Your Worst required course was?

[LWestenhofer]

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There is no math in ochem. All you do is memorize a list of reactions. It's cake---you obviously didn't do your homework and chose a crappy professor.

I found physics and gen chem to be the truly difficult classes, since they actually require complex calculations.

No problems with math-tutored physics... Absolutely detested Orgo I and II. Cake??? Your class must have been quite different from mine.

As far as professors go, chose the only prof offering the class those semesters. Literally half the class dropped, another half of those in the class ended up failing. I passed by the skin of my teeth- never been in danger like that in a class before. Seems to me if orgo was such an easy class and required nothing but a list of regurgitated reactions, more people would be able to pass them.

 

[OSUdoc08]

No problems with math-tutored physics... Absolutely detested Orgo I and II. Cake??? Your class must have been quite different from mine.

As far as professors go, chose the only prof offering the class those semesters. Literally half the class dropped, another half of those in the class ended up failing. I passed by the skin of my teeth- never been in danger like that in a class before. Seems to me if orgo was such an easy class and required nothing but a list of regurgitated reactions, more people would be able to pass them.

I guess Baylor University teaches organic chemistry different.

Right.

Either way there is no use for it in medical school.

 

[LWestenhofer]

I guess Baylor University teaches organic chemistry different.

Right.

Either way there is no use for it in medical school.

I hope not- honestly I hope there is no need for calculus or physics either...lol

 

[OSUdoc08]

I hope not- honestly I hope there is no need for calculus or physics either...lol

There is no need for physics, and there is ABSOLUTELY no need for calculus. Math doesn't exceed a middle school level in medical school.

This is why the MCAT and USMLE are unrelated, and any correlation between the two exams is purely coincidental.

 

[xanthomondo]

There is no need for physics, and there is ABSOLUTELY no need for calculus. Math doesn't exceed a middle school level in medical school.

This is why the MCAT and USMLE are unrelated, and any correlation between the two exams is purely coincidental.

the calculus is required for the physics...and physics is nice when it comes to physiology

our entire body is a physical-property bound machine

so i think the "no need for physics and orgo" is a little close-minded

 

[Skaterbabe74]

There is no math in ochem. All you do is memorize a list of reactions. It's cake---you obviously didn't do your homework and chose a crappy professor.

I found physics and gen chem to be the truly difficult classes, since they actually require complex calculations.

I did all the homework multiple times, had good teachers, but Ochem I and II were definitely death for me too. I had the reactions memorized, and the mechanisms, but the synthesis (which was the majority of our tests) problems made my brain freeze. Give me the reactions one at a time and either provide the product or the reagents or the starting material and I was fine. Make me go from point A to point G and I'll mess it up everytime without a book.

 

[Dave_D]

Are we counting just premed requirements or requirements in general?(You know, gen-ed requirements and requirements for a major.) If it's the second then definitely French.(Which in the 4th semester was by far the most difficult course I ever had to take. Yes, far worse than physics or orgo. Actually come to think of it that was the course where the more I studied the worse I would do in class. Really, I should have come to class drunk since I certainly couldn't have done worse. 🙂 ) Oh well, guess I should count the positives, I never cheated and they never brain washed me.

 

[AmyO]

I would have to agree that Orgo II is hard and requires more than just memorization, especially 20-step retrosynthesis problems. I thought gen chem I and II were "cake", but I'm not going ridicule people that disagree with me. I think many of us are concrete, fact-based individuals and forget that this thread is purely based on opinions. There are no right and wrong answers, so it's pointless to argue with someone on what THEY thought was THEIR hardest class. 🙂

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

Comparitive Studies H170.

It was supposed to be modern comparative studies. I didnt realize that it meant it was going to be taught by a lesbian feminist.

Great.

 

[OSUdoc08]

the calculus is required for the physics...and physics is nice when it comes to physiology

our entire body is a physical-property bound machine

so i think the "no need for physics and orgo" is a little close-minded

No, calculus is not required for the physics that is a prerequisite for medical school.

When you complete your first 2 years of medical school, get back to me and tell me how much physics and orgo you used.

Until then, no need to respond to my posts.

