Difficulty between lower and upper level courses

[skybirds]

Is there any correlation between difficulty between lower and upper level courses? I know it is necessary to take foundation courses in science and math because the next layer builds on that. I do see courses that are upper level that don't seem to have introductory courses. Does college follow the high school paradigm of each grade being progressively more difficult?

[Mian]

Is there any correlation between difficulty between lower and upper level courses? I know it is necessary to take foundation courses in science and math because the next layer builds on that. I do see courses that are upper level that don't seem to have introductory courses. Does college follow the high school paradigm of each grade being progressively more difficult?

I don't think so. I've taken some lower level classes that were really difficult and some upper level classes that weren't. It really depends on the subject, your learning style and the school/instructor.

[ryoder]

I took a 3000 level humanities course and a 3000 level interpersonal communication course at USF that were both a piece of cake. At the time those courses were my escape from the nerve wracking engineering courses I was taking.
I of course got As in all of my non-engineering courses and usually didn't study at all. The interpersonal comm course amounted to reading Men are From Mars and watching Woody Allen movies in class and talking about our girlfriends. I am dead serious.

[MISin08]

Difficulty is very much in the eye of the beholder, but yes, upper level courses are in general dependent on prior learning, even if there are no introductory courses per se.

Phillip

[burbuja0512]

My capstone class was titled "Strategic Management 499." It would have probably been very difficult if I hadn't already known a lot of the concepts being discussed. It was a culmination of all of the business courses that were part of my concentration. So, more difficult in the sense that if you took that as your first and only business course, you would have to learn a heck of a lot of new ideas.

However, it wasn't any more difficult than any other class I have taken. It was a challenge to learn to navigate an online course with multiple concurrent assignments and group work. I would say that the hardest part of the class for me was learning to deal with the online aspects of the class and also learning APA citation, which was new to me.

I've always thought that a class covering a topic that interests you is going to be a lot easier than one you find boring. I can spend hours studying for something I like, but dread even minutes of study for something I dislike.