Hardest College Class

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Taking Differential equations now, thought it would be hard but its pretty good i like it (not that hard yet i guess). However in terms of math Calc 2 was probably the most challanging because of series stuff.

The hardest classes i have encountered so far would have to be Electronic Circuit theory (could have been because of prof, not too hard of a class though) and Statistical Mechanics, fun class but can get difficult.

Ofcourse by hard i dont mean impossible to pass, i mean that those classes of all the ones i have took so far, took up the most of my time and effort to do well.
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linear algebra & multivariable calculus
intro to electronics
thermodynamics

...stuff of nightmares


for premed, they were more time intensive then hard per say, but upper division genetics was tough.
 
DitchDoc73 said:
1.) Biochemistry (studied more for this class than any class in my college career)
2.) Genetics (Depends on the professor)
3.) Molecular Biology 1
4.) Appreciation of Music (Sounds like a fluff class, but it was ridiculously hard if you are not a music major!)
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I find it funny you mentioned Appreciation of Music... I remember my sister taking that class as a "fluff" class as well (which is why nearly every non-music major takes it). But after the first week all the kids in the class realized they were screwed and she actually considers it one of her hardest classes shes ever taken as well.

I don't know if it was just her college or what, but she seems to think all the classes regarded as fluff classes are purposely given hard professors to teach them because they all end up being horribly time consuming (like a weaving class she took... very funny watching her stay up weaving baskets :laugh:).
 
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gen chem sucked for me also physics and ochem will really suck if you aren't smart
 
I found physics to be very tedious. I have absolutely no interest in physics. The only reason I got decent grades in physics is because I came to office hours frequently when I needed clarification, and my professors were exceptional. I did poorly in the first semester of organic chemistry because it's a strange subject and the professor was very bad; second semester I totally changed my study habits and did very well.

I wouldn't say that there was anything conceptually impossible in college, just that college is a lot of trial and error. It depends a lot on how quickly you adapt to new study methods, whether you like the subject, and who the professor is. Sometimes you get a professor who you can't predict and you study all of the wrong things... and sometimes you get a professor who seems to think the way that you do, so the tests are easy.
 
Genetics. But it depends on your professor.

I had a terrible Genetics professor.
 
Artest is KING said:
Genetics. But it depends on your professor.

I had a terrible Genetics professor.
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That really saddens me. So many people get awful genetics professors... mine was great. She had us do small group work, games, and a bunch of other creative learning exercises. Genetics was my absolute favorite class.
 
just finished my summer course in underwater basket weaving. it was awful. nearly killed me and my gpa :laugh:
 
1. Communication
2. Human sexuality
3. Finance
4. Introduction to Art
5. Physical Chemistry
:laugh:
 
Well for me, "History of Science" has been my hardest class so far (got a B).
Organic chem wasn't all that bad.
 
mrdrdrjp said:
just finished my summer course in underwater basket weaving. it was awful. nearly killed me and my gpa :laugh:
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I've actually done underwater basket weaving....it really isn't that easy. I wish it were a joke but its not. The difficulty might be magnified by the fact I was only 13 when I did it, but it was quite challenging.
 
Ochem
Calc II
Bacterial Pathogenesis
Advanced Virology
 
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My hardest class was Macroeconomics.... only because I couldn't get into it at all. I found it to be so boring and dreaded class or any assignment affiliated with it lol. I really love science and math classes so those are much easier for me to do well in. I'm more interested so if I don't understand something, I don't get frustrated or annoyed. :)
 
Im a senior and genetics was by FAR the hardest for me. It is the only class I was ever borderline C in. I got a B! :)
 
I hated Organic Chemistry. I've taught it in four MCAT prep classes and I still hate it.
 
