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What was the hardest class youve taken in college?
- Thread starter TheDance511
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Or just touch the glass containing whatever you were analyzing without using tongs or gloves, the oil from your skin changed the weight of whatever you were measuring and that screwed up your yield. Ahh, the Analytical Balance!
Electromagnetics really threw me for a loop. The dang calculus was killing me (not my strongest point). That class was the last straw got me to change from Electrical Engineering to Civil Engineering.
In the Civil Engineering Department, my Structural Analysis class was very hard because of the professor. His tests usually lasted 4 to 5 hours because he would give you a beam or truss to analyize with no less than 10 loads on it so you would spend at least an hour per problem just setting everything up before you would work on the stuff that the test was supposed to cover... It was like having a final exam every 4 weeks...
In the Civil Engineering Department, my Structural Analysis class was very hard because of the professor. His tests usually lasted 4 to 5 hours because he would give you a beam or truss to analyize with no less than 10 loads on it so you would spend at least an hour per problem just setting everything up before you would work on the stuff that the test was supposed to cover... It was like having a final exam every 4 weeks...
Mine, so far, has probably been Several Variable Calc. I'm in Diffy Q's right now and that's not too bad.
Calc 3 was hard, but at least somewhat enjoyable. I'm in an intro to Electrical and Computer Engineering seminar right now that is probably the worst class I've ever taken. The teacher tells us about the history of ECE and then assigns homework on 300-level theory. We don't even have a book to reference.
Calc 3 was hard, but at least somewhat enjoyable. I'm in an intro to Electrical and Computer Engineering seminar right now that is probably the worst class I've ever taken. The teacher tells us about the history of ECE and then assigns homework on 300-level theory. We don't even have a book to reference.
Like the title says? What is the hardest class you took in college.. I am taking statistcs and i think its the hardest class ive ever taken.. any thoughts?
I was never that great in math but as a computer science major they made me take a lot of math. A four year degree is 8 semesters. I took 9 semesters of math. I thought is was unfair because everyone in my upper division math classes was a math major except me. So I had to compete with people who were quite good at math. Lower division math is filled with engineering and science majors but they all left after two years.
The prof must have felt sorry for me in the last class "Advanced Algebra" and gave (as in "gift") me a "C".
One of the required EE classes was hard too as it depended on math that I would not study until a semester later when the calculus series covered differential equations
I was one of the first CS students (the 2nd one to graduate) and the university had not yet smoothed the bumps out of the program. For example "Compiler Construction" was only offered as a graduate level class so It was me and a dozen grad students in that class. but I did well there.
Thinking back, there was a digital logic class also at the graduate level that used some of the Cassini spacecraft subsystems as examples. We covered stuff like how parts age with strong radiation exposure and how to design so the system will still work with parts degraded due to aging. (They cal it "design margin") Now of course the spacecraft is at Saturn The class was in the early 1980's Took more than 20 years from design to Saturn orbit. did well there too.
Mo Math
Undergrad - Differential Equations. My one and only "C" ever in my life, and I was thrilled to get it.
Grad - Foundations of Calculus (Analysis) - where you have to prove all the stuff that allows Calculus to work. The book was tiny and unhelpful. The instructor sucked. Thank the gods it was the instructor's last semester before retirement - he passed everyone so he wouldn't have to deal with any complaints or appeals on the way out.
On a side note - it's interesting to see how many different ways people spell "Diff EQ". Must be a regional thing.
Undergrad - Differential Equations. My one and only "C" ever in my life, and I was thrilled to get it.
Grad - Foundations of Calculus (Analysis) - where you have to prove all the stuff that allows Calculus to work. The book was tiny and unhelpful. The instructor sucked. Thank the gods it was the instructor's last semester before retirement - he passed everyone so he wouldn't have to deal with any complaints or appeals on the way out.
On a side note - it's interesting to see how many different ways people spell "Diff EQ". Must be a regional thing.
