Freshman math FAQ

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
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<p>It is getting to be that season when newly admitted and matriculated freshmen ask for course recommendations. The most common one is "what math course should I take?"</p>

<p>Math courses</p>

<p>Common math courses taken by new freshmen are described at <a href="https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/lowerdivcourses"&gt;https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/lowerdivcourses&lt;/a> .</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Math 1A and 1B are freshman calculus courses for students in math intensive majors.</p></li>
<li><p>Math 10A and 10B are courses the cover calculus, statistics, and combinatorics. They are required for most biology majors including MCB and IB. They are recommended for psychology majors. Ask the major departments for what alternate sequences may be accepted if you want to major in subject requiring these courses and another subject requiring a different sequence.</p></li>
<li><p>Math 16A and 16B are less rigorous freshman calculus for students in less math intensive majors.</p></li>
<li><p>Math 53 and 54 are sophomore level courses for students in math intensive majors who have completed Math 1B or equivalent.</p></li>
<li><p>Math H1B, H53, and H54 are honors courses for students with a strong interest in math.</p></li>
<li><p>Math 32 is a precalculus course for students whose math background is insufficient to enroll in Math 1A or 16A.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Check your declared or intended major department for math requirements.</p>

<p>If you have no AP, IB, A-level, college, or other calculus credit:</p>

<p>Use the on-line placement exam at <a href="https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam"&gt;https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam&lt;/a> to check your knowledge of prerequisite math concepts needed to enroll in Math 1A or 16A. If your knowledge is insufficient, consider enrolling in Math 32.</p>

<p>If you have AP Calculus AB or BC credit:</p>

<p>The Math Department has recommendations at <a href="https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/high-school-exam-credits"&gt;https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/high-school-exam-credits&lt;/a> . The summary:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>"A minimum score of a 3 on the Math AB or BC exam is equivalent to Math 1A. Score of 5 on the BC Math is equivalent to Math 1A and 1B."</p></li>
<li><p>However, the Math Department is not that confident in the ability of students who score a 3 or 4 to succeed in Math 1B after skipping Math 1A.</p></li>
<li><p>Students with a 5 on BC who want to enroll in Math 54 should self-study the introductory differential equations material taught in Math 1B but not commonly included in other (high school or college) calculus courses.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>The College of Engineering's exam credit list at <a href="https://engineering.berkeley.edu/2016-17-undergraduate-guide/2016-17-exams-ap-ib-level-and-transfer-credit-information"&gt;https://engineering.berkeley.edu/2016-17-undergraduate-guide/2016-17-exams-ap-ib-level-and-transfer-credit-information&lt;/a> states that a 3, 4, or 5 on AB or 3 on BC fulfills Math 1A (but students with a score of 3 on AB should take Math 1A), and a 4 or 5 on BC fulfills Math 1B (but students with a score of 4 should take Math 1B).</p>

<p>Students unsure of whether to start in a course more advanced than Math 1A may want to check their calculus knowledge on old Math 1A and 1B final exams from the exam files at the Math Department ( <a href="https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/archives/exams"&gt;https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/archives/exams&lt;/a> ) or Tau Beta Pi ( <a href="https://tbp.berkeley.edu/courses/"&gt;https://tbp.berkeley.edu/courses/&lt;/a> ).</p>

<p>Note that if you took Calculus AB in high school, or took Calculus AB and BC over two years in high school, a college math course will cover material at approximately twice the speed that you saw in high school.</p>

<p>If you intend to apply to the Business Administration major, note that it does not allow AP credit to completely exempt the student from its math requirement of Math 1A and 1B, or 16A and 16B. Students with a 3, 4, or 5 on the AB or BC exam need to take one of Math 1B, 16B, 53, or 54 if they want to apply to the Business Administration major. See <a href="http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/aplist.html"&gt;http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/Undergrad/aplist.html&lt;/a> .</p>

<p>If you intend to apply to a medical school, note that some medical schools require calculus, and some of those do not accept AP credit for that requirement, so you may have to take a college level math course (or more than one) even if you have AP credit. Check the medical schools' admission requirements.</p>

<p>If you have IB Math HL credit:</p>

<p>The Math Department has recommendations at <a href="https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/high-school-exam-credits"&gt;https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/high-school-exam-credits&lt;/a> . It considers a grade of 5, 6, or 7 on IB Math HL to be equivalent of Math 1A.</p>

<p>The College of Engineering considers IB Math HL with a score of 5, 6, or 7 to be the equivalent of Math 1A and 1B, according to its exam credit list at <a href="https://engineering.berkeley.edu/2016-17-undergraduate-guide/2016-17-exams-ap-ib-level-and-transfer-credit-information"&gt;https://engineering.berkeley.edu/2016-17-undergraduate-guide/2016-17-exams-ap-ib-level-and-transfer-credit-information&lt;/a> .</p>

