ATAR Notes: Forum

Uni Stuff => Universities - Victoria => Monash University => Topic started by: gemgem49 on July 04, 2011, 03:34:05 pm

Title: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: gemgem49 on July 04, 2011, 03:34:05 pm
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/da/Monash-shield.png)

Monash University
Subject Reviews & Ratings

If you have any queries, comments, complaints or suggestions, feel free to contact Sine or AngelWings.

Updated to post #567

(2) (3) etc. denote 2nd and 3rd reviews.

Arts
ATS1001 - Chinese Introductory 1
ATS1041 - World Religions (1) (2)
ATS1061 - French Introductory
ATS1091 - German Studies 1
ATS1092 - German Studies 2
ATS1171 - Korean Introductory 1
ATS1172 - Korean Introductory 2
ATS1191 - Spanish Introductory 1
ATS1248 - Ancient Civilisations II
ATS1261 - Understanding Human Behaviour
ATS1262 - Understanding Social Behaviour
ATS1264 - Bioethics, justice and the law
ATS1281 - Understanding Crime (1) (2)
ATS1282 - Criminal Justice in Action (1) (2)
ATS1297 - Academic Writing
ATS1298 - Professional Writing
ATS1305 - Introduction to Film Studies
ATS1309 - The Global Challenge
ATS1310 - (Extreme Earth!) Natural Hazards and Human Vulnerability (1) (2) (3)
ATS1314 - Human Rights Theory 1
ATS1315 - Human Rights Theory 2
ATS1316 - Medieval Europe
ATS1321 - Nations at war: The twentieth century (1) (2) (3)
ATS1325 - Contemporary Worlds 1 (1) (2) (3)
ATS1326 - Contemporary Worlds 2
ATS1338 - The Language Game: Why do we talk the way we do? (1) (2) - renamed as Language and Communication: Sounds and Words
ATS1339 – Describing and Analysing Language and Communication
ATS1340 - Words Work: Academic Skills for Arts
ATS1347 - Music Ensemble
ATS1353 - Foundations of modern politics (1) (2)
ATS1355 - Fanatics and Fundamentalists: The Global Politics of Violence
ATS1365 - Introduction to Sociology I
ATS1371 - Philosophy: Introduction A
ATS1423 - Punishment, Courts and Corrections
ATS1835 - Time, Self and Mind (1) (2)
ATS1873 - Introduction to International Relations (1) (2)
ATS1903 - Introducing Literature: Ways of Reading (1) (2) (3)
ATS1904 - Reading the City: Literary Genres (1) (2)

ATS2057 - Genocide
ATS2143 - Japanese Intermediate 1 (previously known as Japanese 3)
ATS2144 - Japanese Intermediate 2
ATS2145/3145 - Japanese Proficient 1
ATS2340 - International Security Studies
ATS2352 - Egypt's Golden Age
ATS2407 - Reading Freud and Jung
ATS2503 - Writing Women
ATS2547 - Cities and Sustainability (1) (2)
ATS2548 - Environmental Policy and Management (1) (2)
ATS2559 - Global Studies
ATS2600 - The Holocaust
ATS2610 - Ancient Religions
ATS2617 - American Civil War
ATS2624 - Global Governance
ATS2626 - Global Disasters: Impact, Inquiry and Change
ATS2628 - Power and Poverty: International Development in a Globalised World
ATS2634/3634 - Global Indigeneity
ATS2637 - The Human Body and the International Marketplace
ATS2640 - The Ethics of Global Conflict (1) (2)
ATS2648 - Contemporary Japan
ATS2667 - Language Across Time
ATS2668/3668 - Syntax: Grammatical Typology and Universals
ATS2672/ATS3672 - Computational Linguistics: An Introduction
ATS2673/3674 – History and Sociolinguistics of English
ATS2674/3674 - Semantics and Pragmatics
ATS2676 - Sociolinguistics
ATS2679 - Psycholinguistics and Child Language Acquisition (1) (2)
ATS2681 - Structure of English
ATS2683 - The Analysis of Discourse: Texts, narrative and society
ATS2698 - Middle East Politics: Continuity, Change, Conflict and Co-operation
ATS2699 - Parties and Power
ATS2779 - Climate Change and Variability
ATS2780 - Geographical Analysis
ATS2839 - Ethics
ATS2840 - Philosophy of Mind
ATS2861 - Philosophy: God, Freedom and Evil
ATS2869 - Political Philosophy
ATS2872/ATS2873 - Topics in Indian Philosophy
ATS2875 - The Moral Psychology of Evil
ATS2909/3909 - Villains and Rogues: A History of Ideas about Gangsters
ATS2924 - Ancient Egyptian Language: The Basics
ATS2925 - Ancient Egyptian Language: Intermediary Stage

ATS3067 - French Studies Advanced 1 (applicable to all French language units)
ATS3083 - Translating Across Cultures
ATS3100 - German Advanced 4
ATS3147 - Japanese Studies Advanced 1
ATS3148 - Japanese Studies Advanced 2
ATS3259/APG4758 - Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for Environmental Science
ATS3266 - Washington & The World - Washington D.C. Study Tour
ATS3552/APG4552 - Remote Sensing of the Environment
ATS3627 Global Cultures, Local Traditions: Creating and Consuming (Popular) Culture
ATS3639 - Poverty, Ecology and International Justice
ATS3673 - History and Sociolinguistics of English
ATS3787/ATS4587 - Research Methods in Geography, Environment and Sustainability
ATS3887/APG4887 - Designing Urban Futures: Urban Climate, Water and Adaptation


Business and Economics
ACC1100 - Introduction to Financial Accounting
ACC1200 - Accounting for Managers

ACF1200 - Accounting for Managers

AFF1000 - Principles of Accounting and Finance (1) (2)
AFF1300 - Money and Capital Markets
AFF2401 - Commercial Banking and Finance

AFC1000 - Principles of Accounting and Finance
AFC1030 - Introduction to Financial Accounting
AFC2000 - Financial Institutions and Markets
AFC2140 - Corporate Finance
AFC2240 - Equities and Investment Analysis
AFC2340 - Debt Markets and Fixed Income Securities
AFC3240 - International Finance
AFC3340 - Options, Financial Futures and Other Derivatives
AFC3540 - Modelling in Finance

AFX4030 - Advanced Modelling in Finance
AFX4060 - Issues in Corporate Finance

BFC1001 - Foundations of Finance
BFC2140 - Corporate Finance 1 (1) (2) (3)
BFC2340 - Debt Markets and Fixed Income Securities
BFC2751 - Derivatives 1 (1) (2)
BFC3140 - Advanced Corporate Finance (1) (2) - renamed as Corporate Finance 2
BFC3170 - Management of financial intermediaries
BFC3240 - International Finance
BFC3241 - Equities and Investment Analysis (1) (2)
BFC3340 - Derivatives 2
BFC3540 - Modelling in Finance (1) (2)

BFF1001- Foundations of Finance
BFF2631 - Financial Management
BFF3351 - Investment Banking

BFX3871 - International study program in banking and finance

BTC1110 - Business Law (1) (2) - renamed as Commercial Law
BTC3150 - Taxation Law

BTF1010 - Commercial Law (1) (2) (3)
BTF2220 - Corporations Law
BTF2223 - Corporate Crime
BTF3601 - Banking Law

ECC1000 - Principles of Microeconomics (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
ECC1100 - Principles of Macroeconomics
ECC2000 - Intermediate Microeconomics (1) (2) (3) (4)
ECC2010 - Intermediate Macroeconomics (1) (2)
ECC2800 - Prosperity, Poverty and Sustainability in a Globalised World
ECC3690 - International Economics
ECC3810 - Public Finance

ECF1100 - Microeconomics (1) (2)
ECF1200 - Macroeconomics

ETC1000 - Business and Economic Statistics (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
ETC1010 - Data Modelling and Computing
ETC2410/3440 - Introductory Econometrics (1) (2) (3) (4)
ETC2420 - Statistical Thinking
ETC2430 - Actuarial Statistics
ETC2440 - Mathematics for Economics and Business (1) (2)
ETC2520 - Probably and Statistical Inference for Economics and Business
ETC3410 - Applied Econometrics (1) (2)
ETC3420 - Applied Insurance Methods
ETC3430 - Financial Mathematics under Uncertainty
ETC3460 - Financial Econometrics
ETC3510 - Modelling In Finance and Insurance
ETC3520 - Foundations of Quantitative Finance
ETC3530 - Contingencies in Insurance and Pensions
ETC3550 - Applied Forecasting
ETC3580 - Advanced Statistical Modelling
ETC4400/5440 - Statistical Theory and Practice
ETC4410/5441 - Macroeconometrics
ETC4420 - Microeconometrics
ETC4541 - Bayesian Time Series Econometrics

ETX1100 - Business Statistics (1) (2)

MGC1010 - Introduction to Management (1) (2)
MGC2230 - Organisational Behaviour

MGF1010 - Introduction to Management
MGF1100 - Managerial Communication
MGF2661 - Human Resource Management

MGX3100 - Management Ethics and Corporate Governance

MKC1200 - Principles of Marketing (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

MKF1120 - Marketing Theory and Practice

MKF2111 - Buyer Behaviour







Science
ASP1010 - Earth to Cosmos: Introductory Astronomy
ASP1022 - Life and the Universe (1) (2)
ASP2062 - Introduction to Astrophysics (1) (2) (3)
ASP3012 - Stars and Galaxies
ASP3051 - Relativity and Cosmology (1) (2) (3)

BCH2011 - Structure and Function of Cellular Biomolecules

BIO1011 - Biology I (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
BIO1022 - Biology II (1) (2) (3) - renamed as Life on Earth (4)
BIO1042 - Environmental Biology (1) (2)
BIO3011 - Research Methods in Biology

CHM1011 - Chemistry I (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
CHM1022 - Chemistry II (1) (2) (3) (4)
CHM1051 - Chemistry I Advanced (1) (2) (3) (4)
CHM1052 - Chemistry II Advanced (1) (2)
CHM2911 - Inorganic and organic chemistry (1) (2) (3) (4)
CHM2922 - Spectroscopy and Analytical Chemistry (1) (2) (3) (4)
CHM2951 - Environmental Chemistry: Water (1) (2)
CHM2962 - Food Chemistry
CHM2990 - Introductory Chemical Research Project (1) (2)
CHM3911 - Advanced Physical Chemistry (1) (2)
CHM3922 - Advanced Organic Chemistry
CHM3972 - Sustainable Chemistry
CHM3990 - Chemistry Project

DEV2011 - Early Human Development from Cells to Tissues (1) (2)
DEV2022 - Principles of Organ and Body Design (1) (2) (3)

EAE1011 - Earth, Atmosphere and Environment I (1) (2)
EAE1022 - Earth, Atmosphere and Environment II (1) (2)
EAE2011 - Environmental Problem Solving and Visualisation
EAE2111 - Introduction to Climate Science
EAE2322 - Environmental Earth Science

ESC1011 - Planet Earth: Our Place in the Universe

IMM2011 - Basic Immunology: The Body's Defence System

MCB2011 - Molecular Biology and the Cell

MTH1020 - Analysis of Change (1) (2) (3) (4)
MTH1030 - Techniques for Modelling (1) (2)
MTH1035 - Techniques for Modelling (Advanced) (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
MTH1112 - Numbers, Logic and Graphs
MTH2010 - Multivariable Calculus (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
MTH2021 - Linear Algebra with Applications (1) (2) (3) (4)
MTH2021 - Linear Algebra with Applications
MTH2025 – Linear Algebra (Advanced)
MTH2032 - Differential Equations with Modelling (1) (2)
MTH2121 - Algebra and Number Theory (1) (2)
MTH2132 - The Nature and Beauty of Mathematics (1) (2) (3)
MTH2140/MTH3140 - Real Analysis (1) (2)
MTH2222 - Mathematics of Uncertainty (1) (2)
MTH2232 - Mathematical Statistics
MTH3011 - Partial Differential Equations
MTH3020 - Complex Analysis and Integral Transforms (1) (2)
MTH3051 - Introduction to Computational Mathematics (1) (2)
MTH3060 - Advanced Ordinary Differential Equations
MTH3110 - Differential Geometry
MTH3150 - Algebra and Number Theory II
MTH3241 – Random Processes in the Sciences and Engineering (1) (2)
MTH3360 - Fluid Dynamics (1) (2)
MTH5210 - Stochastic Calculus and Mathematical Finance
MTH5520 - Interest Rate Modelling

PHA2022 - Drugs and Society

PHS1011 - Physics (1) (2)
PHS1022 - Physics (1) (2)
PHS1080 - Foundation Physics (1) (2)
PHS2011 - Physics: Quantum Concepts and Technologies (1) (2)
PHS2022 - Physics: Electromagnetism, Light and Entropy

PHY2011 - Neuroscience of Sensation, Brain and Movement
PHY2021 - Body Systems Physiology
PHY2032 - Endocrine Control Systems (1) (2) - renamed as Human physiology: Hormonal and digestive systems (3)
PHY2042 - Body Systems Physiology

SCI1020 - Introduction to Statistical Reasoning (1) (2) (3) (4)
SCI1300 - Climate Change: From Science to Society
SCI2010 - Scientific Practice and Communication (1) (2)
SCI2015 - Scientific Practice and Communication (Advanced) (1) (2)

STA1010 - Statistical Methods for Science (1) (2) (3)

Mod edit (AW): Post exceeded character limit. Continues on next post.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: JinXi on July 05, 2011, 02:23:23 pm
Mod edit (AW): Previous post exceeded character limit. Post continues here until ENG1006 review by JinXi (see lines).



This is a thread for subject or majors reviews only.  If you have any questions, then please PM the member who wrote the review.  The views expressed are those of the authors and do not represent the opinions of the university.  Keep in mind that despite best efforts, information provided may not be accurate. To request a review, please use the review request thread.

We encourage you to review the subject(s) you have completed, even if someone else has already reviewed your subject(s).  The more reviews we have, the more helpful this resource will be. Please try to avoid overly denigrating lecturers and keep your review relatively objective.

