What is the hardest course (undergraduate or otherwise) that you ever took?

[orthomyxo]

physiology and biochemistry of prokaryotes

medical biochem was nothing compared to that class

Lol that sounds so boring. Microbio sucks.

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[tabascosauce]

calculus 2

 

[myu7]

physical chemistry with lab for the chem BS

 

[Naijaboiler]

Honors multivariable calculus and linear algebra. It was tough because it takes an incredible amount of work and then, if you're not smart enough, you STILL can't solve the proof.

People frequently say that mathematics is perfect. Unlike physics, it is built upon axioms defined by humans. These flawless axioms sets the rules for this world you travel in. It upholds the integrity of every line you write, and theorems compiled through history are simply little gems that helps you get to your destination. But traveling in this world is not simple because not everyone is gifted w/ foresight.

You're sitting in the library for 12 hours straight attempting to solve these ridiculously elaborate proofs that spans pages, you're getting close, and finally BAM! You're stuck on a step. You can't figure out the next piece of the puzzle. You are done, you are dead, you failed. You spend the next 3 hours trying different permutations and invoking different theorems to no avail.

All this happens while someone else who is simply smarter walks by and goes "oh, have you thought of trying this?" and suddenly everything made sense. He solved it. He stole the puzzle from you and completed it for you.

That class was how I knew I am not meant to be a theoretical mathematician. And that no matter how many movies of cool genius mathematicians I see, no matter how much red brick and history lies behind the shadows of the buildings I am sitting in, no matter how hard I try, somethings are simply beyond my capabilities.

At the end of that year, the thought of medicine started sprouting somewhere deep in my mind. It took me 3 more years to accept it and go on to go to medical school, but that class was the turning point.

I so relate to this. I took a grad level real analysis class that was all proofs. My god!!! i dont know what i was thinking. I had never had to work so hard for B. The class just seemed impossible at times. it didnt help that I had a prof who never wrote on the board, and never got out of his seat. I had to beg the prof that hey im the only undergrad here among all these PhD students for me to get a B. i would have ended up with a C or D in that class. It was a humbling experience.

 

[Ponger]

In terms of "OMG, I just don't understand this material!!!" it would have to be Econ220 Economic Statistics. The professor's concept of teaching the course was learning the great economic formulas and theorems by deriving the underlying math. It was a lot of differential equations when all I'd had up to that point was Calc 2. I left the last 13 pages of a 15 page final blank and that was after spending 4 hours working on it. The professor graciously passed me.

In terms of "Holy Crap I'm being deluged in material" it was a 1st year, 2nd semester graduate cellular neuroscience course I took my senior year having had no background in neuroscience. Trying to learn ion channels for the first time at a PhD level was miserable. Not to mention all the pharm and receptors. Ugh... On the flip side, learning ion channels now in med school is no big deal. I still hate pharm though.

Nothing in med school (2 years in) has compared to those courses in terms of stress/anxiety.

 

[Mr Hippopotamus]

Calculus I. Looking back at it, the subject isn't that bad, but my professor was TERRIBLE. He simply spent the entire 2 hours of each lesson deriving things on the board with no explanation, only pausing to exclaim "see how beautiful?" before rushing on. I've never ridden a curve so hard in my life.

 

[SterlingArcher]

P-chem. No question.

 

[circulus vitios]

In terms of "OMG, I just don't understand this material!!!" it would have to be Econ220 Economic Statistics. The professor's concept of teaching the course was learning the great economic formulas and theorems by deriving the underlying math. It was a lot of differential equations when all I'd had up to that point was Calc 2. I left the last 13 pages of a 15 page final blank and that was after spending 4 hours working on it. The professor graciously passed me.

That's outrageous. Not him passing you, but him giving a test like that.

 

[daabc]

Biochem.

First midterm out of 150 points, the class average was around 32-40 and no one got over 80. She expected everyone to remember o-chem, and the questions are written that way. Meaning, if you don't know your ochem, you don't know the question.

She also expected you to literally know everything in the book from cover to cover. This includes ALL the values in the charts, from, gibs, enthalpy, reaction rates, etc. Then of course, there are the structures, the types of reactions, and all the applications that goes with biochemistry.

Remember those random stories in science books that try to relate real life to what is being learned? She will test you on that too.

BTW...this class had a 90% failure rate. Class started at around 60 people and drop down to about 7 people towards the end.

 

[orthomyxo]

I left the last 13 pages of a 15 page final blank and that was after spending 4 hours working on it. The professor graciously passed me.

Holy crap. That's intense right there.

 

[XeReX]

What Course? What made it so hard? Was it worth it?

I'm taking an anatomy course and it's very tedious, a lot of memorization, very intensive exams. I'm not complaining I'm just acknowledging that it's a challenge. I appreciate the course's difficulty and it really means something to me when I get positive results.

Anyone else?

Mammalian endocrinology!
Biology of Brain!
Molecular Neuroanatomy!

 

[Ponger]

Holy crap. That's intense right there.

