OMSCS Review - Computer Networks CS6250
My review of OMSCS Computer Networks in Summer 2025
Introduction
I took OMSCS Computer Networks (a.k.a CN) CS6250 during Summer 2025. As a non-CS graduate, I had never had a chance to take a network course, although I had very little (academic) programming experience. I took this course while working full-time.
Final Grade: A
Components
CN includes the following components:
- Lectures
- Quizzes (10%)
- Exams
- Mid (15%)
- Final (15%)
- Assignments
- Spanning Tree Protocol (10%)
- Distance Vector Routing (15%)
- SDN Firewall (15%)
- BGP Hijacking - NOT included in the Summer semester
- BGP Measurements (20%)
- (Optional) Extra credit assignments (3%)
There is no curve in CN. A for >=90%, B for >=80%.
Lectures
There are a total of 12 chapters. You can skip all lecture videos and just read the modules, because the lecturer basically repeats what’s in the modules, and the lecture slide screenshots are also included in the modules. At least, that’s what I did. The length of each chapter is fair and not too long.
Quizzes (10%)
About 15-ish questions per lecture are given. It is open-book, so it’s free 10%. Enjoy.
Exams (15% & 15%)
The first exam covers the first half and the second exam covers the rest. The exams are also fair enough. You do not need to memorize super details, but you will need to understand the high-level concepts of the lectures. There are several terms that sound similar throughout the lectures. (e.g., Routing Information Base and Forwarding Information Base) Such terms could be complex in the beginning, so I recommend drawing a mind map or something.
Assignments
Excluding the BGP Hijacking assignment due to the Summer semester, the difficulty order I believe is as follows:
- Spanning Tree Protocol (10%) - Being the most difficult
- Distance Vector Routing (15%)
- SDN Firewall (15%)
- BGP Measurements (20%) - Being the least difficult
The assignments are all based on Python and are mostly LeetCode-style problems. I suggest you try to understand the main concept of each assignment topic first.
(Optional) Extra credit assignments (3%)
They are essays and you can only pick one topic out of two or three available choices. I did not really pay attention to this as I did not need it and did not attempt it.
Conclusion
An easy recommended course during Summer, but you might want to skip this course if you have taken a network course during undergraduate. As a non-CS graduate and as a technical engineer, however, I believe this course was worth it to be honest.