I’m also taking Chem 2B but if I do both ECS 20 and ECS 40 I’ll only have a 2 unit freshman seminar in addition. Or should I stick to my original plan of Chem 2B, ECS 40, MAT 22A+MAT 22AL, and freshman seminar. I guess I should also say that I’m on the ECS 40 waitlist and have ENG 10 as a backup, giving me 19 units in total to start off with and 15 units once I get into ECS 40 ('cause I’ll drop ENG 10).
Short answer: It’s very doable to do both of them at the same time, though I wouldn’t add linear algebra to that schedule. It’d also be fine to put off one of them if you need to, but I advise against it unless you have to.
Long answer:
Sean’s teaching ECS 40 next quarter. With Sean, his workload is high but still manageable, and you’ll be much better prepared for later classes after taking his classes. If your only other classes are CHE 2B, ECS 20, and a freshman seminar, you’ll be fine. You’ll have a lot of work from 40, but it will definitely be manageable if you know how to manage your time well. I wouldn’t add MAT 22A on to that.
I don’t know anything about the instructor for ECS 20. I had Filkov and the workload was about average. ECS 20 isn’t overly difficult, but if you ask me it’s insanely boring and that makes it hard to concentrate on getting your work done.
Assuming you’re a CS/CSE major, I would highly recommend getting ECS 40 and ECS 20 done at the same time. You want to complete ECS 60 ASAP so you can advance to upper div classes, and that requires both of those. In contrast, you just need to get your math requirements done at some point before graduation, so putting off 22A for a quarter won’t be too detrimental. Personally I took ECS 40 spring quarter my freshman year and ECS 20 winter quarter my sophomore year (scheduling issues), with ECS 60 spring quarter sophomore year. I’m a junior now and it hasn’t negatively impacted me, but I do kind of wish I had just taken ECS 20 earlier and finished 60 to get on to upper div classes.
Ultimately though, it won’t matter too much if you decide to put off either 20 or 40 for a quarter. I’d just recommend against putting them off any longer than you have to. And honestly, if you have to put either of them off I would put off 20 and keep 40. At least then you’ll be able to move onto ECS 50 in the meantime.