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{{Outdated}}[[Category:Guides]][[Category:Academics]]I know , I know, we all came to Williams to take four to six challenging and rewarding classes every semester.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.
==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===
This course is so laid back it's obscene. The course consists of an undemanding midterm paper, an unchallenging take-home exam, and a straight forward self-sheduled final. There are also seven extremely easy "surprise" quizzes throughout the semester, but the professor often gives advance warning or at least hints so even that isn't a hindrance. However the class can get very boring since the lectures are often poorly planned and uninformative and during discussions most of the students in the class sit still starring into space and say absolutely nothing while a few smart-asses shoot their mouths off about things they don't know a lot about. Plus the readings tend to be pretty convoluted and dull. Altogether, this class requires an absolute minimum of effort and most students will feel like they're only taking three courses instead of the usual four. With forty plus students, attendance isn't strict but don't miss more than a few days.
:Estimated Weekly Workload: 1 hour, at the most. At the most.
===Music 101===
workload- 1 hour per week. (This is a lie. It's not as easy as it is made out to be if you have no prior listening experience in music)
===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
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
===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 even thus easy to pay attention to. Even if you dont 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, andsince 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.
Actually, PHIL 102 is really only an easy class if you are one of those non-major dabbling types who thinks you're just going to talk about "The Matrix" every day. In this case, you will pose a signifcant threat to your classmates' will to live.
I wouldn't call PHIL 102 easy...most professors assign 1-2 short papers a week, and that's a fair amount of writing. The content isn't too hard, but you have to spend at least a few hours a week on the material. Don't take it if you're looking for an easy Div II/Writing Intensive to fulfill requirements. It's not *very* hard, but I would certainly never classify it as an easy class.
