Hardest College Class

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JimL

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What was your hardest classes in college? Maybe rank the top few.

It definitely varies from person to person, but do any particular classes have reputations of being notoriously hard and do you agree with their reputations? 😀
 
Of things I had prereqs for

1) Russian (I'm not good in languages)
2) Calculus (I'm not good in math)

I took several 400 level courses within the preferred prereqs since they weren't listed as even preferred. I took several 400 and 500 level courses that I hadn't even had an introductory class for. That was not easy and it mostly happened in graduate school.

Next year is Organic and that is supposed to be a real PITA so I am not looking forward to it.
 
Neuroanatomy
Organic Chemistry
Biochemistry
General Physics
Psychopharmacology --> only because there was SO MUCH information in a short amount of time.
 
ochem is fun after you figure out how to study for it. in the beginning I thought i was totally screwed.
 
It depends on the professor teaching it too. Our genetics course was really hard.
 
I hated genetics, mostly because the teacher was a population geneticist and we spend 4 months doing quantitative genetics. Which wouldn't have been a problem if they made us have stats before going into that class, because he just assumed we knew everything about stats yet nobody had taken it yet.

But the bright side is now statistics is really easy for me this summer 😀
 
Calc II 😡
 
The class you don't want to take but have to.

That was Feminist German Literature and Turkish German Lit (which had potential until a certain prof. started teaching it) for me.

Human Biochemistry was ridiculously hard too, but simply because the professor was tough.
 
a
 
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1) Analytical Mechanics (physics class)
2) Quantitative Analyis Lab (chemistry)

Nothing I've ever taken has compared 🙁 Made orgo look like a joke.
 
1) Computational neuroscience (neuro/math/comp sci)
2) Dynamical Systems / Chaos theory (math)

Interestingly, these were almost exactly the same course...except that one involved MatLab and the other didn't...
 
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!)
 
For me it was general chemistry and physics as math is just not my fortay so I really struggled on those exams. Conceptually my graduate level neuroscience classes could be tricky, like molecular neurobiology.
 
O-chem was no cake walk, Genetics, Biochem, and Virology(!).
 
For me it was anything biology related, because unlike in your math/chemistry/physics courses you can't really check yourself. You either know it or you don't, and I'm more of a concept person rather than a brute force memorize this and that one.

Gen Bio I was the only class I've ever gotten a 'B' in, and I pulled a 'B+' out of my ass for Gen Bio II. Maybe it would have helped if I had taken Bio in highschool 🙁
 
Narmerguy said:
1) Analytical Mechanics (physics class)
2) Quantitative Analyis Lab (chemistry)

Nothing I've ever taken has compared 🙁 Made orgo look like a joke.
Click to expand...

:laugh: Quant lab was the most tedious thing on the planet.

Biochem II was for me, but it was professor dependent.
 
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Anatomy II- had a really wonderful albeit demanding professor, you learned but it was super tough
Gen Chem II- I've never liked gen chem, real inorganic is much more interesting

My easiest classes were:
Lit- I just love it
Sociology- Great professor who was a libertarian and not having it taught by a bleeding heart was great
Labor Econ- I love econ so it's not work to me
 
ochem
anatomy
physics II and III (took the weed out class for engineers. oops)
 
Orgo's no big deal if you put the time into it.

My hardest course was Mathematical Physics, not because the material was difficult but because it took four courses' worth of unfamiliar material and condensed it into one semester-long course.
 
loveoforganic said:
:laugh: Quant lab was the most tedious thing on the planet.

Biochem II was for me, but it was professor dependent.
Click to expand...

Yeah. One significant figure error (which becomes simple to make when you make over 50 calculations that all involve standard deviations, logarithms, multiplication addition blah blah blah mess) was 10% off the lab report for each infraction. My first lab I got a 40% on the lab report from that kind of stuff. Wooh I made it out of that lab with a B and won't look back.
 
mmmcdowe said:
Physical Chemistry and Women's Studies.
Click to expand...

So glad someone mentioned P-Chem.

Organic was tough but as long as you learn the right way to study and put in the study time, it's a lot easier. Physical chem on the other hand is just ridiculous. Granted, it will be different for every school but my weekly homework assignments took 8 hours to finish and the finals for both of my semesters took 20-22 hours to complete :scared:
 
Ochem easily comes to mind. It's like first learning to ride a bicycle. At first, you don't understand the concepts, but then you get it and wonder what was so hard in the first place.

Biochem is more difficult than Ochem. Biochem is like learning to ride a motorcycle. It's more difficult than riding a bicycle, but the knowledge gained from learning the bicycle (Ochem) makes Biochem less of a mental struggle.
 
