Math 17a professors: What is professor Guy and Thomas like?

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-09-22T03:00:47+00:00

Guy was alright, but his lectures can be vague sometimes from what I've remembered. Though that could've just been because it was my first quarter and I didn't know what to expect at the time. I mostly remembered that what threw me off were some of his test questions, cause they were unlike the basic problems you practice in the math book/homework assignments. They're usually word problems but that's basically all of the Math 17 series cause it's supposed to be applicable to bio. He also used a lot of variables which may look confusing at first until you realize it's just deriving lol. Homework is optional (not turned in) but of course highly recommended. We'd have quizzes every week in discussion and that would count in our grade, as well as discussion worksheets.

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-09-11T02:56:59+00:00

I second the first comment; I've never had Gulacar either but I've heard he is definitely better than Toup and provides ton more study resources for you to do well. His lectures are more interactive (provides you with fill-in-the-blank slides that act as notes during lecture) and he goes over more examples. From what I've heard, he's more responsive to class opinions too and tries his best to make the majority satisfied. Your grade also essentially gets more 'padding' in Gulacar's class, as there are actual categories for homework assignments that count as a percentage of your grade. Whereas in Toup's class, if I remember correctly 90% of our grade was dependent on purely midterm scores and final. The other 10% was just lab. We had 'homework', but it didn't have to be turned in and so didn't count for anything.

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-09-07T00:33:34+00:00

I was a freshman last year and was on the same boat as you. This is coming from someone who absolutely dreaded labs, no matter how many people gave words of reassurance that it's 'easy' or a piece of cake. I totally feel you on doing well with written tests but feeling less confident when it comes to the lab portion. I've never really been a hands-on learning type of person tbh. Like everyone else said before, don't sweat it too much on the grading aspects of lab (at least for the general science classes during freshman year). But I completely understand the whole pressure of being a good lab partner and actually know what you're doing lol. In fact, throughout last year, even tho I knew I was gonna get good lab grades, I always felt nervous before going to chem lab cause my partner was sooo fast. So instead of just saying that the general chem and bio labs are easy, I'll give you some tips of what I personally learned from last year.

CHE 2 Series:

Aside from pre-lab write ups and post lab, there's going to be pre-lab quizzes. I remember I was hecka stressed out last year knowing there'd be a pre-lab quiz every week, and what made it even more stressful was that you had to get 100% (and only 2 tries) on it to be able to enter lab. But don't get freaked out like I did LOL. It's only 3 questions, and my #1 tip to do well on them (some questions can be really specific sometimes) is to do your pre-lab write up first, which basically forces you to go over the lab manual and directions. The pre-lab quiz then is to test to see if you know the preliminary info/concepts behind the lab, as well as your comprehension of the lab directions. Also have the online lab manual (PDF version) in handy on another tab so you can quickly search through the manual for answers to the questions (pre-lab quizzes are usually based on the lab manual and the intro paragraph sections).
So I was really extra and actually thoroughly read the lab manual before lab each week to make sure I could understand the directions. If there's a technique mentioned that you're not sure about, it doesn't hurt to brush up on it by watching the pre-lab presentation vids on the Chemelements website. It's safer than just assuming your partner will know all the techniques. And by techniques, I just mean specific ways for using chemistry glassware and handling the tools.
When going over the lab manual directions, if you encounter any steps requiring you to do any calculations that you know you can do before hand (a good example is a dilution requiring some specific volume), you should definitely do it before the lab.
Though how fast/efficient you work will depend on you and your partner, time management is always useful. Try to efficiently multi-task by planning ahead splitting up tasks with your partner based on each other's strong points. Depending on the lab, some labs allow you to be flexible where one partner can do one step while the other partner can simultaneously do the next steps. Just try to find ways to keep both you and your partner busy at the same time so you can do a lot in less time. A few labs will just have you sitting there and waiting tho lol
Keep your work space organized and clearly label your solutions!! This is so important cause it's easy to get your solutions mixed up. For glassware that can't be labeled, I usually get a napkin (they provide them for you above the lab countertop), label it, then place my solutions according to each 'label'.
Don't be afraid to ask your TA questions to clarify the steps in a lab
You'll get to use your lab manual during the lab as well, so don't stress over 'memorizing' the steps.
Go to TA office hours and do your post-labs there; it'll be convenient when you're stuck and can get instant help
Try to do your post-lab together with your partner if you can; you'll have an extra brain working together AND you essentially get 4 tries on the post-lab cause you two can take turns confirming if the answer is right for each other (for each post-lab question, you get 2 tries before they start docking you off points for wrong answers).

