What are the easiest electives in high school?

Managing your academic course load is essential for success in high school. However, cramming your entire semester schedule with challenging classes is typically not an optimal strategy recommended by guidance counselors. Doing so will likely cause unnecessary stress and tank your grade point average. For this reason, it is vital to know several manageable high school class options to balance out your schedule.

Here’s a list of easy high school classes:

• Improv
• Intro to Business
• Keyboarding
• Culinary Arts
• Intro to Ceramics
• Physical Education
• Intro to Astronomy
• Animation
• Intro to Guitar
• Jewelry & Metalsmithing
• Art History

Of course, the difficulty of these courses varies from high school to high school. Therefore, it would be best to talk with your guidance counselor and students who have taken these classes to get an idea of what to expect. However, most students find these classes to have a very manageable workload.

1.) Improv

Improvisation, more commonly known as “improv,” is a fun, entertaining high school class where students practice their quick-thinking skills in the form of live theater. Students make up the storyline, characters, dialogue, and scene as they go. Contrary to most other high school classes, instructors do not look down upon students who fail. In truth, improv instructors permit their students to fail so that they can continue to push their comfort zones.

Many students who take a high school improv class do not regret it because it affords them an unconventional recreational outlet during the day. Since students are expected to practice their improvisation skills on the spot, there’s not much outside preparation involved. So if you already have a busy semester schedule, taking an improv class can help lighten your course load. Plus, you get the added benefits of adaptability and self-confidence!

2.) Intro to Business

Another manageable high school class is Intro to Business. Here, instructors teach the fundamental concepts of business in creative ways that stick with the students. For example, teachers often assign group projects where students build mock companies from scratch following various business concepts taught throughout the semester. These projects enable students to demonstrate their business knowledge, collaborate with classmates, and express their imaginativeness in a way few other classes can match.

The purpose of this class is not to confuse students. Instead, the aim is to help students hone an interest in business and establish a base-level knowledge that can carry over into their future career paths. Many students favor this teaching style, so Intro to Business is often a popular high school elective.

3.) Keyboarding

Another potential course offering to explore is Keyboarding. Students learn how to type in a proper ergonomic position with speed and accuracy in this class. Students also learn to write professionally, such as appropriate email formatting and source citation. Given that the world is only continuing to trend digitally, keyboarding is becoming more of an essential skill in everyday life. In decades prior, keyboarding was seen as a luxury. Now, it’s considered a necessity.

This class is not overly complex, especially when compared to rigorous courses like calculus or physics. As long as you sit in a chair with proper posture, type using the home keys, and demonstrate steady improvement throughout the semester, you will do fine in this class.

Of course, this class can get quite repetitive, but the workload is manageable. Plus, it’s worth noting that enrolling in this class will make you far more time-efficient with work in other courses. For example, your keyboarding skills will allow you to better manage multiple-page essays in English and long lab reports in Chemistry. So if you’re all about efficiency, this may be the class for you.

4.) Culinary Arts

Contrary to popular belief, Culinary Arts class is not just about learning how to cook. While it may be true that cooking is a significant part of this class, students learn other practical skills as well. For example, students learn about catering etiquette, proper nutrition, and common dietary issues as part of the curriculum. Students even learn about the various steps it takes to become a chef.

Students often find this class to be very feasible, mainly because they enjoy the material taught in class. Additionally, this class seems to attract students who prefer a more hands-on learning style, as opposed to the more traditional classroom style of instruction.

Everyone enjoys eating delicious, nutritious food! You learn how to make this delicious, healthy food yourself by registering for this class.

5.) Intro to Ceramics

Speaking of hands-on learning, yet another manageable hands-on high school course is Intro to Ceramics. Here, students learn the basics of ceramics material, hand-building, and wheelwork. At the beginning of the semester, students hone their ceramics skills with basic projects. Eventually, students progressively move on to more complex projects as the semester goes on once they have the foundational skills necessary for such work.

Having taken Intro to Ceramics myself, I strongly recommend this class to any high school student. The workload was manageable, and the hands-on projects were a nice break from the usual humdrum of classroom lectures. In truth, working on the pottery wheel was relaxing, almost meditative.

Keep in mind that all this comes from someone who had no experience with ceramics beforehand! So if you have no experience with pottery whatsoever, don’t worry! High school ceramics instructors know that every student enters the class at a different skill level. In other words, you shouldn’t let your lack of pottery experience hold you back from signing up for this class.

