<p>Hey guys, I'm an incoming freshman for Berkeley. During my high school career I have taken community college courses in math that would give credit for Math 53 and Math 54 at Berkeley. The courses have been alright, but I feel as though there is a major difference between what I have learned there and what I would have learned at Berkeley. I'd like to continue with math in college and would like to ask some knowledgeable student: Will I be missing out on a lot if I just take the credit for 53/54 and move on to upper division math classes?</p>
<p>There's a difference between community college math and super duper hard Berkeley math, so yes, you would be missing a lot.</p>
<p>Check out these exams:</p>
<p>UC</a> Berkeley Mathematics</p>
<p>Would you be able to score >=80% on the Math 53 and 54 exams? If so you probably won't get much out of the courses.</p>
<p>I would suggest you to retake 53 and 54 at Berkeley based on my personal experience. I took 53/54 during my senior year in a cal state, and I don't think I learned that much because the class was pretty easy. I retook 54 at Berkeley and have learned A LOT more about the material. I also have a friend who took 53/54 at a CC and decided to start with 1B at Berkeley. She got A's in CC but got a B in 1B...she said that the class at Cal was way harder. </p>
<p>If you plan to keep going with math, it's a great idea to retake 53/54 at Berkeley because these two classes are meant to be "boot camps" so that you have a really solid knowledge that would help you to keep going with math or use it for other purposes. If you feel like you know a lot about the materials already and you like math, why don't you take the honors classes then? Also, you can take both 53 and 54 at the same time if you feel like you know most of the materials already.</p>
<p>Thanks guys, this has been very helpful. I'll take the classes.</p>
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She got A's in CC but got a B in 1B...she said that the class at Cal was way harder.
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<p>For math classes, an A at CC is generally equivalent to a B at Berkeley. [I mean, if you just scrape by with an A at CC, you'd probably be getting a B at Berkeley, or even less in some cases.] A 5 on the AP Exam is equivalent to a B, at most, at Berkeley, I would say.</p>