mrdrdrjp said:
The hardest classes will be the ones you hate. Calc III was the easiest class I've ever taken but I enjoy math. Organic Chemistry, Physics, Cell Biology, and Anatomy and Physiology were also extremely easy (I went into the finals only needing to make a 50 to keep an A). My hardest class ever taken was Art Survey b/c I had absolutely zero interest in it. Anything you enjoy will seem less like work and more like fun, so the class becomes easier. If you hate it you will struggle. Remember that and adjust your attitude as you go into each class so you can look back and think that no classes were really that difficult :)
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I believe that too. Biology was my first science course in college and I wasn't really interested because I didn't decide to go into health care yet. I prayed every night that I’d pass and sometimes I even cried. I got a 'B' and now I look back and I just have to laugh. A&P & microbiology were actually easy for me because I was motivated to pass and I was interested in them. I guess I’ll get through those harder classes by telling myself ‘it’s not that bad… it’s actually interesting.’
 
FuturaDocta said:
ochem is fun after you figure out how to study for it. in the beginning I thought i was totally screwed.
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care to share the secret of how to study for it? haha, i have to take this in a year
 
Organic chemistry was the toughest for me.
General chemistry wasn't a cake walk either.

A lot of rote memorization, which I don't do very well with.

I did far better in physiology, biology and physics... classes where grasping concepts was the primary focus.
 
DMEGZMED said:
care to share the secret of how to study for it? haha, i have to take this in a year
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Ochem was pretty easy for me, too. I made a lot of flashcards for the reactions. It's just practicing and doing many many problems.
 
ladyoflies said:
Ochem was pretty easy for me, too. I made a lot of flashcards for the reactions. It's just practicing and doing many many problems.
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:thumbup:

Also, learn a couple of key mechanisms and you will easily learn the more advanced mechanisms. Follow the electrons around and that will help you finish a mechanism or find an exception to the rules.
 
ladyoflies said:
Ochem was pretty easy for me, too. I made a lot of flashcards for the reactions. It's just practicing and doing many many problems.
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Flash cards and problems. I did about 100 problems before every exam and had no problem. Save the ones after each chapter till near the exam unless you have to turn then in, etc.
 
Cultural Anthropology was my worst nightmare. I still cannot understand how the professor wrote the exams. One of the few courses I read the text for and couldn't understand the professor's methods of testing.

It's peaceful to reunite with science courses. :D
 
mmmcdowe said:
Flash cards and problems. I did about 100 problems before every exam and had no problem. Save the ones after each chapter till near the exam unless you have to turn then in, etc.
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Ochem is about understanding WHY and HOW the reaction works. This will save your tail on the application synthesis questions (majority of exam questions back in the day).
 
DrReo said:
Ochem is about understanding WHY and HOW the reaction works. This will save your tail on the application synthesis questions (majority of exam questions back in the day).
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Synthesis was by far my fave and strong point! :love:

DrReo said:
Cultural Anthropology was my worst nightmare. I still cannot understand how the professor wrote the exams. One of the few courses I read the text for and couldn't understand the professor's methods of testing.

It's peaceful to reunite with science courses. :D
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Tell me about it. I just finished a summer class in economics. I thought I was going to die of boredom. I can't wait to get back to upper level science this fall.
 
Comparative Anatomy was a nightmare.

I loved OChem.
 
Genetics was extremely difficult, but by methods and not material. We had to conduct our own fly experiment tracing mutations over generations. It was our entire lab grade as it lasted the entire semester. Lab comprised 25% of the overall grade which alot of people stuggled with the coursework and lab didn't help at all.

Second to that was Ochem. Being a bio major with chem minor, Ochem II was a PITA since I had to take it in the same semester as Anatomy and pchem.
 
Molecular Genetics.

It was an upper level course for grad students and pre meds with essay exams. I got my A though. I was very proud.
 