Please use the following template for subject reviews:

Code: [Select]
[b]Subject Code/Name:[/b] [url=insert link here]SUBJECT CODE - SUBJECT NAME[/url]  Please insert the handbook link for the subject, and replace SUBJECT CODE - SUBJECT NAME with the appropriate details

[b]Workload:[/b]  (specify how many lectures, pracs, tutes etc. and their duration)

[b]Assessment:[/b]  (Outline the various assessments which make up the subject and how much each counts for)

[b]Recorded Lectures:[/b]  Yes, with/without screen capture

[b]Past exams available:[/b]  Yes, how many?  No. Was there a sample exam?

[b]Textbook Recommendation:[/b]  What must you buy?  What is "recommended"?  Do you need it?

[b]Lecturer(s):[/b]

[b]Year & Semester of completion:[/b]

[b]Rating:[/b]  out of 5

[b]Your Mark/Grade:[/b] (Optional)

[b]Comments:[/b] Give your overall opinion of the subject, lecturers, assessment etc. and a recommendation, plus anything else which you feel is relevant.

and the following template for majors reviews:

Code: [Select]
[b]Major:[/b] [url=http://insert link here]Major Name[/url]  Replace "insert link here" with the handbook url for the major and replace "Major Name" in the URL tags with the appropriate name of the major. Also delete this text.

[b]First Year Subjects:[/b]

[b]Second Year Subjects:[/b]

[b]Third Year Subjects:[/b]

[b]Year of completion:[/b]

[b]Rating:[/b]  out of 5

[b]Comments:[/b] Please include all relevant comments about the major, briefly explaining how you found individual subjects and giving some background about the major itself. Feel free to detail your personal experiences, though do not include unnecessary rancour. Including where you hope the major to take you, or indeed where it has taken you is also very welcome!

http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/


Template courtesy of stonecold's University of Melbourne subject review page.

Mod edit (AW): Original 1st post ends here.



Subject Code/Name: ENG1060 - Computing for Engineers

Workload:  Weekly 3 x 1hr lectures, 1 x 3hr lab.

Assessment:  30% Internal Marks (9x2% lab, 1x2% library test, 1x10% Assignment), 70% 3hr end of sem exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  About 5 years of Sem1/2 exams (10), although the course had changed a little so not all questions might be relevant.

Textbook Recommendation:  Highly Recommended to get a copy of Matlab on your personal computer. It makes preparation much more convenient. I don't recommend getting the prescribed textbook for this unit as the lecture notes covers just about everything, and there are heaps of copies available in the library.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Wai Ho Li

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Sem 1

Rating:  4.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 94 - HD

Comments: I kind of enjoyed this subject as it gave me an insight as to how basic codes operates. However, if you are not interested in computers/electronics, then you would truly hate this subject.

Generally, I would say that this subject is quite easy. The main chunk of the course is basically memorizing codes and knowing how to apply them, along with some straightforward numbers plugging and basic algebra). This subject may seem overwhelming during the first few weeks when you are unfamiliar with the program, but once you get the hang of it, you'll see that there's nothing really difficult.

Lab Classes: Every week, we are given 5 tasks which are to be completed during the lab. However, they are normally released on the weekend before the lab, so if you are prepared to spend some of your time finishing off the lab work at home, you basically go to your labs to get your work marked. I spent 2-5 hrs prior to each lab finishing off the lab work and easily scored full marks for all my labs.(Generally if you prepare well for the labs, you should be getting close to full marks).

Library Test: This is the biggest waste of time ever. During one of your lab class, you will be brought to the library and will have to endure through an hour or so of the most boring presentation in the universe. At the end of that ordeal, you would be required to answer a series of question(a quiz) regarding the usage of the library systems etc etc. If unsure, just ask the presenter and they'll sort of tell you the answers.

Assignment: The assignment is fairly challenging. Ask your peers, discuss with others on discussion boards along with getting Wai Ho to give hints(prepared to get trolled :P). Just tackle the problems one step at a time and it shouldn't be that much of a problem.

Exam: There are 2 sections. In my opinion, Section A is the section which seems 'easy', but this is the section which most people would lose marks on as there are a couple of tricks lying about. The type of questions asked in this section revolves around the functions of certain codes, as well as interpreting codes. This part is generally easy if you are familiar with the codes and are willing to read carefully and slowly.
In Section B, we are asked to apply different types of numerical methods. This basically involves repetitive number plugging into formulas which are provided. There's an extremely high chance that you'll lose marks here, not due to insufficient skills/knowledge, but due to plugging incorrect numbers into the calculator(I did this on the exam :'() Other than that, there's not much thinking required for this section.

Lecturer: Wai Ho is one of my preferred lecturer as he explains new material fairly well. He also cracks random jokes during the lectures which would've kept me awake if the lecture halls aren't heated to that prefect temperature for sleeping... Another plus for Wai Ho is that he replies questions posted on the discussion boards quite quickly, along with the occasional trolling. He plays StarCraft II  :D :D
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Mao on July 08, 2011, 11:54:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3360 - Fluid Dynamics

Workload: 3 Lectures/week. 10 Tutes/semester. 2 tests. 1 Assignment. 1 exam.

Assessment: Attendance to tutes count for 10%. In week 2 there is a 5% vector calculus test (brush up on MTH2010). The mid-semester test is quite easy (every question is a proof question). The assignment is quite challenging. Final exam isn't easy, but mostly straight forward.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, but why bother?

Past exams available:  Yes. Many. With solutions. (Solutions often have mistakes, as we expect)

Textbook Recommendation: Lecture notes. Buy them/print them out. Actual textbooks aren't necessary.

Lecturer(s): Rosemary Mardling (if she is in the country). Louis Moresi.

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 S1

Rating:  3 Out of 5

Comments: Rosemary's section is essentially a continuation of MTH2032. Louis teaches some quite challenging concepts in the second part of the course. And whilst he knows his stuff, he doesn't communicate it well. Few people understand what he means, most will feel like they're failing. But he does provide quite a few videos as supplementary resources, which are quite helpful. These will teach you more than going to the lectures. Lectures are useless. Stay home and read the notes. Do the tute questions, go to the tutes. Ask questions there.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Mao on July 09, 2011, 12:07:11 am
Subject Code/Name: CHM3911 - Advanced Physical Chemistry

Workload: HEAPS.
Weekly labs + lab reports. Some are computational labs (requiring a lot of computer work, graphing, long reports, answering theory questions). The chemistry involved are quite 'physics-esque' and can be heavy on the maths side.
Many assignments. You will almost always be spending time every week on some assignment or other, ALONGSIDE your lab reports.
Mid-semester test. (20%)
Final exam. (Mid-sem materials not examinable)

Assessment:  refer to above

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, but why bother? (Most phys. chemists are dicks)

Past exams available:  You're joking right? (No, maybe 1 including irrelevant coursework)

Textbook Recommendation:  Print all lecture notes. Definitely get a book on molecular symmetry. If you can spare the cash, also get a copy of Atkins.

Lecturer(s): Many. Who can keep count?

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 S1

Rating:  3 Out of 5

Comments: Lab reports can be a bitch. Spend time on it. Assignments ARE bitches. Definitely spend time on it. Many people skipped assignments/lab reports, because the commitment this subject demands can at times be unrealistic. (Even I skipped certain lab reports, it's just not worth it). Definitely plan your schedule around this subject.

Most people don't enjoy this subject, because they innately hate physics, and the workload makes it that much worse. Anyone who isn't fascinated by the physical and mathematical interpretation of chemistry, you'd do well to avoid this subject. If you are interested, however, the learning experience will be very rewarding. Despite the horrendous workload and poor administration, it is still my favourite subject.

Course is poorly organised, many parts are poorly taught. You'll need to do your own research on most of the stuff (lectures, labs, assignments. The fact that they don't relate to each other is not surprising at all.) Learn to use scientific databases, they are important.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Spheniscidaphile on July 10, 2011, 04:58:38 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1091 - German Studies 1 

Workload:  Weekly 1 x 2hr culture lecture, 3 x 1hr language tute

Assessment:  25% Culture Exam, Language component 75%, comprising 4 mini tests, 4 homeworks, 2 dialogues, two larger tests, all in-semester, and a language test and oral test during exam period (worth ~30% or total mark).

Recorded Lectures:  No recordings available.

Past exams available:  No past exams available.

Textbook Recommendation:  You need the coursebook for the language component, which contains all the assessable material. Readings for the culture component are provided. There is a recommended book for the Culture side, but it's not essential and you could get by with wiki.

Lecturer(s): Dr. A. Fliethman, J. Beckman

Year & Semester of completion: 2011/sem 1

Rating:  4.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD.

Comments:

   I found this subject to be more interesting than I had expected.  The culture component touched on German history from the medieval period through to the 19th century, with an emphasis on the change to social structures over that time.  There was also some discussion of aesthetics, philosophy, political theory and comparison to contemporary australia.  Dr. A was fairly flexible and encouraged discussion around the edges of the subject areas. 
   One downside was the lack of past exams for the culture component, so that we weren't quite sure what to expect for most of the semester. Recordings would have been nice too! Since there aren't recordings, you have to actually attend (9am :( ). There was only one written assessment for Culture, the final exam, which wasn't too hard if you'd done the readings.  I would really recommend doing the readings and taking notes on them or thinking about them before the lectures as you get more out of it. 1 page or so of revision notes was enough to prepare for the culture exam.

   As for the language component, it was taught very well, in a relaxed (except for the dialogue/orals stress) and almost fun atmosphere.  There seemed to be loads of small assessments (15 or so), but each was only worth a small percentage, so easy to make up for a bad one. Basic conversational german was covered, with noun cases, adjectives, the present and some of the past tenses.  The hardest part was vocab of course, and remembering the genders of nouns.  Some more descriptive vocab would have been nice.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Spheniscidaphile on July 10, 2011, 05:01:19 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1338 - The Language Game: Why do we talk the way we do?

Workload:  2 x 1hr lectures, 1 x 1hr tute.

Assessment:  1 x short literature review 15% , 2 x short answer exercises 35% total, tutorial presentations 10%, exam 40%.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  One past exam, provided by lecturer towards the end of semester.

Textbook Recommendation:  The textbook, "Introduction to Language" is useful, but you don't need to buy it. It's expensive (~$100) and there are lots of different editions out there - easy to get the wrong one. The Matheson has a fair few copies and additional weekly readings are provided online. 

Lecturer(s): Dr. H. Manns, and several (6 or more) specialist guest lecturers during semester.

Year & Semester of completion: 2011/sem 1

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: not released yet.

Comments:
   This subject tries to give a broad overview of most of the areas of study in linguistics, and some idea as to the content and methodologies used.  As a result, you won't study any particular aspect to great depth, but neither will you be expected to write a thesis on them. At times it felt like a 12 week advertisement for the linguistics dept. 
   Expect to cover some phonology, syntax, historical linguistics, pragmatics, language acquisition, psychology of language and stylistics.  The textbook contains all you will need for assessment, and loads of additional (and optional!) resources are supplied if you want to read further.  Much of the course content was interesting and relevant, especially complementary if you're doing arts subjects or languages. However, how much you get out of each topic will depend on your interests, so expect to be bored at least some of the time.
   If you've done the English Language VCE subject before, this unit is a bit of a bludge, but still slightly more rigorous than EL.
The lecturers were all good and really knew their stuff, and Dr. Manns is especially entertaining - it's like watching stand-up.  There was free wine, beer and nibbles at the party after the final lecture! FREE. BEER.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Spheniscidaphile on July 10, 2011, 05:02:45 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1340 - Words Work: Academic Skills for Arts

Workload:  1 x 1hr lecture, 1 x 2hr tute.

Assessment:  1 x major essay 40%, exam 20%, 2 shorter written pieces 15% each, an oral presentation/critique 10%.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Don't think so, but didn't look.

Textbook Recommendation:  Coursebooks are provided, no purchases necessary.

Lecturer(s): Dr. M. Piscioneri

Year & Semester of completion: 2011/sem 1

Rating:  5 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:
   The handbook entry describes this course pretty accurately, so look there for that.  This would be a good unit for someone without good writing/research skills, or for international students to get used to the local academic style & expectations.
   If you're confident in your essay writing skills, then it's probably not worth your while, and you could just use the learning unit to polish your academic style (search monash AALLU).  It's basically to train you to research and prepare essays of a reasonable academic standard, and will probably add a few marks to your submitted work in other subjects for the rest of your degree. 
   This was easily the most interesting and thought provoking subject I took this semester, mostly due to the history of ideas element.  I found it more difficult than I expected and got swamped with readings.  I would point out though, that these were readings I chose for my major essay, and if I had taken to heart the advice about research reading given in the lectures, I would have saved myself a lot of pain and time. Dr. Piscioneri is a really good teacher (anyone in the class would vouch for that) and presents material quite clearly.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: gemgem49 on July 10, 2011, 01:04:22 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2559 - Global Studies  

Workload:  1x 1h lecture, 1x 1h tutorial for duration of semester

Assessment:
1500 word critical analysis on the three readings from the first week - 20%
2000 word research essay on a cultural issue from the country you are studying abroad in (you make up the topic yourself) - 50%,
1 hr exam - 20%
Tutorial participation which is made up from a group presentation - 10%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Unknown

Textbook Recommendation:  University reader with all the readings provided which you must buy, as the first assignment is based on readings in it.

Lecturer(s): Jo Hook, various guest lecturers.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2011. Completion: N/A

Rating:  1/5

Your Mark/Grade: N/A

Comments: This is a core unit for those completing the Bachelor of Arts (Global) degree. The only good thing about this subject was getting to meet other people who were all planning to study abroad and discussing the application process and potential universities with them (because their knowledge is much more obtainable and thorough than anything the study abroad office will give you).

The assessment written on the handbook entry for this subject is wrong. I have written the correct assessment. The marks for tutorial participation come from a group assignment (you are split into groups based on the region you are studying abroad to). Your group must run one tutorial and present ideas, information and run class discussions.