 

[OSUdoc08]

I did all the homework multiple times, had good teachers, but Ochem I and II were definitely death for me too. I had the reactions memorized, and the mechanisms, but the synthesis (which was the majority of our tests) problems made my brain freeze. Give me the reactions one at a time and either provide the product or the reagents or the starting material and I was fine. Make me go from point A to point G and I'll mess it up everytime without a book.

Gee I'm glad I "did my homework" by picking a good ochem professor. I didn't have to do much of this. The biological sciences section was my highest section on the MCAT, so it didn't seem to impede my progress much.

For those of you that haven't taken ochem, do the research, and if the prof. is ridiculously difficult, TAKE THE COURSE SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!

 

[xanthomondo]

No, calculus is not required for the physics that is a prerequisite for medical school.

When you complete your first 2 years of medical school, get back to me and tell me how much physics and orgo you used.

Until then, no need to respond to my posts.

Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't realize that MRI's and many other diagnostic imaging uses the principles of physics. Human physiology has nothing to do with gas laws or the bernoulli laws.

Physics is supposed to have calculus as part of the course. If yours didn't have calculus, you probably have no idea where all of the equations come from.

And how do you understand biochemistry without organic chemistry? Just because you dont USE these subjects actively (you're obviously not assigning R/F centers on chiral carbons in med school) doesn't mean its not important to understand where things come from

psychology can be explained with biological processes, bio is explained with chem, chem is explained with physics, and physics with math...they all relate and all are important

just because you cant handle the math doesnt mean its not important

 

[OSUdoc08]

Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't realize that MRI's and many other diagnostic imaging uses the principles of physics. Human physiology has nothing to do with gas laws or the bernoulli laws.

Physics is supposed to have calculus as part of the course. If yours didn't have calculus, you probably have no idea where all of the equations come from.

And how do you understand biochemistry without organic chemistry? Just because you dont USE these subjects actively (you're obviously not assigning R/F centers on chiral carbons in med school) doesn't mean its not important to understand where things come from

psychology can be explained with biological processes, bio is explained with chem, chem is explained with physics, and physics with math...they all relate and all are important

just because you cant handle the math doesnt mean its not important

1.) I'm not going into radiology. You will learn this information in said residency. You don't need to know any gas laws for the physiology section of the board exams.

2.) I did not take calculus-based physics. Most pre-meds don't. It isn't needed since physics is hardly used in medical school.

3.) I didn't remember anything from organic chemistry, nor did I use it in medical school. It doesn't help you in any way.

4.) You obviously have never been to medical school. Don't argue with me about courses you haven't even taken. It's annoying.

 

[xanthomondo]

1.) I'm not going into radiology. You will learn this information in said residency. You don't need to know any gas laws for the physiology section of the board exams.

2.) I did not take calculus-based physics. Most pre-meds don't. It isn't needed since physics is hardly used in medical school.

3.) I didn't remember anything from organic chemistry, nor did I use it in medical school. It doesn't help you in any way.

4.) You obviously have never been to medical school. Don't argue with me about courses you haven't even taken. It's annoying.

You seem to be one of those learners who "learns for the test"

"We dont need this for the boards" - so what? that means its not important? Instead of just knowing that something happens, isnt it helpful to know why?

Organic chemistry plays a lot of roles in the body, i dont understand how it can be disregarded as unimportant...someone asks you about starch..."i dont know, polysaccharides were in organic chemistry, that wasnt in med school or on the boards, its not important"

you seem to be on a high horse about being in medical school...would you like a pat on the back?

 

[bbas]

Physics is supposed to have calculus as part of the course. If yours didn't have calculus, you probably have no idea where all of the equations come from.

If calc based physics was that important, it would be a required course. Also, who really cares how to derive all of the equations. Unless you plan on going into academic medicine, there is no need to know how to derive them.

 

[xanthomondo]

If calc based physics was that important, it would be a required course. Also, who really cares how to derive all of the equations. Unless you plan on going into academic medicine, there is no need to know how to derive them.

