Most difficult pre-med courses

[Ernham]

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Just something interesting that might be of use to some pre-meds.

I haven't actually had physics yet, but I've had everything else and I've found organic to be the most difficult subject. Add some info if you'd like about what you found particularly difficult about a given course.

I've included some of the more common upper level bio courses.

Edit: Oh, please, by the way, chose "other bio course" for biochemistry. It's not really a req at most schools, but I know many pre-meds take it regardless.

 

[woolie]

Just a wee 7% thought Calc was hardest ??? I liked Organic but just not how it was taught, it was thrown at you like a brick out the window. Calc on the other hand was like moving to Turkey but oops! no one gave me a dictionary or guidebook, I thought I had lost my mind ...

 

[Ernham]

Heh. Looks like organic is making a killing.

I'm surprised they even have a 5 credit survey course for it. Kind of curious what that course is like, at least comparatively.

 

[Entei]

I would have voted for calc, but since it's mixed in with stats I abstained. Calc (2) is murder, but stats is a walk in the park, at least from my experience.

 

[Ernham]

Bah. Who cares if stats is up there. I know the stats at my campus is horrible. Since our math department is fairly renown for stats department being high quality, the classes are extremely rigorous. Anyway, you could sub "calc/stats" for "any mathematics course."

Physics is becoming the dark horse it looks like, heh. Also I didn't realize so many found cell bio so challenging. Haven't had it.

 

[soonerpillow]

Calc was definitely the hardest for me. Math sucks! I'd take Organic any day of the week over Calc. Good thing I got it out of the way in high school. I haven't had math since.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Physics has been hard for me (I am currently taking it). General chem was pretty rough... organic was wonderful. 😀

 

[badgergirl]

if i could pick two, genetics would be my second one, but i threw in my vote for organic.

 

[Lactic Folly]

Biochem for sure.. a photographic memory would have been helpful with those structures..

 

[ironey]

Physics was the hardest for me because I just wasn't interested. Perhaps that was why I kept skipping labs to go hiking???

OChem and A&P were by far the most interesting, though. And, they happened to make sense to me (unlike physics).

 

[dmitrinyr]

I put down organic but now I want to change my answer to biochemistry. To be successful in an organic chemistry class all you need to do is to have a good system of studying, a good memory and quick thinking skills. For biochem, you basically have to understand every topic and connect the major points and sections. You can't really get a good grade in biochem by just memorizing the concepts like you can in organic.

Well that was my 2 cents.

 

[Bonds756]

Orgo for me. Since I didn't take any of those upper level courses, I had an easier time decided between the basic pre-med requirements.

 

[xaelia]

My experience in tutoring folks was that Organic lended itself better to simply finding the best way to structure and prioritize your studying for an exam, whereas folks who were lost in Physics really needed to be walked through the concepts. If you "got" Physics, then Organic would probably be the winner as the most laborious premedical coursework, but otherwise second half of Physics is unparalleled in its ability for frustration.

 

[stevevilicious]

I think the "rote memorization" biology courses were most difficult for me. Also, I thought my engineering courses were way harder than any of these premed requirements. (I have a 4.0 science GPA).

 

[Wrigleyville]

I guess I'll go with Gen Chem. My high school chemistry class was.... lacking in rigor. That combined with the new experience of college life made for some rough grades.

Wrigley

 

[curiousforever]

I'll say a year of University Physics with this one teacher (and I heard that I ought to be lucky if I ever receive a C in his class because previously not many students pass his class with C). Unfortunately, I'll end up with him next semester...

Does anyone have some cool tips in studying for Physics?




Everything other subjects are A ok.

 

[2ndave]

Physics 1 was the hardest for me so far. At least that's the class I had to put the most effort into. About halfway through it all started to click though, so it was worth it.

How many schools require calc 1 & 2 prior to stats? My school has two stats classes--non calc and a calc based probability/stats class. I took the latter. It borrowed some formulas from calc 3 that I'd never seen before, so stats would have to be my second hardest.

 

[Ernham]

Hmm. Bump. Ochem & physics going strong.

I wonder if I should have included micrbiology in its own group.

