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What was the hardest class youve taken in college?
- Thread starter TheDance511
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just graduated from college in december with a biology degree, so this shouldn't be too hard to do.
microbiology was the hardest class. and it wasn't just because of the material being taught and the many assignments and quizzes as well as the hard tests. the lab was a headache as we had little room to work with, and so much to do in two hours, and i was a bit clumsy. and the teacher didn't help things much, as we didn't get along too much. i was so glad that i got out of there with a C. what a nightmare.
other classes of mine getting honorable mention: biochemistry (alot of it was that the professor was so boring during lectures), ecology (the lab portion was an independent study, and i was lacking one until three weeks before the end of the semester, but i eventually got a 86 on the project and A in the class), intro bio lab (ick).
ochem wasn't as hard for me at least, got an A in the first semester and a B in the second semester....and i wonder how these people have trouble in the class...but i had troubles in the second semester, partly due to the boring teacher in lecture even though i studied a bunch.
microbiology was the hardest class. and it wasn't just because of the material being taught and the many assignments and quizzes as well as the hard tests. the lab was a headache as we had little room to work with, and so much to do in two hours, and i was a bit clumsy. and the teacher didn't help things much, as we didn't get along too much. i was so glad that i got out of there with a C. what a nightmare.
other classes of mine getting honorable mention: biochemistry (alot of it was that the professor was so boring during lectures), ecology (the lab portion was an independent study, and i was lacking one until three weeks before the end of the semester, but i eventually got a 86 on the project and A in the class), intro bio lab (ick).
ochem wasn't as hard for me at least, got an A in the first semester and a B in the second semester....and i wonder how these people have trouble in the class...but i had troubles in the second semester, partly due to the boring teacher in lecture even though i studied a bunch.
my high school chem teacher talked about that class a bunch with us...said that was the hardest class he ever took.
glad i didn't have to take it.
I'd say the hardest undergrad class for me was Classical Mechanics. So much harder for me than Quantum later on. Trying to move away from the Newtonian system of thinking towards Hamiltonians and Langrangians, plus the whole group transformation and gauge transformations....ugh.
As a grad student, I didn't run into anything too terrible, though my quantum mechanics class was taught by the man who won the Nobel Prize in Physics that year. He was tough, but it wasn't anything that really made my head spin like some of the earlier stuff I was doing.
As a grad student, I didn't run into anything too terrible, though my quantum mechanics class was taught by the man who won the Nobel Prize in Physics that year. He was tough, but it wasn't anything that really made my head spin like some of the earlier stuff I was doing.
I don't feel like I've taken enough classes to truly chime in on this thread. 
Umm... if you wanna go by transcript, then probably the hardest class I ever took was P.E. Crew at Cal. I was on the NCAA Div. I women's crew team. Crew forever changed who I am and how I see the world. It did. Being a cox forced me to go beyond my comfort zone, to take on more responsibility for and from more people than I ever thought I would have to. It showed me what could be accomplished with hard work, dedication, and sheer guts.
If you wanna talk about more standard classroom type classes, then maybe the class that most consider super easy, B&W beginning photography. I hate shooting. Hate developing film Only shot and developed 4 rolls that entire semester! But I loved printing. Again, this class definitely forced me out of my comfort zone and enabled me to literally see the world differently. Plus, now I can sort of recognize the terms that all the control-freak photo geeks (in MR's Digital Photog. Forum) are talking about.
Umm... if you wanna go by transcript, then probably the hardest class I ever took was P.E.
Crew at Cal. I was on the NCAA Div. I women's crew team. Crew forever changed who I am and how I see the world. It did. Being a cox forced me to go beyond my comfort zone, to take on more responsibility for and from more people than I ever thought I would have to. It showed me what could be accomplished with hard work, dedication, and sheer guts.If you wanna talk about more standard classroom type classes, then maybe the class that most consider super easy, B&W beginning photography.
