<p>Synth, I’m sorry. What are TFs, and I’m guessing that the exams are not multiple choice…?</p>
<p>I’m guessing TFs are like TAs? Thanks for the info! Do all the other classes have exams without multiple choice as well, or do the formats vary from class to class?</p>
<p>I really hope The Ancient Novel in Context won’t be too difficult, so that I can concentrate on these other areas. But I think I’m going to take that anyway, because it really fascinates me.</p>
<p>Oh! One last (maybe) question. When you say that “whenever a final exam is replaced by a report the grade is somewhat easier to achieve,” do you mean that there is a final exam for math 19b, but for other classes, it’s replaced by a report?</p>
<p>Sorry if my questions seem to inane or a bit basic. ;D Thanks for putting up with them! (lol)</p>
<p>Every course at Harvard will require a time commitment. Some mroe
than others. If your reading speed is relatively high (keep in mind
your peers read and absorb material reasonably quickly) the non-science
and math courses will be relatively less stressful.</p>
<p>At Harvard, the Teaching Fellows (TFs) lead sections where for the
most part your grade is determined. These TFs may be Post-grad researchers
or grads in Ph.D programs depending on the department.</p>
<p>Short paragraph answers are the norm in LS1A with a mix of MC. 19A
has a report instead of a final?</p>
<p>I guess no one picked up the sarcasm in my last post. Having a report instead of a final is easier and also better for scheduling because you finish it by the end of reading period, one less thing to worry about during finals.</p>
<p>“If your reading speed is relatively high (keep in mind
your peers read and absorb material reasonably quickly) the non-science
and math courses will be relatively less stressful.”</p>
<p>I think that this is because many students don’t do all of the reading, because it is alot easier to not have read something then to not have done a problem set.</p>
<p>I wanted to take both AP Bio and AP Chem senior year, but the science dept. head told me just to take AP Chem since there were more students that wanted to take AP Bio than there were spots in the class. I took honors Bio sophmore year and did decent on the SAT II. </p>
<p>Would I be able to make in LS 1a with only honors bio soph year (which I’ve forgotten a good deal of ) and AP Chem?</p>
<p>If you go to the Q guide and click on each class it will tell you then number of freshman in that class. I suppose with a little quick arithmetic you could find out the percentage breakdown (i.e I’m too lazy to look this up myself). Sorry.</p>
<p>I went to the Q guide and looked up LPSa and LS1. It stated that the total number of students in LPSa was 26 and that all 26 were “other” and not freshman, sophomore, juniors, or seniors. For LS1, there were supposed to be 590 total w/ 519 freshman, 59, sophomore, 7 juniors, 5 seniors and 1 other. Do this numbers actually sound right? Right from the start, LPSa having only 26 students surprises me and then on top of it supposedly they are all “other”. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I imagine that it is a typo, if you look down a bit it says that they were all undergraduates. I wonder if last year wasn’t the first year it was offered. It doesn’t show up in the year before’s Q guide. Anyway, the normal path is for people to take LS1a and LS1b and Psi Sci.</p>
<p>As a current Harvard sophomore, I would really suggest taking classes you’re interested in - and you’ll find them easier.</p>
<p>First semester I ended up, unfortunately, in a really sucky/boring Expos class, and it was really, ridiculously difficult. </p>
<p>Second semester, OTOH, I took a History A core on a topic that I was really interested in - and just by virtue of the fact that I like the material, it felt infinitely less difficult, though with the same amount and caliber of writing. So it really depends on who you are, what you want to get out of a class, and why you’re taking it in the first place.</p>
<p>I’m thinking of taking LS1a, Physics 15a, Math 21a, and Expos/Freshman Seminar first semester. Does this seem like an overly difficult workload? I’ve taken AP Calc BC, AP Bio, and AP Physics, but not AP Chem. Is it best to take Math 21a and Physics 15a concurrently or could I postpone Math 21a to second semester? Also how different is the workload between Math 21 and 23?</p>
<p>0specificity, in hindsight I would have organized my freshman year differently.
here is what I have learned.</p>
<p>Harvard courses are curved. No course is difficult or easy as such
but require a certain number of hours a week to gain a certain grade. The ones
with psets tend to take the most amount of time (+11-15 hrs a week of personal
effort above and beyond course+section time; i.e. a total commitment of 15-20
hrs per week per course).</p>
<p>Most Harvard students are into ECs and commit close to 20-30 hrs a week.</p>
<p>If you are spending more than 50 hrs on coursework you will typically regret your
choices. MIT has a nice way of reminding students what the real time commitment
is. They have x-y-z next to the courses: x indicating course hrs, y section & lab hours
and z their personal commitment to psets and such. Using this I would tend to estimate
the following for the Harvard courses based on your background to be in range of an
A- grade (yes, most of us never had anything lesser than an A/A+ ever but that
is about to change too):</p>