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toughest university course?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
What is the toughest course you've had to take in college?

Mine would be either Organic Chem or Constitutional Law- got C's in both and was happy
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    In the UK you get to choose which cousrse you do, so you can't complain too much if they are difficult. As soon as I had done my GCSE's I was delighted to drop Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Food Tech. Not hard, just mind numbingly boring and pointless. At A Level, I would say European Law and syntax of language is what I found hardest.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Well this may suprise some people, bu the toughest course I do is wait for it.... P.E!

    I know people reckon it's a doss, but I get more notes, more exams, harder subjects, more coursework than any other subject. AND we have to do assessed practical aswell. All the other people who do P.E., who also do lots of different subjects also find it their hardest subject.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Got to be A level Chemistry. Especially stuff on chemical equilibria and stuff like that! It was all so similar that it all got mixed up in your head and once that happened you were buggered! Ksp, Ka, Kp, pKa, pKb, Kw, Kb, Keq ..... oh god its all flooding back!!!! <IMG alt="image" SRC="eek.gif" border="0"> <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As for uni i found my module in Human Physiology pretty hard purely 4 the weight of stuff that you had to lean and the fact that all the words were similar and all the hormones etc. had about 100 different uses all over the body. was fun though! <IMG alt="image" SRC="wink.gif" border="0">
  • Girl-From-MarsGirl-From-Mars Posts: 2,822 Boards Guru
    i would say A level chemistry. i can't really say that any of my GCSEs were that hard, and out of my A levels (chem, biology, geog and now psychology), chem would be the hardest. although i don't like to think how i would have coped with A level physics or maths <IMG alt="image" SRC="tongue.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A'Level maths...I got a C and was delighted. Especially as for two of my four modules I got an E and a U <IMG alt="image" SRC="frown.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Music A level a mixture of maths and every foreign languge in the universe; I got a D
    need i say more? maybe this qualifies for entrance into the music biz!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by hotphoenix:
    <STRONG>Got to be A level Chemistry. Especially stuff on chemical equilibria and stuff like that! It was all so similar that it all got mixed up in your head and once that happened you were buggered! Ksp, Ka, Kp, pKa, pKb, Kw, Kb, Keq ..... oh god its all flooding back!!!! <IMG alt="image" SRC="eek.gif" border="0"> <IMG alt="image" SRC="biggrin.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

    I did chemistry (dropped it in the second year, not beacuse it was too hard but beacause it was the least relevant subject) and I found PE harder.....
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A Level Maths and Physics are not that bad. The fun stuff (quantum physics, relativity, particle physics) is quite simple, at A Level.

    Maths wasn't too bad. Further Maths. Eeek.

    Chemistry. Ye gods
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A Level Maths and Physics are not that bad. The fun stuff (quantum physics, relativity, particle physics) is quite simple, at A Level.
    Maths wasn't too bad.
    please u have have to explain how. everyone i knew who did it had difficulty
    quantum physics and fun do not belong in the same sentence
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You're joking? Maybe it's just me, then.

    Quantums physics and particle physics is an abstraction. If you try and think about it in real terms, then it becomes difficult. If you don't, I found it much easier. Trying to operationalise particle physics is difficult, yes. Abstraction is not.

    I guess it was one of those topics I took to. I had a superb teacher, who gave us all enthusiasm, even for gases or boring stuff. We did mad things - he taught us how to derive relativity, and build nuclear weapons. That kind of thing.

    *wonders whether he can still derive relativity eqns.*

    It's good. Fun. Honestly.

    How can you not be amused by the property of a property being "strangeness"?

    Apocryphal story goes that physicists observed the particle behaviour, and said "that's strange".

    Other such "physicist's witticism" includes;

    areas in particle physics; barn, shed. Called a barn, because not hitting the area of an electron with the accelerators was likened to missing a barn door with a shotgun... Shed is smaller than a barn, obviously.

    Colour of quarks.

    Direction of quarks. (Up, down, strange,
    charmed, and anti up, anti down, anti strange and anti charm)

    Shake - three nanoseconds. "Three shakes of a lamb's tail", very short time.

    A computing example - a byte is a defined unit of memory, yes? What's half a byte (or a quarter - I can't remember) - it's a nybble.

    Quite.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Judging on this thread I got a good Year12 and 13 to look forward to...

    Maths
    Further Maths
    English Lang/Lit
    Physics
    PE or Chemistry (AS)

    Predicted A for all of em at GCSE but I'm still nervous...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Definatly the course I'm doing at the moment, without doubt...

    MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator) a 12 week course with 4 exams (each MCP certified), each giving you letters after your name and shite loads of stuff you have to learn, its silly... like folders and folders to learn each week then a random test on each one...
    http://www.microsoft.com/mcsa/

    Its really hard work....

    Apart from my DJ course, which I completely enjoyed and genuinely wanted to do, the other courses I've done (ie. Combat Medical Technician etc.) and School I've never really been bothered about and not studied for, except for this MCSA which if I didn't I would never pass...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think the toughest university course is Geography.

