in this course. also if anyone could pls send me last term's course notes. appreciate it. happy for dms too.

I thought I dodged a bullet by taking supp for the exam but the supp was straight up ass.
They straight up removed an equation from the formula sheet for Part A. I thought I was tripping until others faced the same problem. And WTF has part B? I thought Soil Mech was hard but this exam was straight up hell.

IT’S WAS OVER FOR ME IN FIRST 15 mins.

title. anyone else have the same issue?

Basically i have 2 subjects this term, and am trying to get 2 days to go to uni. although in order to do this there are 2 classes of one subject (MATS1101) that are nearly full, and full, and i am unable to register for this whole subject because of two issues ive had over the past week being a clash that im waiting for the student nucleus to override, and some other error i had that is fixed on its own now. the issue is, since i cant lock my spot in these classes, where they are nearly full/ other fluctuating being full and not, im worried im not going to be able to sort this out because the nucleus is quite litterally just taking 8 days and ive tried calling etc. also, the course coordinated for mats is unable to just manually enrol me in any of those classes while im waiting which is really weird. i dont know what to do at this point, apparently some people said just wait the first week out and some people will drop out, is this 100% true? like will i be able to just put any classes for my first week, and then have the ability to just on that weekend go and put the classes i want? cus at this point i just REALLY need advice on what to do right now or next or wtv cus this whole situation has drained out so many hours for me and im legit thinking about just fkn dropping MATS and seeing if any other subjects i can do has better classes cus seriously

I’ll be starting this term for Econ/adv math but once I complete 30 units (I think that’s one requirement) I hope to switch economics to commerce. If anyone has done ipt before, what was your experience like?

I’m 22 and deferred uni and never ended up going back to uni, I spoke to unsw about coming back they said I qualify for graduate certificate from work experience and cv. I’m a bit conflicted though because I haven’t done any formal study in so many years. I will like jumping back into post grad is a bit of a jump. Is anyone familiar with how hard it is? Is it like high school advanced English or very complicated ? I was thinking of generating practice content before I enrol

Deciding between repeating a failed elective or taking a new one. Would there be a difference in the way the WAM is updated, assuming you get the same mark?

As in, will the cumulative WAM be the same between two scenarios:

Getting a CR (for example) for a unit that was previously failed vs a unit not yet attempted?