Worst course ever taken in school or elsewhere!

[aja8888]

I was poking around the "relativity" thread here and realized what a difficult concept to understand that was (is). There were all kinds of theorems and references to other papers to help clarify what is really an abstract concept. Yeah, that was clear...

Wow, I thought! I must be pretty dense.....then I started thinking back to my college days as I can't remember much about high school (LOL) anymore...except the girls...

What dawned on me was that there was one course in my field that had me scared, or maybe terrified, that I would not be able to get past or past with a poor grade.

I graduated engineering college with a 3.88 GPA (Magna Cum Laude) in Mechanical Engineering and I worked my butt off to do that. The only course I had anything but an "A" in was Differential Equations (Diff E as we called it).

My engineering courses and calculus courses were all given by professors in the Engineering Department. But Diff E was taught by the Math Department. I'll never forget the first day in that class with the room full math students and a prof that filled three blackboards with all kinds of theorems and other symbols. Wow! And after a few days of this, we had a short "test" of which I thought I did well......But my score out of 100 was 20. Yes, 20.

There were two other M.E. students with me in that class and they were as terrified as I was. Plus, the math folks were "acing" those short tests. I thought I was screwed and my GPA would be trashed as I was a Senior and would be graduating that year. So to get by this course with a respectable passing grade, the three of us set out to try to memorize all the theorems in that math book. We would meet in a study hall for days on and pick a chapter and just write these things out and get to the point where we felt comfortable that we could apply the right one to a problem and work it. We spent hours on this stuff. I practically memorized the whole book.

The conclusion was that I got the only "C" in four years of college and I was glad to have that. I probably was given a break by the prof since he knew I had worked to hard to learn that advanced math.

What courses did you have trouble with in school or elsewhere? With all the bright, educated folks here I can believe that something such s I experienced has happened to some here in your education process. I love to hear your "stories".

 

[RunningBum]

Funny you mention Diff EQ, as well called it. I was a comp sci major, and was taking a heavy load of time-consuming program language courses the same semester. So I struggled with Diff EQ. I had to keep a 3.5 or better GPA to keep a scholarship, and this was just my second semester, so I was really sweating. Halfway through the semester I quit my part-time job to make more time.

The only good thing about those programming courses is that there was no final. And one of my friends said his prof told him he would be the one making the final for all of the Diff EQ classes. So I got his tests from the semester and studied hardest on the types of problems on those tests during dead week, but still covered everything. I had it down cold by test time. My prof said we could come check test scores and final grade at the end of the week. He told me my 195/200 was the best in all of the classes. I was a bit disappointed I missed the 5 points. He arched his eyebrows a bit as he told me the grade so I explained my busy schedule and how I was finally able to study well for the final. Oh, I raised my low B to an A for the class.

Other than that, my worst courses wasn't so much because of the subject, but due to a poor instructor or just one I didn't click with.

 

[ModestNestEgg]

Mythology, which I had to take due to needing a certain number of humanities courses, was horrible for me. I just never saw the point in it. It offered no practical information, and unlike some of the other Humanities courses such as Philosophy, some literature (I always enjoyed Henry David Thoreau for instance), or Western Civilization, I never found Mythology all that interesting. It sounded like something someone high on LSD would have thought of, to be completely honest.

I had an overall GPA around 3.8, and I generally like school and learning for the sake of learning. I was also in leadership roles in various extracurricular academic activities and presented a peer reviewed academic paper at a national conference in my area of study. However, my grade in Mythology was the worst grade I ever received. After bombing the tests in that course and trying to BS my way through the essay questions the best that I could, I embarrassingly scraped by with a D+ in that course. I seemed to never stick with studying this (my fault, I know) and I could barely stay awake in that class.

The only thing I remember is that the Professor had a long commute that he would talk about and I still remember where he commuted from. Hearing about his commute was the most interesting part of the class. I actually liked the Professor just fine, but his class was like listening to a rambling Uncle repeat himself with boring tangential stories and then be tested on every painful detail of those stories! And while age and experience lets one see the value in a class that they wouldn't have seen before, after 25 years I still don't see how this class was of any use at all, other than showing me what I don't like.

 

[CoolRich59]

It's funny you mention Differential Equations, because it was the first class I thought of - even though I never took it. I had a couple of buddies who were engineering majors and I can still vividly recall how much they hated the class, although they called it "Deff Q", if I recall correctly.

For me, the undergrad class I disliked the most was Jurisprudence (philosophy of the law). I took it and dropped it twice. I sat in that class and had absolutely no idea what was going on. Looking back, I suspect it had a lot to do with the professor. He was more boring than the text and reading materials.

In law school, I would have to say that Criminal Procedure was the worst class. The material was interesting, but the professor was abysmal. He was an adjunct professor whose day job was a Cook County judge.

