Easy Elective Choices

wheatser

Hey, Im in the process of changing my elective for semester 2. I'm in final year so would prefer an elective that is not demanding but yet easy to get a high result in. just wondering does anybody know any good electives to choose that would fit this criteria. Thanks and good luck to everyone in the exams!

Ernie Ball

wheatser wrote: »

Hey, Im in the process of changing my elective for semester 2. I'm in final year so would prefer an elective that is not demanding but yet easy to get a high result in. just wondering does anybody know any good electives to choose that would fit this criteria. Thanks and good luck to everyone in the exams!

Nice to see you make the most of the educational opportunity that the taxpayer is giving you.

This is why fees are a necessity.

Bubs101

Stop being such a fag, he probably needs to get his GPA up and the easiest way to do that is find some kind of piss easy elective that's a guaranteed A. I'm looking for two of them

wheatser

Ernie Ball wrote: »

Nice to see you make the most of the educational opportunity that the taxpayer is giving you.

This is why fees are a necessity.

dont give that **** about fees, if fees were in place people would most definitely be picking easy electives to make sure they do well. Personally i tihink the elective system is a waste of time!!

so in your own opinion do you think i should pick a difficult elective and struggle through it all semester and barely scrape a pass meaning my GPA takes a battering. I suppose at least i'll be making the most of the taxpayers money!! seriously, you and i know that nearly everyone in UCD wants to beat the system and if you ask me picking an easy elective is a sure way to bettering your GPA, so do everyone a favour and just cope on to the real world.

Alyosha

I've been recommended FIN30130, Financial Management. It's a 100% 3hr exam which is seemingly easy to get high marks in.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

ECON10030, COMP10030

Search for the previous threads on this very topic.

Notorious

Ernie Ball wrote: »

Nice to see you make the most of the educational opportunity that the taxpayer is giving you.

This is why fees are a necessity.

:rolleyes: Go on, get back up on 'yer horse and get outta here.

Try Geog10040 Intro to Human Geog II. Its the continuation of a first semester class, but taking the previous class isn't required. Easy stuff, real common sense. If you go to all the lectures you'll be sorted. The assessment is split 50-50 between two or three assignments and an end of semester MCQ.

Frisbee

Ernie Ball wrote: »

Nice to see you make the most of the educational opportunity that the taxpayer is giving you.

This is why fees are a necessity.

:rolleyes:
Why would you take a hard elective that you have to spend more time one and so probably not do aswell in your actual subjects and probably affect your grades...

COMP20130 is supposed to be fairly easy, I'm doing it next semester

Bubs101

Computer Forensics? The rundown looks fairly easy actually

Mr Minraise

Alyosha wrote: »

I've been recommended FIN30130, Financial Management. It's a 100% 3hr exam which is seemingly easy to get high marks in.

Terrible advice, its actually quite a toughy.

Id try anything in bogScience tbh. Heard most of the modules there are 'monkey see, monkey do' standard.

Also agree on the point about the fees. Too many ppl just scraping into college and bringing down the standard for us all.

dyl10

Mr Minraise wrote: »

Also agree on the point about the fees. Too many ppl just scraping into college and bringing down the standard for us all.

I really don't think that was his point...

dosed

go with computer forensics.
the end of term paper is an hour long and very very easy.
the rest is a journal and an essay. journal is easy if you go to the lectures. and the essay can be on pretty much anything that interests you on th topic.
I got an A in it last semester without knowing jack about computers.

Frisbee

Bubs101 wrote: »

Computer Forensics? The rundown looks fairly easy actually

Looks piss easy.
Also 'Intro to Project Management' from Comp Sci is supposedly very easy aswell

gerry87

Ernie Ball wrote: »

Nice to see you make the most of the educational opportunity that the taxpayer is giving you.

This is why fees are a necessity.

Ernie waits for this thread every year...

OP, depends what you're into. Do you like essays? Maths? Music? Languages? Subjects are really only easy when you enjoy them.

Ernie Ball

Bubs101 wrote: »

Stop being such a fag, he probably needs to get his GPA up and the easiest way to do that is find some kind of piss easy elective that's a guaranteed A. I'm looking for two of them

The taxpayers don't give a monkey's about his artificially trumped-up GPA. Morons seem to think that the grades are an end in themselves.

