<p>Hey everyone. I'm a senior in high school right now and I recently signed up for CalSO which led me to think about which classes to sign up for next year. So far I decided on math 53, physics 7a, cs 3, and any humanities one. My question now is, which humanities classes are fun and easy? I can pass out of writing 1a with test scores but do I need to pass out of 1b? Is this too heavy of a workload? If so, how do I lessen it? Thanks for everyone's input!</p>
<p>Hard humanities courses can be fun as well.</p>
<p>sounds like a pretty good workload. the second half of the R&C requirement must be fulfilled by taking a class at berkeley, so that might be the option for your humanities course.</p>
<p>Take CS61A. I'm taking it without any programming experience and I'm bustin an A+ so far. Seriously, CS3 is really slow, boring, tedious, and unnecessarily difficult. OH! and the other classes in your schedule match mine completely. If I were you and I passed outta 7A I'd take 7B, if you've already taken AP and haven't passed out of 7A i'd still take H7A instead of just 7A. 7A is kinda annoying. 53 is rather easy.</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up. I'll probably take something like Asian American studies to knock out both a humanities and R&C. As for CS61A, are you sure one can take it without any programming experience? On EECS website it says that there's a placement test at the beginning of cs61a and if you don't do well they put you in cs3. I know you're managing cs61a now just fine, but maybe you're just brilliant :-p.</p>
<p>As for Physics 7A, I'm taking the mechanics test in may so hopefully I can pass out of that. Are there advantages of taking 7a? Will it prepare me for other classes in the future? Or should I go right on ahead to 7b?</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help everyone.</p>
<p>The old 61A placement test has long gone. CS 3 may be more difficult than 61A when it comes to Scheme I/O, recursion, higher-order procedures, etc., but it has a far more generous grading scale than 61A. I'd suggest taking 61A first, and if you don't feel comfortable with the material after 2-3 weeks, then drop down to 3. Try to avoid lagging behind by a semester if you can, as it can really make a difference in finding a job after your second year if you've completed upper-division coursework.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm taking it without any programming experience and I'm bustin an A+ so far.
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Let's hold that comment until after the final exam. When I took the class, I lost a grand total of two points up to and including Midterm 3, and 24 on the final.</p>
<p>After six semesters at Berkeley, and seeing where this thread is going, I feel the need to make something absolutely, positively clear:</p>
<p>Never listen to people who tell you a technical class is easy, and never listen to people who tell you a technical class is hard, unless you are certain that your "informant" is your equal in terms of academic ability.</p>
<p>Of course, right now, you don't have a network of students who you trust. That's okay, because technical lower division workloads and difficulty levels are not all that extreme. Once you get to upper division courses (which are highly differentiated in terms of difficulty and workload), you'll have your network of opinions.</p>
<p>I've heard it all. I've heard that CS 3 is the hardest class at Berkeley. I've heard that CS 3 is the easiest class at Berkeley. The same goes for CS 61A, Math 53, Physics 7A, etc.</p>
<p>Granted, a lot of the people who say that CS 3 and CS 61A are the hardest classes at Berkeley are people who are not majoring in (or planning on majoring in) EECS or CS. But on the other hand, I've seen students drop out of EECS because of their experiences in CS 61A. You could certainly find CS 61A to be extremely easy. Many people do. You could also find it to be extremely difficult.</p>
<p>Math 53 is rather easy, eh? Well, I got a C+ in Math 53. I failed the final, and I'm no lightweight. I promise.</p>
<p>Berkeley has a lot of students. They all have different conceptions of what "easy" and "hard" are. And they're all very vocal about it, because they all think they're right.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that some students who seem to float by are actually maintaining sub-par GPAs. In many cases, the fact that they finish projects and exams before everyone else does not mean that they are geniuses, even though everyone else will jump to that conclusion. And I'm not just speaking in generalities; I've had very specific experiences that I am referring to.</p>
<p>Always remember that there is bell curve of students. Some are on one end, and some are on the other. Some are in the middle. Chances are that a random opinion is not relevent to you, and taking it into consideration may hurt you in a number of ways.</p>
<p>Yea.. most definately technical classes can be easy or hard depending on the person. I think the difficulty of the course has a lot to do with the professor teaching as well. In some semesters, something like Math 53 can be quite easy but can also be impossibly hard because of the professor.</p>
<p>And I took CS61A without prior programming experience, and I handled it well. Granted, I didn't ace the class or anything, but I didn't feel like spending a semester in CS3 would have made me that much more prepared or anything. I think most people should be able to handle CS61A fine even without prior programming experience. It's not like it introduces these hard concepts right out the door. It does start out nice and slow.</p>
