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March 29, 2024, 04:46:22 am

Author Topic: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings  (Read 829054 times)  Share 

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achre

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #330 on: June 04, 2016, 12:14:50 am »
+4
Subject Code/Name: ATS1326 – Contemporary Worlds 2

Workload:  1x2hr lecture, 1x1hr tute, every week.

Assessment:  A minor essay, major essay, final exam and tute participation + tute presentation. The minor essay was a critical comparison of two different newspaper’s coverage of the same subject matter (one is state owned, in my case Russia Today, one is at least nominally impartial). The major essay was an examination of commodity chains for one major TNC, in my case Apple (iirc, McDonald's and Nike were other options). From speaking to students in 2015, this was the essay topic in both 2014 and 2015. Exam was a definition exercise, and an essay question.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  We were given a list of like 20 words and told that 5 of them would appear on the exam to be defined.

Textbook Recommendation:  Introducing Globalization: Ties, Tensions and Uneven Integration was the textbook in 2014. I know it was also the textbook in 2015 because I sold it to someone the year after. It wasn’t super useful, but the weekly readings are contained in there and there’s a glossary at the back which was handy for the end of year exam, where one of the questions requires you to define and write a paragraph on a bunch of key terms. Overall you’re better off buying it, but you could probably do without it. The unit reader is the same – useful but by no means essential. Just ask yourself if you want a 3.0 or a 4.0 GPA I guess.

Lecturer(s): Paula Michaels, a few guest lecturers for some topics.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 semester 2 lol, meant to write this two years ago and just never got around to it.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 78

Comments:

This unit is a lot like most other gateway Arts units, like Human Rights 1&2, or Intro to IR. It’s a high level survey of the area of study (International Studies), a gentle way of incorporating critical theory into your lexicon and giving you ideas or what you might like to study in the future should you choose intl studies as your major. From week to week you go over different topics, starting with introductory tools (a look at international political economy), before moving onto the meat of the course (globalization’s effects on health, the black market, terrorism, etc.), before coming back to two different case studies of globalization in China and in Australia. Each of the separate topics in the middle of the course is offered as a unit in its own right in 2nd and 3rd year.

It’s hard to get excited for units like these because invariably there will be weeks on subjects that bore you to death, and a couple on topics you’ll find really interesting, but in the end it’s all examinable and it becomes a race to see how many names and facts you can cram into your short term memory and vomit onto your exam paper. I didn’t really like Paula all that much, but my tutor was amazing (Ash King), and I don't think Paula takes this unit anymore anyway. I was also a big fan of the first assessment task. I was not, however, a big fan of the unit’s kind of shallow treatment of IPE. I get that it’s not a huge part of international studies the way it is international relations, but it still bugged me.

If you want to fit in with the cool kids rallying against neoliberalism and championing Marxism, this is definitely the unit for you – you’ll learn the lingo and have plenty of resources to learn more. If you want to major in intl studies, well, you have to do this unit. Outside of those two cases though, I can’t really say I recommend it. In my opinion it’s one of the more challenging first year arts units, if you’re looking for a bludge, and it’s also kind of boring if you’re looking for an elective to broaden your horizons. If you’re chasing something to give you a foundational perspective on international affairs, I’d recommend into to IR, or maybe even human rights 1 over this.

bobbyz0r

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #331 on: June 10, 2016, 07:26:57 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: BFC3540 - Modelling in Finance

Workload: 1 x 1.5 hr lecture, 1 x 1.5 hr tutorial/computer lab

Assessment:

In Semester Assessment = 60%   Final Exam = 40%
A. Weekly Tutorial Class Group Debate
Weeks 8, 9, 10
8%
B. Individual VBA Assignment (3 Parts)
Part 1: Week 8 (1%)
Part 2: Week 10 (2%)
Part 3: Week 12 (3%)
6%
C. Weekly Quizzes
Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11
4%
D. Weekly Excel Spread Sheet Assignments
Weeks 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11
5%
E. Weekly VBA Spread Sheet Assignment
Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
5%
F. Mid-Semester Test
Week 9
Second Hour
8%
G. VBA In-Tute Programming Tests
Weeks 2, 4, 6
10%
H. VBA In-Tute Q&A VBA Test Weeks 3, 11
8%
I. In tutorial Excel Spread Sheet Mid Semester
Test Week 7
6%

(from Unit Guide)
note: This changes slightly every semester.


Recorded Lectures:  Yes.

Past exams available:  No. There is a very old one on the Monash Library Database, but the unit has changed far too much.
Instead, the Mid Semester Test and the Weekly Moodle Quizzes are mainly past exam questions.

Textbook Recommendation:  None really needed. Crappy scans from textbooks are uploaded, which may help (but not really needed)

Lecturer(s): Paul Lajbcygier

Year & Semester of completion: 2016, Semester 1

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Pending

Comments: Unit was formerly known as AFC3540. Have a read of TrueTears' unit review as well.
This unit has been recently changed to being a capstone unit. Now, the main thing you should know about this unit is it has a large focus on the application of theory.
I did this unit concurrently with BFC3140 (Corporate Finance 2/Adv Corp Fi), having only done BFC2140, BFC2240 and BFC2000 for my Finance Major. This seemed to be a decent amont of prior knowledge.
I would say that, going without doing options (BFC3340), the basics of options from BFC3140 was sufficient for me. In fact, I found the options easier due to the more mathematical way taught in 3540 compared to 3140.
Also, I have had a bit of experience with Excel from some Econometrics units, which helped a lot at the start of the unit.

Now, Paul will go through the theory quite quickly in the lectures, but most of it should only be revision. However, he does start from the start, almost assuming no prior knowledge.
I found that I understood some financial concepts a lot better after covering the topic in this unit.

As I said before, the main focus is on application. Particularly, it is taught on Excel. This is through both just basic Excel, relying on the inbuilt functions, as well as teach VBA coding.
If like me, you have always planned to learn some basic programming fundamentals, this is quite a good unit to start. I always had trouble learning programming purely because I didn't have a problem to solve.
Here, you'll be given problems to solve. The VBA they teach start from the very basic to a level where you should be able to program a Binomial Option Pricing Model.

I had no prior programming experience apart from simple HTML/CSS. Some people found the pace quick, some found it fine. If you are somewhat computer inclined, it should be no problem.
I would say I'm above average at using computers in general, and found the VBA they taught to be quite a decent pace, albeit a tad slow. By around Week 5, most of the coding fundamentals is covered, so you can focus on applying the skills you learn.

The tutes were quite useful. I had Mikhail as my tutor (he is the head tutor for the unit), who was excellent. There is a large emphasis on in-semester assessment in this unit, so do attend tutes to stay up to date.
Tute attendence/participation is not marked, however a lot of tests are held during tutes, indirectly making them compulsory.