The readings are the most intense I have ever had to do as an Arts student - the reader is huge. The readings are exceptionally bland and the topics are not cohesive at all. I gave up after about week 5, no one in my class did the readings so we all kind of just sat there talking about study abroad when split into groups. I would say it is not crucial that you do complete all readings as tutorial participation comes from your presentation and they're not really necessary for any other parts of the course (i.e. the exam is a combination of basic knowledge learnt from lectures + the ability to bullshit how it relates to cultural 'self and identity'.) The first assignment is explained very badly and I know a lot of students were confused. I would recommend going directly to your tutor and finding out exactly what THEY want you to do, as they're the ones marking it and there were a lot of conflicting messages from the lecturer and tutor.

While trying to remain objective, this subject was run so poorly and one of the reasons I decided to leave Monash. The research essay can be okay if you choose a topic you're interested in, as is the group presentation. But the tutorials were a waste of time, the tutor I had was unhelpful and the lectures were an accumulation of  dry, historical information that didn't attempt to relate back to key themes at all.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: slothpomba on July 11, 2011, 12:28:15 am
Subject Code/Name: BIO1011 - Biology I 

Workload:  2 x One Hour Lectures. 1 x Three hour lab.

Assessment:  Exam(Not a hurdle, you don't need to pass the exam to pass the unit) - 40%
Mastering Biology Pre-lecture Readings Quizes - 5%
Blackboard Quizes - 15%
Practical Reports - 30%
Essay - Draft -2%
Essay - Final - 8%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No past exams available. They rework the previous exam year to year. There was however, a quiz on blackboard that had practice questions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Biology 8th edition. Campbell, Reece, Meyers. Not really necessary. Exam is based on lecture material only. You need it to do the reading before the lectures and the quizes associated with these. Nothing you couldn't manage by borrowing it from the uni library i guess. Its only 2 hour loan/overnight loan i think though. Still useful to have.

Lecturer(s): Heaps, not going to list them all here.

Year & Semester of completion: S1 2011

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 70

Comments: Very good unit overall. It only has 2 x 1 hour lectures instead of 3 lectures a week, like most of the other science subjects which is nice. As someone who has done VCE biology however, a lot of the stuff is repeated, in a little more depth but still not worth it i think. Monash doesn't stream biology, there isn't a biology unit for people who have done VCE and for people who haven't. There are some other subjects that weren't covered in VCE like parasites, sponges, other kinds of animals. More indepth stuff about plant diversity. This isn't really anything i'm interested in though.

It is incredibly broad and i guess "thin" in some places. Evolution had only 2-4 lectures. I noticed a lot of people didn't get certain concepts, especially if they didn't do VCE Bio. 2-4 Lectures isn't really enough to get a good grasp of evolution. In VCE we had weeks and weeks, i'm thankful i came in with that knowledge. I reckon it would of been a much harder ride for me without it. It's because im lazy though haha, definetly do-able.

Practical lessons were alright, no complaints there.

I don't really have any major criticisms for the unit except for the minor stuff mentioned above.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: taiga on July 11, 2011, 01:25:45 am
Subject Code/Name: ETC1000 - Business and Economic Statistics

Workload:  12x1.5 hr lectures, 13x45 min online lectures (need these for real lectures), 12x1.5hr Tutes

Assessment: 3x5% Online multi choice tests, 5x3% Tute pracs, 70% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Many past exams available, 3 with solutions + Practice exam with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Never ever used the textbook

Lecturer(s): Brett Inder - Pretty cool guy, pretty interesting to listen to, funny. Can be a bit strict with noise, but fair enough.

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Sem 1

Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 86/HD

Comments: Found the lectures boring, not because of the lecturer, but the fact that I never watched the online videos, and the content was stuff that you could read and learn very quickly. Ended up attending two lectures in the semester, but this subject is very easy to study for if you're a quick learner. Everything you need to know is in the notes. I do warn people doing it that the Multi Choice tests will give you a surprise, as they are highly mathematical in some instances. Come exam time, getting a hold of more past exam solutions will help you a lot. That said not everyone learns in the same way, so I definitely suggest you attend the first few lectures.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Muuru on July 11, 2011, 02:58:29 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2407 – Reading Freud and Jung (this unit is currently only offered as ATS3407)

Workload: 1 x 2 hour seminar per week

Assessment:

1000 word seminar paper and presentation (20%)
2500 word research essay (60%)
2 hour class test (20%)

Recorded Lectures: No

Past exams available: No

Textbook Recommendation: The unit coordinator will instruct you to purchase The Essentials of Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud and Anna Freud (ed.) as well as The Portable Jung by Carl G. Jung, but all of the weekly readings will be uploaded to Blackboard anyway.

Lecturer(s) : Dr. Christiane Weller

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2011

Rating: 5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 (HD)

Comments: I eat critical theory up better than most, so this unit was a breeze for me. The unit is full of thought-provoking and dense readings from the whole gamut of Freud's and Jung's theories, so if you're after a bludge unit and have no interest in these theorists or psychoanalysis whatsoever, then this probably isn't for you.

Christiane was extremely knowledgeable about the subject matter and made the dense readings crystal clear. The seminar was also lively and full of interesting discussion, which is more than I can say for other arts units. The unit was taught extremely effectively and was well organised. I don't have any major criticisms to offer, other than the fact that the due date for the major essay and class test fell on the same day, haha.

Even though it was one of the more dense arts units I've completed, it was also one of the most rewarding! In particular, as an English major, this unit really helped clarify how psychoanalysis can be used as a literary device (most English lecturers just gloss over psychoanalytic concepts and expect you to know everything there is to know about the theory).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: xZero on July 11, 2011, 03:22:22 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1112 - Numbers, Logic and Graphs

Workload: Three 1-hour lectures and one 1-hour support class per week

Assessment:
Examination (3 hours): 70%
Assignments and/or practicals: 30%

Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  Quite a few with solutions (many without)

Textbook Recommendation:  Lecture notes, if you're struggling then I suggest you buy Peter Grossman - Discrete Mathematics for Computing (Grassroots) (2Ed,Palgrave Macmillan,2002), it helps alot

Lecturer(s): Dr Daniel Delbourgo, Dr Daniel Horsley

Year & Semester of completion:2011 Sem 1

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 80 (HD)

Comments: Loved the unit but lectures are boring and not too helpful, almost fell asleep every time. Lecturers decided to not record any lectures is so that student would show up to get solution for some work questions in our lecture notes which is stupid IMO. That being said I recommend you to pre-read lecture notes and decide which lecture you want to attend, eg the last 7 or so lectures are useless so skip. This unit might overwhelm you at the start with all these new theory and such but it gets easier later on. Exam is very easy, I mean they give you 7 questions and only 6 of them counts :S, just spam past exam and you'll be fine.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: miss_academia on July 11, 2011, 07:47:09 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1316 - Medieval Europe 

Workload:  One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tute per week.

Assessment: 
Short multiple choice test held in the lecture (10%)
1500 word historiography exercise (25%)
500 word response to questions on one week's readings and short group tute presentation on one or two of those questions (10%)
1500 word research essay (30%)
In-class test; 750 - 1000 word essay based on extracts from the documents in the course reader and a general essay question (25%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes; we were given the previous year's in-class test two weeks prior to ours, so we were familiar with the format, and had the opportunity to write a practice essay.

Textbook Recommendation:  Only the course reader was required for this subject, and you will need it, as it contains all of the primary and secondary documents studied in the unit, including the documents off which the historiography exercise and in-class test are based.

Lecturer(s):  Clare Monagle, Constant Mews, Carolyn James, and a number of other guest lecturers.

Year & Semester of completion:  Semester 1, 2011.

Rating:  4 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: 90 (HD).

Comments: While this wasn't my favourite subject, it was certainly a good break from my other very contemporary subjects, and covered a wide range of topics within the medieval period. I now know a lot more about farming methods, monks who behave like Disney princes (Francis of Assisi, always communicating with animals...), and the origins of modern religious practices than I ever would have otherwise. The readings were tedious at times, mainly due to the apparent inability of medieval writers to STOP RAMBLING (I kid you not, at one point in a primary document, the writer admitted how awful his writing was and then said that he intended to continue on anyway  :tickedoff:), but the lecture quality was very high and the tute discussions interesting. The assessment is not difficult, as knowledge outside of the lecture/reading content is not required. While I am not continuing onto the second-semester unit Renaissance Europe, I would still recommend this unit, as I found it refreshing to study the medieval period after four years of modern history in high school.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: taiga on July 11, 2011, 08:10:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENG1091 - Maths for Engineers

Workload:  36x1 hour lectures, 12x2 hour tutes

Assessment:  4x6% assignments, 1x6% mid semester test, 70% exam

Recorded Lectures: No, no screen capture. Lecture notes + in class projector notes are on Blackboard

Past exams available:  Yes, I believe 4 with solutions, it is more than enough for preparation.

Textbook Recommendation:  Mathematics for Engineers Glyn James, only really need 24 pages of this throughout the year for lectures. I didn't find it particularly useful for study, but if you're studious doing everything out of the book (from relevant chapters) will prepare you very well for this subject.

Lecturer(s): Chris Hough, Alireza. Chris knows his stuff, does have a few bad jokes, but covers the content pretty well, you need to pay attention to him though. Alireza has better notes than Chris, but I didn't find the lectures to be particularly helpful after a certain stage (missing 1 or 2 lectures can render the next 4-5 of them meaningless to you) so you pretty much need to attend all of them if you wan't to have a decent idea. The notes are pretty useless unless they are filled out, and the lectures aren't recorded so you can find yourself needing quite a bit of help at the end of the semester.

Year & Semester of completion: S1/2011

Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 91/HD

Comments: Overall I liked the subject, the work was pretty interesting if you're into maths and like learning more. That said if you wan't to learn the stuff during your uni hours, you need to be very attentive in lectures and be consistent with filling up the lecture notes etc. I personally didn't find the lectures that useful after a certain stage, but I would probably still recommend you attend all. The assignments are relatively straightforward, but if you don't know your stuff you will lose some silly marks. If you stay in touch with the work the non-exam assessment is very straightforward. Come exam time I personally had to cram in most of the course in a few days, that's when I came to realize the course wasn't too long or difficult. The best preparation is to do all the practice exams available as at least 75% of available marks on the exam are questions you will have seen before (with some numbers changed here or there), but please note that this can obviously change from year to year depending on the exam writer. My advice is to probably try and stay ahead of the lectures and you'll find the subject a walk in the park.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: miss_academia on July 11, 2011, 08:24:51 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1365 - Introduction to Sociology I  

Workload:  One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tute per week.

Assessment: 
Annotated bibliography (10%)
1000 word research essay based on a documentary shown in the lecture (15%)
2000 word research essay (30%)
Two-hour extended response exam (40%)
Tutorial participation (5%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No, as in previous years the exam format had been multiple choice, not extended response.

Textbook Recommendation:  Germov and Poole's book is the only one required, and was very helpful, as it contains Australian statistics and examples, was often closely linked to the lecture content, and could easily be used as a legitimate reference for both of the essays.

Lecturer(s):  Alan Petersen, Anna Halafoff, Jo Lindsay, and various guest lecturers.

Year & Semester of completion:  Semester 1, 2011.

Rating:  4.5 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: 80 (HD).

Comments:   There were so many great things about this subject (none of which were the 8 AM lectures). The spread of topics (general intro, Media & Consumerism, Religion & Society and Family & Relationships), the passionate lecturers, the choice of topics for the major essay. But what made it, in my experience, was the tutes. Get Rachel Goff as your tutor, whatever it takes. She not only knows her stuff, but is down-to-earth and treats all of her students as individuals. Hands down, the best lecturer/tutor/ANYTHING I have encountered at Monash (although Jo Lindsay is also fantastic). Not only am I continuing this subject next semester with Intro to Sociology II, but I intend to major in the discipline. That's how good it is.  :D
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Thu Thu Train on July 11, 2011, 08:28:14 pm
Subject Code/Name: ASP3051 - Relativity and Cosmology

Workload:  3x1hour lectures/week 1x1hour tutorial/week

Assessment:  1xmid semester test: 10% 2x assignments @ 5% each 2x lab worksheets @ 5% each and 1 exam @ 70%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes without screencapture (uses overhead, not really worthwhile)

Past exams available:  Yes, 1 and its considered the sample exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  Textbook is unnecessary (I can't remember what it is anyway) lecture notes cover everything.

Lecturer(s): Anthony Lun

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 sem 1

Rating:  3/5

Comments: The subject is pretty fun if you enjoy relativity and maths you'll enjoy this class. The lecturer is also a little bit insane.

*Totally forgot to put the 70% exam in.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: moekamo on July 11, 2011, 08:35:21 pm
Subject: MTH1035 - Techniques For Modelling (Advanced)

Workload: 
3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 1 hour workshop(they teach extra material not in the MTH1030 course) and 1 x 1 hour tutorial(for MTH1030 material).

Assessment:
1 Project worth 10%, 2 Assignments worth 10% each, 1 mid-semester test worth 10% and examination worth 70%.
The project is really long, not overly difficult though. The assignments each have 3 questions are are fairly straightforward. There is a lecture for each project/assignment dedicated to giving tips on each project/assignment so if you go to those it was pretty easy to do well. The mid semester test was simple, only calculation questions with no real tricks. The examination was challenging and has 3 questions from the MTH1030 exam replaced by more challenging ones on the extra material covered in the workshops.

Recorded Lectures:
Yes, audio only. Lecture transparencies are uploaded to Blackboard at the end of the week.

Past exams available:
None since this course was introduced this year. Exam questions on MTH1030 material was available though

Textbook Recommendation:
Stewart Calculus, Early Transcendentals 6th Edition. Do not bother buying this. The lecture notes provided online are of much more use. However the book may come in handy for MTH2010, the unit after MTH1035.

Lecturer(s):
Leo Brewin (Semester 1), he is awesome, he even has an appreciation society on facebook here
Simon Teague (Semester 2), had him for my tutes, not as good as Leo and often confuses himself.

Year & Semester of completion:
2011 Semester 1

Rating:
4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:
HD

Comments:
This is an advanced version of MTH1030 and covers the same material as well as some extra topics like hyperbolic functions, proofs(induction etc.), more depth in studying determinants/matrices. They also attempted to teach us about quarternions one week which was a complete fail.

