UVA study guides, course by course
UVA's gateway courses pair high-achieving classmates with curved grading, so the bar for an A sits wherever the room puts it — and the room is full of former valedictorians. Students lean heavily on theCourseForum and Lou's List when picking sections, but the workload patterns are consistent: the CS core, the calculus sequences, and the pre-comm accounting pair reward steady weekly work and punish the deadline-driven, while the big gen-eds like PSYC 1010 and the ECON principles pair are exam-driven volume games.
UVA courses use a subject mnemonic plus a four-digit number — CS 2100, MATH 1320, ENWR 1510 — where the first digit roughly tracks year level. Note the parallel math tracks (MATH for the College, APMA for the Engineering School) and that the CS intro sequence was renumbered: the old CS 2110/2150 core is now CS 2100, CS 2120, CS 2130, and CS 3100.
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CS 1110 — Introduction to Programming
CS 1110 is UVA's Python-based introduction to programming, assuming no prior experience — the entry point for prospective CS majors, minors, and a wide range of other students. It covers variables, control flow, functions, lists and dictionaries, file handling, and basic objects, with weekly labs and programming assignments.
CS 2100 — Data Structures and Algorithms 1
CS 2100 is the first course of UVA's renumbered CS core — data structures and algorithms in Java, covering lists, stacks, queues, trees, hash tables, and runtime analysis, with required labs alongside lecture. It replaced the old CS 2110/2150 path and is the gateway the rest of the major builds on.
CS 2120 — Discrete Mathematics and Theory 1
CS 2120 is the discrete math course of UVA's CS core — logic, proofs, sets, functions, induction, and basic graph and number theory — the mathematical foundation for algorithms and theory courses later in the major. It's most students' first proof-based course.
CS 2130 — Computer Systems and Organization 1
CS 2130 takes UVA CS students below the languages they know — binary representation, gates and circuits, assembly, and C programming with pointers and memory — building a working model of how computers actually execute code. Labs run alongside lecture, and it leads into CSO2.
CS 3100 — Data Structures and Algorithms 2
CS 3100 is the algorithms half of UVA's DSA pair — graph algorithms, greedy methods, divide and conquer, and dynamic programming, with runtime analysis and correctness reasoning throughout. It draws directly on both CS 2100's structures and CS 2120's proof techniques.
Mathematics
MATH 1310 — Calculus I
MATH 1310 is the College of Arts & Sciences' Calculus I — limits, derivatives, applications of differentiation, and the beginnings of integration — serving math, science, economics, and pre-health tracks. Engineering students take the parallel APMA sequence instead.
MATH 1320 — Calculus II
MATH 1320 continues the College's calculus sequence with techniques of integration, applications of the integral, sequences and series, and parametric and polar topics. It's widely considered the harder half of the sequence and a prerequisite gateway for math, economics, and science tracks.
MATH 2310 — Calculus III
MATH 2310 is multivariable calculus for the College — vectors, partial derivatives, multiple integrals, and the vector calculus capstones (line and surface integrals, Green's and Stokes' theorems). It's required or expected for math, physics, economics-quantitative, and CS-adjacent tracks.
MATH 3351 — Elementary Linear Algebra
MATH 3351 is the math department's linear algebra course — matrices and row operations, vector spaces and bases, orthogonality, linear transformations, and eigenvalues — with deliberate emphasis on theory and abstract argument rather than pure computation. Credit isn't given for both MATH 3350 and 3351.
Applied Mathematics (Engineering)
APMA 1110 — Single Variable Calculus II
APMA 1110 is the Engineering School's Calculus II — integration techniques and applications, improper integrals, sequences and series, and parametric and polar coordinates — and the course where most first-year engineers with AP calculus credit actually start. It feeds directly into APMA 2120.
APMA 2120 — Multivariable Calculus
APMA 2120 is the Engineering School's multivariable calculus — partial derivatives, multiple integrals, and vector calculus through Green's, Stokes', and divergence theorems — required across essentially every UVA engineering major and taken alongside physics courses that use its tools immediately.
APMA 2130 — Ordinary Differential Equations
APMA 2130 covers ordinary differential equations for engineers — first- and second-order equations, systems, Laplace transforms, and applications to circuits and mechanical vibrations. It's the last required APMA course for most majors and the math home of models used throughout engineering coursework.
Chemistry
Physics
PHYS 1425 — Introductory Physics 1 for Engineers
PHYS 1425 is the first semester of UVA's calculus-based physics sequence for engineers — particle kinematics and dynamics, energy and momentum, rotation, fluids, oscillations, and thermodynamics — taken by nearly every E-school student, with the lab (PHYS 1429) separate.
PHYS 2415 — Introductory Physics 2 for Engineers
PHYS 2415 is the second semester of the engineers' physics sequence — electricity, magnetism, circuits, and optics — usually taken alongside APMA 2120, whose multivariable tools (flux, surface integrals) the course consumes in real time. The lab (PHYS 2419) is separate.
Biology
Economics
ECON 2010 — Principles of Economics: Microeconomics
ECON 2010 is UVA's introductory microeconomics — supply and demand, elasticity, consumer and producer theory, and market structures — one of the largest courses at the university and the first step toward the economics major and pre-comm requirements.
ECON 2020 — Principles of Economics: Macroeconomics
ECON 2020 is the macroeconomics half of UVA's principles pair — GDP, inflation, unemployment, aggregate demand and supply, and fiscal and monetary policy — delivered in large lectures with multiple-choice exams carrying the grade.
Statistics
Psychology
English (Writing Program)
Commerce (McIntire)
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