You can approach registering for classes two ways: stressing out because you don’t have enough time to search for classes in between your two midterms and three papers, or casually browse CAESAR while you should be studying. We chose the latter. Sure, it’s not as fun as spending hours on Gilt, but course shopping on CAESAR gives you the rush (and endorphins) of online shopping while keeping your bank account intact. But for those who don’t have the time to spend hours on end searching the depths of the course catalog, fret not, we’ve done the work for you and compiled a list of easy A classes. Okay, so maybe there’s no such thing as an easy A classes at an institution like Northwestern—except of course choir where you can get an A- even if you skip the concert—but we’ve found some classes that can lighten the load. And while all of our selections may not be available next quarter, the list is good to keep under your belt. Our picks after the jump.
Intro to American Art: (ART_HIST 230) Midway through the quarter, you realize it’s a lot easier to get an extra two hours of sleep than show up for class. The slides are posted online, plus the dark lecture hall is more conducive to sleeping than learning anyways. Luckily, the workload is light and reasonable. Just make sure you’re good at memorizing a handful of random facts.
Varieties of Religious Traditions: (RELIGION 171) Make it to class two days a week just to sign the attendance sheet and then let Facebook keep you occupied for the next hour and twenty. African traditional religions is a pretty repetitive topic, so as long as you do enough of the readings to say something along the lines of “I found it interesting that…”, your participation is good to go. And major bonus: the professor provides a study guide before each test, which tells you what the essay will be about. Yes, it’s a random class, but if you can manage to sound opinionated about religion on paper, you’re golden.
Intro to Music: (GEN_MUS 170 with Bennett) Three exams, only one of which you have to take if you’d rather do papers instead. Quizzes are extra credit and just one question. Oh, and those papers are only 2-3 pages each. There must be a catch, right? Well, in exchange for the light workload, you have to sit in class and listen to beautiful music. Quite a catch.
Sexuality and Society: (SOC 232) It may not have the theatrics of Bailey’s sex demonstrations, but it is worth your time. Listening to a grown man with a thick Hispanic accent talk about what makes you hot is pretty entertaining. Have you ever thought: “Man, asking him to put on a condom is awkward?” Well, Carillo spends a whole lecture talking about that. And did we mention there’s just two papers and a final? Go to class when you feel like it, but don’t worry about it if you don’t. Best social science distro ever.
Asian American Literature: (ASAM 275) Nothing beats a light workload: just an in-class midterm and a written final. Too good to be true, right? Well, possibly. You do have to show up to class because they literally take roll, but class is worth showing up to just to hear Prof. Kim’s various rants and hilarious commentary. The course includes a lot of reading, which you can sort of chose to complete or not. And while Prof. Kim may put together a convoluted midterm, she’s very generous in her grading so long as you put something somewhat coherent together.
Religion, Medicine, and Suffering in the West: (RELIGION 200) This class is so interesting that you’ll want to go anyway, but if something should “come up” and you can’t attend, don’t worry about it. Professor Orsi lectures about nebulous theories of the construction of life that sound very complicated, but they’re easy and fluid enough that you can breeze through those couple of short papers.
Law in the Political Arena: (POLI_SCI 230) Professor Skogan’s course is like a bad romance — if capricious winds are blowing in your favor then you’ll never have to attend lecture after the first and you can easily knock out the readings before the midterms. But if life isn’t a fairytale then things start to go south quickly and you’ll find yourself struggling to understand the most basic concepts of tort law. Sure, it’s a risk — but we like to think the danger added increases the experience. Like Russian Roulette. Take a chance, pull the trigger, and if it’s the right quarter, don’t see your GPA blown away.
Finite Math: (MATH 202) Rouding! Calculating slope! It’s like calculus never existed. This is the anti-math math class. The professor knows the class is full of hopeless cases, so he teaches slowly. A couple of quizzes and exams later, you can finally stop sweating about fulfilling your math distro.
Intro to Math: (MATH 110) Anyone interested in learning how to count up to 75 or multiply double digit numbers is in luck! This course is perfect for those of us without any interest in numbers who need to fulfill a distribution requirement before graduating. While the experience may vary for everyone, we can assure you that after a full quarter of spending class time doing readings for other classes, sleeping, or checking out the hot football players in the back, an A was never out of the question.
Choir: (CONDUCT 364) Ah, I can see the eye rolling now. Seriously though, choir can be one of the best things to happen to your GPA. You do have to show up for class pretty regularly. But regardless of whether or not you can sing (and there are a couple of tone-deaf people in every choir), that half-credit, guaranteed A will adorn your report card and have people remarking that you’re just soooo cultured.
Social Inequalities: (Soc 201) With almost 40% of your grade based on participation and the opportunity for up to 15% to be added to your grade for participation points, this class is not only easy, but insightful. This is the type of class that should be required for every Northwestern student and assuming your TA isn’t an extremely leftist Marxist, you’ll enjoy the course.