    This is for three reasons;
    (1) It's a mixture between arts and sciences, which means you write essays, do classes and practicals and all that nonsense.
    (2) It's mulitdisciplinary. So far this year, I have been respectively;
    -an historian,
    -a mathematician,
    -an english student - all those essays
    -a demographer,
    -a physicist,
    -a meteorologist,
    -a photographic interpreter,
    -a radar image interpreter,
    -a Marxist
    -a capitalist
    -post structuralist, post colonialist approach-ist
    and, within my own discipline, an ecologist, climatologist, hydrologist, geomorphologist, empiricist, and cartographer.
    (3) No other subject gets taken the mickey out of so much. After doing all that, we get told that all we do is colour in, and that to get a First, we have to not go over the lines.

    Tch.

    I am a Geographer.

    I actually quite like the subject - this is very much tongue in cheek.

    <IMG alt="image" SRC="smile.gif" border="0">
  • Girl-From-MarsGirl-From-Mars Posts: 2,822 Boards Guru
    Originally posted by DJP:
    <STRONG>I think the toughest university course is Geography.

    This is for three reasons;
    (1) It's a mixture between arts and sciences, which means you write essays, do classes and practicals and all that nonsense.
    (2) It's mulitdisciplinary. So far this year, I have been respectively;
    -an historian,
    -a mathematician,
    -an english student - all those essays
    -a demographer,
    -a physicist,
    -a meteorologist,
    -a photographic interpreter,
    -a radar image interpreter,
    -a Marxist
    -a capitalist
    -post structuralist, post colonialist approach-ist
    and, within my own discipline, an ecologist, climatologist, hydrologist, geomorphologist, empiricist, and cartographer.
    (3) No other subject gets taken the mickey out of so much. After doing all that, we get told that all we do is colour in, and that to get a First, we have to not go over the lines.

    Tch.

    I am a Geographer.

    I actually quite like the subject - this is very much tongue in cheek.

    <IMG alt="image" SRC="smile.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

    i love geography. i loved it throughout school and gcses and a levels. although some of it got a bit crap, the teachers didn't help. i think i might do an elective module in it at university, in the middle of my psychology degree i plan to be doing in september <IMG alt="image" SRC="smile.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I studied Law, Economics/Business and General Studies 'A' Levels. I dropped Government and Politics. I found Economics/Business the most challenging, because to get the best grades, it was necessary to bring many areas of the subject together to produce a logical and well-reasoned conclusion.

    [ 06-02-2002: Message edited by: Mobily ]
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Mobily:
    <STRONG>I studied Law, Economics/Business and General Studies 'A' Levels. I dropped Government and Politics. I found Economics/Business the most challenging, because to get the best grades, it was necessary to bring many areas of the subject together to produce a logical and well-reasoned conclusion.

    [ 06-02-2002: Message edited by: Mobily ]</STRONG>

    Couldn't agree with you more. I'm majoring in Econ and International Relations and had to take some Political Economy classes. Christ! Basically you had to take all the knowledge that you ever learned on ANY of those classes and use it to analyze incredibly huge economic systems. Not to mention the formulae, which are so confusing as to give little 'ol me a huge headache before any test.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    At school CSYS Physics was the hardest thing I did.
    At Uni, Mechanics, Statistics, Maths and Control have been my most difficult modules. All of them have involved hard sums. Any school kids who think they'll never use trig and calculus are dead wrong.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can honestly say I have never used trig or calculus apart from at school, to pass exams. What a waste of time that was! Even when I worked in a shop/pub, the till did the sums for me.

    What about learning useful things like politics and current affairs, which are not taught, yet you are expected to vote at 18.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by KrazedKT:
    <STRONG>I can honestly say I have never used trig or calculus apart from at school, to pass exams. What a waste of time that was! Even when I worked in a shop/pub, the till did the sums for me. </STRONG>

    Working in a shop doesn't take quite as much effort as designing a billion-pound aircraft carrier or a robot or an aeroplane or a bridge...

    As for politics, don't they teach Modern Studies in England? Its basically politics and current affairs. You can do it in Scotland. My little brother did it for a Standard Grade.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by TheEgoHasLanded:
    <STRONG>Judging on this thread I got a good Year12 and 13 to look forward to...

    Maths
    Further Maths
    English Lang/Lit
    Physics
    PE or Chemistry (AS)

    Predicted A for all of em at GCSE but I'm still nervous...</STRONG>


    I got an A at gcse maths, and am currently on a B at A-level, hoping for an A. Its always been my speciality. And further maths scares me considerably... its for insane people. <IMG alt="image" SRC="smile.gif" border="0">
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Did a BTEC Computer Studies at college.
    I think Computer Science is another name for Applied Maths.

    My friend's chemistry degree looks hard, though.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm majoring in Econ and International Relations

    Hey Im doing an economics degree. Don't know about you but when I started I was quite suprised at the amount of maths involved at a microeconomic level which made it quite hard. Im starting macro module now which should be more interesting
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