On the topic of assessment, this is where this unit shines. I have never liked it when exams counted for >60% of the unit, because I personally do better in assignments (so I may be somewhat biased).
Weekly VBA and Excel Spreadsheets to submit, as well as a Weekly Moodle Quiz. For the spreadsheets, you get two chances at it. After your first submission, automated feedback is given indicating your errors and tells you the correct answers.
The following week, you can resubmit, and your average mark is taken as the final mark. The Moodle quizzes also come with a revision quiz to practice. These are past exam MCQs, and are there to keep you up to date with the content covered in lectures.
They are fairly simple, and you are given excess time to complete them (1 hour for a 10-15 minute quiz, at most).
There are tests in tute which test you VBA skills. You'll be given a problem to solve using VBA. Some are complete marked autmatically, while some are Q&A quizzes, where the tutor will ask you 1 on 1 to exaplain what you have done.

It is pretty obvious that people are cheating in this unit for some in semester assessments. I recommend not to do so, as they are: a) very useful for learning, and b) not that hard.
I would HAPPILY forgo the marks, since the stuff you learn is very useful. Despite the efforts of Paul to reduce rote learning, it is a unit you can rote learn.
For example, the code for matrix multiplication or for American Call Option Pricing.

For three weeks near the end of the semester, there is a break from all the Excel in the debates. These debates are debating a portfolio and its weights using a top-down analysis (news headlines).
I found that the debates really helped me to follow business news. You are forced to read news headlines related to three sectors and six shares. While it feels horrible at the time, it really did help me to get into following financial and business news.

Mark distribution wise, about 50% of the cohort gets at least a Distinction or higher. In semester, the average was roughly 70% I have heard. While the exam only counts for 40%, it is a hurdle.
This puts some people in a scenario where they will get a D so long as they pass the exam. And because of the emphasis on in-semester assessment, not much study is required during SWOTVAC. The exam itself is 3hr.
I suggest everyone to smash out the VBA coding section first (which accounted for 40% of the exam), before going on to the MCQs, which account for 50% of the exam!!

All in all, highly recommended unit, although students commencing studies 2016 onwards will have to do this unit as a capstone unit for the Finance major as part of the Monash Business School restructure.

« Last Edit: June 11, 2016, 12:32:20 am by bobbyz0r »
2014- Economics at Monash

chabooski

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #332 on: June 20, 2016, 03:00:13 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: LAW1111: Foundations of Law

Workload:  2x 2 hour seminars a week, combination of lecture style learning and a bit of groupwork. Mainly going through slides.

Assessment:  'Court Report' (1500 words) 30%, library research skills quiz 10%, online moodle quiz 20%, final exam (take home) 40%

Recorded Lectures:  No. Slides available on moodle.

Past exams available:  Go through previous exam in one of the lectures. Other than that, no. Samples of HD writing available on moodle.

Textbook Recommendation:  The only book you really need is Foundations of Law by Ross Hyams. I did not buy (or need!) the dictionary or any of the other books they 'prescribed'. Faculty notes used to cost, but this year we were given a free online copy (which some people printed at their own expense).

Lecturer(s): Jessie Taylor. She's great, really experienced with the legal system, with law at Monash and is just a really nice person that made going through slides about 'how to interpret 'must' and 'may'' bearable.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2016.

Rating:  3.5 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: unknown

Comments: A compulsory subject for anyone completing the law degree, FOL is an introduction to not only law but legal writing and law at Monash. We go through history of the legal system, including English history, and move onto current practices and how to work with precedent, how to apply statutory interpretation and how to write. Some people found it dull or dry, but it's really important to go through it (and really, you have no choice!) It goes through the basics and sets out the foundation you need.

Throughout the semester, you'll occasionally have sessions with the library staff. I personally found this super helpful - they tell you about the different resources available and how to use them well, including how to search for cases and how to find journal articles. They also explain what is expected of you in your legal writing, and how to go about writing the court report.

The court report involves you going to a court and observing the procedures and the cases, and then using that information to answer one of three topic questions. Some people went before the topics were given out, some people went several times to find 'good' cases to discuss, but it's not necessary. I only went once and got what I needed. Make sure you don't just talk about the cases, but connect them to your argument and the topic.

The library skills quiz is based off of the library sessions you have during your seminars. It's held in either week 4 or 5 and you do it online, you have an entire week to do it, and you can save your answers and come back to it. The whole thing is quite easy if you paid attention in the sessions.

The online quiz is also done on moodle, in week 6. It's based on 'everything we've covered' in the first five weeks, and by that they mean everything - legal philosophy, court hierarchies and a few cases,. There are over 300 questions available and moodle randomly generates 60 for you to do in 50 minutes (so everyone gets different questions in different orders). This means some questions are quite specific. Those who'd done legal studies apparently found it easier just because some of the stuff that we may not have done much of in class, they'd done in VCE. It's multiple choice and there isn't a whole lot you can do to prepare for it apart from paying attention in class and reading over any notes you make, so don't worry too much.

This semester our exam was take home. Our classes ended in week 10 and the exam was given to us then, and we had 2 weeks to complete it. It involved two sections - one was a problem based question and required the use of statutory interpretation to solve it (1500 words), the other is an essay (750 words) on one of three topics (topics change each year but this year we had legal philosophy, precedent and the Victorian Charter).

chabooski

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #333 on: June 20, 2016, 06:35:30 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: ECC1000: Principles of Microeconomics

Workload:  2x1 hour lecture, 1 hour tutorial

Assessment: 10% tutorial participation, 10% weekly APLIA quizzes, 20% midsemester multiple choice test (unless you do better on the final exam), 60% final exam (or 80% if you do better in the final exam than in the midsem)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, two midsem practice papers, three practice final exams. Additional practice problems also provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  Didn't buy the textbook and was absolutely fine. In my opinion, Stephen King's youtube videos and the APLIA quizzes are more than enough to learn the content. Some got the book for additional practice problems but there aren't any answers.

Lecturer(s): Stephen King - I switched around my subjects on the course progression map just so that I could get him (he only does semester 1) because I'd read the previous reviews here. I can support them when they say that he's great - really funny, uses real life events as examples to help us link things together, and comes up with good questions in lectures that combine different theories together.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2016.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: (Optional) unconfirmed

Comments: I loved this subject. I'd never done any commerce subjects before, but didn't find that I was at a disadvantage at all. We learnt about opportunity cost and trade, equilibrium, welfare economics, taxes and subsidies and externalities. All of this involved examples from the real world which made it so much more real and relevant.

