When figuring out what courses to take second year, how do students determine which courses are challenging and which ones are easy? I understand the level of difficulty in a course is based on the content itself and perhaps also the professor who teaches it. Where can students find information regarding who is teaching second year courses?

I made the mistake of selecting courses that were rather hard during the first semester of first year - so I definitely do not want to repeat the same for second year. Does anyone know of any tips/guidance to balance courseload in each semester?

Also, lastly .. does McMaster automatically consider summer school marks when sending out offers for Level II programs?

Sorry for so many questions, hopefully someone can help me clear up a few of these questions.

Thanks in advance!!

MacInsiders usually helps out a lot. Check out the Reviews section, go to, what I presume will be Second Year for you now, and try to find your courses - see what people said about it, and they'll usually mention the professor so you can see which ones are good/bad from that.

People usually know about easy courses through word of mouth. Like Alchemist said, the MacInsiders course reviews are very helpful.

You can try to balance your courseload by taking things you think you'll be good at. For example, I know I'm good at writing essays. If I'm looking for a potentially easy elective, I can look for essay-heavy classes in programs like Philosophy or Women's Studies. I'll avoid Math and Geography, because they are more assignment-based. You can try looking up course outlines on faculty websites to get an idea of what the assignment breakdown will be.

also keep in mind that the so called "bird courses" may no longer be bird courses. Make sure the professor teaching is the same as when the course was considered easy. I picked comp sci 1TA3 as an elective as the reviews on macinsiders said it was an easy 12. It ended up being one of the more difficult courses i had this year.

As well, if they change the course around, which appears to be quite the trend, you might be in for an unexpected shock.
Math 1A03 was supposed to be a breeze but that final exam gave a lot of people nightmares.
The most important thing is picking courses you're interested in - where you'll be motivated to do well regardless of if they decide to throw curveballs at you.

Originally Posted by Zeehan

When figuring out what courses to take second year, how do students determine which courses are challenging and which ones are easy? I understand the level of difficulty in a course is based on the content itself and perhaps also the professor who teaches it. Where can students find information regarding who is teaching second year courses?

I made the mistake of selecting courses that were rather hard during the first semester of first year - so I definitely do not want to repeat the same for second year. Does anyone know of any tips/guidance to balance courseload in each semester?

Also, lastly .. does McMaster automatically consider summer school marks when sending out offers for Level II programs?

Sorry for so many questions, hopefully someone can help me clear up a few of these questions.

Thanks in advance!!

Unfortunately though sometimes you can't pick the courses that or easy or hard. If they are required for your program, you're stuck with them. However, the prof, how the material is taught, and sometimes the course material can all give you varying experiences, so can your own interest in the subject.

Unfortunately depending on your program there may not be a way for you to balance your course load. See when the courses you need are available, and then go from there. I've had some awful semesters because the classes I need are only offered once a year, if that so I've been overloaded with work before (three fourth year seminars being one such term).

You can find out who is teaching the class as well as when the classes are available on the Master Course Timetable, which will come out sometime in June.

If I'm not mistaken offers for Level II program are sent out before course selection; i.e. once marks are finalized which is usually around the last week of May. So I do not think your summer school grades can be applied, but I am not 100% sure.

Sometimes courses that you intend on being bird courses end up being insanely hard.
And also, sometimes courses that you thought were gonna kill you, end up being bird courses.
For example, this semester, i had MedPhys 1E03. Thought it was gonna absolutely rape me... but it ended up being one of my easiest courses.

Originally Posted by Fish

Sometimes courses that you intend on being bird courses end up being insanely hard.
And also, sometimes courses that you thought were gonna kill you, end up being bird courses.
For example, this semester, i had MedPhys 1E03. Thought it was gonna absolutely rape me... but it ended up being one of my easiest courses.

Everyone is different, Math 1A/1AA and Phys 1B/1BB were bird courses for me. I'm sure many people would disagree with me though. English, hardest course of my life >.>

Another piece of advice: I don't think you should necessarily take a course just because you hear it's easy.
For example, Women's Studies 1AA3 might be what some people consider "easy", but if you're not interested in that kind of stuff, it will probably be painfully boring and difficult for you.

So make sure you take classes that you think you'll be interested in.

"Math 1A03 was supposed to be a breeze but that final exam gave a lot of people nightmares."

Eh, that's a course that most people in science/business have to take anyway, so I don't think it would be counted as one of the courses chosen when people think of 'electives'.

Regardless of that, they seemed to have boosted the final marks considerably to make up for the somewhat difficult exam.

I took Anthro 1A03 because it was a 'bird course' - big mistake lmao, my lowest mark by about 5%.

I suppose I'm no longer suitable for non-science based courses. That being said, try to find easy courses that you know you'd be good at, or that are in your field, as opposed to just 'easy courses'.

I took Anthropology 1A03 for the same reason. I'm sure people who are interested in that field find it easy or are at least motivated to do well in it. However, I've found it excruciating to even go to the class. It's for sure important to look at courses you're interested in, because even if they're not that easy, you'll still be more motivated to do well.

That being said, my easiest elective course has been Anthropology 1Z03. Of course it varies from year to year, but this year it was 2 relatively easy midterm tests, marked tutorial attendance and tutorial quizzes (which are no problem if you went to class or took Biology 1M03), 2 assignments that were 2 pages long, double-spaced, worth 7.5% each, and a fairly easy final exam. The professor screwed up one of the midterm tests by accidentally making the second half of the test an exact duplicate of the first half, which was goods times because he gave us 10 extra marks for no reason. If the course timetable says Dr. Poinar on it, I'd hugely recommend it - really interesting, he's hilarious, and his Dad literally came up with the theory of Jurassic Park (not the movie, the actual theory - not relevant to the course, but how friggin' sweet is that?).

My roommate told me that first-year Political Science is really easy if you're in the evening class, but I've heard it's brutally hard for the day classes. Something that probably varies, again.