Here’s the screenshot:
Let’s go through each course:
- Ph 12A — A required course for physics majors, in which we’ll be studying Waves and Oscillations. The picture also says “Quantum Mechanics and Statistical Mechanics”, but that’s about the courses in the following terms (Ph 12B, 12C), which are a required continuation. In principle, seems like an interesting course, and an analog exists on MIT OCW
- Ma2 — A course on differential equations. Sounds hard, but a lot of people say the course is easy. Also a required course for physicists.
- Ec 11 — Economics. Honestly, I don’t know what to expect from this course. I’m taking it purely because I have to close out the humanities and social science requirement and there aren’t any better alternatives.
- Ph 5 — A lab course in which we’ll be working through electronic circuits, using knowledge from the electromagnetism course (Ph1 BC). This one is not a requirement, and I’m taking the course out of the thought: “I wonder what’ll be there?”
- Ma 5 — Abstract algebra, now this will be the peak of the first term. I had a free slot and the choice was between CS156 (Intro to ML) and Ma 5. Because of all the hype around ML, I initially picked it, but after thinking it over I changed my choice. First, over the summer I read a bit about ML and now I roughly understand how they work. And honestly, it’s interesting, but not close to the level of physics. About abstract algebra I know absolutely nothing, except for a vague comment from mathematicians: “Everything around us is basically algebra.” In short, I’m taking algebra on the reasoning that I’ll 100% learn something interesting, and maybe I’ll somehow be able to use it in physics. Plus, the reviews for the course are positive.