Not sure when to do this
Anyone know?
I think most colleges tie it into freshman orientation.
For my daughter, as it was for my son, that’s sometime in June.
I would think that for a large number of the students, they won’t know completely what they want to take until early July, which is when AP results come in. For example, in the AP English Literature exam, a 5 gets them out of English R1B for L&S students.
https://orientation.berkeley.edu/before-you-arrive
You may want to explore the rest of that site which has more useful information for new students.
You’ll register in late July.
If you read through the Golden Bear Orientation schedule (a link was sent to your Berkeley email account earlier in May), it says that freshman registration starts on July 16.
I think it actually said July 18
Go to your calcentral, academics, on the right, in gray, Phase 1 begins. That’s the date AND TIME that you will be registering for your first 13 UNITS. Phase 2 is for the rest, up to 17. Adjustment is for any more.
All the incoming L&S freshmen should have gotten notices by now to start some online modules/information sessions in preparation for registration. There’s a little test at the end of each of these modules to make sure you read everything and paid some attention.
does anyone know if you get to pick your teachers and time?
In your case, for CS 61A and for your Calc class, you don’t get much of a choice as far as lecture goes, there’s only one monster class and time slot for each. Where you get to pick your teachers and time are the discussion sessions. It would be nice if there were some opinions out there on the folks who lead the discussions.
Calculus courses have multiple lectures each:
MATH 1A: TuTh 800a-929a, TuTh 1100a-1229p, TuTh 330p-459p
MATH 1B: TuTh 800a-929a, MWF 1200p-1259p
MATH 53: TuTh 800a-929a, TuTh 500p-629p
COMPSCI 61A lecture is only at MWF 100p-159p.
Yes you are right…but I was thinking about Math 1B and CS61A. It would have been impossible to take Math 1B on MWF 12-1 because of CS61A being adjacent and the classes are nowhere each other.
So how does it work with adjacent class lectures? In the example of Math 1B and CS61A, IIRC the 12pm-1 class is at Valley and the 1pm-2 class is in Wheeler. A little bit of a hike. Do they start on time in the lectures? I have a feeling that after 3 years of grueling 7am start classes, my kid is going to balk at taking an 8am Calc class lol.
It is true for Math 53 as well, can’t imagine sitting through a Math class that close to dinner time. I guess early morning classes are going to be a must 
Traditionally, UCB classes start 10 minutes after the indicated start time.
http://summerenglish.berkeley.edu/2018/02/28/did-you-know-berkeley-time/
http://visit.berkeley.edu/attending-a-lecture-at-berkeley/
The MWF 12 lecture of MATH 1B is in Li Ka Shing, which is on the west side of campus, and further from Wheeler than Valley LSB. Distance is about 0.4 miles, but uphill. The student should be able to calculate whether 10 minutes is doable based on walking/running speed.
One other note about class times: for some people, early afternoon is a time of increased sleepiness (“siesta time”), so it may not be optimal to choose a class time then if there is a choice of some other time (morning or later in the afternoon). Eating lunch just before class may worsen this effect.
@ProfessorPlum168
Yes you get to pick your classes.
Berkeley time is 10 minutes later. You can get to every class in 10 minutes even if they’re on opposite sides of the campus, but if you do see a discussion section at the right time but closer to your previous class, that’s a good option. So a 2:00 class starts at 2:10.
If you take 8:00 am classes, take all 8:00 am classes. If you take it one, two, or even three days a week, you get used to going to bed later than if you have all 8 ams. They make all the mandatory classes either really late, or mostly really early, specifically because no one would sign up for an elective if it was at a bad time.
When you start signing up for classes, they’re going to fill up really fast and you’ll see spots disappearing right when you try to sign up for them, so be prepared with backups and have everything already in your cart, ready to press enroll.
CS61A is webcast, so not a very big proportion of people actually attend because they sort of encourage not showing up because it’s such a big class. So, keep the time slot open for it, but you might end up using the time to go to lunch.
Discussion sections are run by GSIs, Graduate students, not undergraduate, getting their PhD, so they’re not determined for a while. A good GSI can make up for a bad teacher and a good teacher can make up for a bad GSI, but if both are bad, prepare to self-study. I had a super good math GSI and a super good Bio 1B GSI, but my Physics GSI was not so good and the 4 hours a week I spent with him turned into a very productive study hall for me.
Of the 6 or 7 GSIs that I’ve had so far, only one had a heavy accent.
Always sign up for/enroll in labs first. They are the limiting factor. Lectures don’t fill up too fast, but labs fill up immediately.
Is the webcast of CS61A something that is archived and/or can be recorded, ie can it be played back at a later date?