1) Physics.
I don't get it and don't think I ever will. Plus my profs werent great and my attitiude wasn't great

2) Intro Bio 1
Not a hard class when I look back but coming in and taking it my first semester of college was the worst. I never studies, only showed up about half the time, decided that recitations werent mandatory and wondered why I couldn't score higher than a 70 on an exam. It was a class of 300 ppl that I thought was ok to slack off in. I was totally unprepared for science in college and treated like I had in high school, bad idea

3) Intro Neuro
Don't be fooled by the intro title. At my college you shouldn't have even taken this course unless you finished Ochems. That said, it was the most interesting class that most prepared me for med school. I studied more than I ever have before and I think was good preparation for what med school will be like.

Also, I would all my intro classes were harder simply because I hadn't gotten into my college groove yet. When you understand how you study best and what exactly your professors want you will find yourself getting better grades in harder classes
 
Mark another one down for Biochem. But it totally depends on the professor.
 
Physical Chemistry by a mile.
I never bound Organic chem or Biochem to be all that difficult even though they are known for being difficult at my college. But learning quantum mechanics in p-chem was such a pain.
 
Like a lot of people have said, Organic is only hard if you don't put in the effort (especially during the first semester). If you do work hard, then the second semester becomes a lot easier because you've got a good grasp on the fundamental organic concepts.

That being said, I severely underestimated Advanced General Chemistry freshman year and I'd say it and Inorganic Chem have been the hardest classes for me so far. Had I put in around the same amount of work as I did for Orgo, I would have fared a lot better in those classes.

I'm anticipating biochem to be tough as well (taking it this fall), but I'm excited for it because I know I'm going to use what I learn in that course heavily in the future.

All of my biology classes have been amazing. I'm a bio nerd, so I loved every minute of genetics, human phys, molecular bio, microbiology, etc. So I guess the two big factors that will affect what you find hard/easy are your strengths and your interests. Try to enjoy all of it though (especially the sciences), because it's all going to help you in the long run!
 
Physical Chemistry---The concepts are ridiculous, the depths of the calculations are insane. If you can handle P-Chem, you can handle just about anything. The lab reports took forever, and the grading on those was so nitpicky---but I think that's a professor thing.

Comparative Anatomy----It's like Anatomy meets embryo. Crazy amount of information, and the lab is one of those that requires a ton of your own time.


Quantitative Chemical Analysis---Lecture really isn't the worst thing in the world, but as everyone said, the lab is a killer.
 
CaliforniaKid said:
2. Human sexuality
:laugh:
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I couldn't delete the laughing smiley.

My sister had to take this for her major (psychology and social work; nursing students had to take it too) and on the first day of class, the professor walked in and said, "Those of you who signed up for this class because you thought you were going to watch porno and get credit for it are wasting your time and mine."

Now, :laugh: is appropriate.

The next day, the class was a lot smaller.

For me, it was definitely o-chem because the concepts didn't seem to follow any kind of rhyme, reason, or pattern. I took my C's and ran with them.

Someone (not a health care professional) on another board told about needing one more elective class, and thought "Clothing Construction" would be a breeze because she had sewed her own clothing since she was a child. She said it was actually a class for fashion design majors and was by far the toughest class she took at university.
 
It would depend on the person and more in particular their learning style.

For me hard classes so far have been: Gen Chem I & II, Calc I, German I, and Macroeconomics.


Also statistics can be tricky until you get the hang of it.
 
I did not think micro or A&P were difficult, haven't taken general bio yet though.

My most difficult:
Engineering Mechanics: Statics. Terrible teacher, confusing tests. Awful class.
Artificial Intelligence: Awesome teacher, class was a ton of work but I learned a lot and enjoyed it.
 
stefspets said:
I did not think micro or A&P were difficult, haven't taken general bio yet though.
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You took micro and A&P before general biology? Wow. You'll breeze through bio, then.
 
The most difficult class I have ever taken was PHIL470 Intermediate Logic. It has to do with elementary number theory, predicate calculi theory (some propositional logic), peano arithmetic, concepts of infinity, etc.
 