I hate shooting. Hate developing film Only shot and developed 4 rolls that entire semester! But I loved printing. Again, this class definitely forced me out of my comfort zone and enabled me to literally see the world differently. Plus, now I can sort of recognize the terms that all the control-freak photo geeks (in MR's Digital Photog. Forum) are talking about. 
right now , the hardest class i've taken is macroeconomics, similar situation to what a poster had in their microeconomics class...
I took a lot of classes that were hard, but I enjoyed them so it made the work relatively OK (e.g. three years of Russian).
However, there are two classes that I will forever remember as those that nearly crushed me: Organic Chemistry and Philosophy. Oddly enough, my thought process during both was nearly identical: why? who cares? what's the point of this? will I *ever* use this in real life? gods I'm tired, I need a nap. getting sleepy... zzzzzzzz.
Barely scraped by with C- grades in both.
However, there are two classes that I will forever remember as those that nearly crushed me: Organic Chemistry and Philosophy. Oddly enough, my thought process during both was nearly identical: why? who cares? what's the point of this? will I *ever* use this in real life? gods I'm tired, I need a nap. getting sleepy... zzzzzzzz.
Barely scraped by with C- grades in both.
My philosophy classes were great. Had I a bit more forethought I might have gotten a minor in it. My philosophy classes though were in discrete logic and game theory. Game theory is a powerful in understanding peoples actions and motivations.
Quantitative Analysis (a chemistry class).
The professor was from India and talked like "Apu" from the Simpsons. He failed half the class. I still don't know how I passed but I got a C and was damn proud if it.
Organic Chem was a close second, I had to get tutored to pass that one. I absolutely loved biochem.
The professor was from India and talked like "Apu" from the Simpsons. He failed half the class. I still don't know how I passed but I got a C and was damn proud if it.
Organic Chem was a close second, I had to get tutored to pass that one. I absolutely loved biochem.
Well, third quarter of Modern Algebra (which covered Galios Theory) was pretty hard for me... and I recall Calculus on Manifolds (which covered Differential Forms) and Integration on Manifolds also being challenging. As for general subjects, I've never been a fan of Real Analysis (it seems both hard and dull at the same time... I personally enjoy areas of geometry and topology).
not so much hard, but a stupid class.
business ethics.
it had nothing to do with business or ethics. it turned out to be a humanities/philosophy class.
business ethics.
it had nothing to do with business or ethics. it turned out to be a humanities/philosophy class.
For me it was Differential Equations and Heat Transfer. I had probably the worst professor in Diffy Q's, he was too smart for his own good, he didn't know how to relate to the students level of understanding. If we asked him to explain a theory in a different way, he would use even more difficult concepts then the book. It was pretty hopeless, I have never been as excited about getting a C in a class as that one.
Heat transfer wasn't a tough subject, just the professor was a bad test creater. We would learn about a few concepts for a month, then he would go and test on the smallest little section from the text book that pretty much had nothing to do with what we had learned for a month. Usually professors test on stuff similar to the homeworks given, maybe adding a small twist to see how the students can think, he would ask questions that were nothing like the homework so it was almost impossible to try and prepare for his tests.
Heat transfer wasn't a tough subject, just the professor was a bad test creater. We would learn about a few concepts for a month, then he would go and test on the smallest little section from the text book that pretty much had nothing to do with what we had learned for a month. Usually professors test on stuff similar to the homeworks given, maybe adding a small twist to see how the students can think, he would ask questions that were nothing like the homework so it was almost impossible to try and prepare for his tests.
Solid State Theory - something about n's and p's in molecular substrates.
I finished the course with a 25% - that was a "C"...
I finished the course with a 25% - that was a "C"...
I don't recall one class being the "hardest", but architecture school is notorious for eating students and spitting them out... Long hours, lots of work, and not enough pay after college. I read somewhere that becoming an architect is probably the least bang for your buck. 5 years of school, 3 years min. of internship, and a median pay of $60,000 US (after several years of experience...)
