<p>I took chem 1a over the fall and ended up with a b+. Chem was my worst subject in hs. For some reason I am afraid to go into physics 7a because I heard that it is much harder and conceptual. Is my fear true? I took both ap chem and ap physics b in hs. There is no Slc for physics 7a. Should I get over my fear and take the class and expect at least a B? </p>
<p>I am trying to switch into ieor from math and I am holding back on technical courses that I should be taking, like physics 7a, which will go to waste along with e 10 if I don't get in and they may end up hurting my gpa for ORMS.</p>
<p>I totally slack off my first semester. Go figure, I'm a fat ass... So how hard is physics 7a for someone who got a b+ in hem 1a?</p>
<p>Hey, I’m also trying to transfer into MechE from L&S and I happen to find Physics 7a a lot easier than Chem 4a from my experience.
It is hard in a way that lecture notes itself won’t do you any good, but you can overcome this by solving many many practice problems. Make sure you buy the optional workbook b/c it has tons of (rather difficult) problems and exam questions will be similar to those.
And frankly, the spring instructors have to be easier than the professor I took this fall…
If you’re willing to spend some weekends solving problems, it’s not hard to ace physics 7a.
Then again, I’ve seen way too many geniuses in that class who barely spent any time for that class because they knew it already and knew what to do as they read the problems…</p>
<p>Haha chem 4a and 1a are completly different. It’s so hard for l&s students to transfer to CoE. If the student doesn’t get in, the consequences involves time, money and gpa… There’s barely any support or fallback plan for students who spent all the time and spaces to fulfill potentially useless prereqs.</p>
<p>65% of the class gets an A or B, I’ve heard.
They have a lot of those page-long proofs for formulas (where a bunch of partial integrals start piling up and whatnot), but you don’t need to know those for tests. Still, some calculus is helpful. Also good is to have an open mind since a lot of things you might assume incorrectly (a defeatist attitude isn’t good either). Giancoli (textbook) blows, so a good GSI is invaluable. Physical visualization and intuition helps too, which I didn’t have. Also, caring about physics helps (I didn’t).
Physics B won’t help much, though.</p>
<p>I have a feeling I’ll be the 35% other. I really don’t care for physics since it has nothing to do with ieor. I wish I can get in first and then start taking all these hard classes. I had math 1a and chem in fall and I only have math1b and e10 for spring leaving out physics… Hope I can get in with those tech classes first…</p>
<p>I’m also trying to switch into the COE for IEOR (or maybe CEE) from L&S. I took Math 1B & E7 in fall… Biggest mistake ever. I got ****ty grades even though I passed both classes. On top of that I took Stats 21 w/ Purves. Another big mistake. I would say I’m also pre-Haas but I was/am considering ORMS as well. </p>
<p>Ever since I decided to attend Cal, I’ve been intending to declare ORMS but during the summer I decided to transfer into the COE to do IEOR… until I decided to drop Physics 7A first thing after the first lab session. I just didn’t want to deal with labs and mastering physics. And then there was E7… a ****ing nightmare of a class. </p>
<p>My GPA sucks right now but I’m still considering engineering. I slacked off a lot last semester but it was also a transitioning time for me. I’ll be working hard (I hope) this spring semester. I need/want to use those E7 units. </p>
<p>Nothing is certain about my future because my intended majors are difficult to declare. ORMS is capped @ 25… Switching into the COE for IEOR (or even CEE) is no walk in the park. Applying to Haas and getting in isn’t easy either. Nothing is guaranteed.</p>
<p>BTW, can I use AP Chem credit for Chem 1A? I’ve been assuming all along that I could do that… I really don’t want to take it… I have to deal with Physics 7A/7B during the summer and upcoming fall.</p>
<p>Tutty u can use the chem 1a ap credit but the class was preety easy. I’m so sorry about what you are going through. You are living my worst nightmare. I’m avoiding physics and e 7 to not be in the same situation as you. I cannot imagine how u must feel… God… There’s not much to fall back on either with no support or guidance what so ever… I hope you the best of luck.</p>
<p>Physics 7a is kind of like AP Physics C, covers the exact same material. The bottom line is that most people in the class have already had esperience with the stuff before, ie. doing physics with calculus. If you’re on of those people, then you have nothing to worry about. Otherwise, polish up your calculus and be ready to do a lot of practice problems.</p>
<p>E7… is the worst class I’ve ever taken (though I’m a 1st-year). The final was ridiculous too. Compared to sample finals from previous years, the Fall’09 final was completely different and made no sense… Writing MATLAB functions on the spot is difficult. Midterms were okay but grading was harsh so go figure. I think Fall’09 was the worst/hardest semester ever for E7. The labs/assignments took forever to complete. This class really made me rethink about my prospects in engineering… </p>
