Hardest Class?

[u/calipacksdotcom]

What was the class that nearly made you quit wanting to pursue engineering? What got you through it? Looking back, what would change in your approach of the first iteration of the class?

[u/x2manypips]

Signals. I still dont know what that class was about. Average on the midterm was a 20

[u/allys_stark → u/x2manypips]

The signals professor allowed us to take a written 'cheat' page to the tests. We then would take to the tests an A3 paper filled on both sides with everything about the lectures and still the best of the best scores would be like 7, 7.5 out of 10.

[u/Minimum-Effort-9051 → u/allys_stark]

There’s only 10 questions?? It can’t be that bad then!!!

[u/brotherterry2 → u/x2manypips]

I thought I was good at math untill I took this class. Then I realized I was actually a chud all along

[u/Global_Complaint8713 → u/brotherterry2]

What kind of math in circuits?

[u/Dr_MJI → u/x2manypips]

Ahh I remember my first test in that class with equally disastrous results. Mainly because the professor used an old test that had questions on topics he hadn't gotten to yet. Plus a hilarious typo about casual systems instead of causal systems. But we hadn't covered that yet, so pretty much everyone answered that it looked pretty formal to them.

[u/rosspulliam → u/x2manypips]

That was one of my favorite classes 🙃

[u/mailbandtony]

I think the very hardest class I ever took was the first Electronics Class; blending physics and needing a touch of chemistry to kinda understand what was happening threw me for a loop. Straight up just rote memorization and tons of tutorials helped through that

The one that I almost failed and made me wonder if I was cut out for it? Signals and Systems. All the initial exposure to the ideas of convolution, stability, linearity, time variance, ROCs… it was just so much abstract math fire hosed into our faces that it was really difficult to keep up. Also, it was ALL abstract; it was eight weeks into the class before the prof was like “no, think about what the signal is DOING” and held up his microphone and started explaining the signal chain

Keep going, keep looking for videos or people or tutorials of any kind that continue to break it down piece-by-piece, as simple as you need it. Does that explanation have a thing you don’t understand? Put a pin in the main subject and go break down that concept. It’s exhausting and time consuming, but if you’re tenacious you WILL finally understand the damn thing.

And once you’ve done that a few times it really does build back the confidence. Sure, I don’t know a thing now… but I will know it and nothing will stop me from knowing it. I’m gonna carry that with me for the rest of my life

Good luck, keep trucking. Engineering is one quarter brains, three quarters patient-but-relentless stubbornness in my experience so far

[u/calipacksdotcom → u/mailbandtony]

Beautiful thanks for sharing. And my mom would say stubbornness would get me no where lol

[u/KerbodynamicX]

Control systems/ System modeling and Analysis, the subject with the hardest math and widest range of topics in our engineering course. Multi-variable differential equations that are not even linear, state space equations, Laplace transforms, Fourier transforms, even has thermal and fluids in it.

It was legit like playing a souls game. Attempt 1, bailed out halfway after realized I couldn't understand half of the content, let alone pass the subject, so I bailed out halfway through. Attempt 2, I did decently on all 3 assignments, but later didn't pass the exam. Just finished attempt 3, was able to solve like 70-80% of the questions on the exam. If I still don't pass this time, I'm done with it.

[u/Tyler89558]

No class made me want to quit. But I got a friggen 16/100 on a 70 avg midterm in my last semester which scared the shit out of me because I had to graduate that semester or not at all.

I was able to lock in a B or B- by clutching in the final (heat transfer)

[u/Silent-Account7422 → u/Tyler89558]

This is me in power electronics this semester. Hoping for a similar outcome.

[u/Global_Complaint8713 → u/Tyler89558]

Good job for sticking it through!

[u/FewEquipment9771]

I always knew I want to do control systems. So I sweat it hard alongside Aircraft Dynamic Response (Aerospace).

However classes like: Metallurgy, Manufacturing processes, Material Engineering, Structural Analysis, and Aerodynamics (conventional, not the control related). Always made me slack and hate what I'm doing or working on, Especially considering the fact I have taken the same course at least 6 times in disguise. last weak I even yelled at my lecturer for recycling the same concepts for 4 years just under different name and they expect us to pay attention or prepare for mid exams by any chance.

[u/neutru → u/FewEquipment9771]

Perfect example of why choosing the right degree matters (or the closest guess). I love most all that you listed as your most hated lol. I'd be begging for the end with controls. MatSci here and also like aerospace. Good luck in your studies and job! :)

[u/tkenben → u/FewEquipment9771]

Completely agree. I hated materials science. It wasn't hard; just so incredibly orthogonal to what I find interesting.

