<p>I should begin by stating that I'm an incoming freshman. I took the equivalent of Math 53 at the local community college during the fall semester, and I did not receive too good of a grade in the class because I couldn't attend the lectures (they were at the same time as high school classes) and I procrastinated on learning the material until the last two weeks. I have since been studying Multivariable Calculus on my own, and I am fairly confident that my knowledge of Multivariable Calculus will be solid before school starts. If I sent the transcript for my community college in to Berkeley, would that grade appear on my transcript?</p>
<p>I read on here, Office</a> of Undergraduate Advising: Transfer Credit , that it wouldn't affect my Berkeley GPA, but I don't fully understand what that entails. Does this mean that there would be two GPA's--a Berkeley one and an overall one? Would there just be the Berkeley GPA and on the transcript it would show my bad grade? </p>
<p>I plan on majoring in Physics and attending graduate school, and although I really enjoy math, I don't think I want to take Math H53, which I will already know, when I can take a more advanced math class instead.</p>
<p>Additionally, does anybody know if I would be able to challenge the class or some equivalent?</p>
<p>The grade won’t appear on your transcript at all and it won’t be factored into your GPA either. Your transcript will probably should the credit though. Graduate schools might want to see all your grades before you get your B.A. though so you might have to reveal it later. </p>
<p>You should retake 53, you probably don’t know the material as well as you think (this part is entirely my opinion).</p>
<p>Your community college multivariable calculus grade will show up on your community college transcript; in your Berkeley records, it will be present only if you passed the class, in which case it will indicate the community college and the number of units (and possibly the course name), but not the grade. I’d look into whether or not physics graduate admissions offices require undergraduates to submit all of their post-high school transcripts or only their undergraduate ones. If they require all transcripts, I’d retake the class at Berkeley to demonstrate that you really do know the material. If they don’t require all transcripts, than I’d only retake the class if you feel that doing so will help you learn the material more deeply.</p>
<p>Try the Math 53 exams found on the Math Department’s old exam page to see how well you know the material.</p>
<p>[Math</a> 53 | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley](<a href=“http://math.berkeley.edu/courses/archives/exams/math-53]Math”>Math 53 | Department of Mathematics at University of California Berkeley)</p>
<p>I would retake Math 53, I think H53 could be overkill, unless you have an otherwise easy schedule and a really good work ethic. Also, a solid handle on div, grad, curl, green’s, stokes’, div thm. are all rather important down the line if you’re going to get into physics.</p>