Easy classes

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 Factrak. Not to be confused with Hard Classes

Easy classes (if you can do math)

Econ 110

Bartlett's section: 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. Bartlett is an adjunct from Smith, so he is only brought in when Econ 110 is overenrolled.

Estimated weekly workload: 0-2 hours
Mandatory attendance? No

Psych 201

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.

Easy classes (even if you can't do math)

Econ 120

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 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.

Ling 101

Not only is Introduction to Linguistics easy, but it's probably one of the most fun and interesting classes you could ever take at Williams. It's taught by a knowledgeable professor who's willing to explain any and all details of a subject, and also willing to get into discussions of related (or even not very related) material. Most of the class is spent learning the International Phonetic Alphabet...go to lecture, sit back, relax, and listen to the funny noises as all the members of the class try to mimic Professor Sanders' pronunciations. This class is also great for picking up fun facts: where else can you learn to properly use phrases like "bilabial fricative," "spread glottis," or "plosive?" Ling 101 is a problem set class and requires a good memory, but if you have basic quantitative reasoning abilities, it's easy to handle.

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

It is not really that the material is easy, but this class is the only class I am aware of at Williams that has extra credit, in the form of participating in psych experiments that oftentimes are extremely interesting anyway. I got an A in the class and very rarely went to class on Friday mornings. The only section that you need to pay close attention in the lecture is Neuroscience, which many people have considered to be the most interesting set of lectures, anyway, and thus easy to pay attention to. Even if you don't do well on that test, you will surely ace the Cognitive Psych or Social Psych part and make up for it. This class is light on the reading, and since there so many people in it, you can find a study partner easily.

I would also add that there is very little in the lectures that cannot be found directly from the book. In fact, despite the fact that I attended almost every lecture, the notes I took down were basically just repeating what I'd read the night before.

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.

Also note: Ok, although I know someone who has failed this course, I feel strongly that this is a result of a complete lack of understanding about what an easy or "low-maintainence" class is and what it isn't. i.e. you still have to study for the exams, and the material is still on par with college-level academics.

(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.)

Math 175: Mathematical Politics: Voting, Power, and Conflict

Very light on actual math.

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

Theatre 101

Has, in the past, been very easy, but this seems to depend to a fairly significant degree on which professor is currently teaching it. Has tended to involve minimal reading, a moderate amount of class participation, and little in the way of homework.

Philosophy 102

Has, in the past, been fairly easy provided you find philosophical discussion interesting. There are typically two sections, of which I only have experience with Professor White's version. Involves significant and frequent reading, but only page-long response papers twice a week, only one of wich was graded, while the other was reviewed by a TA. Class participation is important; do not take this curse if you are shy about offering opinions. (It should be noted that it has been several years since I took this course, so it may have changed by now.)

....vastly depends on the prof which you have. Cruz, Gerrard, White, Dudley, Mladenvoic and probably others, have all taught this course. Each prof injects their own special flavor into 102. This class is "easy" in being light on the workload, depending on the professor, but sometimes piecing together a coherent philosophical argument can be quite a bear, if it's not your thing.

Astronomy 101

Easy (for me, at least, though I've heard that some others have disputed this) if you do the reading and show up for tests and labs. Missing tests, has, in the past, resulted in almost automatic failure, though, even if you have good excuses, so be careful about that.