 

[An Yong]

I thought physics was hardest, the 2nd half being much much much more difficult than the first. Electromagnetism *yuck*

 

[CH3CH2OH]

physics was the hardest for me, i had plenty of teachers and some of them were pretty good, still i can't understand it (even when i do get good grades, i don't feel like i deserve them🙁 ) i have the best ochem teacher who makes the concepts very clear so that the class doesn't require memorization unless it's absolutely necessary

 

[Cerberus]

physics II made suicide seem like a viable - and preferable - alternative.

 

[dstn2bmd]

I second that. 😱

 

[granola]

Looks like Orgo and Physics are the hardest out of these classes. 😱

Good to know cuz I'll know what to expect this fall semester; I'll be taking both along with Cell Bio. Looks like I'll be spending a lot of time studying. 🙁

 

[solid snake]

Physics SUCKS!!!! Oooooh, I hated that class.😡 Ochem, I thought, was much easier than physics, if you put in the work.

 

[thezero]

Hey some of you guys might want to try this out, while studying for MCATS, I found that the Kaplan study books make some of the best notes for Physics and organic. Now you don't have to take the class to get these books, you can get a Kaplan MCAT study guide from any book store. The guide they sell at the book store is a complete compilation of the Kaplan books. I never took the Princeton review course but I am sure the dsame goes for their study guide. It also helps focus your attention to what's going to be on the MCAT. Try it out, I wish I knew about those sources when I took Orgo and Physics.

-0-

 

[OnyxGaia]

I haven't taken Organic yet, but I am one of those people that just don't get Physics!

😡

So I'm voting for Physics.

OnyxGaia

 

[DoubleDoctor]

For me the year of physical chemistry was by far the most difficult. There was tons of time consuming homework every night and I had 4 books of those spiral bound index cards (both front and back) of formulas to memorize for the comprehensive final. I did very well but it was torture and none of the other classes came close and I was a triple science major in Biochem/Micro/Molecular.
We actually had an exam where I was the only A (by the skin of my teeth) and the class average was a 40. A real GPA killer for alot of students and required for all Biochem/Chem majors so there was no getting out of it.

 

[dynx]

I agree - until you put physical chemistry up there I am not voting. It made every other class I took look like a cake walk. I barely dragged my ass through it.

 

[rajmeister]

Calc I i found moderately hard, but calc II on the other hand, that was way, way easier than i had first thought...just my $0.02 though.🙂

 

[Ernham]

P-chem is not a required pre-med course for ANY medical school I'm aware of. I have no idea why I would have included it.

 

[hamhamfan]

Cell bio just has more information to remember than the other classes. Also, since the cell bio classes I'm taking are surveys, they're all over the place conceptually. OChem is pretty predictable early on (learn functional group, nomenclature, reactions/synthesis, next group).

 

[Optimist]

Originally posted by hamhamfan
Cell bio just has more information to remember than the other classes. Also, since the cell bio classes I'm taking are surveys, they're all over the place conceptually. OChem is pretty predictable early on (learn functional group, nomenclature, reactions/synthesis, next group).

I was thinking Cell Bio would be up there, perhaps head-to-head with the big O, but apparently even Calc is beating it.

 

[rgporter]

Originally posted by Entei
I would have voted for calc, but since it's mixed in with stats I abstained. Calc (2) is murder, but stats is a walk in the park, at least from my experience.

Holy crap! This just goes to show you how different everyone's minds really work. Calc was a cakewalk, I even enjoyed a class on linear algebra/PDE's, but stats worked me over. Not the stats. part though, the probabilities. Oh how I hated probabilities! Personally I voted for genetics, which is probably no surprise considering my distaste for probabilities.

 

[bor0101]

I dont think the premed classes are hard. Though it can be hard to get all A's. So far physics actually seems harder than either bio or chem. And harder than calc3(it is possibly easier than either calc1 or2). I think its because in physics we do some more advanced concepts, for example in the wave questions. So some formulas we can't derive because they depend on much more advanced math, and physics is hard to understand if you dont derive it. also on the tests they always try to trick you in physics.