Background Building Studio was probably the hardest. I had to design 3 different buildings in 3 months. While it was fun, I don't remember having a whole lot of free time that semester.
Background Building Studio was probably the hardest. I had to design 3 different buildings in 3 months. While it was fun, I don't remember having a whole lot of free time that semester.
Well, hardest that I completed?
Hardest I dropped?
Hardest I failed?
I guess we need sub-categories for the slackers in the audience.
Probably the history class with the 50 page final report. I know it is not much for some of you folks, but my high school did not do much prep for that kind of work.
Math was easy:
"107 Introduction to Finite Mathematics (Concepts and processes of modern mathematics concerned with sets, the theory of probability, and statistics. Role of these concepts in todays social and physical sciences. (Lec. 3) Pre: passing a placement test. Not open to mathematics majors."
Prof did a straight grade curve, so if the class average on a test was 60, he gave everyone 15 points. I went 4 times during the semester, first day, 2 of 3 tests, and the final.
Got a B+
I believe my first test score was 137!!
Hardest I dropped?
Hardest I failed?
I guess we need sub-categories for the slackers in the audience.
Probably the history class with the 50 page final report. I know it is not much for some of you folks, but my high school did not do much prep for that kind of work.
Math was easy:
"107 Introduction to Finite Mathematics (Concepts and processes of modern mathematics concerned with sets, the theory of probability, and statistics. Role of these concepts in todays social and physical sciences. (Lec. 3) Pre: passing a placement test. Not open to mathematics majors."
Prof did a straight grade curve, so if the class average on a test was 60, he gave everyone 15 points. I went 4 times during the semester, first day, 2 of 3 tests, and the final.
Got a B+
I believe my first test score was 137!!
I'll vote for Quantitative Analysis. Those labs were just horrible. You spilled 1 drop of something? There goes your percent yield, and your grade along with it.
hmm
Biomedical ethics - the prof is a medical doctor as well as a reverend, made it hard to argue things like euthanasia and abortion when the bible references kept cropping up...
Organic Chem - took me three tries to understand and pass the bloody course. had more fun building animals with my molecule kit than the molecules.
Molecular Genetics - before taking the biochem, Mendelian genetics and Organic Chem courses , it was easy to understand the concepts after that.
One more - Immunology- boring, hard, no one really understands it, it mostly theory of how things happen.
Biomedical ethics - the prof is a medical doctor as well as a reverend, made it hard to argue things like euthanasia and abortion when the bible references kept cropping up...
Organic Chem - took me three tries to understand and pass the bloody course. had more fun building animals with my molecule kit than the molecules.
Molecular Genetics - before taking the biochem, Mendelian genetics and Organic Chem courses , it was easy to understand the concepts after that.
One more - Immunology- boring, hard, no one really understands it, it mostly theory of how things happen.
Two different answers.
Theoretically and material wise the hardest class I ever took was "Art and Metaphysics." Was my introduction to Derrida/pomo and, while it felt a bit like finding a home, it also felt decidedly messed up. A true false quiz on Derrida? Seriously?
The hardest class personally was "Public Speaking." Because I took it at 18 when I was something a of a shy, reclusive quasi-wreck of a human being. Funny, cause now, every day, I'm a public speaker (and a pretty good one, I think). But I did terrible in the class ... the peer pressure, the strict rigidity of the structures of the speeches ... gah.
Theoretically and material wise the hardest class I ever took was "Art and Metaphysics." Was my introduction to Derrida/pomo and, while it felt a bit like finding a home, it also felt decidedly messed up. A true false quiz on Derrida? Seriously?
The hardest class personally was "Public Speaking." Because I took it at 18 when I was something a of a shy, reclusive quasi-wreck of a human being. Funny, cause now, every day, I'm a public speaker (and a pretty good one, I think). But I did terrible in the class ... the peer pressure, the strict rigidity of the structures of the speeches ... gah.