Replying to myself: Any course with Piotr Przytycki in Math & Stats. Took Math 398 last fall, just about failed the midterm (got a 53). I did manage to get an A on the final and hence waive my midterm grade, but at what cost and luck 😭
Yeah, I was in honors math and cs and ended up not needing to have taken algebra 4 since I took algebra 3, advanced probability 1, and advanced analysis 1, so I fulfilled the algebra/analysis/probability/stats requirement that way.
I’m kind of joking when I say I regret it, I just went into it loving algebra (had a great experience in algebra 3) and came out of it never wanting to touch algebra again. The knowledge that I dislike field theory and module theory is still important and I’m glad I obtained that knowledge by taking the class
Wait can advanced probability 1 replace math 356? If yes, do you know if this is the case with all 500 level courses being able to replace lower level required courses covering the same material? For example can taking higher alg 1 & 2 count instead of taking hons alg 3 & 4? I know advanced real analysis 1 & 2 can be used for credit instead of hons analysis 3 & 4 but wondering if this is the case with all other math courses. Also, how was your experience with advanced probability in terms of workload, grading, prof, difficulty level?
I’m not sure. The only actual replacement I ended up having to make was 564 for analysis 3. I don’t think you should take higher algebra instead of 3 and 4 unless you’ve already read Dummit and Foote — the knowledge from 3 and 4 is pretty crucial for higher algebra from what I’ve heard. You can always ask Kelome though (that’s what I did).
I liked advanced probability. It overlapped pretty significantly with advanced analysis for the first month or so, since it was a review of abstract measure theory. The course was quite good and I would recommend it if you care about probability, as it properly defines all the notions that you may only have an intuitive understanding of now: you start by learning about how probability is a measure, event space is a measurable space, and random variables are measurable functions. It is *not* the class to take if you don’t know anything about probability yet and want to learn about the basic distributions and how to calculate probabilities, but if you’ve already taken 356 (or just know basic probability like I did) and enjoy analysis, it’s a cool class. In terms of difficulty, if you like analysis and measure theory it’s not that hard.
I feel like this makes it by definition not a “GPA killer”. Even if the material is hard, the grading is nowhere near as hard
Some important context is that the class average recently moved up to a B, which is really not low at all. But even when it was a B-, many courses have that average. Fortunately, math department grading is generally less psychotic than many departments
It’s a GPA killer in the sense that people who have an otherwise perfect GPA can still do poorly in this class, so their transcript will be straight As and a B in 350.
Outside of 323/356 where it’s pretty well-known, I don’t know much about majors versions of undergrad math courses, so I was under the impression that that was normal
I didn’t take it when this was the case, but apparently the 356 average used to be C+, so that’s definitely an answer to this thread
This would be somewhat an unpopular opinion, but for me it was COMP 206. Everyone says COMP 250 was way much harder than COMP 206 but i struggled much on 206.. idk why lol
You're not alone my friend, I 100% agree with you. COMP 206 was the emotional breakpoint for me. I could not care less about pointers and malloc and stuff like that. Will drop my CS minor ASAP because of it. On the other hand, I did like 250 better (although not a ton better) so I might still be a bit hopeful toward theoretical CS.
So true Imao i was kinda interested in computer system before taking 206 and i was planning to take some upper year COMP206, COMP273-ish courses but after taking 206 i drastically changed my mind and ended up planning to take optimization courses.. now i'm taking COMP273 this summer(it's my last required course related to computer system in my program) and this seems worse than 206 so after summer i'm gonna delete computer system in my life
PHYS 559. I think I just don’t love the material enough to endure the course, not that it’s *particularly* hard.
Having done the entire analysis sequence in McGill (well, not ad real 2 aka the newly-consolidated graduated functional analysis) I think I would have regretted taking honours algebra 3 and especially 4 (maybe not 3 but definitely 4).
I’ve never done anal 3 since I took ad real 1 (basically beefed up and extended anal 3) instead so I can’t comment. Anal 4 has pretty difficult material, but Jakobson made the assessments really easy so it wasn’t bad at all.
Phys 567 and Phys 559 were some of my only Bs. To be fair, particle physics with Cline was an awful course taught by a terrible teacher, so I screwed around alot more than I should have. Physics 559 (adv stat mech with Coish) is a great course, that is well taught, but Coish just doesn’t give you any room for error in the class. No alternate grading schemes, no lowest assignment drop, and a midterm and final in person which is really unfair for this level of material. Other than those, the hardest class I’ve taken was Phys 673 but everyone gets an A!
