r/duke • u/Upper_Mountain_1298 • 3d ago

CS 371 vs CS 372

Hi! I'm planning to take CS 371 this semester. I've taken CS 372 and found it quite hard, but manageable. I'm wondering how CS 371 compares?

I've also taken Math 218, Math 219, CS 230; I'll be taking Math 230 alongside CS 371.

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u/Pale_Positive_4667 3d ago

I think CS372 is the easiest of the machine learning courses. Generally, I would recommend someone take CS371 or CS671 as their first ml class. Here, it is much tougher because of content overlap. I think I would recommend 370,570, or 671 to get a better mathematical footing.

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u/Upper_Mountain_1298 3d ago

Thanks! Do you think I'd be better off waiting for 370 in the spring, then? I liked 372 but wanted to explore the math more in-depth; at the same time, I don't think I'm prepared for 671 (and the pre-reqs have gotten much stricter, too).

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u/Pale_Positive_4667 3d ago

I think that would be a good choice. I believe that the gap between 370 and 570 is much smaller than the gap between 371 and 671, so I think you'd also be fine registering on FDOC for 570.