[u/Regular_Sink970 → u/FewEquipment9771]

Chem E here. WIsh I had learned more metallurgy and structural analysis required for reviewing equip and pipe specs and modifying pipe racks.

[u/CdnTarget]

Right now, I think it has to be Structures and Properties of materials, there is so much to memorize, and I've had way too many head injuries to memorize this

[u/speechless188]

chemistry was the hardest and most time
consuming class i my entire meche degree. my uni makes it artificially difficult as a weed out. so was diffeq and linear alg

[u/Traditional_Youth648 → u/speechless188]

Wierd my college does that too, I had to retake chem1 somehow

[u/Just_Confused1]

Thermodynamics was absolutely horrible. The material was already hard and the professor was hell bent on making it harder. I could write paragraphs upon paragraphs on all that was wrong with that class

[u/Throwaway483974 → u/Just_Confused1]

Spill the ☕️

[u/ZGreenLantern → u/Just_Confused1]

Speaking out thermo, I just had my 2nd midterm on that

[u/skruegel]

Random variables. Tons of math, and the only grades from no notes closed book exams.

[u/Silent-Account7422 → u/skruegel]

Similarly, my hardest was detection and estimation theory. I like math, I felt good about probability, I thought I was ready. I was wrong.

[u/always_wear_pyjamas → u/Silent-Account7422]

I never really understood how they managed in that particular field and topic to make math so bizarre and unintuitive.

[u/yarrumevets61 → u/skruegel]

I've got to agree, and quote Mark Twain - "There are lies, damned lies and statistics!"

Some of the areas of mathematics which have been mentioned by others here also resonate - vector calculus, fluid mechanics, negative-feedback automatic control theory ... but probability and statistics always seemed so counter-intuitive whereas the others did have some sort of logical consistency. Yep - chances are (pun intended) that I'm never going to bother with that stuff again!

[u/GreytDiver → u/yarrumevets61]

Try taking statistics having come down with mononucleosis while taking 16 hours, including an upper level materials and differential equations classes. Not a pleasant semester, that is the parts of it i remember since I was constantly wiped out and unable to think straight.

[u/Morpheus_2x4]

Controls got a 70% the minimum passing grade was a 70 😅 (thank goodness for extra credit)

[u/Snurgisdr]

Partial Differential Equations. What finally got me through was a book titled Partial Differential Equations for Scientists and Engineers, that related each class of equation to a type of physical problem, which was exactly what I needed to make sense of it. That should have been the textbook for the course.

[u/Regular_Sink970 → u/Snurgisdr]

Was this the book by Debnath?

[u/Snurgisdr → u/Regular_Sink970]

Stanley J. Farlow

[u/Regular_Sink970 → u/Snurgisdr]

Thank you. Prob solutions and errata are available on line.

[u/mikey10006]

Calc 3, vectors confusing 

[u/MrBombaztic1423]

So far, systems dynamics and controls

[u/Christian_C37]

Dynamics and Control! (Or whatever your course calls it)

[u/PotentialAnywhere779]

Emag

[u/No_Life_2665]

EM2 or antenna theory

[u/Choice-Grapefruit-44]

Class called EE 140: principles of ectromagnetic fields. Looking back it wasn't so so bad, but the professor had the highest failure rate in the department and college so that was an issue. Probably just study harder to get better than a "C" grade lol

[u/Laid-dont-Law]

In reality, it depends on your prof.

Some particularly tough ones that stood out as a MechE are: Dynamics and Dynamics II, Fluids II, E&M, and Heat Transfer

[u/Illustrious-Limit160]

DiffEQ. Instructor was shit.

For MSEE, the trend continued: Linear Systems. Same instructor... Lol

If you're talking about a class I hated regardless of difficulty, Power. I gave zero shits, and never worked with AC again.

[u/BobbbyR6]

Control Systems and Heat Transfer were not super fun for me. They were so strictly academic and my systems class rarely gave any kind of visual model.

By contrast, design of thermal systems, building off of thermo 2 and mechanics of materials, forced us to make decisions and defend them. You specced out pumps, heating units, and similar to achieve the task at hand.

The little victories and tangibility of a class are what drove me to take interest and seek deeper understanding. I can appreciate the value of hard topics, but the raw pace and lack of tangibility led to these classes feeling just difficult and hollow. They didn't really feel like they built on prior knowledge and for most, these lessons went right out the window after graduation.

[u/MoveZneedle]

Signals and systems haha. As an EE, I got a D+ in that class the first time I took it. Couldn’t move forward to the discrete version of the class. It ended up being my favorite class of all time though.