Yep. People routinely did homework in groups of 4 and the average was still 6/10. On the first day of class, he straight up to us his class would be mental torture. (I though he was kidding)

The guy's favorite story was the time one of his students paused taking his final (which started at 3pm) at 9pm, got dinner with the prof, and then went back and finished the exam after another 3 hours. Go figure that guy got an 'A'.

 

[Sesom]

Z chemistry was really hard to conceptualize.

 

[Fort]

It's a tie between Classical Mechanics and EM. I couldn't handle a language class and mechanics at the same time because I routinely skipped the language class trying to complete assignments. I remember they were always....tedious....hey where'd that negative sign go? Was always tired and melancholy that last year, too.

EM wouldn't be too bad if it weren't for the volume load. Professor had homework due on test days which made those weeks even more stressful and everything else ended up on the back burner. Also didn't help that we had to memorize 30+ equations for each exam. Also had a bit of numerical work to do, which was difficult if you weren't adept at programming in Maple.

 

[CaptainSSO]

...

 

[Cleavername]

no class is really that hard, tho, the grading system of a particular class can turn it into a nightmare. such as my gen chem 2 class, 1000+ students, only top 4 - 5 % of students can get A's.

 

[Styrene]

Heart and Kidney Physiology taught by retired Nephrologist.

 

[AspiringERMD]

Most complex? Probably Modern Algebra II.

Most time-consuming and impossible-feeling? Orgo I.

 

[KC7]

Russian. Learning a language was much harder than anything else i encountered in school. It combines massive amounts of memorization, plus rules/concepts, and the worst part is that it's not like you can just "get it" and be good, you have to practice a ton.

Of course it wasn't too hard to just pass or even to get an A, but to actually learn and understand everything you were taught and get to the point of speaking (and reading/writing) confidently was ridiculously hard.

 

[Silverflash]

Hard to say. There are a couple candidates:

1) Organic Chem 1. It simply didn't click with me. I had a poor teacher (who has since been fired), but even with a better professor... I had simply never had to use my brain in that sort of way before. Basically math with pictures. Who knew. I got C's and D's on every test except the final; thankfully, the professor had a rule that whatever you got on his final (which he made significantly harder than any normal test) would replace ALL lower test grades. I studied my ass off and got a B+ in the class. About a third of the way through Ochem 2, it finally "clicked," and it wasn't a problem from then on.

2) Neuropharmacology. No tricks, no fuss, just an incredible amount of memorizing. My professor prided himself on the fact that his course was as difficult as a medical school course, and it took hours of memorizing drug names and effects to get through it.

3) Behavioral Neuroscience. Capstone course of my major, incredibly hard tests, basically had to memorize an 800 page (hella complicated) textbook. I imagine that this will be what med school is like as well.

 

[D4C]

Pchem - anyone that says otherwise never had the fortune of taking it. It is the only true terror in this universe and the next.

 

[Earl Simmons]

Embryology with a ridiculously hard professor.

 

[NervousNerd]

Comparative chordate anatomy

 

[efle]

intro drawing in high school
i don't art

 

[AlteredScale]

Endocrinology taught by a retired OB/Gyn MD PhD, this guy taught us everything -> pharm, histology, embryo, physio, and even some path...it was rediculous

pharmacology taught by a PharmD PhD, PhD was in pharmacology. he missed two weeks of lecture and we fell behind on the material. he "made up" for that by cramming even into lectures.

Immunology by a Harvard/Dartmouth immunologist......(shivers)..my one and only withdrawal from a course..

 

[rangoon1984]

I had a hard time in E+M. I almost did a cartwheel out the door after the final in that class.

 

[Osteoth]

Organic II. Taking it with 3 other UD science courses in the last semester of my senior year = DGAF

 

[TheRhymenocerous]

I had to work harder to understand TS Eliot than any science concept I've come across.

 

[dkr34]

Organic Chemistry Lab and General Chemistry

 

[grivacobae]

Precal so far, absolutely makes no sense, I'll take the tests and make As by doing the review over and over but its gibberish, harder than genetics and ochem that im taking, god do i hate sitting in that late night class

 

[austinblnd]

Pchem - anyone that says otherwise never had the fortune of taking it. It is the only true terror in this universe and the next.

Agreed. My brain hurts just thinking about it.

 

[CharmanderMD]

An English class called "The Age of Romanticism." I literally could not have cared any less about the material making paper writing more difficult than any bio manuscript I've ever written. It was a good thing I took it pass fail or I would have definitely left with a C.

 

[BrCo]

Abstract Algebra or Complex Analysis - obscurely difficult mathematics with 6+ hours of homework every night. By homework I mean sitting there trying to figure out one problem.

 

[efle]

An English class called "The Age of Romanticism." I literally could not have cared any less about the material making paper writing more difficult than any bio manuscript I've ever written. It was a good thing I took it pass fail or I would have definitely left with a C.

Your hardest class was a pass/fail
everything i know is wrong

 

[CharmanderMD]

Your hardest class was a pass/fail
everything i know is wrong

It was only pass/fail if you decided to take it pass/fail. At my undergrad I could have taken any class pass/fail

 

[efle]

i meant I'm surprised your hardest experience was with a humanities class where you only have to not fail.
at most humanities classes here there are not fail grades given very often. as long as you turn something semi-coherent in you'll get a C-

 

[circulus vitios]

I had to work harder to understand TS Eliot than any science concept I've come across.