6.) Physical Education

If you’re the sporty type, Physical Education is another manageable high school class you should consider. In this course, gym teachers instruct students on leading a healthier lifestyle through regular exercise and proper nutrition. Students are exposed to various physical activities, including but not limited to:

• basketball
• flag football
• pickleball
• soccer
• softball
• swimming
• tennis
• volleyball

Students learn about the rules of each of these games and are then allowed to put them into practice. Unlike other high school classes, students challenge themselves physically more than mentally. This can be a refreshing change of pace from the norm, especially after sitting at a desk all day.

However, it’s important to note that physical education is a core requirement at many high schools nationwide. If this is the case, you may have to look elsewhere to fill your open high school elective spot.

7.) Intro to Astronomy

If you’ve ever wanted to learn about stars, planets, and black holes, Intro to Astronomy may be a high school course to consider. Here, students learn about Earth’s relationship with the surrounding universe. Often, astronomy instructors accomplish this task through unconventional means, like uniquely designed lab assignments and even field trips in some cases.

At my high school, students had the privilege of heading to the local observatory on a nighttime field trip to earn extra credit. In truth, I cannot think of many better extra credit opportunities than to sit back, relax, and stare at the night sky!

Before you commit to this class, make sure to talk with students who have previously taken the course, as the difficulty for Intro to Astronomy varies considerably. To learn basic astronomy principles, students must have a foundational knowledge of math and physics. However, depending on the instructor, some astronomy courses delve into much further depth with math and physics concepts. So if math and physics were never your strong suit, there are likely more appropriate elective options available.

8.) Animation

This course is one of the more unconventional options on this list. At its core, students who take Animation learn the fundamentals of bringing figures into motion. First, students apply the basic animation strategies to hand drawings. Then, once students have these techniques down pat, they use those same basic principles on a digital platform.

As you can probably imagine, this class enables students to tap into their creative side. Teachers encourage students to bring their imagination to life through various assignments and projects. Animation isn’t your typical lecture-style, memorization-based course, which is why many students sign up for this elective year after year.

Unfortunately, not every high school offers Animation. However, if your high school does have this course offering, be sure to give it a look!

9.) Intro to Guitar

Have you ever had the desire to play an instrument but never had the means to do it? Well, Intro to Guitar may be the elective for you!

In this course, teachers provide students who sign up for the course with guitars to learn the basics of how to play. There’s no need to purchase a guitar of your own. Over the semester, students learn fundamental concepts, such as:

• basic guitar chords
• beginner-level music theory
• correct finger mechanics
• how to tune a guitar
• proper strumming technique

I registered for Intro to Guitar as a high school student without prior guitar-playing experience. At first, I was skeptical of putting myself out there and signing up for something I had never done before. And admittedly, I certainly was no expert by the end of the course. However, I could confidently say that I knew my way around the guitar. But, for me, the class was stress-relieving. It was a class I always looked forward to, especially after the long, tedious calculus lectures.

In short, don’t be afraid to give this class a try, even if you’ve never touched a guitar in your life. This course was certainly a worthwhile experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone willing to venture outside their comfort zone.

10.) Jewelry & Metalsmithing

Next up on this list is Jewelry and Metalsmithing. The course curriculum teaches students how to manipulate metals to forge jewelry. The fundamental techniques taught in this course include but are not limited to:

• doming
• drilling
• foldforming
• sawing
• shaping
• soldering
• stamping
• texturing

This course is very hands-on, with a heavy emphasis on manual dexterity. So if you’ve been looking to ditch your notebooks and pencils, this class is as good a reason as any.

Furthermore, many students find great satisfaction in the jewelry projects they make throughout the semester. There’s a particular pride that comes with marveling at a piece of artistry created by your own two hands. In truth, you won’t find very many opportunities to practice your jewelry and metalsmithing skills outside this class, so you might as well jump on the opportunity while you can!

11.) Art History

Last but not least, we have art history. The name of the class is pretty self-explanatory. Students who sign up for this course learn about how art evolved throughout various historical periods in different parts of the world. Additionally, students learn about the lives of influential artists, like Picasso and Van Gogh, and the famous art techniques of each of these eras. This knowledge enables students to diversify their artistic perspectives and expand their creative expression.

Although this class is typically more manageable compared to your average physics or calculus course, it still requires some effort on your part. In other words, Art History is not the easiest elective on this list. Therefore, you should expect to put forth your due diligence outside the classroom. Otherwise, you might be unpleasantly surprised come exam time.

Bottom Line

Although it’s essential to register for a solid mix of manageable and challenging classes, the difficulty of the course (or lack thereof) should not be the sole reason you enroll in a class. Remember, the classes you take should align with your long-term goals, first and foremost. And don’t forget to pick courses that you’re genuinely interested in! An easy yet boring class is more of a burden to manage than a moderately complex yet entertaining class.