"Rigorous courses" on a college transcript

So I’m interested in transferring to SUNY Geneseo, and for their criteria they desire “rigorous courses” and obviously performing well in said courses. I was wondering what exactly qualifies as rigorous? Are sophomore-level courses considered more rigorous, or would a freshmen-level honors course be looked at more favorably (or would it be looked at as an equivalent)? Or is it the hard sciences like Physics or Anatomy and Physiology Labs that are considered rigorous?

I took physics this semester for a more difficult science gen. ed., and am doing very well in it and am enjoying it, of course it is just an introductory physics course so I’m not patting myself on the back too much. But I heard physics courses look good on transcripts, is this even true?

What matters is that they are real college-level courses that would apply to a major rather than remedial courses. They don’t have to be only in the hard sciences or only “honors”.