The hardest class i ever too was a European Political theory class. We studied the history and current aspects of most of the European Governments. There was so much reading and 2 20 page papers. We had to read news papers from the European countries that were going to be discussed in class.
Lowest grades were in Transport Phenomena. On the first test I scored 11%. I got a B because the highest score was a 25%.
It's hard to say for me. I would lean toward Analog IC (Integrated Circuit) Design. Insane homework loads (30 hours/week or so) and tough material. That said, I did well and it was also probably my favorite class in college.
I'm a graphic design major, so none of the classes are hard so much as they're lots of work. The gen. ed classes are kind of a pain though. I guess the hardest one I took was physics, but it was still a lot easier than the physics class I took in high school.
AutoCad back in the year 2000. Back then I didn't know anything about computers and didn't even own one. I stayed enrolled in the class for two weeks and then withdrawled from it; that puts a big 'W' on my transcript.
It's has to be between Aircraft Structures 1 and Flight Dynamics
Aircraft Structures 1 for the massive learning curve, and Flight Dynamics don't know it just sucked.
Thinking about it now Flight Dynamics takes it.And now I'm considering doing my masters in that field - idiot.
Aircraft Structures 1 for the massive learning curve, and Flight Dynamics don't know it just sucked.
Thinking about it now Flight Dynamics takes it.And now I'm considering doing my masters in that field - idiot.
My first 3d animation thesis class.
This is one of three classes for an entire year. The class is easy enough. You come up with and idea for an aniamtion, and you do all the pre-animating work. Which means you create in order: Pitch/storyboards/charater profiles/enviomental designs/enviroment models/character models/and texture everything.
I had everything done but the texturing and was told to scrape my thesis, all that I had been working on for four months and do everything over. That was two weeks before the end of the semester. I ended up failing needless to say. But I'm through it and have a different teacher now.
- Scott
This is one of three classes for an entire year. The class is easy enough. You come up with and idea for an aniamtion, and you do all the pre-animating work. Which means you create in order: Pitch/storyboards/charater profiles/enviomental designs/enviroment models/character models/and texture everything.
I had everything done but the texturing and was told to scrape my thesis, all that I had been working on for four months and do everything over. That was two weeks before the end of the semester. I ended up failing needless to say. But I'm through it and have a different teacher now.
- Scott
Among all of the reasons that made me switch from an EE major to a management major were
- Physics - Just couldn't grasp all of the concepts either the first (F) or second (D) time through
- Calc 3 - Don't ask... after the test we had to take while 9/11 was going on (yeah, that was before they canceled the rest of the day's classes)
- Digital signal processing - I understand the concepts behind it, but was completely lost on the math
I had all 3 courses in one semester. Failed them (except for the D in physics). I was a proud member of the square root club (square root of GPA is higher than actual GPA ). Took the next semester off and then went into management. Hooray!
- Physics - Just couldn't grasp all of the concepts either the first (F) or second (D) time through
- Calc 3 - Don't ask... after the test we had to take while 9/11 was going on (yeah, that was before they canceled the rest of the day's classes)
- Digital signal processing - I understand the concepts behind it, but was completely lost on the math
I had all 3 courses in one semester. Failed them (except for the D in physics). I was a proud member of the square root club (square root of GPA is higher than actual GPA
). Took the next semester off and then went into management. Hooray!
Calculus, freshman year. It was a lecture class with 300 students in the hall. The professor was nicknamed "machine gun" by the students because of his rapid-fire vocal style, and for the sound his chalk made as he hammered away nonstop on the blackboard. A couple of times during the lecture he'd say, "any questions," pause for a split-second, and then resume firing away. It was terrifying.
