Easy classes
I know I 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.
Contents
Econ 110 (Bartlett)
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
Note: A great number of people have failed this course. Do not be misled by this information.
Econ 120 (various profs)
Sporadic problem sets hat can be done at the last minute. If you're in Samson's section, attendance is not necessary as his entire lecture 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: A great number of people have failed this course. Do not be misled by this information.
Psych 101 (various profs)
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, and even if you dont 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.
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.
Psych 201 (various profs)
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
Note: A great number of people have failed this course. Do not be misled by this information.