<p>I'm currently taking AP Calculus A/B, so I wanted to know how UCLA's math 3A compares.</p>
<p>The topics you learn are the same, but the curves are much harder…</p>
<p>Almost everyone will get full marks on homework, and it’s usually worth less than 10%.</p>
<p>So your final grade comes down to the midterm and final.</p>
<p>You perform slightly below average? C+.</p>
<p>You perform slightly above average? B+</p>
<p>Out of 100 students you will probably have to be top 15 in test scores to secure a solid A.</p>
<p>And 90% of the kids in class were probably all valedictorian/salutatorians in their high schools.</p>
<p>^ Yikes. </p>
<p>@brittany131: If you score a 5 on the AP exam (and do well on the math diagnostic), you can pass out of Math 31A. At least, that’s what it says on the AP equivalency chart.</p>
<p>But I have to take a year of math, so if I pass out of 31A, I just have to take a harder one :/</p>
<p>I would recommend passing out of as many math courses as possible.</p>
<p>I got a 5 on the calc bc test and could have passed out of 31A and 31B.</p>
<p>I decided to retake 31B as I forgot most of it and wanted an easier freshman quarter.</p>
<p>ended up with a C+ in 31b… so yeah, just pass out of it if you can. taking the same course again does not guarantee a good grade.</p>
<p>Based off what I’ve heard from my friends, they found 31B to be easy after only taking calc AB during high-school and they only needed to learn a few new things such as infinite series, length of curves, polar curves, etc. But then again they were quick learners so that may be a factor to why they succeeded.</p>
<p>@CremiuexR How exactly did you get a C+? Were the material in 31B not covered during your time in Calc BC?</p>
<p>Final had 3 problems. I didn’t know how to solve 1 problem and got a 60%. average was a 70ish. thus C+.</p>
<p>in engineering, your final grade heavily depends on whether you can solve that one random problem on an exam. each problem could potentially be worth an entire letter grade.</p>
<p>^ Is this idea of having only a few problems on a final exam common in math classes??? What about if you attempt the problem and get some of it right–do you get partial credit?</p>
<p>yeah you always get partial credit. how difficult the final completely depends on the professor.</p>
<p>How grades are distributed are also completely decided by the professor. My roommate took an EE course with this professor: [url=<a href=“http://www.bruinwalk.com/professors/el-engr/asad-a-abidi/]BruinWalk”>Asad Ali Abidi | Bruinwalk]BruinWalk</a> : Asad A Abidi<a href=“look%20at%20his%20grade%20distribution”>/url</a></p>
<p>and he scored above average on the final and was given a D+ in the class. On the other hand, in one of my intro to CS classes, I scored 15% below average and was given a B in the class.</p>
<p>while the class material may be easy or hard, the grading comes down to whether the professor is nice or not.</p>
<p>Actually, to the best of my knowledge, it is math department policy (for the 30 series anyways) that at least 50% of the students must be split between A’s and B’s. I know for 31B the professor said top 56% would be A’s and B’s, for 32A, top 25% A’s, next 25% B’s and something similar for 33A. </p>
<p>So just keep in mind that you are competing against others. Most of these people have done well in high school calculus as well. However, don’t be too intimidated. There will almost never be a time where you know the content extremely well and still earn a low score because of the curve. Just try your best and study as hard as you can. I would recommend taking 3A if you do not care about your specific math credits because generally people who take this class did not receive AP credit for it and the curve may be slightly more forgiving (compared to taking 3C fall quarter which is comprised heavily of people who have passed BC calc with a 5).</p>
<p>By the way, each of the final exams I have taken for math have had at least 8 questions. I doubt that you would get an exam with only 3 questions unless they each had many parts (although I could envision it from a particularly cruel professor). Nonetheless, they care about seeing what you have learned from the entire course.</p>