Overall, this was my favorite subject in this semester. Leo the lecturer is really good at helping you understand the mathematics involved. He's also a great presenter and as a result the I found the lectures much easier to turn up to as opposed to my physics ones for example. The material was quite interesting. Sequences and Series is a bit dull but after that you get into calculus which is a lot more fun. You also cover some linear algebra(vectors, matrices, eigenvalues/eigenvectors).

The workshops for the MTH1035 component are a bit pointless, they were unorganised and since it was the first year of the advanced course they didn't know exactly what they were going to teach us each week. In saying this, when they started teaching us stuff that wasn't completely over our head I found it a lot better. If you are good at maths, definitely go for the advanced maths, I feel I would have been really bored in the straight MTH1030 unit. You need a 35 raw in specialist/95+ ATAR to get in.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: slothpomba on July 11, 2011, 08:50:18 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHS1080/ENG1080 - Foundation Physics

Workload:  3 x 1 Hour lectures.
1 x 3 Hour lab.

Assessment: Exam - 60%
Mid Sem test - 8%
Mastering Physics - 5%
Assignment - 2%
Practical work - 20%
Full Practical Report - 5%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, Several >4 .

Textbook Recommendation:  Don't really need to buy anything for this subject. The lecturers weren't all that good though and they source most of their content out of the textbook. I ended up largely teaching myself using the textbook, so barring a major change in lecturers/content, i would recommend you have the textbook so you can learn on your own.

Lecturer(s): Mechanics - Ali Moghimi
Electricity and Magnetism - Susan Feteris
Modern Physics - David Mills

Year & Semester of completion:2011 S1

Rating: 2.5 Out of 5

Comments: This unit is listed under two codes, PHS1080 & ENG1080. This unit is largely for engineering students who haven't done physics in VCE but it is also useful for science students who want a background in physics. It's no where near as comprehensive as VCE Physics though. Bare essentials. From talking to people in my class and in my labs, it was largely engineering students, however there was a decent proportion of Science students as well. Id say it was about 40/60 ratio of Sci/Eng.

The labs were a little boring sometimes but otherwise they were very well constructed and fun. I also had an awesome lab group so maybe that makes me a little bias. The tutors were all very knowledgeable and helpful. They really were the best part of the unit.

The lectures...What can i say... :/ .

Mechanics wasn't bad at all actually, i thought ali moghimi was a rather good lecturer for this topic. I don't have anything bad to say against him.

Electricity and Magnetism was rather horrible, in my opinion. Susan kept making mistakes on a constant basis, only to go back and correct herself or say..."wait...just forgot everything i taught you... it was the exact opposite of that...". NOT something you want to hear from a lecturer, especially at a place with a half decent rep like Monash. Shes has a notorious reputation of a certain kind shall i say...amongst almost everyone who has learned from her. She took "stress leave" last year, i'm sure she just had some personal problems but i guess bad unit evaluations can be rather stressful...

I largely just stopped showing up to these and taught myself out of the text-book. I listened to the rest of the lectures on this topic and i think i made the right choice.

Modern Physics was a bit better and i think david mills did an OK job.

This unit is by far the easiest one i had. I needed to take it to cover the physics portion of the GAMSAT if i later choose to take it. The textbook (College Physics - Knight, Jones and Field) is rather good and i found myself constantly reading it to get a better understanding of what i learned in lectures/labs. It really is a good idea to have access to it.

The extremely knowledgeable and helpful tutors largely rescued this unit for me and ali moghimi also chipped in, in this regard.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: taiga on July 15, 2011, 07:52:09 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECC1000 - Principles of Microeconomics  

Workload:  12x2 hour Lectures, 12x1 hour tutes

Assessment:  3x5% tute tests, 1 20%MST, 5% Tute Participation, 60% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen cap

Past exams available: No past exams, no sample exams

Textbook Recommendation:  Microeconomics 6th Ed, or Economics 6th Ed; McTaggart

Lecturer(s): Ross Booth, Victor Matheson

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Semester 1

Rating:  4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: Good subject, found it pretty interesting. Victor Matheson is hilarious, and an excellent lecturer. Ross Booth knows his stuff but after having Victor for a while he can come across as a bit boring, but he's still not bad. Exam prep pretty much you need to go through all the tute questions thoroughly and need to know how to draw each graph. For the mid semester test, definitely do the multi choice questions on the online portal thing (you can buy this or use a friend's).

Good unit overall.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on July 16, 2011, 12:41:24 am
Subject Code/Name: MTH2121 - Algebra and Number Theory I 

Workload:  3 Lectures per week (1 hr), 1 tute per week (1 hr), 6 assignments in total and 1 exam

Assessment:  6 assignments, in total worth 30% of marks, exam is worth 70%

Recorded Lectures:  None

Past exams available:  Yes, only 2 was given with solutions, however past exams dates back to 2002.

Textbook Recommendation:  Fraleigh's first course in abstract algebra for the algebra component, wikipedia for number theory.

Lecturer(s): Daniel Delbourgo, Daniel Horsley

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, sem 1

Rating:  2 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 99 HD

Comments: Didn't go to any lectures, however I heard that they weren't that uesful, tutes don't help much, basically they don't cover anything in tutes, you just do your own work and ask some questions if you got trouble. Most people who do this unit are probably thinking of majoring in pure mathematics, so self studying would be the best. Exams sometimes don't even relate to what you learn, and what you learn don't even get tested on the exams. However it is a good unit for those who like pure maths and would like to do reading beyond what's required and just have a passion for number theory/algebra in general. So in summary to enjoy and hopefully do well in this unit, you should do lots of private study, study beyond what's taught.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on July 16, 2011, 12:54:23 am
Subject Code/Name: MTH2021 - Linear Algebra and Applications 

Workload:  3 Lectures per week (1 hr), 1 tute per week (2 hr), 3 assignments in total, 5 online quizzes and 1 exam

Assessment:  3 assignments, each worth 6%, each online quiz is worth 1.2%, tutorial participation is worth 6% and exam is worth 70%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, check MULO.

Past exams available:  Yes, there are around 3 exams, only 1 had solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  H. Anton and C. Rorres, Elementary Linear Algebra (Applications version) 9th ed - pretty good book.

Lecturer(s): apparently it's Alan Pryde and Chris Hough (not too sure on this as i didn't attend any lectures)

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, sem 1

Rating:  2 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 98 HD

Comments: Didn't go to any lectures, however I heard lectures were actually alright, not the best but nothing special and not much use for those mathematically talented. I actually found this applied maths unit alright, it focuses quite a bit on the application sides of things however there are proofs which are gone through which i thought was really quite neat. However the downside to this unit was that the online quizzes were quite useless and 2 of them weren't even up on time, they came on a whole week late and everyone panicked. Tutes were also pretty useless, as you just did the set questions from the tutorial booklet, so having tutes as compulsory to get the attendance marks were annoying as hell, almost each week i did work for another subject during tutes or just browsed maths wikis on the computers.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on July 16, 2011, 01:02:37 am
Subject Code/Name: AFC2140 - Corporate Finance 

Workload:  1 Lecture per week (2 hr), 1 tute (1 hr)

Assessment:  1 Mid sem test (30%), 1 exam (60%), tutorial attendance (10%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, check MULO.

Past exams available:  Yes, there were around 3 exams for mid sem, all had solutions, for end of sem exam there were about 2 exams, both had solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Fundamentals of Corporate Finance by Parrino

Lecturer(s): apparently it's Dr Hue Hwa Au Yong for the first 6 weeks and Professor Madhu Veeraraghavan from weeks 7 to 12 (not too sure on this as i didn't attend any lectures)

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, sem 1

Rating:  3.5 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 94 HD

Comments: Didn't go to any lectures, however I heard lectures were brilliant for the first 6 weeks however from weeks 7-12 sucked. Tutes were average, you just go through each weeks set questions and ask any questions that you don't get. Mid semester exam was pretty good, it tests exactly what you learnt + all the tricky and nitty gritty parts, so make sure you know your stuff inside out! End of sem exam was also quite well structured, theres a good balance between theory questions and mathematical questions that they ask you. The maths in this unit isn't that hard compared to say AFC3340 (where having a good knowledge of mathematics would be REALLY helpful), all you really need to know is basic computational maths. Overall a pretty well-structured unit and builds good fundamentals for those planning to major in finance
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on July 16, 2011, 01:11:27 am
Subject Code/Name: MKC1200 - Principles of Marketing 

Workload:  2 Lecture per week (1 hr), 1 tute (1 hr)

Assessment:  2 Multiple choice tests (each worth 20%), weekly tutorial questions (10%), 1 end of sem exam (50%).

Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  1 past exam, no solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Kotler, Brown, Burton, Deans and Armstrong 8th Ed.

Lecturer(s): really don't know who, I didn't attend any lectures and tried searching in the tutorial guide and website regarding who takes the lectures, all i know is that the unit coordinator is Dr Rowan Kennedy (from the handbook)

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, sem 1

Rating:  0.1 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments: I was tempted to give this subject a 0, but didn't want to put it down that much, lol this has got to be the MOST USELESS unit i've ever done, till this point, I still don't know what i learnt, i dont even think i learnt anything, besides the fact that i used my common sense throughout the entire unit, the unit is THAT bad. I seriously don't think i learnt ANYTHING, i'm not even kidding you, i heard lectures were completely useless and didn't attend any, everything you "learn" is common sense. For example, they 'teach' you that companies should be nice to their customers so they will have a good impression of the company - umm... you don't need to get "taught" this, pretty sure anyone with a brain can figure that out lol. But yeah, to get a HD in this unit, get your textbook, memorise every single important paragraph you can find, regurgitate on the exam and there's your HD. Unfortunately, this unit is compulsory for those doing commerce, and I truly feel sorry for those who have to undergo the pain. Pretty sure most students who have done this unit will vouch my review haha.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Stojad on October 18, 2011, 11:59:12 pm
Subject Code/Name: FIT1002 Computer Programming

Workload:  2 lectures per week, 1 hour tutorial, 2 hour lab

Assessment:  2 Assignments (5% and 15%), 1 test (10%), 1 exam (60%), quizzes (10%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available: Past exams from previous years available, and are practically the same each year.

Textbook Recommendation: Wouldn't recommend a textbook; there are plenty of free Java resources available.

Lecturer(s): David Green

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, semester 1

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 95 HD

Comments: This unit generally isn't taught very well. David Green is a very non-engaging lecturer and you will find the lectures extremely dull. Maybe they picked up after the first week, but I have no idea, because I didn't go to any after it. There really is no need for the lectures; just read ANY book on Java (and you could find at least one for free) and you'll learn the fundamentals. After that, it's just a matter of writing as much code as possible to familiarise yourself with the syntax. The tutorial and lab problems are really lame, but provide adequate practice for most people. There is an alarmingly high failure rate among students in this unit - not sure if that's the teaching or the cohorts for this unit are exceptionally lazy. The exam is easy, way too long, and way too boring for any sane person to do. The questions are pretty much straight out of the previous semesters' exams (mine even had a question copied almost verbatim, complete with typing errors that arose from trying to change the wording). If you're stuck, do what others did to me in every lab session and bug the people who know what to do. I normally wouldn't recommend wasting time reading the lecture notes, but there are a couple of things covered in them that'll appear on the exam and you won't find in a typical Java book/guide, so at least skim-read them the night before the exam.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Spheniscidaphile on November 15, 2011, 11:58:46 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1092 - German studies 2 

Workload:  Weekly 3x1hr tutes, 1x2hr seminar.

Assessment:  25% culture exam, language component 75%, comprising 4 mini tests, 4 homeworks, 2 dialogues, two larger tests, all in-semester, and a language test and oral test during exam period (worth ~30% or total mark).

Recorded Lectures:  No recording available. However, lecture slides and readings are made available on muso.

Past exams available:  No past exams available.

Textbook Recommendation:  You must buy the Globetrotter textbook for the unit, and your tutor may insist on you buying the accompanying CDs, book and CDs together is about $65.

Lecturer(s): Franz-Josef Deiters

Year & Semester of completion: 2011/sem2

Rating:  3.5 of 5

Comments: The language component was actually fun, and the assessment not too hard. The Kultur seminars were also quite interesting and relevant, looking at 20th century german history and german culture in australia. However, a major drawback was that the seminars - lectures with mandatory attendance - were not recorded. So if you have a clash or can't otherwise attend, you simply miss out.  German poetry is looked at, but english translations of all poems are provided, so it's not overwhelmingly difficult.  A highlight of this unit was the mid-semester German Week, where a series of lectures in german were held. at this level, you can't understand much of the content, but it's good motivation.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: slothpomba on November 28, 2011, 11:17:45 pm
Subject Code/Name: ASP1022 - Life and the universe  

Workload:  3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 2 hour lab class.

Assessment:  Examination (3 hours): 50% (Fairly easy, 1/3 multi choice, 1/3 short answer, 1/3 extended response on two questions, one is compulsory for all, the other question you can select from a list of about 4 or 5)
Support class work (AKA Labs): 30%
Project work: 10% (You work in a group to make a poster on a particular topic)
Assignments: 10% (You write an essay about one particular term of the drake equation)


Recorded Lectures:  Audio only. Lecture slides are available on blackboard.

Past exams available:  Yes, from the library database and blackboard.

Textbook Recommendation:  The textbook i think is not at all needed really. They teach you all you need to know. It is a handy reference to have and a good thing to help you out with work in tutes (you can use whatever resources you like) and it is a fairly interesting and well written book as well.

Lecturer(s): Many lecturers, Simon Campbell and John latanzio are regulars but there are many guest lecturer's from many different faculties.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2011.

Rating:  5/5 (hell, maybe even a 6 out of 5)

Your Mark/Grade: Distinction

Comments:   This is a very well done unit. Very interesting and very broad, it's what i'd imagine UoM's breadth to be like. It's basically about life in the universe, first it talks a little about the origin of life, how life came about from unliving molecules, what conditions are needed for life to flourish, evolution...right through to stars...planet formation...geology of earth..how life becomes intelligent...aritifical life..the search for life on other planets...microbiology...basic biology... it has a little bit of everything.

