Math 20B without 20A

<p>I received my AP scores yesterday, and surprisingly, I passed (a 3). I did poorly in my AP calc class, and never studied for anything or did any of the homework (my fault). But since I got a 3, that means I can take 20B without 20A if I wanted to, right? Is taking 20B without 20A do-able? Do you recommend it? Is 20A hard? 20B?</p>

<p>(If it's relevant, I'm doing pre- bioE : premed, so I want to get rid of as many class as possible without my gpa suffering. Also, 20A and 20B are two of the eight classes they're using to evaluate/admit me to my major -- meaning if I get a C in 20B, I can pretty much kiss my major goodbye).</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

<p>--a side question, how many units do you need to get better registration times? I have around 26 units at community college and 24 units from AP testing (total 50), will this be enough? Thanks!</p>

<p>Take 20B, 'nuff said</p>

<p>50 credits? You're a sophomore.</p>

<p>There's no fixed number for better registration times. The more the merrier (assuming you register normally. for priority registration, credits don't matter).</p>

<p>Well, the difficulty kinda depends on what your good at. Both 20A and B are single variable. A is differential, B is integral calc and seq/series. If you feel pretty comfortable with derivatives (i.e., you can do the chain rule and stuff...) then you might as well skip it. I thought 20A was pretty easy. 20B is a little harder though.</p>

<p>50 credits is a lot...</p>

<p>I'm not good at it at all... and can never quite remember all the formulas, let alone use them.
I suppose I should just take 20A to have a piece of mind.</p>

<p>thank you everyone!</p>

<p>bewardofnerd: I took a couple of language courses (5 unit each) at community college that are UC transferable.. :)</p>

<p>You're not allowed to take 20A for credit, correct?</p>

<p>No, actually, from what I read on the website, I am allowed to take it for credit.
If you get a 4 or 5 on the test, you are not allowed.</p>

<p>Don't waste your time with 20A.</p>

<p>Uhh, if you really doesn't know differential calc, you should consider taking 20A... And you won't necessarily need to memorize the formulas for anything... I was allowed a notesheet for 20A-C.</p>

<p>i think have an issue now. </p>

<p>i plan on applying to med school. i got a 5 on the calc ab exam, but i'm guessing i should still take math 20a because med schools require a year of calculus. or, is it possible to take math 20b and math 20c and take a trimester of statistics? </p>

<p>also, did anyone take the chem 6 honors series? how difficult is it to obtain an a? i didn't take ap chem (i took regular chem), but i self-studied for the exam and scored a 3; for the sat2: chem, i scored a 730. also, for the chem placement exam it recommended "chem 6ah." would it be possible for me to attain an a in chem honors (i'm guessing that only students who have actually taken the ap chem course would be qualified to take such a class successfully)?</p>

<p>i barely have any clue if i'm speaking realistically, so a little help would be nice</p>

<p>
[quote]
or, is it possible to take math 20b and math 20c and take a trimester of statistics?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I would go this route as long as you feel comfortable that you remember your calculus. You got a 5, so I wouldn't be too worried. No need to repeat 20A if you still remember it, and anyways, you probably wouldn't be able to.</p>

<p>If I recall correctly, your transcript will show that you got transfer credit for 20A if you are exempt from it because of the AP. So, I don't think you would need to take stats at all, blue_Falcon.</p>

<p>Some med schools still want to see a full year.
Since UCSD is on the quarter system, I don't know if that would matter.</p>

<p>At least, this is my guess. Take it for what it's worth.</p>

<p>Sorta like if you take AP bio, you do still have to take upper division bio...</p>

<p>But actually, I want an answer to that too!!! I don't want to have to take more math than I have to.</p>

<p>I'd probably end up taking one quarter of calc and one of stats anyways just because it's easier. ;)</p>

<p>Well, I checked UCSD's school of medicine.
<em>They</em> say a score of 4 or 5 lets you test out of a quarter of physics or out of math completely... but it doesn't specify whether it's both the AB and BC that lets you do that or just AB.
Ehhhh... I'd be leery of not taking any more math, though. Gotta do well on the MCAT.</p>

<p>You still can't get out of ochem or bio, though (need upper div. if you satisfy it elsewhere).</p>

<p>falcon - i took the honors chem sequence and did fine in it with no AP chem (there was no ap chem at my high school, only honors so i took that), so you should be okay in it. if you're willing to put in the effort i would definitely take it over the regular chem sequence, the professors were really good and made the material interesting, and lectures held my attention. also the topics are taught in a much more logical order in my opinion than in the regular series (i.e. you're not taught quantum first, who came up with that idea?) so yea, as long as you don't slack off and put in your best effort you'll be ok, also the grading curves are pretty generous...</p>

<p>how many students usually take the chem honors series?</p>

<p>erm...Chem 6AH had about 150 students, 6BH had maybe...120? or so, and 6CH had around 90. It kept getting smaller I think because many science & engineering majors require 6A, fewer require 6A and 6B, and even fewer require 6A,B and C. People also dropped out b/c it was too much work/too difficult, I suppose...you can go from 6AH to 6B if you don't want to stick with the sequence. The regular chem 6 sequence definitely has larger class sizes.</p>

<p>Liux43 - why do you say that? Is 20A really THAT useless?
I'm thinking since I have to take math courses all the way to 20F, it would be good to have a solid foundation. But if 20A is useless, I'd rather not waste my time...</p>

<p>Thanks everyone!</p>

<p>^^^
well you're gonna take math all the way to F... if you can get exempt from the easy beginning stuff [20a] might as well right??? :D</p>