Originally Posted by Vicky8675309:
“Bottom line, speaking from experience, then "yes" for many classes. Is it ideal? No. Is it possible? Yes for many of the hard science classes. Actually can be done for soft sciences that that is another topic.
Anyway, I'm not talking about how "science subjects work at university" and was talking about passing classes and getting degrees. It is possible to get excellent grades in many science classes* by memorizing rules and knowing when to apply them.
For organic and inorganic chemistry, physics 1 & II, and most basic classes then yes. Often if worked for me with classes that I did not have an innate understanding of and I got top grades. Chemistry made sense so it make the rules and application of said rules fairly easy. It's better to understand why the rules exist and why to apply them when you do. However one does not have to understand it to make top grades and get a degree. I do admit that calculus made no sense so I had to use pure memorization and pattern recognition of when to apply the rules. I got the highest grade in the class and have zero understanding of the subject. I'm not proud of my inability to understand Calculus but am proud that I was able to work around that problem. I even tried tutoring to "understand it" but couldn't get it so I did it my way to get the grade since I needed it for my goal.
*One class it did not work for me with was Physical Chemistry which required a pre-requistite class of Calculus II which I had not taken (I was a teaching assistant for the professors o. chem class so he waived the pre-req). I was going to take P.Chem as an elective since it sounded interesting. During the first lecture I asked someone about all these "Z" symbols on the board and apparently they were some Cal II math "thing". I couldn't figure it out without learning some Cal II so I dropped that elective. In hindsight, who the **** takes P. Chem as an elective.
College was so long ago
”
“Bottom line, speaking from experience, then "yes" for many classes. Is it ideal? No. Is it possible? Yes for many of the hard science classes. Actually can be done for soft sciences that that is another topic.
Anyway, I'm not talking about how "science subjects work at university" and was talking about passing classes and getting degrees. It is possible to get excellent grades in many science classes* by memorizing rules and knowing when to apply them.
For organic and inorganic chemistry, physics 1 & II, and most basic classes then yes. Often if worked for me with classes that I did not have an innate understanding of and I got top grades. Chemistry made sense so it make the rules and application of said rules fairly easy. It's better to understand why the rules exist and why to apply them when you do. However one does not have to understand it to make top grades and get a degree. I do admit that calculus made no sense so I had to use pure memorization and pattern recognition of when to apply the rules. I got the highest grade in the class and have zero understanding of the subject. I'm not proud of my inability to understand Calculus but am proud that I was able to work around that problem. I even tried tutoring to "understand it" but couldn't get it so I did it my way to get the grade since I needed it for my goal.
*One class it did not work for me with was Physical Chemistry which required a pre-requistite class of Calculus II which I had not taken (I was a teaching assistant for the professors o. chem class so he waived the pre-req). I was going to take P.Chem as an elective since it sounded interesting. During the first lecture I asked someone about all these "Z" symbols on the board and apparently they were some Cal II math "thing". I couldn't figure it out without learning some Cal II so I dropped that elective. In hindsight, who the **** takes P. Chem as an elective.
College was so long ago
”
Was your experience at a UK or Irish university?
Anyway, I think calculus is an example of something that largely can be done by memorising rules and using pattern recognition for when to apply them. Differentiation can be done that way, though integration can require more thought and creativity. But it shouldn't be possible to get a maths degree in that fashion, at least not with high marks.
I know, curiosity and all that.