Freshman seminar. I can't believe they actually made us take a "how to study and do well in college class". They told us to do things like chart our sleep patterns and how we manage our time. Not hard to grasp, just hard to remember to actually do any of that b.s.
 
Molecular Biology Lab... especially if you get taught by some self righteous grad student. I worked harder at that class than any other class ever. Literally, I spent 4 hours a day studying for it and pulled allnighters before every lab and I have never pulled an allnighter before or since then.
 
Honors Calculus II was the hardest course I ever took, but I loved it. I would have loved to continued in the track (geared for those who wanted math PHDs) but I had to pick between adding 2 math classes each semester Soph year which would have forced me out of Bio and killed my BCPM GPA. The prof extended an offer to participate in a math REU to everyone who was continuing with the honors math program. The professor himself was a hilarious ex soviet who schooled us all in basketball the weekend before the final.

Genetics was the hardest class in my major. The prof was amazing, but the class was curved to a 2.5 and required a massive time commitment. 2 45 minute lectures a week, one 2 hour lecture a week, a pseudo mandatory 2 hour review session with the prof every week, actually having to read the text, 4 hour lab with its own crazy tests and massive research paper attached. And then problem sets... every damn week.

Worst thing was the registrar stuck every genetics test tuesday before the thursday orgo test. Put bio majors at a major competitive disadvantage to the premeds.

Is there something wrong with me that these were also my two favorite classes? They're my two worst grades, but I loved every minute of the classes. (maybe not the exams)
 
Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer were by far the most insane for work load and complicated problems.
 
System neuroscience. Oh god, THE HORROR! Each exam we had 12, 1 page essays we had to have written and memorized, of which we would have to write 3. You had to have them memorized, because there was no time to actually think about them because you also had 25 of the most mind-numbingly hard multiple choice questions followed by a neuroanatomy practical. All within 1 1/2 hours. How I got an A in that class I have no idea, but there is no way I'd ever take the class again.
 
It truly depends more on the professor than the class itself. Last semester I took a different professor for general bio II and found out the hard way he was a very tough grader, he didn't curve either. I got the highest grade on one of the exams and I ended up with a C in the class. I plan on retaking it with the same professor I had for bio I.
 
ToldYouSo said:
It truly depends more on the professor than the class itself. Last semester I took a different professor for general bio II and found out the hard way he was a very tough grader, he didn't curve either. I got the highest grade on one of the exams and I ended up with a C in the class. I plan on retaking it with the same professor I had for bio I.
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I think people truly underestimate this. Pre-professional students often have a big ego and go in thinking, I'm so smart, I'll get a 99% with any professor I take. And, while there is no doubt you're smart...the truth is someone just as smart or smarter got a B because they took the wrong professor. Why not take the easy professor whenever possible. You can still study, and learn the material for the level of mastery needed for the DAT, MCAT, PCAT, etc. But, there is no reason to kill yourself for a B, when you can sign up for the easier professor .

Don't get that wrong, some classes suck regardless. But, teacher difficulty plays a role more often than not.
 
CaliforniaKid said:
2. Human sexuality
:laugh:
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But the lab rocked, right?

All seriousness, my wife would tell you that Advanced Analytical Chemistry was the worst. For me it was Analysis of Algorithms. A 400-level Comp Sci class dedicated to mathematically solving problems and comparing them to brute force computer algorithms. Inductive proofs - yuck. My head still hurts from this class and it was 20 years ago.

Ed
 
For me:

1. Structural and Physical Biochemistry
2. Biochemistry
3. Immunology (teacher)
4. Biological and Medical Physics
5. Organic Chemistry
 
Hardest is a toss up between General Biology and Biochemistry.

Depends on what you do...I was told Ochem was the hardest class in the history of the world (paraphrasing) but no I don't agree with that reputation

OChem is all hype...definitely NOT the hardest class
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No doubt. With the exception of Calc 1, Ochem was the highest A I've made so far.
 
A lot of people have said that Computer Programming is the hardest class they have ever taken.
 
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