I was in one of those 300-student calculus classes too. The instructor was like Professor Kingsfield in "The Paper Chase", if you ever saw that movie or TV show - extremely well respected, very serious, and the type nobody ever questioned. He'd walk in a side door at the front of the room, give the lecture, and exit the same way. The room was always very quiet when he was present. I was always good at math, but I wasn't prepared for what happened one day shortly before finals week. The professor walked in as usual, but before he started the lecture he looked up at us and said "Where is _____ _____?" using my first and last name. I stood up and he looked at me but said nothing more. I sat down and he started his lecture. I had never spoken to him personally, and I was embarrassed to have 300 people looking at me without warning. I should have been braver and asked him why he wanted to know which student I was, but I didn't. My friends told me it probably meant I was the best student in the class, but I never learned that for sure. Maybe he just thought my name was interesting.
Lest you think I'm posting in the wrong thread, I'll answer the question at hand. My hardest class was a physics class in fluid dynamics. I had a professor that wasn't very good, a T.A. that wasn't very good, I missed one week of classes that put me behind in my work, and somehow Daniel Bernoulli and I never agreed on principles.
The "C" I got in that class was the lowest grade I ever got. Other than one homework problem, which I described here a year ago, I did not enjoy that class.
For myself:
Undergraduate: Physical chemistry. However, I have thought in the past that I might willingly go back to that class before taking an additional organic chemistry course.
Graduate: Statistical ecology. From what I recall, there may have been one student in the class that understood the bewildering array of mathematics that the teacher was using. And who said biology has no math in it?
Always...
Undergraduate: Physical chemistry. However, I have thought in the past that I might willingly go back to that class before taking an additional organic chemistry course.
Graduate: Statistical ecology. From what I recall, there may have been one student in the class that understood the bewildering array of mathematics that the teacher was using. And who said biology has no math in it?
Always...
Finance, hands down. It was known as the GPA buster at my school. The average test score in all three sections of the class offered was a 72 and passing was a 65.
I still managed to get a B+ and the professor congratulated me!
I still managed to get a B+ and the professor congratulated me!
It is weird for me because organic was a lot easier for me than general chemistry 2. I just couldnt do it, i got by with a C (5 credits, GPA killer) and got a B+ in both Organic 1 and 2 with less work. I think it was just one of those things im not good at, that was probably the most helpless i have ever felt as a student in my life, i was completely lost.
Physics 2 killed me, after doing well in Physics 1 i was pretty confident but then this prof totally owned me (and the 36 out of 72 students that he failed). That class should have been that hard, part of it was the prof, i think, because i knew the material pretty well.
I think i could retake both those classes and do better than the C's i earned but to go through those labs again would just suck, and i want to get on to grad school.
Physics 2 killed me, after doing well in Physics 1 i was pretty confident but then this prof totally owned me (and the 36 out of 72 students that he failed). That class should have been that hard, part of it was the prof, i think, because i knew the material pretty well.
I think i could retake both those classes and do better than the C's i earned but to go through those labs again would just suck, and i want to get on to grad school.
Simulation & Design of Experiments.
Basically alot of Stat + Matlab. I hate Matlab with a passion. Oh and did I mention it is one of the only senior (400-level) classes that is 8AM?
*I think I'll add Fluid Dynamics. 300-level Civil Engineering class designed for C's and D's. He called his 5 problem tests "15 min quizzes" b/c he could complete them in that time. Of course we only had 45mins to do them, and he wonders "why we are so slow".
Basically alot of Stat + Matlab. I hate Matlab with a passion. Oh and did I mention it is one of the only senior (400-level) classes that is 8AM?
*I think I'll add Fluid Dynamics. 300-level Civil Engineering class designed for C's and D's. He called his 5 problem tests "15 min quizzes" b/c he could complete them in that time. Of course we only had 45mins to do them, and he wonders "why we are so slow".
Undergrad: Electromagnetism baffled me completely...the first time. Scored a very unpleasant D and retook it the following semester with a different professor, and aced it.
Grad: Compiler Construction. Theory was okay, but the final project -- having to write a C compiler that produced assembly language for the MIPS R10000 CPU -- was exceedingly time consuming. Was one of only two who finished it.
Grad: Compiler Construction. Theory was okay, but the final project -- having to write a C compiler that produced assembly language for the MIPS R10000 CPU -- was exceedingly time consuming. Was one of only two who finished it.