Ask a current Cal student anything! - Page 3

riyam · 03-13-2007, 12:34 AM

one thing to add to strykr's comment,
physics 7a for boggs section is kinda ridiculous at this point. the first midterm was so ridiculously easy that the mean was 86 / 100. i got a 100 and that still doesn't guarantee an A because of the limit of how many As the professor can give out. the second midterm is in about 3 weeks so unless that one turns out to have a mean of 30 or so, getting an A will be very hard.

Strykur · 03-13-2007, 04:03 AM

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Typically, English and Comparative Literature's R&C classes have the hardest graders, while Scandinavian and German have some of the easiest R&C classes.

No kidding. I learned this the hard way (B- in English R1B). Keep in mind our English department is ranked 1 nationally.

Strykur · 03-13-2007, 04:12 AM

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i got a 100 and that still doesn't guarantee an A because of the limit of how many As the professor can give out.

I'm in Physics C10 right now (Physics for Future Presidents for those who don't know - a class I HIGHLY RECOMMEND), and curiously, that class adheres to the same grade scale - which is probably a worse case than Physics 7A because the material in PfFP is not supposed to be difficult! However, my current numerical score in the class is 38 (currently tied with 25 or so other people for the only A+'s in the class), so I'm content right now. The fact that your section right now is not difficult is troubling - an easy class where only 30% of the class gets As is not a good thing.

dskybsun · 03-14-2007, 03:25 AM

Strykur, I dunno about those other classes you listed but they curved Chem 1A last semester....I believe 86% was the cut-off for an A- and they do it pretty regularly from what I hear. I haven't actually observed ppl handing out factually incorrect study notes and I'm MCB.

royrules22 · 03-14-2007, 04:09 AM

Comp Lit is hard. I took Comp Lit R1A last semester and I survived with a B. Idiotically I'm taking Comp Lit R1B now.. Didn't do so hot on my first paper. Also be prepared for a lot of reading in this class more than others.

As for Physics, I'm taking 7B (the 7 series is for engineers) and the lecture is sad to say useless. Haven't been to it in a few days. Discussion/Labs are a lot more useful thanks to the worksheets. Our midterm this semester was way too long. 6 Questions, 2 hours. Towards the end we didn't have time to finish up. I got a 76/100 with the mean being in the low 70s and the 75%ile (i.e. 25% got better than this) being a 83.

lostincode · 03-14-2007, 04:12 AM

how painful is 17 technical units in 1 semester?

riyam · 03-14-2007, 04:27 AM

17 technical units depends a lot on which classes you are actually taking. physics/math/chem/bio classes are 4 units, but almost all engineering classes are 3 units or less (or at least almost all of MechE classes). For example, engineering 28, 45, 77 are 3 units, and engineering 36 is 2 units. These are MechE lower-div pre-req classes. Upper div classes are no different in terms of units. And yes these classes actually take more time than other classes. For example I'm spending more time on engineering 45 than math 54 and physics 7a combined. e45 = 3 units, m54+p7a = 8 units

SQL · 03-14-2007, 05:01 PM

I still don't fully understand the humanities requirements. Do I have to take English, or will, say, Scandinavian R1B/R1B, fulfill my R&C requirement and therefore remove my need to take English?

Basically I'm wondering if there's a way to get out of English without taking the AP test.

Strykur · 03-14-2007, 06:11 PM

You can fulfill the R&C requirement by taking R&C classes from any language department; you can sidestep the English R1 or Comparative Literature series, which I highly recommend, and I've heard great reviews about German R1.

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Strykur, I dunno about those other classes you listed but they curved Chem 1A last semester....I believe 86% was the cut-off for an A- and they do it pretty regularly from what I hear. I haven't actually observed ppl handing out factually incorrect study notes and I'm MCB.

