I’m a student at UC Davis majoring in Biochemistry & Molecular Bio and I bombed my midterms (this year has been really rough) so despite trying to clean up my mess and earning a good grade on the final, I still didn’t pass. I haven’t taken calculus in high school so I know I should’ve worked harder to understand the class to receive a better grade, but I underestimated how hard my professor’s exams would be compared to their homework. I have a few questions for anyone knowledgeable of what to do now since I need to eventually complete the math 17 series:
I’m currently registered for math 17b next quarter, will I eventually be dropped from the class?
There’s no more open spots to retake 17a this quarter, so should I continue with 17b and could I possibly return to 17a next year and replace my D in the class?
I believe I have to take this series as a prerequisite for physics (please correct me if I’m wrong), so could I possibly look towards summer school to take a substitute or do I have to take the math 17 series at UC Davis?
I took algebra 1&2, geometry, physics, and ap stats. I got A/Bs in those classes but it’s probably not comparable to a college setting in terms of difficulty.
Taking 16 during a quarter isn’t really an option for me since I need to get my pre-reqs done or I may fall behind. I also think taking the 16 series wouldn’t count at all for my major and I’d have to take all of 17 series anyways right after.
However I am already looking at plans to possibly take a summer course if my community college offers a substitute and definitely putting in extra time to learn calculus (more efficient studying/office hours/tutoring)
When you took the UCD math placement exam, did you just barely score well enough for 17A, or did you do substantially better than the threshold for 17A?
If you want to take calculus during the summer at a community college, use http://www.assist.org to find equivalency.
Well, since you say that you can’t repeat 17a, since it is currently full, you are already borderline behind. Sure, you might get into 17a if others drop, but why not strengthen your math ability with 16?
No precalc?
(Hint: physics is nearly all math, so it too will be problematic without a strong math background.)
@ucbalumnus Unfortunately not, by the time I finished the math courses required for me to graduate (alg1/2, geometry), I decided to go with AP stats instead of pre-calculus during my senior year for my GPA. Now I suppose I’m paying the price since I didn’t anticipate my inability to do well on some exams and didn’t seek the proper resources to do well earlier on in the 17 course.
When taking the placement exam, I scored within the threshold. And I understood many concepts from calculus to do decent, I just bombed my second midterm and didn’t do will enough on my first midterm to bring the grade up despite a good grade on the final. My professor hit us with hard questions and didn’t curve the class despite the average being a D.
Sadly I couldn’t find equivalency for the math series with my community college. But thank you for the helpful site!
@bluebayou You are right, you make a good point. I just checked availability for 16a and it unfortunately has a 16person waitlist. So for now, I’ll be brushing up hard for calculus until I can take it again next year.
This sounds weird, but at Berkeley, fairly often students will intentionally fail the class so that they can take the class over again. I’m not recommending this, but something to investigate.