<p>I'm going to enter Berkeley as a freshman this fall. Here are the classes I am interested in taking:</p>
<p>Japanese 1A - 5 units
Econ 1 - 4 units
ComLit R1B - 4 units
Math 1B - 4 units</p>
<p>Total: 17 units</p>
<p>Is this too much to be taking my first semester? I actually have experience in Japanese as I've completed 4th year Japanese at my high school and took a 2 unit Japanese class at a community college. The reason I wanted to take 1A is because I am rusty with kanji and some basics (different counting methods, days of the month, etc).</p>
<p>I heard Math 1B is very difficult. I was wondering if I should take 1B or 1A. I decided to go with 1B because I did fairly well in my AP Calculus BC course. Would I need to go through intense calculus reviewing before I step into class in August?</p>
<p>I doubt you'd have to do any reviewing going into 1B (especially since it seems you covered a lot of the material with the BC exam). The curve can make 1B difficult, but the material is actually easy. There's really no reason for you to take 1A if you did fairly well in your BC class.</p>
<p>By the way, did you not take the BC exam or do well enough to AP out of 1B?</p>
<p>I'm waiting for my results, but I'm assuming I got at least a 3. I don't think I'd be able to opt out of 1B though (you have to get a 5 for that, right?). </p>
<p>L&S recommends that I take 13-14 units first semester. Am I setting myself up for failure by taking 17 units?</p>
<p>It might be a little difficult. I took 16 units my first semester (4 4 unit courses) and it seemed like a normal workload (though this last semester and upcoming semester I plan on only taking 12 units -- 3 4 unit courses). </p>
<p>I'm College of Engineering, though, if it matters.</p>
<p>How do you skip out of math 1A into 1B when 1A is a prerequisite for 1B? I got a 5 on the BC Calc Exam and took multivariable calc last year and I also want to be premed so I'm not really sure what math level to take. </p>
<p>I hear that they recommend premeds to take math 16 since it's easier (thus, higher gpa) but I don't know if I should just go ahead and take 1A, 1B or 53?</p>
<p>If you are premed, Math 54 does not count towards calculus/math req for some schools. So if you want to AP out of stuff, Math 1B & 53 are okay for calc req. </p>
<p>Math 16 is easy but limits you to a major that is not MCB since that requires Math 1AB series. </p>
<p>I recommend doing Math 1A, 1B to keep your options open.</p>
<p>As for OP, that schedule seems really tough - Comp Lit is hard and Math is also. Econ is tough for first semester. I would recommend dropping a course.</p>
<p>My recommendation is to drop econ 1, if you drop anything. You're very fortunate to get into a R&C class - a couple of my friends had to wait all the way until senior year to take R&C because there simply weren't enough spots to serve all the students who need to take it. This happens all the time due to crappy Telebears times, so stick with the R&C class.</p>
<p>How do you think Western Civ is as a class to fulfill the R&C requirement? It's 5 credits which makes me think that it'll be too much work the first year. </p>
<p>I'm thinking of:</p>
<p>Math 1A - 4 units
Chem 1A- 4 units
Western Civ (L&S) R44- 5 units
Seminar- 1 unit</p>
<p>That's 14 units for first semester as a freshman. My parents think that's too light a load but I feel like I should start out slowly. Do you think it'll be too much work if I take away the seminar and add intro to astronomy (the discovery course) for 4 units and have 17 units total?</p>
<p>I've taken AP Chem and AP BC Calc (5) so those classes might not be AS hard as if I've never seen the material...</p>
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How do you think Western Civ is as a class to fulfill the R&C requirement? It's 5 credits which makes me think that it'll be too much work the first year
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<p>I am a huge fan of Western Civ, it's what I took as a freshman, it's a wonderful class and a wonderful experience, since everyone is a freshman in the class. I learned a tremendous amount, made friends, etc.</p>
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I'm thinking of dropping comlit r1b or econ 1. Which one is more difficult? (or harder to transition into?)
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<p>I would drop Econ 1. Sit in on the lectures if you have spare time to prepare for the course second semester. I would also learn Hiragana and Katakana before you show up to Japanese 1A.</p>
<p>kenf1234 - did you take Japanese 1A or know anything about the course? I'm wondering if I should take it because I completed my 4th year of Japanese in high school. However, I did not learn a lot of kanji and I'm guessing there's vocabulary I haven't learned. Would I be wasting my time if I were to take 1A?</p>
<p>^^You are probably supposed to take a placement test, you might test into 1B or 10A... My guess is you'd test into 1B, from what you describe. Anyway, with 4 years of high school Japanese already, if you take 1A, I can't imagine you'd find it very difficult.</p>
<p>I took 1A without ever having studied Japanese. The first week, they said, learn all of Hiragana and Katakana, by Friday. That was a shocker.</p>