Physical chemistry was tough, but my off the wall one was theater. I thought it would be a cake walk, but boy was I wrong.
 
Organic chemistry
 
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Biochem was pretty difficult, ochem was not that bad at all (I thought General Chemistry was more difficult:laugh:) Surprisingly for me, my toughest class was a Microbial Diversity class I had to take my last semester...though it was mostly due to the jerk-of-a-professor we had.
 
I found General Chemistry 1 to be really hard but General Chemistry II, Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 to be relatively easier. But I'm weird in that way. Most people find Organic Chem harder but I didn't. Yeah it really depends on the person. I also had trouble with Calc 1. But I think its a matter of prioritizing and figuring out how to study efficiently. It's just an endless pattern of drilling problems until you eat, sleep, and dream Problems lol (but only around exam times, when life becomes hectic for most premeds). Good Luck :luck:
 
Calculus II and Physics II were probably the hardest for me. They probably could have been easier if I was actually interested in the material.

Oddly, my Jazz music class is probably 3rd on my list. Tons of songs and people to memorize. Yeah, my mind is geared towards memorizing and applying science, not this crap. . . .

Biology of Cancer has probably been my toughest Biology class as it integrates so many Bio classes, and there is a ton to know. Definitely a very interesting class though.
 
Calc is the worst.

Chem/OChem/Physics... just require practice and commitment.

Everything else is not difficult at all unless you slack off.
 
For me it was Ochem and Physics which I didn't like, so I didn't study for them, which made the exams kinda hard.

German Foreign Policy Since WWII was probably the most difficult, and I put a lot of time into that class... it was all in German during my study abroad.

I took a Shakespeare class my last semester that was very interesting, but it was time consuming and some of the essay topics clicked, which was good, and some I just couldn't figure out a good way to go for them.
 
Analytical chemistry, because it was so tedious and boring. The concepts weren't terribly difficult, but I didn't like the subject matter at all. Plus, I didn't have any of my usual friends/study partners to work with, so I just kind of floundered.

Organic chem was more difficult in many ways, but it was fascinating, and I had a good group of study buddies.
 
Organic chemistry by FAR!! my head hurt every after each test!

i go to a top 15 college and our mean on the exams are like a 40... the problem is theres just no time to seriously think about the problem that much, its like you read it once and start writing the longg synthesis -_-
 
The hardest class I've taken was Cell/Molecular Biology. It wasn't difficult in terms of material, but the sheer detail we had to know the material in for the test was ridiculous. Overall a really cool class, though. I'd definitely recommend taking it.
 
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It usually depends on the teacher and class level. For me it was Gen. Chem...don't know why.
 
1. Anatomy and Physiology
2. Language Development and Disorders

Luckily, my major (communication disorders) doesn't require anything beyond A&P, but that class was ridiculously hard for me. I hadn't had science in four years or so, and I was dealing with personal issues that semester. I scraped by with a C. If I were to take it again, I think I could get a B or an A but I'd be living and breathing A&P.

The LD&D course was only so difficult because we got a first-year teacher who didn't know what she was doing and the textbook was even worse. She'd teach us in her words then pull test questions from the text. I got a B+ but worked my butt off to get it! I got an 89.6% in the course but my University's policy is the +/- system (no rounding) so I was denied my 4.0 that semester.
 
Not sure why there were so many votes for organic chemistry. It really isn't that hard. This tells me that none of the folks above took many classes in engineering.

Most engineering classes (especially those in chemical engineering) are way harder than o-chem. I took a couple of engineering classes and they were ten times harder than anything you will see in o-chem. O-chem is just time consuming. Once you understand the material, it's not too bad.
 
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 🙂
 
I had an ok time in Organic Chemistry but Biochem is a killer. So much memorizing!
 
Biochem was the ONLY useful college class I took. I learned more in biochem that will help me moving forward than I did in all my other classes combined. I enjoyed it and could see a real world application. Pathways screw up, enzymes malfunction and very interesting things happen.

ladyoflies said:
I had an ok time in Organic Chemistry but Biochem is a killer. So much memorizing!
Click to expand...
 
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

For me:

Differential Equations (math class...brutal once you get into series. Was told it was easy by one of my friends, too bad a lot of "upper level classes'" professors will focus on topics they're interested in and mine happened to be on topics I was the worst at)

Molecular Genetics (I don't know why but I have an awful time with this stuff. I know it's bad considering that I want to go into medicine but this stuff just ruins me)

But if you talk to a business major they'll tell you accounting, talk to an engineering major they'll tell you thermodynamics or something, so it's all relative. Depends on what you're naturally good at and what kind of learner you are.
 
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