<p>Which is better for a pre-medical or pre-dental student to take? PHYS 101 or PHYS 207?
Any thoughts and/or recommendations?</p>
<p>I believe it's better to take 207, although I might be wrong (I'm premed as well, but I'm also an engineer, hence I took 112 + 213)</p>
<p>Speaking of which, why don't you try 112 + 213? ;)</p>
<p>They're equally good, unless you're planning to apply MD/PhD. In that case, you should take calc-based physics (Phys 207-208).</p>
<p>As an intellectual matter: if you've studied calculus, IMO it is relatively a waste of time to take a non-calculus- based physics course.</p>
<p>Many concepts of Physics make so much more sense using calculus than trying to dance around it. Actually, some concepts only make sense using calculus.</p>
<p>As an aside, it's interesting that 30+ years have transpired yet these courses & course numbers are unchanged.</p>
<p>Phys 101 is autotutorial. You basically have to be on out of your work and do the labs on your own time. Plan to study for physics around 10-15 hours a week. There's 10 unit tests in the whole semester, so that works out to be around one every week and a half. It's not that bad, but most students procrastinate.</p>
<p>personally I found algebra-based calculus Very straight forward to understand. I think it's because calculus based physics elicits so much more out of physics than algebra based physics can ever do. Hence calculus based physics is naturally harder. But all the calc based stuff I ve done is studying a textbook all by myself, so I don't know 207 and 208's depth.</p>
<p>For premed students i think phys 101 is a better option because you may be faced with similar multiple choice questions on MCAT!</p>
<p>Is the calculus in PHYS 207 difficult? I only completed calculus I, and that was two years ago. Would I be able to do well in PHYS 207 then?
I hear the professor for 101, Richardson, is pretty difficult though (her exams are hard).</p>
<p>Physics 101 is autotutorial which means it does not have a professor who gives class lectures. In phys 101 you teach yourself by reading the book and doing as many end of chapter problems as you can and then take tests on regular basis. However there are TAs who can help you understand the material one on one.</p>
<p>Phys 207 require the knowledge of basic calculas, meaning simple differentiation and integration.</p>
<p>Oh about phys 101 tests...there are total of 8 tests plus retention(final). Each tests contains 13 multiple choice and is worth 6 points. How many points you get depends on how many questions you get right for example if you get 11 out of 13 correct then you will get the entire 6 points.</p>
<p>On the side note most students take physics 207 and you should not take physics 101 if you are a procrastinator! Physics 101 is a time comsuming class but if you put enough time you will get a good grade!</p>
<p>What do you mean by "if you get 11 out of 13 correct then you will get the entire 6 points."</p>
<p>If you get 11 questions correct out of 13 questions on each test then you get the full 6 points for the test.</p>
<p>Which is overall easier? Easy exams...</p>
<p>I can't speak for Phys 207 but I remember the Phys 101 exams being really easy. Back when I took it (ie 2004-2005), all you had to do was get 9 out of the 13 questions right in order to get the full amount of points. I remember missing more than 1 question on only a couple out of the 16 tests.</p>
<p>And keep in mind, I never took physics in high school so I went into Physics 101 not knowing what force or momentum was.</p>
<p>So it was multiple choice? All or nothing for the questions? Who was your professor?
Would Physics 101 be better for pre-dental students, since the DAT doesn't cover Physics, so you don't really need physics with Calculus?</p>
<p>There is no professor for phys 101-102. As has been explained, it is an autotutorial course. The questions are all-or-nothing but they're really easy all-or-nothing questions.</p>
<p>Phys 101 is fine for med or dental schools since neither require calc-based physics.</p>
<p>They changed the course since two years ago to make it a little big harder. The average is around a B+ but it's not really that hard to get an A. I guess it depends on the individual. If you procrastinate a lot, I don't think I would take this course.</p>
<p>I don't understand. Wouldn't PHYS 101 have a professor? Who makes the exams then? The ease of the course depends on the professor who creates the tests...
The average for both PHYS 207 and 101 are B+
The question is, which is the one to take
norcalguy, may I ask how are the questions really easy all-or-nothing questions? There is a test once every two weeks?</p>
<p>Wouldn't it be helpful to take PHYS 207, since you could get a possible recommendation letter from a science professor for med/dental school
In PHYS 101, you can't?</p>
<p>There is a large bank of questions from which they assemble the multiple-choice tests. The questions are simple and straight forward and can usually be solved within 2-3 minutes each. </p>
<p>Your point about recommendations is correct but I'm assuming you're going to be taking many other science courses so losing out on a chance for a rec from one course isn't going to matter. The thing I don't like about Phys 207 is the time commitment (3 lectures, 2 labs, and 1 section per week) whereas Phys 101 is more flexible.</p>