<p>I am a pre-frosh for the class of '13 and a prospective Engineering Science/Physics/Chemistry concentrator. Any recommendations or comparisons of the following courses would be really helpful:</p>
<p>Math 21a vs. Applied Math 21a
Physics 15 series vs. Physics 11 series (assuming I'm not concentrating in Physics)</p>
<p>(I took AP Physics B and AP Calculus BC in High School and got 5's on both, but it has been a while, so I might be a little rusty).</p>
<p>Thank you thank you</p>
<p>Applied Math is way tougher than Math 21A in terms of
the complexity one will face.</p>
<p>Depending on your score on Math L3 of the placement and possibly
your experience during shopping period you should decide on
AM v M.</p>
<p>Physics 15 is usually taught by Morin who is uber-excellent (it
is from his text). If anyone else is teaching it in Fall though you
might want to think about it. 11A is not a joy. If you are in an
enigineering discipline that will need considerable physics, choose
15 even if this is not your concentration. 11A might be relatively
less harder to get a better grade in (no guarantees).</p>
<p>Go to the isites pages for past offerings and check out the video
lectures and course assignments.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m not sure I agree with you here. I took Applied Math 21a a few years ago, and I think it was very similar to 21a (we used the same book, I believe) but less demanding overall.</p>
<p>The big difference is that Math 21a is taught in section, while Applied Math 21a is taught in lecture. This means that you can shop Applied Math 21a and get an idea for how good the professor is, but you can’t really shop Math 21a, because you won’t get your section assignment until after study cards are due.</p>
<p>My experience with Applied Math 21a was horrible - while it wasn’t that demanding, the professor was terrible, homework assignments + exams were sloppy (i.e. misgraded questions all the time), and the TFs were useless (either didn’t speak English or didn’t know how to explain the material). It also wasn’t any more “applied” than a traditional calculus class. </p>
<p>But, I’m 90% there’s a new professor who has made things much better… but shop carefully! I think 21a is a bit more of a safe bet or has less variance than applied. Another thing to think about is when midterms fall - the reason I took applied was to avoid having three midterms (Ec, Orgo, 21a) on the same day.</p>
<p>“Go to the isites pages for past offerings and check out the video
lectures and course assignments”</p>
<p>What exactly is “isites” and how to do you get to these pages?</p>
<p>isites.harvard.edu is the server site that keeps archived past course work
material much like MIT’s OCW except that an HUID and PIN would be
required.</p>
<p>Use your browser and type in isites.harvard.edu to get to the login page.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot - I really appreciate all the advice I can get.</p>
<p>To expand on the above, here are last year’s course sites for the courses you were asking about (you’ll need your HUID and PIN):</p>
<p>Applied Math 21a: <a href=“my.harvard”>my.harvard;
Math 21a: [MATH</a> 21a Home Mathematics 21a (Fall 2008-2009)](<a href=“http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k41471]MATH”>http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k41471)</p>
<p>Physics 11a: <a href=“my.harvard”>my.harvard;
Physics 15a: [PHYSICS</a> 15a Home Physics 15a (Fall 2008-2009)](<a href=“http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k42022]PHYSICS”>http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k42022)</p>
<p>On these pages, you can see (among other things) last year’s problem sets, tests, even sometimes lecture or review notes, to get a feel for each course.</p>
<p>I myself took Physics 15a and Math 21a (I’ve tutored for Physics 11a as well). My recommendation for Physics is to shop 15a (recall that for the first week of courses, “shopping week”, you don’t have to sign up at all), and if you think it might be too challenging you can switch to 11a. (You can also add or drop courses for up to four weeks after shopping period). Not having taken Applied Math 21a, I don’t think I can give a helpful recommendation.</p>
<p>You might also be interested in the Q guide ratings for the courses (these are based on 07-08 student evaluations):</p>
<p>Applied Math 21a: <a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cueguide/cueguide08-09/Applied_Mathematics_21a.html[/url]”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cueguide/cueguide08-09/Applied_Mathematics_21a.html</a>
Math 21a: <a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cueguide/cueguide08-09/Mathematics_21a.html[/url]”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cueguide/cueguide08-09/Mathematics_21a.html</a></p>
<p>Physics 15a: <a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cueguide/cueguide08-09/Physics_15a.html[/url]”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cueguide/cueguide08-09/Physics_15a.html</a>
Physics 11a: <a href=“http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cueguide/cueguide08-09/Physics_11a.html[/url]”>http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~cueguide/cueguide08-09/Physics_11a.html</a></p>
<p>Good luck and let us know if you have further questions!</p>
<p>I also have a few similar questions about physics at Harvard:</p>
<ol>
<li>How different is Physics 15a from Physics 11a in terms of difficulty, workload, and teaching?</li>
<li>Are the 11a/b tracks and 15a/b tracks both calculus-based physics courses? From a cursory look at the course materials, it seems like calculus is not really used too often in 11a.</li>
<li>Would it be advisable to take Physics 15a and then Physics 11b for full year of physics? (I’m not going to be a physics concentrator – probably chemistry; my high school background in physics is AP Physics B and I got a 5 on the exam). </li>
</ol>
<p>Also, on an unrelated note, does anyone know when this year’s Q Guide will be posted?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for the help :)</p>
<p>Hi TheRemedy,</p>
<p>11a and 15a cover similar material, but as you correctly surmise, calculus doesn’t play a big role in 11a, and it plays a huge role in 15a. 15a assumes you’re comfortable with multivariable derivatives, integrals, and applying them in practice. If you would feel comfortable taking Math 21a at the same time, you’d feel comfortable in 15a.</p>
<p>As for teaching, I’m a huge fan of Professor Morin, who teaches 15a, and don’t know much about 11a teaching.</p>
<p>c) It’s reasonable to take 15a and then 11b, particularly if you’ve taken AP Physics B, but if you don’t think you’ll concentrate in Physics there’s no particular reason to take 15a rather than 11a. By no means do I want to discourage you, or anyone, from taking difficult courses. However, a lot of incoming students assume they have to take the most difficult courses available to them (as many Harvard students did in high school), and this isn’t the way to go. The best choice is to focus on taking advanced courses in the fields you’re most interested in, and taking on only what you’re interested in in other fields.</p>
<p>Having said that, make whatever choice you feel comfortable with! And don’t forget you can shop a course for a week before signing up for it, so you have plenty of time to decide.</p>
<p>Q guide is usually posted around September 1st.</p>
<p>Thanks, Admiral, for the great advice! Just to clarify, I wasn’t planning on taking physics until my sophomore year (after I take Math 21 freshman year). Even if it will probably be a more challenging class, the reason I’m still leaning towards 15a over 11a is that the 15a professor (assuming Prof. Morin still teaches it when I take it) seems infinitely more engaging and interesting in the lecture videos. But, there’s plenty of time to figure it all out before then.</p>