<p>Hi guys. I'm going to be a Chemical Biology major and I'm uh..scared after what i've heard about these weeders haha</p>
<p>Hmm so any input/opinions on these required courses, or other things to know about CB/CoC? Some prior information or things to look out for would be appreciated :D</p>
<p>The materials in Physics 7 series might be a little hard, but the curve is very generous imo.</p>
<p>Chem 4A is curved generously, with its average being a B+. 4B is a lot harder; I actually failed that class. </p>
<p>Math 1B's curve is very harsh, I heard.</p>
<p>HypnosX: oii a little hard? haha that's what very math/physics inclined students say while others of us freak out ><.</p>
<p>HypnosX: oii a little hard? haha that's what math/physics inclined students say while others of us freak out ><.</p>
<p>thanks, both of you, for the replies! some others would be nice too, if others wouldn't mind beseeching to an incoming freshman :D</p>
<p>first off, good job on on choosing chem at cal. you made a good choiice (:. of the courses you listed, only math 1b is a weeder--while hard, chem 4 and physics 7 aren't really weeders. i hear that the big coc weeder is actually the 120 sequence (p-chem).</p>
<p>what you listed is a pretty standard coc load. you'll have a lot of coc classmates/friends in all your classes, which is good. </p>
<ul>
<li>chem 4 approaches first year general chemistry stuff from a physics perspective, and the lab component emphasizes quantitative technique. </li>
</ul>
<p>what does that mean? </p>
<p>"physics perspective" means you'll get a handwaving conceptual understanding of quantum mechanics and the professor will drop big words like "eigenfunction" and "schrodinger equation" with a lot of greek letters (psi, nu, epsilon) on you without explaining them, but no worry, the actual math you use is just algebra + basic calculus. (you'll have plenty of time to learn about what s/he's talking about later on in college.) </p>
<p>"Quantitative lab technique" means you use a lot of equipment and computers (for example, instead of just looking at the color of a solution, you run it through a spectroscope, which gives you a graph), and you have to do a lot of annoying, complicated, sometimes mildly dangerous labs. no worries, though, if you read (and I mean Read, not "read") the pre-labs you'll be fine. </p>
<p>Tests are maybe 2/3 plug-and-chug problem solving and 1/3 conceptual. chem 4a is curved so that the test means are B/B+ (so the class as a whole is like 50% B+s or better). not sure about grading for chem 4b but i imagine it's similar (material is harder, though, and there's a big project instead of normal lab for the second half of the semester).</p>
<ul>
<li><p>physics 7 depends a lot on the prof. some are big on problem solving (which means a lot of cookbook recipes on your notesheet), while others like "theory" (derivations and math tricks). 7b is conceptually more difficult than 7a. curved 25%-40%-35% A-B-C. (C means C and lower, but nobody has to get lower than a C).</p></li>
<li><p>I didn't take math 1b, but i hear it's unnecessarily hard. if you can get out of it with community college or AP, that's a good idea. if you can't get out of it, that's fine, too--it's not death or anything, just annoying. Math 53/54 sort of build on math 1b concepts, but the stuff that makes math 1b annoying (methods of integration) isn't very useful for 53/54. (might be useful for math 105/185 though).</p></li>
</ul>
<p>other stuff...</p>
<ul>
<li><p>for profs big on theory, go to office hours. even if you think you understand something, chances are you don't really understand it. theory profs will often rejigger derivations into test questions. the key to doing well in theory-emphasis classes is to really understand what quantities mean on a fundamental level, and to be good at math.</p></li>
<li><p>for profs big on problem solving, do a lot of problems (duh)</p></li>
<li><p>DO YOUR PRE-LABS. And i mean DO--read the lab instruction manual (orange book) carefully and try to see the connection between the plug-and-chug questions and the lab. If you do that, you won't get lost in lab and blow stuff up. (you think i'm kidding about the blowing stuff up, but i'm not). lab problems also come up on tests fairly often.</p></li>
<li><p>A word about labs: I am really bad at lab so i dislike it, but some people love it, it all depends on the individual. and by really bad I mean like, i would get a 5-10% yield on something when everyone else got 80 or 90%. thank God they didn't grade us on technique.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>i took math 1b and it is definetly a weeder class. I think a lot of it depends on what prof you get though. Some profs do'nt care if they fail approx 30% of thier class. :(</p>
<p>hey lomeg, if I can get out of Math 1b with AP credit, do you recommend that I do so? Im also aiming for medical school, so Im pretty careful about my GPA.</p>
<p>thank you, mmiphty!</p>