<p>susan4–about how many hours each week did your daughter spend on math 230? what sort of extracurriculars did she do?</p>
<p>She procrastinated. Usually each week one all-nighter before the problem set due next day. She did orchestra, ballroom dance (which was very time consuming: multiple practices /group lessons weekly and competitions in different cities multiple times during last year), computer games, phone and online chatting, and bunch of other things. She also had a part time job during the second semester.</p>
<p>It is completely true that you can take a 230 class with solely a 5 on BC. The placement test is a breeze and it’s really up to you whether you want to take a more demanding class</p>
<p>susan4-</p>
<p>how was your D able to compare math230 with math 55? math 55 students work anywhere from 20-60 a week on problem sets and there is no way that you can take math 55 with just a 5 on BC Calc</p>
<p>After looking at the Harvard math descriptions, I’d say that Math 230 is probably closer to Harvard’s Math 25 than Math 55. But I’d guess it’s still somewhat harder than 25 - it was still the clear academic focus of my friends who took it - what they spent all week thinking about - even if there’s no way that it ever required the amount of time that people report Math 55 requiring.</p>
<p>ccclay- D1 knew people taking math55 and looked at their problem sets. D1 had calculus BC and experience with AMC/AIME in high school. She will not be a math major but is considering EE/CS. By the way, how much time that a student spends on p-sets really depends on an individual, his interest/ desire, aptitude and his self-discipline.</p>
<p>what did you daughter think of the teaching quality and would she recomend it? If you dont mind me asking, do you know roughly what scores she got on the amc/aime</p>
<p>Math 55 takes IMO-level kids basically a full working week (40+ hours) to get through every week- it covers just about everything in a standard math undergrad at top flight universities and some very difficult graduate material. Math 55 uses Rudin which is 4000-level at Columbia for example. </p>
<p>Anyway, Yale’s math 230 is an excellent course in its own right (Hubbard & Hubbard offers a fantastic exposition). As an aside, if anyone has seen the syllabus, I would be interested to learn more about the U of C’s honors sequence in R^n.</p>
<p>if i wanted to teach myself multivariable calc and/or linear algebra, does anyone have any recommended textbooks that are good for do it yourself?</p>
<p>I found one online for multivariable calc, just do a google search</p>
<p>Not sure how thorough it is, but it seems to cover at least the basics</p>
<p>Take 230. It’ll be hard, but worthwhile. Definitely avoid 100 level courses to the best of your ability.</p>
<p>As for 230 and DS, I can name two students that have done it, and both were happy with their choice. DS and Freshman Orgo is worse.</p>
<p>Math 25 uses Rudin and Spivak. It is not really a course in vector calculus and linear algebra. The first problem set required a proof of the Cantor-Bernstein-Schroder theorem.</p>
<p>Math 55 covers things like group theory. It pretty much prepares you for grad-level courses in one year. The Math 55 types I’ve come across are Putnam competitors.</p>