RU CATS

Rutgers Computing Academic Tutoring for

Students (RU CATS)

Improve CS111 and CS112 academic performance by attending tutoring hours. The CS department offers free tutors through AWiCS (Advancing Women in CS). Tutors are peer students that are further along the CS program.

The goal of the program is to:

• create additional peer-led drop-in tutoring (similar to office hours) to assist all students in 111 and 112 with academic work.
• create an inclusive, diversity empowered environment for students taking CS111 and CS112 courses via a roster of 80% female tutors.
• build a peer network that fosters encouragement and support for the learning and academic persistence of all students regardless of identities.
• assist Instructors and Learning Assistants in guiding the students to advance their knowledge and understanding of the course(s).

How it works:

• RU CATS is only active during the Fall and Spring semesters.
• Office hours are held walk-in mode (similar to office hours) in two different ways: in-person or virtually.
  • To access in-person tutoring, locate the “RU CATS” sign inside Hill Center 248 on Busch Campus.
  • To access virtual tutoring, go to CS111 or CS112 Canvas page, and click on “Tutoring” on the left side panel.
• RU CATS tutoring hours for Fall 2025 are as follows:
  • In-person
    • Mon – Thur: 3 – 7pm
    • Fri : 3 – 5pm
  • Virtual
    • Sun: 1 – 5pm
    • Mon – Fri: 1 – 3pm

Tutoring Guidelines

1. A tutor’s core responsibility: To answer specific questions that help clarify students’ code logic or understanding of a specific lecture topic. The tutors are NOT to fix, debug, or write any code into any student’s assignment(s).
2. Tutoring expectations:
   1. Tutors will spend no more than 15 minutes with one (1) student at a time. If the question is left unanswered, resources will be provided to find answers. If more tutor support is needed, then the tutor will round-robin to other students first.
   2. Tutors can advise the student on whether or not the code achieves what it’s intended to do; they will not tell you how to do the course assignments. Students are expected to explain (in plain English) what they are trying to accomplish with a certain piece of code. See “Tutors can conditionally deny support” for more details. 
   3. Tutors will not touch a student’s keyboard as tutors will not code a student’s assignment for them. Tutors can help clarify your assignment logic by mapping/drawing it out with the student.
3. Tutors can conditionally deny support: If the student cannot explain their code logic in plain English OR the student is simply regurgitating code, THEN the tutor does not need to offer any help until the student is able to do either the former or latter.
   1. Tutors are here to assist those genuinely putting effort into their coursework. If you demonstrate a commitment to completing the assignments honestly, our tutors are more than willing to provide support. However, assistance will not be extended to those attempting to cheat their way through the course via AI chatbots or other methods.

      // TL;DR Tutoring Guidelines
      while ( student.askingQuestions() ) {
            if ( student.cannotExplainInPlainEnglish() || student.isRegurgitatingCode() )
                  tutor.denyHelp();
            else
                  tutor.answerQuestions();
      }