Just because it's a first year course doesn't mean it's going to be easy

It's been over a week since I started my fourth year so I'm somewhat settled in now. So one of the courses I'm taking this semester is a first year level history course (courses at my university are usually listed as 1XXX, 2XXX, etc.). The reason I need one is because in order for me to get my BA degree I need some electives in research/writing and a humanities type course. With the rest of my courses being third year level I'm hoping this would be one of the easiest but I'm no so sure on that.

The majority of people taking first year level courses are either fresh out of high school or fresh out of their long break out taking the year off before starting post-secondary education. Then you have people like me who have been in university for some time (at least a year or two) who need some sort of elective or finally have the time to take the course because the other needed courses got in the way. There are also some grad students and adults way into their late 40's and early 50's there two depending on what class you take.

There are three types of first year courses: the first one is no experience required, the second one is hoping that you've done related courses in high school but still okay if you didn't do them, and the third one is you needed to have done theses courses or else you're screwed.

Type one I would put in there the foreign language courses. If someone has taken it in high school before hand it may pose as an advantage but the majority of people taking the course either need it for a language other than English requirement or majoring in it so there shouldn't be anything too hard. Depending on what language you take you will already know some words as they are loaned or mean the same in English (for example кот in Russian means cat, компьютер is computer) or borrowed from the language itself (like apparatchik, vodka). I'm not sure if psychology, sociology, anthropology and archaeology would fit in there two as I haven't taken those courses. Religious studies would go in here too.

Type two would be anything that requires you to write an essay and some science courses. There are science courses that are designed for those who couldn't get into the advanced level first year courses (which are usually required if you're going into the heavy stuff like engineering or physics or chemistry) and for those that need a science credit. Something like history if you have taken it in high school would be very helpful as you can understand what's going on otherwise you have some serious catching up to do.

Type three would be math, sciences, computer programming and music. Though there may be some music courses that don't require you to know anything about music it goes in this category as majors are most likely doing a degree in vocals or an instrument. Math like calculus would require that you've taken a course in it before in high school or a prerequisite university course. I think there usually is a math course specific for those who don't need calculus or some form of advanced trigonometry.  Science courses like chemistry and physics if they are the advanced first year level ones.

So anyways I mentioned that one of the courses I'm taking this semester is a first year history. It's been almost 4 years since I did a history course. Though not much has been going on except for being slapped with an essay due in 2 months I'm starting to think that this course will not be as easy as it looks. Advice/lesson learned from this:

• Try completing your electives not related to your course early or find an elective that fits the categories you need but hopefully it doesn't require knowledge you gave up 4 years ago.