They have numerous guest lecturers come in from the different faculties to give lectures on their area of expertise.

Overall, very interesting and the work load is fairly light. This unit is fairly "easy", so if you're looking for something like that and something that is interesting too, this is a very good choice.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Muuru on December 03, 2011, 09:48:43 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS2503 - Writing Women

Workload: 1x1hr tutorial and 1x1hr lecture per week

Assessment: Tutorial Leadership (10%), Essay Plan (10%), 2x Class Tests (20% each), 1x 1800wd Research Essay (40%)

Recorded Lectures: Yes

Past exams available: No

Textbook Recommendation: A unit guide and various texts. The texts studied in this unit were Jane Austen's Persuasion, Charlotte Bronte's Villette, Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Chris Kraus's Torpor, Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, Eliza Haywood's Fantomina, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper" and a selection of Sylvia Plath's poems.

Lecturer(s): Anna Poletti

Year & Semester of Completion: Semester 2, 2011

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBD

Comments: All in all, I thought this was a fantastic unit. Out of the eight English units I've done in my major, I'd say this was my favourite of them all. Basically, the subject is divided into two modules. The first module deals with how female authors have used literature as a means of examining the relationship between femaleness and femininity, and the second half focuses on how women's writing has been valued and received, with some feminist theory thrown in the mix.

Anna is an extremely passionate, animated and approachable lecturer who taught the subject matter well. Most other English units I've done assume you already know the ins-and-outs of various literary theories, which can be especially daunting for those who haven't encountered any literary theory before, but in this unit you're given lots of assistance in understanding feminist literary theory by Anna at the start of semester. I thought that was nice. There were several guest lecturers in this unit (Melissa Hardie and Patrick Spedding) who were equally as passionate as Anna.

Interestingly, attendance at lectures were compulsory but tutorials were optional. I think this decision was an ingenious one as it made the tutorials smaller, which consequently made discussions more lively and interesting (since the only people who attended the tutorials were those who wanted to be there and contribute). Perhaps other Arts units could take a page or two out of Writing Women's book!

My only gripe with this unit was with the assessments. The essay plan was an easy 10%, but I still didn't really understand the point of being assessed for it. Also, the research essay and the final in-class test were both due on the same day, which isn't good if you love procrastinating like I do, haha.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ninwa on December 04, 2011, 03:54:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS3100 German advanced 4; however the workload, assessments and general comments would apply to any German language unit

Workload: 2-hour language tutorial + 2-hour culture seminar/lecture per week (total 4 hours)

Assessment:
Language component: 4 vocabulary tests, oral presentation, mid-semester test, end-of-semester exam
Culture component: 1000-word essay (in English) worth 60%, end-of-semester exam worth 40%

Each component is worth 50% of your final German mark.

Recorded Lectures: No.

Past exams available: No. Not really a disadvantage in this subject as students are advised pretty thoroughly of what will be on the exam.

Textbook Recommendation: A Practice Grammar of German (yellow book); excellent source for studying German grammar.
Textbook and workbook changes every few years. They are used every class so you'll need to buy them.

Lecturer(s): Language component: Dr Heinz-Josef Kreutz for German Advanced 1-4
Culture component: Dr Franz-Josef Dieters, Dr Axel Fliethmann, and another Dr lady whose name I can't remember now

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 semester 2

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Have no idea yet :P

Comments: All German subjects at Monash come with a language component (including grammar, vocabulary work, reading/listening comprehension and speaking practice) and a culture component (varies from year to year but generally involves a study of various German literature, philosophy, history and film).

Language
Workload is medium-high. Every week you'll get homework to do in the textbook and workbook, which includes reading comprehension and grammar practice. Vocab tests derived from these homework chapters are every 2 or 3 weeks, so you can't afford to slack off.

There is not a lot of speaking practice within the tutorials but usually Heinz will organise optional speaking practice sessions during the week.

Not a lot of grammar since you are expected to basically know everything. Most of the "grammar" work is actually refining your expression.

Culture
To give an idea of what this component entails for later years (binders has already described it for first-year students above):
Semester 1: we studied a bunch of literature and film, such as The Earthquake in Chile, as well as dabbling in some philosophy - Kant and someone else I forget now.
Semester 2: we studied a bunch of random stuff including German class society in the 1800s, Nietzsche (specifically his views on religion), Schnitzler's Lieutenant Gustl, aestheticism and the history of photography.

General
I've found that the German department as a whole are quite relaxed and lenient, and will generally accommodate your needs as long as you prove yourself to be a hard-working student with a genuine interest in the subject. For example, I slept in on the day of my culture exam and didn't mention it because obviously I deserve a 0 for it, but Heinz emailed me a few days later offering me a re-sit (even when I told him the truth) because he didn't want it to affect my grades.

From German advanced 1 onwards, all classes are held in German.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ninwa on December 04, 2011, 04:04:15 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW3101 Administrative law 306

Workload: 3 hours of lectures per week; 1-hour OPTIONAL tutorial from week 6

Assessment:
Option 1: Optional 2000 word essay (worth 40%) + end-of-semester exam (worth 60%)
Option 2: End-of-semester exam (worth 100%)

Recorded Lectures: Yes + video

Past exams available: Yes, at least one will always be available because the lecturers will go through it at the end of the semester.

Textbook Recommendation: Control of Government Action (the prescribed casebook); everything else, don't waste your money and get it from the library instead

Lecturer(s): Changes every year; I had Maria O'Sullivan who makes a sometimes very technical and boring subject seem... bearable. Also just a generally lovely person.
Have also heard good things about Colin Campbell.

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 semester 2

Rating: Irrelevant, it's a compulsory subject anyway :P

Your Mark/Grade: For the love of god please give me a pass

Comments: Best advice I got on this subject from my lecturer: don't freak out if at first you have no idea what's going on. It took me until about week 6 for everything to just click; only then did I start actually somewhat enjoying the subject.

Tutorials are optional and do not count towards your grade but I would advise that you attend them. This is a very legislative interpretation-intensive subject and takes some practice to get right.

It would help to do constitutional law before you tackle this subject but you won't be at a HUGE disadvantage if you don't.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on December 06, 2011, 06:02:53 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFC2000 - Financial institutions and markets 

Workload:  1 hour tutes per week

Assessment:  Within semester assessment: 30%, Examination (3 hours): 70%

Recorded Lectures:  yes

Past exams available:  around 8-10 past papers all with answers

Textbook Recommendation:  financial institutions and markets by kidwell

Lecturer(s): not sure didn't go to any lectures

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 semester 2

Rating:  2.5 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 99 hd

Comments: You basically just need to memorise theory and formulas in this unit. This subject is a preq for AFC2340 (which contains plenty of maths etc) so it's best you memorise all the theory which is then turned into more financial mathematical theory in AFC2340. Generally this subject is really easy to HD in, the midsem is MC and again it's just questions that you'll know if you memorise the relevant concept/theory/formula. Definitely not a hard unit and very accessible to the majority of students.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on December 06, 2011, 06:10:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFC3340 - Options, Futures and Derivatives 

Workload:  1 hour tutes per week

Assessment:  Within semester assessment: 20% Examination (3 hours): 80%

Recorded Lectures:  yes

Past exams available:  around 2-3 papers with answers

Textbook Recommendation:  read the textbook, options, futures and derivatives by hull 6th or 7th edition

Lecturer(s): not sure didn't go to any lectures

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 semester 2

Rating:  5 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 99 hd

Comments: Hands down, best undergraduate finance subject at monash -- it is the hardest and most useful finance unit. I suggest people who take up this unit to have a very strong mathematical background, you will be cover lots of mathematical financial theory, eg, option pricing model, black scholes model, futures pricing model etc etc some maths that are involved are stochastic calculus, limits and lots of algebra. The assignments are all done in excel, you will need to program mathematical models and do lots of financial modelling (very important skill later on in the finance industry), the exam is quite hard, with 30 multiple choice questions and 8 long answers, the majority of the exam is mathematical calculations with a tiny bit of theory questions. I HIGHLY suggest reading the relevant chapters in Hull's text in addition to the lecture notes. The explanations and examples provided in the text provide a lot of intuition and will definitely help you understand the concepts better.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Mao on December 08, 2011, 12:59:45 am
Subject Code/Name: MTH3060 - Advanced Ordinary Differential Equations

Workload:  3 Lectures + tute

Assessment:  Two assignments, hand-in tute questions

Recorded Lectures:  Yes/maybe, never understood the fascination about recorded lectures, or lectures in general. Notes are uploaded on blackboard though.

Past exams available:  Yes, one.

Textbook Recommendation:  Go with the lecture notes

Lecturer(s): Simon Clarke, Paul Cally

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 S2

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: Very rewarding subject. Also one of the most difficult ones I've done. Unlike other applied math units, which tend to be the trivial 'this is the theory, and this is a formula', this subject puts a little more focus understanding the mathematics, such as when certain theorems apply and what conditions are necessary. There are a lot of power expansions, so make sure you like summations and recursive equations and such. The assignments are definitely the hardest I've ever encountered, these are not trivial at all, requires actual thinking, and is very refreshing after years of engineering-esque style of learning.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: slothpomba on December 28, 2011, 01:56:10 am
Subject Code/Name: Philosophy: God, Freedom and Evil 

Workload:  1 x 1 hour lecture, 1 x 1 hour tute. Seriously light workload compared to what im use to.

Assessment:
(according to the handbook):
Expository exercise (1000 words): 20%
Essay: (2500 words): 40%
Exam (2 hours): 40%

According to what i actually did and what is in the unit guide:
1. Expository exercise (500 words)   10%
2. Expository exercise (1000 words)   20%
3. Essay: (1500 words)   30%
4. Exam (2 hours)   40%


Recorded Lectures:  Recorded video lectures available.

Past exams available:  Not needed. Exam questions are given out at the start of the year in the unit guide.

Textbook Recommendation:  The recommended textbook is written by the lecturer. Even though it intends to be a general purpose book on this area, it closely reflects how the course at monash is run or maybe the course reflects how he wrote the book. We'll never know.. It covers all the readings you need with analysis by him. I think it's a not an absolute necessary purchase, you can get it from the library if you need to use it on the odd occasion. It's not a bad book though.

Lecturer(s): Graeme Oppy.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2011.

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: Can't remember.. Credit or Distinction (pretty good considering my essay was like 15 days late)

Comments:   Fairly well put together unit. It covers a lot of the main topics in philosophy of religion. It seems to me though, to more focus on the proofs that are most commonly used by believers and non-believers against each other, rather than more abstract philosophical notions. These might be found in the separate philosophy of religion unit but there seems to be a fair amount of overlap.

My tutor remarked she was a believer at the time and the course use to have a few crummy arguments for God and more than a few really good arguments against God. She said it was fairly better now.

Graeme Oppy (http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/graham_oppy/) is one of the relatively few atheist philosophers of religion, in Australia at least. He seems to be pretty well known in the field, i've personally come across several papers by him and he's been cited a fair few times. As far as im aware he's also head of the philosophy department, so, you're in good hands.

Even as in his other works he seems to focus more on applicable arguments rather than the more abstract.

Workload is very manageable.

I hadn't done any Tertiary level philosophy before but i was very familiar with most of the arguments from my own prior reading and things like that. That said it has no prerequisites and i think most people would be able to manage it, if they're so inclined.

Overall, a good enjoyable unit. Little bit more thin than what i'm use to and i wish it covered more of the arguments but it definitely a well executed summation of all the main issues.



Things covered by week:
Concept of God (Is God all loving, all powerful, all knowing, are these things compatible or possible, ect)
Arguments (What makes a good argument? What makes a logically consistent argument? How to construct arguments, ect)
Ontological Argument: Anselm
Cosmological Argument: Aquinas
Teleological Argument: Paley
Critique of Teleological Argument: Hume
Argument from Scale: Everitt
Pascal’s Wager
Logical Argument from Evil: Mackie (1)
Logical Argument from Evil: Mackie (2)
Evidential Argument from Evil: Rowe (1)
Evidential Argument from Evil: Rowe (2)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: eeps on June 09, 2012, 07:56:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFF1000 - Principles of Accounting and Finance

Workload: One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment: Assignment (20%), Online quizzes (10%), Tutorial tests (10%), Exam - 3 hours (60%).

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes. Four past exams are available - from the previous two years.

Textbook Recommendation: Carey, P. (Ed.). (2010). Principles of accounting and finance (2nd ed.).

Lecturer(s): Ellinor Allen, Keryn Chalmers, Nigel Morkel-Kingsbury and Axel Schulz.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2012.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Comments: Interesting subject content-wise, however, it can get quite dry at times. Starts off with the basics of accounting and in the later weeks, the lecturers touch on management and financial accounting. The tutorial tests (3 tests) are easy enough if you keep up with the tutorial work; hence buying the textbook would be a good idea because that is where the questions in the tests come from (there are second-hand copies of the textbook). The tests can come up in any week from week 3 to week 11, and they take the best two scores from the three tests. The assignment is broken up into parts A, B and C and isn’t too bad - if you read the textbook, all your answers are in there. The online weekly quizzes should be easy as all the answers are in the textbook again. The exam itself is quite similar to past exams with slight variations in the questions. Only real downside is that the lecturers aren’t that engaging. If you have done VCE Accounting, this unit should be relatively straightforward - however if you haven't, it doesn't really matter because they teach everything from scratch. This unit is also a core unit as part of BBus.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: eeps on June 11, 2012, 01:17:54 pm
Subject Code/Name: BTF1010 - Commercial Law

Workload: One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment: Mid-semester test (20%), Online quizzes (20%), Exam - 2 hours (60%).

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: No. Sample exam questions are available though.

Textbook Recommendation: 'Law in Commerce' 4th edition by Brendan Sweeney, Jennifer O'Reilly and Andrew Coleman.
 