<p>I made many mistakes last fall but I learned from them. Hopefully spring semester will fare better.</p>
<p>If ORMS/IEOR/CEE/Haas doesn’t work out… I’ll major in Cognitive Science (E7 is a prerequisite). And/or maybe Econ (it’s capped, though).</p>
<p>lol. I was in that E7 class. That class sucked. I spent whole days in the etcheverry dungeon. That class ruined my 4.0 I wished they gave a nicer curve for all the crap they made us do, but they punished us A part of me died in that class.</p>
<p>^Fall 09 was taught by the ME department… ME uses MATLAB language all the time so maybe that’s why the professors made it so hard and time consuming. E7 in Spring is taught by the CEE department and I heard it’s a lot easier. Everything during the Spring seems easier in anyway. </p>
<p>I never went to lab except to turn in my completed assignments. Let me just say that I made friends in that class and worked collaboratively with them to get the work done. The class sucked but the professors were nice… Packard, especially.</p>
<p>My friend was enrolled in E7 last spring (led by CEE department) and she said the assignments were a lot shorter and less time consuming. But what made her drop it was a pop-quiz during lab or something like that. This same friend took E7 during the fall (ME department) with me. The labs were so long (expect to spend HOURS weekly) + the prompts were poorly worded in my opinion. The format of the final was different compared to previous years… 24 pages of paragraph long and confusing prompts asking you to write MATLAB functions… The class is supposed to be curved at a B-. </p>
<p>I just heard that E7 during the spring is easier.</p>
<p>I say spring… I had Packard/Horowitz (though technically I had Horowitz). Packard is nice and knows his **** (is actually helpful during office hours) but apparently he’s at fault for making the assignments long and challenging.</p>
<p>The final was 24 pages, if I remember. Waste of paper and resources. </p>
<p>My assignments tended to be 20 or so pages long when printed. Depends on the person, I guess and the size of font/format you use but still. But the point is that it took forever to finish them. We had to write a bunch of functions on our own (lectures were very basic and vague so I didn’t find them useful for the most part) and sometimes comment codes (obnoxious but easy points). </p>
<p>Also if you get Packard for E7, expect to program a stupid game (Mastermind).</p>
<p>I thought that the labs were killer since I didn’t know much of the math behind it. I didn’t know much about ODEs. I didn’t understand any of the questions in the final. I was only in math 53, but i should have at taken at least math 54 before that class. I spent more time learning the math than the programming itself. I think only a handful truly understood the beam theory question. I mean it was from MEc 85! That class was meant for older students that semester. There were more juniors and sophomores than freshman. I took my first semester and it was brutal.</p>
<p>I think that it was Packard and Horrowitz and Gunes who made that class difficult. Even the other GSIs had no idea what the questions meant.</p>
<p>The final was like reading a paragraph, trying to understand what they were trying to say, and then writing one line of code. Other semesters were way way easier. Last semester was an exception.</p>
<p>Yea… The labs were killer. I spent most of the time during the final trying to understand what the questions were asking… the wording was weird and yea I felt like I learned more math than programming. I was taking Math1B concurrently and there was a lot of Math54 (linear algebra) stuff. And that beam theory problem? Or the pendulum one? And all those statistics prompts? Well I guess it was all <em>applied</em> computer programming and that fit the curriculum description. Remember that one assignment problem on cubic splines when Packard spent the entire discussion session explaining because he sensed that a lot of people were having trouble with it?</p>
<p>I shouldn’t have taken it my first semester but the deed is done and I’m glad it’s over. </p>
<p>Gunes was just an administrative GSI and it seemed to me that he was very lazy esp. towards the end of the semester. How many times did he cancel his office hours? I have a friend who didn’t get one of her labs regraded or the grade changed and all Gunes said was ‘talk to the professors next semester’. I didn’t have to deal with him because I didn’t feel like challenging anything and what was done was done. </p>
<p>I went to Packard OH often towards the end of the semester but his office was always full and I just went along with other people’s inquiries. Sometimes he gave answers or walked you through the problems. Once I watched my friend’s code (I don’t remember what it was) get changed here and there; Packard basically rewrote it for her and explained everything so it made sense…</p>
A part of me died in that class.</p>