UW study guides, course by course
UW is Washington's flagship public research university, home to the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and some of the most competitive intro sequences in the country. Large lecture courses with quiz sections, curved grading in STEM weed-outs, and capacity-constrained majors mean intro course grades carry real stakes for admission to CS, engineering, and pre-health tracks.
UW courses pair a department prefix with a three-digit number — CSE 121, MATH 124, CHEM 142. UW runs on the quarter system, so many intro courses are 5 credits and move fast: ten weeks from syllabus to final.
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CSE 121 — Introduction to Computer Programming I
CSE 121 is UW's no-experience-required intro to programming in Java, the first course in the CSE 12X sequence that replaced the old CSE 142/143 in 2022. It's designed for students who have never written code, covering variables, control flow, methods, and arrays through weekly programming assignments.
CSE 122 — Introduction to Computer Programming II
CSE 122 is the second course in UW's intro programming sequence, and the usual starting point for students with AP CS A credit or prior coding experience. It covers data structures from the client perspective — lists, sets, maps, stacks, queues — plus file processing and reasoning about code complexity.
CSE 123 — Introduction to Computer Programming III
CSE 123 completes UW's intro programming sequence, shifting from using data structures to building them. Students implement linked lists and binary trees, write recursive algorithms, and design class hierarchies with inheritance and interfaces — the material that used to be the back half of CSE 143.
CSE 311 — Foundations of Computing I
CSE 311 is UW's discrete math and theory course — propositional logic, proofs, set theory, induction, regular expressions, and finite automata. It's the first course in the major where the work is writing proofs instead of writing programs, and it underpins everything from CSE 312 to algorithms.
CSE 332 — Data Structures and Parallelism
CSE 332 is the Allen School's core data structures and algorithms course: asymptotic analysis, balanced trees, hashing, sorting, graph algorithms, and — distinctively — parallelism and concurrency with the ForkJoin framework. It's a gateway to most upper-division CSE courses.
CSE 312 — Foundations of Computing II
CSE 312 is the Allen School's discrete probability course and the sequel to CSE 311: counting and combinatorics, discrete and continuous random variables, expectation and variance, and applications of randomness to computing. It's the probabilistic foundation for machine learning, algorithms, and most quantitative upper-division CSE work.
CSE 331 — Software Design and Implementation
CSE 331 teaches how to design and build reliable, maintainable software: specifications, reasoning about correctness, testing strategies, and program structure, with substantial programming in a modern high-level language. It's the course where students learn to write code that other people — and their future selves — can trust and extend.
CSE 333 — Systems Programming
CSE 333 is UW's systems programming course in C and C++: explicit memory management, pointers, the C++ object model, modern language features, interacting with operating-system services, and an introduction to concurrent programming. It's where students leave the safety of managed languages and confront the machine directly.
CSE 351 — The Hardware/Software Interface
CSE 351 explains how the software you write actually runs on hardware: binary and integer/floating-point representation, x86-64 assembly, the memory hierarchy and caching, the stack, and how C maps down to the machine. It's the bridge between high-level programming and the physical computer underneath.
CSE 373 — Data Structures and Algorithms
CSE 373 is UW's data structures and algorithms course for non-majors and students outside the standard CSE admission track, covering lists, stacks, queues, trees, hashing, graphs, sorting, and asymptotic analysis. It cannot be taken for credit by students who have already completed CSE 332.
Mathematics
MATH 124 — Calculus with Analytic Geometry I
MATH 124 is UW's first-quarter calculus course: limits, derivatives, and their applications, taught with an emphasis on word problems and graphical reasoning. It's required for engineering, CS, and most science majors, making it one of the largest courses on campus.
MATH 125 — Calculus with Analytic Geometry II
MATH 125 covers integral calculus: techniques of integration, applications like volume and work, and an introduction to differential equations. It's the second quarter of UW's calculus sequence and a prerequisite for most engineering and physical science coursework.
MATH 126 — Calculus with Analytic Geometry III
MATH 126 finishes UW's calculus sequence with multivariable calculus — vectors, partial derivatives, double integrals — plus Taylor polynomials and Taylor series taught from UW's own course notes. It's the final calculus prerequisite for most STEM majors.
MATH 207 — Introduction to Differential Equations
MATH 207 (formerly numbered MATH 307) is UW's introductory ordinary differential equations course: first- and second-order equations, solution techniques, and the Laplace transform, with applications to physical systems. As of autumn 2021, students may use either the 207 or 307 number toward degree requirements.
MATH 208 — Matrix Algebra with Applications
MATH 208 (formerly MATH 308) is UW's applied linear algebra course: systems of linear equations, matrices, vector spaces, subspaces, orthogonality, least squares, eigenvalues, and eigenvectors. As of autumn 2021, either the 208 or 308 number counts toward degree requirements. It underpins machine learning, graphics, and most quantitative fields.
Chemistry
CHEM 142 — General Chemistry I
CHEM 142 is the first course in UW's general chemistry sequence, covering atomic structure, stoichiometry, gases, and thermochemistry with a required lab. It's a foundational course for pre-health, engineering, and science majors — and one of the largest enrollments at UW.
CHEM 152 — General Chemistry II
CHEM 152 is the second course in UW's general chemistry sequence, covering liquids, solids, solutions, chemical kinetics, and chemical equilibrium, with a required lab. It sits between CHEM 142 and 162 and continues the pre-health, engineering, and science pathway.
CHEM 162 — General Chemistry III
CHEM 162 completes UW's general chemistry sequence, covering acid-base chemistry, additional aqueous equilibria, thermodynamics, electrochemistry, and nuclear chemistry, with a required lab. It's the final general chemistry prerequisite before organic chemistry for pre-health and science majors.
Physics
PHYS 121 — Mechanics
PHYS 121 is UW's calculus-based mechanics course — kinematics, Newton's laws, energy, momentum, and rotation — with lab and tutorial sections built in. It's required for engineering, physics, and many science majors, and runs alongside the calculus sequence.
PHYS 122 — Electromagnetism
PHYS 122 is the second course in UW's calculus-based introductory physics sequence, covering electric fields and forces, electric potential, circuits, magnetism, and electromagnetic induction, with lab and tutorial sections. It follows PHYS 121 and is required for engineering, physics, and many science majors.
Biology
Statistics
Economics
ECON 200 — Introduction to Microeconomics
ECON 200 introduces supply and demand, consumer and producer theory, market structures, and welfare analysis. It's the entry point to UW's competitive economics major and a popular elective, taught in large lectures with quiz sections.
ECON 201 — Introduction to Macroeconomics
ECON 201 analyzes the aggregate economy: national income, inflation, unemployment, business cycles, the monetary system, the federal budget, and international trade and finance. With ECON 200, it forms the intro economics requirement for UW's competitive economics major and is a popular elective.
Applied Mathematics
English
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