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Easy classes

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Not easy with Ari Solomon.
==Easy classes (even =Math 106=== Taught by Garrity, this is easy and entertaining class if you can't re a math whiz. Homework is optional, but TAs will grade it if you do it. There are weekly quizzes, but these involve only one or two 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. On the other hand, the third exam involves long and demanding proofs of complicated theorems, and is notoriously difficult. Many students who were good at math)in high school found that the quizzes and exams were very difficult to do well on. 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 parts of the course, which introduces complicated theorems. Math 106 requires a lot of hard work. 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. ===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===
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.
 
 
 
==Easy classes (even if you can't do math)==
===Ling 101===
(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)
....'''''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. One might go so far as to say that this is an easy class for philosophy majors, but if you're a Div1 or Div3 major looking for an easy and mindless Div2 to fill your distribution requirement, this is not your best bet.
 
===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.
===English 115===
On the other hand, though English 115 isn't a "difficult" class it shouldn't be scoffed at. There's over 20 pages of graded writing (besides the responses) and Murphy isn't such an easy grader.
 
===Math 106===
 
Taught by Garrity, this is both an easy and entertaining class. Homework is optional, but TAs will "grade" it if you do it. There are weekly quizzes, but these involve the easiest conceivable 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. If you've taken Calc AP BC, which presumably everyone in the class has done, there's very little material that is really new. I got an A on about half an hour of work per week.
 
But for many, Math 106 requires a lot of hard work. 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 claimed above.
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