I’m a grad student in physics and am regularly surprised by how different I seem from my fellow grad students.
Harder for me:
Classes. I’ve never been great at traditional classes - lectures, exams, final exams, problem sets. I got by until grad school by always having classes that had enough ‘other’ grades that it all evened out. I can write papers, do labwork, get Participation Points, etc. And I can do all right on problem sets. But exams and I have just never gotten along. I managed to make it through the written prelim exam so I’m almost done with 'em.
Remembering everything at once. When you hit grad school - you’re supposed to know the stuff you learned in undergrad. Now that I’m on the second or third time through the stuff - it’s starting to stick. But I probably don’t remember something from a class I took 3 years ago, even if I understood it at the time. And I certainly don’t know who’s name is attached to what equation.
Easier for me:
Working in groups. Be it study groups, research groups, committees, teaching teams, anything. The little bit of effort that it takes to organize a study group has never seemed taxing to me. I’ve watched others try to pull it off and you’d think it was rocket science. Sure - they may be hoping to study rocket science, but scheduling the room to do so doesn’t seem like the difficult part to me.
Writing and Presenting. So long as I know what it is that I’m trying to write about, that part is easy. Same with oral presentations / poster presentations. I don’t find them terribly stressful - either to prepare or present.
And by far, the number one thing that is easy for me and difficult for my peers: Asking for help and admitting when I don’t know what’s going on. It may help that I have a very clear ‘confused face’ and thus everyone already knows that I don’t understand.