We're sending him there to learn something but he's apparently not interested in that.

Ernie Ball

wheatser wrote: »

dont give that **** about fees, if fees were in place people would most definitely be picking easy electives to make sure they do well. Personally i tihink the elective system is a waste of time!!

so in your own opinion do you think i should pick a difficult elective and struggle through it all semester and barely scrape a pass meaning my GPA takes a battering. I suppose at least i'll be making the most of the taxpayers money!! seriously, you and i know that nearly everyone in UCD wants to beat the system and if you ask me picking an easy elective is a sure way to bettering your GPA, so do everyone a favour and just cope on to the real world.

Students "beating the system" is exactly why they should be paying for it. Then they'll only be cheating themselves instead of cheating both themselves and the taxpayer.

I don't think you should pick easy or difficult electives. I don't think that such considerations should even enter into the choice. Rather, you should pick electives that interest you without any consideration of their "difficulty."

But, in my experience, people like you aren't interested in much. All they care about is the gold star on the forehead so they can go out and make money and end their lives without too much thought about what it all means.

papajimsmooth

He probably just wants to up his GPA to avail of better job prospects/further his education, which is perfectly acceptable as i figure thats why people go to college in the first place. No need to be a dick about it. Not all of us are as "brilliant" as you.

Ernie Ball

papajimsmooth wrote: »

He probably just wants to up his GPA to avail of better job prospects/further his education, which is perfectly acceptable as i figure thats why morons go to college in the first place.

I fixed the quote for you.

Anyway, if what you say were true, we'd be better off replacing our universities with printing presses and churning out the parchments without bothering with the actual teaching and research. It'd save a lot of money, too.

Breezer

Ernie, out of interest, are you a robot programmed solely to churn out the same answer to this question in as many ways as possible?

Anyway OP, my answer to this, as always, is Introduction to Calculus. If you managed Leaving Cert. maths you'll fly through it, in fact half of it is Junior Cert. algebra. In fact, this module sort of makes me see Ernie's point.

bnt

I don't doubt that there are some objectively easy electives out there... but what if the College in question finds out that a particular subject gets touted as an "easy elective"? They might beef it up, without warning. I mean, come on: do you think UCD would knowingly offer subjects that effectively gave marks away? It would not be good for their reputation.

On the other hand, if you find a subject that interests you, someone else's "hard" subject might be easy for you. Especially if it's something you've seen or read about before, so you have some background in the subject. I've seen Languages mentioned in other threads as good candidates.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

bnt wrote: »

I don't doubt that there are some objectively easy electives out there... but what if the College in question finds out that a particular subject gets touted as an "easy elective"? They might beef it up, without warning. I mean, come on: do you think UCD would knowingly offer subjects that effectively gave marks away? It would not be good for their reputation.

The college can't really interfere with the academic staff. They have freedom to teach more or less what they want afaik.

Ernie Ball

Breezer wrote: »

Ernie, out of interest, are you a robot programmed solely to churn out the same answer to this question in as many ways as possible?

Wow, that's clever. Maybe you're a robot. No, that can't be right. Robots these days can learn things whereas learning something (and having to work hard to learn it) is the worst thing that can befall a UCD student. They're only interested in "learning" things that fall directly into their laps. This impoverishes the educational experience for them and everyone else.

These same students think that the only cognitive process involved in university education is memory. Any course that requires another form of cogitation (e.g. analysis or reasoning) is considered "difficult" and to be avoided at all costs. Such a course could interfere with the all-important balls and parties, don't you know?

Speaking of balls, the students (collectively) have quite the pair complaining about fees while blithely accepting such anti-intellectual attitudes from their fellow students. What this amounts to is this: we want the taxpayer to subsidize our partying (and the granting of our credentials). There is no reason on earth that the taxpayer should do this and they know it. So, nice work ruining free fees for future generations. UCD may become a pure credential factory but at least the cretins going there will have to pay. Pity about anyone actually interested in bettering themselves, however.

33% God

Ernie Ball wrote: »

Wow, that's clever. Maybe you're a robot. No, that can't be right. Robots these days can learn things whereas learning something (and having to work hard to learn it) is the worst thing that can befall a UCD student. They're only interested in "learning" things that fall directly into their laps. This impoverishes the educational experience for them and everyone else.

