Top 10 toughest courses at St Andrews

[nighteyes]

Stealing a topic from the old sinner as I have no imagination and would like to see the sinner return to how it once was.

1. Medicine
2. Physics
3. Maths
4. Chemistry
5. Biology
6. Psychology
7. Neuroscience
8. Latin
9. Greek
10.IR

So what do you lot think?

[hr]

i didnt say i was consistant, just right!

[Lyeta]

Depends what you mean by "tough" really - are we talking highest IQ-wise or workload wise? If workload wise I wouldn't have placed maths (or physics) that high up...And does neuroscience not count as biology?

[nighteyes]

Take it to mean IQ-wise just for arguments sake. I class Neuroscience as its own subject *shrugs*

[hr]

i didnt say i was consistant, just right!

[Gubbins]

1. Old Course
2. Jubilee Course
...

Sorry - couldn't resist. On a less flippant note, don't forget the physics course will have changed from a four-year to five-year course in that time (yet still contains almost the same amount of work).

[hr]

...but then again, that is only my opinion.

[Mehmsy]

I'd actually go so far as to say that Astronomy is harder than Physics; and possibly the hardest course here. The workload may not be as much as some other courses, but the level of understanding required is very high. Not to mention that exams are absolutely killer.

[hr]

http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37106593

[Dave the Explosive Newt]

It's a very relative thing, I think. Now I've got used to the rhythm of cramming that medicine entails and the volume of work involved, I wouldn't say it's easy but definitely managable. If you were to put an English Literature degree infront of me I'd be at a complete loss - I think I'd have a very hard time making an intelligent analysis of the themes of a book or its characters.

Relative levels of difficulty are difficult to measure as it's all down to the gifts of the individual taking the course.

[hr]

Mmmmmmm, cake.
http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37102114

[sat]

Some courses are interesting cases in that the work over the semester can be reasonably demanding but the module exam is much more routine. Maths honours modules, for example, usually have tutorial sheets which would have the students doing quite varied things, but the exams tend to have a lot more in the way of bookwork with a handful of marks for unseen things at the end of questions.

So the course as a whole can be reasonably demanding but one could pass the exam on a lot less.

Physics, on the other hand, is often less predictable.

I couldn't comment on other subjects.

[Malcolm]

In terms of sheer workload, Comp Sci is a killer.

But the exams usually aren't as hard as some other subjects I've seen.

[AuZ]

True workload wise Comp Sci IS the beast. I would actually put Maths as first place... Also depends what level (year)...
SO i supose the toughest course could be Maths and Comp Sci as a joint ??

[exnihilo]

Or this whole exercise could just be pointless, because nobody is in a position to judge more than a handful of courses except on the basis of their friends' whining about their workload. Different levels of intelligence and ability and different areas of expertise from one person to the next make the whole question moot.

[sat]

Quoting exnihilo from 12:53, 26th Jan 2007
Or this whole exercise could just be pointless, because nobody is in a position to judge more than a handful of courses except on the basis of their friends' whining about their workload. Different levels of intelligence and ability and different areas of expertise from one person to the next make the whole question moot.

I agree.

I'm actually quite interested in the wholse business of assessment. What thoughts do others have? For example, should there be more or less continuous assessment, should exams be more or less standardised...?

There is quite a lot of emphasis (sometimes) on continuous assessment for some of my modules, and I often feel that this only serves to get in the way of the subject: it turns into an issue of getting marks rather than thinking about the different possibilities for answers. It also stifles discussion with the lecturers because lecturers can be reluctant to release answers.

(Off topic slightly. Sorry. I'd be interested to see some thoughts though.)

[sat]

Quoting exnihilo from 12:53, 26th Jan 2007
Or this whole exercise could just be pointless, because nobody is in a position to judge more than a handful of courses except on the basis of their friends' whining about their workload. Different levels of intelligence and ability and different areas of expertise from one person to the next make the whole question moot.

I agree.

I'm actually quite interested in the whole business of assessment. What thoughts do others have? For example, should there be more or less continuous assessment, should exams be more or less standardised...?

There is quite a lot of emphasis (sometimes) on continuous assessment for some of my modules, and I often feel that this only serves to get in the way of the subject: it turns into an issue of getting marks rather than thinking about the different possibilities for answers. It also stifles discussion with the lecturers because lecturers can be reluctant to release answers.

(Off topic slightly. Sorry. I'd be interested to see some thoughts though.)

[hoopy froodette]

I think a lot of people find Greek harder than Latin. Latin has rules and generally follows them, whereas Greek mostly ignores them and is very irregular. I also think the workload for Greek is a little heavier than for Latin.

[hr]

Nothing succeeds like a toothless budgie.

[Magic Dragon]

But apparently none so tough that people don't have enough time to create new threads from old material on message boards

[Tweedle-Dum]

Quoting hoopy froodette from 13:16, 26th Jan 2007
I think a lot of people find Greek harder than Latin. Latin has rules and generally follows them, whereas Greek mostly ignores them and is very irregular. I also think the workload for Greek is a little heavier than for Latin.

[hr]

Nothing succeeds like a toothless budgie.

But greek spelling is much easier.

[hr]

Tetragrammaton is a four letter word.

[cberry]

Depends if you want to judge workload or intellectual rigour. Workload of Maths was minimal.

The hardest working people I have met were the Biochemists. There are only 10 or so per year, and you rarely meet them because they work so hard. I knew some students who in final year put 40 hour weeks in the lab followed by 4 hours each evening studying at home. Doing Maths I probably averaged 10% of that.

Chris

[KateBush]

Greek is far easier than Latin!

[hr]

The only way to avoid trouble is to BE trouble

[Science is Fun]

all I can do is rank the courses I take as to how hard they are.
psychology and biology are almost exactly the same in toughness. Although I would imagine taking them together as nueroscience would be a bit harder than taking them individually and being able to take easy courses to the side.
Philosophy is easy to disconcerting extent
Does any one want to make a list of the easiest courses?

[novium]

combine greek and latin into "classics" and I think they deserve to move up a notch in the list.

[hr]

tamen ira procul absit, cum qua nihil recte fieri, nihil considerate potest.

[Das Feuer liebt mich]

Hahahahahaha try Hebrew.....