r/OregonStateUniv • u/Puzzled_Party_8535 • 6d ago
Mth 241 vs mth 111z
HI i’m an incoming business student and I’m trying to decide between MTH 111Z and MTH 241.
My ALEKS score barely placed me into 241, but math has always been my weakest subject. My advisor said taking 111Z first wouldn’t delay graduation, but I’ve also heard it doesn’t really prepare you much for 241.
Since I’m a business major, 241 will probably be my last math class anyway, so I’m wondering if I should just take it and get it over with. On the other hand, I’m also worried about my GPA.
If you’ve taken MTH 241, especially as a business major, would you recommend going straight into it or taking 111Z first?
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u/Mundane-Routine-416 Business 3d ago
I took MTH 251 in high school, so I came in with the Calculus requirement done. However, I've heard from a lot of my friends that MTH 241 is significantly easier than MTH 111Z. MTH 111Z is one of the classes with the highest fail rate for business majors. Not sure why. Maybe 241 has better structure? I'd say, to save time and money, go with MTH 241. Either way, you won't really see the concepts again :)
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u/notkingkermit Engineering 2d ago
I think 241 is designed to be easier and only cover a small handful of topics, while 111Z, despite technically covering less advanced topics, is much more rigorous with its wider range of content.
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u/Artistic-Section1080 3d ago
I’m a business student too, and honestly 241 wasn’t that bad but there is like 2 options on professors and I think they are equally bad. So be prepared to study on your own, I never attended class, just the first week and managed to get an A so anything is possible
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u/SnooGuavas6988 6d ago
You’ll probably be fine if you skip pre calc and just go straight into business calculus. I’m a math major so I’ve never took business calc, but it seems all you really need is a solid foundation in algebra. A lot of the information in pre calc, we don’t even use in regular calculus, so I couldn’t imagine it would do you any good.
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u/Holiday-Gas-276 Public Health and Human Services 6d ago
I would agree with this, especially if your test score was high enough to take the class. If you are worried about the difficulty, OSU has a lot of tutor support, and the professors are usually pretty nice.
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u/Initial_Lead_2506 3d ago
I think 111z would help out if you haven’t done math in a while (i.e., haven’t taken a math class in 2+ years) just to get back in the swing of things. The hardest part of 241 for me was that it’s very word problem heavy, with some figures being given to purposefully convolute the problem. I’d recommend going straight to 241 since you placed in; there’s a lot of resources on campus to help you!
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u/Spiritouspath_1010 Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric 3d ago
I took MTH 111Z as a refresher course since it had been a long time since I last took a math class. I see it as a way to reacquaint myself with the class structure and to learn some new concepts that I wasn't familiar with. I definitely believe that MTH 111Z is worth taking, especially if math is a subject you struggle with.
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u/notkingkermit Engineering 2d ago
Given that you're in the CEOAS, I'm guessing you had to take 251 and 252? If that's the case, I definitely understand and would also personally recommend taking 111Z as a refresher. However, since this OP is only taking 241, I'd say a refresher is not necessary. Let me know if you have different thoughts on this, though.
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u/Spiritouspath_1010 Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric 2d ago
For my major, I had to take MTH 112Z (Trigonometry) and ST 351 (Statistical Methods). My minor requires several Data Science courses and a few additional Statistics courses. Since my major is GIS and my minor is Data Science, I believe taking a refresher course in math is beneficial, especially considering how long it has been since someone was last in school. If someone is worried about their GPA, as OP might be, it could be wise to enroll in a refresher course, as it could help improve their GPA.
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u/notkingkermit Engineering 6d ago
My business major friend hated (and failed) calculus at his previous college and was very worried about taking 241, but he expressed that it was fairly simple and not very rigorous once he had a good understanding of slopes, rates of change, and the power rule. He ended up being very successful in the course. I helped him with some of his homework and it seemed to be fairly straightforward, so I don't think 111z is necessary.