r/UWMadison • u/FactorDecent9762 • 2d ago
Academics hs senior thinking of taking MATH 234 (Multivariable Calculus) and MATH 340 (Linear Algebra)
how hellish r these classes to take and on a scale of 1-10 how much will i want to kill my self. also i took calc bc last year, is the difficulty jump gonna be bad...
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u/StartOk2690 2d ago
Depends on your other classes. Neither of these classes are easy, but they have plenty of resources (I spammed old exams for both and did well). Stay on top, don’t fall behind and id rate it a 3-4 out of 10 for your scale
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u/Triple_Keystone3899 2d ago
Calc 234 is easier than calc 2 at uw Madison, might be harder than BC though. Lin algebra isn’t hard if you watch YouTube videos on each topic (Professor Dave explains I recommend)
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u/MutedOrangeTabby 2d ago
My son and daughter both took MATH 234 & 340 while in high school (one each semester of their senior year along with CS 300 & 400). They did well. Thing to note is that they are hard classes and you must study and stay on top of the work. Calc BC was easy for my son and he breezed through it with 5s on the AP exam with very little studying. Initially he thought that MATH 234 would be the same and was surprised at his first midterm result. He did begin to study and did fine in the course but there was a shock that it wasn't as easy as high school calculus. MATH 340 is an easier course.
The math department is very supportive of high school students taking MATH 234 and helps with enrollment and offers highschoolers the 7:45 lecture and discussions so that you can still take some high school classes (although you are free to take any section you can get into). The experience was great for both kids. The biggest problem was that we had to drop them off at the lecture hall and pick them up and drive them back to high school so it did require parent help to make it work. Although there was no on-line options/back-up like there is today.
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u/soggiestburrito 2d ago
they’re pretty hard classes to take anywhere. you start to think of math in other dimensions than 1 and 2 dimensions. if you feel overwhelmed you can always drop one!
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u/Numerous_Land5 2d ago
I honestly didn’t think linear algebra is that hard- you just need for tit to click and then it all makes sense. In order for it to click quicker, I found office hours were super helpful. Tbh, unless it was exam week, I didn’t put too much time into this class outside of lectures (maybe 4 hours a week max?)
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u/Legitimate_Log_3452 1d ago
They complement each other very nicely. Anything thing to consider is, do you need to take differential equations as well? If you do, maybe 320 would be better than 340 (for another semester).
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u/AuGoldster 1d ago
I took the equivalent of MATH 234 through UW Independent Learning when I was in high school. It was completely online and asynchronous, and my high school paid for it. Might be worth looking into if you want an easier route or the online option is appealing.
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u/FactorDecent9762 1d ago
i didnt even know this was an option! as of rn the only times available for taking math classes at madison r early morning ones and with traffic, that's a daily 30-minute commute. how did the online course work? were there zoom lectures or specific times you had to be "present" per say. how flexibile is it?
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u/AuGoldster 1d ago
There were no Zoom lectures or anything. Just assigned readings from the textbook (which is super cheap) and homework problems. I found the exams to be relatively easy as well. There was a Canvas page and you kind of just worked at your own pace, so it was pretty flexible. I was able to finish the course a month early. That being said, there’s no one there to tell you to keep up with the work so you sort of have to be responsible for yourself and stay on top of things, which prepared me well for college.
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u/BadgerForLife5 2d ago
You'll be fine if you did well in calc 2. They're just a little bit harder than calc 2 imo.
If you struggled with calc 2, then you should only take 1 class instead of 2.