[Nil]

This doesn't have to be the most advanced, but whatever class gave you the most difficulty at any point in your life.

For me it would have been pre-calc. I ended up missing many days that year and along with being introduced to a different kind of math, it was the first time I actually ever failed a final. But of course, most likely out of sympathy for my situation, got a curve and passed with the minimum. Can't say I ever learned a thing in that class and was intimidated to take any other math courses for years after that. Fortunately, I've come to love math again.

[ImmNinjaxD]

For me it would have been pre-calc.

This. Pre-calc in of itself was a bitch for me because of trigonometry and of the sheer amount of stuff you have to cram into your brain for this class. At least where I go to school, trigonometry is no longer a class, so an entire year's worth of study is pushed in with a class that's already considered advanced. As a senior, I can gladly say that i'm in Calculus.

Besides the painful course, I spent half of the year struggling to learn from a teacher who seemingly hated his life and his job. He was an older man who mumbled at the board and interacted extremely little, and I fought to get out of his class before midterms so I wouldn't fail. Being as i'm more interested in English/film than anything else, this was not a particularly fun class. But i'm only a highschool senior, so there is much more to come.

[Nil]

This. Pre-calc in of itself was a bitch for me because of trigonometry and of the sheer amount of stuff you have to cram into your brain for this class. At least where I go to school, trigonometry is no longer a class, so an entire year's worth of study is pushed in with a class that's already considered advanced. As a senior, I can gladly say that i'm in Calculus.

Besides the painful course, I spent half of the year struggling to learn from a teacher who seemingly hated his life and his job. He was an older man who mumbled at the board and interacted extremely little, and I fought to get out of his class before midterms so I wouldn't fail. Being as i'm more interested in English/film than anything else, this was not a particularly fun class. But i'm only a highschool senior, so there is much more to come.

Looking back, I believe I remember that trigonometry was offered after pre-calc at my school. I remember dropping trig after the first class but can't remember if that was before or after I "passed" pre-calc.

The point I'm getting at is that trig would have helped a ton with pre-calc so I feel like curriculum-wise it'd benefit to take that first. The other option is I made my life a lot more difficult by skipping out on trig before pre-calc if it indeed was offered before I took pre-calc.

My life is a blur.

[roger_smith]

The most challenging class I can think of in recent memory would be the sociology class I took. i really enjoyed the class, I found the subject matter interesting, but my instructor was very "strict" in a way. It wasn't a bad thing, it was nice to be challenged. I think i ended up getting a 3.0 in that class, which is decent enough I guess. It's low for me though, I usually 3.5-4.0 my classes.

[ねこまっしぐら]

The hardest class for me was English, because English isn't my first language.

[The Real Slim Shady]

There are two ways to look at "difficult".

1. Time required.
2. Actual difficulty in learning.

I had one course, which was essentially history of computing. covered everything from egyptian numerals to how the modern processor works (von neumann architecture). the material wasn't hard - but the amount of homework and effort that was required to obtain very little marks (eg: reading 70 pages and writing a 750? word summary) was worth about 0.40% of our final grade. Each week we had to complete 10-12 tasks like this for 2% of our grade. The major assessment pieces weren't much better.

The other course - was on Cryptography. That was probably the most difficult course to actually complete as far as intellectually difficult. I was never great at mathematics. this course just proved it lol They actually had us writing out and working with cryptographic algorithms on paper :/

[Dismas]

There are two ways to look at "difficult".

1. Time required.
2. Actual difficulty in learning.

I had one course, which was essentially history of computing. covered everything from egyptian numerals to how the modern processor works (von neumann architecture). the material wasn't hard - but the amount of homework and effort that was required to obtain very little marks (eg: reading 70 pages and writing a 750? word summary) was worth about 0.40% of our final grade. Each week we had to complete 10-12 tasks like this for 2% of our grade. The major assessment pieces weren't much better.

The other course - was on Cryptography. That was probably the most difficult course to actually complete as far as intellectually difficult. I was never great at mathematics. this course just proved it lol They actually had us writing out and working with cryptographic algorithms on paper :/

This. There's a difference in the amount of effort required and the complexity of the material.

[The Real Slim Shady]

This. There's a difference in the amount of effort required and the complexity of the material.

Thats a much more succinct explanation. I was at a loss for words haha. but thats the point i was going for.

[Nil]

There are two ways to look at "difficult".

1. Time required.
2. Actual difficulty in learning.

I had one course, which was essentially history of computing. covered everything from egyptian numerals to how the modern processor works (von neumann architecture). the material wasn't hard - but the amount of homework and effort that was required to obtain very little marks (eg: reading 70 pages and writing a 750? word summary) was worth about 0.40% of our final grade. Each week we had to complete 10-12 tasks like this for 2% of our grade. The major assessment pieces weren't much better.

I feel like every CS professor is like that. I figured I was done writing papers after English classes were done with but I'm pretty sure I wrote 10x more papers in CS classes and way more frequently. And they were longer and required more research, LOL.

The other course - was on Cryptography. That was probably the most difficult course to actually complete as far as intellectually difficult. I was never great at mathematics. this course just proved it lol They actually had us writing out and working with cryptographic algorithms on paper :/

That sounds very painful, especially without a solid math background.

[The Real Slim Shady]

I feel like every CS professor is like that. I figured I was done writing papers after English classes were done with but I'm pretty sure I wrote 10x more papers in CS classes and way more frequently. And they were longer and required more research, LOL.

It's been pretty good actually. I generally haven't had to due a whole lot of essays. Reports, Observations, etc sure - but thats usually based around a practical assessment piece. But that might be the difference between CS and IT degrees? Im doing IT. Only in a 2 courses Have I done ~100 page reports but those were both done in groups of 4.

That sounds very painful, especially without a solid math background.

It was. The course itself was probably only 40% on Cryptography. By large the single largest topic being taught in the class though. So between all the other material and the cryptography I came out with an alright grade. not a great grade, but nowhere near a fail or anything. about 70% if you would.