I must have confused Chem 1A with another class then (Chem 3A maybe); I made a mistake I think when I listed Math 1B as curved, I was just listing weeders in general. I've heard in general some nasty things from chemistry majors anyway. MCB majors have told me some pretty ridiculous things regarding student competition, so take it for what it's worth, who knows what's being exaggerated.

lostincode · 03-14-2007, 07:13 PM

can undergrads register for 200+ classes on telebears if they meet the prerequisites?

TheRighteous · 03-14-2007, 07:28 PM

They always curve Chem 1A, Chem 3A, and Math 1B at the end of the semester. It is irrelevant what overall percentage you end up with in the class since the cut off is based on the performance of the entire class.

This is just my speculation, but the breakdown for Chem 1A last semester is somewhere along the lines of 20% A's, 35% B's, 30% C's.

SQL · 03-14-2007, 07:38 PM

You can fulfill the R&C requirement by taking R&C classes from any language department; you can sidestep the English R1 or Comparative Literature series, which I highly recommend, and I've heard great reviews about German R1.

Awesome!

Before I start preparing my SIR for Berkeley, I'd like to make one last confirmation (it sounds too good to be true!) that the College of Engineering only requires the two halves (A and B) of the R&C requirement plus other humanities courses (with two being upper-division, etc...), yet makes absolutely no requirement that one of the courses be in English. In simpler terms, although I may be able to avoid English by taking a foreign language as my R&C requirement, is it going to pop up elsewhere?

Also, the College of Engineering appears to state that foreign languages classes cannot fulfill the humanities requirement; yet it appears that they can. Can someone in engineering please clarify all this?

Lastly, it looks like French R1A satisfies both the A and B halves of the R&C requirement. Is that just a typo?

Sorry for all the questions, but the prospect being able to avoid English (I really don't like essays and literary analysis, if you couldn't tell) is perhaps one of the most awesome things ever.

Golden Bear · 03-14-2007, 08:41 PM

Actually for one, there is no German R1 class, it is German R5A & German R5B.

None of the R&C classes need be taken in the English Department. You can take the R&C courses in any department such as English (Really Hard), Comp Lit (Really Hard), Rhetoric (Hard), Celtic Studies (Medium Difficulty), French (Medium), Italian, Scandinavian (Easy), German (Really Easy) and etc.

Taking say German R5A-B, doesn't mean you're learning German, you just read German literature. Scandinavian literature in Scandinavian R5A-B. The department offering the R&C course just shows what type of reading you will have to do.

I recommend Jeremy Brett for German R5A-B if he's teaching again next year. This class is very easy. He lets use write whatever we want relating to the reading for our essays. Therefore, we don't even have to read all of the books though the class is ridiculously boring.

Strykur · 03-15-2007, 05:40 AM

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Actually for one, there is no German R1 class, it is German R5A & German R5B.

Whoops, my mistake.

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This is just my speculation, but the breakdown for Chem 1A last semester is somewhere along the lines of 20% A's, 35% B's, 30% C's.

Sounds about right, but it also means 45% of the class will get a C or lower. And is it true that curves aren't in place for Chemical Engineering classes, I was told this by a student in the College of Chemistry.

DRab · 03-21-2007, 04:34 AM

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None of the R&C classes need be taken in the English Department. You can take the R&C courses in any department such as English (Really Hard), Comp Lit (Really Hard), Rhetoric (Hard), Celtic Studies (Medium Difficulty), French (Medium), Italian, Scandinavian (Easy), German (Really Easy) and etc.

Keep in mind whatever the trend that it really does depend on the particular prof. For instance, my roommate in German R5B had no 'really easy' time.

Also, undergraduates can take graduate courses. I know of a guy who took 11 in his time here, but that's almost unheard of. Even 3 is a lot for the average student- of the students who take any graduate course, almost all seem to take only 1 or 2 total, and not that many students take even 1 graduate course. On a related note, some upper div courses (for example in some math and philosphy courses) have some graduate students in them taking the class.