There's no way that man should have been teaching. He had the same response to any question: "By the end of the semester, the answer to your question will be crystal clear". After a while, people just stopped asking questions, which I have no doubt was his intent.

 

[Beldar]

Ah yes, Diff EQ. I loved that class so much I took it several times!

Thanks for resurrecting a nightmare.


_B

 

[Ronstar]

I never made it to Diff eq. I got a 19 on a calculus exam, and dropped the course. I retook the the course and passed, but later changed my major to business to avoid any more tough courses.

 

[W2R]

We called it Diff EQ also. I absolutely LOVED that class, but you might imagine that since I was in Electrical Engineering, and you know how that is, lots of math. Anyway, I got the highest grade in an auditorium of about 100 engineering students taking Diff EQ. I thought it was a blast. So much fun!!!! We each have one class that we particularly "click" with, and this was the one for me.

My least favorite class was power and machines, because the lab for that class involved dealing with insanely dangerous amounts of power. The prior year a student had had his arm blown off in that lab, and it wasn't the first time. I would assume that has changed over the years, and I don't even see that class offered now although it was a required upper division EE class when I went through. My guess is that some parents probably sued or something, but not in time for me to avoid taking that infernal class.

Anyway, our TA teaching that lab was from China, and he was in his first semester at Texas A&M. He was great at math but due to curriculum differences he had never done any EE lab work of any kind, at all, so I didn't feel like he was keeping tabs on safety in the lab. And then I was late the first day so I got stuck with the worst students in EE as lab partners for the whole semester. I refused to even stay in the room when they powered up our lab experiments, and went out into the hallway. Didn't want my 8-year-old kid to become an orphan.

 

[JoshTrent]

I'll never forget.. "A Fundamental view of Differential Geometry & Topology"

I needed a Math Course for my Engineering load, and I think the terms "Fundamental" & "Geometry" made it sound easy. I was the only non-math degree person in the course, and that should have been my first red flag.

I think the Prof knew I was a bit out of my element and went easy on me. Somehow I eeked a C out of that class.

 

[ivinsfan]

Don't ask me why but for some insane reason freshman year in the early 70's I enrolled in a shorthand course.

Well, I had a work study job in the business department and one of the profs always talked about how "useful" it was do shorthand.


I didn't make it past the first drop and get your tuition back deadline.

 

[W2R]

Don't ask me why but for some insane reason freshman year in the early 70's I enrolled in a shorthand course.

Well, I had a work study job in the business department and one of the profs always talked about how "useful" it was do shorthand.


I didn't make it past the first drop and get your tuition back deadline.

I always thought it would be neat to know shorthand! But, I never took a class in it or learned how to do it.

It's gratifying to know that I didn't miss much.

 

[jazz4cash]

ME major. A close friend had me convinced that calculus was alien math so when I got through Cal III I thought I was The Boss. Then came Diff EQ as we called it in junior yr. I was shell shocked only because I didn’t think there was anything beyond Calculus. Got through Diff EQ too. The trauma came in the applied version which was taught in the ME DEPT. Systems Analysis from Dr Fan.

 

[lucky penny]

Toughest course ever for me was a physics course in my senior year of high school called "PSSC physics" - don't recall what the acronym meant, but we jokingly referred to it as "pick-and-shovel science course." I think it was a new approach to physics & though science & math were always challenging for me it was assumed the "smart" kids could handle all the hardest courses. I remember virtually nothing about the substance (and never took another science course in my life) but I vividly remember there were periodic tests with 30 questions & once I got only 9 right! -- which was mortifying but not really surprising; I knew I was struggling. After that I met with the teacher who tried to explain some concepts to me by demonstrating them with a rubber band, & for a moment things seemed to make sense. I was determined to stick with it & somehow ended up doing OK, but man, this was way out of my league.

 

[steelyman]

Finite State Automata, Formal Languages & Computational Complexity was a barn burner.

 

[N02L84ER]

I took Diff EQ in college in 1981. I could not fit it into my regular schedule, so I did it "offline". HaHa! The instructor was in St. Louis, I was in Columbia, MO. I would get a letter in the mail with the instructions, assignments, quizzes, and exams. I would mail the completed work. Ran into a section I could not figure out at all. Called and mailed questions with no helpful responses. Tracked down 2 local math professors and they claimed they had no idea how the problems would be solved either. I put down stuff from the chapters, but I knew the work was wrong. Realized when I got my final grade that the instructor must have graded on effort instead of results because I got a B in the class. I was just thankful it was over.