Reading The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James was the single worst literary experience of my entire life.

If you've never read it: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1093/1093-h/1093-h.htm

 

[efle]

Reading The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James was the single worst literary experience of my entire life.

If you've never read it: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1093/1093-h/1093-h.htm

That must be art, because it makes no sense to me. like i said,

i don't art

 

[jbuc1081]

An English class called "The Age of Romanticism." I literally could not have cared any less about the material making paper writing more difficult than any bio manuscript I've ever written. It was a good thing I took it pass fail or I would have definitely left with a C.

I took 1700-1900 British Romantic Literature, and that was, by far, the hardest class I took. We had to read 4,500 pages in two weeks, plus Frankenstein, all while writing three ten page essays and taking four tests that required over 2.5 hours take a piece. I mean, any class that has you read Finnegan's Wake is not worth it.

 

[jbuc1081]

Reading The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James was the single worst literary experience of my entire life.

If you've never read it: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1093/1093-h/1093-h.htm

Try Finnegan's Wake! I had to read that one, and I think it made me sterile

 

[amvet70]

Without a doubt microbiology
what made it so difficult was the combo of exam question format and time allotted (typically 45 questions/hour). Questions were multiple choice each with 5 possible answers, but question format was NOT like this

What does not grow on blood agar?
1. Staphylococcus aureus
2. Neisseria meningitidis

Questions looked like this
What does not grow on blood agar?
1.Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium difficile, Mycoplasma pneumonia, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa,
2.Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Yesinia pestis, Neisseria meningitides, Streptococcus mutans

So each question could include up to 25 different organisms and only one organism made a specific choice the correct answer. The real kicker was often in textbook reading assignments, a sentence might read ….certain bacteria do not grow on blood agar (e.g. Yesinia pestis)…. Nowhere else except after that “e.g.” (handouts, lectures, reading assignments, etc) did that organism appear. You really had to know/memorize a ton of minutiae. I was happy to survive with a B

 

[efle]

IDK man, I'd rather have a class where I had to memorize a ton than a class where I was fundamentally incapable of enjoying, understanding or producing what was being studied (like creative writing or art). At least in the former you have a way to improve, albeit painfully dull.

 

[fmpak93]

Most annoying - Graduate level biochemistry

Hardest to grasp: Intermediate Quantum Mechanics -

 

[fmpak93]

Most annoying - Graduate level biochemistry

Hardest to grasp: Intermediate Quantum Mechanics -

did worst - Genetics, nothing is more boring than a basic intro science course, skipped every lecture, did crappy, gpa destroyed. thankfully the A in quantum mechanics saved my gpa that sem.

 

[mcrobbit]

ENG 380R:Theory of Reading.

Sounds simple, but was the hardest class I've taken to date. Essentially the class was reading complex philosophical texts with the goal of understanding and talking about how we perceive what we read as opposed to the ideas/content that we get out of the book. Not an easy task.

As hard as it was though, it was also one of the coolest classes I took in college. I still have the 30 page final paper I wrote on how readers percieve the Dao De Jing (one of the core texts of Taoism) in my desk to look at from time to time.

 

[kraskadva]

Pchem - anyone that says otherwise never had the fortune of taking it. It is the only true terror in this universe and the next.

+1
Especially when taken with a prof who was one of those mythical people who 'got it' in UG, so has no concept of how confusing it is and then mocks students in class for making mistakes on the tests.
I'll be happy if I make it out with a B...

 

[D4C]

+1
Especially when taken with a prof who was one of those mythical people who 'got it' in UG, so has no concept of how confusing it is and then mocks students in class for making mistakes on the tests.
I'll be happy if I make it out with a B...

A B in pchem is = to an A, a lot of nonchem jokers don't know that. It's a right of passage class.

 

[Conflagration]

Hardest pre-requisite so far: Orgo I, I was curved up to a C but as a freshman I had no clue what I was doing. It was my first college science after AP testing out of Gen Chem and Basic Bio.
Hardest class because of material so far: Modern and Abstract Algebra, I have a B at midterm and I'm happy for it but I honestly feel like a four year old listening to Stephen Hawking give lectures about his novel theories.
Hardest class because of the professor: Bioinformatics. I have it with a woman who is a genius and was probably birthed knowing all the steps to the Krebs Cycle. I'm a non-major and she expects all of us to have gone through Cell Hell, which she also teaches. Sometimes I feel like she looks at me as though I'm from a different planet because I have the computer science background but I don't have the biology down like the majors do. She was happy that there was a non-major in her classroom, but I do honestly think that she probably thinks I'm really stupid. I have a B at midterm because I'm riding that curve shamelessly.

 

[fmpak93]

A B in pchem is = to an A, a lot of nonchem jokers don't know that. It's a right of passage class.

isnt p chem just thermo and inorganic chem, and then just intro quantum mechanics?

 

[D4C]

isnt p chem just thermo and inorganic chem, and then just intro quantum mechanics?