[Mike Lat]

Keep it simple, if you're giving too complex of a task in first year, they will surely be extremely confused.

Programming is expecially difficult in first year because everyone wants to become the lone cowboy and program everything at once by themselves (it seems difficult at times to co-ordinate with your peers about how to accomplish things).

Stick together, assign functions in partners, stay to minimal variations of code, stay organized, and most of all - keep it simple.