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MATH 1A03 and MATH 1LS3

 
Old 06-30-2008 at 09:20 PM   #1
citfat
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MATH 1A03 and MATH 1LS3
So Calculus for Science 1 and Mathematics for the life sciences...

Is there any difference? Which one is harder?
Old 06-30-2008 at 10:11 PM   #2
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someone reviewed math 1A03 in the COURSE REVIEWS section here.
Old 07-01-2008 at 09:47 AM   #3
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this is just a copy+paste from another thread:

In terms of the different math classes, I'm assuming it has to do with the Ontario High School math curriculum change. I *think* 1LS3 is aimed for students who just took Advance Functions and not necessarily Calculus and Vectors (if you took both classes in High School, you'll probably find that 1A03 is more suited for you). Universities generally like to advertise these courses by adding "life science(s)" somewhere in the course name/description to make it seem more biological than mathematical. Again, if you get an A- (10 on the McMaster grading system - available here) in 1LS3, you won't need to take 1A03 as a prereq for most second year programs.
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Old 07-11-2008 at 05:10 PM   #4
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Actually I'm pretty sure calculus and vectors is a prerequisite for 1LS3 just like 1A03
Old 07-13-2008 at 09:34 PM   #5
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1LS3 is for students who are involved in Life Sciences, Environmental Studies and basically anything involving biology, while 1A03 is a course for pure math (calculus). In 1LS3, students will, for example, study research papers on biology or medical studies and determine what math was used. It is more of course for the application of math to the life sciences and focuses on quantitative thinking. As for which is harder, I don't know, sorry.

Here's the course's website for 1SL3:

http://www.math.mcmaster.ca/lovric/1LS3.html
Old 07-20-2008 at 11:51 PM   #6
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I just completed first year & took MATH 1LS3 (last year it was called 1M03) because my program required me to take one calculus course. I heard that 1LS3 was significantly easier which is why I decided to take it instead of the 1A03.
In high school I took what used to be the combined Adv. Functions & Intro to Calc 12U course. I found that 1LS3 was not the easier one at all. Most of the concepts were absolutely brand new. I was much more comfortable with the 1A03 work that my roommate & floormates were doing.

It has to do a lot with the way you think. 1LS3 has a lot of broad concepts and is very spatial. Much of the work I was doing was common to engineering-type exercises. These examples were different than those I learned in high school which made it more difficult to me. 1A03 basically continues from where Grade 12 calc ends.

Hope that helps (I don't know what program/faculty you are in)
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Old 07-21-2008 at 12:59 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dancingqueen View Post
I just completed first year & took MATH 1LS3 (last year it was called 1M03)
1M03 and 1LS3 are actually two different courses. 1LS3 is a new course because of the Science I program change this year.
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Old 06-25-2009 at 10:59 AM   #8
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math 1ls3 is a piece of trash course, i took it instead of math 1a03 last year. If you have any respect for math, dont' take this course. If you just need a calculus credit take this trash course.

Math 1LS3 teaches you things that are completely useless even for life science, I assure you...things like cobwebbing, you will never need to manually calculate or ever apply. And if you ever do, you'll learn it later on. You don't learn any real calculus until half way through the course and you barely cover integrals which is what you really should learn.

Even my professor said he doesn't know why we're learning some of the things we're learning like cobwebbing.

So in summary, this course is bad and if you've received an email trying to convince you to take 1ls3 instead of math1a03 because you are in life science or w/e, reject it. Take math 1a03 if you want to learn more calculus, it also doesn't put a bar restriction for math 1aa3 if you ever need to take that course. You need to get a 10 in math 1ls3 to take math 1aa3. But if you can get a 10 in math 1ls3, you're probably better off in math 1a03.

TAKE MY ADVICE you won't regret it, not taking math 1ls3 is dodging a bullet in your university career.
Old 06-25-2009 at 11:19 AM   #9
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Like I mentioned in the other thread; My friends who took Math 1A03 said it was a fairly easy course which moved at a pretty slow pace.
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Old 06-25-2009 at 12:20 PM   #10
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Well it's not letting me edit my previous post in this thread - that description I was given was very misleading. MATH 1LS3 was a bird course and I got a 9 in it without doing one page of homework. I don't feel as strongly about it as Krusenik but really, a lot of the stuff we learned was pretty useless. I've also taking MATH 1A03 and wow what a difference in material - the only thing they have in common is derivatives and integrals. Otherwise MATH 1A03 has much more intense (and harder), useful calculus. The only thing I learned in MATH 1LS3 is how to calculate morphine levels in a patient (the only example my prof knew). However if you hate math but need that one calculas credit then I reccommend 1LS3 but if you're going to go on in math or if learning useful math is important to you, take 1A03.

EDIT: I took Math 1A03 in summer school so that's why it was so intense for me lol not to mention we didn't have tutorials. It might've been easier for other people.
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Last edited by jachill : 06-25-2009 at 01:42 PM.
Old 06-25-2009 at 12:53 PM   #11
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I took the Math 1A03 last year and a few of my friends took the Math 1LS3. I would say that if you did fine in your grade 12 calc class, you should take the Math 1A03. The Math 1A03 isn't that hard if you keep up with the work and go to the tutorials. And I found the content pretty useful.
Old 06-26-2009 at 10:11 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kira View Post
I took the Math 1A03 last year and a few of my friends took the Math 1LS3. I would say that if you did fine in your grade 12 calc class, you should take the Math 1A03. The Math 1A03 isn't that hard if you keep up with the work and go to the tutorials. And I found the content pretty useful.
+1 exactly. Don't take any of that "math 1ls3 is designed for you" garbage. 1LS3 is a new course, and frankly,, its unreliable. You'll often see times when the school advertise courses to you but like any other advertisement you can reject it!

take math 1a03
Old 06-26-2009 at 10:59 AM   #13
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... 1LS3 isn't that bad or useless. I think it's a good course to take if you're not planning on taking any more maths and you just need one to graduate. It's easy - most of the stuff on the tests is just regurgitating what was on the assignments. I haven't taken 1A03, so I can't really compare them, but my friend said it was easy. By the looks of the sample tests from 1A03 given in the courseware, the material doesn't look too difficult. I admit, most of the time in 1LS3 I was banging my head against the wall asking why we were learning the stuff, but at least it's easy.
Old 06-26-2009 at 05:12 PM   #14
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Which math course is better for a student going into commerce? Just wondering if 1A03 is a prerequisite for one of my future courses because I would really prefer an easier math class.
Old 06-26-2009 at 05:31 PM   #15
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If you are looking to go further into math you should take 1A03. Unless you think you can get 10+ in 1LS3. Which is also extremely possible. But if you've taken calculus is highschool, then I would suggest 1A03. You can definitively get a good mark if you try. Unless of course you aren't going further into math.
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