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Easy classes

10 bytes added, 10:41, April 23, 2006
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category: academics and fixed some formatting
[[Category:Guides]][[Category:Academics]]
I know, know, we all came to Williams to take four to six challenging and rewarding classes every semester. Then we found how much we liked working for the [[newspaper]] or playing a sport or singing [[a capella]] or doing [[plays]]. Anyway, sometimes you need an easy fourth course. Let's make a list of guts. '''Please comment only on the size of the workload, and not on the quality of teaching.''' If there's not universal consensus that a course was easy, it would be relevant to mention whether you've had previous coursework in the subject, or if you're just a genius. If you want opinions about the quality of particular professors, please visit [http://wso.williams.edu/Factrak Factrak]. Not to be confused with [[Hard Classes]].
 
==Easy classes (if you can do math)==
For some sections: there are daily homework assignments, but you can actually complete them ''during the class that it's due''. You'll probably have time to finish the next day's assignment, too. There were no projects or papers; just a mid-term and final exam.
:Estimated weekly workload: 0-2 hours :Mandatory attendance? No
Not easy with Ralph Bradburd.
'''Kirby's section''': If you are not good at math, this class will be hard. But if you have a sound grasp of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and occasionally division, and if you have a sort of understanding of how math works, this class is easy. You don't need to do any reading to do the course, which is good since the texts and reading assignments are really dense. Classes are small, so the professor will notice if you are not there.
:Estimated weekly workload: 0-2 hours :Mandatory attendence? yes, since it's a small class :Extra credit? No
Not easy with Ari Solomon.
Sporadic problem sets that can be done at the last minute. Attendance is not necessary as the entire lecture (at least in one prof's section) is contained within a powerpoint presentation available through blackboard - print this out, don't take any notes. Readings from the course packet are assigned but not necessary. Exams are easy, especially if you've taken 110 before.
:Estimated weekly workload: 0-2 hours :Mandatory attendance? No
Note: This is just my personal experience, but econ Econ 120 with Betty Daniel involves weekly problem sets, 2 papers, a presentation and debate on one of the papers, and two really hard tests and a final exam. Just to give you a good idea of how hard the tests are, the first one had a curve of over 20 points.
===Math 175: Mathematical Politics: Voting, Power, and Conflict===
Very light on actual math.
 
 
==Easy classes (even if you can't do math)==
Note: I never attended this class, but learned I.P.A. elsewhere, and it is not at all difficult to learn within the course of a few classes, tops, if you have a reasonably good ear for sounds. It is, also, a useful class for anyone who plans to go into singing, since terms like "plosive" come up fairly often there too.
:Estimated weekly workload: 0-3 hours
===Psych 101===
Whatever you do, '''do not buy the textbook.''' It was revised three times while I was a student, and every time Kassin would claim "students must have the recent edition." Bullshit. If you don't believe, grab copies of your favorite two editions and check the text side by side. I'll be damned if I didn't find, my freshman year, that precisely the same text and figures were present in the 3rd and 4th editions, with a two page difference between editions. If you are lucky enough to take the class in a revision year, check out the free book table in the [[1914 Library]], even if you are not on [[financial aid]]. They'll be liquidating their "old" editions.
:Estimated weekly workload: 0-3 hours :Mandatory attendence? no :Extra credit? Yes! 
Note: A great number of people have failed this course. Do not be misled by this information. It is necessary ''either'' to attend class or to do the readings. You can get away with skipping one or the other, but if you skip both, you will suffer.
(Seconded. This class is easy to fail if you decide not to do the reading or if you regularly skip class, but easy to pass if you simply do the reading and pay a reasonable amount of attention during lectures. Most lectures are also fairly interesting, and most reading material easily comprehensible, so this should not be at all difficult for anyone smart and motivated enough to be at Williams in the first place.)
:Estimated weekly workload: 1-3 hours (problem sets)
===Geos 104: Oceanography===
Well-illustrated powerpoint lectures, an often fun and incredibly easy lab for two hours ever other week, pretty much no homework (though looking at your textbook doesn't actually hurt), and a field trip in the spring! This was one of the easiest and most entertaining classes I've taken here.
:Estimated weekly workload: 0-3 hours :Mandatory attendance? I don't remember, but it's actually worth going  
===Philosophy 102===
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