<p>For other majors, check with your major or intended major department.</p>

<p>You may still want to check the old final exam questions as described in the AP credit section above.</p>

<p>If you have A-Level credit:</p>

<p>The Math Department has recommendations at <a href="https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/high-school-exam-credits"&gt;https://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/high-school-exam-credits&lt;/a> .</p>

<p>The College of Engineering considers A-Level scores of A, B, or C to be the equivalent of Math 1A for A-Level Math H1, and Math 1A and 1B for A-Level Math H2, H3, Pure, or Further, according to its exam credit list at <a href="https://engineering.berkeley.edu/2016-17-undergraduate-guide/2016-17-exams-ap-ib-level-and-transfer-credit-information"&gt;https://engineering.berkeley.edu/2016-17-undergraduate-guide/2016-17-exams-ap-ib-level-and-transfer-credit-information&lt;/a> .</p>

<p>For other majors, check with your major or intended major department.</p>

<p>You may still want to check the old final exam questions as described in the AP credit section above.</p>

<p>If you have college credit for calculus or more advanced math courses:</p>

<p>If you have credit from a California community college, use <a href="http://www.assist.org"&gt;http://www.assist.org&lt;/a> to determine course equivalency.</p>

<p>If you have credit from another college, ask the Math Department about course equivalency.</p>

<p>Note that it may not be possible to avoid partially repeating courses if you have completed a partial sequence of courses at a quarter system school, or a school which divides the courses differently (e.g. linear algebra and differential equations as separate courses instead of combined into one course like Math 54 at Berkeley).</p>

<p>You may still want to check the old final exam questions as described in the AP credit section above.</p>

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<p>Great information. I’m hoping to use this information, if i get admitted.</p>

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<p>If you have already taken the equivalent of Math 53 and 54:</p>

<p>A few freshmen enter having already taken the equivalent of Math 53 and 54 while still in high school. Math 55 is a discrete math course that also includes some proof techniques that are likely to be helpful in upper division Math courses.</p>

<p>For upper division Math courses, the Math Department recommends taking Math 110 (linear algebra) as the first upper division Math course. Other core upper division courses for the Math major are Math 104, 113, and 185.
[Majoring</a> in Mathematics | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/programs/undergraduate/majoring-mathematics]Majoring”>Majoring in Mathematics | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley)</p>

<p>Computer Science majors should take Computer Science 70 instead of Math 55 (credit for only one will be given). Students intending to double major in Math and Computer Science should consult the departments on which course to take. Other Math courses of interest to Computer Science majors include 113, 115, 116, and 136.</p>

<p>Statistics majors intending to go to graduate school are recommended to take Math 104, 105, 110, 113, and 185.</p>

<p>Economics majors intending to go to graduate school may want to consult [this</a> list](<a href=“http://sites.google.com/site/markborgschulte/berkeleyclassesirecommend]this”>Mark Borgschulte, University of Illinois - berkeleyclassesirecommend) of courses to take, including Math C103, 104, 105, 110, 128A, 140, and 170.</p>

<p>Physics majors are recommended to take Math 104 and 185 or Math 121A and 121B. Math 123, 126, and 189 may also be of interest.</p>

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<p>If you are a spring admit:</p>

<p>If you are a spring admit considering the [Extension’s</a> Fall Program for Freshmen](<a href=“http://extension.berkeley.edu/fpf/]Extension’s”>http://extension.berkeley.edu/fpf/), then be aware that it typically does not offer courses more advanced than Math 1B.</p>

<p>If you wish to enroll in FPF and take a course more advanced than Math 1B, then your choices include:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Enrolling in courses at [Berkeley</a> City College](<a href=“http://www.berkeleycitycollege.edu/wp/]Berkeley”>http://www.berkeleycitycollege.edu/wp/), a nearby community college. BCC Math 3C = UCB Math 53, BCC Math 3E and 3F = UCB Math 54, and BCC Math 11 = UCB Math 55, according to [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) .</p></li>
<li><p>Enrolling in a main campus course on a space available basis through [Extension’s</a> Concurrent Enrollment](<a href=“http://extension.berkeley.edu/info/ConcurrentOverview.html]Extension’s”>http://extension.berkeley.edu/info/ConcurrentOverview.html), or possibly by arrangement with FPF. Math H54 is the sophomore level course that is most likely to have space available.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>If, instead of enrolling in FPF, you wish to enroll at a community college in the fall before coming to Berkeley in the spring, then use [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to determine course equivalency. Semester system community colleges are more likely to have a one-to-one mapping to Math 53. If the community college has separate linear algebra and differential equations courses, you need to take both to get equivalency to Math 54.</p>

