<p>What’s the difference between Intro and Upper level classes besides it being harder? Are the tests longer?</p>
<p>probably not. from looking through my college’s catalog and talking to older students, the Upper Level courses are more focused to one or two specific areas of your major. For example, a lot of my friends are Animal Science majors. Freshman year, they took Intro bio, Intro Animal Science Industry, etc. They’re starting to get into more specific courses–Beef Science, Poultry Science, Equine Science, Large-Animal Vet or Small-Animal Vet, Large or Small Animal Nutrition, Large or Small Animal Pharmacology, etc. These are just some that I can think of right now. Another example–biology, you can focus your Upper Levels on cell bio, muscular bio, genetic bio, etc.</p>
<p>The material is more specific to one area of the whole general major, and you are expected to use what you learned in intro classes in the upper level classes.</p>
<p>Would you say that it’s a lot harder. Because I find intro level classes to be a lot harder than upper levels.</p>
<p>That happens with a lot of subjects. It’s a combination of trying to weed out slackers/incapable people and getting a good spread of grades, since usually the intro classes will have many more students. Since the material isn’t as difficult or involved yet, it wouldn’t take that much effort to get an A if it were taught with the same level of rigor as an upper level course.</p>
<p>frostburg is right. upper division courses are primarily just more specific to one area of your studies. Additionally, many of them go in a series, so the later classes build on what you learned in earlier classes.
Depending on the class, you may find that UD classes are less likely to use scantron/MC tests and, instead, use more essay-style tests, but it really varies greatly.</p>
<p>I’ve took 3 4000 level courses my freshman year and earned As in all (honors level) but had trouble with my honors freshman level math and science courses.</p>
<p>Yes, I agree with dilsky. For me, intro level classes were a struggle while I’ve gotten great grades in all of my 300 level courses thus far. I wonder why this is so?</p>
<p>Upper level is a little harder in a vacuum, but you’ve already have the buolding blocks, and you’re already a far more effective studier at that point.</p>
<p>l0l??? upper level classes are definitely harder. If you’re weak on the into material, you’ll definitely find that out later on.</p>
<p>But then at MIT we don’t have these so-called “weeder” classes. They just build and build and build… </p>
<p>The into level class being harder is definitely a joke here.</p>
<p>Upper level >> Lower level. Not even close.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>Upper-level classes are easier because you’re more likely to have elected to take them since you probably know your stuff from lower-level classes. I had a 300-level math course in probability this past semester that was a joke compared to the 100-level calculus courses I took earlier in my academic career.</p>
<p>On the other had, I also had a 300-level course in cell biology that was significantly more involved that 100-level freshman bio. But again, I didn’t consider it any harder since I like biology (otherwise, I would not have elected to take a 300-level course in biology).</p>
<p>I ended up doing well in both courses.</p>
<p>uper level classes tend to be 20-50 people, meaning open ended tests, which can be very hard. intro levels can be 150-500 kids, which means strictly MC tests</p>
<p>Another thing to remember about UD classes is that it tends to be assumed that you will go above and beyond “just getting an A” in the course – that is, if you are taking a UD course, it should be assumed that you are interested in the subject, so the professor rightly expects that you will engage the material above and beyond what is necessary for an “A” in the course.
For example, in music if you are taking a course in “Arranging I” (here it’s a 300-level commercial music course), you can probably get an A or a B just by spending 3-5 hrs/wk on projects and turning them in when they’re due and doing the overall minimums required; however, if that is <em>all</em> you are doing, you will find yourself in a world of hurt when you get to your commercial music capstone and the rest of your team basically “fires” you and evaluates you poorly, resulting in you receiving a failing grade – just one example of why UD may <em>seem</em> easy, but in all actuality, it needn’t be difficult – just applicable if you’re willing to learn.
A professor and academic advisor I had explained it to me as simply being that you might do “well” in a course w/o the pre-reqs, but you probably won’t learn as much!</p>
<p>I tend to prefer upper level classes.</p>