<p>i am planning on applying this fall and i have talked to a couple of berkeley kids. They all said that community college does not prepare you for berkeley and that it is completely different. It is cut throat and very competitive. They say you barley get any sleep because all you do is study. Is it really that stressful????</p>
<p>did u really think the top public university in the US would be as easy as CC?</p>
<p>from what i have seen from my friends who attended ucb…the rumors are true. as soon as the semester started they pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth. if you are not willing to meet the challenges that ucb will undoubtedly pose, you should not even bother applying.</p>
<p>I think the rumors are mostly true…of course some majors will be easier than others.</p>
<p>It’s rough. I am just starting my first semester after transfering. It’s basically what I expected, but being as anyone can coast in CC the only real problem is self discipline. Also, I didn’t know what B-Space was until I got to class, and apparently my instructors had given reading assignments due the first day. I’ve been behind in reading, and I still end up procrastinating a lot of days. I’m slowly developing better study habits. I think you should keep busy the summer before so you’re not coming off a long summer of laziness like I did.</p>
<p>Haven’t actually had anything graded yet, but I’m nervous and buried in reading.</p>
<p>What kind of reading am I looking at? 50-100 pages a week for each class? I think I have had some classes that are probably comparable to a Berkeley class (only because the professor taught at Berkeley and he told us he expected the same effort that he expected of his students at UCB). I think the issue will be having all the classes being that way. No cupcakes mixed in. </p>
<p>Working hard in school is just going to prepare you better to work hard in the real world. And the ones who work harder, and smarter, are the ones who get ahead.</p>
<p>I would say it’s more than 50-100 per class, but all I know is my courses. For one of my classes this week I was assigned to read a 246 page book on Tuesday, and had to complete by Thursday. That was just one of my classes. Needless to say I didn’t bother. Of course that class is my heaviest load of reading. Reading really varies from class to class. On average that heavy class is 150-200 pages per week. I have an anthro class that is a little under a 100 a week, and another poli sci class that is a little over 100 per week. I’ve mostly been skimming, taking notes of important things, and reviewing the notes. Your GSI’s will give you a good idea the important things to look for while reading, so perhaps I’m blowing it out of proportion. My first test is Tuesday, I’ll check back on this question when I get my grade back.</p>
<p>I’ve atteneded 2 CCCs and UCSB prior to coming to UC Berkeley and i can tell you it is SIGNIFICANTLY more difficult especially in the math/science/engineering courses.</p>
<p>I would say it really depends on your major and elective courses you take. I am an intended math major, now taking one math, two business courses at Haas(i dropped one due to final exam time conflict), one literature and a decal. I would say haas courses are the easiest, it would take you more time to understand the concepts and doing problem set, but it is totally doable for transfers. Math is sooooooooooooo difficult, it is a linear algebra class that my adviser suggested, lots of proofs and GSI grades harshly. Literature is okay, heavy reading though.</p>
<p>Just to re-enforce what the above poster said.</p>
<p>Although I don’t attend UCB. As a Math/Econ major, I would like to also mention that at UCLA, based on my two summer session courses, I found the Econ classes to be way easier than the Math classes. The difference is pretty big.</p>
<p>Meh. UCB is only difficult if you fall behind/cannot prioritize.</p>
<p>That being said, I study a lot. Read the suggested reading before lecture, do problem sets, go to OH. I have yet to pull an all-nighter however.</p>
<p>It’s all about staying on top of things. If you can do that, you can make it anywhere. </p>
<p>Oh, I’m an MCB major, working in a lab full time to write my senior thesis while going to school full time. Just to put my experiences into reference.</p>
<p>hey Orion</p>
<p>do you have any suggest about how to study?</p>
<p>i am a bioe major and i am taking mcb c100a with prof.kuriyan right now.</p>
<p>i did all the reading, all the problem set and all the previous test, and i go to office hour. but i still get only 70 on the first midterm. i am so depressed and want to drop the course. </p>
<p>i just dont know why i study so hard but still get that low grade.!</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>How are the Biology classes Orion8? Are they a challenge?</p>
<p>Huangfang,</p>
<p>What was the curve? If the curve was low, then you should be fine. a 70 in 100 isn’t as bad as it sounds. my 2nd midterm was around 70 and my 3rd midterm was below 70, and I got an A.</p>
<p>In terms of how to study…past tests. really just analyze what he’s asking, how to solve the problem, and understand why. Only way I can help. I heard Kuriyan is more difficult than the person I had for the first portion (Alber).</p>
<p>Edmfanatiq,</p>
<p>Which Bio classes? The lower division or upper? I didn’t take LD bio courses her b/c I was exempt. I’m taking MCB, but they’re not exactly Bio department. </p>
<p>They’re fine i guess. I enjoy them b.c they have applications in my lab.</p>
<p>Are all classes/majors curved at Berkeley? How difficult is rhetoric or philosophy?</p>
<p>^^depends from class to class</p>
<p>rhetoric and philosophy are easy everywhere</p>
<p>I am going in for a psych major. I read whatever i can ahead of time and do all my papers as soon as i get them. DO you think i will struggle? and how many hours a week does an average student expect to study for?</p>
<p>My O-Chem teacher is such a downer. He’s always telling us how O-Chem at Berkley is like 100x harder and that what we’re doing is not even comparable (he’s always riding Cal bc his daughter graduated from there). I mean like I KNOW CC is nothing compared to Berkley but he’s always making us feel like crap.</p>
<p>According to friends of mine from high school and community college currently at Berkeley, it really depends on the subject. As a History major, I probably won’t run into anything challenging at Berkeley, as I’m already reading well over 600 pages a week by myself at PCC in preparation for upper-division courses at whatever school I transfer to, but History isn’t necessarily a challenging major if you’re passionate about the material.</p>
<p>Not to mention the fact that upper-division courses, from what I’ve heard, are simply wonderful at Berkeley’s History department. To study under such esteemed scholars must be an incomprehensible joy. They could make me read a 1000 pages a week for all I care, as long as I get to attend their classes I’d be happy.</p>
<p>Alright, I thought i would post here as I just transferred in for this fall into cal. And I can say that yeah, it’s pretty hard, and it is quite a jump from CC, obviously. I went to CC and developed some pretty bad studying habits. </p>
<p>The reading for upper division varies, currently I’m takin a history and a political science u/d classes and usually for poli sci I have to read from 60-100 pages per class. As in Tuesday and then Thursday. If there’s no tests you can probably afford to fall behind A LITTLE but you’ll be completely lost in lecture and that kinda defeats the purpose I think and there’s also discussions so you should at least have an idea of what’s up. For history so far we’ve read maybe… 2 primary works and other background stuff from a text. history is actually sorta fun except for my complete lack of insightful comments to throw in… It’s all not that bad considering. I wouldn’t suggest takin too many units your first semester though, just ease your way in. </p>
<p>Funny story (at least I thought so)
A week before my first exam our professor was telling us how reasonable our test was and how we shouldnt exactly worry as he takes the highest score from the class as the highest grade…and then in discussions our gsi mentioned how we aren’t expected to finish the exam…then on exam day as we all sat down the gsi says “ok…the test is really hard”.</p>