A college offers 2 introductory courses in history, 1 in science, 1 in mathematics, 3 in philosophy, and 2 in English.
a. If a student takes one course in each area during her first semester, how many course selections are possible?

Step 1 ：A college offers 2 introductory courses in history, 1 in science, 1 in mathematics, 3 in philosophy, and 2 in English.

Step 2 ：If a student takes one course in each area during her first semester, we need to find out how many course selections are possible.

Step 3 ：The number of ways to select one course from each area is the product of the number of courses in each area. This is because for each choice in one area, there are multiple choices in the other areas.

Step 4 ：Let's denote the number of courses in each area as follows: \(history\_courses = 2\), \(science\_courses = 1\), \(math\_courses = 1\), \(philosophy\_courses = 3\), \(english\_courses = 2\)

Step 5 ：By multiplying the number of courses in each area, we get the total number of course selections: \(total\_selections = history\_courses \times science\_courses \times math\_courses \times philosophy\_courses \times english\_courses = 2 \times 1 \times 1 \times 3 \times 2 = 12\)

Step 6 ：Final Answer: The total number of course selections possible is \(\boxed{12}\)