<p>i'm an incoming freshmen at ucsd sixth college, and im trying to plan out my freshmen year classes right now and i dont noe what to take and i kinda of want other opinions besides what the academic advisors give us. if any of you guys have experiences choosing classes please give me some suggestions. im planning to take 4 classes each quarter, one of them being the CAT writing series. and i don't noe what to take for the other three. im mostly conflicted between math and chem classes cuz i don't noe whether or not to take easier or harder courses (chem 6abc or 6abcH).</p>
<p>in high school
AP chem -5
AP calc ab- 5
AP calc bc- don't noe yet but probably 4
i thought those classes were fairly okay. so what do u suggest me taking?</p>
<p>Chem 6 and math 20.
I don’t think chem 6h really makes a difference. Unless you’re going to a professional school, like med or pharm, you don’t need to take chem 6 at all, since your 5 passes you out of it.
Most science majors require math 20, except for some bio majors, which require 10a-c, but since you’re already passing out of 10a-b/20a-b, you might as well just do 20c because it’s really easy–basically derivatives and integrating in 3D. Also, if your major requires 20d and e, you would have to take 20c anyway, so you should just do it.</p>
<p>The Math 20 series is required for the biochem/chem major. 5 on Calc AB already exempts you from Math 20A. If you get a 4 or higher on Calc BC, you are exempt from Math 20B as well and you can start on Math 20C (multivariable calculus). And since you got a 5 on AP chem, you’re exempt from the whole general chemistry sequence (6A-6C). However, there is the option of you taking 6BH and 6CH, if you so wish to do so. See the AP credit list here: [Advanced</a> Placement Credit](<a href=“http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/front/APCredit.html]Advanced”>http://www.ucsd.edu/catalog/front/APCredit.html). So technically, you can start organic chemistry your first quarter, but I advise you to talk to both your college’s advisor and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry’s advisors before you decide.</p>
<p>Since you’re planning on going to pharm or med school, you definitely have to take a year of general chem. If you want A’s, take regular, if you want to maybe add a little sparkle to your transcript but not necessarily get A’s, take honors.</p>
<p>woah jellybea me too! pharmacy school for the win!!! haha</p>
<p>how hard is honors compared to reg. is it worth it? im thinking about reviewing chem on my own over the summer and then jumping in to honors? but i dont know…</p>
<p>About honors chem: The only really difficult class was 6AH with Weare (and by really difficult I mean no one knows what’s going on…haha); BH and CH weren’t nearly as bad. If you’re going to take honors in the fall you can review chem a little if you want but I wouldn’t worry about it too much, especially since a lot of what you did in AP will be covered again. The grading in 6AH was based on a fat curve (if you got the average your grade was a B+/A-, I kid you not); BH and CH less so but you can still do well if you try, especially since they are easier.</p>
<p>cuz im biochem/chem major so ill have to take CHEM6H anyway right? does pharm/med school look at the difficulty of ur classes or its just based on GPA? if thats the case then i’d rather take easier classes xD. and also, it Weare a bad teacher? he seems to have a bad reputation xD. anyother teacher teaching CHEM6AH?</p>
<p>Well, if you guys choose to take 6AH, I’ll be retaking the gen chem series but honors this time, so see you guys there, whoever you are. I’m retaking gen chem no matter what, and personally, I’m wavering between regular and honors because I looked up Weare and decided against him… But from the responses above, I think I’m just going to take both 6a and 6ah and drop one or the other depending on if I can handle it or not. That’s always an option for you freshmen as well, but note that it’s going to be really hard for you to get into chem 6a unless you have an early registration date. (Waitlists do go up and down really fast that week of registration, though!)</p>
<p>Weare is a bad teacher, not going to beat around the bush here. Nice guy, but poor lecturer. The TA for our class, however, was a huge help and saved my butt (as well as that of our classmates).</p>
<p>haha thanks kings, but i’ve been on vacation :)</p>
<p>with a 5 on the AP exam, you’ve received credit for 6ABC. you can’t take these classes for additional credit, but you <em>can</em> get letter grades for them if you retake the classes, which is all the pharm/med/dental schools need to see. these professional schools just want to make sure that you’re capable of pulling those grades at the university level. in other words: they won’t be GPA-boosters if you retake them. but you just need the letter grade for your applications.</p>
<p>regarding honors vs regular series: obviously you’ll get course credit if you take 6BH and 6CH. but is the honors series worth it? for most people, the clear answer is NO. the honors series is different from the high school sense of “ooh, i have to take honors/AP classes to get that extra ounce of prestige.” i think UCSD does a disservice to incoming freshmen who still hold that mindset. the honors series differs from the regular series in that it assumes you know (or can learn quickly) the basic concepts of chemistry, so the class can dive deeper into the physics/mathematics of chemical processes. a better name for the class would be “advanced topics in general chemistry.” not quite so attractive, huh? and lastly: “honors” is just a fancy label. case in point: berkeley has a separate intensive genchem track for its chem majors, and that’s not denoted with an honors – it’s just assigned a different series number. how would your pharmacy school know?</p>
<p>the most compelling evidence i have for people enrolling in the honors series for the wrong reasons: look at term enrollments for 6AH vs BH and CH. 6AH starts off with around 90 bright-eyed bushy-tailed students, but by winter quarter a third of the class has already left for the general chem track. </p>
<p>if you love chemical physics and math and theory though, go for the honors series. the curve was set to a B+ with weare. and your 5 on the AP already proves that you know enough genchem to move ahead in chemistry. the honors series won’t be focusing on teaching you the basics.</p>
<p>@astrina: can you elaborate on what you mean by “with a 5 on the AP exam, you’ve received credit for 6ABC. you can’t take these classes for additional credit, but you <em>can</em> get letter grades for them if you retake the classes, which is all the pharm/med/dental schools need to see.” do u mean like if i have the 6ABC, i get letter grades but not class credit/units? if im a biochem major don’t i HAVE to complete the 6ABCH anyway in order to graduate? then in that case, i should just take 6abch anyway?</p>
<p>also, is it possible to do chem 6AH and then drop to 6B the next quarter if Honors is too hard? do i still need to complete the entire series or can i just take… lets say 6Ah, 6B, 6CH (jump around)</p>
<p>also, i want to take math 20 series, is that one hard? and i think they need chem 6H as prerequisits right?</p>
If you got a 5 on the AP exam and you take 6ABC (regular), you’ll get letter grades on your transcript but no credits, therefore they will not affect your GPA.</p>
<p>
No, if you’re a chem/biochem major you need ANY form of 6ABC to graduate (mixing and matching honors/regular is acceptable). you’re set if you got a 5 on the AP exam. if this is the case, you don’t need to take any more genchem for your major. but if you’re pre-pharm/med/dental, you’ll need to take some form of the classes to get a letter grade to put on your transcript. it’s up to you whether to take regular/honors for this.</p>
<p>and yes, you can switch from honors back to regular. but you can’t jump back into honors as easily, since 6BH and 6CH require completion of the preceding honors course as a prerequisite. (if you have a 5 on the AP, you can jump directly into 6BH)</p>
<p>of course chem 6H isn’t a prerequisite for math 20 series. but you have to take math 20 for your major.</p>