Lecturer(s): Mark Bender.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2012.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Comments: Thoroughly enjoyable unit. First few weeks touch on the basics of what the law is etc. and then moves onto areas such as consumers’ rights and supply, agency, partnership and company law. The mid-semester test involves chapters 2 and 3 of the prescribed textbook: negligence/ACL and misrepresentation & commercial misconduct. It is open-book and there is one scenario-based question. I think the key to this unit is citing cases and/or legislation to back up your points, and also to look at everything; whether a party has a right of action/defences and the remedies available to the party/parties. The weekly online quizzes can be somewhat tricky as they are not as straight-forward and there are errors in some of the quizzes as noted by the lecturer. The questions in the exam are quite similar to the tutorial questions in the textbook (scenario-based) and the sample exam questions as well. Again, the exam is open-book so you can bring in any notes you like. There is an exam hurdle requirement of 45% to pass the unit. The workload for this unit is very manageable. Overall, I think this unit is a good introduction and look into the different aspects of law and the lecturer isn’t too bad either.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: JinXi on June 11, 2012, 10:23:25 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHS2011- Physics: Quantum Concepts and Technologies 

Workload:  3x1 hour lectures per week, 3 hour labs once a week

Assessment:  1x3% Condensed Matter Physics(CMP) Report, 1x2% CMP Quiz, 2x2.5% Atomic & Nuclear Physics(AN) Quiz, 2x5% Quantum Mechanics(QM) Assignments, 1x6% Lab report, 24% of lab work, 30% 3hr CMP & AN exam, 20% 2hr QM exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, one or two exams available for all 3 subtopics, but solutions to AN are not provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  Don't buy anything, it's all in the library.

Lecturer(s): Michael Morgan, Alexis Bishop, Scott Findlay

Year & Semester of completion: 2012, Sem 1

Rating:  0 out of 5

Comments: The only reason that this got a rating of 0, is that the Quantum Mechanics section taken by Michael Morgan deserves a 5, but the other two subtopics deserves a rating of -5. I went to the first lecture taken by Scott Findlay on CMP and feel asleep, along with alot of other people, within 10 minutes. It was the same in Atomic and Nuclear physics taken by Alexis Bishop, but he was marginally better than Scott Findlay. 2 lectures per week for the first 6 weeks were allocated for CMP, followed by AN, and one lecture a week was allocated to QM. Since I have a clash during the lecture that QM takes place, needless to say, I didn't go to many of the lectures.

Until you have actually sat in Scott Findlay's lecture, you wont know how horrible it is. He just reads of his slides, which are filled to the brim with words, while shaking his laser pointer at the where he is reading from, which only succeeded in distracting people. I'll quote a friend, who told me that "I've learnt more about the physics behind *insert object* in an introductory engineering lecture than I did in a physics lecture..."

After the CMP section was done, I've already lost all motivation for this unit, which may have been the thing that made Alexis Bishop seem equally as bad as a lecturer. No hate on Michael Morgan though, he's a good lecturer without doubt.

Content wise, personally, I found it relatively dry, and I crammed the AN and CMP section in a day. The exam didn't go as bad as I've expected, since the AN section was EXACTLY THE SAME as last year... which is why he didn't provide solutions. Have yet to done my QM exam at the point of writing.

Basically, to sum it up, Alexis Bishop(AN)- bad, Scott Findlay(CMP)- terri-bad, Michael Morgan(QM)- awesome. More of a rant than a review.

P.S. No puns on AN intended.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on June 13, 2012, 05:54:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAE1041 - Introduction to Aerospace Engineering

Workload:  3x1 hour lectures a week, 1 Boundary Layer Lab, 1 Paper Plane Project, 1 2hr Problem Solving Class a week

Assessment:  10% BL Lab, 10% Paper Plane Project, 10% tutes/problem solving classes, 70% 3hr exam

Recorded Lectures:  Not Recorded

Past exams available:  Back to 2005 (although the course changed, so really not all the stuff on 2009 and back is relevant).

Textbook Recommendation:  Prescribed: Flight Physics: Introduction to Disciplines & Technology of Aircraft Flight, Recommended: Introduction to Flight 7ed. The prescribed textbook is ok to brush up on theory and to refer to in Lab reports and such, while the recommended book has a few practice questions that are relevant, but isn't really needed unless you want to go and do further questions (although not all of them are relevant).

Lecturer(s): Hugh Blackburn

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1 2012

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 HD

Comments: Overall I found this unit interesting, although at some points it was quite dry, you go through a few derivations that are pulled nearly out of no where, and be prepared for a couple of formulas a lecture (they all add up, around 50 on the formula sheet). There were some "interesting" moments (watching birdstrike videos and turbine blade tests come to mind), and Prof Blackburn does have a sense of humor (unlike some lecturers).

If you can do the questions in the 2hr problem solving class/tute each week, (which is basically free marks if you get all the questions done or hang around - worth 10%) then you should be able to do ok, as the exam is similar to the tute questions and past exam questions (one of them was off the 2010 exam with the numbers changed around). 50% of the exam was on aircraft performance, 30% of the rest of the areas of study (as problems) and 20% on theory (based on the marking scheme for previous papers).

The boundary layer lab is easy to score high in if you know your stuff, while the paper plane project turned out to be quite difficult, making the plane fly in a straight line was the key. You get a couple of weeks notice for it, the goal is to make a paper plane fly 40m from a launching height of 8m using only a glide throw (i.e. you can't throw it hard). This is done in the sports rec center at some stage).

As this is "into to aerospace" you touch on a fair few areas, but don't go into great detail in some, this is done to be given just a general idea of the topic before building on it in later years. Although it does leave you wondering at some points, if you have time you can fill in the gaps there yourself.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: paulsterio on June 15, 2012, 03:29:42 am
Subject Code/Name: MED1011 - Medicine 1

Workload: 12 x 1hr lectures + 1 x 2 hr prac + 4 x 2 hr tutorials + 3.5 hr CBL

Assessment:  25% Mid-Sem Exam, 50% Case Commentary Assignment, 25% End of Semester Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No

Textbook Recommendation:  Check the recommended list

Lecturer(s): Too many to list really

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1 2012

Rating: 4/5

Your Mark/Grade: (Pending)

Comments: It's OK I guess, tutorials are great, lectures are bad, haven't been to a lecture/watched a lecture since the third week of semester, just self-study is usually better. Lectures are boring, and sometimes there's a tendency to fall asleep, but sometimes you do find a needle in the hay stack and get a good lecture. Tutes are usually always fun, clinical skills is the best, so is sociology, HEP tute is a complete waste of time, and I'd much rather not do it, but attendance is taken. CBL is fun, and quite enjoyable. Overall, quite alright :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on June 16, 2012, 04:15:03 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENG1091 - Mathematics for Engineering

Workload: 3x1 hour lectures a week, 1 2hr Suport Class a week
 
Assessment: 3 Assignments - 6% each, Mid-semester Test - 6%, Support Class Participation - 6%, 3hr Exam - 70%

Recorded Lectures: Recorded with screen capture of the Lecture Notes, but most examples are written on Overhead Slides, which are normally put up on Moodle at some point after the lecture

Past exams available: 2007-2010 (but we were informed that it was the faculty's policy to only release one past exam, so this wouldn't be happening again).

Textbook Recommendation: Modern Engineering Mathematics 4ed - I used the textbook a lot throughout the semester, but you can get the questions that you need to do off Moodle, so you don't have to buy it, but if you want to do extra or go further like I did, then I would recommend you to obtain it. Although the Lecture notes are your main source of learning.

Lecturer(s): Stream 2: Dr.Chris Hough (Stream 1: Mr John McCloughan)

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1 2012

Rating: 5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 94 HD

Comments: I really enjoyed this unit, probably because maths is the thing that I was most interested in this semester. I was in Dr. Chris Hough's lecture stream, and he was willing to help out and even at some points during the semester, gave you the opportunity to email him if you wanted a further explanation on the reasoning and explanation behind some of the methods used, (as we weren't required to know how the formula came about, just how to use it, but this allowed those (like me) who wanted to know to find out :D). He does have a few George Bush/Bill Gates jokes though (be prepared for at least one a week) and went off on a rant or two about the current VCE system. But was willing to help, and unlike some lectures, and actually enjoyed taking the lectures. He even gave a mobile phone number out at the last lecture, so that we could ring him if we needed to clarify something/help on something, as e-mail would be too slow.

The exam was slightly harder than expected, and had a few tricks here and there, but if you were able to do the tute questions/past papers, then you should have been able to do alright.

I think having a good lecturer that was willing to help and enjoyed his maths is what really made me enjoy this unit, the only downside was the 8am lecture on my longest day.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: xZero on June 17, 2012, 07:09:39 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2021 - Linear Algebra with Applications

Workload: 3 1-hour lectures and 1 2-hour support class per week

Assessment: 5 Assignments: 4% each, 5 Laboratory work (quiz): 2% each, 3 hours Exam: 70%

Recorded Lectures:  Voice recorded lectures only

Past exams available:  2 past exams are available but only 1 came with solution

Textbook Recommendation:  Printed lecture notes if you attend lectures, its also available on moodle if you want to print it yourself or read it on a laptop/tablet etc.

Lecturer(s):Dr Tim Garoni

Year & Semester of completion:Sem 1 2012

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: (Pending)

Comments: This subject's name should be changed to MTH2021 - Maths Method (with a bit of matrices) with applications. The first couple of lectures were essentially revision for VCE materials and everything else after that is very simple, to the point whereI felt like I was doing level 1 maths but easier. Except for some matrices operation (tr(A), row(A), col(A) etc.), all other materials are taught in previous maths unit (MTH1030, and MTH2010 if you done it) so I didn't learn much from this unit. Though the lectures had general proves, we are not required to 'understand' it thus making this subject quite easy (of course its the best if you understand the proves, but its not necessary to achieve a HD). If you're looking for a bludge unit I'd say this is the one. The lecturer is apparently quite humorous and knows his stuff but I can't really comment on it too much since I haven't been to more than a lecture (I fell asleep on the time I went). Tutorial class is the same as every other maths unit, if you're up to date and feeling comfortable then its not going to be helpful.

TL;DR It's a bludge unit, if you're looking for an relatively easy HD then take this unit
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on June 18, 2012, 07:08:10 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENG1030 - Electrical Systems
 
Workload: 3x1hr lectures a week, 1x1hr tute, 1x2hr lab every second week, Lab test in week 10

Assessment: 5 Lab sessions - 1.5% each, Lab Test - 7.5%, Online quizzes - 7% total, Mid Sem Test - 8%, 3hr exam - 70%

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture that includes lectures notes being written on (although some things were written on overhead slides).

Past exams available: 6 past exams, no solutions, only one has answers to some questions

Textbook Recommendation: Reccomended - Fundamentals of Electric Circuits 4ed, and a bunch of others, didn't really use them at all, wouldn't recommend them, unless you want to do extra questions during the semester (which I didn't), BUT they don't have answers to know if you're right or wrong (although those can be found online somewhere from a source other than the publisher).

Lecturer(s): Dr Yi Hong (Weeks 1-3, 7-12), Prof. Malin Premaratne (Weeks 4-6) <--- Malin is one of the best lecturers I've had

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1 2012

Rating: 

Your Mark/Grade: 94 HD

Comments: This by far has been my least favourite unit this semester, I would have given it a 0.5 if it went for Malin's lectures, BUT I am a bit biased as I did not really want to do this unit in the first place.

The first 2-3 weeks starts off as easy as yr 12, if not easier, then it goes from 0 to wtf is this in about 1 lecture. Malin has been one of my best lecturers I've had, he explains things in a way that the marjority of the room was able to understand straight off, and it was not an easy topic to start with. He actually enjoyed lecturing and in the 5 mins before the lectures started he went around talking to students and seeing how they were going with the unit, or how he could improve (he ended up getting one hell of a round of applause at the end of his final lecture).

Anyway back to the actual unit, I did not enjoy the unit, it just wasn't my thing, the nodal analysis stuff was alright once you got the hang of it but I found Thevinen circuits a great deal harder (didn't sucessfully solve one until the day before the exam....). There are peer-assisted help classes (PASS) running for ENG1030, which I should of taken advantage of. The tutes aren't worth any marks, but I suggest you go to them if you want to pass, as they were really helpful, basically where I learnt most of the course. So far in general over all my units, I've found that the tutes that aren't worth anything are the ones that you actually need to go to to pass.

In week 10 you will have a Lab test, there are 7 tests, one of which you will be given at random. Beforehand you are given the tests so that you can practice in the labs before the date. During the week of the lab test, and even the week before it the labs get packed and you will be struggling to find wires for your circuits, so don't leave practicing your circuits too late, once you are given then start looking into the straight away.

The final lab which is in one of the last two weeks, is a soldering project, where you make a functioning thermometer, actually enojyed this lab quick a lot, you feel like you've actually achieved something for the semester :D
The Thermometer

To sum up, if you like electrical, then this will probably be enjoyable for you, if not, then it can be quite hard.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: pi on June 18, 2012, 08:11:36 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED1011 - Medicine 1

Workload: per week: 12 x 1hr lectures + 1 x 2 hr prac + 4 x 2 hr tutorials + 3.5 hr CBL (Cased Based Learning tutorial) + occasional site visit

Assessment: For the semester - 25% Mid-Semester Test, 50% Case Commentary Assignment, 25% End of Semester Exam (formative assignments include practical write-ups and weekly quizzes). In terms of the year - 5% Mid-Semester Test, 10% Case Commentary Assignment, 5% End of Semester Exam

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture that includes lectures notes being written on (although some things were written on overhead slides)

Past exams available: Yes, although the official ones are quite old, however past questions can be found in exam format through student compilations

Textbook Recommendation:
* means essential

Lecturer(s): Many, depending on the series of lecture (biochemistry, cancer, pharmacology, haemotology, immunology, pathology, etc.)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2012

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
The course is divided into four parts (or themes of study):
Theme I: Personal and Professional Development
Theme II: Population, Society, Health and Illness
Theme III: Foundations of Medicine
Theme IV: Clinical Skills

Of the four themes, I (and the vast majority of the cohort) found themes III and IV to be the most enjoyable because they focus on knowledge and skills that have a direct and practical use in future life as a clinician. Themes I and II contain a lot of theory, a lot of which is very logical and dry. Luckily, majority of the course is focused on themes II and IV, and the exams reflect that too.