So in physics class you were never curious where the million equations came from?
Knowing the ideas behind the equations made it much easier for the MCATs, because it didn't really require complete memorization of all of the equations

But then again, im sure I'll hear that the MCAT is the most unimportant test ever and should have nothing to do with medical school admissions...blah blah blah

 

[bbas]

So in physics class you were never curious where the million equations came from?
Knowing the ideas behind the equations made it much easier for the MCATs, because it didn't really require complete memorization of all of the equations

But then again, im sure I'll hear that the MCAT is the most unimportant test ever and should have nothing to do with medical school admissions...blah blah blah

Honestly, no I wasn't very curious. If I was interested in physics that much, I would have majored in it. As someone who intends to go into a primary care field, I fail to see how knowing how to derive physics equations will be relevant to my future career. In fact, I was just talking to my PCP the other day about med school and he noted how he doesn't remember anything from his prereq courses. I think after a while things just become routine and doctors start to worry less about the actual theory behind concepts.

By the way, wouldn't it be easier (and quicker) to have the equations memorized for the MCAT, rather than trying to derive them during the test? I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I would think it would save time to have them memorized especially for the new computerized test.

 

[xanthomondo]

Honestly, no I wasn't very curious. If I was interested in physics that much, I would have majored in it. As someone who intends to go into a primary care field, I fail to see how knowing how to derive physics equations will be relevant to my future career. In fact, I was just talking to my PCP the other day about med school and he noted how he doesn't remember anything from his prereq courses. I think after a while things just become routine and doctors start to worry less about the actual theory behind concepts.

By the way, wouldn't it be easier (and quicker) to have the equations memorized for the MCAT, rather than trying to derive them during the test? I haven't taken the MCAT yet, but I would think it would save time to have them memorized especially for the new computerized test.

You rarely need an exact equation for calculations, you usually need to know ideas instead (relative stuff)...with memorizing its also easy to mess up...miss a squared here, insert a theta there

understanding and learning the background material makes it easier to remember longer...so you dont have to cram like mad (or take kaplan/tpr classes) for big tests such as the mcat and boards and sats etc

 

[Skaterbabe74]

Gee I'm glad I "did my homework" by picking a good ochem professor. I didn't have to do much of this. The biological sciences section was my highest section on the MCAT, so it didn't seem to impede my progress much.

For those of you that haven't taken ochem, do the research, and if the prof. is ridiculously difficult, TAKE THE COURSE SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!

Yeah..unfortunately I experienced all 3 profs in our chem dept that teach organic. One class was group taught by two of them, the other by the 3rd. All are great profs, but they all test the same (synthesis heavy, mechanism heavy), and the only other option for taking the class elsewhere is the CC which also has the same type of exam set-up. At least the chem dept has a built in modified grading scale where an 85 or 87 is an A and a 60 is a C lol. At least we only did mass spec and NMR in lab rather than getting stuck with those on our lecture exams too 'cuz those things take me forever to figure out.

 

[whatdapho]

Definitely the worst but not the hardest course was by far the physics series. It's definitely not a hard course but the professors were bleh. Also, genetics was a tough one and anyone from UCSD will agree Nesbit is one tough cookie

 

[ZacharyMD]

Gen Chem II. I had a prof who was about to retire, so I think he was burnt out and was less than helpful. Sadly, I found out he died recently.

lol

 

[Hardbody]

lol

Thats not really that funny. Hopefully you will not laugh when your patients die one day.

 

[kafrinkabluejay]

at my school, Physics was the most time-consuming and never-ending class, we had lecture three days a week, plus lab, plus the other day where we had quizzes or exams. It was so relieving when it was all over, a bunch of us burned one of our physics books...which definitely weighed 10 tons.

....and I loved o-chem (orgo at my school?) and I TAed the lab for two years.

 

[DrPhysician]

Everyone warned me that OCHEM was going to be the worst series but for me it was actually easier than Gen CHEM. I would have to say the that worst med requirement was Physics for me.

