140 vs 150 vs 155

Colleges and Universities A-Z Vanderbilt University
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<p>Hi I'm an Econ/bio double major and I wanted to know which math to take. I took calc ab in high school. I did ok while putting in almost no effort. I haven't received my scores yet but I probably received a 4, maybe a 5. From what I have heard 150 sucks. I was thinking of taking 140 but some say that is too low level especially for Econ, furthermore it may be difficult to continue with math latter on if i stay with 140. So I came to the conclusion of 155. What are your recommendations.</p>

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<p>Bump…</p>

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<p>140 is baby calc and is easy. With any background knowledge in calculus it should be a breeze, people go in with zero calc knowledge and still do fine. If you’re only taking calculus to satisfy the econ/bio requirement (actually I think it’s just a recommendation), you might as well take 140 in my opinion… I don’t know how it could be too “low level” for econ, you really just need a basic understanding of calculus, if even that.</p>

<p>If for some strange reason you desire to eventually take higher level calculus courses, yes, 140 would be a waste of time. </p>

<p>As for 150 vs 155, the consensus has historically been to take 155 because although the material is quicker/more complicated, 150 has standardized exams that make the course unnecessarily difficult. However, rumor has it that the standardized exams policy has been eliminated for this year.</p>

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<p>As far as the exam policy for 150 is concerned the rumors are true I called the math department and confirmed. And I want to do finance, that’s why I thought I might need more math later on. So is the only “supposedly” difficult thing about 150 the departmental exams not the content itself?</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~undergrad/calculus/Math-overlap-handout.pdf[/url]”>http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~undergrad/calculus/Math-overlap-handout.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>You can see that Math 150 and 155 basically begin at the same point but Math 155 covers more material in the same amount of time. Math 150 is definitely simpler/slower conceptually, it was just the standardized exams that made the course miserable. That doesn’t mean it will be easy now, it’s still a college calculus course.</p>