Hey there! I love your blog; it's been very helpful! I just have a few questions since three of the classes I plan to take this year are the ones that you took in your first semester. 1. Do you have any tips in particular for Chem 1A and Math 16A? I have Stacy and this new prof for Math. 2. How theoretical is Math 16A? Is it basically plug-and-chug or are the questions much more conceptual like Math 1A? 3. What textbook did you use for Psych 2? I have Rosner, and it doesn't mention what textbook you need on bearfacts. Thank you so much!
Dear Justin,
Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad I could help :)
1. For chem 1A, the best thing to do (in my opinion) is to sign up for SLC study groups and go to professor office hours. When I took chem 1A, although I had Stacey as a professor, I went to Professor Arnold's office hours. I noticed that he would go over topics in particular that would come up on the midterms and so I was able to get a few extra questions right just because I went to his office hours. The SLC groups are there to reinforce lecture material and will help you grasp the concepts better. The iclicker points count for your grade (some didn't think so at first) and in chem 1A, every point counts so stay on top of those. Do well in lab since those points count toward your grade as well (in ochem/bio/etc, the lab grade is separate). I would also recommend doing a lot of past exams but they didn't help me too much since the exams were kind of unpredictable and extremely conceptual ( do them anyway ;). Just a warning: the lectures will seem quite easy, but they'll be looking for ways in which you applied the lecture material on the exams. Math 16A, depending on who you have, is a breeze. I never went to lecture since the practice midterms my professor posted were just like his actual midterms and I took AP calc BC in high school so I already knew the material :)
2. Math 16A, from what I remember, is mostly plug and chug. If you took any calc in high school, it'll be like that all over again. Math 16A will teach you basic derivatives/integrals, and other easy calculus concepts- nothing to worry about. But then again, I had a really easy teacher... ; )
3.You got lucky with Rosner. A few people I know took psych 2 after hearing how easy it was with Rosner and found out that it wasn't so easy for them with different teachers. I don't quite remember what book I used for psych 2 but I don't think you'll need to use it too much. Most of his exam questions (which is all multiple choice and non-cumulative) are taken from his slides- which is just the abridged version of the textbook.
I hope this helped somewhat and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
-K
Dear Justin,
Thanks for stopping by! I'm glad I could help :)
1. For chem 1A, the best thing to do (in my opinion) is to sign up for SLC study groups and go to professor office hours. When I took chem 1A, although I had Stacey as a professor, I went to Professor Arnold's office hours. I noticed that he would go over topics in particular that would come up on the midterms and so I was able to get a few extra questions right just because I went to his office hours. The SLC groups are there to reinforce lecture material and will help you grasp the concepts better. The iclicker points count for your grade (some didn't think so at first) and in chem 1A, every point counts so stay on top of those. Do well in lab since those points count toward your grade as well (in ochem/bio/etc, the lab grade is separate). I would also recommend doing a lot of past exams but they didn't help me too much since the exams were kind of unpredictable and extremely conceptual ( do them anyway ;). Just a warning: the lectures will seem quite easy, but they'll be looking for ways in which you applied the lecture material on the exams. Math 16A, depending on who you have, is a breeze. I never went to lecture since the practice midterms my professor posted were just like his actual midterms and I took AP calc BC in high school so I already knew the material :)
2. Math 16A, from what I remember, is mostly plug and chug. If you took any calc in high school, it'll be like that all over again. Math 16A will teach you basic derivatives/integrals, and other easy calculus concepts- nothing to worry about. But then again, I had a really easy teacher... ; )
3.You got lucky with Rosner. A few people I know took psych 2 after hearing how easy it was with Rosner and found out that it wasn't so easy for them with different teachers. I don't quite remember what book I used for psych 2 but I don't think you'll need to use it too much. Most of his exam questions (which is all multiple choice and non-cumulative) are taken from his slides- which is just the abridged version of the textbook.
I hope this helped somewhat and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask!
-K
Dear K, thank you for your quick reply! Your answers helped me tremendously. :) I just have a few follow-up questions, if you don't mind:
ReplyDelete1) Pertaining to your answer for #1, I thought you get a separate grade for Chem 1AL because the lecture doesn't have to be taken concurrently with the lab? I don't know if they changed it this year, but I'm pretty sure (and hoping) they did. Are the labs difficult and time-consuming?
2) How exactly are office hours run? Is it one-on-one between you and your professor or is it an open discussion between you, your professor, and other students who show up? I was assuming it may be a line outside your professor's office in which students enter one after another, but I may be wrong.
3) Would you recommend getting started on research for your first semester? I was planning on getting this lab position, but I'm not sure if it would be extremely time-consuming. I'm planning on taking 13 units, though.
Once again, thanks for your help. I hope you're having an amazing summer, and good luck next semester~!