But all these classes could be taken in high school if you took AP's. I think biochem would be harder. I didnt take it but i saw their textbook and the comments about how much you need to memorize, and it's obviously a lot. Same also for math analysis, i bet its a zillion times harder than your "cac". Thats why i feel my freshman year hasnt given me any info on how to handle the more advanced classes and what major to choose.

 

[darkcity998]

the subject matter of calculus wasn't difficult, but everything else such as the hardest questions on exams, homeworks that take 2 hours everyday and class attendance. no one in my class got an A or A-. i'm actually proud of my B. in all of the other prereqs, there was always a curve - not in my calculus 2 class.

 

[ixitixl]

Originally posted by dynx
I agree - until you put physical chemistry up there I am not voting. It made every other class I took look like a cake walk. I barely dragged my ass through it.

This is absolutely TRUE. I didn't take gen chem so I ended getting my non-organic chem requirement out of the way with quantum mechanics. It made every other class, including orgo seem like cake.

 

[peterockduke]

Organic Chemistry, Physics and Multivariable Calculus were my favorite classes in college, followed closely by Microbio + Gen Chem. I LOVED orgo and I found that I never had to study more than 2.5 days if I wanted a B (or better) in it. Cell on the other hand....

I couldn't stand Physical Chemistry and Cell Biology.

.... what do you think this says about my learning habits etc?

 

[MrSosa]

First-time poster here. It's nice joining all my pre-med brothers and sisters out there. Keep doing your respective things!

Anyway, Biology is cake, period. Chem 1 got me at first cuz it was my first semester, but I got an A. All I'm saying is respect it, don't sleep. Chem 2 was the most difficult course I'd taken up to that point. Maybe it was just my professor, but I think that's where the real weed-out process begins. Orgo and Physics, definitely the hardest. I voted for Orgo cuz I never studied so much for 1 class ever(maybe cuz I knew how crucial it is?). Plus, with Orgo, the weeding out is officially in effect. Physics is no joke either, but it's not Orgo. It just reminds me of calculus too much, which by the way, I put Calc 2 up there also. I took Calc 2 in a 6-week summer session and it sucked absolutely! Genetics is not really that hard either. It's a step above Bio, but nowhere near Calc 2, Physics, and Orgo.

That's my 2 cents. Keep sharing the information. Peace!

 

[ixitixl]

I think orgo depends largely on the teaching quality of the professor, whether or not the grades are scale or curved and whether or there is a "weeding out" attitude in effect. I'm not particularly chemistry inclined and I wouldn't rank orgo in my top 5 most difficult. Of course everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and courses are taught differently at different institutions. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Ernham]

I swallowed the BS that ochem wasn't about memorization. What a huge, steaming crock of #$%$. It's not 100% memorization, though, but it is not at all the conceptual/intuitive course that many make it out to be.

 

[Cerberus]

Originally posted by Ernham
I swallowed the BS that ochem wasn't about memorization. What a huge, steaming crock of #$%$. It's not 100% memorization, though, but it is not at all the conceptual/intuitive course that many make it out to be.

Nonsense, Organic is a repetitive class that usually involves incorporating something you learned earlier into the material at hand.

 

[YaFwiendToluene]

Calculus 2 was quite possibly the MOST difficult math course I have ever seen in my life. I'm sure Diff. is no fun either...but Calc 2 was just a pain. I bet Newton and Leibniz are happy. =o)

 

[chaeymaey]

Originally posted by Ernham
I swallowed the BS that ochem wasn't about memorization. What a huge, steaming crock of #$%$. It's not 100% memorization, though, but it is not at all the conceptual/intuitive course that many make it out to be.

I'm so glad you said that; I totally second it! I had heard that Ochem was all memorization, until freshman year when everyone (including the prof) said that if you just memorize you'll fail. So when I took the class soph year, I tried to really understand the concepts. That only worked on the first two tests. But once we started doing reactions, memorizing is the only option! I ended up with a C in the first term because I tried to understand instead of memorize. The people who got A's just memorized and never read the book to understand the reactions at all. Take it from me, the key to Ochem is to memorize.