The Hardest Class You Ever Had

['Hamas' Jenkins]

I just finished up my coursework for the semester. While Organic I was a comparative breeze, Organic II was a bitch. Honestly, the tests were more of a monster than the actual course load.

Here were the grade breakdowns (all tests were MC):

80-100-A
62-79-B
46-61: C
40-46: D

While the baseline material itself wasn't exceptionally difficult, there were so many exceptions to the rules, and exceptions to exceptions, that the tests ended up as absolute minefields.

With that said, I've heard even worse things about Biochem, and I'm sure that those of you with or pursuing advanced Math/Science degrees have had nightmare courses as well.

What class was it that kicked your ass the hardest?

[Red Beans]

Finite Math. From Kindergarten to my Masters, it was the only F I ever earned.

[Molitoth]

Took Calc I at university and hated it. Thought to myself... really? I need calc III to graduate? eff this.

Went to programming trade school and coded straight A's until I finished my degree.

Gen Eds like calc are a bunch of bullshit nonsense.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by AustinChief

Oh honorable mention here was an easy class called "Engineering Computing" (or some such). The professor was ancient and decided that since he had to learn on PUNCH CARDS he would make us at least do one project that way. It was bad enough that we had to learn Fortran 77 (so named because 1977 was the last major update).. but PUNCH CARDS??!??

Not a hard class but hard to care anything about something so completely useless, yet required for all engineering students.

Maybe the crazy old bastard was a fan of the IBM punch card system the Nazis used to catalog prisoners in death camps.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

BA from '00-'04
MA from '05-'07
Taught from there.
Pharm D. beginning in '15.

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

[ghak99]

Seems like I remember a physiology class that had single questions as tests.

The class was massively confusing, but if you could bullshit your way around the concepts involved in the processes he'd circle some shit and mark out some stuff and you'd end up near the top of the curve because half the class was in the 25-30% range with many never even having a clue how to answer the question.

Cute girls with large breasts seemed to get their test grades raised via one on one discussions. The only time I tried it I'm pretty sure I left his office with a lower score.

[BucEyedPea]

Physics

[Mizzou_8541]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Here was a question from my recent final. I got the answer right, but it just pissed me off:

Which one of the following compounds adds twice to this molecule:



A. MeMgBr (a Grignard)
B. Me2CuLi (an organocuprate)
C. DIBAL (a source of hydride)
D. LDA (A nitrogen atom with two lone pairs and two isopropyl groups)
E. All of them will.

I added the info in (). We were told throughout the course that irreversible nucleophiles add twice to carboxylic acid derivatives. Also, LDA isn't technically irreversible, but essentially functions as an irreversible nucleophile.

[MagicHef]

Vibrations. I think I blocked all my memories of it, because the only thing I remember was the one day that I wrecked my bike on the way to class and sat there quietly bleeding on my desk.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Maybe the crazy old bastard was a fan of the IBM punch card system the Nazis used to catalog prisoners in death camps.

HA! He was old enough to have worked on it for all I know.

Only cool part of the class was when he had a guest prof teach for a week. Guy was from my specialization, aerospace, and we learned about the giant water tunnel at U-M for testing submarines for the military.

[lewdog]

We had a professor in grad school who gave us 100 question True/False tests. Every question was True or False. He then would make you turn them in where he sat at a table in the front of the class. He'd put his answer sheet over yours and make the most obvious, arm jerking movement for each checkmark he had to make, so the whole class could see how many you were missing. I admired how much of a dick he was for some reason because I thought it was a pretty genius way to humiliate students like that. Like a CP thing to do.

[prhom]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Is it true that they put out a death warrant on you if you drop that course?

Hah, good one! But this was pre-September 11, so things seemed different.

[BullJunkandIron]

Originally Posted by KCtotheSB

I would get mad at that too.

[TrebMaxx]

I would tell ya but I don't have any class! "badabing"

Truthfully, Logic messed me over.

[cdcox]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

It's just a matter of survival, especially in advanced classes like that. I do not envy being part of a search committee in advanced math courses. Really, those professors should almost never be hired as instructional faculty, because if you can't communicate, how can you teach, but they open themselves up to massive discrimination lawsuits if you do that. However, one of the things students evaluate instructors on (it's on the actual forms) is the clarity of their speaking and ease of communication.

Tenure track faculty in technical fields have to teach and conduct research. Usually someone is stronger than one area than another. We have to balance the two during searches. We can and do decide not to hire faculty based on poor communication skills -- there is no concern about discrimination lawsuits with respect to poor communication. A couple of our better rated teachers are native Chinese speakers.

[prhom]

Originally Posted by lewdog

We had a professor in grad school who gave us 100 question True/False tests. Every question was True or False. He then would make you turn them in where he sat at a table in the front of the class. He'd put his answer sheet over yours and make the most obvious, arm jerking movement for each checkmark he had to make, so the whole class could see how many you were missing. I admired how much of a dick he was for some reason because I thought it was a pretty genius way to humiliate students like that. Like a CP thing to do.

That IS a dick move. My favorite test memory was in Fluid Mechanics. They handed out the tests and this guy next to me puts his name on the top and starts flipping through the test sheet by sheet. I figure he's just sizing it up and deciding where to start. He gets to the end, mumbles something, calmly stands up and starts walking to the prof's desk. By now everyone is watching to see what he's doing. He reaches the desk, places the test on the desk and just walks out! Never seen anything like it. Most people just wouldn't show up at all if they were that unprepared.