Start the coding assignments the day they come out. Seriously.

Not to scare anyone, but the biggest mistake I made was treating the assignments like something to do the weekend before they were due. The code itself usually isn't long. What takes time is the edge cases: empty structures, a single element, removing the root, duplicates, null inputs. Those only show up when you test, and testing takes days, not hours. What worked once I changed my approach: - Day 1: read the spec and write down every edge case you can think of. - Day 2–3: get a basic version working. - Remaining days: write your own tests and break your own code. Starting early also means you can go to office hours with a specific question instead of "I don't know where to start."