MIT EECS to introduce the 6.1200 ASE
The first sitting will take place in person during IAP 2026 from 1–4 p.m. on Jan. 26
In September, the EECS Department posted on their website that they would start offering an Advanced Standing Exam (ASE) for 6.1200 (Mathematics for Computer Science) this IAP. The first sitting will take place in person from 1–4 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2026.
The course is a degree requirement for MIT’s popular 6-3 and 6-4 majors and is a prerequisite option for many subsequent theoretical computer science classes like 6.1210 (Introduction to Algorithms), which is a requirement in almost all Course 6 degrees.
In previous years, however, the EECS department noted that “courses with a 6.120[0] prerequisite often enforced this prerequisite in an ad hoc fashion.” Now, students who “enter MIT with prior experience in discrete mathematics and writing proofs” can take the 6.1200 ASE to “demonstrate that understanding and earn credit for it.” In other words, the ASE is meant to “create a clear and consistent system” for determining whether students are ready for further computer science courses.
A substantial fraction of students take 6.1210 in their freshman year. According to the internal EECS Information System page “Who’s Taken What,” 30.9%, or about a third of Course 6-3 students took 6.1210 in their first year; this percentage is based on transcript counts that includes students who received their SB in Course 6-3 after Fall 2017 and onward. For the past few years, in order to take 6.1210 without 6.1200, students had to “waive” 6.1200 as a prerequisite. The “waiver” usually consists of freshmen signing up for 6.1210 and either receiving no complaints from their advisor, or obtaining approval from an instructor in 6.1210.
Merely waiving 6.1200, however, does not absolve students from taking some discrete math course during their time at MIT. Students who begin with 6.1210 must substitute a discrete math course — such as 18.600 or 18.05 — for 6.1200 to satisfy degree requirements for applicable computer science majors.
The EECS department has stated that beginning in spring 2026, the 6.1210 instructors will require students to “have passed either 6.120[0], or 6.120[0]A plus a probability course, or the 6.120[0] ASE.” This information is mirrored in the syllabus of 6.1210, which states that “prerequisites will be strictly enforced starting in Spring 2026” even though “as of Fall 2025, they are not strictly enforced.”
Unlike many other popular ASEs, the Theory of Computation Group — the subset of EECS faculty who oversee theoretical computer science courses like 6.1200 and 6.1210 — plans to only offer the 6.1200 ASE once per year, during IAP. Their reasons are not immediately clear.
Alan Duan ’29 mentioned that he came into MIT feeling fairly comfortable with proofs and is glad he does not need to take a 12-unit class when he could instead show his knowledge through a three-hour exam, though he is slightly frustrated that 6.1210 has made 6.1200 an enforced prerequisite.
Ray Zhang ’29 is currently taking 6.1210, but doesn’t wish to take a future class merely to satisfy the 6.1200 requirement for the computer science degrees he is considering. Although he doesn’t need 6.1200 to satisfy prerequisites, he is glad he can take the ASE to get credit for the class.