<p>What are the differences in Calculus I and Applied Calculus I? I have not decided on a major yet - possibly Psychology, Biology or maybe McIntire. I took Pre-Calculus my senior year and thought I should continue into Calculus since I'm not sure about a major. Which one would be the best choice?</p>
<p>lol here we go again…this is the age old debate among first year students. There are previous threads concerning this topic if you want to dig them up, but here is my say on the matter. </p>
<p>Applied Calculus 1 1210:</p>
<ol>
<li>Normally taught by second year grad students who have no teaching experience other than being a TA their first year.</li>
<li>3 credit class with no discussion section.</li>
<li>Geared towards non-math and non-math intensive science majors (i.e. economics, psychology, bio, english, etc.)</li>
<li>Easier content as in less material is covered and content which is covered is done at a more elementary level. </li>
<li>Only sets students up for applied calculus II and no further math classes.</li>
</ol>
<p>Calculus I 1310:</p>
<ol>
<li>Normally taught by 3rd and 4th year grad students. Makes shopping the class for a good professor easier.</li>
<li>4 credit class with a discussion section. You will receive weekly quizzes in these discussion sections normally.</li>
<li>Geared towards anyone who has an interest in a math or math intensive science major/anyone who wants a challenge.</li>
<li>More content is introduced and overlapping content with 1210 is done at a much more in-depth level. </li>
<li>Designed to set students up for higher level math classes like Calculus II 1320, Calculus III 2310 and beyond.</li>
</ol>
<p>My opinion on it: 1210 and 1220 are joke classes. People laugh about how easy they are. If the goal for math is to get an A and nothing more, take these. If you want to actually learn and be challenged with math, take 1310 and the notorious life destroyer 1320. The feeling of accomplishment after 1310 and 1320 is much greater.</p>
<p>Would pre-meds be alright taking Math 121? I love math and all but I can’t risk getting a lower grade in 131 than 121…</p>
<p>Alot of pre-meds elect to take the 1200s sequence over the 1300s sequence for that reason. The only thing you have to be careful about are major requirements. Certain “pre-med” majors like a B.S. in some form of chemistry require 1300s (the bs in chem actually requires Calc III too). </p>
<p>Anyway, if the goal is just to complete the med school requirement of calculus, take 1210 and 1220. If the goal is for higher math or a math heavy science major like B.S. in chem or physics, as well as premed, take the 1300 series. Also if you are confident in your math ability, 1310 and 1320 provide an advantage by being worth more credits. If you get the A in these classes it will give an extra credit of 4.0 into your gpa per class. This is only beneficial however if you are sure you can get the A.</p>
<p>Is APMA 1110 the same for engineers and other people who would be taking APMA instead of MATH? I’m finding it a bit hard to believe (but I would be a bit relieved, I suppose) that calc for engineers is “a joke”.</p>
<p>So yeah, at UVA (and many other schools) math between engineering and the college of arts and sciences is divided into two departments, plain old MATH for the college and APMA (applied mathematics) for the engineering school. Obviously there is much cause for confusion for distinguishing between MATH 1210 and 1220 (Applied calc I and II) and APMA 1090 and 1110 (Calc I and II in applied mathematics). </p>
<p>To MikeN and all other e-schoolers, rest assured that your math classes won’t be a joke. In fact, APMA 1090 and 1110 are harder even than the 4 credit versions of Calc I and II (1310 and 1320) in the college, much harder. APMA 1110 is often sited as THE WEED OUT class for e-school. As little as 10 percent get A’s or A-'s. If you can test out or skip APMA 1110 it is highly recommended you do so. Start with calc III.</p>
<p>From my experience APMA on a whole tends to be the harder math department. When i was taking diff eq in the college we didn’t cover as much as APMA and when I took linear in APMA we covered much more than the college. Engineers never catch a break =/</p>
<p>The APMA intro calc series is at least as hard as the 1300 Math series but if you are in the E-school I don’t think you have a choice anyway. Premeds should take the 1200 series classes unless you are an e-school premed (which is a hard road to travel).</p>