that doesn't make sense... how is it possible for 1A03 to, at all, be easier, when an 80 or higher in 1LS3 and 1M03 counts as an 1A03 credit. My sister's older friend whom also graduated from commerce a year or two ago told me that 1A03 is substantially harder. Which would make sense... considering you need it in order to pursue a minor or other electives in mathematics. 1M03 is insufficient for that (not sure about 1LS3).

so whats good then?

Sorry to bump an old topic, but hopefully it becomes useful to people selecting their courses this year...and someone may look back here and find an old topic...I mean I did, haha.

So to back my original point, and re-explain, I'm basically saying this:

Easier is an ambiguous term, with several definitions.


As I noted above, Math 1M03 covers the material covered in Math 1A03 AND 1AA3, in a condensed half year course...so naturally only half the time is spent on each topic, and the understanding built up, is a weaker one.

So one the one hand, you have the people who learn very quickly, but superficially. Those who are not suited for pure math necessarily, but can learn enough to get by in another field requiring a bit of math. These people will find Math 1M03 easier, since Math 1A03 requires a deeper understanding of the course material...it takes a much deeper, higher level look at the course material. If you put some of these people in Math 1A03, they just may not be able to understand some of the extra material, and do poorly on the tests.

On the other hand, you have those to whom math comes very easily. They can learn the theoretical concepts and master the concepts of calculus, given enough time.

These people, believe it or not, may do worse in 1M03. Why? Because it's about time and workload...if a given person is going to understand the concepts either way, then 1M03 is twice the work for them! They cover a full year's worth of core math material (albeit they skim over most of it) in a single semester. So to these people, Math 1M03 means more homework, and more effort on their part.

So the take home point: Math 1M03 is easier to some (most?) people...but to others, this need not be the case. Myself for instance, I just finished up my undergrad in Math here at Mac. I took 12 upper level math courses this year, and my friends thought I was nuts...but in actual fact, Math is simply my strong point, and I probably did better than if I had taken some peoples' idea of a 'bird course' like a first year english, or ethics or something. It all comes down to skills, and how much time you want to put into a course...quite frankly, Math courses don't involve that much work or time, and I probably did better in some of my 4th year courses than I would have done in 1M03 if I took it right now (even though, I'd like to think, I know the 1M03 material quite well).

If that's not a clear explanation, then I'm not sure of how to explain it any better.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not claiming these two groups are an exhaustive list of all people, or even that they're mutually exclusive groups...I'm simply noting these two groups in order to contrast the two courses.

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Responding to Logic, your sister, as a commerce grad, is probably decent enough with numbers...however, since she found 1A03 tougher, than I'm going to guess she falls into the first group of people. (Those who can learn a larger mass of material, but end up forgetting about it when it's unused after a while)...so it's consistent with my explanation.



So why does an 80% in 1M03 count as a 1A03 credit? The way to look at this is:

Someone who got 80% in 1M03 has understood the theories and finer points of calculus AT LEAST as much as someone who got a 50% in 1A03...even though they may not have been explicitly covered in 1M03.