From Qureo to the second year: what carries over in Programming

The short answer

Programming in the first and second years has the same name but is not the same subject. The first year was an introduction for every student, outside the total, with practice on Qureo. The second year is a specialised subject on the Engineering and Computer Science track, out of 100 in the total, six lessons a week, with a much deeper curriculum.

What carries over?

The way of thinking: breaking a problem into steps. That was 35% problem-solving in the Qureo exam, and you will need it even more in the second year.
The basics: algorithms, variables and control structures from the first-year programming unit.
Ideas you have met before: information security, networks, databases and data analysis, and generative AI were in the first-year book as an introduction; the second year goes deeper.

What is new?

From the second-year curriculum:

Cybersecurity in depth: encryption, authentication and incident response. Explainer
Web applications and their design: how a site is built and how to evaluate it. Explainer
Data and statistics: collection, cleaning and regression.
Machine learning: neural networks and large language models. Explainer
A different exam: 50% multiple-choice and 50% essay, with two sittings a year.

Choosing Programming? Ask yourself

Did you enjoy the Qureo exercises, or just get them done?
When an exercise stops you, do you try again or give up?
Are you comfortable with numbers and statistics?

If the answers are "yes", Programming is probably a good choice. Compare in Programming or Chemistry?

How to prepare over the summer

Download the second-year book and read unit one.
Revise the programming unit in the first-year book.
Watch the first five videos of Eng. Ahmed Tarek's second-year course for free, and see whether his teaching suits you.

And a first-year course is coming to GoBachaloria soon, for those still in the first year.

Sources

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