<p>I will be taking Econ 100a and Stats 21 (with Purves) this Fall, and I was wondering, what skills do I need in order to get good grades? For example, both classes require Calculus so how much Calculus will I need to do well in these classes? Will an elementary knowledge of derivatives be fine, or should I get good at word problems and get good at creating functions? What about Stats 21? If I took up to Differential Equations, should I find that class easy?</p>
<p>Will I be doing a lot of reading in Econ 100a? Should I get better at organizing what I read?</p>
<p>Here's what I have already heard: Show up to every lecture on time, and go to office hours.</p>
<p>If I were you I would get the econ 100a textbook now and start reading. I would also watch the econ 100a lectures on webcast.berkeley.edu they are available for past semesters.</p>
<p>You do not really need calculus for either. You don’t use calculus in Stat. The hardest pure-math thing in Stat is probably knowing what a summation is (and that is pretty basic).</p>
<p>For econ, you basically just need algebra and knowledge of how to maximize stuff.</p>
<p>If you are good with intuition, both classes will definitely be a lot easier. For both classes, my best recommendation is to do tons of practice problems. If you get stuck, just keep at it instead of asking for help. This will help you understand stuff.</p>
<p>Why not learn the material ahead of time? Why show up to class blind? I don’t understand why students are so resistant to reading ahead. It’s not cheating to learn the material before class starts.</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with learning ahead. But if you can do just as fine without reading ahead, why do it? It’s all about opportunity cost.</p>
<p>If you keep up with readings through the semester, there is no need to spend your breaks studying when you could be spending time with those around home.</p>
<p>Congrats on your A+ in Econ 100A. Many people find it a difficult course. OP is probably a transfer student, preparing for his first semester at Cal. I was giving good advice.</p>
<p>I agree it’s a tough course. I feel you can succeed in the course if you stay on track with the readings and do a lot of practice problems as you go along.</p>
<p>My professors recommended doing tons of practice problems. Yeah, lecture (webcasts) help and the book helps a lot more. But what helped me the most (and allowed me to actually finish the tests without rushing) was doing tons of practice problems.</p>