UCI Survival Guide: 2020-2021 (Online) (6/19/2021)

I am a first year chemical engineering major. I went to a pretty good high school (Lynbrook High School, ranked 109 in the nation according to niche.com and 131 according to usnews.com), so what I experienced is probably pretty biased. In all honestly, UCI was less academically difficult then what I expected, but I don't think that that was necessarily a bad thing, as it made me more confident to take more credits. This first year at UCI was a little bit disappointing for me, however, because I felt that some of the classes were just repeats of what I had already learned in high school. Most people will tell you to only take 12 credits in the first fall quarter, but I really regretted doing that because I definitely could've taken more.

APs taken (All 5s except CS, Stats, and Chem, which I got 4s - I took them all online):

Calculus BC, Chemistry, Chinese, Comp Sci A, English Lang, Physics 1, Physics 7C: Mech, Stats

Community College:

Intro to engineering (5 credits, didn't get rid of anything)

Intermediate calculus (multi variable calc, got rid of Math 3D and 3E, although I barely passed)

Fall 2020:

ENGRMAE 10 - Sameh Eisa: A

Really easy class with my professor. It's just coding on MatLab, which is a little bit weird but not that bad. I consider myself pure shit at coding but this class wasn't that bad, which means this class should be easy to anyone who has some sort of coding background, even if it is just a tiny bit. I had taken 2 coding classes before while in high school (during which I had no idea what I was doing), which did make the class easier because I already knew all of the concepts (like for/while loops, what a variable is, etc.). The entire class probably could've been condensed into two weeks, as it felt like there wasn't too much material to cover.

Flm 85 A - Bliss Cua Lim: A

Interesting class, but I'm biased because I already had an interest in film. The movies take longer than you would expect to finish, but they weren't bad movies. All of the work in the class wasn't too bad, and I liked that we got multiple prompts to choose from when we had to write. Definitely would've been way more enjoyable in person, so don't take this class online.

Physics 7C - Anyes Taffard: A

Same thing as Physics C: Mech in high school, with one extra concept on stress (which takes like 5 minutes to cover). I'm still kind of mad that I couldn't skip this class with my AP Physics C: Mech score. I didn't give a shit about the class until I got a 48% on the first midterm, after which my pride took over and wouldn't let me pass the class with anything less than an A. I studied my ass off, and managed to get an A somehow. Don't take Taffard, as the midterms do not feel fair, the homework is a pain to do, and lectures got to be very very long (around 2 hrs sometimes)

Physics 7LC: A

I don't remember who the professor was, but my TA's name was Ryan and he was a really chill TA. The class was really enjoyable. I made a few friends in this class, which was nice. I lowkey did a lot of the work along with this other guy, but we always finished pretty early and just spent most of the time talking about random stuff. Class should be an easy-ish A as long as you actually show up to class. Homework can be a bit tricky, but you can do them with someone else. Final was a group quiz that was really easy.

Winter:

Writing 39C - James Bliss: A

This class differs a LOT based on who your professor was. My professor was James Bliss, and I liked him. Bliss was funny and really helpful, even if he radiated "I dont give a shit" vibes. This was one of the only classes that I actually enjoyed, even though it was a lot of work. The entire class is basically just based off of you writing 2 research papers, the CP and AP (which are supposed to identify a problem, and list solutions to the problem, respectively). These papers are long and you will have to spend time on them. Try not to procrastinate too much (I personally wrote 3000 words for the cp, but the recommended amount was like around 2000 words, and it also took me like two entire day lengths to finish). Class was fun for me because Bliss was really lenient on what we were writing about, and I wrote about homelessness which was a subject that was already really interesting to me. Make sure to ask questions about any of the writing, in my experience Bliss was really helpful while I was trying to draft my essays. I'm also pretty sure Bliss gives everyone an A as long as you do the work, so that was nice.

Math 3A - Lingrui Ge: A

One of the easier math classes I have taken. It can be a little bit hard to understand conceptually sometimes, but if you spend enough time just thinking about the concepts and ideas eventually things should click. Some things weren't entirely well explained, so I recommend watching 3blue1brown's linear algebra videos too. Another minor complaint I have is that Ge has a pretty thick accent which makes things a little bit hard to understand sometimes, but you kind of get used to the accent. Quizzes and homework both weren't too hard, definitely a really doable class. 