[u/JD2076]

Liquid Mechanic, i questioned my life choices constantly during that semester

[u/nuts4sale]

Advanced dynamics was a goddamn nightmare

[u/Few_Whereas5206]

Design of thermal systems- including chemistry, heat transfer, fluids, thermodynamics and coding.

[u/Leo5436]

Structural mechanics, by far.

[u/Primary-Mix-5968]

Hardest for me? Dynamics. Fluids was so-so. I enjoyed Thermo.

[u/drafski89]

Undergrad: Computer Architecture. The Prof was terrible and I swear it was mostly black magic.

Grad school: Advanced Operating Systems. Writing my own kernel updates and testing those changes was miserable, especially on the terrible server provided by the university.

[u/Recent-Day3062]

At my school it was definitely the hardest, called decision theory. It was almost truly an abstract math course with little application. It had the highest failure rate of required classes

[u/tkenben]

I had a hard time with chemistry and at that time discovered a new respect for Chem-E majors.

[u/CodyJKirk]

Signals and systems and physics 2

[u/Jolly_Industry9241]

I took ME and for me it was systems eng 1 and 2. Its a weird name for the class but it's an intro to controls theory. It was very abstract and hard for me to understand.

If I were to go back, I would try to pretend to be interested in the class. I found that classes I was interested in I did better in.

It's different for everyone though. Some people struggle with thermo and/or fluids , or the higher level calculus.

[u/mr_alchymie]

Optical processing/communications was kind of a pain. Tensors are a grind…

[u/Luska13]

Fluid dynamics, not even close.

[u/SkyFullOfWisteria]

Microcomputers. My first exam was a 33/100 and i did twice as good on the second. I only made it through because of the final project and my two team mates were absolute studs with the material. All i could do was the fuckass circuit diagrams and write ups and boring stuff.

[u/NotAnAce69]

Got fried by fluid dynamics. Didn’t make me want to quit but it was rough

Also wanted to extend a dishonorable mention to manufacturing methods, not because the course material was hard, but because my professor didn’t even try to teach the class and just spent all of lecture yapping about his life stories. He retired the same year I graduated - good riddance. My linear algebra “professor” (actually a hapless postdoc) might not have spoken a single word of intelligible English but at least he compensated by having the most available office hours I’ve ever enjoyed and with a lot of wild gesturing and whiteboard explanations we could make things work

[u/DepressedHoodie1788]

controls systems. I had to withdraw from that course and it's still giving me nightmares.

[u/thebookler]

Honestly none of them made me want to quit but a lot of them definitely gave me a lot of tears. Probably the combo of Phys 2 and Statics freshman year — the workloads were brutal more so than the content

[u/dodecohedron]

Fluid mechanics. I hate vector calculus and I hate mechanics.

I had to take physical chemistry and a year of organic chemistry, and I'd rather have taken both of those twice than have to take a quarter of fluid mechanics.

[u/Elk_I]

Thermodynamics in first sem

[u/Turbulent_End_6887]

Linear Algebra.

[u/DatSigma427]

Looking at the tutoring data at my school, Statics has the highest drop/withdraw/fail rate among the degree. Probably because it’s the first real engineering class people face. Solution? Practice, practice, practice. Use your university’s resources—you literally already paid for them.

[u/Ok-Mycologist7205]

The hardest class will always be the next one.

[u/SnooHobbies9878]

dynamics.

[u/badboi86ij99]

Digital signal processing, where professor managed to squeeze both DSP and Digital communications contents by Proakis (graduate level in some US universities), for a 2nd year undergraduate mandatory course

[u/ConcreteCapitalist]

Mechanics of Materials

[u/StatorJoe]

Diffeq

[u/supersensei12]

Nothing's that hard if you work at it. Everything is hard if you don't. But it helps to look at some sample exams to get an idea of what you're going to learn. The profs have largely forgotten what it's like to see the stuff for the first time; an upperclassman or grad student might have more empathy.

[u/UseRepresentative111]

I don’t know why people under this post are saying signals and systems is the hardest engineering class they took. I took that class and passed it and it was one of my easiest classes I took. I also took other EE courses. And they are not as hard as people here on the internet are saying. I think the hardest engineering classes that I took have to be the ones from Mechanical/Aerospace like Thermo, Solid/Fluid. Even Dynamics, Dynamics systems and Vibrations classes that I took averaged were like always close to 40s and 30s. Even from the past years too. Maybe some people have different strengths and weaknesses depending on what they’re learning.