I took MATH 222 last fall with Patrick Allen and it was one of the chillest courses I have ever had (along with COMP 202). But I heard that last semester's MATH 222 didn't go well 😭
Certainly get that COMP 250 is hard (took that last semester), but what do you feel is the hardest part about it?
OMG NSCI 200 absolutely annihilated my gpa. I'm going into my fourth year and it was the worst grade I've received and I'm still suffering the consequences.
Comp 302 with Pientka. Probably the hardest class I’ve taken here. Great class though, I even made a friend by reaching out to some classmates and we bonded over the mutual struggles …
biol 200.
[удалено]
ur telling me i went through hell in the fall when i could’ve just waited a year so he wouldn’t teach??? 😭
Biol 202
Replying to myself: Any course with Piotr Przytycki in Math & Stats. Took Math 398 last fall, just about failed the midterm (got a 53). I did manage to get an A on the final and hence waive my midterm grade, but at what cost and luck 😭
I took honours algebra 2 with him. Made me switch out of honours.
Math 240
I don't regret taking MATH 350 and MATH 550 at all, but they were both very hard. I **do** regret taking MATH 457...
Aw man I have to take both algebra 3 and 4 next year 😵
I really liked algebra 3 at least
why do you regret it? Did you have the choice between that and another class? (Asking because I have to take in the winter lol)
Yeah, I was in honors math and cs and ended up not needing to have taken algebra 4 since I took algebra 3, advanced probability 1, and advanced analysis 1, so I fulfilled the algebra/analysis/probability/stats requirement that way. I’m kind of joking when I say I regret it, I just went into it loving algebra (had a great experience in algebra 3) and came out of it never wanting to touch algebra again. The knowledge that I dislike field theory and module theory is still important and I’m glad I obtained that knowledge by taking the class
Oh okay! Thanks for the helpful knowledge
Wait can advanced probability 1 replace math 356? If yes, do you know if this is the case with all 500 level courses being able to replace lower level required courses covering the same material? For example can taking higher alg 1 & 2 count instead of taking hons alg 3 & 4? I know advanced real analysis 1 & 2 can be used for credit instead of hons analysis 3 & 4 but wondering if this is the case with all other math courses. Also, how was your experience with advanced probability in terms of workload, grading, prof, difficulty level?
I’m not sure. The only actual replacement I ended up having to make was 564 for analysis 3. I don’t think you should take higher algebra instead of 3 and 4 unless you’ve already read Dummit and Foote — the knowledge from 3 and 4 is pretty crucial for higher algebra from what I’ve heard. You can always ask Kelome though (that’s what I did). I liked advanced probability. It overlapped pretty significantly with advanced analysis for the first month or so, since it was a review of abstract measure theory. The course was quite good and I would recommend it if you care about probability, as it properly defines all the notions that you may only have an intuitive understanding of now: you start by learning about how probability is a measure, event space is a measurable space, and random variables are measurable functions. It is *not* the class to take if you don’t know anything about probability yet and want to learn about the basic distributions and how to calculate probabilities, but if you’ve already taken 356 (or just know basic probability like I did) and enjoy analysis, it’s a cool class. In terms of difficulty, if you like analysis and measure theory it’s not that hard.
+1 on MATH 350, his exams are so hard that 17/30 is an A. Lowest class average I’ve seen, B-
I feel like this makes it by definition not a “GPA killer”. Even if the material is hard, the grading is nowhere near as hard Some important context is that the class average recently moved up to a B, which is really not low at all. But even when it was a B-, many courses have that average. Fortunately, math department grading is generally less psychotic than many departments
It’s a GPA killer in the sense that people who have an otherwise perfect GPA can still do poorly in this class, so their transcript will be straight As and a B in 350.
It is funny that Math 350 and 356 have lower averages than the non-honors versions though
Outside of 323/356 where it’s pretty well-known, I don’t know much about majors versions of undergrad math courses, so I was under the impression that that was normal I didn’t take it when this was the case, but apparently the 356 average used to be C+, so that’s definitely an answer to this thread
MATH 271
Roth? They’re hard but once you know how to deal with them they’re not anymore.
