How to Find an Easy A

This week, I am going to give you advice on how to find easy classes of your own. Each person will have a different idea of what makes a class easy. Some people prefer classes with no homework, while others prefer classes that don’t require attendance or have in class quizzes. Finding an easy class can sometimes be time consuming, but it will pay off later on when you don’t have to do any work for the class.

1. Look at classes from every department. Don’t limit yourself to areas that you feel comfortable with. I would never have thought to take a class about religion, but RELI 101 could possibly be one of the easiest classes at Rice. I have also had many people tell me that they would have never thought to take a BIOE class, but missing out on bionanotechnology would be a shame. 
2. Look at 100 level distribution classes. Many low level distribution classes tend to be geared for people not in that major and are much easier than would be expected of people in that major. 200 level classes sometimes work too, but those can be a bigger risk.
3. On a similar note, avoid classes that are required for the corresponding major. For instance, ASTR 202 is a ridiculously easy class because it is not required for the astronomy degree. In many classes like this, the professors literally have no expectations of their students. In classes that are required for the major, you have to compete with students that actually know what they are talking about.
4. Ask your friends for recommendations. Firsthand experience is always valuable. Numbers that you find on ESTHER mean a lot less than the stories your friends tell you about how insanely easy a class is.
5. However, you should still read ESTHER reviews. Your friend may think a class is really easy because he is actually good at it. That doesn’t mean it’s actually the class for you. However, if the majority of people on ESTHER think it’s really easy, than it’s probably a safe bet. You can also learn a lot about the workload of the class from those comments.
6. Register for a lot of classes, even if you don’t plan on taking them all. If you find 3-4 classes that could possibly be good, just go ahead and sign up for them. You’re allowed to drop classes well into the semester, so there’s no harm in doing so. This allows you to see the syllabus, and to get an idea of what the professor is like. Just drop the harder ones, or the boring ones later on.
7. Read this blog. It’s awesome. No explanation necessary. Also, click on the ads. (Yes, I have no shame.)

Hopefully you know how to find your easy A's now. If you stumble upon anything good, be sure to share with everyone here. Maybe I'll even get the chance to dedicate a blog entry to it.

Introduction to Sociology - SOCI 101

Introduction to Sociology (SOCI 101) is a great class to take if you are in need of a DII course. I took the course with Dr. Rachel Kimbro, the best professor to take this course with. The subject matter was interesting and the workload never put me under any pressure. However, I have heard that the course is harder when taught by other professors, so make sure you take note of that if you decide to take the class.

The workload for the class was much lighter than average for a class at Rice. We had daily readings, but those were always easy, and the textbook was straightforward. The assignments consisted of three tests, two short papers, and a few easy in class assignments. There was no final exam.

The tests were simple, consisting of short essay responses given online through OWL-Space. As long as you knew the material you would do well. Everyone I knew in sociology got A's on the first test, with most people getting 100's on it. The standards on the test were pretty low, and if you don’t know an answer, you can make something up and get most of the points.

The papers were short five to eight page papers. The standards for the papers were just as low as for the tests. The guidelines for the first paper were spelled out step by step, and as long as they were followed, you would get a good grade.

The combination of Dr. Kimbro's interesting lectures and the lack of standards on assignments make this class a must take course. Almost everyone got A's in the class, and the ones that got B's probably got them through laziness rather than an inability to do the work well.

Bionanotechnology - BIOE 112

My first post will be about the hands-down easiest class that I have taken at Rice so far. Bionanotechnology (BIOE 112) is a joke. Not only is this class an easy A, it is an easy A+ for anyone that has ever taken a science class in high school or college. For as far back as I can look in Esther’s course evaluation database, 100% of people have received A’s in the course. I haven’t been able to find any class that even comes close to that, other than freshmen seminars.

Fifty percent of people say that the course load is lighter than average. That means fifty percent of people blatantly lied. That number should be at least 100%. The entire course consisted of only four assignments and two short quizzes. The quizzes were six questions long and were either multiple choice or short (one word) answers. There were “required” readings, but those proved to be entirely useless and unnecessary for both the quizzes and every other assignment in the class.

The four assignments were two oral presentations, one open-book test, and one newsletter article. The oral presentations took about an hour to prepare for, including research and creating the powerpoint, and are supposed to last at least eight minutes each. I don’t like public speaking, so my presentations were only five minutes and two minutes long, but I still got ten-of-ten and nine-of-ten points on those assignments respectively.

The test was open book and open note. Everyone received perfect or close to perfect scores on the test. The test has an optional extra credit essay with the prompt “Create a bionanotechnology long essay exam question and answer it.” Basically that meant you could write about literally anything and earn extra credit points for it.

The final assignment was to write an article describing the research of one professor at Rice. This was the one assignment all semester that required more than an hour of work. However, this assignment was also not really graded. Anyone that turned in anything that met the requirements was given a good grade.

Finally, anyone that wanted to further boost their grade had the opportunity to attend extra credit lectures. This really wasn’t required because it’s not possible to get higher than an A+ in a class. With these extra credit opportunities, it was pretty much impossible to get less than an A in the class.

The one downside to the class is that attendance is mandatory. The professor isn't the best lecturer, so it can get boring at times. Also, the class was taught at the BRC, which is a long walk, especially from the north colleges, making it even harder to get motivated to go to class.

I would recommend this class for everyone. It is a DIII class, but science majors who already have enough DIII credit should still take it. It is actually pretty interesting, and since Rice's Richard Smalley discovered the buckyball, learning about it will actually teach you a bit of Rice’s history.