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{{Outdated}}[[Category:Guides]][[Category:Academics]]I know, I know, we all came to Williams to take four to six challenging and rewarding classes every semester.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 [[Record|newspaper ]] or playing a sport or singing [[a capella ]] or doing [[Cap and Bells|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 =Phil 126=== This is one of the easier writing intensive classes (, if you're looking to get that requirement filled and vehemently dislike writing. It's also a pretty interesting class, especially if you can do math)=='re interested in logic. Estimated weekly workload: 2 hours a week outside of class
===Econ 110===
Not easy with Sara LaLumia (but INCREDIBLY rewarding)! Estimated weekly workload: 0-2 hours===Phys 100===Depends on the professor...if you took physics in high school, this shouldn't be much harder. (this is no longer true. don't be fooled) Physics 100 has now been completely overhauled. Mandatory attendance? NoIf you take the class with Prof. Jones be prepared to do a lot of work with relativity with only a brief review of Newtonian Mechanics.
===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.
Not easy with Ari Solomon.
===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 an exam, has, in the past, resulted in almost automatic failure, though, even if you have good excuses and can make the exam up immediately, so be careful about that.
===Econ 120===
Don't take with Betty Daniel. 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.
===Math 175: Mathematical Politics: Voting, Power, and Conflict===
Very light on actual math.
===Math 481: The Big Questions===
Everything is sugary and sweet with Professor Morgan teaching it. It could easily be a nightmare, but was not.
:Estimated Workload - About 2 hours per week. Homework was *mostly* easy problems and 'comment' questions where we would comment on something we had to read.
==Easy classes (even if you can't do math)==
===PHY 100 ===
workload- 2 hours per week.
===Bio of Nutrition and Exercise===
workload- 1 hour per week.
===History 243: Latin American History 1810-1991===
===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 explainany 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.
Perhaps the easiest class you will ever take at Williams. Unfortunately, that also means it is the class you will learn the least in. Some have lovingly referred to this class as the "Tara Sanchez Anecdote Hour (and fifteen minutes)." Powerpoint presentations and personal stories galore! The first midterm had a median of 97, and the final was not very different. It also had the heading from the previous school the visiting professor taught at, and included questions on material not covered in that class (but probably covered where the test originated). Easy A. You would have to try fairly hard to not get a B+. Another plus is that several foreign language TA's take the course, leading to very interesting conversations that usually revolve around, "How was your weekend this weekend?". An example of a question that showed up on the final: Which of the following is not true::A. Statement X:B. Statement not X:C. Some random stuff:D. All of the above are false (Statement X is just some generic statement, I don't remember the exact question. The answer must be either A or B, as any of the other choices is a logical fallacy, regardless of what statement X is, and from the choice of X, it is very obvious whether X is true or not. That is about half the test):Estimated workload - 20 minutes a week. ===Psych PSYC 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.
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.
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.
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.)
:Estimated weekly workload: 1-3 hours (problem sets) ===Geos 104: Oceanography==Math 175= 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. There is a simple and easy one-question quiz at the beginning of every class for the first part of the semester. :Estimated weekly workload: 0-3 hours : Mathematical PoliticsMandatory attendance? I don't remember, but it's actually worth going Edit: VotingOne-question quiz at the beginning of each class on a concept from the previous lecture. Easy, Powereasy, and Conflict===easy, but she does keep track/it is some percentage (10?) of your grade, so not a class you can plan on skipping.