Fall 2026

Programming I

COMPSCI 200 teaches incremental development of small programs and fundamental CS topics like flow control, functions, and debugging for beginners.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Andrew Kuemmel3.8/5Kathryn Jensen

Summary

1 / 7

The course relies on an online textbook, with some reviewers finding lectures and labs unhelpful. Workload includes homework due Monday through Thursday and weekly Friday quizzes, which some find annoying but manageable due to open-book formats.

Grade history

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average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Satisfied Quantitative Reasoning (QR) A or declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals

    • Satisfied Quantitative Reasoning (QR) A
    • declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals
    take one
COMPSCI 200 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • Satisfied Quantitative Reasoning (QR) A
    • declared in the Capstone Certificate in Computer Sciences for Professionals

Professors

Fall 2026
/5Adjusted rating
/5RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.83/5 from 53 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 3.1/5 raw quality · 2.8/5 difficulty · 16 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Andrew Kuemmel is described as caring, accessible, and accommodating, with lectures that simplify concepts for beginners. Reviewers appreciate his helpfulness and clear labs, though some find his participation requirements and occasional irritability in lecture annoying.

Some reviewers strongly dislike the course structure, citing reliance on an online textbook and useless lectures. They criticize weekly quizzes, lab partnerships, and Honorlock exams, with one reviewer explicitly advising against taking the class.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.54 GPA, 71.4% A/AB (n=175 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.52 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=492 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.47 GPA, 64.0% A/AB (n=136 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Jim Williams: Jim Williams teaches students to think logically and solve problems by dividing large programs into parts, with fast Piazza responses and flexible grading. However, some students find his lectures useless and the workload excessive, requiring over 12 hours of homework weekly.

ANDREW KUEMMEL is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARC RENAULT is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction200 / 2000
LEC 002Classroom Instruction189 / 2030
LAB 321Classroom Instruction65 / 750
LAB 311Classroom Instruction40 / 400
LAB 312Classroom Instruction40 / 400
LAB 313Classroom Instruction40 / 400
LAB 314Classroom Instruction40 / 400
LAB 315Classroom Instruction40 / 400
LAB 322Classroom Instruction56 / 570
LAB 323Classroom Instruction41 / 420
LAB 324Classroom Instruction27 / 290

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Andrew Kuemmel is described as caring, accessible, and effective at explaining concepts to beginners. Reviewers highlight his helpfulness and clear labs, though one notes he can be irritable and forces participation.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.54 GPA, 73.7% A/AB (n=255 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.52 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=492 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.47 GPA, 64.0% A/AB (n=136 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

The course relies on an online textbook, with some reviewers finding lectures and labs unhelpful. Workload includes homework due Monday through Thursday and weekly Friday quizzes, which some find annoying but manageable due to open-book formats.

Students value Kuemmel's availability for feedback and clear materials. However, the hybrid structure, mandatory TopHat attendance, and weekly Honorlock quizzes are cited as frustrating aspects of the course experience.

Topics

  • Problem abstraction and decomposition.
  • Primitive and complex data types.
  • Conditional and loop-based flow control.
  • Defining and calling functions.
  • IO processing techniques.
  • Good programming practices and documentation.

Skills

  • Incremental program development.
  • Problem abstraction and decomposition.
  • Edit-compile-run cycle.
  • Using primitive and complex data types.
  • Conditional and loop-based flow control.
  • Basic testing and debugging.
  • Defining and calling functions.
  • IO processing techniques.

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

7 earlier forecasts · 0.21 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
COMPSCI 200 · Fall 2026

Programming I

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:266:024794",
    "course_id": "COMPSCI 200",
    "course_uid": "course_9b1d5f832c492d1c4a3ce19c",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "024794",
    "source_subject_id": "266",
    "title": "Programming I",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring, Summer"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

Download the original dataset
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "162195f7771103551aa210284e6e036c31056833d2c27ab2bbc88ac4ac74cd20",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}