Written by Holland Chupek and Sara McClaran.
We all have that one class that we dread. You know, the one that makes you stay up past 2 a.m., stresses you out with deadlines and makes you create peer study groups by sheer necessity. At Harding University, students from almost all majors can agree that they have that one class.
Neurophysiology is said to be the bane of the psychology department. Students in this class study the biological process of the brain, and it is difficult simply because of the intense depth of the science learned.
“I would even say it was one of my favorites even though it was really hard,” senior Kathryn Wilkins said. “The information you learn connects to a lot of other classes. I always recommend to stay on top of studying and not to fall behind.”
Moving across campus to the mathematics department, calculus II is the dreaded class among students.
“What I’ve learned from this class is that even though the material might be hard, you can do it if you put in enough time and effort to [learn] it,” junior Emily Collier said. “This class taught me how to study effectively. I would say I have grown in the ability to look at things in different ways and try to problem solve by looking at the problem at a different angle.”
While Bible is only a single class for most students each semester, the Bible department curriculum is not necessarily easy for Bible and ministry majors. In fact, to better
understand the scriptures of the New Testament, Bible majors are
required to take three semesters
of biblical Greek.
“While taking this class, I learned about the depth of biblical language and the beauty that the writers wrote,” junior Haylie Douglas said. “I would recommend to use lots of flash cards and commit the grammar to memory. Also, remember you are worth more than a Greek grade on your transcript.”
While most of the computer science courses are hard in their own ways, senior Adam Johnson said his most dreaded classes are software engineering and object oriented programming (OOP).
“It’s early in the morning, and it’s got a ton … of reading,” Johnson said. “There’s three textbooks for the class, and we read through the entirety of all of them. The teacher, Dr. Baird, describes it as drinking from a firehose.”
OOP, Johnson said, was difficult because the concepts were often technical and confusing.
“Make sure you stay on top of the class — don’t wait until the last minute to do anything,” Johnson said. “Always give yourself a couple days ahead of time. There’s so much information you can’t put it off until the last minute.”
Criminal justice majors tend to dislike professional ethics because of the abstract nature of the subject.
“It’s very frustrating because there is no right answer,” senior Rachel Dye said. “It’s not that we don’t like ethics. It’s just that it’s hard to teach about them and learn about them because it’s so fluid. I love [criminal justice]. It’s challenging, but it is worth it because we are very prepared for the types of jobs we are going into.”
