<p>My friend enrolled in Physics 8a for the upcoming fall semester, but he hasn't taken Math 16a yet. He intended to enroll in 16a too, but by now both 16a classes are full and so are the waitlists. So now, he's waiting until he can get into math. Physics 8a says that Math 16a is a prereq, but can he still take 8a without taking 16a yet? He took calculus in high school, but didn't pass the AP exam. He's worried that they would kick him out of physics because of the unfulfilled math requirement. Will he get kicked out or will they not care about the math prereq?</p>
<p>My understanding is that only impacted (or any big sized) classes care about prerequisites. For example, CS61B requires either CS61A or E7, but during the fall semester, it is hardly monitored due to low enrollment (Hilfinger) while CS61B during the spring is. On the other hand, I doubt Physics 8A involves heavy duty calculus tricks. My experience with Physics 7A was that even though it was calculus based, we barely used calculus. It was nice to have learned a good foundation in mathematics before I took that course, but in retrospect, I don’t think you need to know more than how to differentiate and compute an integral.</p>
<p>By the way, shame on him for failing the AP Calculus. He should know he’s at a great disadvantage since I assume (I hope) most Cal students have gotten 5’s on the AB exam at least. Despite their scores, many do not get the AP-equivalent GPA.</p>
<p>As the above poster hints, it’s probably more an issue of math maturity than the specific knowledge. If he knows the basic ideas of calculus, he can get by, but other math skills need to be good.</p>
<p>i wouldnt recommend it</p>
<p>People have succeeded in Phys8A without previous knowledge of calculus. Basic alegbra suffices because the 8 series tests your comprehension of the fundamental concepts of kinematics and dynamics. In fact most exams will not allow the use of a calculator (scientific and graphing) because full credit is not awarded by right or wrong answer (with the exception of some problems) but rather on the process of how you reached and explained your answer.</p>