MYTH: 5

Isn't it ironic that the allegedly  "hardest"  courses are also the ones seeing the highest demand every year?

Whichever course you choose, higher level education is usually tough. Breaking free from being habitually spoon fed information during secondary school, there are number of assignments and examinations in university and thus students find this more challenging.

Too many students try to get these top 5 degrees for reasons of prestige or reasons of fitting in with their families, not realizing what it is exactly that they're actually getting themselves into.

What really makes these popular courses perceived to be so difficult in the eyes of students is actually the view towards the subject. If it’s already preempted to be difficult and with this mindset, things won’t come so easy.

Is there really such a thing as a "hard subject"? We highlight the courses that keep getting a bad reputation and show you why they are not really as evil as people paint them to be:

1. Accounting

Accounting or the keeping of records is undoubtedly as old as civilization itself. Some say accounting is like learning a foreign language, there’s a simple science to it and it is a very methodological process.

This course is well-known to be extremely competitive in university yet provides the opportunity of a very stable job because every company needs accountants. There are other branches of accounting such as Auditing, Taxation, Forensic Accounting and Fraud Analyst that could be highly rewarding and it pays really well.

You need to be good at basic arithmetic, but that's most of the math you'll need other than some elementary algebra and statistics. You will need a good understanding of the basics of accounting during the introductory classes before applying those concepts to the advanced subjects. Accounting is really just applying the rules to different, more complicated situations.

Sometimes the "answer" to an accounting problem can be a multitude of options and you will need the discipline and IQ to comprehend the area to deductively and critically arrive to the proper output. If you put time into learning it, you should be able to easily figure it out.

2. Law

Successful law students often have a Type A personality: driven, organized, planners, focused and academically oriented. If you are good at being a student - especially if you enjoy learning and really like school - then you will excel studying law.

You need to have a global mindset and be able to draw from a variety of sources to make a cogent argument. You need to learn what the law actually is and academics’ opinions of it. There is definitely an art to managing the reading lists and you will get all the advice you need from older students when you first arrive.

While there is a degree of memorisation required for the study of Law – for example the ability to recall names, dates and key points of particular cases it is more important for Law students to be able to engage with issues of politics, ethics and philosophy as well as getting to grips with the details of case law and legal history.

Being successful in the study of Law does require good language skills and making sure your English is as good as it possibly can be should be a priority.

3. Engineering

“Engineering is easy, people are hard,” said Google VP Bill Coughran several years ago.

Engineering is considerably easy due to its practical nature especially when compared to pure maths and physics which have high levels of rigour and abstraction.

There are also many different disciplines within the engineering field to choose from. For the 90% of students that do not know which engineering branch to pursue, it is advisable to get a degree in a core discipline: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Civil Engineering.

Engineering students learn how to figure things out on their own. someone who enjoys difficult yet intriguing math/physics material, and don't mind spending time doing application problems, would find engineering to be a blast.

Engineers must effectively communicate their design ideas, so English, writing and speech classes are also an important part of pre-engineering coursework. Therefore you also need to be business savvy and take visual design courses to represent ideas graphically.

4. Actuarial Science

You need to study only 20% math: mostly calculus, statistics and probability. The whole programme is made up of a dash of finance, economics, accounting and business.

A huge bulk will actually be the study of computer programming which includes, but not limited to, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Visual Basic, Microsoft Visual FoxPro, and most importantly, Prophet – an actuarial software designed to crunch a large database.

Job opportunities for actuaries are endless. You will not look for jobs, they will look for you both locally and mainly internationally especially if you take the time to pursuing becoming a Fellow.

The syllabus for actuarial science changes from time to time to ensure the quality of the exam, so students should be dilligent in checking the exam syllabus on their official website before preparing for the exam to make sure you study the right material.

If you don't believe us, take it from an actuarial science student himself!

5. Medicine

Let's be real: the hardest part of being a student in the Medicine course is getting a place in a well-recognized university.

Knowing what to do when faced with a sick patient is relatively straightforward. A clinical diagnosis is made up of 90% anamnesis so you will need very good communications skills. You will be facing a minimum of 4-years practical studies which makes the subjects easy to understand.

Medicine nowadays is based on team work. You will be divided into smaller groups already while at college and this will give you a chance to perfect your people skills.

The major part of medical literature is in English, so a good command of the language is a must. With the world becoming smaller, there is a movement to phase out Latin medical terms but do expect words like vertebra or clavicula to stay and be your best friends.

Conclusion

It's not about being stupid or smart. It's about strengths and weaknesses, knowing and playing to your strongest skill sets, and choosing fields for which you have both interest and aptitude.

To manage your time amongst your important works as well as studies, you need to keep a good time management scheme or timetable.

The Internet is a huge resource provider when it comes to information, so you need not worry when it comes to education matters.

Whatever course you choose to study, keeping yourself updated will ensure good marks throughout your academic years.