Classes That Sound Easy, But Are Actually Really Hard

September 22, 2012 6:00 pm     Posted in College, Homepage Exclusive, Rotating Marquee  Jessica Zaleski g+ page

 


By Jessica Zaleski

Making your schedule in college takes almost as much effort as writing a ten-page paper or studying for an exam. You have to make sure you get the classes you need, and they all need to be at certain times so there isn’t any overlap (we don’t have Time-Turners in muggle world). One of the hardest parts about making a schedule is picking your “easy” classes. Those are the classes you pick when you need one more credit, but already have a packed schedule of the tough classes you need to fill your major’s requirements. You need these classes to be easy, because you’re either going to be slammed with work from other classes or because you don’t really care about the class, since it’s not a part of your major.

The worst thing about picking “easy” classes is when you think you’re getting a whole semester of take-home tests and completion assignments, but you don’t. The class turns out to be really hard, and suddenly you’re in jeopardy of failing your easy A class. Well fear not CC readers, because I’ve been through four years of college, so I know which classes to avoid when you’re looking to keep that GPA at a 4.0. If you want to coast through this semester, don’t take the following courses:

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    [lead image via OtnaYdur/shutterstock.com]

    21 Comments on "Classes That Sound Easy, But Are Actually Really Hard"

    1. Rina says:
      Sun, 23rd Sep 201210:33 am 

      I agree with you about Intro to Astronomy. I took it because I needed a science credit and people said it was easy, but it was extremely difficult.

    2. Abby says:
      Mon, 24th Sep 20125:41 am 

      So true, especially the online classes!
      http://www.onestilettoatatime.com

    3. tiffany-unc chapel hill says:
      Thu, 27th Sep 20124:00 pm 

      Any geology class sounds easy but there's so much work! And rocks are not fun.

    4. katy says:
      Sat, 29th Sep 201212:31 pm 

      what were you expecting from the film class? seriously legally blonde?

    5. catel says:
      Sat, 29th Sep 20122:12 pm 

      I'm assuming you were joking about the film studies class, but I think if you had actually taken it you would have gotten something interesting out of it. It's not as hard as it looked if you pay attention to the films. you write a paper about a movie, or the themes in the movie. it really isn't THAT hard.

    6. Steph says:
      Sat, 29th Sep 20123:33 pm 

      You're going off a very limited sample size here! "I took this class for a week than dropped it…" You can't really speak about that class at your school (not others) that you maybe went to 2-3 lectures in…This would have been much more accurate and helpful for most readers if you'd done a survey or something of people from a few different schools, majors, and with various levels of intelligence.

    7. jazz says:
      Sat, 29th Sep 20124:00 pm 

      I actually thought that marketing 3301 was really easy. I do agree about the astronomy, I've heard that it was a nightmare.

    8. Anonymous says:
      Sat, 29th Sep 20125:52 pm 

      I stopped reading college candy after jessica started blogging, simply because articles like this are ridiculous.

    9. Natalie says:
      Sun, 30th Sep 20128:28 am 

      I would hope that most people would take classes that would be useful to them in later life or that they'd find genuinely interesting, not just because it's "easy" and would give you a quick good grade. What's the point of going to university if you're afraid of a bit of hard work? But hey, I'm not from round here…we have a different system in the UK.

    10. Mel says:
      Sun, 30th Sep 201211:30 am 

      This article is problematic because you only looked at your school and/or your friends' experiences. For instance, I took nutrition at my school and it was easy (I do recommend nutrition as a class even if it is more difficult at your school – it's one of the few college classes that was relevant in my everyday life).
      I agree with what you said about online classes though – I think a lot of people take them thinking they'll be easier than other classes and then discover that 1. they're not and 2. they require much more time management skills than your other classes do.

    11. @ForevaHisBadass says:
      Sun, 30th Sep 20122:11 pm 

      i agree 1000% about the basic nutrition class. The material is really easy in lectures, but the tests are really hard. I have no study skills to make things worse.

    12. Anonymous says:
      Sun, 30th Sep 20124:59 pm 

      This article is insulting to women. Nothing about those classes sounded hard, it sounds like the writer is just whining about math being hard (and assuming all women find math hard) and not getting to watch Legally Blonde in class… Seriously?

      Why would something called "Age of the Dinosaurs" be about dinosaur bones? The title clearly states that you are studying the AGE, the class isn't labelled as a paleontology class. If the title was not enough, I would think that the class description would clarify any other confusion, but I guess that reading is also hard. College is about learning, not being narrow minded, lazy, and stupid- people like that deserve to fail classes.

      Also, I agree with other comments that this article should be modified so that it only specifies the "difficulty" of the classes at the writer's school- since all colleges are different.

    13. Rachel says:
      Mon, 1st Oct 201212:14 pm 

      I agree that film classes aren't necessarily as easily as they sound, but that's because people expect them to be about movies like Legally Blonde or just viewing movies every class. If you're taking them because you are interested in learning about production or theory or history of film, the work can be worth it. They don't always have tons of papers, but some of them do and they have them so you learn. I majored in film and I've talked to so many people who think that I took some easy classes to get a degree without doing much. That's not the case at all.

    14. April says:
      Mon, 1st Oct 20123:04 pm 

      I agree with some of these. Nutrition is very hard, but I was never under the impression it was easy. The main problem is that these are all your own experiences and specific professors. For example, I took Intro to Management one semester and dropped it as soon as the prof sent out the syllabus. I took it 2 semesters later with another professor and it turned out to be one of my favorite classes. My marketing class had very little graph reading and was much more like how you imagined it should be.

      Also, online classes were the best thing I ever did . I was able to devote so much more time to studying since I didn't have to make a 40 min round trip walk to class, and in the winter that means everything.

    15. Ashley says:
      Mon, 1st Oct 20124:00 pm 

      I disagree with Public Speaking and Film Studies. They weren't hard, and I'm really shy on stage too! The film class at my school watched a lot of amazing movies like The Godfather, Spirited Away, Drive, and Hugo.

      This is an interesting article, but definitely biased.

    16. Anastasia says:
      Sun, 20th Jan 20139:17 am 

      Please, help me. I need good online class in Biology or nutrition. Can you advice some of them?

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