UW–Madison study guides, course by course
UW–Madison's gateway courses run at flagship scale: huge lectures with discussion sections, evening midterms for the big math and science sequences, and curves that grade you against a strong room. The CS 200/300/400 programming sequence has become one of the most enrolled course chains on campus as the CS major boomed, while the MATH 221 cluster, CHEM 343, and the premed PHYSICS 207/208 sequence carry the classic weed-out folklore — courses where steady weekly preparation visibly separates outcomes.
UW–Madison uses subject prefixes plus three-digit numbers — MATH 221, CHEM 103, PSYCH 202 — with some official prefixes longer than students bother typing (COMP SCI 300 is universally "CS 300"). Intro biology is cross-listed under BIOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, and BOTANY with the same numbers. We list each course under the form students actually search.
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CS 200 — Programming I
CS 200 (officially COMP SCI 200) is UW–Madison's first programming course, taught in Java — variables, control flow, methods, arrays, and an introduction to objects — serving intended CS majors, data science students, and a large population just adding programming skills. It assumes no prior experience.
CS 300 — Programming II
CS 300 (officially COMP SCI 300) is UW–Madison's object-oriented programming course in Java — classes, inheritance, interfaces, exceptions, recursion, and intro data structures like array lists and linked lists — and one of the largest courses on campus, since it gates the CS major and serves data science, engineering, and statistics students besides.
CS 400 — Programming III
CS 400 (officially COMP SCI 400) completes UW–Madison's programming sequence: data structures and their implementations — balanced search trees, hash tables, graphs — plus software development practices like version control, testing, and team projects, all in Java.
CS 240 — Introduction to Discrete Mathematics
CS 240 (officially COMP SCI 240) is UW–Madison's discrete math course for the CS major — logic, proofs, induction, sets, functions, counting, recurrences, and graphs — the mathematical foundation that CS 577 and the theory electives build on.
CS 252 — Introduction to Computer Engineering
CS 252 (cross-listed COMP SCI/E C E 252) introduces how computers work from the bottom up: transistors and gates, combinational and sequential logic, basic computer organization, and machine and assembly programming on the LC-3 — the first systems course in the CS and computer engineering tracks.
CS 354 — Machine Organization and Programming
CS 354 (officially COMP SCI 354) is UW–Madison's machine-level programming course: C with pointers and manual memory management, the memory hierarchy, caches, assembly-level program representation, linking, and an introduction to processes — the bridge between CS 252's hardware view and the operating systems course.
CS 577 — Introduction to Algorithms
CS 577 (officially COMP SCI 577) is UW–Madison's algorithms course — divide and conquer, greedy methods, dynamic programming, network flow, and NP-completeness — taught with proof-level rigor and widely regarded as the hardest required course in the CS major.
Mathematics
MATH 221 — Calculus and Analytic Geometry 1
MATH 221 is UW–Madison's five-credit Calculus I — limits, derivatives, applications of differentiation, and the beginnings of integration — required across engineering, the sciences, and quantitative majors, taught in large lectures with TA-led discussion sections and common evening exams.
MATH 222 — Calculus and Analytic Geometry 2
MATH 222 continues UW–Madison's main calculus sequence: techniques of integration, applications, sequences and series, Taylor series, and an introduction to vectors and parametric topics. Students widely consider it the harder half of the first-year sequence.
MATH 234 — Calculus—Functions of Several Variables
MATH 234 is UW–Madison's multivariable calculus: vectors, partial derivatives, gradients, multiple integrals, and vector calculus through Green's and Stokes' theorems — the third course of the main calculus sequence, required across engineering and the physical sciences.
MATH 340 — Elementary Matrix and Linear Algebra
MATH 340 is UW–Madison's standard linear algebra course — systems of equations, matrix algebra, determinants, vector spaces, linear independence, eigenvalues, and diagonalization — the computational track taken by most engineering, CS, and science students (MATH 341 is the proof-based alternative).
Statistics
STAT 240 — Data Science Modeling I
STAT 240 is UW–Madison's R-based introduction to data science — data wrangling with the tidyverse, visualization, probability foundations, statistical inference, and regression, all through case studies and R Markdown reports. It anchors the booming data science major and certificate.
STAT 301 — Introduction to Statistical Methods
STAT 301 is UW–Madison's conventional introductory statistics course — descriptive statistics, probability basics, sampling distributions, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, and regression — serving students across many majors that require a statistics methods credit.
Chemistry
CHEM 103 — General Chemistry I
CHEM 103 is the first semester of UW–Madison's general chemistry sequence — stoichiometry, atomic structure, periodicity, bonding, and thermochemistry — with lab and discussion sections, serving premed, science, and engineering students at huge scale.
CHEM 104 — General Chemistry II
CHEM 104 completes UW–Madison's general chemistry sequence: kinetics, equilibrium, acids and bases, thermodynamics, and electrochemistry, with lab continuing throughout. It's the direct gateway to organic chemistry for premed and science students.
CHEM 343 — Organic Chemistry I
CHEM 343 is UW–Madison's first organic chemistry course — structure and bonding, stereochemistry, substitution and elimination reactions, and the beginnings of synthesis — the legendary premed gateway, taken by huge cohorts headed for health professions and chemistry-adjacent majors.
Physics
PHYSICS 207 — General Physics
PHYSICS 207 is UW–Madison's first-semester general physics for biological science and premed students — mechanics plus heat and sound, calculus-based, with labs and discussion sections built into the five-credit format. With PHYSICS 208 it forms the standard premed physics sequence.
PHYSICS 208 — General Physics
PHYSICS 208 continues the sequence for biological science and premed students: electricity and magnetism, circuits, optics, and an introduction to modern physics, with labs and discussions in the same five-credit format as 207.
Integrative Biology
BIOLOGY 151 — Introductory Biology
BIOLOGY 151 (cross-listed with ZOOLOGY and BOTANY 151) is the first semester of UW–Madison's two-semester majors biology sequence — cellular and molecular biology, genetics, and the start of evolution — with lectures, discussions, and labs in a five-credit package taken by huge premed and bioscience cohorts.
BIOLOGY 152 — Introductory Biology
BIOLOGY 152 completes the introductory sequence: evolution and the diversity of life, plant anatomy and physiology, and ecology, plus an independent research project woven through the lab. It's the second half of the standard bioscience and premed foundation at UW–Madison.
Economics
Psychology
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