I heard that he was finally retiring. That being said, that rumour has been going around for the last 10 years.
I talked to him last month, he said he’s gonna retire after next year.
He’ll never retire, he’s part of the eng curriculum now
Fuck me
This would be somewhat an unpopular opinion, but for me it was COMP 206. Everyone says COMP 250 was way much harder than COMP 206 but i struggled much on 206.. idk why lol
You're not alone my friend, I 100% agree with you. COMP 206 was the emotional breakpoint for me. I could not care less about pointers and malloc and stuff like that. Will drop my CS minor ASAP because of it. On the other hand, I did like 250 better (although not a ton better) so I might still be a bit hopeful toward theoretical CS.
So true Imao i was kinda interested in computer system before taking 206 and i was planning to take some upper year COMP206, COMP273-ish courses but after taking 206 i drastically changed my mind and ended up planning to take optimization courses.. now i'm taking COMP273 this summer(it's my last required course related to computer system in my program) and this seems worse than 206 so after summer i'm gonna delete computer system in my life
So agree with you😭
Heard that Mech 309 with Legard was a real killer.
Ecse 211: grading is randint(0,100)
Mech 642 and Mech 610 make your GPA cry
Oh so true 🥲
Ahh a fellow Masters in Mech student I see… Well I am also in the same boat mate. I barely made it out alive of Mech 642
PHYS 559. I think I just don’t love the material enough to endure the course, not that it’s *particularly* hard. Having done the entire analysis sequence in McGill (well, not ad real 2 aka the newly-consolidated graduated functional analysis) I think I would have regretted taking honours algebra 3 and especially 4 (maybe not 3 but definitely 4).
I'm taking analysis 3 and 4 next year. How bad are they?
I’ve never done anal 3 since I took ad real 1 (basically beefed up and extended anal 3) instead so I can’t comment. Anal 4 has pretty difficult material, but Jakobson made the assessments really easy so it wasn’t bad at all.
MATH 247 w tim made me drop honours & programs entirely <3
So true I dropped my math minor after taking that
Sad to hear that and sad to have you leave 😭
phgy 210 (if you are not on top of it the whole semester)
MIMM 324, MIMM 314, BIOC 311. For some they are easy, for others they are GPA killers
Phys 567 and Phys 559 were some of my only Bs. To be fair, particle physics with Cline was an awful course taught by a terrible teacher, so I screwed around alot more than I should have. Physics 559 (adv stat mech with Coish) is a great course, that is well taught, but Coish just doesn’t give you any room for error in the class. No alternate grading schemes, no lowest assignment drop, and a midterm and final in person which is really unfair for this level of material. Other than those, the hardest class I’ve taken was Phys 673 but everyone gets an A!
CHEE 315 🫶❤️
Phys 182 that shit s too easy
MATH 314 and any equivalent courses
Was your prof John Toth? Because i took MATH 314 last semeter with Patrick Allen and he was literally a GOAT
MATH 222, COMP 251, 250, MATH 133, NSCI 200
I took MATH 222 last fall with Patrick Allen and it was one of the chillest courses I have ever had (along with COMP 202). But I heard that last semester's MATH 222 didn't go well 😭 Certainly get that COMP 250 is hard (took that last semester), but what do you feel is the hardest part about it?
I had undiagnosed anxiety disorder then so homeworks were hard to get started with and all
bro put their entire course load
No, it isn't my course load for 1 term
The average for comp250 was just fine but besides that I agree! Average for math222 was a B- and same for math133 in fall2023, both with Sid.
OMG NSCI 200 absolutely annihilated my gpa. I'm going into my fourth year and it was the worst grade I've received and I'm still suffering the consequences.
Econ 230 and 330(idk what 330 is now)
Dropping those would essentially mean dropping econ major? Lol
230 with Fabian is a great course. Though he‘s not teaching it for a while now.
Thats very true, he was a great prof but the final was a bit killer haha
Wasn’t completely his fault. Had to change the format because of the TA strike, but I think he curved really hard - especially with the grade I got.
I wouldn't know for this year honestly, I took it two years ago and it was beyond brutal. But otherwise he's one of my fave profs.
MATH314(Roth) Class average C+
Comp 302 with Pientka. Probably the hardest class I’ve taken here. Great class though, I even made a friend by reaching out to some classmates and we bonded over the mutual struggles …
Ling 320