CS 10 and Math 53/54 and summer session at Berkeley

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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Hi everyone :slight_smile: I recently committed to Berkeley :slight_smile: I hope to major in CS within LS. Since I know about the GPA requirement and I have no previous programming experiences, I hope to ease into this by starting from CS 10. So can someone who has taken CS10 tell me a little bit about it? How well does it prepare me for CS 61A? What’s the workload and pace?

I’m thinking about using applied math as my backup major. I’m going to take math 1B the first semester. Which, 53 or 54, should I take next semester? Which way is better?

I’m also thinking about taking math 53 or 54 together with CS 61B during the summer. Is it allowed units-wise? Is there going to be any scheduling conflict? How about the course load? I’m not planning on doing internship my first summer.

Any input will be appreciated :slight_smile:

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also in the same predicament :slight_smile:
Bump!

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@prayforthebest
@jorgelorenzo

You can refer to the following link for the 2016 Berkeley Summer Sessions.
As there are multiple sessions being offered, you should be able to fit both classes into your schedule.

http://summer.berkeley.edu/courses/courses-list

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Math 53 and 54 can be taken in either order. Math 54 is required for L&S CS while Math 53 is not.

http://cs10.org can give you a preview of CS 10. http://cs61a.org can give you a preview of CS 61A.

Assuming that you have AP calculus credit for Math 1A, you may want to try the old Math 1A final exams to check your knowledge:
https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/archives/exams
https://wim.math.berkeley.edu/past-exams/
https://tbp.berkeley.edu/courses/math/1A/

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Thank you @StevenToCollege and @ucbalumnus… You’re always giving lots of great advice. It’s clearer now for me

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Thank you!

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Thanks :slight_smile: I’ve gotten 5 on Calc BC my junior year. So theoretically, I can skip 1B. But after seeing the final exams, I decided to retake it :slight_smile:

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Does anyone know on average, how many hours do those people who get A in CS 61 A/B/C study per week?

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@prayforthebest I got an A in both 61A and 61B, and my roommate got an A+ in both. We each worked 10-15 hours a week, which is about what I’ve heard from other people who got an A- or higher.

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My son is a CS major at Cal. He did not take any CS classes in high school. So the summer before college, he took an online programming course in Python (Coursera and Udacity have great options) which is much better preparation than CS 10 for CS 61A. CS 61A was difficult for him since many students taking the class had years of programming, but he caught up quickly and is now a EECS Honors Degree candidate.

He also took Math 54 first since it’s required for CS, taking Math 53 later, and the order didn’t matter.

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@Thej77 @Ifrancis95 thanks for the info and advice! I would look into the summer courses you mentioned.

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@lfrancis95

Sorry, I am a bit confused.
How did your son become an EECS Honors Degree candidate when he is a CS major?
Or did you mean he’s in EECS emphasizing CS?

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@StevenToCollege http://eecs.berkeley.edu/Programs/honors.html