MATH 1310

This class was extremely difficult. I finished with an A in the class but the amount of hours I put into studying was not worth it. If you have the option to take A Survey of Calculus I (1220), please take it. I had a graduate student as my instructor and he was an extremely kind person, but horrible at explaining the concepts. Most of the times he would dive into extremely theoretical proofs when teaching which would leave us even more confused. The lectures are not worth attending and your time is better spent doing the practice for each learning target in Canvas. The grading system is horrible, there are things called "core targets", and you must get a 4/4 on all of them to have the chance for an A. If you get a 3/4 on even one of them, you go down a whole letter grade. Don't even get me started on the final. You basically have to get a 100% on the final to get an A. I took Calculus AB in high school and it was a breeze, but this class was so much harder for no reason.

MATH 1310 is not as difficult as many of the past reviews claim it to be, at least for Spring 2025. For context, I took AP Calculus AB but didn't score high enough to test out. I already had some background knowledge going into 1310, but many of my friends who had never taken calculus struggled greatly. If you fall into the same boat, I recommend taking the easier sequence (1190/1210).
The course syllabus gets tweaked almost every semester. For Spring 2025, your course grade was determined by your percentage in pre-class assignments, homework via the ALEKS software, four midterm knowledge checkpoints (midterm exams), and the final exam. The knowledge checkpoints test on specific learning targets, 6 core targets and around 21 non-core, and are graded out of 4 points, with 5 being the highest point value achievable. To get an A in the course, you have to have achieved at least 4 points on all 6 core and at least 20 non-core targets. What's nice about growth-based learning is that you can retake learning targets after the first checkpoint up to the final exam to get a higher score, although some graders can be strict with grade deductions.
This semester was the first that the ALEKS homework software was implemented. If ALEKS continues to be assigned in 1310, I absolutely recommend taking advantage of it throughout the semester. Many of the checkpoint questions reflect the ALEKS homework problems, allowing you to solve the problems at the level the graders are looking for, which means having to do fewer retakes. I will admit that ALEKS can be annoying when you answer incorrectly on and off, in which case office hours will give much more clarity with how to solve the problem. Because the ALEKS homework is designed to be done THROUGHOUT the semester, please do it THROUGHOUT the semester and not the day of the final exam; the amount of stress I witnessed hours before the final because of incomplete ALEKS homework could have been avoided if students did them as each learning target was introduced.
If you do the work and actively seek help from the learning assistants and instructors, you can secure an A in 1310. I managed to pull out an A+ because I put in the work, and I know you can too.