Harderst Science Classs!

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Agent47

Agent47

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Which one was really hardest Science Class for you?

For me it's Gen Chem 2..........................What about you?:rolleyes:
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I concur with you. General Chem 2 was the hardest for me.

I am now a senior, about to graduate, and I still think it was the hardest. Just the thought of it makes me shudder. :scared: It might have had something to do with my professor, though, and those extremely LONG, painful exams.
 
Bio-freaking-chem 2! It's all memorization of pathways and structures, and it seems like all my study-mates can look at a page and then draw it 15 minutes later, while it takes me two hours of repeatedly drawing it. I was killing so many trees I switched to a mini dry erase board. Then by the time I learn three more pathways, I've forgotten the first one.
And now, all the people below me on the curve have dropped.
Sucks to get my butt handed to me by a memorization course. Sorry for the rant.
Any tips?
 
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For me, it was Electromagnetic Theory. But that could have been because I couldn't understand a word of what the teacher was saying and the book was a waste of trees and ink. Thank god for google.
 
modern physics

i was just clueless...:scared:
 
Fluid Biomechanics. It was all about blood and viscosity and differential equations and blah.
 
Sadly, my hardest science class was Gen Chem I...

But, I think it was because I'm a non-trad and hadn't taken math in over a decade. I thought it was a great idea to skip the required Intro Chem course (I somehow managed to pass the "Chemistry Readiness" test and went straight to Gen Chem). Big mistake: for the first half of the semester I had no idea what the h*** I was doing! :laugh: I went to office hours every week, went to tutoring, and spent all my free hours doing practice problems over and over. Yet, I still got a D and an F on the first two midterms! :eek: I wasn't alone, though -- the class size went from 40 people to 7 stragglers after that second midterm.

Somehow things started clicking for me in the second half, and I started being able to do those crazy chemistry word problems on the exams (I miraculously aced the last two tests). I think the professor took pity on me with my final grade, or maybe she just was one of those "grade by improvement" people, since I managed to get an A in the course. Anyway, since that class, all the others have seemed much easier! :)
 
Neurobiology...too many pathways, too many nuclei, ganglia,etc...still gives me nightmares
 
actually, yeah, gen chem II...
 
multivariable calculus...the third dimension was too much for me.
 
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Physical Chemistry and that's my only B on the transcript!!! :(
 
Orgo, lowest grades on my tranny
 
Organic Chemistry I at UIUC - all the material most other, sane colleges spread out over two semesters UIUC covers in one. We have letters of understanding with most medical schools that only one semester of organic chem is necessary.
 
Physical Chemistry Lab....uuugggh...still have nightmares and night sweats over this course
 
My undergraduate institution offers a Histology course, which I've been told by an MD was better than what he had taken in Medical School at Loyola...he said that he and every one of his friends studied off his undergraduate notes instead of the notes they took in class at Loyola.

Needless to say, it's a rough class.
 
Mathematical Statistics was pretty insane; I still don't know how I did so well in it. Linear Algebra was insane too, but... I knew it, it was just insane while I was studying for it. Hmm. Biochemistry: Metabolism was insane for the amount of material we had to know too.
 
OP - no offense or anything...but from the looks of your thread title, it doesn't look like English Comp. was your forte, either...

;)
 
I'm in Physical Chemistry and it is killer:eek:
 
I know ...Overall the conclusion is that Physical Chem 2 and Physics are the hardest!!!
 
Cell bio!!!! the teacher makes it hard... when i read my text i understand it.. when she explains it it's like: :confused: !!! and the class dropped from 28 students to 8!! and even worse... i'm the lowest in the last 8!! that sux...but the one's that are left are people that were doctors back home, or gradutes in Molecular biology and all that crap... they'd be having normal "bio conversations" during class with teacher and i feel like 'did i accedentally take a grad class or somethin????' :scared: anyways.. i'm getting a D.. if i'm lucky i'll get a C!
 
Gen Chem I Honors is the single hardest class at my school. On our tests, he would give us equations and concepts never seen before, and have us derive facts about it, or argue why a certain equation must have a certain form. I remember on the midterm that he told us to resolve the Gibbs paradox. We also had to derive the boltzmann relation S = kb log Omega, and had to generate equations for cycles of a carnot-like engine, that used chemical potentials instead of heat.
 
hmmm....

definitely partial differential equations or advanced mechanics.
 
