The MIT Challenge

This challenge was inspired by Scott Young’s “MIT Challenge” where he taught himself computer science using MIT’s 4-year undergraduate curriculum in just one year.

The objective of this challenge isn’t merely to complete the 4-year curriculum, but to educate myself about computer science (algorithm, hardware, software, etc.) for fun!

I’ll kick things off by taking the necessary prerequisites taken by freshmen and sophomore MIT computer science students, like Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Calculus, using MIT’s OpenCourseWare platform. Some courses, like Introduction to Low-level Programming in C and Assembly, aren’t available in the free courseware. But instead of looking for alternatives, I’ll do my best to complete the ones that are available on the platform.

A bit about me: My background is in nursing, and I have no degree in computer science, engineering, or math. I’ve been learning programming on my own for the past 9 months, and the last time I took calculus was more than a decade ago, back in high school. I didn’t particularly do well in it and so I don’t remember it anymore. 😅 But hey, what’s a challenge without some struggles and failures, right? That’s what makes this exciting!

I’ll be tracking and updating the list to hold myself accountable. So, without further ado, I present you my MIT Computer Science Curriculum [at home version]! ✨💪

Phase I

• 6.100L Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Python
• 18.01 Single Variable Calculus
• 8.01 Physics I: Classical Mechanics

Phase II

• 6.042J Mathematics for Computer Science
• 5.111 Principles of Chemical Science

Phase III

• 6.005 Software Construction
• 18.02 Multivariable Calculus
• 6.006 Introduction to Algorithms

Phase IV

• 8.02 Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism
• 6.004 Computation Structures
• 6.033 Computer Systems Engineering