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<p>how do you sticky this thread ? great info</p>

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<p>This is amazing information - thank you!</p>

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<p>Thanks for this amazing information! This helps a lot!</p>

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<p>Thank you. This is great info.</p>

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<p>Awesome thread!</p>

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<p>Hey, that’s great information. However, I have a question, if any of you might have an idea about it. Pre requisites for 16A and 32 have “three years of high school maths” which I don’t have even though I have studied calculus because of school restrictions. Is there a way out of this?</p>

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<p>“Three years of high school math” typically means up to about algebra 2 in high school. You can check your knowledge of high school algebra, geometry, and trigonometry on the math department’s [on-line</a> placement exam](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam]on-line”>http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/choosing/placement-exam).</p>

<p>If have had calculus in high school already, you are likely more than ready for 16A.</p>

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<p>but do you think they’ll allow me to take the class? with the pre requisite being three years. And you are an awesome help on this forum :D</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Yes, I only had one year of math in high school (Calc BC) and was able to take whatever.</p>

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<p>prerequisites are almost never actually enforced, consider them guidelines for what you would need to be successful. </p>

<p>The registration system (Telebears) doesn’t have the means to enforce pre-reqs and generally professors and GSIs don’t care either. The only way it could be addressed is manually - with someone from the department or the staff teaching the class having to look at each students records and drop them if they didn’t comply. It is very rare for this to happen. You will see it with Bio 1A and Bio 1AL because the demand is so extreme for these classes that the department assigns an administrator to enforce some specific rules. Once in a while, a professor with a small class that has a big waitlist might look at the students already enrolled and think about dropping those that don’t meet all the listed requirements.</p>

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<p>wow great info!</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>If you have fewer than three years of math in high school but have completed calculus (in presumably your sophomore year of high school), you were a top student in math (three grades ahead) and should really consider a course more advanced than 16A if you have any interest in math at all.</p>

<p>But the short answer is that (a) they don’t enforce most prerequisites at the course registration level, and (b) “three years of high school math” really means algebra 2 in high school – i.e. the level of math completed, even if you completed that level in fewer than three years in high school.</p>

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<p>A new math sequence, Math 10A and 10B, has been created for student majoring in biological sciences. The majors in Molecular and Cell Biology and Integrative Biology have approved this sequence as a substitution for their previous math requirements.</p>

<p>[Methods</a> of Mathematics: Calculus, Statistics, and Combinatorics](<a href=“http://mcb.berkeley.edu/undergrad/courses/courses/math91/]Methods”>http://mcb.berkeley.edu/undergrad/courses/courses/math91/)</p>

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<p>Since many questions seem to be coming from pre-business students, here is more explanation of the math requirements for the undergraduate business major in the Haas School of Business Administration.</p>

<p>The usual requirements are any one of:</p>

<ul>
<li>Math 16A and 16B</li>
<li>Math 1A and 16B</li>
<li>Math 1A and 1B</li>
<li>Math 53</li>
<li>Math 54</li>
</ul>

<p>[Prerequisites</a>, Undergraduate Program, Berkeley-Haas](<a href=“Application Process - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas”>Application Process - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas)</p>

<p>If you plan to take Math 53 or 54 (which specify Math 1B (not 16B) as the prerequisite), then you need not worry about the special undergraduate business major rules regarding AP, IB, or A-level credit. You can follow the recommendations of the Math Department and your alternate major departments as described in post #1.</p>

<p>If you do not plan to take Math 53 or 54, then note the following rules for the undergraduate business major:</p>

<ul>
<li><p>AP Calculus AB: “Students with this exam are required to take 2 semesters of calculus either Math 16A and Math 16B or Math 1A and Math 1B or Math 1A and 16B. Math 53 or Math 54 will also fulfill the calculus prerequisite for Haas.”</p></li>
<li><p>AP Calculus BC (score of 5), IB Math HL (score of 5, 6, or 7), or A-level (score of A, B, or C): “Math 16A or Math 1A not required. Student must take Math 16B or Math 1B or Math 53 or Math 54 to complete the calculus prerequisite.”</p></li>
</ul>

<p>[Exam</a> Credit, Undergraduate Programs, Berkeley-Haas](<a href=“Application Process - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas”>Application Process - Undergraduate Program - Berkeley Haas)</p>

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<p>Yay! Finally a well-formatted and condensed form of the information that I’ve been trying to read over the past week. Thanks :)</p>

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<p>Is it possible to concurrently enrol in Math 1A and Math 1B for the fall semester?</p>