The subject is divided into three parts. You learn your content through the textbook or youtube videos, do the quiz on aplia (you get three attempts at each question, and after each attempt if you get it wrong they give you an explanation of the reasoning, so it's super easy to get 100% each time) and then the lecture the week after goes over that content again through application. Stephen calls them seminars, because he talks a little then puts up questions on the board and gets you to talk with your neighbours about them using the reasoning you learnt from the textbook and videos and aplia, and you use your laptop or phone to enter the answers. This means that you have to actually do the learning at home, unless you're good at grasping things just from the lectures. In tutorials, you have more 'extended response' type problems that you discuss in groups, also to do with the content you've covered in the seminars.

Midsem is multiple choice but Stephen likes to make it tricky so that you study harder for the final exam. Use diagrams to answer the questions - at the start, I thought just thinking things through would be enough to get the answer, but honestly taking the time to draw out the diagrams is so much easier and you're more likely to get the right answer. Final exam there's no multiple choice, but you have 7 or 8 statements that you have to say are true or false and then explain why, then there's section B which is made up of three extended response questions that require deeper thinking.

Overall, I found it really interesting and engaging. I actually felt like I was learning rather than simply memorising, and knowing I could apply this to the real world made it so much better.
« Last Edit: June 20, 2016, 06:40:59 pm by Aaron »

BigAl

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #334 on: June 20, 2016, 08:55:46 pm »
+3
Subject Code/Name: MEC3451 Fluid Mechanics II

Workload:  3x1 hour lecture, 2 hour tutorial

Assessment: 3 Tests - 10% each
Exam - 70%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, without solutions. Nevertheless, many problem sheets are provided for your preparation to exam
Textbook Recommendation:  No, everything is covered in the lectures.

Lecturer(s):  Dr P Ranganathan aka RP

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2016.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 66 - C

Comments: I had to do this unit because I failed MAE3401: Aerodynamics II when I was studying aerospace engineering. To be honest, I am very glad that I failed aerodynamics II because otherwise I would not be able to understand what really fluid mechanics is. RP is a great lecturer and he really puts a great effort in how to deliver this unit very efficiently and he absolutely nails it.

There are 3 tests for in semester assessment and you need to get at least 45% overall to pass your internals. The class average was about 70% so if you are up-to-date with everything, then there is nothing stopping you to get a HD in this unit. Although sometimes I found the content very dull with all these theoretical calculations, RP did his best to show very cool videos to solidify our understanding.

RP also puts emphasis on what is going to appear on the exam and when he said that 'this content is out of scope' you just don't leave the lecture because what he talks about is often very interesting. The exam was mainly focused on the latter topics because the former ones were assessed in those three tests.

The way the tutorials are done is also different. Although these tutorials aren't assessed you are still encouraged to show up to avoid the hassle of cramming  later on.

The content isn't very difficult if you are good at maths, particularly with vector calculus. Tensor algebra is also briefly introduced to really understand what's going on with fluids. There is so much to talk about this unit but I am going to stop here. I really enjoyed this unit and I think I did very well.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2016, 08:07:51 pm by BigAl »
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chabooski

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #335 on: June 20, 2016, 10:39:17 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: LAW1114: Criminal Law

Workload: starting from week 4, 2x2 hour lectures. From week 7, 1x2 hour tutorial/workshop.
Assessment:  30% Case Note (1500 words), 5 minute sentencing plea oral presentation (completed in workshop) and accompanying 500 word report worth 10% each, 50% exam (open book).

Recorded Lectures:  No. Slides available on moodle.

Past exams available:  Last year's full exam (which we go through in class) and a collection of practice problems from previous exams. Three HD samples of writing from last year's exam were also shared.

Textbook Recommendation:  Waller and Williams Criminal Law textbook is a must. You can get the Crimes Act 1958 in hard copy and bring it into the exam but not needed, as the necessary crimes and legislation are on the slides and you can just copy and paste them into your notes.

Lecturer(s): Jonathan Clough. Walks around a lot but I found that to make him more engaging. Really passionate about criminal law and wants us to speak up more in class.

Year & Semester of completion: semester 1 2016.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: unknown

Comments: First taste of a real law subject. We start by going through philosophy in criminal law, sentencing and then move onto the different crimes. We learn about the elements for each crime as well as the accompanying legislation, and any cases that are used as precedents. Whilst the content is interesting, it can be hard sitting for two hours and reading rule after rule. There's also a lot of reading to do outside of class, particularly reading over the different cases - I recommend teaming up with a few people and dividing the reading and giving a summary of each section.

The class started four weeks into the semester which was nice, but we got our assignment on the first day - writing a case note. What made me lower my overall rating of the unit was how the case note was dealt with. Most of us hadn't ever written a case note, and as it was our first lesson, we didn't even know any criminal law knowledge. It felt as if they just said 'here, go do it'. Library sessions helped but I personally felt a little lost.

Tutorials started in week 7 and involved listening to pairs do their plea presentations, discussing what each person proposed for sentencing in a particular scenario, and then afterwards going over the elements of a crime each week, followed by applying it to scenarios. It was good to connect the legislation and cases that we covered in lectures to the 'real' scenarios.

Also recommend signing up for the PASS sessions, or going to the LSS sessions. I did PASS and found it really helpful!

Exam is two hours with thirty minutes reading and involves reading a problem scenario and, with a few questions guiding you, identifying crimes and discussing the elements. You're pressed for time but overall okay.

gabo8273

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #336 on: June 22, 2016, 12:36:03 am »
+4
Subject Code/Name: BMS2011 - Structure of the human body: An evolutionary and functional perspective

Workload:
  • 1x 2 hour Lab
  • 3x 1 hour Lecture

Assessment: 
  • 3x Online Quizzes: 15% (5% each)
  • Lab quiz: 10%
  • Poster: 15%
  • Mid-sem: 30%
  • EOS exam: 30%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 1 from 2015

Textbook Recommendation:  None that I used.

Lecturer(s):
  • Dr Justin Adams
  • Dr Luca Fiorenza
  • Some guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: 2016, Semester 1

Rating: 2.5  out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown. Hopefully HD

Comments:

This unit has a lot of issues. From what I've been told, the issues didn't begin with this year. The unit was "restructured" a couple of years ago, or so I've been told. It will likely be restructured again, after devastating SETU surveys.

In terms of the content of this unit, expect a lot more human evolution than you are comfortable with. Most lectures will have an anatomical component, and then a evolutionary/functional component. For example, the lecture on lower limb anatomy consists of an overview of the muscles, bones, vasculature and innervation of the leg, and then a discussion of bipedalism (in humans and other primates).

