<p>Hi guys. I will be attending UPenn this fall and I have a question regarding the three courses mentioned.</p>
<p>I was accepted to CAS ED and I was thinking of majoring either in Biophysics or Physics to prepare myself for med school but now I am really attracted to Wharton for Finance... (believe me.. I never thought I'd be interested in that kind of stuff.. but it all changed after a long period of deep thought)</p>
<p>So I took AP Calc BC during my junior year and unfortunately I got a 4 on it.. and did not bother to take it again to get a 5.</p>
<p>Now that the freshmen year is approaching... I'm thinking hard between math 104 and 114.</p>
<p>I am really leaning towards transfering to Wharton for Sophomore year and I wanted you guy's insight on taking math 114. </p>
<p>Should I take the placement test and take math 114?</p>
<p>Or should I take the easy way and take math 104.</p>
<p>How hard is it to get A or A+ in math 114? in math 104?</p>
<p>For Econ 001... I have absolutely no background in Econ. What are my chances in getting a decently good grade to have a shot of transfering to Wharton?</p>
<p>And same thing for phys 150. How hard is it to get a A or A+?</p>
<p>Thank you guys in advance.</p>
<p>A+s in general are extremely rare in college.</p>
<p>You could start in 114, see how it goes and look at the syllabus. If you find it’s too much, just drop down to 104.</p>
<p>For 114 and 150, your grade depends on how you do relative to the class. If you’re consistently a standard deviation above the mean on midterms and exams, you’ll get an A. I believe econ is raw score though (no curve or standardization; whatever your final percentage score is, that translates into the letter grade)</p>
<p>Everything is relative, especially to how prepared you are and frankly, how strong you are academically compared to the general Penn student.</p>
<p>I felt that neither Math 114 nor Phys 150 were that challenging…just that Math 114 can really kill you if your prof doesn’t give partial credit for multiple choice problems…</p>
<p>Neither courses are ridiculously hard but don’t expect them to be easy As either…just do your work and as long as you are reasonably strong academically compared to the average Penn student, then you will be well off.</p>
<p>And btw…the A+ students are usually those who consistently get the top marks in the class on exams. Thus…they are the students who get the 94 on the exam with an average of 60 and standard deviation of like 12…</p>
<p>I do not attend Penn, but I can guess what Penn’s grading is like because I attend a peer institution. You are probably still in high school mode (“I’m a beast because I graduated top of my class and I got into an Ivy”), but trust me, reality will set in once you get to college. You will have to work your rear end off to do well in these classes. Intro math and econ classes at any university are very hard, generally harder than the AP Calc equivalent in high school, and most often poorly taught (hence why I’m avoiding calculus classes at my college since I took AP Calc BC). I think you can get an A if you work hard in these classes, but don’t expect A+'s unless you are a genius. It’s better to be more realistic going into your freshman year at tough schools like Penn. Dreaming that you will get an A+ and can transfer to Wharton and then having your dreams crushed at the end of 1st semester is not what you want.</p>