[Waterloo] easiest non-math courses at U Waterloo

[JYEKao]

I'm going into the last year of my studies at UW. My majors are computer science and pure mathematics. I need to take two more courses outside of the Mathematics Faculty. They can be just about any courses not offered by the Math Faculty.
I'm looking for the easiest courses because I want to spend as much of my time as I can doing part-time research and preparing for GRE tests to get myself into grad school.

So please give me suggestions as to which courses may be appropriate. Thanks!

I know that some of the easy courses I know about include:
ECON 101, 102 (as long as you avoid Larry Smith)
ENGL 109 (distance-ed version. on-campus is harder)
SCI 205 [?]
SCI 206 [?]

[Rehan]

Yeah, SCI 206 looks pretty easy.
http://www.birdcourses.com/course.php?courseid=73

You could try MTHEL 100 as well:
http://www.birdcourses.com/course.php?courseid=94

[coolspot]

The Technical Writing for Math Students was an easy course (ENGL 109M???) - you only need to write ~10 letters/papers/etc during the term. Each assignment is ~200 - 500 words... so it's about 1 - 2 hour work per assignment. The course was useful too.

East Asian studies is easy too - but it's dependent on which prof you get.

[adehbone]

MTHEL 100 is a math elective.....

HRM 200....do not take Econ 101 or 102 unless you have some interest in supply and demand or econ...I have many CS friends who take it thinking its easy then get below 70 in it....cuz they dont read their textbook and bomb the final which is hard

MSCI 211 is easy......Music 140 and Music 100...History of film.....

PSYCH 100...STV 100...GEOG 100....are rather easy

ENGL 119 is beyond easy...but it too is a math elective.....

[JYEKao]

Thanks guys for all the responses.

I forgot to mention that MTHEL classes are considered non-math for this purpose.

abehbone, do you know the assessment formats of HRM 200 and MSCI 211?

I prefer more objective assessments (e.g. multiple choice, calculating stuff) over more subjective assessments (e.g. essays, short answers) because markers typically don't like my answers

Does anyone know whether SCI 205 is easy?

[hipfan]

You will be doing yourself a _huge_ disservice if you avoid econ 101/102 with Larry Smith.

In my experience, Prof. Smith's econ courses have, by a huge margin, been the most useful courses I ever took at UW. There is a reason students who have already taken the courses sit in on his lectures in subsequent years.

If you put in even a modest amount of effort preparing your study [don't call it a cheat] sheet, and attending the lectures, a high grade is easily achievable. Plus you can increase your final grade by 6% by doing a couple of easy optional assignments, if you do poorly on the exams.

I can appreciate your reasoning for looking for easy courses, so here are a few:
ECON 101 & 102 (Don't bother _unless_ you get Smith)
PSCI 291 & 292 (Canadian Law)
ACC 121 & 122 (Intro to financial & managerial accounting)
MTHEL100 (Business law)

CS 494 (Computers and law of infotech)
ACTSC 221 (Mathematics of Investment)
PMATH 330 (intro to logic)

Regards,
hip, BMath '99 CS/C&O

[charliebrown]

it's been a while for this grad...but absolute joke courses in my mind

soc101 - kinda neat course; just use common sense for the exam
envs178 - practically high school level math (finite); definitely a joke if you're from math faculty

i second the above re: Larry Smith; definitely an animated prof and you dont feel like you're wasting your time during his lectures

MTHEL 100 isnt an easy course...there's a lot of stuff to read/remember...although the exam supposedly have a history of repetition

[jayehs]

Ahhhh.. bird courses at Waterloo... I think i've pretty much taken most of the bird courses available here haha.

Econ 101 & 102 are really easy if you don't take it with Larry Smith. I never had Larry Smith but i hear it's more work but apparently it's worth it cuz he's an amazing prof. I took econ 101 last term with Christina Fader. Went to class 3 times total (one to get override form signed, two for two midterms :P) and read the lecture notes and the book, did no questions and got like 95%..

ENGL 109 was easy but you have to go to these tutorials so if going to classes and writing essays isn't your thing, then i don't suggest it.

PSYCH 100 is kinda easy but there are lot of readings. I don't suggest taking any STV courses. By far the worst and most useless course i've taken in university.

HIST 200 (History and film) was very very easy. All you do is watch movies during class and you only have to write 2 essays. No midterms, no finals.

EASIA 201R was very easy and really interesting for me. the course basically divided into 3 sections: China, Korea and Japan. Mostly history. 3 quizzes total for each section (worth 30% each) and 10% for attendance. Quizzes were pretty easy and it was good to learn about our culture & history...

REC 280 intro to tourism was the easiest course ever. I think there were 4 quizzes, no final. Quizzes would usually be out of ~65. The prof would give practice questions and like 50 of these would be on the actual quizzes, meaning if you did the practice quiz, you would have seen 50/65 questions in the actual quiz. My friend didn't attend lectures and didn't read the book for one of the quiz and all he did was read over the practice quiz i did 10 minutes before the quiz and he got 93% on it.

There are few others I've heard of but never took. Some Sci course called "How things work"(?) is supposedly really easy. Intro to astronomy i heard is really easy also.

Good luck!
jayehs
B.A.Sc. CompEng '04, B.Sc. '06

[coolspot]

abehbone, do you know the assessment formats of HRM 200 and MSCI 211?

HRM 200 was easy - I took it 2 years ago. You have to goto lectures tho - it's mostly based on lecture notes. Exam was easy.

MSCI is easy - but HRM vs MSCI, HRM wins hands down.

[Mikeneko]

I was wondering why nobody ever mentioned Music 111. It is the easiest course hands down. Most people get at least 80.

REC 280 would be the alternative choice. MC only quizes and MC and short answer final.

HRM 200 is easy in terms of tests and exams but you have to attend lectures for the group assignments

[adehbone]

is music 111 the weird classical stuff?

music 140 is real cool and fun, but REAL hard....like you gotta actually goto class and pay attention

[winner2000]

OMG I'm surprised no one mentioned SPCOM221!!!! SO, SO F'ING EASY! Write 3 speeches, perform them, write up a few critiques...bam! No exam, no tests, nothing! Piece of cake (assuming you don't mind speaking in front of the class...most don't)....plus it's actually fun!

[trek_junkie]

any spcom class. None of them have final exams. The average grade is a B.
the voice technique class doesn't have any assignments or exams. however, attendence is mandatory.

[IAmTensai]

i find introductory macro econs, econ 102 econ 202 are pretty much common sense. Especially With Vaughn, the concept is easy, and she is pretty fun to listen to. All you have to buy is the study guide, and those are the questions to expect.

SPCOM should be a breeze, one of them is to prepare you for interviews, so you do a couple mock interviews with ppl from the class. Comes pretty handy tho if you have co-op or real job interviews coming up.

I wouldn't really go with PSYCH tho if you are not a big reader. Pure reading and memorizing. I'm in math faculty myself, and i am here to stay away from reading big books. It is interesting though, and i guess it is related to CS in some levesl, GUI design etc.

As a birdie, some friend of mine were taking Travel, sounds kinda neat.

[adehbone]

lmao vaughan is fun to listen to! wtf?...im taking 202 with her now...and i hardly goto class and if i do i fall asleep, she is annoying and abnoxious....but she draws great graphs and explains **** to the smallest pea.....im getting a 95...but class avg is around 77

and her midterms are very easy....but her 102 final wasnt that easy and 202...is not m/c so who knows its all problems....

SPCOM is a bird course....travel/leisure as well....

ECON 201 DE is easy too...2 online midterms easy 90 on those...a somewhat tough final...but you can get 85 easily