Toward Predicting Success and Failure in CS2
Lucas Layman, Yang Song, Curry I. Guinn · 2020
Factors driving success and failure in CS1 are the subject of much study but less so for CS2. This paper investigates the transition from CS1 to CS2 in search of leading indicators of success in CS2. Both CS1 and CS2 at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) are taught in Python with annual enrollments of 300 and 150 respectively. In this paper, we report on the following research questions: 1) Are CS1 grades indicators of CS2 grades? 2) Does a quantitative relationship exist between CS2 course grade and a modified version of the SCS1 concept inventory? and 3) What are the most challenging aspects of CS2, and how well does CS1 prepare students for CS2 from the student's perspective?