<p>Anyone here take it?? If so, what is good preparation for the class?
I took AP Calc AB and got a 5 on the exam. I also took Calc II and III and a Jr. College. Do you think I should go for the honors class or the regular one?</p>
<p>Depends what you want.</p>
<p>Honors usually is a theoretical option for people interested in theoretical mathematics or related fields like theoretical physics. It will offer you nearly no boost for most pursuits - if you think you might want to study theoretical math, maybe try it.</p>
<p>If you do not know how to write proofs, you’ll probably do rather poorly - even if they will in principle teach you how, this is Berkeley, and a lot of talented math majors may know more than you, and be better prepared.</p>
<p>Some instructors don’t run honors very differently from the regular sections, however.</p>
<p>Your main problem is not going to be the material, but the quality of the other students in your class.</p>
<p>The regular sections will have MANY poor students that will allow you to get a good grade in the class even without knowing the material that well. The same cannot be said for the honors sections.</p>
<p>[Honors</a> Courses - UC Berkeley Department of Mathematics](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/courses_honors.html]Honors”>http://math.berkeley.edu/courses_honors.html)</p>
<p>It is probably a good idea to consider the honors course if you are good at math (probably true if you took all of that math before entering as a freshman) and want to sample more theory, derivations, and proofs that will be emphasized more in upper division math courses if you intend to be a math major (or otherwise take upper division math courses in support of other majors like physics, economics with math, some engineering areas, theoretical computer science, etc.).</p>
<p>If the additional theory, proofs, and derivations are not of interest to you, then it may not be worthwhile to take the honors course.</p>
<p>has anyone ever stopped a stranger from running into a pole? </p>
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<p>don’t ask us, ask your GPA what it wants.</p>
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<p>Oh for ****'s sake.</p>
<p>If you can handle proofs, and regular 1a/b weren’t much of a challenge, you should be fine. Yeah, you’ll have to work a lot harder for a good grade (in an honors class? Who’d have thought?), but if you’re truly interested in math, the extra rigor will make it more interesting. Check ratemyprofessors first though; I’ve heard about some classes where the only real difference was that exams were harder!</p>
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<p>That’s a lot of ifs. It may seem otherwise if you’re so used to being a math major. But people struggle with proofs a lot, and frankly Calc III is terrible preparation for a proof-based course.</p>
<p>calc III isn’t preparation for proof-based courses at all… it’s a computational course. sure you know the theories, but do you know the proofs?</p>
<p>again, OP, go for honors if it will help you sleep at night. best of luck.
but do note this isn’t high school, a B in an honors course is still a heavy 3.0</p>
<p>If you have any plans for taking upper division math or planning graduate school for a tech field, I would recommend it. It isn’t as bad as everyone is making it out to be. If you’re not planning to, it could be interesting but I don’t believe the benefit would be as strong.</p>