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Math

edited April 2010 in General
First post :D

I have a two part question about math courses and pre-requisites

1) I originally wanted to do a business major but I find the material too dry for my liking. I'm in the process of finishing Math 157 (~A-) and I'm curious if anyone has had experience with going from 157 to say 152 or 155? Some people have told me their is a gap in knowledge because each respective math course teaches content geared toward their major. I'm sure it's plausible but I'd like some opinions or insights!

2) I'm thinking about doing MBB and the Math lower division requirements consist of Math 151/154 and 152/155. Since I'm a first year I'm not too sure how this would go. Do I have to re-take 154 or 151 since I have 157? Can I take 158 instead of 152/155? It's confusing because they don't really state if 157 is an acceptable alternative to the other math courses.

Any and all help would be appreciated!

Thanks.

Comments

  • edited April 2010
    157 is pretty much only acceptable for business majors. If you want to do MBB, definitely do 155 next. The pre-reqs for 155 are having passed 150/151/154 OR getting at least a B in 157, so you'd be fine. Someone else would have to tell you about how you'd manage though, since I don't know how the change in difficulty would be. All I know is that 155 is harder than 158 and easier than 152. It's the middle Calculus class. My friend is taking 155 this term and has done really well on both midterms.

    Hopefully that helps a bit and let's hope someone comes along that has done 155. I'm doing 157 in the summer myself.
  • edited April 2010
    I wouldn't recommend going from 157 to 152. Going from 157 to 155 is likely manageable, though 155 is harder. I did Math 151 and 155, and I found math 151 to be several times harder (I got a C+ in 151, and an A in 155). I suppose Math 151 is comparable to 152 in difficulty.

    If you intend on majoring in MBB, don't risk taking 152. If you get a decent grade in 155, it can be used in lieu of 152 as a prerequisite (if you decide to change majors, that is). If you decide to take Math 152, you're much more likely to do poorly, and it will just drag down your GPA.

    Also, as previously stated by Desolate, your A- in 157 satisfies the prerequisites for 155.
  • edited April 2010
    151 is a lot easier than 152 according to my brother. Then again he has Randall Pyke or whatever for 152, so he didn't stand a chance from the start. >_>
  • edited April 2010
    Desolate;63886 said:
    151 is a lot easier than 152 according to my brother. Then again he has Randall Pyke or whatever for 152, so he didn't stand a chance from the start. >_>
    I had Randall Pyke for 151 :P
  • edited April 2010
    BSang;63892 said:
    I had Randall Pyke for 151 :P
    What was your experience like? My brother has talked of people running out of the room crying after both midterms, him admitting the midterms were beyond the level they should be doing but saying that he doesn't really care, a problem they were given on a midterm being entered in Wolfram Alpha causing his friend's laptop to blue screen, and my brother, who did well in 151 and studied for days for the first midterm, receiving 20%.
  • edited April 2010
    Desolate;63894 said:
    What was your experience like? My brother has talked of people running out of the room crying after both midterms, him admitting the midterms were beyond the level they should be doing but saying that he doesn't really care, a problem they were given on a midterm being entered in Wolfram Alpha causing his friend's laptop to blue screen, and my brother, who did well in 151 and studied for days for the first midterm, receiving 20%.
    I remember it being pretty bad, though it was my first semester at SFU and I didn't really do much homework or studying then. Math 251, so far, has been the most difficult math course I've taken (where 50% was a B).

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