I am the kind of person that gets anxious a lot about future workloads. All I hear from people is that 2nd year Commerce is hardest and worst year in the program. Being rational about it, is it actually that bad? I was told that it gets so busy with group work and challenging classes that run out of time for things. Based on personal experience, what courses did you find most difficult and why? How would you recommend approaching these courses to do well?

My grandma died when I was in second year. So i guess you can say it gets pretty hectic

Also, do the profs commonly bell the really hard courses like finance and econ?

Naw, not hard. Just a lot of midterms I guess. For the entire second semester I didn't go to class , just read textbook/practice problems for all the classes and did veeery well. I suppose if you go to every class, then it might be bad.

Originally Posted by andrewjdg

Naw, not hard. Just a lot of midterms I guess. For the entire second semester I didn't go to class , just read textbook/practice problems for all the classes and did veeery well. I suppose if you go to every class, then it might be bad.

Hm, that's not what I'd expect. I've been told the more classes you go to the better you will do. But I guess it depends on the person.

Not really...the only thing that is lame about it is that during midterm periods, they'll schedule your midterms friday night and saturday morning, two weeks in a row.

In terms of workload/difficulty, fourth year was probably the worst for me.

Originally Posted by DanHiggins

Also, do the profs commonly bell the really hard courses like finance and econ?

.... Just drop out right now if ECON is what you consider a hard course to be

Originally Posted by Chris23

.... Just drop out right now if ECON is what you consider a hard course to be

#EngPhobia
#EngPhobia
#EngPhobia

Finance isn't get bell curved from what I know. The average on the last midterm was like a mid-high 50 but no bell curve.

my 2nd year commerce friends are still relaxing just like 1st year and are doing better in terms of grades now too. it cant be hard at all unless you dont do anything.

i'm currently in second year commerce and this is what i can tell you:
- for me the only classes i liked going to were accounting (financial and managerial). i went to every class and was able to pay attention. you need to know what you are doing for these classes and practice well in order to do well on the midterms. the profs for these courses care about how you do in the course. there is plenty material available for practice. i never used the textbook for both of these courses.
- HR (with schat) is reallly boring. i went to class but always zoned out. midterm was very detailed. the prof recommends reading the textbook over and over again. there was one midterm, and 3 quizes done in class. he also has this "service learning activities" component which is worth 15% of your final grade. it's just various activities you can do in/ out of class to earn points which go towards your final mark
- never went to Info systems. did well on the 2 assignments, they were pretty straight forward. one midterm whichwasn't bad. again just study the textbook
- finance is another one i didn't mind going to. 2 midterms are both theory and math. study harder for the theory than the math
- marketing was not hard in terms of material, again from the textbook. 2 midterms. but there are a couple of reports that have to be done, so make sure you have a good group.
- econ 2x03 was a drag for me, just because i didn't really ever study for it. i had prof. bruce. it's easy to do well in his class if you just do the practice quizzes he provides. the actual quiz has questions in the exact same format
- stats i took in the summer so it was easy, although i'm not a math person
- OB i also took in the summer. we had 2 group assignments (which were a lot easier compared to the ones done during the year with prof mcateer). and we had one midterm. and final both straight from the textbook

I didn't think these courses were "hard." but it really gets stressful when you have those friday night, saturday morning midterms 2 weeks in a row. i recommend taking some classes in the summer if you can. that's what i did, and i can't imagine taking 10 courses during the year just because i don't think i could handle it. however LOTS of people are able to.
for me, first year did not prepare me for second year, you definitely have to take it more seriously.

good luck

not really. keep up with your work every week and you should be fine. people who complain that 2nd year is hard are the ones studying a day or two before midterms. usually you'll have 2 midterms in a weekend, so study ahead and you'll be fine.

the content isn't challenging at all, its just that everything (tests, assignments, and projects) ends up being due in the same week. time management is key.

Second year is good. It really teaches you how to study. I can't say I was a good student until after 2nd year.

The soft skills I had learned in 2nd year really allow me to shine in other aspects of my life and have made 3rd year and so on a lot easier.

2nd year is just a ton of MC midterms. Its not that bad. The reports and presentations in the upper years get super annoying.

Originally Posted by Chris23

.... Just drop out right now if ECON is what you consider a hard course to be

Well it's calculous economics and not all of us are super strong in math. I have been told by other students that the course is very challenging for students in the program. I think your comment is unreasonable.

It's not harder in terms of the content you need to know. But the workload was heavy when I was in second year....a lot of midterms and group projects. Just try to keep up in your classes and you should be fine!