I was placed into math 5 and am currently worried about having to potentially take summer courses which i would really not want to do. I am majoring in biochemistry, emphasis in biology, and am currently enrolled in eng 1a, chem 1w, math 5, and biochem 95. Will it still be possible to graduate in four years without taking the summer courses? Logically, moving around the courses would still work but i am wondering if there are some upper division courses (or any, for that matter) that would only be offered one or two quarters a year, ruining the progression onto the next course (ex. chem 1a,1b,1c; if i had to take 1c fall quarter of sophomore year, o chem would be delayed, then delaying biochem, then delaying another etc. until a course was not offered that coming quarter and i would not be able to take that next class for a full year). i am essentially asking if a math 5 placement will force me to take summer courses to graduate on time, without summer courses.
Hello! I’m a freshman going in as a bio major. I’m not sure if what I say will help so correct me if I’m wrong. It looks like from the graduation requirements at least for my major I’m required to take math courses up to math 9b or 9c? I think you would have to take summer courses to get ahead. I would talk to your advisor at orientation or through email about it. Try to get input from older students in your major as well. I know how you feel about not wanting to take summer courses, but if you end up having to just know it will pay off in the end 
Some colleges in the summer would let you take courses from a community college (or maybe online) and then transfer those credits to the university. I hope UCR is one of those colleges.
Hey! not sure if this is too late for you, but I’ms tarting my sophomore year as biochem major with my emphasis in medical sciences- and I can shed some light on this for you:
I started in math 8B (equivalent to 5) and 1w and I don’t need to take summer classes to graduate on time- technically. You will have to double up on your core classes your sophomore year however to stay on track without doing summer
I’m starting 1c this fall, which is fine and MANY people are doing but this means winter quarter I will need to take O Chem 112 Bio 5c and Physics 2A instead of taking physics fall quarter.
It’s possible to not do summer but you do have to be willing to take a lot of difficulty classes at once.
Hope this helps!