Mathematical logic


The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence is false.

lol and proving that 1+1=2 is not a simple task.
 
novawildcat said:
Mathematical logic


The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence is false.

lol and proving that 1+1=2 is not a simple task.
Click to expand...

haha.

you can prove it by counter example.
 
Agreed, partial differential equations was sooooooooo not a good look for me. Several thumbs down.

:thumbdown: :thumbdown: :thumbdown:
AggieSean said:
hmmm....

definitely partial differential equations or advanced mechanics.
Click to expand...
 
karmega5 said:
Bio-freaking-chem 2! It's all memorization of pathways and structures, and it seems like all my study-mates can look at a page and then draw it 15 minutes later, while it takes me two hours of repeatedly drawing it. I was killing so many trees I switched to a mini dry erase board. Then by the time I learn three more pathways, I've forgotten the first one.
And now, all the people below me on the curve have dropped.
Sucks to get my butt handed to me by a memorization course. Sorry for the rant.
Any tips?
Click to expand...

Seconded. Not only is it an insane amount of memorization, its so DRY. I almost wish I wasn't sitting on the A/B border so that I didn't have to spend my weekend drawing pathways.

The only tip I have is to try and get a copy of the metabolic map so you can glance at it and see how the pathways are related. You've already learned the value of a whiteboard.

I have analytical this summer. There has been one A in that class in the last ten years (literally). Luckily, that prof just retired ;)
 
novawildcat said:
Mathematical logic


The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence is false.

lol and proving that 1+1=2 is not a simple task.
Click to expand...

Ick, I had to drop abstract algebra because of that - I suck at proofs and who cares why 2x2=4 - IT JUST DOES!

My hardest science class was biochem. Very cool, but too many details.

Close second is immuno - it was actually probably harder than biochem but so frickin' cool that I had no problem studying it for hours on end.
 
AggieSean said:
haha.

you can prove it by counter example.
Click to expand...

Nah you have to rely on a bunch of set theory and axiomatic systems in order to prove that 1+1=2.


Proof for 1+1=2

The proof starts from the Peano Postulates, which define the natural
numbers N. N is the smallest set satisfying these postulates:

P1. 1 is in N.
P2. If x is in N, then its "successor" x' is in N.
P3. There is no x such that x' = 1.
P4. If x isn't 1, then there is a y in N such that y' = x.
P5. If S is a subset of N, 1 is in S, and the implication
(x in S => x' in S) holds, then S = N.

Then you have to define addition recursively:
Def: Let a and b be in N. If b = 1, then define a + b = a'
(using P1 and P2). If b isn't 1, then let c' = b, with c in N
(using P4), and define a + b = (a + c)'.

Then you have to define 2:
Def: 2 = 1'

2 is in N by P1, P2, and the definition of 2.

Theorem: 1 + 1 = 2

Proof: Use the first part of the definition of + with a = b = 1.
Then 1 + 1 = 1' = 2 Q.E.D.

Note: There is an alternate formulation of the Peano Postulates which
replaces 1 with 0 in P1, P3, P4, and P5. Then you have to change the
definition of addition to this:
Def: Let a and b be in N. If b = 0, then define a + b = a.
If b isn't 0, then let c' = b, with c in N, and define
a + b = (a + c)'.

You also have to define 1 = 0', and 2 = 1'. Then the proof of the
Theorem above is a little different:

Proof: Use the second part of the definition of + first:
1 + 1 = (1 + 0)'
Now use the first part of the definition of + on the sum in
parentheses: 1 + 1 = (1)' = 1' = 2 Q.E.D.
Click to expand...


The hard part is when you have to show that the peano axioms create a consistent and complete system- that is you can't derive any contradictions from the axioms (consistency) and every truth that can be derived from the axioms can be proved (completeness).

However, one of the greatest discoveries mankind has ever made (even according to Einstein), was by Kurt Godel who showed that for every set of axioms (from which you can do arithmetic) that the system will either be complete and inconsistent or consistent and incomplete. Godel showed that every axiomatic system will contain a math statement that basically says "This statement is a lie." This sentence is neither true or false. Godel went further and showed that you can add more axioms to your system to get rid of such a statement that you would find in your previous system, but from the new set of axioms another paradoxical mathematical statement could be derived. Thus mathematics will ALWAYS be complete and inconsistent or consistent and incomplete.