The lectures are very good, with most of the lecturers being very captivating and interactive with the students. Questions are allowed to be asked before, during and after the lectures, and all lecturers are more than happy to respond to emails afterwards. The lecture notes/slides given are also of a decent standard and it is possible to pass the unit solely using these. There is no attendance requirement for this unit, however it is expected that students attend all lectures (most lectures are nearly full, so that shows the quality of what is given).

The tutorials are also very enjoyable. Each tutorial focusing on one aspect of the themes, for example in the Clinical Skills tute we learn how to take patient histories, give injections, take blood pressures and measure the vital signs. Most tutes encourage group discussions and teamwork (especially the CBL tutes). There is an 80% attendance requirement for all tutes for this unit.

External site visits give this unit extra depth and enjoyment. During the unit, each student is able to have a hospital and a GP placement, which not only are necessary for the Case Commentary assignment, but are also valuable insight into the medical profession and the clinical years of the MBBS (years 3-5).

The unit (and the course overall) also has an excellent society, Monash University Medical Undergraduates' Society (MUMUS) which facilitates student concerns with the Medical department, provides supports to students, organises academic and social events, provides links to AMSA, manages a facebook group, and much more! Every student enrolled in this unit is automatically a member of this society.

Overall, an extremely enjoyable unit, despite the heavy workload :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ShortBlackChick on June 20, 2012, 09:52:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1310 - Natural Hazards and Human Vulnerability

Workload:  2 lectures and a 2-hour support class per week

Assessment:  5% Bonus online quiz, 5% Short Essay (500 words), 40% Major Essay (2000 words), Practical class participation: 20% (2% per class, I believe. Unit Guide says a total of 25% up from Practicals, not too sure what it is), 30% Final examination (2 hours)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. I believe (which means Im not too sure, seeing I didnt check)

Past exams available:  No. Not that I am aware of.

Textbook Recommendation:  K Smith and DN Petley 2009. Environmental Hazards: assessing risk and reducing disaster. Routledge, 383pp

Lecturer(s): David Dunkerley mostly and various Guest Lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2012

Rating:  4 of 5

Comments: The course is pretty much just your basic Geography Subject, covers topics on Natural Hazards such as Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Floods, Bushfires and Storms as well as discussing factors that create vulnerabilities for humans. Technical terms are also covered throughout the course, something which to be honest, I realised when I walked into the exam and saw a question about 'biogeophysical factors.'

You will often find yourself wondering what the relevance is of the Practical class to the topic covered in the weeks lectures. I think second last week we played Pandemic in the Practical Class after which there were questions that you had to answer and hand back to be marked.

The head lecturer/chief examiner David Dunkerley is honestly the best. Some people may find him a drag, but if you like cute (relatively) old people, he's your guy. He makes funny little jokes and is a bit scared by technology but I enjoyed his lectures and how he went about explaining concepts.

Honestly, I would choose this subject if you wanted a bludge subject. There were a lot of 3rd year students in my Prac class who were just doing the uni so they could complete the amount of first year units needed to finish their degree. It can be entertaining at times, but possibly a bit of a drag at others though.

Oh and this unit falls under the Arts Faculty but has resources at both Matheson and Hargreave-Andrews Libraries because Geography falls sorta under both Arts and Science.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on July 08, 2012, 06:22:19 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFC2340 - Debt Markets and Fixed Income Securities 

Workload:  1 hour tutes per week

Assessment:  Within semester assessment: 20%, Examination (3 hours): 80%

Recorded Lectures:  yes

Past exams available:  ALOT of practise exams about 10-20, about half of them had answers.

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbooks prescribed.

Lecturer(s): Dr Andrew Sanford

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 semester 1

Rating:  5 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 99 HD

Comments: Great subject! This subject has ALOT of mathematics involved, so only do it if you're fairly confident with your maths skills. It's certainly not as difficult as AFC3340 (options) but it will be very difficult for people who aren't very strong with mathematics. The tutorials are just standard, you go through each weeks tute questions, although they're not too indicative of what's going to be on exams. Exam questions are worded problems and the harder ones require you do think and apply problem solving skills. Similar to solving mathematical problems but with a financial perspective. I heard the lectures wasn't too useful, I didn't attend any but from looking at the lecture notes, they were generally pretty good but had typos here and there. For some reason they had lecture notes this semester whereas in the previous semester they had a prescribed textbook/topic notes, so if you're doing this subject, let me know and I can send you the books/topic notes. All in all, a great subject to do, essential to higher level finance units and is also a unit that counts towards IAA Actuarial accreditation.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on July 08, 2012, 06:30:58 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFC2240 - Equities and Investment Analysis 

Workload:  1 hour tutes per week

Assessment:  Within semester assessment: 20%, Examination (3 hours): 80%

Recorded Lectures:  yes

Past exams available:  About 2-3 practise exams with solutions.

Lecturer(s): Dr Manapon Limkriangkrai

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 semester 1

Rating:  4 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 99 HD

Comments: Pretty enjoyable unit, you will cover topics like superannuation, review of different investment products, types of managed funds, how to review performance etc. It focuses on different types of investments and concepts behind them. There's not too much mathematics involved, however the final exam is EXTREMELY long, you need to really know your stuff inside out to write constantly to finish with a good mark. This subject also covers the topics needed for CFA exams, so you will also cover CFA ethics/code of conduct etc, so if you are planning to go for CFA exams, this unit will be extremely helpful. It is also a preq for AFC3440 (pensions and financial planning), so if you plan to do that unit, you must do this one. Besides that, weekly tutes just covers the weekly tute questions. I heard lectures were alright, didn't attend any but listened to a few online exams near exam period, the lecturer really knows his stuff and tries to explain concepts with quite alot of examples; which is always helpful. The midsem wasn't very hard, just MCQ + short answer, just know your stuff and you should do fine, however you need to really memorise the theory for the final exam. All in all, fun and useful unit, not particularly difficult, just put in the work and you should find it enjoyable.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on July 08, 2012, 06:47:15 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFC3540 - Modelling in Finance 

Workload:  2 hour tutes per week

Assessment:  Within semester assessment: 60%, Examination (3 hours): 40%

Recorded Lectures:  yes

Past exams available: 1 practise exam, with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbooks prescribed.

Lecturer(s): Dr Paul Lajbcygier

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 semester 1

Rating:  5 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 98 HD

Comments: freaking awesome unit, very very enjoyable, I would personally say this is the most useful finance unit alongside with AFC3340 (options). Everything you do in this unit will be VERY VERY practical in the real world and the skills you learn in this unit will stick with you forever if you choose a finance career. The unit is considered to be quite difficult, it really depends on the individual actually, some will say this is one of the hardest units however I personally think it's probably one of the 'easier' ones if you're a dedicated student. Some find it hard because there is a TON of assignments, there are 42 assignments in total, yes 42, let me break it down for you. There are weekly quizes, weekly tute tests, weekly excel spreadsheets submissions, weekly VBA submissions, weekly debates + MIDSEM + separate assignments in separate weeks. So unless you're a student that really stays on top of your game and meet your deadlines, you will FAIL this unit otherwise. There are so many assessments per week that you literally have to start them at the start of the week to finish them all. The exam is pretty hard, EXTREMELY long, and you have to really understand your stuff before you go in the exam. I suggest those that wanna do this unit should have at least done the following units to get the most of it (these are not unit preqs but simply what I recommend will help): AFC3140, AFC2140, AFC2340, AFC3340 (duh options helps with any finance unit lol). But seriously, if you do this unit, you really should do AFC3340 before or at the same time, why? Well AFC3540 has alot of programming, dw if you haven't done it before, they teach you from scratch, the programming you will be doing is related to VBA (excel) and alot of excel spreadsheets, although it isn't "mathematical"  but it helps if you study mathematics as well since the logical reasoning are the same. Now AFC3540 basically takes all the things you learn in the units I listed before and turns them practical, as in it shows real life applications of how the concepts you learn are actually used in the finance world - this is extremely important as you don't just learn theory to get good marks on exams but rather you need to know how to use them once you start working. AFC3540 teaches you all of that but kinda assumes you already know those concepts already; although the lecturer does explain the concepts before he starts going into the practical aspects of them. The entire 2nd half of the AFC3540 course is based on the practical applications of AFC3340 (options and futures). Having done AFC3340 will give you a huge advantage over anyone doing AFC3540 who hasn't done AFC3340 and it will help you enjoy the subject so much more. You can certainly go into AFC3540 without learning AFC3340, however you will find the options part of the course to be quite confusing; this was the case with several of my friends (who are really high-achieving students) however they were stomped on the options part of the AFC3540 because they haven't done AFC3340.

In conclusion, I would suggest you do this unit only if you have done the subjects that I listed above, they are not monash's preqs but I would say they help you so much more and allows you to get the most of the unit. However if you feel confident enough, you can certainly do it without having done the units that I listed. AFC3540 is a very good unit, you will learn so much in this one unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on July 08, 2012, 08:34:49 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1011 - Chemistry I

Workload: (per week) 
Assessment: 
Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, plenty of years

Textbook Recommendation: 
Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 1

Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on July 08, 2012, 08:52:18 pm
Subject Code/Name: ASP1010 - Earth to Cosmos: Introductory Astronomy

Workload: (per week)
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, plenty of years are available, but only ~2-3 are answered

Textbook Recommendation: 
Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 1

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: SenriAkane on July 09, 2012, 12:38:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1011 - Chemistry I

Workload: (per week)

3x 1 hour lectures
1x 3 hour lab

Assessment:
    Lab: 20%
    WILEYPlus Assignments: 5%
    MOODLE Web-tests: 15%
    End of Semester Examination: 60%

Recorded Lectures: Yes

Past exams available: Yes, from 2007-2011

Textbook Recommendation:

    CHM1011 Lecture Notes from Monash Bookstore (didn't buy)
    Chemistry 2nd ed by Blackman et al (didn't buy)
    Chemical Principles, the Quest for Insight; Peter W. Atkins , Loretta Jones (the textbook for Pharmacy)
    Introduction to Organic Chemistry; [William H. Brown, Thomas Poon

 
Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 1

Rating: 5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 92 HD

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: slothpomba on July 17, 2012, 11:27:46 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHY2011 - Neuroscience of Sensation, Brain and Movement 

Workload:  3 x 1 Hour Lectures
1 x 3 Hour practical class (doesn't run every week)

Assessment:  Like all Physiology units the exam is a fairly low % of your final mark.

In semester multiple-choice tests: 30% <--- 3 of these 10% each, evenly spread out throughout the semester
In semester problem quizzes: 5% <--- A few of these based on a web-flash tutorial thing about a particular topic, only the last one counts
In semester practical class quizzes: 35% <--- No prac reports to write or hand up in this unit, only a quiz based on the prac due a week after your prac class
End of semester theory written examination (3 hours): 30%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, Audio only (but slides/notes provided)

Past exams available:  Honestly can't remember but theres plenty of practice quizes.

Textbook Recommendation:  The textbook is absolutely not needed and not useful for the unit by the lecturers own admission. He provides an excellent set of notes he created, they make any textbook obsolete.

Lecturer(s): Mainly Ramesh Rajan but a few others take over for some portions of the subject like muscles.

Year & Semester of completion: 2012, S1

Rating: 5 Out of 5

Comments: Absolutely fantastic unit. Great breadth of content and very interesting too. Ramesh is one of the best, if not the best, lecturer i've had at uni thus far. He's both entertaining and very knowledgeable. It makes all the difference for the unit. He provides a great amount of resources in comparison to other units which have next to nothing. Instead of a textbook, you can use the notes he wrote himself, which are excellent. He knows every single students name (i'm not exaggerating), i only went to lectures a handful of times in semester (3-6) and he still somehow knew my name, i almost fell on the floor. We're all amazed how he does it but no one knows. It's certainly a nice touch. I think he may have also won a few teaching awards.

There is a lot of neurobiology (receptors, neurons, neurotransmitters, etc) near the start which transitions into the senses (hearing, vision, smell, etc) and finally muscles/movement.

Great unit. If you're thinking of taking physiology, i highly recommend it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: slothpomba on July 17, 2012, 11:39:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1325 - Contemporary Worlds 1

Workload:  one 90 minute lecture
one 1-hour tutorial per week

Assessment: 1. Assignment 1  500 words   10%   

2. Assignment 2 500 words 10%   

3. Assignment 3 1500 words 30%

4. Final Examination  2 hours   40%   

5. Tutorial Participation 10%   

Assignments 1-3 are based off the topics in the lectures (Eg. Communism in China). There is always a list of topics you can have your pick from. Similar with the exam, you can pick from a list on what you will write on.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes.

Textbook Recommendation:  I didn't have the textbook and i survived. It could help though. I also didn't buy the reader but that was a mistake. That you probably should buy.

Lecturer(s): Various

Year & Semester of completion: 2012, S1

Rating:  3.5 of 5

Comments: Good subject. They cover a wide variety of topics in post 1945/WW2 history (the importance of oil, the revolution in Iran, rise of 'communism' in china, the cold war, etc). Only one weekly lecture is devoted to each topic. In my opinion, whilst there is a great breadth and variety of topics, there isn't much depth or time to explore each topic. Huge topics like oil or communism in China only had one 90 minute lecture devoted to them. For the time, they managed to squeeze in a lot but sometimes it came off as very shallow (in the case of North Korea for example). Overall, good unit. Some topics were more interesting to me than others personally and i found this to be true of a lot of people in the course.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ninwa on July 18, 2012, 10:26:53 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS3067 - French Studies Advanced 1
This review is applicable to all French language units. If you have any questions about a specific French unit please PM me.

Workload: Generally, 2-4 hours of language + 2 hours of culture per week. For advanced 1, 2 hour language tutorial + 1 hour translation workshop + 2 hour cultural component seminar.

Workload is medium-high, compared to arts subjects in general. You are expected to do one translation per week, which should take 1 hour max, plus read various articles for language and culture, plus do any grammar/aural comprehension/speaking practice as needed.

