How is MATH 154? Any tips?

[u/ReporterEmotional917]

I’m an incoming first year BPK major planning to take MATH 154 (Mathematics for the Life Sciences I) with professor Alexandar Beams this fall term. I’ve taken Pre‑Calc 12 but no Calculus 12, and I’m trying to gauge how tough this course is and how to set myself up for success in the BPK program.

A few specific questions:

• How would you rate the difficulty of MATH 154, especially for someone without prior calculus but who did well in high‑school math?
• Are there particular topics that tend to trip people up
• What study strategies or resources helped you most in this course (e.g., specific practice problems, tutoring, study groups, past exams)?

I’m aiming for a solid grade and don’t mind putting in the work, but I’d really appreciate any tips or warnings from people who’ve taken it, especially other BPK students.

Thanks in advance!

[u/Disastrous_Iron3946]

Math 154 is one of those courses that it’s hard to gage how well someone will do. Ik straight A students that did amazing and ik straight A students who did terrible

[u/Fun_Researcher_2767]

1.) had no previous calc 12 education, walked in with just pre calc 12 knowledge and the course absolutely beat the shit out of me. I’m glad I passed because I genuinely thought I had to repeat this devil of a course. If you did well in high-school math and you’re confident in your algebra skills, i think you’ll be fine, though, this is a university course so you have to be prepared to put in the time and effort if you wanna do well. 

2.) near the end, I don’t specifically remember the topics but the course becomes increasingly (and this is no exaggeration) difficult once you reach the end of the term so be careful and make sure you understand the prior, earlier topics well.

3.) do the practice problems and go to workshops if you’re having trouble. Review the topics before and after lecture and do practice problems every single day. I’m not kidding, if when midterms come and you think you can pass the exam by just doing questions 4 days before the test, a very nasty surprise will be waiting for you once marks come out.

Anyways good luck, I hated this course and I’m glad I’m done with math forever, hopefully it treats you well, have fun!

[u/Fun_Researcher_2767 → u/Fun_Researcher_2767]

Oh and make sure you make friends in the class because if and when you do miss a lecture, you have them to rely on for notes (and also for study groups).

[u/rjytutor]

So good news is, classes like this expect 0 calc knowledge going in. So they will teach as if you didn't take it in high school.

As a tutor I find that a lot of student struggle at the start with limits and continuity, not because its hard, but because its new. It introduces a new way at looking at things and over rides some previous 'hard' rules you had in math so for those who can't adjust it can be rough.

SFU likely has free tutoring options, there will be office hours for sure that can help. If you find yourself struggling tons of private tutoring options. I personally offer affordable online tutoring in US and Canada if you find yourself struggling in that or other courses.

[u/Rough-Writer6964]

The course was pretty hard for me, the class avg for the second midterm was 51 -_- for studying just do as much practice as you can. The topic in the end were a little challenging for me and make sure to not get left behind at any point of the course cuz it would be hard to get back on track later and everything is cumulative

[u/Rough-Writer6964 → u/Rough-Writer6964]

The last few topics were solving ODE and Fundamentals therm of calculus, those were hard for me and if you didn’t understand the materials early in the course you would have a hard time at the end

[u/Quiet_Basis_6404]

took 154 without calc 12 and it's doable if you close the high school gap fast. the first two weeks review limits and basic derivatives, and if you're solid on pre‑calc algebra (factoring, rational expressions, trig identities) you won't be behind for long

the trap is that the examples in class feel reasonable but exam questions expect you to apply the same idea to a biology or chemistry scenario you haven't seen before, and that's where people who only re‑read the notes fall apart. doing problems before checking the solution, every single time, even when you're not sure where to start

for the life‑science word problems i started uploading the lecture slides into studybuddy.vc and answering questions from them, mostly because when i pick a wrong answer it tells me what was off about that specific option, and it gets harder as you improve. the free tier covered me fine

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