10 Easy Classes

Looking for an fun and easy course to fill that final spot on your study card? We've combed through the Q Guide to find some of the more student-friendly courses offered at the College.

Drama 110: "Beginning Acting"

Don't let the 110 course designation fool you. Fifty-four percent of last spring’s students rated this course as "very easy," and 38 percent marked it down as "easy."

Organismic and Evolutionary Biology 234: "Topics in Marine Biology"

Students last spring, on average, reported less than three hours of work each week; how could studying marine life be any easier? Fifteen percent of students last spring rated this course as "very easy" and an additional 46 percent rated it as "easy."

Visual and Environmental Studies 71: "Silent Cinema"

Students enrolled in the class during the spring of 2008, on average, offered a score of 2.36 out of 5 for difficulty and reported that it required less than three hours of work each week. Considering the subject matter, it might be a safe bet to assume that the course TFs might be more forgiving toward students that don't speak very often in section.

African and African American Studies 90r.m: "Somali"

Still need to fulfill that language requirement? Did you know that Somali is spoken by over 12 million people worldwide? This course was rated as "easy" by more than half of the students that enrolled in it last term.

United States in the World 32: "The World's Religions in Multicultural America: Case Studies in Religious Pluralism"

Study religious traditions in the United States with a workload averaging less than three hours per week. Among those enrolled in the course during the spring of 2009, 60 percent rated the course as "easy" and 60 percent stated that they would recommend it "with enthusiasm."

Visual and Environmental Studies 167: "Adventure and Fantasy Simulation, 1871-2036: Seminar"

In this class you'll have the opportunity to study "visual constituents of high adventure since the late Victorian era, emphasizing wandering woods, rogues, tomboys, women adventurers, faerie antecedents, halflings, crypto-cartography, Third-Path turning, martial arts, and post-1937 fantasy writing" along with an array of other subjects in a class rated by more than half of the students enrolled last spring as "easy." Slap this one on your course planner right now.

East Asian Studies 160: "Writing Asian Poetry"

With a 5.0

For all components, this class

Is one you must take.

Computer Science 105: "Privacy and Technology"

Do you still get frantic e-mails from your parents each time your roommate posts pictures of you on Facebook? Discuss the meaning of privacy as it applies to technology in a course with an average difficulty rating of 2.4 out of 5.

Anthropology 1165: "Digging the Glyphs: Adventures in Decipherment"

While studying cuneiform, Rongorongo, and Isthmian scripts may not seem like a walk in the park, the Q Guide seems to indicate otherwise. Students enrolled in this class last spring gave the course, on average, a difficulty rating of 2.14 out of 5 and 61 percent would recommend it "with enthusiasm."

Folklore and Mythology 106: "Witchcraft and Charm Magic"

This class is intended for those of you who were disappointed when you got an acceptance letter from Harvard instead of Hogwarts. Examine witchcraft and the "magical world view" in a class whose students, on average, reported less than three hours of work each week the last term the class was offered, which was in 2007.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: JANUARY 25, 2010

An earlier version of the Jan. 24 Flyby post "10 Easy Classes" incorrectly interpreted the Q Guide scale for weekly average workload.