<p>I'm a biology major, and this year I'll be taking most of the upper-level courses for my major. I was wondering whether they'll be easier compared to the introductory sequences (chemistry, biology, and physics) that I had to take. I didn't exactly do stellar in the introductory courses, but I took one upper-level course last year and got an A. I've also heard a few other people say that upper-level courses tend to be easier than the earlier classes. Can anyone say whether this is true?</p>
<p>P.S. I think that part of the reason I struggled with the introductory sequences was that I was taking a lot of them at the same time, and also because they cram a lot of information into one class. I tend to be a slow worker, so I was overwhelmed with the sheer amount of material we covered, but if I have time to go in-depth with my work, I usually have no problem understanding it. Will this make me better-suited for the upper-level science courses than the introductory ones?</p>
<p>If you’re interested in the subject it is, in a way. I find it much easier to pay attention to because they are much more interesting. It’s also less likely that you’ll get a ton of busywork and assignments, for my upper level BIOs, i’m just expected to read the book before the test.</p>
<p>Er, I think they’re supposed to get harder but more interesting if you actually developed an interest for it along the way. It’ll be much harder for someone who isn’t interested in their major to find the motivation to get through it. I know plenty of biology majors who hate their majors but use it as a stepping stone to medical school. I wouldn’t recommend doing what they do.</p>
<p>In some cases, the upper division courses are less work, because they do not have labs like the lower division courses. However, less work does not necessarily mean intellectually less difficult.</p>
<p>If you prefer to study a smaller number of topics in more depth, you may like the upper division courses better, since the lower division courses may have to cover at the introductory level many topics needed by students in many majors.</p>
<p>Lower division courses shared with pre-meds may have intense competition for grades, since the pre-meds must get mostly A and A+ grades (allowing for a few A- grades) or give up their medical school dreams.</p>
<p>Professors also have much more control over how they teach upper division classes. Thus some upper division classes will be easy or hard simply because of the professor while professors generally have much less control over introductory science classes and must teach certain topics. The grade distribution is more advanced classes will often be more favorable as well.</p>
<p>I’m a zoology major and I would say my upper level classes are easier for the most part, but it does depend on the class and my interest. For the record I’m just going to compare to intro level bio courses because it seems like comparing chem and physics to bio classes is like comparing apples to oranges to me.</p>
<p>The material is usually something I want to learn. I have zero interest in cells so sitting through the intro to cell bio class and doing all the reading sucked for me. I’ve got a passion for animal behavior so going to class and doing the reading was fun for me. You usually have a bit more control over what upper level classes you take so you end up taking more classes you actually think are interesting which makes it more fun/easier.</p>
<p>My intro classes never really had much busy work however it did have a lot more smaller assignments. For example my intro to bio lab had a lab report due every other week or so which was not fun writing even if we were in control of the experiment. My ecology lab doesn’t do that, we only have one big lab report we do. For me this is a lot nicer and makes me feel like I can do a better job even if there are more requirements.</p>
<p>I found the upper level courses to be easier. The lower level courses are basically weed them out classes so there is a lot of pressure on those classes. But that’s just me.</p>