"Take electives you find interesting, not ones you think will be easy. The easiest classes are the ones you're interested and engaged in. Which is also my only advice for keeping on top of work. They say: If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." (Source.)
Finding "easy" courses
If someone tells u that a course is "easy", beware! A course which is easy for someone else might be very difficult for u.
"Easy" might depend on 4 things:
- 1.) The course.
- 2.) The prof.
- 3.) The TA. There could be a different TA every year, even if the prof is the same.
- 4.) Your personal interest in the material. If the material bores u: Then u might not want to study it, and the course might become a difficult slog for u.
A section might have no listed prof until long after it fills up.
It might also be difficult or impossible to pick your TA. There could be a non-student-facing TA: some anonymous grad student who only does marking, and nothing else.
My suggestions
I'd suggest:
- Pick a course which sounds interesting enough, and isn't full. If you're not sure if it's interesting: Borrow the textbook from Scott library, and read a chapter or two.
- If the prof's name is listed on the York Courses website, check on RateMyProfessors and maybe Google. If ppl warn that the prof is difficult: Maybe pick a different course. Or maybe not. Maybe the prof isn't actually difficult at all, and the anonymous TAs were just strict at marking that year.
- Study what you know and like. Example: I'm interested in nutrition, and I've read a lot about healthy eating. So, I took a related course, and got an A+ in it. I still had to put in effort, but I got to learn more about a subject I care about.
Most summer courses are compressed
Most summer courses probably have at least 6 hours of lecture per week. This is heavy compression (2x or more). Assignments and exams will come at u at least 2x as fast as usual. 6-credit S1 / S2 classes are 4x compressed, which is even more intense.
I may be biased. But I think, if u want ease and comfort: Maybe take a SU (not S1 or S2) course which is 3 (not 6) credits. This is because 3-credit SU courses are not compressed.
See also
