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Easy classes

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[[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 classes (if you can do math)=Phil 126===
===PHY 109===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're interested in logic.
Estimated weekly workload- : 2 hours per a week ===Compsci 105=== workload- 2 hours per week ...As long as you know HTML and Java already. If you don't, those labs take all night. And all night the next night, and all night the next night, and the next night...outside of class
===Econ 110===
For some Some sections: there are daily homework assignmentseasier than others, but you can actually complete them ''during the this class that it's due''. You'll probably have time to finish the next day's assignmentassigns weekly or bi-weekly problem sets, a couple of small writing assignments, too. There were no projects or papers; just a mid-term midterm exam, and a final exam.
:Estimated weekly workload: 0-2 3 hours:Mandatory attendance? No Not easy with Ralph Bradburd., but show up as much as possible
Not easy with Sara LaLumia (but INCREDIBLY rewarding)!
===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. If 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.
Not easy with Ari Solomon.
 
===Math 106===
 
Taught by Garrity, this is an easy and entertaining class if you're already a math whiz who plans to do a PhD in math. Homework is optional, but TAs will grade it if you do it. There are weekly quizzes, but these involve only a couple of moderately difficult problems from the previous week's material. There are three exams, and about 10% of the class received a 100 on each of the first two exams. A significant portion of the class received under 70%, and a handful scored under 50%.
 
The third and final exam involves rote memorization of some fairly long proofs, or alternatively, actually thinking. If you've taken Calc AP BC, which presumably everyone in the class has done, there's very little material that is really new. One person got an A on about half an hour of work per week. Most people needed to put in at least two to three hours of solid work per week, and still found difficulties in the later part of the course, which introduces complicated theorems.
 
Math 106 requires a lot of hard work and should not really be on this page. If you're really good at calculus than I suppose it would be easy, but many people who considered themselves quite adept at calculus still found the exams very difficult and the homework very time-consuming -- far more than the half hour required for the exceptional student above.
 
However, even those who had a hard time with the class found Garrity's entertaining lectures to be worthwhile.
 
===Math 180===
Real fun class. As long as you go to lecture, you can get an A. If you felt comfortable with math in high school, this should be a breeze.
===Astronomy 101===
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)==
:Estimated weekly workload: 0-3 hours
:Mandatory attendance? I don't remember, but it's actually worth going
 
Edit: One-question quiz at the beginning of each class on a concept from the previous lecture. Easy, easy, easy, but she does keep track/it is some percentage (10?) of your grade, so not a class you can plan on skipping.
===Philosophy 102===
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.
 
Anyone who thinks this is an "easy" class is probably not thinking about the material very deeply.
===English 115===
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