@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.