The quality of lectures for this unit are dependent on the lecturer. The main lecturers are Dr. Adams and Dr. Fiorenza, with other lecturers will only taking one or two lectures. Dr. Adams is a competent lecturer, and is confident in his teaching. He also covers interesting content, such as visceral anatomy, the CNS/cranial anatomy and a couple of lectures on other stuff. Dr. Fiorenza covers Primate/Human evolution, as well as limb/spine anatomy. Dr. Fiorenza's lectures are well organized. However, they also contain significant amounts of information, and it is not always clear what is expected to be known.
The "masterclasses" can be summarized as a lecturer asking the audience questions about an article they were supposed to have read before the lecture. I recommend watching recording of these before the exam, as they won't show up until then.

The labs consist of an hour long lab and an hour long tutorial.
The lab will involve looking at wet (cadavers) and dry (3D models, bones etc.) specimens, and filling out a booklet. I highly recommend completing the questions before the lab, as it facilitates learning and allows more time to enjoy the actual lab. The other component was the tutorial. This is usually just a presentation by a TA about a related topic. It is worth noting that the labs aren't directly assessed, and are instead assessed in online quizzes and the week 12 lab quiz.

There were 3 online quizzes throughout the unit. They were around week 5, 7, 10 (off memory). The quizzes assess the lab content, and were not easy. The week 12 quiz was essentially the online quizzes, but not online. The poster is a 1 ppt slide on an evolution related topic. This was a controversial, and poorly handled assessment, with many students complaining about low grades, inadequate feedback (initially no feedback) and initial refusal to re-mark. I recommend following the instruction document closely, to prevent the loss of easy marks. The mid-sem and EOS exam were both MCQ's assessments, consisting of question from the lectures. The mid-sem contained week 1-5, and the EOS exam contained mostly week 6-12.

In conclusion, this was a difficult, poorly organized unit, that definitely needs some fixing. In terms of organization, it is the worst of the BMS units I have taken so far.
« Last Edit: June 23, 2016, 09:33:36 pm by gabo8273 »

AngelWings

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #337 on: June 22, 2016, 06:28:42 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: MCB2011 - Molecular Biology and the Cell
Note that this is a newly revamped unit that was previously known as MOL2011.

Workload:
2 x 1 hr lecture
1 x 3 hr lab

Assessment: 
Mid-semester test: 10%
Examination: 50%
Practical activities: 30%
Online quizzes: 10%
(There's a 12% Animation Project somewhere in those marks.)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: No, but they do provide several optional Moodle quizzes

Textbook Recommendation: Molecular Biology of the Cell (6th ed.) by Alberts et. al. but you won't really need it.

Lecturer(s):
Assoc. Professor Helen Abud
Assoc. Professor Priscilla Johanesen
Dr. Julia Young
Dr. Saw-Hoon Lim
... and a couple more.

Year & Semester of completion: 2016, Semester 1

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown.

Comments:
Lectures
Lecturers were well-versed and, while I only could attend half of the lectures, any that I was there for were fairly good. Content was diverse and covers lots of specialities in the Molecular Biology umbrella, which makes it both difficult and easy at times. Once in a short while, it would switch 'themes' and you'd learn about a different area.

Labs
Pre-lab activities were usually in the form of pre-reading the lab notes, a SCORM package (basically an interactive set of slides) and a pre-lab quiz. They were really in-depth and you ended up learning a fair amount from the pre-labs, so I would recommend doing them well to properly prepare yourself.
The labs themselves were fairly straight forward (with a little prep) and related to the previous week's content. The practical convener (Danielle Rhodes) was amazing at setting up the lab design and pracs. The experiments we did were very enjoyable, unique and definitely not like first year Biology where you're kind of in the dark. I would not recommend being late, as you miss out on some important notices.
The post-labs were the let down of this component, as this was where I really had no idea what they were looking for. Even though they were just short answer questions, the questions were kind of broad and many answers could've been right, but they'd only mark one right, so it was a bit of guesswork sometimes.

Assessment
Both lab work and lecture content is tested in the mid semester test and the final exam. I don't know if they'll change this, but both were MCQs and in the final exam, also extended MCQs. Also, don't leave the Animation Project to the last minute!

Overall
I liked this unit for its pracs and fairly good revamp. I've heard horror stories about MOL2011, this unit's predecessor, and let's just say that MCB2011 ran pretty smoothly for a first run (content no longer feels too disconnected). I would recommend this unit to any science student that is unsure what else to study and is intending to major in any of the areas of study listed in the Handbook entry.
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gabo8273

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #338 on: June 23, 2016, 09:32:20 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: BMS2031 - Body systems 

Workload:
  • 3x 1 hour lecture
  • 1x 3 hour lab (approx bi-weekly)

Assessment: 
  • Practical lab assessment: 19%
  • Moodle quizzes: 14%
  • mid-sem: 15%
  • Professional development: 2%
  • EOS exam: 50%
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Nope.

Textbook Recommendation:  Vanders is probably quite good, but I didn't use it.

Lecturer(s):
  • Julia Choate
  • Liz Davis
  • Yvonne Hodgson
  • Renea Taylor

Year & Semester of completion: 2016, Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown

Comments: Whether you enjoy or don't enjoy the content (and everyone enjoys the content), this is the most organized unit of biomed yet. Everything fits so well, and each segment of the unit is clearly distinguished, creating a very well structured unit.

The unit is divided into body systems. In order, these are CVS, renal, endocrine (and a pharma lecture), respiratory, gut and reproduction. Julia Choate, the unit coordinator, handles CVS, renal and gut. She is an incredible lecturer, and manages to explain what could be potentially confusing information in a clear manner. She is also willing to assist students, even in her own time. Yvonne Hodgson, who handles endocrine and respiratory, is not as good. However, she does make a consistent effort to make her lectures more interactive and enjoyable. Despite being less interesting to listen to, she does provide additional content, including post-lecture questions and summaries. Renea Taylor covers the section on reproduction, and is also a very competent lecture.

The labs of this unit are almost bi-weekly. There are 5 labs, which consolidate lecture content. The labs, which are quite similar to the BMS1052 labs (being another physiology unit), are probably what stops this unit from being a 5/5. They're stressful, repetitive, and generally just not very fun.

The online quizzes, and practical assessment is a mix of lab and lecture content. The practical assessment consists filling out a document, relating to what happened in the labs. The questions aren't too difficult, and most marks will be lost on silly errors, and subjective reviews by the TA marking your work. Because of this, it is important to proofread this assessment. The mid-sem is a mirror of the final exam. Both consist of short answer questions (that end up being extended response, from how much students write in them) and MCQ's. In both, the short answer questions constitute the majority of the marks.

