Cant decide whether to skip mah 1b or not

I wanted to enroll in edward frenkels class for math 53, but that is now closed, and steels reviews are not good, and all other math 53 classes have “staff”" so dont want to take any chances. What if i take math 1b in my first sem along with physics 7a, and take chem 1A in the second semester?

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Have you checked your knowledge of the Math 1B material with the old final exams?
https://tbp.berkeley.edu/courses/math/1B/

It would be helpful if you can finish Math 53 before Physics 7B, rather than taking it concurrently. However, it is best to start the physics sequence as soon as you can, since it is more critical for mechanical engineering prerequisites than chemistry is.

If you cannot get into any Math 53 section, you can also consider Math 54 (but be sure to know the introductory differential equations material from Math 1B).

what if i take math 54, physics 7A in my first sem and leave chem for later? how much of math 1b will be there in physics 7A? @ucbalumnus

If you know all of the Math 1B stuff (based on looking at the old final exams linked above, and the course outline at https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/lowerdivcourses/math1B ), then you should be fine with Physics 7A.

Starting physics first and leaving chemistry for later makes sense for mechanical engineering, since physics is more important in prerequisite sequencing, though Chemistry 1A is a prerequisite for ME 40, so you need it in time to be ready for ME 40.

http://guide.berkeley.edu/courses/mec_eng/ indicates the following prerequisites:

ME 40: Chemistry 1A, Engineering 7, Physics 7B
ME C85: Math 53 and 54, Physics 7A

You can look at the prerequisites for upper division ME courses to make a graph of prerequisite sequencing.