 

[mn54]

organic chemistry. made it through all the previous chemistry classes just fine. those made perfect sense to me. there was a huge white board at the front of the class. the professor would start writing down equations and formulas at one end and proceed to completely fill up the board. the entire hour was spent trying to copy down what he was writing. later on you would try to make sense of it all. luckily the second semester I had a different professor who would hand out at the beginning of class everything he would write down so we could actually just listen to him and try to understand instead of frantically copy eveything.

 

[38Chevy454]

Engineering major here also, metallurgical in my case. We had to take differential equations as the highest math. It was tough, but passed with I think a B. Funny thing is once I was working I joked the hardest math I had to do was adding up my expense account for travel. Not totally true, but not far from reality.
Toughest class for me to actually try to understand was physical chemistry, P-chem for short. It was only Chemistry majors and us MetE majors in the class. I think I only made it through by having every formula variation on my allowed small test cheat sheet. I can't recall but think we could have a 3.5 x 5 card. I wrote very small. I would find the question with variables given and what to solve for. Find that formula on my sheet and figure out how to apply it. Managed to pass that as well with a C. As I said C for complete.
Worst class i hated the most was a general education Philosophy course. Just absolutely did not click with this logical engineer. Squeaked by with about a 70.1 to get a C. Very happy to get that and be done. Best thing I did for Gen Ed courses was taking them as pass/fail: C or better you passed and got credit, D or less and you failed and no credit. I only studied enough to get C or slightly better in those. Allowed more study time for the real engineering and support science type courses where a grade was mandatory.

 

[1242Vintage]

Reading through these post brings back some very painful courses, O-Chem, Diff Equations and structural dynamics rank up there.

Worst one of all time for me was Thermo Dynamics. Took it Spring Semester right after lunch. Teacher was about 70 and retiring at the end of the semester. He used an overhead projector with these ancient overhead slides. The slides were all faded and extremely hard to read. And did I forget to say he would turn out the classroom lights so the overhead was faintly visible and his voice very soft and he spoke slowly.

Didn’t take long for most of us to be in a solid afternoon nap. Thank God some of the fraternity brothers had his old tests and quizzes in the test bank. That’s the only way I passed that class.

 

[REWahoo]

What courses did you have trouble with in school or elsewhere?

Hands down, it was the USAF Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) School, every last course.

Famous last words: "How hard can it be - I love camping out."

 

[MarieIG]

Philosophy. I was incapable of paying attention in that class and would check out mentally after about two sentences.

I forgot about Art. Had to take an art class in college. It did not go well. Everyone else was drawing people. With me it was "MarieIG - try the box - again." Teacher gave me a pity-pass.

 

[Gumby]

We called it Diff EQ also. I absolutely LOVED that class....

I also enjoyed Differential Equations at USNA. IIRC, we usually called it "Screws", which I believe was shortened from Diff EScrews, reflecting the fact that most midshipmen hated it.

 

[ivinsfan]

Hands down, it was the USAF Survival Evasion Resistance Escape (SERE) School, every last course.

Famous last words: "How hard can it be - I love camping out."

Winner, winner, chicken dinner...


The rest of us can quit posting now..

 

[travelover]

ME major and, yes, it was Diff EQ that humbled me.

At my school, it was taught by the math department by a Chinese guy who was barely understandable. He just came in to every class and started writing on the chalk board and did that the whole hour. At first, people tried to ask questions but after a while we realized it was a lost cause. I recall someone asking him for an example of where this technique was applicable and he admitted that he had no idea. Once I got into the engineering curriculum and saw where it was needed, it made sense.

At this school, the math classes were deliberately designed to weed out non-serious engineer wannabees and that they did. What a nightmare.

 

[Bullwinkle]

Funny hearing about all the differential equation trauma... I never took any math classes beyond basic algebra in high school and now the thing that I most want to learn about is partial differential equations to do audio simulation. So I have a few used textbooks off of Amazon and a bunch of links to online textbooks and what not and not even sure where to start. I have no idea if I had taken a class like that back in the day... would I have forgotten it all and be in the same place now? Or would I at least know where to start?

For worst class I guess it would have to be some class on... websites or something, which I can't even remember what it was really about. Not even making them, it was not that technical. We had to fulfill a minimum number of credits in non-major "critical studies" classes, and the choices were very limited, so by junior year I had already taken all the interesting sounding ones, and the only stuff left was... I don't even remember, but not appealing. This one sounded very dull but also very easy. And it was! I don't even remember what I did or if I even did anything, but I still passed. Actually now that I think about it, I do remember one assignment, they said "bring in and describe an interesting website" and I presented the c2 "wiki-wiki web." Surely some nerd concept that will remain obscure forever.

 

[aja8888]

For the posters who said they loved Diff E: you are either mixing this course up with some other course you actually liked or you are not human.

 

[MichaelB]

Brings back memories. In linear algebra only two of us were not engineering or pharmacy students and we had the two highest grades in the class.