Overall, this unit is a pretty solid unit. The content is enjoyable, the assessment is mostly fair, and the unit is structured well. Definitely the best unit of this semester.

jyce

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #339 on: July 11, 2016, 01:47:04 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: BCH2011 - Structure and Function of Cellular Biomolecules

Workload:
- 3 1-hour lectures per week, with a break from lectures in Week 7
- 10 practical sessions of a maximum of 3 hours in duration + write-up time

Assessment:
- Practical sessions (30%; hurdle)
These practical sessions were not all wet practicals; some were tutorials in which you practiced calculations (e.g., calculating amounts and concentrations of substances, developing experimental protocols), and others were self-directed learning exercises (e.g., going through a computer exercise in which you try to isolate an enzyme from a mixture using a variety of experimental techniques). Practical sessions 3 and 5 required you to construct and present a PowerPoint presentation on one of four pre-allocated proteins (e.g., RAS, immunoglobulin G). This presentation was completed in groups of 3 or 4 and involved peer assessment as well as assessment by your tutor. Each wet practical had a series of questions to be answered afterwards. Often, this would involve constructing one or more graphs, performing some calculations and explaining your results and any errors in your results. You had one week from the beginning of a practical session to write the report and submit it online via Moodle. Detailed criteria sheets were given for each practical session, both in the practical manual and on Moodle.

- Mid-semester test (10%; not a hurdle)
This test was conducted in Week 7 during one of our normal lecture times. It went for 45 minutes and comprised short-answer questions covering all content covered so far (i.e., proteins, with the exclusion of enzymes, which were covered in Week 8 ). The average mark on the MST for 2016 was 58.8 out of 100.

- End-of-semester exam (60%; hurdle)
You had 3 hours to complete the exam, although most of us finished a bit early. Like the MST, the exam was also all short-answer. 30% of the exam covered proteins, another 30% was dedicated specially to enzymes, and the remaining 40% was for carbohydrates, lipids and biological membranes.

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:
The 2014 and 2015 MSTs were made available to us on the Moodle page. I'd highly recommend doing any and all MSTs provided, as they are all similar in content and question style.

As for the end-of-semester exam, there was a bit of a situation: the previous year's exam was available on the Monash library website, but apparently it wasn't supposed to be. The exam was taken off of the site once the staff realised, but many of us (myself included) had already looked at and/or completed this exam as practice. This year's exam ended up being VERY similar to last year's exam, with some questions even being exactly the same. I suspect next year's students won't be afforded the same benefit. Other questions on this year's exam were similar to our MST, or to previous MSTs. But, if you wanted to predict what would be on the exam, all you really had to do was go through the lecture slides provided and look at the example questions. The lecture slides were littered with example questions which were gone over either during the lectures or during our revision lecture at the end of semester and covered concepts which were assessed on the exam. That and Martin Stone (one of the lecturers) quite often hinted at what he liked to examine on the MST and end-of-year exam. Furthermore, a whole heap of questions organised into different topics were available through Moodle. Other past exams from the early 00s and from the 90s are also available on the Monash library website but it wouldn't recommend doing them as they have a completely different format from the current exam format (essay-style questions, as opposed to short-answer questions). No information or skills were taken from the practical sessions for the exam.

Textbook Recommendation:
The prescribed textbook was Lehninger's 'Principles of Biochemisty' by Nelson and Cox (6ed for me). Would I recommend this textbook? Personally, I didn't use the textbook. It's not very reader-friendly imo and it's big and heavy and it's expensive and I got along just fine by attending/watching the lectures and working off of the lecture slides provided. That being said, I'm only one person and others may have found the textbook to be useful - perhaps as an alternative source of information if the lecture content/slides proved confusing or insufficient. Also, this textbook is also prescribed for BCH2022 (the continuation of BCH2011 in Semester 2), and perhaps it'll be more needed for that subject.

There was another, recommended-only book, but I didn't purchase it and can't recall what it was. I believe it might have been a guide to writing up practical reports for Biochemistry, or about lab skills for Biochemistry. Idk, but I didn't use it.

Lecturer(s): Martin Stone (for proteins and enzymes) and Mibel Aguilar (for carbohydrates, lipids and biological membranes)

Year & Semester of completion: S1, 2016

Rating: 4/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD (95)

Comments:

Content:
I found the content on proteins and enzymes to be enjoyable, especially the content on titration curves of amino acids, techniques for analysing proteins, and enzyme kinetics. The practicals were all focused on proteins and enzymes, with no practicals being dedicated to Mibel's content. Some of the things we did in the wet practicals included making an experimental protocol and using a spectrophotometer to construct a calibration curve in order to determine unknown concentrations; separating two proteins using gel filtration chromatography and SDS page; measuring the rate of a hydrolysis reaction in the presence of an acid versus in the presence of an enzyme. We frequently used pipettes and water baths and also used a centrifuge in one session. I liked the fact that the practical sessions were varied - we had wet practicals, discussion tutorials, an oral presentation, and self-directed learning exercises one of which was a computer-based exercise.

As for Mibel's content, I enjoyed this less. Why? It went into way less detail than did Martin's content. All you were really expected to know and do on the exam for Mibel's content was to identify things (e.g., identify different features of a phospholipid such as its glycerol backbone, name an example of a mechanism of active transport, label a diagram of the extracellular matrix), whereas Martin's content had you drawing and interpreting graphs and experimental data, and considering mathematical relationships, and learning about biological processes such as mRNA translation. 

Lecturers:
Martin was brilliant. He knew his stuff and, more importantly, he knew how to communicate his stuff effectively. He included lots of practice questions on the lecture slides, which we almost always went over during the lectures and which were extremely beneficial for understanding the content and performing well on the assessments. He was engaging and his lectures never ever felt rushed.

I felt like Mibel knew her stuff less well, or perhaps I only felt this way because of the fact that her content was really only a surface-level analysis of what can be some really interesting topics.

Assessments:
This unit is quite a large amount of work - 3 hours of lectures + 3 hours of practical work + time for writing up the practical reports, preparing your oral presentation, studying for the MST, studying for the end-of-year exam which is weighted very heavily, etc. What was discouraging is the fact that you have to do so much work throughout the semester, and yet this work is only worth 40% of your whole grade; in fact, this unit had the most in-semester work out of all of the units I've done, and yet the weighting for in-semester work in this unit was the least out of all the units I've done.