ME TOO!!! i found orgo to be much easier than general chemistry.

i found biochemistry I to be tedious, only for the fact that both instructors sucked at teaching the course (one had horrible teaching skills and the other one spoke 15% english and 85% spanish) and so i had to teach myself EVERYTHING from the textbook. but still did good tho 🙂

(i know, its weird, but for some reason each instructor taught half of a semester)

 

[tdkneo]

ME TOO!!! i found orgo to be much easier than general chemistry.

i found biochemistry I to be tedious, only for the fact that both instructors sucked at teaching the course (one had horrible teaching skills and the other one spoke 15% english and 85% spanish) and so i had to teach myself EVERYTHING from the textbook. but still did good tho 🙂

(i know, its weird, but for some reason each instructor taught half of a semester)

i think biochemistry is the hardest class........

 

[taloddar2002]

Zoology... This 100 level course at my university kicked my butt. Lab practicals required a ton of memorization. Also, organic 2 was challenging but not anywhere as difficult as zoology was.

 

[OSUdoc08]

You seem to be one of those learners who "learns for the test"

"We dont need this for the boards" - so what? that means its not important? Instead of just knowing that something happens, isnt it helpful to know why?

Organic chemistry plays a lot of roles in the body, i dont understand how it can be disregarded as unimportant...someone asks you about starch..."i dont know, polysaccharides were in organic chemistry, that wasnt in med school or on the boards, its not important"

you seem to be on a high horse about being in medical school...would you like a pat on the back?

It may be important to you, but you will not be any more successful as a medical student or physician. In addition, it is not taught in medical school anyway.

 

[vt hokie]

OChem was bad. My prof was french and i couldn't understand him and he wrote in orange marker on an overhead, which was hard to see. For about a week i had "missle" in my notes until i acually opened the book to find out what he was saying... it was methyl.

My Ochem lab TA was bad too. She was chinese and on the first day said "you teach me english, i teach you chemistry".

 

[Natatiap]

This could potentially be a good class but my professor sucked. He did nothing but talk off subject and blab on and on about his research on toadfish. I got nothing out of the class the first.....or the second time ( 🙁 ) Unfortunately he was the only professor teaching the class for the year so I couldn't switch so I sucked it up and did better the second time from doing less class time and more self-study. Every other premed course was do-able, just have to put the time and effort into it.

 

[caduceus27]

my worst was physics 1 but i got NOTHING FROM THAT CLASS I STUDIED ON MY OWN!!!!! HORRIBLE PROFESSOR

 

[DiverDoc]

my worst was physics 1 but i got NOTHING FROM THAT CLASS I STUDIED ON MY OWN!!!!! HORRIBLE PROFESSOR

Physics II is worse IMO (i had same prof. as I) but I wasnt interested in the topics covered in II. At least for the most part you could "picture" what was going on in physics I

 

[stockmanjr]

Ok, I'm gonna be an even bigger oddball here. Bio I. I had a professor that was giving absolutely false information and it really pissed me off. ("grams times liters gives you moles" - I kid you not. direct quote.)

I'm sure if the prof was better, I would have enjoyed the class and learned something in it. However, since attendance was mandatory all I learned was how to stay awake in a waste-of-my-time class. It was good for doing homework for other classes tho. I didn't even try to hide what I was doing.

I'm gonna have to agree with you here about BIO 1. I had a professor who was a total jerk and had a class average that was always in the high 40's low 50's and didnt curve one bit. Also she would just put the most random questions on the test that had nothing to do with her lectures or anything in the textbook..When I questioned she stated since we're pre-med's we should just know it.Needless to say it's my lowest science grade.
cheers
howie

 

[BuckIApothecary]

I have to say that Microbio was the worst class ever!! Not so much hard, as it was just a pain in the butt. Damn, that E. coli!!! Arghh.... 😡

 

[Andromeda]

calc-based physics with a bunch of engineers 😱

 

[xTinaBna]

calc-based physics with a bunch of engineers 😱

haha i second that!

 

[erleichda]

I'm gonna have to agree with you here about BIO 1. I had a professor who was a total jerk and had a class average that was always in the high 40's low 50's and didnt curve one bit. Also she would just put the most random questions on the test that had nothing to do with her lectures or anything in the textbook..When I questioned she stated since we're pre-med's we should just know it.Needless to say it's my lowest science grade.
cheers
howie

sounds like we went to the same school 👎