My Review of SIM (ISYE 6644) Simulation Modeling for Engineering Science

           Grade: A 
      Difficulty: 6/10
          Rating: 9/10 
 Time commitment: 7 hours/week 
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Overall

This is a pencil and paper stat/math course. The course starts with stats/probability/calculus review, then dives deep into random variables and statistical distributions/properties, including many theorems and some proofs. The course also touches a bit on stochastic/markov processes. Only about 30% of the content actually has anything directly to do with simulation concepts, like steady-state finite-horizon analysis. Incidentally this is also the first course you take if you enroll in the MS OR program at Georgia Tech.

Assignments

Weekly homework (~0.7% each):
- Take-home, multiple choice format. Each homework typically consists of 10 ~ 15 questions. It usually took me a few hours at most. Not always trivial but overall manageable. Each homework is only worth ~0.7% of the course grade. So the homework is meant to be the exercise/preparation for the exams. Plus they often give bonus homework questions for extra credit.
3 exams:
- 2 midterms + 1 final. 25% for each midterm. 30% for the final. All proctored, timed and only 1~3 sheets of notes are allowed. The majority of the course grade is based on the 3 exams. So it's mentally stressful. But luckily, it's not super hard. Very manageable if you understood your homework questions.
Project (10%):
- They have an extensive list of topics you can choose from. They say they expect a student to spend 10~15 hours of effort. I spent maybe 15 hours on it. It's just one weekend worth of effort. One amazing aspect to the project is you can do solo. I did solo.

Grading

All weekly homework and exams are auto-graded. The project grading was done by TA, and I found it reasonable. I scored 90~100% on homework, 80~95% on exams, and 100% on project. My overall score was 89%. The professor applies a curve. I heard from a class mate whose overall score was 83% and he got an A.

Thoughts

I was hyped to take this course because of stellar reviews on OMS central. Everybody praised the professor (Dave Goldsman) as a great presenter with a sense of humor. Indeed, I found him amazing. His lecture is fun to watch. I could tell he is genuinely passionate about the subject.

Regarding the level of math, I was worried before the semester because it had been years since I took a pencil and paper math/stat course. But it turned out fairly manageable difficulty and workload overall.

The first 3 weeks are just stats/probability/calculus refresher, so you will get a plenty of time to review all the math you need for the rest of the course.

Overall, I ended up spending 7 hours per week. It took me 1 ~ 3 hours to watch the lecture videos, and 1 ~ 3 hours to do the homework. I studied 5 ~ 10 hours before each exam.

The only truly objectively negative aspect of the course is Arena simulation software. A decent portion (5~10%) of homework and exam questions are about Arena software which requires pure rote memorization, like syntax of Arena API, which was painful.

FAQ

Do I need a Windows computer for Arena ?
- Not at all. I only have a Mac laptop and did perfectly fine. They give you access to GT virtual/cloud Windows desktop where Arena is already installed.
Can I use other simulation software like SimPy ?
- No, you must use Arena. It's so ingrained in the lecture video, so I don't think this will change in any foreseeable future.
Do I need to buy a calculator ? If so, any recommendations ?
- I know people talk about this a lot. Personally I never had to use any calculator at all. All of the calculus/probability questions are solvable by hand. I've heard people used TI 83/84/89/NSpire.

Reference

Syllabus : https://omscs.gatech.edu/isye-6644-simulation-and-modeling-engineering-and-science
Feel free to contact me for advice on the course. I'm not actively looking but have helped tutor several 6644 students previously.