<p>I'll be an incoming freshman this fall at Berkeley, and so far I've decided on taking one math course, the Molecular and Cell Biology C62 discovery course about drugs and the brain (sounded interesting), English R1A and Phy 24 (I'll also take a DeCAL to make up my 13 units). As you can see, I'm going for something light my first semester. </p>
<p>I'm a hopeful Applied Math (possibly with Econ) major, and I have IB credit to skip out of Math 1A/B. I would've taken Math 53 or 54, but both Auroux and Grunbaum's classes are full. Math 55 didn't look too appealing either this fall.</p>
<p>So Stat 134 would act as both the upper div. stat requirement for the econ major as well as one of the 8 upper div. elective courses for the applied math major: would it be a good idea to take it as a freshman? I've tried reading around, and it seems the course is apparently really difficult, but I'm math-oriented so maybe it could be manageable for me? </p>
<p>Or, should I just re-take Math 1B, or maybe even Math 55 with Evans? Or just no math course at all? Any help will be much appreciated, thanks!</p>
<p>P.S. I don't know any of the material in 53 or 54, if that's relevant.</p>
<p>Doesn’t Math H54 have space?</p>
<p>If you want to also major in economics, why not also take Economics 1 if you do not have credit for it already?</p>
<p>Nominal prerequisite for Statistics 134 is a year of calculus, which you apparently have.</p>
<p>You may want to check the old exams of Math 1A and 1B to make sure you know everything in them.</p>
<p>With all due respect for your wisdom and good advice UCBAlumnus, quit suggesting H54 to everyone and anyone that needs 53/54. It’s not right for almost all people, and for those that it is right for, they will seek it out themselves. </p>
<p>53 and 54 will expand, keep an eye out, the day they open the new discussion sessions, all you gotta do is sign up for the class and those discussion sessions, bypassing all the waitlists (I did it), though its a gamble. As an alternative, Teleman is not that bad, Givental is death. </p>
<p>Or take 55 with evans. That’s fine too. Not stat 134, unless you’re really smart. No problem in taking stat 20 first.</p>
<p>Stat 134 is a hard class. It’s not the math that is hard but the amount of information you are expected to retain and apply. I took it last semester and I would make sure to check the professor before registering. I took it with Song and it was the hardest class I have taken at Cal.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus: I forgot to mention, I also will get credit for Economics 1 since I did Economics HL, and I want to do the mathy 101A/B Eco series which I know needs math 53, so I can’t do those just yet. I’m very confident in the 1A material (except some of the approximation stuff which I need to self-study, like Newton’s method and Rolle’s theorem), and I know most of the stuff in 1B except the second order ODE’s, which I also need to self-study.</p>
<p>Also, honors isn’t my thing, I don’t think I’m capable of that :p</p>
<p>@pux3940: I’m sorry, could you explain what you mean exactly? I’m new to the system and everything, so I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean. I’m an international student so I couldn’t go to CalSo, and so I’m still waiting on my advisor code/Phase 1 appointment, when would these ‘discussion’ sessions open up and how would I check/register?</p>
<p>Also about taking Stat 20, it doesn’t seem to count for the A. Math major and that’s the major I want to work towards, as I’m not sure if I even want to double major with Eco yet.</p>
<p>@JavyUCB: It’s Pitman teaching it, the same guy who wrote the textbook? Also, I have learnt a bit about stuff like continuous and random variables, and distributions like Poisson, but I know it’s the later stuff which is hard anyway (and I have no clue about).</p>
<p>Hello ZulerCC! Congrats on your acceptance to Cal. Professor Pitman is teaching Stats 134 this semester, and he is also the writer of the textbook. To answer some of your questions, every semester in Berkeley, the math department halts registration at a certain numbers for example, last semester, I took Math 54 wih Teleman. The class size on telebears said that 450 students were the limit but since there were fewer spaces in the discussions, only 350 students were able to register. More students were able to register during the adjustment phase and after classes started. Now going back to Teleman, he is not a good lecturer but his class is doable. The curves on tests are generous, so it is plausible to earn a good grade with minimal effort.</p>
<p>I have also heard that Math 54H is easier than Math 54 from friends who took the class last fall semester. I wish the best!</p>
<p>@worrygooseB I’m not too keen on Math 54 because I know I need to learn the second order ODEs stuff from 1B, which may take me some time. Atleast Math 55 (Discrete) is a topic that’s on its own, so I’m leaning towards that at the moment if I can’t get Math 53 at some point. Thanks though!</p>