<p>Alright, so I've decided to take Multivariable Calculus @ SMC during the Fall semester. Looking over previous grade distributions and knowing the professors available for the course, getting an A is no joke...</p>
<p>Sooo... just in case, how would a B or even worse a C look to graduate programs, etc.</p>
<p>MATH 11</p>
<p>2442 KONYA W
A B C D F W TOTAL
3 5 12 8 3 1 32</p>
<p>2443 HONG A M
A B C D F W TOTAL
2 4 4 3 3 6 22</p>
<p>4324 NESTLER A E</p>
<p>A B C D F DR W TOTAL
2 3 7 4 5 1 13 35</p>
<p>Should I do anything I can to get this out of the way before I go to Berkeley(I'm a Spring transfer)?</p>
<p>Seriously… everybody tells me oooh at Berkeley you will compete with people who received near perfect scores on the SAT and received a 5 in Calculus AB and BC, but the above grade trend and their ratemyprofessors are ridiculous…</p>
<p>Just curious @killmyentourage, how is the presentation of the course? Do you have to type your homework and submit it online. How is the test? It can’t be multiple choice, can it? O.o</p>
<p>The prof uses Course Compass/Pearson. I can’t access it anymore, but I remember that the class was out of ~600 pts and that you needed the standard 90% for an A.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Minimal hw with unlimited chances (problem stays the same, numbers in it change) for each section in the chapters. Sometimes 2 problems per section, sometimes 8, not usually too much more. You just have to type the answers to submit them but you can do the work on paper (not submitted). I <em>think</em> ~15% of your grade. Easy to get all the points for.</p></li>
<li><p>About 7 multiple choice quizzes with the majority of questions exactly from the HW. 3 chances on each of them (again, same problems with different numbers). I think ~35% of your grade (5% each). Also easy to get all the points for.</p></li>
<li><p>You’re supposed to post twice on the discussion board each half of the semester for a total of 20 pts either asking/answering questions. </p></li>
<li><p>Online Midterm and Final Review - about 40 questions each. Same EXACT questions as on the quizzes (diff numbers). She gave 5 pts EC for doing the Midterm Review.</p></li>
<li><p>Written Midterm & Final - about 20 questions each. Midterm had almost exactly the same questions as the Midterm Review. Final had some slightly different questions than the Final Review and a few from the Midterm Review. Allowed to have a notecard for both tests. I thought the final was harder than I expected but she gave a lot of partial credit. 150 pts per exam so 300 cumulative. ( I got a 139.5 and 120 respectively because I didn’t know the Final was technically cumulative so I didn’t have the formulas for a bunch of problems.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>No. I took all 3 of my Calc classes online because I didn’t have time to take them in person with all my other classes. Though, I have to say that right now I’m taking Linear Algebra and Differential Eqs F2F and I’m having a hard time getting used to the excessive workload. </p>
<p>There’s no way for them to tell since your transcript just lists that you took the class. Plus, it’s articulated and CCC only offers this class online. It’d be different if you took this class at like the University of Phoenix where they probably wouldn’t be transferable.</p>
<p>Hong’s total for Ds and Fs equals his total for As and Bs and it is more likely that the six people who withdrew from the class were headed for a D or an F than an A or a B. He still looks like a better bet than Nestler who gives out more Ds and Fs than As and Bs.</p>
<p>From what I heard, Hong is terrible. If OP is a good math person and is not pessimistic (lol!), take Nestler. Some friends of mine said that he graded very hard, and the exams themselves are terrorizing, but you will actually LEARN in the class since he’s a very good teacher/lecturer.</p>
<p>I now really regret signing my younger son, who just graduated from high school and will be going to either CSU Sacramento in the fall as a Physics major or a CCC and transfer to a UC, up for the online UC Berkeley Extension course in Calculus I, Math 1A. The textbook is “Calculus, Early Transcendentals” by James Stewart and 60% of the grade is the even numbered problems from the first six chapters of the book which have to be written out on paper, scanned into our computer and then sent by e-mail to the instructor for grading.</p>
<p>Even though they assign some of the most difficult problems in the book, somehow my son is able to either do them completely in his head and just write down the answer or writes a cryptic line or two that only he understands and then writes down the answer. Although he gets the answers right he is getting terrible grades because the instructor’s policy is “no credit for answers, even if they are correct, without showing all work”. I have watched him do his assignments and do not understand how he does it, and consciously, he does not seem to know either. When he tries to fabricate intermediate solutions to make it look like he is showing work he often runs into trouble.</p>
<p>I wish I had known about this online course at Coastline where all you seem to have to do is type in the correct answer since it sounds like it would have been ideal for my son. I am sure Cosumnes River College, as a CCC, would have accepted it. I am not sure if Sacramento State would have accepted it but I was able to get written assurances from the Sac State Math Department that they would accept Calculus I taken at the UC Berkeley Extension as equivalent to Calculus I at Sac State since they use the same textbook and cover the same material, but the way things are going now it looks like he will have to repeat it anyways at either Sac State or Cosumnes River College.</p>
<p>FYI that was a breakdown of Coastline Calc 3 with the current professor, Jessica Kuang. I also took Calc 1 & 2 there, but they were a bit different in the work and grading, but overall used the same system.</p>
<p>I usually recommend the Coastline Calc series to people majoring in disciplines that only require a year or two of math. However, it might not be the best pathway for those in math-based subjects, unless it is being used as a review from HS Calc. The volume of material to adequately learn is provided on CourseCompass, but most people wouldn’t go out of their way to master things they know they wouldn’t be tested on. So it’s really up to the student to get what they want out of the class and that can range from the minimal possible work for an A to actually utilizing the various learning tools on CourseCompass. Most of the people I know who have taken the Coastline series were bio, chem, or random econ type students.</p>
<p>Taking calc 3 online at coastline seems like a good idea if you really don’t feel like taking hong or nestler. Just make sure it fits in with the math curriculum at SMC and will transfer correctly, which it probably will.</p>
<p>LOL I just checked the math classes available for this fall at SMC and the ONLY classes open for mathematics (including everything from arithmetic to linear algebra) are hong and nestler for calculus 3. For a school like SMC with total enrollment close to 30 thousand students, that certainly says a great deal about how much people want to avoid these two.</p>
<p>Well, Konya is no better… I don’t know… only reason I wouldn’t take this with Hong is if it’s easier at Berkeley… you can get stuck with a **** professor no matter where you go…</p>
<p>SMCs grad trend is skwewed-left or bell-shaped… Cal’s grade trend seems to be skewed-right?..</p>
<p>Don’t trust MyEdu… for some reasons my friends took an “easy” econ class based on those stats (he didn’t know RMF lol) and got a D when the graph show over 80% are A and B O_o</p>
<p>Santa Monica College releases grades on their official website. You can google SMC Grade Distribution “semester year” and find the particular info.</p>