HELP! Writing 37 or 39A at UC Irvine????

<p>I did not pass the AWPE so I want to take writing 37 . However, english is my worst subject and UCI recommends taking that class if you are confident in writing. Anyone care to share their experience in Writing 37 ?</p>

<p>I always thought I was an okey dokey writer.
Until I found out that I didn’t pass the AWPE.
Then I felt stupid because I found out that some of my friends, who I thought were stupider than me, had passed it. </p>

<p>I totally lacked confidence in my writing after the AWPE but I decided to take Writing 37 because I didn’t want to take 39A, B AND C. I took 37 fall quarter and then 39C spring quarter because 37 knocks out 39 A and B.</p>

<p>Writing 37 is called “intensive writing.” And for me, it really was. My teacher assigned us many assignments and I was forced to write a lot CONSTANTLY. It sucked because I’m an extremely slow writer. I remember staring at my laptop screen at 3 a.m. trying to quickly form 500 words into coherent sentences that reflected an intelligent analysis of the assigned text. Man, it was frustrating. Especially when I had writing at 9 a.m. that day. </p>

<p>My teacher was a tough grader but she really focused on helping us improve our writing. Looking back on my first year of college, I’m glad I took 37. I don’t regret it at all. It made me a better writer and that definitely helped when I wrote essays for later classes. Yeah, it required me to work hard and to sacrifice sleep but I learned so much in that class. In my class, there were some dumb kids who made me wonder “How in the world did they get accepted into college?!” and there were some smart kids who made me wonder “How in the world did they end up in this class?!” I later discovered that writing is not a measure of one’s intelligence. It’s a skill and skills can be honed. </p>

<p>I’m sorry if this has scared you but I have some reassurance. A good friend of mine from high school also took 37 at the same time that I did. But he ended up with an easy teacher who barely assigned any work. My friend never stressed out over essays and homework like I did and he got an A- whereas I got a B. </p>

<p>So… it’s your choice. You can go the long way by taking 39A, B and C but B and C fill up pretty quickly. (Well, the ones at the good times.) Or you can take 37 and then take poetry, fiction, or 39C (research) to fulfill lower-division writing. I strongly advise you to refer to ratemyprofs if you decide on 37. You can choose a teacher who will actually help you improve your writing or who will make life easy. Since tuition fees have been increased, don’t you want to learn as much as possible and get the most bang out of your buck? =)</p>

<p>^thx
do u think taking writing 37 (plus the other courses which the freshmen are supposed to take) will require a lot of studying/ working outside of class??
cuss ppl say the first quarter is the time to social and make new fds. Is taking that class gonna make us so busy that we don even have time to hang out w/ fds???</p>

<p>Keep in mind that writing abilities in HIGH school and in College are very different. So your skills might not be as GOOD or as BAD as you think they are. It can go either way</p>

<p>TwinsFishy, it depends.</p>

<p>Me, I’m a really bad procrastinator. For real. I do homework and study last minute. But it works for me. Other kids start on homework the day it’s assigned. And that works for them.</p>

<p>The work for 37 is totally doable. It’s up to you and how you choose to manage your time. There are many students who take 16+ units their first quarter and they’re able to get good grades and join clubs/frats/sororities. Everybody’s different.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t say that first quarter is the only time to socialize. You can continue making friends throughout your stay in college. If you’re dorming, then you’ll be living with like 70 to 80 people so it’s not hard to make friends in your hall. But it does seem that after first quarter, everybody’s already established their own group of friends and they just all stick together after that. </p>

<p>In the end, it’s all up to you. I think it’s definitely possible to get good grades and hang out with friends. Just set your priorities straight. :)</p>

<p>I’m a civil engineering major so english and I really don’t get along and I hate writing…I took writing 37 and thought it was fairly easy though. we had 2 major assignment and some other small ones. the only thing is that its pretty fast paced and I guess a decent amount of work(lots of reading).
for me it was less stressful than other classes because there’s no discussion and no final, it could be bad if you are a big procrastinator though since it’s faster paced.</p>

<p>hey hp20021,</p>

<p>I took Writing 37 in the fall and I gotta say that it wasn’t that bad. I was able to pick a prof who was pretty easy going on assignments and papers (I had Chieng btw). He told us many times we would have a quiz on this day or that day and never actually gives it to us. We did like 2 or 3 essays before the big RA and RIP (you’ll find out what those are once you take the class). He did give us a lot of readings and made us watch the movies on our own time (they were pretty interesting books/movies, theme of the class was Crime/Violence). I would say 37 isn’t that bad, but from reading ynthis post it just depends on the prof you choose to take and ratemyprof’s is a life-saver! You will use it throughout your time at Irvine. </p>

<p>So, in essence, just choose the class you think you will be able to handle. 37 isn’t really that hard and it follows the almost same schedule as 39B (RA by week 5 or 6 and the RIP by the end of the quarter). As they say, taking 37 will be able to “kill two birds with one stone”. Haha. Just kidding.</p>

<p>Is it still possible to get placed in Writing 37 or 39a after taking the Academic English placement test?</p>