Chem 1B - Ramesh D. Arasasingham: A-

I liked the format of the classes, except that the majority of your grade was just based off of your grade on the midterms and finals. You use Knewton for all of your homework, which was actually kind of fun to do, as they weren't hard to do and you could finish a lot of them pretty early which made me feel like I was ahead in the class. Tests aren't easy to where you can just get by without studying (if you want an A), so make sure to study for all of the midterms early. If you study, they are pretty fair, and should be pretty doable.

ASAM Communities - Vo: A-

I don't think anyone got an A in the class, because I'm pretty sure I had one of the highest grades in the class and I ended around in the low 90s. Grade was based off of a weekly reflection and a final essay. You have to bullshit the 500 word weekly reflections, but once you find something to write about it won't be that bad. The class was not as hard as I expected it to be in all honesty, the weekly reflections were a pain to do but they were also the only thing you really needed to do so it wasn't that bad overall.

Spring:

Chem 1LC - Kimberly Edwards: (A)

Take lab early on in the week (if online), because usually there is a prelab due on Wed and then a postlab due on Fri. If you have lab after Wed (like me), then you won't be able to ask questions about the prelab to your TA. Your grade depends a lot on the TA. Luckily, my TA was really nice. The class was honestly a pain in the ass, and had a lot of minor inconveniences that were really annoying (sigfigs need to be exact, you need to make sure to state what color different chemicals are, etc.). Labs took a looooot of time to finish for me, but you get lots of extra credit and I ended up with a high A. I didn't do too well on the practical final but it didn't actually even matter that much, so don't stress out too much about it. (I also didn't study for the practical which might explain why I didn't do too well, although it was decently hard)

Chem 1C - Ramesh D. Arasasingham: (B+, 89.95)

This is the harder of the two Ara Ara chemistry classes that I took, but I also didn't study that much at all for this class. Felt like a repeat of AP Chem again, except slightly more in depth. Make sure to study for the midterms and final to not be stupid like me, because they are worth a lot. Also, Arasasingham doesn't round, as shown by my final grade, so that sucks. This was my first B at UCI, but I feel as though I did kind of deserve this grade because I didn't really study for the midterms as hard as I should or could have.

Physics 7D - Franklin Dollar (A-, 92.28)

Really good online teacher. I really liked the format of the classes, as there were 7 quizzes + 2 individual quizzes (I actually chose the class just because of this format). Discussions were kind of useless, and during discussions and group quizzes I felt as though I did most of the work. Dollar is understanding if you email him, he let me retake an individual quiz that I missed. Something weird about the class was that you have to watch a prelecture lecture and learn the lecture material before you actually go to lecture, but overall I really liked how the class worked. Dollar does feel like he cares about your education. 

Physics 7LD - Steven Barwick (A, 100)

This was a really easy class, we just did worksheets that you could finish beforehand, and you got 100% if you just completed it in time. For the most part, I always finished in around 1 hour (you have two hours to finish). Final was basically just copying down three of the questions from the worksheets you had already answered, which wasn't that bad for me because I had finished all the worksheets already.

Math 3D - Jason Kronewetter (A, 100)

Apparently the prof had a lot of family issues (health + divorce), so he ended up giving everyone As. Material is hard to understand, but Kronewetter is really entertaining so you won't want to kill yourself while listening to the lectures. Our grade was supposed to be based off of 4 quizzes, except we only had 2 and everyone got As anyways. If this were any other professor besides Kronewetter, I would have been seriously concerned about my grade in this class, because differential equations are hard.

ICS 60 - Constance Steinkuehler (A, 96.66)

Pretty easy GE. Readings + lectures were completely free points. Homework did not take long. Bi weekly unit assignments are a significant (not a lot, but enough to where you can't ignore them) amount of work, but its definitely doable. I didn't actually spend that much time playing the games required except Firewatch, which I finished, so you don't actually have to spend that much time playing the games themselves.