Oregon State CS 325: Analysis of Algorithms
CS 325 is the program's algorithms course: asymptotic analysis, divide and conquer, dynamic programming, greedy algorithms, graph algorithms, and NP-completeness. It's the most theory-dense requirement in the postbacc and the course whose difficulty threads are a permanent fixture of r/OSUOnlineCS.
Fennie is independent and not affiliated with Oregon State University. This is an unofficial study guide.
What makes it hard
The problem sets present problems that match no worked example, because problem-solving, not recall, is the subject being graded. Dynamic programming is the famous wall: students can follow every lecture and still freeze at a blank problem, since the skill of constructing a recurrence only forms through repeated, frustrating attempts. The quarter format compresses that frustration into weeks.
What you'll cover
- • Asymptotic analysis and recurrences
- • Divide and conquer
- • Dynamic programming
- • Greedy algorithms
- • Graph algorithms
- • NP-completeness
The CS 325 study guide
How to study for Oregon State CS 325, step by step.
- 1
Solve unfamiliar problems as the default mode
Re-solving lecture examples builds recognition and false confidence. For each technique, work problems you haven't seen and write down why the technique applies; that justification is the actual exam answer.
- 2
Build DP solutions recurrence-first
State the subproblem in words, write the recurrence, verify it on a tiny case, and only then code. When dynamic programming fails, it's the recurrence, not the loop.
- 3
Budget struggle time, not just study time
Algorithm problems require sitting in not-knowing longer than any course before. Schedule the struggle on purpose; two days before the deadline is not when to discover a problem needs marination.
- 4
Form or join a problem group early
The course Discord and study groups exist because explaining your approach out loud is the cheapest correctness check available. Use them from week one, not week six.
Today
Today's CS 325 plan
What a Fennie Daily Plan looks like for CS 325. Yours is built from your own syllabus and adapts every day to your deadlines and progress.
First plan free, no card required. Fennie is independent and unaffiliated with your school.
FAQ
Is CS 325 the hardest course in the OSU online CS program?
It's the most consistent nominee on r/OSUOnlineCS, because it grades problem-solving rather than effort or recall. The students who fare best budget deliberate struggle time per problem and practice on unfamiliar problems, the exact opposite of cram-compatible.
How do I prepare for CS 325 before the term starts?
Make sure CS 225's proofs and CS 261's structures are warm, then get early reps on dynamic programming, the unit with the longest learning curve. Even a dozen DP problems worked before week one changes the whole term's temperature.
How is CS 325 graded?
Format varies by instructor, but weekly problem sets plus proctored exams is the common shape, with substantial weight on the problem sets. Start them the day they open; these are problems that need to sit in your head across multiple days.
More Oregon State courses
CS 161: Introduction to Computer Science I
CS 161 is Oregon State's first programming course: variables, control flow, functions, basic data structures, and program design, currently taught in Python after the curriculum moved away from C++. It opens both the Corvallis CS degree and the Ecampus postbacc, where for many students it's the first code they've ever written.
CS 162: Introduction to Computer Science II
CS 162 continues the intro sequence with object-oriented programming, recursion, basic data structures, and significantly larger programs, taught in Python like CS 161. It carries a reputation as the Ecampus program's first real filter: the course where assignment scope jumps and time management becomes the curriculum.
CS 225: Discrete Structures in Computer Science
CS 225 is the CS department's discrete math course, covering logic, proofs, sets, functions, combinatorics, and graphs. It's required in the Ecampus postbacc and a prerequisite mindset for CS 325. For career changers from non-quantitative fields, it's often the first proof-based math they've ever faced.
CS 261: Data Structures
CS 261 covers the core data structures (dynamic arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, hash tables, trees, heaps, and graphs) with implementation assignments and complexity analysis throughout. In the Ecampus postbacc it's taught in Python (older blog posts reference the earlier C version), and it's the technical-interview foundation for the whole program.