math 1B vs. math 53

<p>I was wondering if it is better to take 1B or math 53 during my freshman year...i got a 5 on the BC exam but i haven't taken a calc class for the past year. any advice?</p>

<p>you should take 53. You really don't need a deep understanding of the 1B integration techniques at all to do well in 53.</p>

<p>i say 53. at calso they told students that you should take 1B to have a better foundation even if you could pass out of it, but it seems like most students ignored that advice.</p>

<p>Save your GPA the pain, go with 53.</p>

<p>just wondering...how hard is it to get an A in math 1B?</p>

<p>^^ depends on the teacher... last semester's math 1B w/ serganova was pretty easy</p>

<p>Serganova's Math 1B class was really easy, but there was no curve for an A.</p>

<p>I've heard some pretty bad stories about Math 1B. If you have a good foundation in Calculus, which it seems like you do judging from your 5, I would just go ahead and take Math 53. Then again, this is all dependent upon your major. You may not even need to take 53 at all.</p>

<p>i wanna bump this up</p>

<p>i'm a mechanical engineering major
i've gone all the way up to linear algebra
but am planning to go back to math 1a</p>

<p>i got a 2 on the AB exam, & a 3 on the BC exam</p>

<p>should i go straight to math 53, considering my major? i figured i'll need a good understanding for calculus for it... & in case i happen to take like a calculus based physics class or something.. not sure yet.</p>

<p>Hmm...I must have read over the part about the 2 on the AB exam.</p>

<p>How capable would you say you are, mathematically? I mean, were you surprised with the scores you got, or do you genuinely not know the material well? </p>

<p>I figure you'd have the gist of the math you'll use in engineering after taking 53 and 54, and when you take courses that involve calculus they won't be heavily based on specifics in 1A/1B (I mean, you'll have to know about differentiation & integration and what they mean, but I doubt you'd do worse because you forgot how to figure out what a geometric series converges to).</p>

<p>If you've gone all the way to Linear Algebra already (did you do differential equations as well?), do you really want to waste time/units going over math again?</p>

<p>im just worried if i dont have a good understanding in math right now, itll catch up to me when/if i encounter it again in other mech e courses</p>

<p>other than that id gladly like to skip 1a& 1b</p>

<p>basically im just afraid of it biting me later. haha</p>

<p>you should consider 53 if u have a very "spatial" brain and can visualize 3-space very well...i took a CC version of 53 and I did well in AP (5 on BC) but u dont need the taylor, maclaurin,etc AT ALL for 53...FWI i am starting with 1a anyway lol!</p>

<p>Yeah, in 53 you'll spend a lot of time with graphs in the 3-dimensional xyz plane. However, it's not like they're just going to throw the material at you and expect you to master it. It'll be the first exposure to this stuff for the majority of the people and they'll TEACH it to you. Your brain isn't going to get any more "spatial" and your ability to visualize 3-space well isn't going to get any better by wasting (in my opinion) time going through 1A and 1B again. If you got a 5 on the BC exam, I don't know why the heck you would bother going through 1A and 1B again. I don't think the extra knowledge you'd gain in going through these courses again at Cal would help you with 53/54.</p>

<p>I don't know what's with all of these people wanting to retake 1A/1B when they AP'd out of them. 53 should be easier than 1B (and taking 1A and 53 wouldn't make any sense because 1A really won't help you at all with 53 unless you're INCREDIBLY weak on basic calculus and forgot everything), and I think you'd just be wasting time/units and hurting your GPA by going through 1A/1B when you don't have to.</p>

<p>can you take 54 and 53 then take 1b later?</p>

<p>If I'm taking premed, I know that math 54 doesn't really count for med school. Would taking 1B and then 53 be okay?</p>

<p>I took mvc last year and got a 5 on the BC Calc Exam. </p>

<p>I'm also thinking of majoring in either mcb or chem so would taking 1B and 53 not satisfy the requirements?</p>

<p>good point Azure326...but in my case i just felt it would help me to take an "easier" course as 1a/b simply b/c i have ~19-20 units planned as fall frosh in addition to work-study after classes every day...</p>

<p>well... for the mech engineering 4 yr plan
they have like... e10 & 1a in one semester
then e7 and 1b the next, because you need 1b with e7 as a pre req or something
so if i skip out of 1a & 1b
will it hurt me doing the e7 class?</p>