So what to get out of all of this? Put it this way-- there will always exist a mathematical truth that is true but can't be proven to be true by anyone.

So what are the philosophical ramifications of all this nonsense? I'll let you think about that one. There are truths out there that are true, but it is impossible to be proven to be true. We just have to basically take certain truths for granted without proof.




HAHAHA ok I am done ranting now. But I just find this stuff mind blowing but interesting at the same time.
 
Microbiology:smuggrin:
 
I haven't taken too many, since I was not a science major, but for me personally, physics was hardest. I put INSANE amounts of work into calc-based physics I - the course took up about 20 hours of my time weekly and I barely got a B+. *shudder* I had a VERY challenging prof though.

I am soon starting Physics II, this time not calc-based and at a different uni, so I'm *hoping* it's going to be a little easier.
 
My hardest UG science course was gen chem II, I think this mostly stems from 1) my undying hatred of math 2) piss poor proffessors that couldn't dumb down their brilliant science for a freshman 3) the fact that I was a freshman and clearly showed signs of my not fully developed brain . ..
 
The hardest, most stressful class I've taken: Linear Algebra.
The hardest, most useless class I've taken: Quantum Mechanics.
The hardest, most surprisingly interesting class I've taken: Statistical Quantum Thermodynamics.
The hardest, most interesting class I've taken: Advanced Mechanisms in Organic Chemistry.
 
The hardest, most stressful class I've taken: Biochem I (Metabolism)
The hardest, most useless class I've taken: Physical Chemistry
The hardest, most surprisingly interesting class I've taken: Organic Chemistry I and II
The hardest, most interesting class I've taken: Animal Development (Embryology)

DocOB said:
Orgo, lowest grades on my tranny
Click to expand...

Am I the only one that went :confused: when I saw this?
 
novawildcat said:
Mathematical logic


The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence is false.

lol and proving that 1+1=2 is not a simple task.
Click to expand...



Symbolic logic (which is a philosophy class here, so doesn't count as a science) which is rather similar. Proofs are evil, but symbolization of the arguement is worse!

Em...the hardest science class that I've *taken* is Pathogenic Bacteriology. However, Immunology is coming up, and that's an absolute grade killer. I don't think *anyone* made an A in it last year. However, it will be nice for medical school.
 
Hardest: Physical Chemistry II (Quantum Mechanics + Spectroscopy). The quantum early in the semester was doable, then it went all down hill..lol.. you must see my notes for the spectroscopy part :eek:
 
I haven't had any ridiculously hard classes yet; of course, this is not because I'm amazingly intelligent, rather I rely greatly on ratemyprofessor :laugh:

Oh yeah, regarding proofs, here's a quick little story. On Wednesday, our instructor said he'd drop the lowest HW grade for the entire class if someone could prove symmetric matrixes have real eigenvalues. So today I waltz in, prove it, and take my seat. Instructor comes in a few minutes later, looks at it, and says "I wonder what website they got this from?" He didn't know I was the one who wrote it, but I was a bit insulted while simultaneously laughing to myself
 
So far...Physics 2 and I got a B in it. And believe me that was a DIFFICULT task!
 
Calc based physics II...bleh
 
"Independent Study in Organic Chemistry", jokingly called "Moonshine 101" by the professor because the entire project revolves around the production and refining of ethanol from various materials through various processes. It's going to continue for at least two semesters and it's a pain in the ass because there is some much flying by the seat of my pants in how to titrate this reagent or that, and then the analysis of the distillate. :eek: Remind me why I'm not a chem major again?
 
I just had my gen chem II final this morning--hardest test I've ever taken in my life. gen chem has easily been the most difficult class I've ever taken so far.
 
Gen chem II. I just finished my freshman year and it was my hardest class so far.
 
A 'biology' class in X-ray crystallography. The class was all math, physics, and chemistry. For the first time in my college life, I had absolutely no idea what language the prof was speaking :laugh:. I got a B with 54% :thumbup:
 
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