<p>I am attending Stony Brook in the Fall. I have to choose between taking the faster sequence of Physics (PHY 131 taught by Despande) or the three semester sequence (PHY 125 taught by Linwood). I was wondering if anyone took these courses and if they know the grading scheme to get an A, A-, B+ etc. Also, I noticed that PHY 131 assigned homework from Mastering Physics. I wanted to know what the nature of the problems were (end of chapter questions or tutorials?) and if you could get help from the professor or a tutor before they are submitted. I have also only taken non-calc based high school physics and Calc AB and BC.</p>
<p>Any suggestions would be helpful.</p>
<p>I can speak about this as I’ve taken the PHY 125/126/127 and know friends and have visited their classes in the PHY 131/132 series.</p>
<p>Bottom line: If you have had years of intensive physics (mostly foreign students and a few from stringent private high schools) already and are very comfortable with it, then go with 131/132, otherwise 125/126/127 automatically. Calculus is used heavily in 131/132 for derivations and while you may know some calculus from AP Calc as I did, you will not understand how calculus is truly applied in physics until extensive experience with calculus-based physics. For me, I didn’t really grasp it until the last semester of physics (PHY 127). PHY 125/126/127 doesn’t use much calculus except a little bit in 127 with electromagnetism which you will have to use a bit anyway with [Maxwell’s</a> equations](<a href=“Maxwell's equations - Wikipedia”>Maxwell's equations - Wikipedia); there is a large difference in the usage of calculus from PHY 125-127 to PHY 131/132, mainly coming from derivations. </p>
<p>Regarding grading, they’re more or less the same with the grading going by your class rank on the curve. The failure rates can range anywhere from a minimum of 25% to around 50% depending on the class. You either get physics or you don’t, that’s the simple truth, and you must prove it on the 3 exams well. Two of my friends received D’s in 131, and another just managed to pull off a B+ after the final. With some practice I managed to get A-/A/A in 125-127 with a measly 1 year experience of watered down high school physics. Good luck.</p>