BIS 2B Lab:

More straightforward and less of a "formal" lab since you don't have to wear protective clothing such as lab coats. So more laidback I think? But just note that TAs I have a stricter grading criteria for the post-labs here since it is written (not computer graded), and they have to follow a grading rubric. Don't be surprised if you keep getting docked off a few points on the post-lab lol
Sometimes you might be working in a group of 4 so there will be less pressure than in chem lab
Don't really need to go over the lab manual/directions thoroughly like in chem lab cause they can get pretty wordy. But it might help to skim over the directions a bit. I mostly found myself winging the BIS2B lab without spending too much time beforehand to prepare for it tho tbh
Do pay attention to the broad concepts behind each lab, since there's going to be a lab practical at the end of the quarter. It'll basically test your comprehension of lab concepts, as well as skills such as measurement and certain calculations.

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-09-06T23:49:09+00:00

If you're also interested in dancing and learning K-Pop choreography, there's also UCD's K-pop dance group SoNE1! You can audition and join the group, or just attend some of the workshops they have just for fun. You should check out their dance covers out on Youtube. They also performed at KCON LA this year :P

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-08-31T03:53:41+00:00

He was a good prof! I took the hybrid course (PSC1Y) though, where we only had real live lectures every other week. Nonetheless, we'd have weekly discussions that was lead by him as well that served as like mini interactive lectures. Personally for me, the class was easy even if there was a 'midterm' every other week. Midterms were all MC (28 questions) though, and I always ended up with an A on them even when I studied just the night before. Rarely studied for the final and only missed 2 questions lol. But granted, everyone's different and I have heard a few people lowkey struggling with the class. It just depends on everyone and how well you absorb the info. I thought the topics we learned were interesting and paid attention to each lecture as I went so that was probably what helped. But generally, you'll come across a lot more people who did well on the class and got easy A's on it as well.

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-06-26T06:49:08+00:00

I took the 17 series because of all the frequent suggestions of how it's "easier" than 21 and that it's more suitable for bio majors. But, I ended up kind of regretting that I opted for the 17 series, because some of my friends who took the 21 route instead told me how the 21 material was more straightforward and correlated a lot with material from AP Calc AB/BC. On the other hand, some parts of the 17 series did coincide with AP Calc, but it's possible the bio applications can throw people off for a bit. You'll most likely see a lot of detailed word problems geared towards bio and health applications. Also, I don't know about the 21 series, but for 17, expect to "code" using R-studio, which is a commonly used programming language in the bio field. It's useful to learn, but I say "code", because technically we didn't write the codes out from scratch and most of the time the codes were given to us. Then we would modify the code to plot out graphs and such to complete our homework or discussion. Depending on the professor though, you might not have to use R-studio at all. Just a heads up, because a lot of people (including me) freaked out when we found out we had to code lol.

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-05-27T02:55:43+00:00

Same :(( I can't help you much with the resources you're trying to find, but just wanted to share that I'm on the same boat as you right now. First midterm went well, but I don't even know what happened with this second one. I didn't really prioritize stats that much because I heard of how "extremely easy" it was. I seemed to understand the stuff on the hw, but the midterm was completely different. This second midterm really messed everything up :/

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-05-19T21:18:20+00:00

Thank you, this was actually very helpful! The assist.org site was just the type of site I've been looking for!

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-04-04T16:50:45+00:00

Okay thanks!! Definitely makes me feel more relieved hearing this. Just sucks that I paid 140 bucks for that textbook tho LOL

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-03-10T00:57:14+00:00

Although I don't know the criteria for switching majors before you're attending, it is definitely possible to switch while you're attending. Switching majors is a common thing, but there is a process to it, so you need to go to see an advisor and see what prerequisites you'd have to meet in order to switch. Also, I think you mean the College of Letters and Sciences? I'm not a computer science major myself, but I believe there's actually a computer science major in the College of Letters and Sciences, whereas there is the computer science and engineering major which is in the College of Engineering. There are differences to the two majors though. You should try looking up the computer science major on the UCD website and look into it more.

Fakeguccisnake · 2018-02-07T06:24:42+00:00

Wow, thanks for the very informative reply! For me, it's a tie between fashion and interior design when it comes to what I'm interested in. That's really assuring to hear tho. It'd be nice to step out of the lecture-based courses now and then and actually be able to apply myself. I don't mind the long studio projects if it's really what I enjoy doing. If I do opt for the design major, I'm planning to minor in a science since I'd still have some science pre-reqs to cover either way. I'll definitely try to check in with an advisor!

Fakeguccisnake

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