<p>The Cognitive Science major at Cal does not require CS 61B, if I am not mistaken: <a href=“http://ugis.ls.berkeley.edu/cogsci/major.php?page=requirements”>http://ugis.ls.berkeley.edu/cogsci/major.php?page=requirements</a></p>
<p>You could take CS 10 (Beauty and Joy of Computing) before you take CS 61A. CS 10 will help you get more familiar with programming and Computer Science as a whole. If you can work hard enough, you might even do well if you take 61A without taking CS 10.</p>