Happy Advising Week! With only five weeks left of the semester it is time to start signing up for spring classes. By compiling ratings from ratemyprofessor.com and consulting with current MU students, here is a list of Marquette’s worst classes:

1. Chemistry 1001: This course has quite the reputation. It is known as a “weeding out” class that prompts aspiring pre-med students to reconsider their future in the College of Health Sciences. It is also the most dropped and failed class on campus. Vanessa Retondo, a current chemistry 1001 student, argues “it should be worth more than four credits when all of the labs are factored in. It’s just a lot of work.”
2. MATH 1450: Don’t let the low course number fool you. Calculus I is a very challenging course that even math-lovers struggle with. This is not the course to take to fulfill the mathematical reasoning core requirement. Go with something less complicated, like statistics. If this is a required course for your major, previous MATH 1450 students suggest signing up for tutoring early on.
3. PHIL 1001: Don’t get your hopes up, freshman. Sophomores Courtney Wright, Claire Kelly, and Sapphire McCool said they were looking forward to their first philosophy class too, until they were assigned their first 10-page paper. Sure it sounds like an interesting course, but the readings are difficult and the vocabulary is confusing. Unfortunately, there is no getting out of it, so just trudge through and take advantage of your professor’s office hours.
4. BISC 3213:  Ah, biochemistry. It’s a required course for pre-med or pre-physicians assistant students. Pre-physical therapy students have the option of taking BISC 2070 instead. Pre-physician assistant, Kelly Lyons, recommends opting out of this class because it’s the study of enzyme function, cell signaling, cellular metabolism, and the structure and function of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and nucleic acids. Do you need a better argument?
5. ARSC 1020: This is the class many communication and education majors take to fulfill their core requirement for Science and Nature. Although there are two ARSC courses offered, ARSC 1020 covers physics and chemistry– two challenging subjects for non-science majors. If possible take ARSC 1021 instead. Many ARSC students report 1020 to be more demanding than a basic science class. Emily Gorz, a current ARSC student, said for one project she was expected to get various samples of water from Lake Michigan at points from up to an hour away. If one does end up in this class, Gorz does not recommend first-time teacher, Sarah Garvey, who is reported on ratemyprofessor.com as “the worst teacher at Marquette.”
6. Any LATIN course: Learning a new language is challenging enough. But Latin is different from other foreign languages where learning some vocabulary, conjugations, and stem changes will be enough to pass. Latin is difficult to learn for English-speakers because the syntax is not the same. Why take Latin when you won’t speak it in the real world? If you really want to put the time into a foreign language, take up Mandarin Chinese. Bloomberg.com calls it “the most useful business language after English.”

Keep in mind that every class is different for every person. You may have a great experience with a professor the majority of your classmates hated. But if you need more guidance, remember these tips:

• Take classes you are interested in.
• If a class is too overwhelming, consider dropping it within the first week or taking a “W” on your transcript.
• If you know a class will be challenging, form a study group (that actually studies) or sign up for a tutor in the AMU, Room 317.
• Keep telling yourself that the class is only fifteen weeks long.