<p>Yeah, main things to check for before/during those first few lectures:</p>
<ol>
<li>Will this class have a lot of work? (syllabus)</li>
<li>Is this an interesting class, or will I be bored to tears? (lecture, online comments)</li>
<li>Do other students consider this an easy class? (some colleges have course evaluations you can read, websites like ratemyprofessor.com; keep an eye out for phrases like “He’s a hard/strict grader”)</li>
<li>Is this course still doable if I fall behind? Does the professor post everything online, or if you miss/lose something, you’ve gotta hunt stuff down yourself? (syllabus)</li>
</ol>
<p>2 = No, drop it. Most reliable indicators of a class’s easiness are 1, 4, 3, in that order.</p>