<p>Is the general idea to take 3 4-unit classes and then 1 1-unit seminar, or what? I’m taking Chem 1A (or 4A, not sure which I should take, I got a 5 on AP chem easily) and Math 1A (or 53, again I got a 5 on AB easily and almost surely a 5 on BC easily) and then either Cognitive Science 1 or Economics 1. And then a seminar? That will come to 13 units, just right for first semester I guess. Or I was also thinking of taking no seminar and instead take Psych 002 as well, which also seems pretty interesting, but that would come to 15 units. What do you think?</p>
<p>Also for the foreign language exemption, it says “took 3 years of foreign language in high school”. If you took a high school level course in 8th grade, does that count? Also, do they give you an exam that you have to pass, because I’ve totally forgotten all of that stuff :. I did 8th through 10th grade foreign language, and to be honest I’m not looking forward to doing it again, lol.</p>
<p>As some background, I’m planning on apply to medical school after undergrad, so I need 1 year of gen chem, 1 year o chem, etc.</p>
<p>So to sum up, my questions are:</p>
<li>Chem 1A or 4A given that AP Chem was an easy 5.</li>
<li>Math 1A or 53 given that AP Calc AB/BC was an easy 5.</li>
<li>3 4-unit + 1 1-unit or 3 4-unit + 1 3-unit for freshman year?</li>
<li>How does exempting out of the foreign language requirement work?</li>
</ol>
<p>if you completed high school language for 3 years and passed ur exempt.
or achieving a score on sat ii language… i think around 580? or 620… something like that.</p>
<p>the 3 years of foreign language refers to the “3rd year-level” so that 8th grade year does count.</p>
<p>i recommend chem 1a instead of 4a. apparently 1a is much harder now (took it two years ago). 4a is for college of chem students primarily and they’re supposed to be pretty good at chem…</p>
<p>if you’re doing medical school, you can even do math 16a/b; for me, 1a was harder than 1b b/c my 1a prof was ridiculous. it really does depend on the prof. it takes math to a different level. they expect you to apply the simple techniques you know to really difficult problems. and i’m someone who loves math and found AB/BC relatively easy.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help everyone :)! That makes me happy that I don’t have to take another year of foreign language :D!</p>
<p>I had 1 final question:</p>
<p>If a major (MCB in this case) says that Math 1A is a prereq and I take Math 53 instead, will that count? Or would I <em>have</em> to take Math 1A? I don’t want to end up taking both.</p>
<p>Castel, you seem like a pretty smart guy. Do you think the following schedule would be too much to handle for freshman year? </p>
<p>FALL:
Chem 4A
Math 53
CogSci 1
Econ 1
(16 units total)</p>
<p>If you do 4A => 4B => 3A => 3B, then you do a full year of general chem + lab and then a full organic chem + lab. Whereas the recommended schedule is semester of general chem + lab then semester of orgo + lab then next year semester of orgo + lab and then finally back to general chem. Seems weird, right? Maybe I’m wrong.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help everyone :).</p>
<p>BTW, does anyone have any comments on cogsci 1 / econ 1 as introductory classes? Are they boring or somewhat interesting. I’m debating between MCB/cogsci/econ, leaning most toward econ right now, but I’d like to check out the other two in my first year. Would it be better to take math/chem + one of them first sem + some smaller class and then math2/chem2 + the other + some smaller class 2nd sem?</p>
<p>I’m just gonna throw it out there from what I’ve heard from my friends: Chem 4a is pretty damn difficult though I’m gonna assume more interesting than 1a…which is essentially general chem in HS review except much more trickier…=.</p>
<p>This looks like a schedule from hell. 4A, Econ 1, and 53 are all known to cause serious pain on their own. Taking them together seems disastrous, especially for an incoming freshman entering a new environment. Here are a few points/recommendations:</p>
<p>1) If you are pre-med, you do not need to take anything higher than Math 1B. If you want a high GPA (a necessity for med school), it would be a better idea to stick with the 1A-1B sequence and not kill yourself with unnecessary higher math (like so many usually do).</p>
<p>2) The Chem 4A seems okay if you’re really good in the subject. Although you can still learn the same necessary information from 1A and possibly get a better grade.</p>
<p>3) Econ 1 is a pretty difficult course because they use it as a weeder (like Chem 1A/4A and Math 1A/1B). To get an A/A- requires A LOT of time and effort. Remember, the grades are curved, so you have to be ahead of the other hundreds of students taking it at the same time. If you’re taking classes like Chem and Math at the same time, which also require a big time commitment, then you’re either in for some very long days & nights or some disappointment in academic performance. I might recommend taking Econ after you’ve settled in and have developed a good method of study at Cal.</p>
<p>4) Cog-Sci is the better option to take along-side Math and Chem since it is less strenuous. I take a Seminar or De-Cal with this plus the Math and Chem for your first semester. Also, most people don’t realize that introductory CogSci courses are very theoretical/philosophical in nature. Don’t become too frustrated when you have to deal with what seem like abstract theories of the mind; for a long time, this was all people knew about the brain.</p>
<p>On an end-note, I feel like it’s important to point out that you don’t have to push yourself to the max like you did in high school. Most of your classes (esp. as a pre-med) are going to be challenging. You have the Berkeley name now, which opens up a lot of doors. So just taking what’s necessary to get a good GPA/test scores is most advisable.</p>
<p>Seanml9, it seems like you would not agree with the philosophy that Math 53/54 is easier than Math 1A/B if you are 100% solid on AP Calc AB/BC material? Other people on the forum seem to say that because Math 1A/B are weeder classes, they end up being HARDER than 53/54 even though you’ve already seen it all before and even though you were good at Calc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip about Econ 1 – I did not know that it was considered as a very intense class. I was looking for more of an introductory look into the subject, just to see if I was interested (my school never offered any sort of Economics class, unfortunately… we used AP Gov to fulfill the california state requirement). Same idea for CogSci.</p>
<p>For Chem 4 vs Chem 1, what about the linearity problems (if you take Chem 1 series you’re going to be taking general/organic/organic/general instead of a linear progression like general/general/organic/organic)? Is Chem 4 potentially easier than Chem 1 for the same reason that some say Math 53 is easier than Math 1? Is there any advantage to taking the non-linear progression (maybe the organic chem helps on the biology that you’re going to take during sophomore year)?</p>
<p>Medical schools accept Berkeley’s unusual sequence of gen/ochem - usually this is Chem 1A, Chem 3A as inorganic/gen chem (even though 3A is listed as ochem, it is not really ochem yet is the career center’s reasoning) and Chem 3B and MCB 102 or C100A as organic chem (even though 102/C100A are biochem). This is the route taken by most pre-meds.</p>