I know it sounds bad but I need a first year bird course. I have four courses that I am taking for sure, but they are going to hurt my average a little... I can tell... So I need some opinions on easy first year courses.

I don't like classes where its like 4 tests and an exam make up your mark. Things like Psych1X03 where they take, tests, assignments, quizzes stuff like that would be perfect... (and I already have 1XX3 or w.e)

Any suggestions would be great but... if you could say why its an... *enjoyable* class that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Well, first off I have to give you all the usual disclaimer junk that everyone has different strengths, and what one person might find an easy course would be hard for someone else.

That said, Philosophy 1E03 is a great course if you have decent essay skills. The material is all really interesting, the prof is amazing, and the bar tends to be pretty low for what they are expecting. When I took the course it was set up as 10 mini essays worth 5% each, 1 Midterm essay worth 20% and one final exam worth 30%. Because of the way the course is set up you only need to do about an hour of work a week for it, and you won't fall behind (excluding the midterm essay).

I've also heard that all the enviro sci courses, all the geo courses and all the linguistics courses are all easy, although I can't personally attest to those. (For first year courses at least).

Uh if you like philosophy and are a decent writer, philos 1E03 was easy (in my opinion).

If you like environmental science, 1A03 and 1B03 are easy but pretty boring.

Lol I just repeated what Andrew said...

Econ 1B03.

Get Holmes. Read the powerpoints, you're pretty much set.

I would highly recommend econ 1B03 as well.

Originally Posted by JEFF_CHAN

Econ 1B03.

Get Holmes. Read the powerpoints, you're pretty much set.

K so I never took economics in high school are there any prerequisites?

And what exactly does economics deal with?

I never took it in high school either. Most of the course involves reading graphs/basic math. Also she posted all the lectures as podcasts last year.

Why not check out the course reviews section? There are tons for first year classes: http://www.macinsiders.com/forumdisplay.php?f=10 4

Econ 1B03; Definitely

Linguistics 1A03...you pretty much have to spend a few minutes after each lecture, and maybe a couple hours before a midterm to secure an 11+.

Multimedia 1B03
Enviro sci with John Maclachlan.

Any philosophy course with Dr. Allen (he is amazing!). His lectures are super interesting and for the most part, his marking style/expectations are pretty fair. He also gives you the exam questions beforehand so you can prepare for the exam accordingly.

I also found Math 1A03 to be extremely easy. In my opinion, it was a review of high school calculus, with just a greater focus on integrals.

But like mentioned above, what is easy for one individual may not be easy for another. Choose a course that you will find interesting. You are much more likely to get a good mark if you are interested in the material.

Yeah, Econ 1B03 for sure. I'm taking it now with Holmes, and all you need to do is read the slides for the tests. I studied a day before the test (just read the slides), and I ended up getting 93% (42/45). There are also assignments (very easy), and a quiz each Friday, which are also easy. This course is pretty interesting as well.

Originally Posted by hollie012

Multimedia 1B03
Enviro sci with John Maclachlan.

I was going to recommend 1A03 or 1B03.

They've done some restructuring to the Multimedia program now that its a single major option so these courses might be slightly different now but if you feel at all competent with a computer and would be interesting in learning a new, fun skill I would recommend one of these.

1B03 is definitely more fun. It mostly involved learning Photoshop and using it to create and manipulate your own digital images. Lectures involve learning about, viewing and critiquing digital images. When I took it I believe it had no exam, just one test on terms and important stuff about design. Plus the assignments you complete using Photoshop, pretty reasonable and fun. It could be a nice supplement to more essay intensive courses.

1B03 is being offered next term and there's 3 cores. 1 with Robert Hamilton, 2 with MacTavish. I have MacTavish this term for a course but I haven't had him previously so I can't really comment yet on his standards with regards to marking of assignments. I do like him though as a professor, he's nice and he's pretty funny and entertaining in lectures. I won't comment too much on Robert Hamilton but I had him last year and since you've specifically said you're looking for a bird course I would have to recommend you try and get into the core Hamilton is teaching. He's not a hard marker at all, very reasonable and he will give out high marks if he likes your stuff, he's not one of those Professors with unattainable standards (not saying that MacTavish is, I don't really know).

I'm not sure about 1A03 because I'm not allowed to take it in the Commerce program :(

But I had 1B03 with MacTavish and everything went well. We were supposed to have these pop quizzes, but ended up having 2 (because he was probably slacking) lol. He's a cool guy and class is pretty chill, pretty much just sitting there and critiquing images. If you're proficient in Photoshop, this course is a breeze. If you don't know how to use it at all, you might have some difficulty using it, or end up spending a lot of time on assignments. These courses can be very subjective too I think.... It really depends if the prof/TA likes your style.