“Just pursue a Business degree. How hard could it be?”

“Psychology is pretty general, I’m sure it’s not difficult to pass.”

“All you do in English Literature is read!”

You’ve probably heard of certain courses that are deemed easy and aren’t sure if you want to go for something more rigorous. Or perhaps you’re tempted to pursue an easy course so you can obtain your degree with a breeze. If only life was that simple!

While you can choose to pursue these courses for their plain sailing stereotypes, we’re here to tell you why that’s not a good idea. Here’s a brief explanation of why these infamously “easy” courses are not exactly a piece of cake.

#1. Psychology

Contrary to popular belief, the study of psychology isn’t about mind-reading and trickery. In fact, psychology is the study of the human mind and behaviour based on empirical evidence. This social science course requires you to run a plethora of research just to prove a point!

More than just a “fluff” degree, psychology has a number of specialised subjects such as criminology, social psychology and clinical psychology — all of which will require you to grasp complex concepts. And with subjects like psychobiology (a hybrid of biology and psychology), you might as well be pursuing medicine!

On top of that, what trips many students up is the fact that a large proportion of your assignments will require lots of statistics. Sorry to burst your bubble but pursuing psychology will not help you evade mathematics.

So before you decide to choose psychology because it is “easy”, know that you will be required to run an abundance of experiments, read brick-sized journals and write countless research papers. Good luck acing your papers if you don’t have the passion to push through this course!

#2. Business

You’ve probably heard the term “useless degree” being associated with the study of Business. In fact, there’s a misconception that business graduates can ace the course with ease. Unfortunately, business is anything but a breeze.

As a multifunctional and practical field, business studies is more than just about making big bucks. You will learn the ins and outs of managing corporations and ventures as well as people. Most business programmes will require you to choose a specific field to specialise in (e.g. accounting, finance, economics, human resource, marketing), some of which are more complex than others due to the large volume of maths involved.

In addition, bear in mind that when you’re writing your papers or exams in business, there are often no true right or wrong answers, which means it requires a lot of critical thinking skills. Moreover, the business environment is constantly changing, therefore, you will need to be well informed on the latest trends and current affairs and know how to apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations off the top of your head.

It doesn’t sound so easy anymore, does it?

 #3. Early Childhood Education

Thanks to comedic genius movies such as Daddy Day Care, many perceive the role of kindergarten teachers to be limited to running after children, coming up with creative ways to entertain them and praying they’ll fall asleep before the evening ends.

While there is some truth to that, early childhood education is much more complex than simply caring for children. You will learn various teaching approaches and strategies to develop a child’s motor skills, cognitive and learning skills, as well as social-emotional growth.

As part of your course, you will be required to do at least a semester of practicum where you’ll be working at preschools or kindergartens. This is when you will truly be tested, as with children, even the best-laid plans will go wrong. You will need to be creative, be able to improvise and think on your feet and have the ability to multitask like a champ.

So while the course material may not be extraordinarily difficult, the challenge is when you’re actually dealing with the children. If you have the patience, passion and determination to take on an active role in building our future generation, then you will find this programme to be extremely rewarding.

#4. Mass Communication

If you think pursuing your studies in mass communication is easy, you’ve probably fallen for the many stereotypes about this course.

In actuality, mass communication isn’t that easy to study for. This is because many of the assignments and exam questions are open-ended and subjective, which requires sound critical thinking and lots of research to gather different points of view.

Moreover, mass communication is a vast field and you will find yourself exposed to different areas of expertise such as journalism, broadcasting and advertising — all in just 3 years of study!

While the course can be fun and exciting, it can be a challenge if you don’t know how to manage your time well due to the many practical assignments. You’ve been warned!

#5. English Literature 

So, you’ve watched Leonardo DiCaprio’s rendition of Romeo and Juliet and you can proudly say that Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is your favourite romance novel of all time, therefore making you an expert in English literature. Well, that’s not exactly how it works with this course.

While you will be studying some famous classics and playwrights, English literature doesn’t only revolve around reading a couple of novels a week. For starters, you will be writing lots of essays dissecting key themes from classic books as well as analysing scriptures, even if it’s just a 5 stanza poem! You’ll also be expected to participate and debate in numerous discussions, which can be unnerving.

In addition to both modern and contemporary literature, you will also cover larger aspects of literature such as sociolinguistics. In your final year, you will need to complete a dissertation — every literature student’s nightmare.

Pursuing your study in this course takes strength, but will certainly help to develop potent critical thinking and analytical skills, as well as deepen your creativity.

If only we could graduate our degrees with flying colours without constantly burning the midnight oil and cramming for finals! Alas, that would mean stripping away the spirit and essence of college life.

The truth is that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side and each field of study comes with its challenges — and that includes even the easiest course in the world, if there is such a thing. What’s most important is to make sure you have the passion and interest in your chosen field. All the best!

Not sure which course is right for you? Check out these top questions you can ask your education counsellors!