To be fair, it's not particularly hard to pass all the assessments - at least it wasn't for me. If you take the time to keep up to date with the lectures, if you make sure you go over the practice questions provided on the lecture slides, if you prepare for your practicals by reading the practical manual and if you make sure you've covered all the points on the criteria sheets, you'll be fine.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2016, 02:07:26 pm by jyce »

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #340 on: July 17, 2016, 11:09:45 pm »
+2
Subject Code/Name: LAW1112 Public Law & Statutory Interpretation

Workload: 2hour lectures per week. In class test. Exam.

Assessment: 30% in class test, 70% open book exam.
Recorded Lectures: Maybe, I didn't check, either way they're not particularly useful.

Past exams available: Not when I did it (as a new subject) but obviously there will be now

Textbook Recommendation: Definitely buy the textbook. It is the only thing that'll teach you this subject.

Lecturer(s): Lots of them, it will likely change. I had Maria O'Sullivan

Year & Semester of completion: 2015 S2

Rating:  2 out of 5

Comments: Look...if you've done FOL, you know what this is. It has basically nothing to do with the application of law although it is very useful for the development of statutory interpretation which is essential for real law subjects. Unlike FOL it's not a rehash of VCE Legal Studies in some areas so you won't get away with not attending AND not reading the readings. Choose one (haha). My lecturer unfortunately thought this was International Refugee Law so that's what she chose to teach, so I and my fellow classmates were left with the textbook to rely upon. The textbook is also all over the place but if you do the readings, Google a bit of it and comprehend them you can get a good score. I felt like I self taught most of this unit but it worked out very well for me in the end so you've just got to work through it.

The test was not entirely easy but if you had read the few cases and the readings it was very achievable. There was a massive discrepancy in question difficulty, however - I got a question asking about my opinion on one judgement on one particular case in which the case name wasn't actually stated (so I had to guess from the context what they were referring to). Meanwhile, a friend got a question about the constitution in general. That's law for you though. I did get the "what is feminism" question in FOL so I feel like I deserved this one. (I've heard they changed FOL to be much easier and more lenient though so I assume they'll fix all those problems up for this semester as well).

The exam was exactly the same as the FOL exam-in fact the unit was very similar with just expanded interpretation concepts and a focus on government structure etc. - and thus was pretty straightforward - read the legislation, make notes, answer the questions. The unit might not be engaging on any level (unless you get Maria and happen to love refugees) but it's the easiest law unit you'll ever get, bordering on an arts unit, so work hard and get a good score early on to start off well!
2013:  Revolutions
2014:  English, Literature, Australian History, Religion & Society, Legal Studies

2015-Present: Arts/ Laws (Honours) @ Monash

achre

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #341 on: July 18, 2016, 12:52:11 am »
+8
Subject Code/Name: ATS3266 – Washington & The World – Washington D.C. Study Tour

Workload: 24/7

Assessment: 
25% - Presentation. You can pick absolutely any topic you like, so long as it relates to some aspect of what we’ve been doing on the tour, and talk about it for 10-12 minutes. One student focused on the electoral system, another on sexism in political media, another on the history of D.C.’s civil infrastructure, another on unpaid internships, and so on. I did mine on security theatre, and got a pretty good result.

50% - Travel Journal. You record each day in a travel journal, summarising what you did that day and what you thought about it. That’s pretty much all the instruction you're given for it – when pressed, we were told that we could have an overarching theme if we liked, or have each entry be a discrete entry that doesn’t connect to the rest of the journal, or a little from column a and b. It’s not a very structured assessment, just like this unit as a whole isn’t very structured. I usually thrive on structure, so the amount of flexibility in this unit was a shock to me at first, but once you adjust, it’s actually amazing. The journal was definitely a good way to track your progress with the unit, I liked this assessment piece.

Also we were allowed to use chat speak provided we gave an explanation ipnti (in parentheses next to it), based on the sample journal entry’s use of irl. Despite all appearances though, this was still a scholarly piece of writing, so references were expected, in whatever style we liked provided we were consistent.

25% - Take-home exam. I haven’t had this yet, so I’m not too sure what it’s going to be like. Somehow I’m not expecting it to be an essay style thing, I think it will be closer to a reflection piece with prompts, but we haven’t had any specific guidance on its content.

Recorded Lectures:  lol no, you can think of the whole thing as one big lecture if you like

Past exams available:  This is a new unit, and the exam was a take home.

Textbook Recommendation:  Nothing. There are no set readings for this unit. There are a handful of suggested readings posted on moodle, but many of them aren’t super relevant as plans changed as the tour was unfolding.

Lecturer(s):

Luke Howie: Luke is a senior lecturer, honours coordinator, and the deputy director of GTReC at Monash. He replaced Remy Davison after Remy had to drop out. I was kind of disappointed because going into this unit, I had certain preconceptions as to what it would be like with Remy at the helm, and what it would be like with Luke, who seemed less formal in structuring assessments, and more focused on museums and tours than on learning about international relations.

He didn’t just exceed my expectations, he shattered them and fostered in our group what was well and truly the most productive, enjoyable and stimulating learning environment I’ve ever been a part of.

We literally had 24 hour access to him. On our first day he took a handful of us out to a BBQ joint for lunch. (That was revisited on 4 different occasions over the remaining fortnight) He came along to outings to the baseball, local pubs, card games, study sessions, you name it. The night before my presentation he, I, and two other people were chatting about counter-terrorism in our PJs at 1am. I’ve never had an experience like that before at any point in my schooling. I’ve never had a teacher I could chat to over facebook during class. I am legitimately worried that I might never get it this good again for the rest of my degree.

I don’t want to give the impression that this was some sort of lazy, incoherent, footy trip of a unit. The tour had definite structure to it, there were set times for speakers, we had to be in certain places at certain times, there were deadlines that were enforced, and rubrics that were followed. But it definitely had an informal feel to it, and it complemented the experiential learning part of the brief of this unit.

Bodean Hedwards: Bodean was second in command and, near as I could tell, was primarily responsible for coordinating travel, arranging back-ups when planned events fell through, keeping people in the loop and just generally maintaining order in what could have easily been a disorganized mess of a unit. She’s a PhD candidate and researcher in Monash’s criminology department and the Border Observatory, with a particular focus on slavery and irregular migration. Very similar to Luke, she was omnipresent in and out of prescribed class time, participated in social excursions, and was always happy to answer questions.

The unit as a whole felt like as much of a learning experience for the students as the teachers, which was good in fostering the atmosphere of experiential learning throughout the fortnight.

Others: In addition to Luke and Bo, there was a raft of other guest lecturers, usually about two a day. My favourite speakers were Jeff Sosland of AU, Gaurav Nayyar of the World Bank (brilliant communicator, his ability to thoroughly explain technical terms at an accessible level was A1) and Tim Gehring of the International Justice Mission who took a hard grilling from our cohort like an absolute champ and came off looking pretty good.

Year & Semester of completion: Term 3, 2016 (also n.b., this is a 12cp unit)

Rating:  ten hundred thousand jillion out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBD

Host Institution: I’m including this because I feel like it’s relevant and doesn’t fit elsewhere. ATS3266 was hosted by American University in Washington D.C., near Tenleytown. The main liaison with AU was Dr. Robin Lee, as part of the Washington Semester Program in the School of Professional and Extended Studies. As a host institution, AU were perfectly fine. The food was alright, breakfast aside (Americans, based on my time in New York and DC, either cannot or will not make even average egg dishes – scrambled eggs, fried eggs, eggs benny, omelets… it’s all crap). The rooms were fine, my shower was amazing but other people had almost no shower pressure, so I guess it’s a game of inches. It’s also a very spacious and very pretty campus, and there’s a Starbucks open on weekdays.

One downside was that AU was a dry campus. No alcohol allowed on or near campus, including the dorms. That meant that any late night parties (we weren’t being disruptive, we were pretty much the only residents in Centennial Hall on our floor, and there’s a huge door between Anderson and Centennial that effectively shuts off all noise) had to be pretty discrete. Still not sure how a few guys managed to get a keg upstairs, but god bless Aussie ingenuity. Be mindful that a passport is required as proof of age for purchasing alcohol (and obviously that age in the states is 21, not 18).

The info desk on the first floor of the halls was pretty hopeless. They took 5 times longer to do anything than should have been necessary, and almost never resolved any issues we had unless that issue was getting a new towel or directions to a bus stop. Several people’s room cards messed up in the last few days of the tour and they just gave us temporary visitor cards and a number to manually enter to access the dining hall instead of replacing them.

Also there’s either a much greater cultural divide between Aussies and Americans than I first expected, or Americans are assholes with the social awareness of 6 year olds when it comes to a number of issues. Two American students walked into a room during presentations, and then mindlessly chatted to each other while loudly washing their dishes. We were forced to relocate due to their reprehensible obliviousness.

We also had access to the gym. Like most of AU, it was serviceable but not much more. It wasn’t equipped amazingly, but you could do just about everything, other than deadlifts due to the small size of even the heaviest plates. There was one squat rack and an undersupply of plates. Also, obvious translation issues with kgs to lbs.

All told, I think AU was a slightly more than adequate place to study. It was certainly no Georgetown but it was a lot better than what it could have been.

Comments:

The purpose of ATS3266 is to, by touring and experiencing it first hand, gain an understanding of Washington D.C. and its place in the world as the centre of governance and policymaking in the most powerful nation on Earth. So what does that look like?

This unit was unlike any other unit I’ve done and, sadly, unlike any I’m likely to do in the future – unless Administrative Law really picks up its game before next year. The highlight was definitely in the people, rather than the subject matter. My peers, the academic staff, the guest speakers, all of them contributed in their own way to making the experience of the unit (and the unit emphasizes experiential learning) top notch. That’s not to suggest the sort of content this unit covers is boring though, you learn about US govt and politics from one of the best scholars on the subject in DC, about the World Bank from a senior World Bank analyst, about the international trade and copyright regimes from the US International Trade Commission, about the politics of trade and investment and commercial liberalism from none other than Jeff Sosland, and about national security and policing from members of the DOJ and FBI.

There were also visits to Capitol Hill, the SCOTUS, the National Mall including the Washington and Lincoln monuments, the 4th of July fireworks, the national press club, the Australian embassy, the Smithsonian and the Newseum (Newseum > Smithsonian tbh), Pentagon City, the International Justice Mission, the Library of Congress, KPMG’s Washington Headquarters, the National Archive, and the list just goes on and on and on. Suffice it to say, you’ll have no shortage of things to discuss in your travel journal, which is good, because it needs to be 6000 words long. Them 12 pointers man.

And all this is without even mentioning the networking opportunities. I get a bad taste in my mouth calling pub crawls, card games, and cramming into peak hour metro trains “networking”, on account of I consider the people I met on this tour (students and teachers) to be my friends. But as colleagues, they really are solid professional connections that I’ll be able to keep into the future, and that’s valuable however you choose to look at it.

I cannot recommend this unit highly enough. As I type this, I’m passing the time departing from Dulles airport. My flight was delayed so I’m going to miss my connection at LAX and spend literally 24 hours wandering about the airport and the immediate surrounds of the airport. This is my idea of hell, but even it isn’t enough to ruin the experience for me. So if you do get the chance to take this unit – jump on it. Take out an OS-HELP loan through Monash Abroad, take on extra shifts at work, get an advanced payment from Centrelink, beg your parents for a handout, whatever. It’s definitely worth every cent of the price tag*, even if all it amounts to is one line on your resume - “Graduate – SPExS (2017)” to your resume.

In summary:
   * Return flights to DC: $2074
   * Accommodation and meals at AU: $2000
   * Money spent on food, bevs, metro trains, ubers, New York to Washington mega buses, and two nights in a New York YMCA: $900
   * Watching the deputy director of the Global Terrorism Research Centre be forced, tears in eyes and head in hands, to say the phrase “a sad handjob” during Cards Against Humanity: priceless.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2016, 01:47:37 am by achre »

BigAl

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #342 on: July 18, 2016, 06:48:48 pm »
+2
Subject Code/Name: MEC3453: Dynamics II

Workload:  3x1 hour lecture, 2 hour tutorial

Assessment:
Exam - 75%
Tutorials - 15%
Technical Essay - 10%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:   Yes, without solutions.
Textbook Recommendation:  No, everything is covered in the lectures.

Lecturer(s):  Wing Chiu

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2016.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 72 - D

Comments:

I have mixed feelings about this unit. It could be very satisfying or disappointing depending on your point of view. The content itself is very interesting and useful in my opinion so let me list them first of all.

-Kinematics and 3D motion of rigid bodies
This part is essentially a repetition of Dynamics I with the addition of rotating frame of references. It is not difficult...just a little tedious.

-Vibrations of systems with 1 degree of freedom
I am sure you've seen ODE's by now so you should be fine. However, what's really required from you is to model a dynamical system which means you need to use the Lagrangian mechanics more often than the Newtonian mechanics. It seems difficult in the beginning but one you get the hang of it everything becomes easier.

-Periodic and non periodic oscillations 
This is where you need some more mathematical tools such as Fourier Transformations.

-Systems with multi degrees of freedom
This is where everything gets messy. Solutions to these problems are very long and there is always an exam question on this. It is very easy once you get the hang of it. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors are so important here so make sure you brush up your maths before this point of semester.

-Vibration of beams
Make sure you are good with the derivations of beam equations.

Tutorials
There is not much to talk about here. Usual engineering tutorials...

Technical Essay
You will be pairing up with someone to write this essay. Basically, you pick a topic on vibration and write an essay on it. It is easily doable within 1 week as you only write 2000 words. However, the marking is very harsh on this one so make sure you know what you're talking about and reference everything properly.

Lecturer
I couldn't somehow 'resonate' with the lecturer very well. It feels like he puts a distance with students and is a bit egoistic in my opinion. Sure you can get a help from him but you might regret it. Overall, there is still room for improvement in this unit and I think it will get better in following years.
2012 ATAR:88.90

2013-2015 Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering and Science (dropped in 2015)
2015-2017 Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical)

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #343 on: July 19, 2016, 11:02:51 pm »
+2
Subject Code/Name: ENG2091 - Advanced engineering mathematics A

Workload: 
1 x 2 hour support class
3 x 1 hour lectures

Assessment: 
9 x weekly quizzes (15 min): 9%
2 x topic test: 14%
Assignment: 7%
Examination (3 hours): 70%

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture
Alina lectures using her tablet with written notes which are uploaded to Moodle. Cally uses typed up notes (uploaded to Moodle) on his laptop and some handwritten examples he shows via projector but doesn't record (from memory he didn't upload these).

Past exams available: 
Yes, 4 exams.

Textbook Recommendation: 
I can't remember what textbook :( , it was only recommended and not compulsory, but I didn't use it and relied on tutor explanations and lecture notes. I'm sure the textbook would be useful for further explanation and more worked examples.

Lecturer(s):
It depends how you learn best, there were two lecture streams, one with Alina, and one with Paul (first half of semester or so... I think around Stoke's theorem etc they switched) and John (second half of sem).

Dr. Alina Donea: used lots of examples. To be honest I didn't really understand her explanations very much but relied on her examples to understand the content. I appreciated that she wrote her examples out while we followed as "this is what you will be doing in the exam".

Prof. Paul Cally: I understood his explanations more but I didn't like his examples. Since he typed up his notes previously you could see the working out for the examples, but it was missing steps and I preferred the way Alina worked through examples since she wrote out all the steps again. However, I understood the way he explained concepts better than Alina's explanations.

Mr. John McCloughan: a lot of people enjoyed his lecturing style and said it was the reason they attended lectures. I only watched one of his lectures but I felt he explained the content very well.

Year & Semester of completion: 2016 Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:
The exam was really hard. Tbh I don't think any amount of practice exams could have prepared me for the exam lol. The content is not easy in semester, I heard a tutor say that he has taught several maths units but ENG2091 is probably the most intense maths unit. I believe it's because they try to squish 2 or 3 maths science units into the one semester. The weekly quizzes are good as they force you to stay on top of the topic but I found that I didn't understand much in lectures, as the topics I focussed on weekly were the topics assessed in the quizzes (the previous week's lectures). The assignment was due on the last week which was on PDEs, really accessible marks that ensured you understood PDEs leading up to the exam, as a PDE question is worth about a third of the exam marks. I enjoy maths and I really liked this unit and the maths taught as it was all application and "real world". Since the exam is worth the most, definitely put a lot of study time towards aceing the exam as it will be difficult.
2015 - 2020: Bachelor of Environmental Engineering/Science

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Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #344 on: July 22, 2016, 10:01:22 pm »
+2
Subject Code/Name: ATS1316 - Medieval Europe 

Workload: 
1 x 1 hour tutorial
1 x 2 hour lecture

Assessment: 

Primary Source Analysis - 15%
Essay plan - 10%
Essay - 25%
Medieval Expo group presentation - 15%
Medieval Expo individual portfolio - 15%
Reflective Writing Piece - 10%

Plus, there were bonus marks available for completing small tasks online, or in tutorials each worth 0.5-2% each. For someone who completed every bonus task, they would be able to add an additional 7% to their final mark. I highly recommend completing as many bonus tasks as possible, even if the amount they're each worth seems insignificant. (Completing all the bonus tasks took my mark from a D to HD)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, because there was no exam

Textbook Recommendation:  Just the unit reader which has all the sources that will be referred to throughout the unit

Lecturer):
Kathleen Neal- she's really cool and made lectures super interesting. Occasionally brought in guest lecturers who were also pretty good

Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 1, 2016

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 84 HD

Comments: Overall the subject was quite enjoyable. There is a lot of content covered, and you're pretty much looking at a new century every week. The content covered was very interesting, focusing on the Edict of Milan, the day-to-day lives of monks living in monasteries, the Carolingian Era, Feudalism as a problematic model, Medieval Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, the Crusades, medieval letter-writing, and a LOT more.

While the content was quite interesting, it was not necessary to take comprehensive notes in each lecture. Due to the nature of the assessments the only areas you need to really pay attention to are: the topic you choose to do your primary source analysis on, your medieval expo topic, and your essay topic. This was nice, because in lectures for topics I knew I wouldn't be assessed on, I was able to just really enjoy learning the content of the lectures without having to furiously jot down notes, and just note down the bits I found most interesting. The assessments are not too difficult, however you really need to have a love of history to be able to do all the research required for each assessment. For example, I did my essay on the Black Death, and as a result had to pore over book after book about the plague, and read through many primary sources from people who lived through the plague. If you were writing your essay (or doing any other assessment) on a topic you did not totally enjoy, you would probably find it difficult to maintain enough interest to do all the required background research. Also, this unit uses MHRA referencing, which is different from a lot of other arts units, so you need to get the hang of footnoting.

One thing I did not like much about this unit was the Medieval Expo- having to research a topic in a group and then having to display it for everyone in your lecture in the form of either a poster/video/podcast. While the expo itself was fun; going around and looking at everyone's work and seeing people arrive in medieval costumes, the fact that it was a group project made this task quite difficult, especially when group members wouldn't respond to emails or turn up to tutorials, and thus slowing down progress.

In contrast, the thing I liked most about this unit was just learning so so much about the Medieval period in Europe- especially a bunch of stuff I had never even given a moment of consideration to (such as the structuring of letters). Also a lot of the primary sources we had to look at were just really cool, and sometimes pretty funny just reading about things that people in Medieval Europe believed/thought.

Overall, if you like history, or have any interest at all in the Medieval period, I would really really recommend this unit. If you don't super love history, or the Medieval period, you will possibly find some of the content a bit dry and not be totally engaged.
2014 - Biology [38] | History Revs [40]
2015 - English [45] | Legal Studies [43] | Media [44] | Methods [30 lol]

ATAR: 96.55