I took this course and it's incredibly complex. I spent 40+ hours a week teaching myself the material because I think the lectures don't give enough information to fully understand what is needed to read. You really have to go above and beyond (using Google, reading other books etc).

This course forces you to truly master these incredibly hard concepts. I've lost 50%- 100% on problems because they didn't like a word I used. You have to be exactly right or you miss the problem (and there are only 8 problems or so so it turns an A to a B). They also test you on concepts you haven't learned and expect you to apply your knowledge to new ideas you have never seen before on a long 3 hour test. Each test I finished before my time was up but I always felt if I had an extra 30min to 1 hour, I would have done better if I could have thought these concepts through better.

I think this is a super important course but incredibly hard. I did this while working a full time job and it was the hardest class I've ever taken. I ended up getting a B, even though I was pretty close to getting an A. I tended to not be the greatest test taker but I really felt like I learned a lot despite how horribly hard and stressful it was. I also have a B.S. in Computer Science and many years working as a Software Engineer so I anticipate people with less experience will really have a tough time unless they put in a lot of effort. I wouldn't recommend anyone take any other class at the same time as this and I also think people who aren't as confident with their knowledge in Computing, Complexity and Algorithms to study up before taking this class.

Required Reading, Not really optional if you want to pass:

Theory of Computation - Sipser (Read this entire book) Introduction to Algorithms - Cormen (Read The Second half of this book) You also might need to read a book on Discrete Math depending on experience with those concepts.

TL;DR If you think this course is hard, it's probably 50% harder than you think it is so make sure you really have the time to invest 40 hours a week on it. Say goodbye to your weekends that semester.