Dunno where you went to school (liberal arts college?) but most programs are NOT like that, my degree required 30+ hours a week on assignments outside of class.

I found the material and tests straightforward but you absolutely needed to put in significant time to complete the assignments.

You wouldn't have made through my program that way. Projects were half the grade in moat classes. And you definitely weren't doing those well enough to pass in barley any hours.

I'd already been working for years as a programmer before I went back as well.