<p>How challenging are the biological series classes? I already took intro to biology at my community college, but need to take those. Is it possible to get an A?
Also, how challenging is Chem 8A and Chem 8b, how about chem 2A-2c? How hard is it to get an A? How much studying?</p>
<p>It depends on the professor. I had Dr. Keen and Dr. Strong for BIS 2B, and well…Dr. Strong’s midterms and his materials for the final were, I kid you not, literally the EXACT same thing as the study guide he provided to students. Unfortunately, I don’t think Dr. Strong is teaching BIS 2B anymore, as my class was the last BIS 2B class he co-taught. Dr. Keen is also great at teaching, and as long as you went to lectures and studied the material, you’ll do well on the exams. Dr. Keen also likes to interact with students in that she asks questions, and if you have an answer, she will literally go up to you and hold her microphone out to you so you can say it directly into the microphone, which helps the students who like to listen to the podcast to see what they missed. I have NEVER seen any other professor who is as engaging with the students as Dr. Keen. For BIS 2C, I had Dr. Keen and Dr. Dehesh (Dr. Dehesh taught the plant portion of the class, while Dr. Keen taught the animal portion). Dr. Keen seems to only teach BIS 2C now though, and only once a quarter (my year, she taught it in spring quarter. This year, she’s going to only teach it in fall quarter). </p>
<p>Even the labs themselves are easy–the prelabs may take a bit of work, but the labs themselves are mainly observations. I kid you not when I say that the first BIS 2B lab is basically you and your assigned group (assembled by the TA) going to a particular station (each group is assigned a station to go to) and write down observations of what you see at that particular station. You don’t need to know the official names of anything you see-the instructions even say “name what you see whatever you like”. My group and I got an aquatic setting to observe, and at the time, we had no idea what we were looking at. We called the things we observed names like “red circle thingy” and “mushroom-looking thingy”. Some labs are more interactive (for example, one of the first few labs in BIS 2C involves you learning how to construct a phylogeny), but they’re doable. </p>
<p>Yes, it is possible to get an A. My roommate got an A in both BIS 2B and 2C. </p>
<p>Honestly, don’t worry too much.</p>
<p>As for CHE 8AB, I’ve heard that it’s much easier than the other two O-Chem series (118 and I think the 129). I’m currently finishing up the CHE 118 series because it is required by a majority of vet schools besides UC Davis and a few other schools, and it’s difficult. I also took the equivalent of CHE 2ABC at community college, so I can’t really comment on how CHE 2ABC is like, except that I do recommend that you take a professor like Enderle, as almost all of his reviews are positive and students have said that he made chemistry seem fun and manageable for them.</p>
<p>Thanks!
I’m not good at math at all and never been super smart, would I still do okay in chem? Another thing I’m afraid of is that everyone is a premed student there, classes are challenging, and I would have a harder time keeping my GPA up at UCD.
Also, any tips to get a head start in BIS 2A-2C? I might as well do something over the summer…</p>
<p>Also, how challenging is it to get into those classes?</p>
<p>Honestly, there isn’t a lot of math in General Chem (CHE 2ABC) at all, and there’s no math at all involved in O-Chem (CHE 8AB). It’s simple, arithmetic math, and the only hard part is stoichiometry, but that’s just mainly conversions (like going from grams to moles–you’ll learn what moles are). </p>
<p>Head start for BIS 2ABC? Hmm, I can’t tell you about BIS 2A since I didn’t take it at UCD (took the equivalent at community college), but do the prelabs in the lab book (because those WILL be due the Monday of the week you have lab. There’s an electronic version that you turn in (which will be available on the course’s Smartsite), but it’s much easier to do the prelabs on paper first and then transferring those information onto the electronic version. I wouldn’t recommend reading the textbook, because you may either get a professor who don’t require the book at all even though the bookstore will say it’s required (and teach in a completely different manner than what the book teaches), or you may get a professor who wants you to read certain chapters out of the book–wait until the syllabus becomes available (an announcement will be sent out to your ucdavis email account if a syllabus has been posted on Smartsite for your class) and see what it says. </p>
<p>The BIS 2ABC classes are always held in the 123 Science Lecture Hall building, which has the capacity to hold up to 500 people, and there are several different lab sections–there are also two different sections of the BIS 2ABC series (For example, the A section and the B section, both of which have lectures at different times, so the total number of students taking the BIS series can be up to 1000). It’s mainly a freshman-sophomore level course, so you have a late pass/registration time, you might have difficulty getting in, but you can still waitlist the class–in my experience, they try to accommodate people who are on the waitlist to the best of their ability without going over capacity. </p>
<p>And not everyone is a Premed student here. My roommate, who’s a Psych major, isn’t pre-med. My other roommate, who’s a Political Science major, isn’t pre-med. There are people in my major (Animal Science) who want to go into research or conservation instead of vet school. The CHE 8AB series is not made for pre-med students at all–all the pre-med students are taking the O-Chem series that I’m taking (CHE 118C). CHE 8AB is the “easy” o-chem series.</p>
<p>Thanks!
Also, do you happen to know when are where the chemistry + math placement test is taken? I tried to check the website but I couldn’t even find a schedule and place? Is it at home on your computer? I have seen a post somewhere on this forum mentioning it is taken at orientation, but I won’t be ready by then.</p>
<p>The Chemistry and Math Placement tests are to be taken online, and you get your results at orientation. I gave the links in JeSuis’ thread, but I’ll provide them here again. </p>
<p>[UCD</a> Department of Chemistry: Chemistry Placement Exam<a href=“date%20pending”>/url</a>
<a href=“https://www.math.ucdavis.edu/undergrad/math_placement/[/url]”>Math Placement :: math.ucdavis.edu](<a href=“http://chemistry.ucdavis.edu/Undergraduate/ChemPlacement.html]UCD”>Chemistry - Placement Requirements)</a>
</p>
<p>There’s another set of dates, but those are reserved for freshmen.</p>
<p>Opps thanks, I meant for the Fall 2013 session. I won’t be attending davis until fall! So I can take the placement test at my house then?
Also, do professors curve? So lets say I get a 80 pct, but half the class gets an 80% so that equals a C for me.</p>
<p>Depends on the professor. Some professors curve, some don’t. They will tell you on the syllabus. For example, Dr. Famula (who teaches Animal Science 1) doesn’t curve, and neither do professors teaching the Physics 7 series. Also, an 80% is always a B no matter what the curve is anyway, at least in my experience. A lot of my professors set the curve to a C+/B-, and in many of classes that were curved, the averages were usually somewhere as low as 40% (my O-Chem class) to as high as 70% (my NPB 101 class). I have never seen a curved class where half the class got an 80% or better. Usually those classes (in which a majority of students do well) tend to be on a straight-scale (again, that’s just from my experience from the classes I’ve taken). </p>
<p>Like I said, the placement tests are done online. So yes you can take it at your house. Those dates are when you can take the test online; the test won’t be available to take on any other dates.</p>