These same students think that the only cognitive process involved in university education is memory. Any course that requires another form of cogitation (e.g. analysis or reasoning) is considered "difficult" and to be avoided at all costs. Such a course could interfere with the all-important balls and parties, don't you know?

Speaking of balls, the students (collectively) have quite the pair complaining about fees while blithely accepting such anti-intellectual attitudes from their fellow students. What this amounts to is this: we want the taxpayer to subsidize our partying (and the granting of our credentials). There is no reason on earth that the taxpayer should do this and they know it. So, nice work ruining free fees for future generations. UCD may become a pure credential factory but at least the cretins going there will have to pay. Pity about anyone actually interested in bettering themselves, however.

...You can get down now.

bnt

Sean_K wrote: »

The college can't really interfere with the academic staff. They have freedom to teach more or less what they want afaik.

Missed the point, didn't you? Replace "college" with "whoever controls the syllabus" or "the academic staff whose job/reputation is on the line".

I have no "inside information" on exactly what UCD does, but it would not be hard to have the assessment system crunch the numbers and report the mean or median mark for each course. If the results are abnormally high, it's not hard to imagine the Registrar asking the lecturer(s) a few questions. Lecturers can get "assessed" too, you know.

Ernie Ball

bnt wrote: »

Missed the point, didn't you? Replace "college" with "whoever controls the syllabus" or "the academic staff whose job/reputation is on the line".

I have no "inside information" on exactly what UCD does, but it would not be hard to have the assessment system crunch the numbers and report the mean or median mark for each course. If the results are abnormally high, it's not hard to imagine the Registrar asking the lecturer(s) a few questions. Lecturers can get "assessed" too, you know.

That never happens. However, any self-respecting lecturer who knew that his/her course was being taken because it was perceived to be "easy" would immediately change the entire course.

That said, observe how the Brady administration is the perfect anti-intellectual supplier to the anti-intellectual wants of the students. How so? Well, they have implemented policies whereby what counts most for the funding of a School is the number of "bums on seats" (yes, that's how they refer to you). What is the easiest way for a School to ensure large numbers of bums on seats? Be perceived as easy and students will flock.

So you want dumbed-down courses and now the Schools have an incentive to give them to you. Soon you will have courses in "Britney Spears Studies." The whole thing spirals downward until you'll be getting course credit for the ability to sign your own name.

Might as well replace the whole thing with a printing press, like I say. . . .

Ernie Ball

33% God wrote: »

...You can get down now.

Ah, yes, the old "high horse": the eternal non-argument of those who are content to wallow in ****. Slave morality in action. Nobody should ever know more or learn more. If they do, trot out the high horse. That'll bring 'em down with the rest of you.

I don't suppose it has occurred to you that education is supposed to be about making yourself something more than you already are, of raising not only your abilities but also your standards. Instead, you'd rather mock anyone who actually has been educated. You find it comforting.

Since you think in pictures and not in ideas, you'll be relieved to know that that's the way the university is heading. Soon a parchment will be available to anyone who can correctly identify the picture of the burger and distinguish it from the picture of the fries.

Économiste Monétaire

Ernie Ball wrote: »

That never happens. However, any self-respecting lecturer who knew that his/her course was being taken because it was perceived to be "easy" would immediately change the entire course.

Wrong. Certain modules have specific content that must be taught for students to have the ability to progress through the levels of modules offered by the School, so a lecturer cannot change the entire course at a whim. What is 'easy' and what is 'difficult' is relative to ability, Ernie. One module that has been mentioned, and is consistently mentioned as being very simple, is ECON10030. Yet, every semester, the failure rate is very high.

Ernie Ball

Économiste Monétaire wrote: »

Wrong. Certain modules have specific content that must be taught for students to have the ability to progress through the levels of modules offered by the School, so a lecturer cannot change the entire course at a whim.

They can most certainly change enough to change the student perception of it from "easy" to "hard." After all, those perceptions have no empirical basis whatsoever. Change the exam questions, type of assessment, frequency of assignments. All of that can be done without much in the way of consultation.

What is 'easy' and what is 'difficult' is relative to ability, Ernie.