<p>Yeah, how rigorous a class is certainly not just based on the name of it. The professors, peers, and definitely the student's ability are important factors in determining how well someone well do in this class. I'm not going to say I don't care about my grades but the education I gain from each class is definitely more important. That's why, although cs61a seems like the general consensus here, I'm still leaning towards taking cs3. My reasoning is that although cs3 may be more tedious, I don't have any programming experience whatsoever and it wouldn't hurt to have a stronger foundation in it. Nevertheless, I'm still open to more reasons why I should take cs61a instead of cs3. Feel free to tell me that my reasoning is completely wrong if there are actually more advantages in taking 61a.</p>
<p>As of now, assuming I pass the Physics C mechanics exam, I'll probably taking Math 53, CS3, Physics 7b, and a Humanities course my first year. Which teachers should I look out for? Which are the ones that are good? Also, apparently there is something called seminars I should sign up for? I have no idea how those work. Can someone please share what are they and which ones I should try to sign up for if I do need to take them? </p>
<p>Again, thanks to all of you guys for offering your 2 cents.</p>
<p>If you take CS 3, your first two years will be laid out as follows:
Year 1 Fall: 3
Year 1 Spring: 61A
Year 2 Fall: 61B
Year 2 Spring: 61C</p>
<p>If you start off with 61A, you can take an upper-division CS course in the spring of your second year, thus giving you a competitive edge in looking for jobs and internships. That's the difference.</p>
<p>And in my humble opinion, you really don't learn that much in CS 3. The class is very slow-paced to accommodate the non-CS majors. However, if you want to play it safe, then you should take CS 3.</p>
<p>Oh man, after talking to a lot of my friends at Cal, it seems to make a lot more sense to take 61a. Yet, 2 things are still scaring me. 1.) I won't be able to handle the workload. 2.) I'll be at a disadvantage when I'm taking upper level classes. Of course, as mentioned earlier, no one can really gauge my first problem for all of us are probably at different academic levels. Regardless, can anyone else offer more information?</p>
<p>There really isn't that much to worry about. Brian Harvey is teaching it yet again next fall, and he's the easiest 61A instructor among all of them. If you get Fateman or Clancy in the spring, you'll have a much tougher time.</p>
<p>If you don't feel comfortable with the material after the first 2-3 weeks of class, then drop down to CS 3. That's all I can say on this matter.</p>
<p>EE20, CS61C, Math 54 and Physics 7B. I'm a freshman at Cal, Engineering - Undeclared, but most probably EECS/CES (haven't decided). I've heard that four techs can be brutal, but I've also heard that Math 54 and EE20 are quite manageable (of course, as someone noted above, opinion is variable). I guess I won't really know until I take the classes. The reason I'm doing four techs is to both satisfy my prereqs (I'm behind, since I'm an international student, and no credits get transferred over :(), and also to solidify my interest in EECS (if I do well in EE20, and I like it, then EECS is where I'm gonna go). I know some other people who are going to take four techs as well, but I'm not sure if I might be able to manage it well. I would just like someone else's take on it, preferably someone who has done something similar before (for a double major, perhaps?), and survived with good grades.</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know what the prereqs are for <em>transferring</em> from Engineering -- Undeclared to EECS? That might make scheduling a bit easier.</p>
<p>I wouldn't suggest 4 techs in one semester especially if it's your first semester. I would really recommend that you drop EE20 or something. Don't worry about fulfilling prereqs, you'll get them done. I think Math 53, CS61A, Physics 7A, and a humanities is a standard first semester schedule for a EECS major. You could go for CS3 but most EECS majors I've seen just go straight to the CS61 series. Take it and if you feel like you can't handle it, drop down to CS3 a few weeks into the semester. Heck, sign up for both and keep the one you want.</p>
<p>Perhaps I should have mentioned I'm at the end of my freshman year. :-P</p>
<p>How about you go find yourself a Scheme tutorial and interpreter and spend a week playing with it? If you hate the stuff, go download gcc and bloodshed dev c++. If you can't stand that either, then you may want to go do just EE elsewhere or be a math major.</p>
<p>Time for some background (sorry, I should've given this earlier, and I shouldn't have hijacked this thread. :()</p>
<p>I am a Freshman in Engineering - Undeclared, uncertain about which Engineering to choose, but narrowing it down to EECS and CES. I'm at the end of my Freshman year and I've already finished CS61A and 61B (in fact, I'm still doing 61B). And Math 1A, 1B, Physics 7A and Chem 4A. That's about it. :)</p>
<p>Unless you weren't replying to me, SQL.</p>
<p>I spent a good year agonizingly deciding between EE and CS. PM me if you want details. I know a lot.</p>
<p>Can you please share how you decided? I'm having a hard time, too.</p>
<p>CS seems to be more practical, but the upper-division projects are ridiculously time-consuming. EE at the lower-division level is somewhat easier than CS 61B/C, but to me it's also more dry.</p>