<p>Hola Compadres,</p>
<p>I'm heading to orientation in a few weeks, so I figure I should know enough about classes to gain some sort of benefit from the experience.</p>
<p>I. I detest most scientific disciplines. I'm not about to lie -- I'm the reason the United States is lagging in science education. I do, however, like Physics. That said, I'm looking for the easiest and most painless science GE's.</p>
<p>II. I took Calculus BC and scored a 5 on the exam. Three questions: 1) My friend told my everyone had to take the math placement test at orientation, but I remember reading something to the contrary. Do I have to the placement examination? 2) I'm thinking about taking 32A and B again in college, simply because I want to get a feel for math at UCLA without worrying about learning new material. Is that wise? Or should I just head straight to 33?</p>
<p>III. I'm supposed to take roughly 15 units/quarter, correct?</p>
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<li><p>you go straight to 32A (multivariable), whether you like it or not. AP Calc only gives credit for single-variable (31A and B). the placement test is only to get into 31A/3A.</p></li>
<li><p>you take as many units as you want above the minimum (12 units?). typically people take three or four classes, or 12-16 units.</p></li>
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<ol>
<li><p>science GEs are not necessarily science. you can avoid the chemistry/biology disciplines entirely and take classes such as oceanography, atmospheric sciences, earthquakes, astronomy, even statistics.
go here UCLA</a> Registrar's Office: General Education Requirements and select your college. it's a master list of all GE courses by category. look at the science GE's and you will see there's a broad range of topics.</p></li>
<li><p>according to this UCLA</a> Undergrad Admissions: AP Credit - College of Letters and Science a 5 on BC gives you credit for 31A and 31B. which means you'd be starting with 32A.</p></li>
<li><p>most classes are 4 or 5 units. GEs are 5 units. so if you took three classes, you'd be looking at 15 units since most freshman classes are 5 units (upper divs are generally 4, as are languages). you should take three classes your first quarter, and four later on if you want to/need to. there is expected cumulative progress to look out for, maybe someone else can dig up the link. the minimum amount of units is 12, but you need something like 27ish at the end of your second quarter and AP units don't count. your OC will tell you all about it, i'm rusty. because after two or so quarters you're not gonna have to worry about it, anyway.</p></li>
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<p>if you want a good way to get rid of 3 science GEs, including the ones with lab, take the GE 70 cluster on the evolution of the cosmos and life. you would also get rid of your writing II requirement and your seminar requirement if you finished the whole year.</p>
<p>some people really didn't like it but i didn't think it was bad at all. the labs were extremely easy and the professors were pretty nice overall. they had office hours every tuesday in de neve dining hall right after class, so you didn't even need to go to their offices to ask them questions!</p>
<p>if you want to know more about the cluster, feel free to send me a message.
ALSO: i have the GE 70A textbooks and CD for sale (barely used!), so if you want a discount on that, let me know!! :)</p>