Now you're making my points for me.

One module that has been mentioned, and is consistently mentioned as being very simple, is ECON10030. Yet, every semester, the failure rate is very high.

That's because those looking for "easy electives" tend to be rather stupid and therefore prone to failure.

Économiste Monétaire

Ernie Ball wrote: »

They can most certainly change enough to change the student perception of it from "easy" to "hard." After all, those perceptions have no empirical basis whatsoever. Change the exam questions, type of assessment, frequency of assignments. All of that can be done without much in the way of consultation.

The course content remains the same because certain courses are foundations for all other levels--there is no room for manoeuvre--and so the exam is still based on the same (specific) material. There are only so many different ways you can phrase an exam in more mathsy modules, rather than essay questions. Assignments are an option, but you then have to alter the grading scheme.

Ernie Ball wrote: »

That's because those looking for "easy electives" tend to be rather stupid and therefore prone to failure.

The exact opposite actually happens. It's not the people in their second and third years that fail the course. The core group it's supposed to be focused on are the ones failing it; not the persons who are looking for an easy elective.

Breezer

Ernie Ball wrote: »

Wow, that's clever. Maybe you're a robot. No, that can't be right. Robots these days can learn things whereas learning something (and having to work hard to learn it) is the worst thing that can befall a UCD student. They're only interested in "learning" things that fall directly into their laps. This impoverishes the educational experience for them and everyone else.

These same students think that the only cognitive process involved in university education is memory. Any course that requires another form of cogitation (e.g. analysis or reasoning) is considered "difficult" and to be avoided at all costs. Such a course could interfere with the all-important balls and parties, don't you know?

Ernie, I'm not getting into it. You know absolutely nothing about me, and the person you've depicted there actually couldn't be further from the truth. I actually happen to agree with you for the most part on this issue, I just don't jump on my high horse (because that's exactly what it is) and start condemning everyone else.

Speaking of balls, the students (collectively) have quite the pair complaining about fees while blithely accepting such anti-intellectual attitudes from their fellow students. What this amounts to is this: we want the taxpayer to subsidize our partying (and the granting of our credentials). There is no reason on earth that the taxpayer should do this and they know it. So, nice work ruining free fees for future generations. UCD may become a pure credential factory but at least the cretins going there will have to pay. Pity about anyone actually interested in bettering themselves, however.

You're now being ridiculous. Fees, free or otherwise, have absolutely nothing to do with easy electives, and everything to do with the handling/mishandling of the economy (by various governments over the years, depending on which side of the debate you fall on).

Returning to the original question, +1 for languages (which I don't think even you could argue against Ernie). If you're doing a science-type course you could see if you're eligible for "Biology for the Modern World," I haven't done it but I've heard it's fairly simple. Or you could go for "Stem Cells - An Introduction to Regenerative Medicine." There's no final exam in this one, an MCQ at mid term and a group presentation on a topic of your choice in Week 11 (which requires research and analysis, Ernie), and if you've an interest in the area it's well worth it.

bnt

Économiste Monétaire wrote: »

Wrong. Certain modules have specific content that must be taught for students to have the ability to progress through the levels of modules offered by the School, so a lecturer cannot change the entire course at a whim. What is 'easy' and what is 'difficult' is relative to ability, Ernie. One module that has been mentioned, and is consistently mentioned as being very simple, is ECON10030. Yet, every semester, the failure rate is very high.

I think we have a clash of terminology here. In UCD terms, a Course = a Module, such as ECON10030. A degree (e.g. DN078) follows a Programme, it is not called a Course. No-one's suggesting that any one lecturer would have authority over the content of individual courses/modules in that degree programme except their own. Each degree has a programme coordinator, who controls which courses/modules are in that degree Programme, but not much more than that.

I have only two elective options left in my degree, but I'll do what I did with the first two: pick something that interests me. I'll be likely to find that easier than any out-of-programme "easy elective", but even if I don't (which is happening to a point this semester), I'll still be happier afterwards, having taken a course that interested me.

It would need to go really badly to have a significant impact on my GPA - and GPA is not the only reason I'm at UCD. I'd hate to be in a position where I'd be looking to an elective to compensate for poor performance in a core course. I'd be wondering if I was doing the wrong degree... :eek: