Login

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

March 19, 2024, 04:06:22 pm

Author Topic: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings  (Read 1729220 times)  Share 

0 Members and 8 Guests are viewing this topic.

dcc

  • Victorian
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1198
  • Respect: +55
  • School Grad Year: 2008
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #60 on: December 02, 2011, 07:49:33 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: COMP30021 Theoretical Computer Science

Workload:  2 lectures a week and a tutorial (3 hours total)

Assessment: 2 assignments worth 30% in total and a final exam worth 70%

Lectopia Enabled:  One of the lectures had it.

Past exams available:  I think so?

Textbook Recommendation:  The book is pretty essential, I bought it off the internet for like $10 (it costs ~$150 retail)

Lecturer(s): Harald (legend!)

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, Semester 2.

Rating:  5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 95

Comments: Absolutely fantastic subject, the brilliant continuation of COMP20004 Discrete Structures.  Topics covered (undecidability, decidability, complexity theory, time complexity, space complexity) are very very very very very (5) interesting, and Harald is a great lecturer.  This subject provided me with a much appreciated change in style (proofs are usually intuitive, not a lot of bashing), which is appreciated as a math student. 

The tutorials are done in a group-ish setting, so a lot of fun was had discussing the various problems provided to us.  Also the assignment style is fun - Harald gives super hard assignments (and a lot of time to do them), and its a satisfying experience to finally realise the correct way to do something after 3 weeks of thinking about a problem.  The class is super small (<15 people) and it has a nice atmosphere.  If you can take this subject, do so.

Slumdawg

  • Victorian
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1531
  • Respect: +65
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #61 on: December 02, 2011, 08:55:59 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: BIOL10003 - Genes and Environment 

Workload:  3 X one hour lecture per week, 1 X three hour prac every fortnight and 1 X one hour tutorial each week.

Assessment:  10% Mid-semester test (featuring 25 multiple-choice questions), 25% pracs (featuring one very short assignment but mostly composed of tests at the end of pracs), 5% online independent learning tasks (ILTs) and the big exam (60%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, without screen capture.

Past exams available:  One sample exam available which was quite useful.

Textbook Recommendation:  Life by Sadava is recommended however I never looked at it once for semester 2 biol.

Lecturer(s): Ross Waller, Rob Day and Dawn Gleeson (takes more than half of the entire subject).

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2011.

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H1

Comments: Well firstly in my opinion I found this subject much harder than its semester 1 counterpart (Biomolecules and Cells), although I think those who had done VCE bio were at a distinct advantage due to their prior knowledge of genetics. This subject starts off quite boring, focusing on the "environment" part of the subject, you learn about the life cycles of fungi, a large number of parasites and a bit of evolution. Then after the first 3 and bit weeks you get stuck into the "genes" component of the subject which is far more interesting but yet more complex. Throughout the semester I thought I was doomed for this subject because I'd gotten behind, missing 10 lectures in a row (yes I know it's terrible but it wasn't intentionally! :P). The good thing is you can definitely catch up on your own if you put the work in, I went to the library for a few days in a row and just listened to the lectures one after the other until I got through the entire series of lectures. I thought Dawn Gleeson's voice would start permeating through my dreams pretty soon considering I'd been hearing her voice in excess of 5 hours each day!

However I must say one of the best things about this subject is the fact that Dawn lectures the majority of it. Some people didn't like her, but I personally found her extremely entertaining (she makes so many dirty jokes it's hilarious!) and she explained things pretty well most of the time. Although a bunch of pictures presented in the lecture aren't in the notes, she only examines what is in her notes (cough Rob Day LEARN FROM DAWN cough) which means not having screen captured lectopia isn't THAT big of a deal. She does however get very behind in lectures, at one point we were 2 lectures behind! But in the end she covered all the content and it didn't feel too rushed so it was all alright.

This subject requires a lot of hours to be put in if you're aiming for a high score because there's just so much content to cover and understand. Then of course because it's genetics you need to be able to apply your knowledge to various problems which takes time. The mid semester test is quite specific, you really need to know your information in detail otherwise you'll get a low score. The pracs are all good and not too hard to score well in, although each test we had usually featured one pretty hard question which was kinda annoying.

Overall thanks to Dawn I really enjoyed this subject, it'd be a 5 out of 5 rating if we didn't have the first few weeks with Ross and Rob who both aren't the most entertaining lecturers and also their content wasn't particularly interesting. The subject is run really well, the pracs help with understanding the lecture content and therefore its overall cohesiveness made the subject really great :)
2010 ATAR: 98.35 - Psychology [50] Media Studies [47
2011-'13: Bachelor of Biomedicine [Neuroscience Major] at Melbourne Uni 
2014-'17: Doctor of Medicine (MD) at Melbourne Uni 


Russ

  • Honorary Moderator
  • Great Wonder of ATAR Notes
  • *******
  • Posts: 8442
  • Respect: +661
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #62 on: December 04, 2011, 03:47:51 pm »
+6
Subject Code/Name: Genetics, Health and Society

Workload: 2 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 1 hour tute (for the last six weeks only)

Assessment:
3 MCQ tests - 10% each
group wiki and presentation - 10%
2 hour exam - 60%

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes

Past exams available:  No

Textbook Recommendation:  Didn’t use one.

Lecturer: Various.

Year & Semester of completion: 2010, Semester 1

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: H1

Comments: It's split into three general sections - for four weeks they teach you about the biology of "genetics", then the next four weeks is an exploration of all the areas that genetics has influenced (art/law/etc.) and then the final four weeks are about the "ethics" of decision making.

It suffers from the problem of being boring for people who already know the structure of DNA, how genetic inheritance works etc until the halfway mark. I enjoyed the lectures, but then again I also took philosophy and creative writing as breadth. If you dislike thinking laterally and discussing questions without correct answers, then this probably isn't something you'll enjoy a lot.

The wiki is, as with all group work, dependent on you getting a good group. The final exam is pretty easy, you get to pick areas to write on, so if you're completely ignorant of all things law then you don't have to discuss genetics and law etc.


« Last Edit: January 05, 2015, 10:12:20 am by Russ »

bridger

  • Victorian
  • Forum Regular
  • **
  • Posts: 86
  • Respect: +11
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #63 on: December 06, 2011, 05:28:08 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: PHYS20008 Human Physiology

Workload:  3 lectures per week and 6 2-hour Computer Aided Learning (CAL) sessions during the semester

Assessment: Effective personal response system (PRS) participation and contributions (5%); Tasks related to computer-aided learning activities during semester (15%); two 45-minute written examinations held during semester (30%); a 2-hour written examination in the examination period (50%).

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, a lot are available. However, only the 2011 exams will be set out in the current format (unless this changes next year, although I doubt it)

Textbook Recommendation:  Dee Unglaub Silverthorn - Human Physiology. I found it fairly helpful to understand concepts at first, but once I'd read through it once or twice the lecture notes were enough

Lecturer(s): Charles Sevigny (He said he was finishing up his PhD this year, and won't be lecturing next year), David Williams, Genevieve Morris, Arianne Dantas

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Semester 2

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 74

Comments: I know that both Edmund and Peedles have already written good reviews for this one, but seeing as its a pre-requisite for the grad courses I think it's good to have a few reviews. Ok, well I found that as a subject, the concepts in Physiology were not too hard to understand. However, I feel that the way this subject is assessed is to make it hard for students to do well. Basically there's 2 multi choice tests, each worth 15%, held for us in weeks 6 and 11 of semester. The tests involved a fair few tricky questions that really tested your understanding of Physiology (I fell victim to many of these, so read the questions CAREFULLY). Theres a free 5% for turning up to at least 75% of lectures. 15% goes towards your CAL mark, which involves your participation in the CAL sessions and also participation in the online blog. I found the blogs useless. They were supposed to enhance our understanding, but in each one there would be a couple of people who would just write down a whole slab of text, leaving not much to be answered and not really helping my understanding at all  >:(. I was a bit scathing of the blogs in the student feedback haha. Then that leaves 50% for the exam which is LONG. The format for the exam changed this year, the reasoning being that given Physiology is a pre-req for Med, Dent etc, students need to understand all concepts thoroughly. No more ''answer 3 out of 5 questions in section blah blah''. As I mentioned before, the exam is long, and I only managed to just finish in the 2 hours. For us Section A consisted of 5 MCQ on Kidney/Excretory System which wasn't covered in the two MSTs. Section B had 3 short answer questions and Section C was the same but worth a bit more. Section D was one massive questions with many parts worth a third of the exam's marks. It was not an easy question  :(.
All in all, Physiology was pretty interesting. I think there was more substance to the subject that the other two pre-requisites (Biochem and Anatomy). Not just memory work, more understanding of concepts. In the end though, pay close attention to detail and you will be fine  :).
VCE 2009
2010-2012 Bachelor of Science - UoM
2013-2016 Doctor of Medicine - UoM

username

  • Victorian
  • Forum Leader
  • ****
  • Posts: 763
  • !
  • Respect: +7
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #64 on: December 06, 2011, 06:12:03 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: SCIE30001 Science Research Project 

Workload:  10 hours a week in a lab, but you tend to spend a lot more than that. Most weeks I was in the lab for around ~15 hours.

Assessment:  It varies depending on the department. For the Microbiology and Immunology department, it was:


10% Literature review
10% Ability to record results properly
15% Ability to carry out experiments independently
15% Oral
50% Report on your experiment (thesis)


Lectopia Enabled:  NA

Past exams available:  NA

Textbook Recommendation:  NA, but you’ll be reading at least 30-40 journal articles as research for your lit review and final report.

Lecturer(s): NA

Year & Semester of completion: 2011

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade:  93

Comments:

This subject was a lot of fun, and I’d recommend it to anyone who is interested in working in a lab, or progressing to Honours. You’ll get a lot of good research experience, such as designing/carrying out your own experiments. In the first few weeks I was taught lab techniques, and by the 3rd week I was independently carrying out assays by myself. 

Make sure you pick your supervisor well, because you’ll be with them A LOT for the whole semester. Also, be mindful that although you can nominate when to be in lab, it will require a lot of your time. One girl doing the subject had to complete a 12 hour experiment (all in one day).

Other things to consider:
  • If you’re part of the Microbiology and Immunology department, then you’ll have to do MIIM30013 Techniques in Microbiology & Immunology in Semester 1 instead of Semester 2.
  • You need at least an 80 average in second year to do this subject. The process of enrolling in this subject is also different from others in that you need to be interviewed by the coordinator before you can enrol.
  • If you’re keen, get in quick! There were only 10 positions available (in the Microbiology and Immunology department).
  • This isn’t like most lab subjects where you follow a set of instructions and write about the outcome (which is known). On some days there will be results, on others there will be none. Stick with it though! When I did it, there were many times where we discovered things that had never been reported before.

« Last Edit: December 06, 2011, 06:16:29 pm by username »

Edmund

  • Dr. Ruler Snapper
  • Victorian
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1849
  • Respect: +95
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #65 on: December 06, 2011, 06:31:46 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: SCIE30001 Science Research Project

Workload: No lectures. Weekly contact hours range from 2-15 hours.

Assessment:  Depends on supervisor. Mine was an extended literature review of about 4000 words and an oral presentation. Not sure how much each were weighted.

Lectopia Enabled:  None

Past exams available:  None

Textbook Recommendation:  None

Lecturer(s): R.K.

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Semester 2

Rating: 

Your Mark/Grade: H1

Comments: This review may not apply to projects in other departments

My project was based in the Department of Physiology (Basic and Clinical Myology) and was about nutritional interventions to muscle wasting. To get into this subject, you have to have completed some 300 point subjects relating to the topic you are interested in and contact the relevant supervisors. Students are selected according to relevant grades, research interest and interview. This will differ in various labs of course.

Before the start of semester, you will need to set a meeting time (usually early in the week) to discuss anything related to your project and tasks for the week. Depending on your supervisors expectations, the first couple of weeks will involve reading journal articles to build an understanding of the topic. There will then be opportunity to do hand on experiments and collect results. There was once when I had to come in at 7am to continue an experiment I left off the evening before :P My supervisor was kind of laid back so I didn't really have to do an actual project and design an experiment. I think username had a set project she had to do. There was also a weekly lab meeting I had to attend every Fridays at 8am where I got to watch a live lab meeting in progress where the lab members discussed progress in their research work and presented journals.

If you are interested in this subject, make sure you are proactive and take initiative. My supervisor was so laid back to the point that I could go through 10 weeks without having to do anything. I had to keep asking about assessment etc. and he made up some tasks close to the end of the semester. Managed to get together a literature review and presentation in the end :)

I would say this subject can be fairly demanding at times especially close to the end of semester. This subject will give you a taste of what Honours will be like. And if you aren't interested in doing research/Honours, omg don't do it because you'll be bored and won't do well!!!

Edit: Please excuse an grammar errors.... typed it really fast
« Last Edit: December 06, 2011, 06:35:00 pm by Edmund »
2007-2008 VCE ATAR 90.15
2009-2011 BSc (Unimelb)
2012-2015 DDS (Unimelb)

Booksale: Drugs That Shape Society, Forests in a Global Context

Edmund

  • Dr. Ruler Snapper
  • Victorian
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1849
  • Respect: +95
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #66 on: December 06, 2011, 06:41:32 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: EVSC20003 Forests in a Global Context 

Workload:  5 x 4hr lectures, 5 x tutorials

Assessment:  20 questions (5% each)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes without screen capture

Past exams available:  No

Textbook Recommendation:  Forestry in a Global Context (has answers to all the questions)

Lecturer(s): Sands, R

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 September

Rating: 0 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H1

Comments: A ridiculously boring subject on forests. Lectures in the morning are 4 hours long and are terribly boring. Tutorials are held in the afternoon and are a great opportunity to ask questions and get feedback on your assessment.
2007-2008 VCE ATAR 90.15
2009-2011 BSc (Unimelb)
2012-2015 DDS (Unimelb)

Booksale: Drugs That Shape Society, Forests in a Global Context

Peedles

  • Victorian
  • Forum Obsessive
  • ***
  • Posts: 399
  • Respect: +35
  • School: Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School
  • School Grad Year: 2009
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #67 on: December 06, 2011, 06:58:35 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: MUSI20139 Gamelan Ensemble 2 

Workload:  2 hour Practice Class per week and a 2 hr Gamelan concert towards the end of semester

Assessment:  Attendance and participation (50%); a 10-minute practical examination at the end of the semester (25%); attendance and submission of a concert report of three appropriate concerts (500 words each, due weeks 4, 8 and 12) (25%)

Lectopia Enabled:  N/A

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  N/A

Lecturer(s): Illona Wright

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, Semester 2

Rating:  4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H1

Comments:
If you are looking for a bludgy breadth subject, then here it is. Although I believe the course is going to change next year (https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/view/2012/MUSI20139). But I've had a read through next years assessment, and I don't think it would make that much of a difference apart from the fact that you will have to sacrifice a few hrs extra of your time LOL.

Practice class involved Illona writing some different types of pieces of music on the board and then the class just playing it. Here is a link to all the instruments you will play if you undertake this subject. (homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~jjordan/gamelan/instruments.html). The first couple of weeks is just experimenting with all the different instruments and differentiating which instruments are your strengths/weaknesses for the concert. Now the attendance/participation is 50%. But they make it quite clear at the start of semester that it is a bell-curved subject. There is obviously some kind of undisclosed points of differentiation when it comes to this part of assessment (especially if there are 60 students doing the subject). I predict that it has to with how you play during the practice sessions, your enthusiasm, your willingness to try out a variety of different instruments, whether your late to class or not and qualities that make you memorable, how you contribute to the practical classes and standout from the rest of the students to your demonstrator. Friend's that have done this in Semester 1 who received 100% for their quizzes and who were sure they received 100% on their test. Got scores ranging from 81 - 88. Bit weird. I only lost 2 marks on my quizzes (22/24) and i'm pretty sure I 100% the test and only got an 81. A friend of mine who got 100% for his quizzes and thought he got 100% on the test only got a H2B. So keep those points in mind if you want to do this subject and want to get a H1. (those who get lower than a H1 will exclaim that their mark was unjustified LOL)

From my knowledge the concert wasn't assessed, but it was more like a hurdle requirement. You needed to attend. You basically just play three allocated pieces that you will practice for several weeks leading up to the event. So don't stress about this.

The online quizzes resemble the Music Psychology quizzes that I had when i did the latter subject. There are 3 quizzes spread towards the later 2/3rds of the semester where you are allocated assigned readings for that quiz (comprising of 8 questions). Then you answer the comprehension questions. Mind you, the quizzes are worth 25% of your mark so getting one question wrong could prove detrimental to your overall score.

The written test was pretty easy. Had to memorise all the Instrument names. Write out Imbal(interlocking) and MIPIT lines of music. Define indonesian musical terms. The test should take no longer than 10 minutes. But once again, since it's 25% and there aren't many questions losing one mark will be costly. So please study for it.

If your looking for a easy pass, this is the subject for you. Alot of people will exclaim passionately that this subject is an easy H1. I guess compared to core subjects it is. But come into each gamelan class having those aforementioned points in mind. You are being closely monitored and are constantly assessed so always be on your game.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that this subject is unavailable to BMus students. So even playing field =)
« Last Edit: December 06, 2011, 07:08:11 pm by Peedles »
2013-2016 || Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS), University of Melbourne
2010-2012 || Bachelor of Science (Human Structure and Function Major), University of Melbourne
2009 VCE ENTER: 95.00 || English, Mathematical Methods (CAS), Specialist Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry & Vietnamese

Edmund

  • Dr. Ruler Snapper
  • Victorian
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1849
  • Respect: +95
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #68 on: December 08, 2011, 06:53:51 pm »
+6
Subject Code/Name: ANAT30008 Viscera and Visceral Systems

Workload:  3 x 1hr lectures and 1 x 3hr dissection per week

Assessment:  2 x 10% test and 2hr end of semester written exam 50% and 1 hour practical exam 30%

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No

Textbook Recommendation:  Clinically Oriented Anatomy, Gray's anatomy, Netter's Atlas, Anatomedia on USB

Lecturer(s): Many

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2011

Rating: 5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H2A

Comments: This subject covers head, neck, pelvic and abdominal regions as well as the viscera within. The lecture series consists of material from second year anatomy lectures, clinical focussed lectures and current research. Some of the stuff like the thorax, abdomen and heart are pretty much similar to what you cover in second year classes except you have remember a few more vessels and nerves. The only hard part is probably the pelvic region otherwise the rest is straightforward.

There are 6 dissections and 6 workshops throughout the semester. Like human locomotor systems, you will form a group with 5 others and will be allocated a cadaver during the first dissection. Workshops involve examining prosections and working through prac sheets. Make use of these sessions to learn anatomy in 3D and go through the difficult bits with a demonstrator. Tip: Workshops are optional so most students leave after an hour. Stay for the whole 3 hours and you will find that the student to demonstrator ratio is awesome ;)

This is probably the best subject ever. There are not many anatomy courses out there that offer whole cadaver dissection and it will be a great experience. If you are keen on taking an anatomy subject as an elective or an extension to the second year course, this is the one to take. And if anyone is interested in dentistry, there is a series of lectures on head and neck anatomy as well as a clinical focussed lecture on forensic dentistry.

Hope I've convinced everyone reading this to do this subject :)
2007-2008 VCE ATAR 90.15
2009-2011 BSc (Unimelb)
2012-2015 DDS (Unimelb)

Booksale: Drugs That Shape Society, Forests in a Global Context

QuantumJG

  • Victorian
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1748
  • Applied Mathematics Student at UoM
  • Respect: +82
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #69 on: June 13, 2012, 02:19:12 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: MAST90067 Advanced Methods: Transforms

Workload:  24 one hour lectures, 12 one hour practice classes.

Assessment:  Two assignments worth 20% each, one 3 hour exam worth 60%

Lectopia Enabled:  No

Past exams available:  No

Textbook Recommendation: 

Carl M. Bender and Steven A. Orszag, Advanced mathematical methods for scientists and engineers: Asymptotic methods and perturbation theory, Springer. (1999).
George F. Carrier, Max Krook, and Carl E. Pearson, Functions of a Complex Variable: Theory and Technique, SIAM (2005).
• Murray R. Spiegel, Theory and Problems of Complex Variables, Schaum Outline Series.
• Murray R. Spiegel, Theory and Problems of Laplace Transforms, Schaum Outline Series.
• A. David Wunsch, Complex Variables with Applications, Second Edition (Addison-Wesley).
• E. B. Saff and A. D. Snider, Fundamentals of Complex Analysis for Mathematics, Science and Engineering (Prentice Hall).

Lecturer(s): Paul Pearce

Year & Semester of completion: 2012, Semester 2

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: H2B [74]

Comments: This is my favourite university subject. The course is taught by a mathematical physicist, thus, he'll try invoke physics into as many lectures as possible. The subject starts off by looking at Lagrangian mechanics and then goes on to calculus of variations where you do all kinds of cool stuff with functionals. The subject also goes over the contour integration you would have learnt in Complex Analysis and extends that so you can do more advanced (and much cooler) contour integration. The subject then revisits Fourier and Laplace transforms, which were taught in Partial Differential Equations, but now that more advanced contour integral techniques have been taught, you get to do a couple of transforms by hand. The next part is asymptotic expansion of integrals, in this section you are taught techniques to approximate a difficult integral using methods such as Watson's Lemma, Laplace's method, method of stationary phase and method of steepest descents. Finally the subject finishes off by looking at generalised functions and Green's functions.

My advice is to stay on top of the questions assigned because you learn techniques that can't be learn't in a lecture and he actually threw in a question from the problem set into the exam. 
« Last Edit: July 02, 2012, 06:20:57 pm by QuantumJG »
2008: Finished VCE

2009 - 2011: Bachelor of Science (Mathematical Physics)

2012 - 2014: Master of Science (Applied Mathematics/Mathematical Physics)

2016 - 2018: Master of Engineering (Civil)

Semester 1:[/b] Engineering Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Engineering Risk Analysis, Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering

Semester 2:[/b] Earth Processes for Engineering, Engineering Materials, Structural Theory and Design, Systems Modelling and Design

bridger

  • Victorian
  • Forum Regular
  • **
  • Posts: 86
  • Respect: +11
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #70 on: June 14, 2012, 10:06:39 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: ANAT30007 HUMAN LOCOMOTOR SYSTEMS

Workload:  Three 1 hour lectures and one 3 hour practical per week

Assessment:  2 Mid-Semesters (30 MCQ) = 10% each, Two hour theory exam (30 MCQ, 6 Section B short answer questions, 2 "essay" style Section C questions) = 50%, Two hour "practical" exam (90 MCQ) = 30%

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:   No. 

Textbook Recommendation:  Drake et al Gray's Anatomy for Students, Moore KL et al: Clinically Oriented Anatomy
Definitely recommend Moore's, very useful. An anatomy atlas also a MUST, so get your hands on one (I used Netter's Atlas, which is a popular choice).

Lecturer(s): Varsha Pilbrow, Chris Briggs, Peter Kitchener, Various guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: 2012, Semester 1

Rating:  2.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: -

Comments: Ok well after second year anatomy, I must admit I was fairly disappointed with the co-ordination of this subject. When I say that this subject is full on, I mean it is FULL ON. Not the difficulty, but the amount of content covered in lectures was excessive. If you are going to do this subject, expect it to consume a lot of your time if you want to keep up. My main issues with this subject were the amount of content covered in lectures and the speed at which this content was covered. It was virtually impossible to pick up everything in lectures so I was forced to re-listen to the lecture again online just to understand everything. It didn't help that the lecture notes were overly simplified compared to the actual content in the lecture. In addition to normal lectures on anatomy, there were nine clinical lectures from various guests who worked in some part of the medical/biomedical field. I found these to be fairly interesting, but often it was hard to know how this material would be assessed.
Practicals for the subject were overly packed, due to the department not putting a quota on the subject during enrollment period. Obviously once we were all enrolled they couldn't deny anyone a spot. (This did result in us twice to my memory being told we should all ''reconsider'' doing the subject/major, which even though I saw their point, I thought this was extremely inappropriate of the lecturers to say. It was clear they were struggling to cope with numbers, and as a result there wasn't exactly a ''welcoming'' feel in the subject. Hopefully next year they remember the quota!) There were 12 people per group (all huddled around a cadaver) with 16 groups in my practical, and understandably it was not an ideal learning environment. I luckily had a good demonstrator who was friendly and explained everything really well.
Overall, I felt the subject was taught in a very less than ideal manner. Concepts and facts were explained at a crazy pace, and it was extremely difficult to keep up. It would have been better if more organized, more clear and concise. My recommendation would be do this subject if you are REALLY interested in Anatomy, or it is counting towards your major. Otherwise, do another subject that won't impact your other subjects so much.
VCE 2009
2010-2012 Bachelor of Science - UoM
2013-2016 Doctor of Medicine - UoM

VivaTequila

  • Victorian
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1136
  • Respect: +131
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #71 on: June 17, 2012, 01:16:14 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: RUSS10001 Russian 1

Workload: 
Quote from: handbook
Hours: 4-hours. 1 x 1-hour lecture, 2 x 1-hour seminars, and 1 x 1-hour practical per week.
Total Time Commitment:
8 hours per week, including 4 hours of class time. Total 96 hours per semester.
which is blatantly untrue, it's more like 2x 2hr tutes per week, one of them with a Russian native speaker, often ends early and ends up being 1.5hrs each.

Assessment:  10 weekly assignments commencing 2 weeks in comprising 50% (5% each), and an end of semester 2 hour examination worth 50%

Lectopia Enabled:  No

Past exams available:  No sample exam, just the assignments and a revision sheet. Nonetheless, it was more than sufficient.

Textbook Recommendation:  Ruslan 1 Textbook and Workbook at compulsory, but I got by just fine without them. You can get more off the net in an easier to understand format than these cruddy books. Don't buy them, it's a massive waste of cash.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Robert Largerberg, Ms Larisa Andreeva, and Dr Jonathan Clarke

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2012

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: -

Comments: It's hard to make up my mind about this subject. The way the subject was taught was fundamentally flawed. As grammar comprises such a large part of Russian, they obviously had to only introduce to us sentences with the accompanying grammar studies. At the end of Russian 1, we still can't say or understand anything in the future tense. That, on it's own, is ok, because Russian is an incredibly complex language. However, considering that such an effort was put into teaching us correct grammar for the sentences that we DO know how to construct, it is absurd that they just taught us disconnected "chunks" of grammar without clearly linking them together.

Without a knowledge of "cases" which are a fundamental component of many languages (not English, however), then it might be hard to understand what I'm about to say. The lecturers taught us the individual cases we were expected to know without contextualising them. In a bizzare turn of events, all the students could speak, read, and interpret most of what was expected, but without understanding how any of it fundamentally worked. The best way I can describe it was that it was taught halfway between wrote-learning sentences, and learning how to construct the sentences.

The high achievers in this subject would have already studied other languages and understood what wasn't explained grammar-wise, or like myself would have anguished themselves actually looking it up and connecting the dots between what was and wasn't explained. Now that I actually KNOW what they were trying to teach because I figured it out using the net, I can appreciate how well the subject is constructed. It's just that there was a massive disparity in the majority of the students collectively misunderstanding how the grammar worked and saying things certain ways "just because", and the logical way that they attempted to teach the subject

However, the native speaker made coming to class worthwhile. She's FOB as all hell, and she embraces it and clowns around makes everyone laugh. My lecturer had some major pedagogy issues too; he couldn't use a whiteboard in any coherent form and he didn't explain things sequentially.

Do this subject if you want to learn Russian and you can afford some time to decrypt the way this subject is taught. What they're trying to teach is fantastic - it is really a great way to learn such a complicated language. They just fall a few miles short of it.

PS No matter how bad you are at learning languages, this subject is a guaranteed pass for anyone because the assignments are piss-easy and make up 50% of the mark. You don't even need to sit the exam (which is also very easy) to get a pass. I always thought languages were hard until I bothered myself with learning this one.

VivaTequila

  • Victorian
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1136
  • Respect: +131
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #72 on: June 17, 2012, 01:46:18 pm »
+7
Subject Code/Name: MAST10005 Calculus 1

Workload: 
Quote from: handbook
Contact Hours: 3 x one hour lectures per week, 1 x one hour practice class per week.
Total Time Commitment: Estimated total time commitment of 120 hours
3x1 hour weekly lectures and a problem-solving tutorial.

Assessment:  10 weekly assignments worth 2% each (free 20%) and an end of semester exam worth 80%

Lectopia Enabled:  Not sure. Didn't use it... PM me or edit this if you're a mod if you know the answer.

Past exams available:  Yes there are a few, and they resemble the exam very closely.

Textbook Recommendation:  This should be your only textbook

Lecturer(s): Dr Deborah King, Dr Iwan Jensen, Dr Heng-Soon Gan, Mr Iain Scott

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2012

Rating:  3 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: -

Comments: Subject is spesh, minus a bit. If you didn't do spesh 3/4 and wanted to do it so you can tutor it or if you need it for a major, then this is the subject for you. It covers 6 topics from Vectors, Trig Functions, Complex Numbers (which are all new material on Methods 3/4) and then Derivatives/Integration/Differential Equations, which just introduce new methods of doing what you already know.

The first three topics are easy as pi (pun absolutely intended).
The last three topics should have you ripping your hair out, if you're anything like me.

I thought I was on top of this subject because the assignment marks are legitimately a free 20%. If you do your trig functions at the start, which apply to every other topic, you're halfway there. Vectors and complex numbers are for the most part, lone topics, and they don't merge into the others (save for De Moivre's Theorem and Parametric Equations). They are subsequently very easy because there's only so much you can be assessed on. In Differentiation, you learn how to differentiate stuff with two variables, and that's pretty much the only addition to VCE - it's still quite easy. Integration on the other hand is bum-spanking insane.

Having lost a minimum of 70 marks on the exam out of 150, all I can say is this - if you had to work your butt off in Methods to get an only semi-respectable score, then you will die in this subject. Don't pick it unless you have to, and work hard at it. Do all the questions you're given. Twice. And find more.

Maths at uni is only for those who want to do maths - it is not a bludge by any means and if you are doing this subject, it is for a reason.

Oh, and if you hated long division, save yourself now and do not pick this subject.

My reasons for picking this subject was that I figured doing a maths in addiction to Chem and Bio (which I needed for my choice of majors) would help in terms of critical analysis and being able to understand graphs and stuff in Chemistry. If you're going along the same line of thinking, reconsider it carefully for something like physics instead unless you really have it in you for doing Maths.
« Last Edit: June 29, 2012, 09:47:29 pm by VivaTequila »

Starlight

  • Victorian
  • ATAR Notes Superstar
  • ******
  • Posts: 2948
  • Respect: +275
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #73 on: June 17, 2012, 10:01:09 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: OPTO10001 Vision: How The Eye Sees the World

Workload:  Three 1 hour lectures and one 2 hour practical per week

Assessment:  2 Mid-Semesters (30 MCQ) = 5% each, Two hour end of year exam (75%), Pracs (15%). A 'hurdle requirement' to participate in online discussions, this may be about the multiple choice question bank where students submit questions, with which 1/4 of the end of year exam's multiple choice is based on. However, I don't think you actually HAD to post something on the discussion forum, I think it was just there for quick replies from lecturers etc.

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:   Sample exam questions posted on the subject's main page, but cannot access actual past exams.

Textbook Recommendation:
  Schwartz 'visual perception' was all I needed. Lecturer will talk about the textbook information in the first lecture.

Lecturer(s)
: Andrew Metha, Andrew Anderson, Larry Abel, Michael Pianta.

Year & Semester of completion:
2012, Semester 1

Rating: 3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade:
H1

Comments:
This subject is basically an introductory subject on the eye- looking at anatomy of the eye (such as cranial nerves, blood supply to the eye and various parts of the eye's functions), some concepts on light (a little bit of physics in there, but barely any), visual illusions, colour vision etc. I found this subject to be very interesting, however it was quite annoying that it did not have any 'real' tutorials held say once every week or even every two weeks. Rather, there were 3 tutorials for the whole semester, 2 based on the mid semester test content (where students just asked questions, lecturer answered) and 1 tutorial based on the exam (which I hadn't actually listened to as a classmate mentioned a lot of the content wasn't covered). I don't think this subject was structured particularly well in that respect, in addition some lectures weren't ever completely covered and I guess it all just became 'assumed knowledge'. The practicals in this subject were often way too short for the time that I believed should have been assigned (3 hour practicals would have made life a lot easier), however i'd say about 1/2 of the pracs you can virtually do at home with research on the internet. Some pracs required we used a program in the prac computer lab though. This subject also had a lot of content, A LOT so it's important to keep up.

So to sum up:

Pros: An intriguing subject where you are able to learn more about the function and structure of the eye's, a lot of information processing to understand some concepts however. Lecturers were also enthusiastic which made the subject more enjoyable.

Cons: A lot of content as mentioned before, with some lectures left not completed. The time constraints on certain practicals were a little unrealistic.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2013, 08:57:34 am by El2012 »
2012-2014. BSc: Neuroscience. University of Melbourne.
2015-2018. Doctor of Optometry. University of Melbourne.

Unlikely to respond to any PMs these days.

QuantumJG

  • Victorian
  • Part of the furniture
  • *****
  • Posts: 1748
  • Applied Mathematics Student at UoM
  • Respect: +82
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #74 on: June 25, 2012, 07:04:04 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: MAST90045 Systems Modelling and Simulation 

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures, 1 computer lab

Assessment:  3 assignments (each worth 15%) and a 3 hour exam (worth 55%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, you're given exams for 2009, 2010 and 2011

Textbook Recommendation:  The lecturer wrote the textbook and thus put a link for the electronic copy on the LMS.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Owen Jones

Year & Semester of completion: 2012

Rating: 5/5

Your Mark/Grade: H2B [71]

Comments:

Firstly I must say that having a lecture who has Jones and the title Dr is pretty awesome (Do we have Indiana Jones fans?).

This subject is a professional tools subject (compulsory for those doing a MSc(mathematics). This subject revolves around you learning how to program in R and use it for simulations.

The assignments by far are the best part of the subject. This year the three assignments were on:

- Modelling Dam levels: This assignment was to model the level of a dam with given data on rainfall (made up data of course) over 100 days.
 
- Spider Webs: This one was my favourite. Here you used an evolutionary algorithm to model how efficient spider webs become as the number of generations increase. It's cool because at the start you are required to write a program that draws a web given information on what it looks like.

-Modelling household water usage: This was the hardest and most frustrating one. This assignment required you to model a households water savings when it installs a grey water and rainwater tank. The rainwater data you're given is based off data acquired over 100 years in Melbourne, although the water consumption by the family isn't that accurate. Then you have to work out the best tank setup given how much a tank costs vs how much it will save.

The assignments aren't too difficult to get between 90-100% in if you put a fair amount of effort in. The exam on the other hand is purely theoretical and has nothing to do with the assignments. If you look at the exams, they start off relatively easy and get more difficult as the years go on, this year was no exception. This years exam allowed cheat sheets to be brought in (which helps a 'little') and if you got 75% or above, your mark would scale up to 100%.

My advice is to make sure you get ~90% for each assignment, so you can still pass even if you did poorly in the exam.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2012, 06:23:35 pm by QuantumJG »
2008: Finished VCE

2009 - 2011: Bachelor of Science (Mathematical Physics)

2012 - 2014: Master of Science (Applied Mathematics/Mathematical Physics)

2016 - 2018: Master of Engineering (Civil)

Semester 1:[/b] Engineering Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Engineering Risk Analysis, Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering

Semester 2:[/b] Earth Processes for Engineering, Engineering Materials, Structural Theory and Design, Systems Modelling and Design