Assessment: You can find this information yourself on the unit site, but generally cultural component accounts for 50% of your mark (usually comprising presentation, essay and exam) and language component accounts for the other 50% (usually comprising essay, translation test, oral exam and aural comprehension test).

For advanced 1 culture: culture presentation = 10 mins, culture essay = 1000 words in French, culture exam = 1 hour extended response in French.

For advanced 1 language (all in French obviously): essay = 500 words (ish?), translation test = 2 hours, oral exam = 15 min presentation on an unknown article with 1 hour's preparation beforehand + 15 mins conversation, aural comprehension = you watch a video 6 times and transcribe as much of it as you can.

For first-year French students I am reasonably certain that the cultural component will account for 25% and the langauge component 75%.

Recorded Lectures: None. Very annoying.

Past exams available: None, but not really necessary as your "exam" will be a translation test and you can practise that without past exams. For the culture exam we were given the topics beforehand.

Textbook Recommendation: Grammar textbook + workbook, not really necessary unless your grammar skills are weak. You won't be doing any grammar work in class, it will be for your personal study use only.

Ze French department brings out a new course reader each year, which is unfortunately always slightly different from the year before so you do need to buy it as you will be using it in class every week.

Don't buy whatever you're studying in the culture component, you can get those novels in the library (and "cheat" by getting the English translations instead).

Lecturer(s): Varies, but all French academic staff are pretty competent (and generally native speakers).

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1 2012

Rating: 3 of 5

Comments: Attendance requirement is 75% and they will take the roll in every class. They claim that if you don't attend 75% of classes you will either fail or get a maximum of 50, but I stopped going to class after week 5 and I didn't fail or get 50 so jokes on them.

Hate to sound like a broken record but fuck everything about the cultural component. Some people like it though so it's really a matter of personal opinion. This semester we studied a bunch of texts and movies to do with the relationship between history and memory. Which was okay I suppose but had nothing to do with French except that the texts were in French.

The language component is good. Just challenging enough to keep you interested but not impossibly difficult. The department is very capable and in my 4th year of studying French at uni I have not yet met a single lecturer/tutor who wasn't highly competent.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: spaciiey on July 19, 2012, 04:34:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2780 - Geographical Analysis 

Workload:  one 2hr lecture a week plus 1 tute/prac a week which goes for either 1 or 3 hours (or 2 if you finish early)

Assessment:  tute papers 20%
group poster + presentation 20%
prac papers 20%
final exam 40%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  One

Textbook Recommendation:  rofl rofl textbooks in this unit are non existent but get ready to do a lot of reading.

Lecturer(s): Stephen Legg, Xuan Zhu and various guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1 2012

Rating:  2.5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 HD

Comments: one of the most poorly structured units I've seen, it was quite pathetic. the work was easy for tutes and pracs. with the lectures, there was lots of stuff on mapping which I personally couldnt stand but other people liked, and then there was more humanities type stuff in the other half which was very wordy  but easy enough to wrap your head around. Group project is easy if you have a good group -- i use the word 'group' loosely though because I did my poster with one other person.

It's a new unit so it might get better next semester. I hope it does because I didn't like it except that it was a bludge. when you hand in work don't expect to get it back quickly cause they take FOREVER and i didn't get most of my stuff back until the last tute. tute prep is a lot of reading and writing if you want to do well but if you don't really care you can rock up to the tute and take notes to write up your answers later. It's the most time consuming bit of it i think.

I wouldn't really recommend it, except that it's a core unit if you want to major or minor in Geography. I found it mostly a bludge but i think i was one of the few that did.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: spaciiey on July 19, 2012, 07:03:22 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS3147 - Japanese Studies Advanced 1 

Workload:  1 hr lecture, 1 hr tute, 2 hr seminar.

Assessment:  lots, it never ends and you're constantly cramming for the next one! sadly i don't remember what they're weighted but: 1 speaking test, many ongoing tests, 2 online listening tests, 1 major essay, 1 reading/writing test, 1 presentation, 1 listening test. plus final exam, which is worth i think 25%


Recorded Lectures:  no. and you get marked attendance too if you don't turn up.

Past exams available: pffft no. you get revision questions though.

Textbook Recommendation:  tobira gateway to advanced learning. yes, you should get it. plus kanji book is optional. if you don't have a denshi jisho by now i'd recommend getting one.

Lecturer(s): shimako iwasaki

Year & Semester of completion: semester 1 2012

Rating:  2

Your Mark/Grade: 68 C

Comments:   i generally don't say this, but this unit was a biatch and i couldnt stand it. it was the general consensus of the cohort too so i'm not just being subjective. i died a slow death expecting to fail because throughout the semester i was only scraping a pass.

for the in-class tests, they are held in the MIDDLE of the lesson, and before that they just do normal classwork which is a PAIN. marking is harsh: marks deducted for errors are not really indicative of the question's weighting and so it's far too easy to lose marks. if you intend to major in japanese then you most likely have to do this unit. i'd recommend a LOT of self study and double check all your stuff by another native speaker or somewhere like lang-8. hand in every piece of work that you can cause you'll need it to pass.

oh and the lecture slides are useless -- they tend to be copy-pasted from the textbook. dont get me wrong, i learned lots but i learned it all by myself.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: spaciiey on July 19, 2012, 07:12:58 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2679/3679 - Psycholinguistics and child language acquisition 

Workload:  weekly 2 hr seminar

Assessment: attendance/homework 15%
research journal/presentation (depends if second or third year) 10%
major essay 40%
exam 35%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No, but there are revision questions.

Textbook Recommendation:  First Language Acquisition. it's okay... you don't really need it though, unless you're genuinely interested in background information. You need it for some of the homework but you can just go to the library for that.

Lecturer(s): Anna Margetts

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 semester 1

Rating:  4

Your Mark/Grade: 83 HD

Comments: I really liked this unit and i'd recommend it if you like linguistics at all. the only thing that's a pain is the essay because it's structured like a research paper and if you've never done one of those before (like i have) it's overwhelming. it's a subject where you don't have lots of contact hours but I found I spent lots and lots of time sifting through transcripts so i had data to analyse and it was time consuming, but because I liked it it was okay. The content in the lectures is interesting, but if you don't like kids then don't do this unit. do turn up to class -- it's only two hours a week and there is an attendance mark. the linguistics lecturers tend to be pretty good anyway.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: spaciiey on July 19, 2012, 07:27:14 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2021 - Linear Algebra with Applications

Workload: 3 1-hour lectures and 1 2-hour support class per week

Assessment: 5 Assignments: 4% each, 5 Laboratory work (quiz): 2% each, 3 hours Exam: 70%

Recorded Lectures:
  Voice recorded lectures only

Past exams available:  yes two, one with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Printed lecture notes but also have a copy on moodle. also Elementary Linear Algebra, which is a pretty good book but you dont neeeed it unless you don't intend on turning up to class at all.

Lecturer(s):Dr Tim Garoni and Jerome (cant remember his last name but it was long and started with D)

Year & Semester of completion:Sem 1 2012

Rating: 4

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: If you did CAS methods, it's probably a bludge unit. Sadly, I didn't. If you did MTH2010 it is probably again also a bludge unit. Sadly, I haven't yet, I'm doing it this semester instead. So, to me, most of the content was quite new, except the stuff covered in MTH1030. Tim is an awesome lecturer and really knows his stuff, the tutes were quite standard but I'd recommend trying to get Marsha Minchenko because I found she was really good and helpful and willing to go the extra mile. The content itself was mostly easy, and the exam was very doable but unfortunately for me I stuffed it up so got a D instead of an HD but oh well. Halfway through the semester they switched lecturers to a french guy called Jerome and he was okay but he had a really thick accent and so if you're not good with french accents it's a bit of an issue.

I really liked this unit, I would recommend it. If you've done methods and etc it is also a bludge unit, so added bonus there. for me it wasnt a bludge though because I've never seen most of the content before but it's easy enough to pick up.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on July 19, 2012, 07:59:36 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHS1011 - Physics

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, solutions are scarce

Textbook Recommendation:

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 1

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 79 D

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on July 22, 2012, 03:53:25 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1020 - Analysis of Change

Workload:


Assessment: 


Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen captures, so lecturer workings on tablet PC recorded

Past exams available:  Yes but solutions are scarce. Can also leech off Engineering maths, similar content

Textbook Recommendation:


Lecturer(s):


Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 1

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 82 HD

Comments:

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Cappuccinos on August 03, 2012, 10:35:04 pm
Subect Code/Name: ATS2143 - Japanese Intermediate 1 (previously known as Japanese 3)

Workload:  1 x 2hr seminar, 1 x 1hr lecture, 1 x 1hr tutorial (It is expected that you have a 75+ attendance for seminar and tutes, rolls are taken at all three)

Order:  Lectures, Tutorials, Seminars

Lectures: I enjoyed them, lecturer was pretty good. Content: Cover some social/culture points, grammar and its appropriate usage, do practice sentences etc.  You could survive without going to them because the textbook has everything you need, some of the sentences are from there but I think going to the lecture is easier than self learning it.
Tutorial: These are normally on the same day of the lecture, or the day after, so if you're not going to lectures, you need to cover the content before you go. The focus is on the grammar we learnt in the lectures, this is done through doing like 'speaking grammar exercises' (I made this phrase up, couldn't find the right way to describe it) from the textbook, so there's alot of pair work/role play/speaking. Oh the teacher picks on random people to answer in front of the class so yeah.
Seminars: Seminars are sort of like, a long tutorial with much more writing and reading practice. I find them harder than tutes. Also, it was a bad idea having my Japanese seminar and then a chemistry lecture straight afterwards because for some reason they tell us to start writing when there’s only 15 minutes of class left, yes you can stay behind and finish it but yeah, had another class to go to and it's embarrassing walking into lectures late xD. Also Kanji tests are held in the middle of the seminar which can be fairly annoying for some.

Assessment: Mid-semester test (15%), Writing Task (15%), Listening Test (10%), Oral Assessment (10%), Kanji quizzes(5%), Vocab quizzes (5%), Exam (40%)

Kanji Tests (5%)
- 6 Tests, roughly once a fortnight
- Done in the second hour of the seminar (Can be timed, depends on your teacher, mine gave us 6 minutes)
- Tested on the writing, readings and the meanings of Kanji from the Kanji list from that chapter of the textbook. Warning: previous Kanji from previous chapters will be tested again. 16 Kanji in a Kanji list
- Layout: Short passage with a mixture of words underlined, these words are written in Kanji or Hiragana, write the opposite of them and then a section where you choose the correct meaning for words written in Kanji

Vocab Tests (5%)
- 6 Tests, roughly once a fortnight
- Done online on blackboard. (Blackboard has been ditched now so I'm not sure how future tests for this subject will be done)
Edit: In ATS2144 (Japanese Intermediate 2), vocab tests are now done in tutorials this may be the case for this subject
- Tested on the vocab from that chapter of the textbook. Roughly 52 words
- 7 Minutes, Roughly 7 questions: 5 MCQ, 2 sections of pair the right words
    Example MC Question:  ビールやワインをのみすぎて、_____になりました。あたまがいたい・・・。
                a. げんき

               b. 日本人

               c. ふつかよい

               d. かぜ
               (Hint: Answer is not b xD)

Exam (40%)
- Particles
- Completing sentences with new grammar (Worth the most)
- Culture Questions (Worth the least)
- Reading Comprehension (Answer in English and/or Japanese)
- Writing (not an essay, but just a bunch of sentences with certain requirements)
- No listening tasks
- No dictionary/notes

Recorded Lectures:  Yep with screen capture

Past exams available: Nope. Zero. They give you a revision sheet though. You don't really need it, just redo exercises from the workbook/make up your own sentences and you should be fine.

Textbook Recommendation:  Genki II 2nd Edition Textbook and Workbook are prescribed. I brought mine. It's up to you really. I guess you could borrow the textbook from the library, you use it every lesson though and homework will also be assigned from the workbook which teachers do check (its not worth any marks though, I never did mine [I forgot okay! :P ], I just got a whole lot of red circles on it) They also recommend some dictionary, but you should have one already and that should suffice, you're rarely allowed use it for assessments anyway (infact only once, for the writing task)

Lecturer(s): Dr. Shani Tobias

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 1

Rating: 4/5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:
So this is the unit you do if you'd like to study Japanese at a Monash and you've already done Units 3/4 in VCE. To be quite honest, I found this more relaxed, maybe even easier than Units 3/4. Some of content you've definitely covered before, maybe not so much the Kanji, but grammar and vocab definitely. (Do these ring a bell: ~し, ~そうです, Relative Clauses, Potential form and much more!) However, there's also assumed knowledge, so yeah don't empty your brain after Units 3/4 . The frequency of the assessments (vocab/kanji tests or some sort of other assessment almost every week, or every other week if your lucky and vocab and kanji tests fall on the same week  :P) may be a bit difficult for some, I'm a fairly good crammer though (Flash cards are pretty amazing, however if you're lazy like me and can't be bothered making your own, http://kanji.asianmideast.duke.edu/index.php is an awesome site) so it wasn't an issue but some people may find that there is ''so much to learn and so little time"

Oh and yes the teachers conduct class (tutorials & seminars) in mostly Japanese, not sure if that’s the way it's meant to be officially or what. I thought I wouldn't be able to survive when I heard this but it's fine, really. They don't speak super fast or use any crazy grammar patterns and they do use English/simpler words when they see that their students have the ' I have nfi what you said' look plastered all over their face xD. But lectures are held on both English and Japanese.

Overall I liked this subject, it was a fairly good mini refresher of Units 3/4, I sort of forgot everything so it wasn't too repetitive. However, if you did exceptionally well in units 3/4 (45+ I think, not sure if raw or scaled), this subject may be not challenging enough and I believe you are eligible to do a different subject.

So yeah, hopefully that was somewhat helpful and I didn't scare anyone off the subject :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on November 15, 2012, 12:25:35 am
Subject Code/Name: ENG1060 - Computing For Engineers

Workload: 2x1 hr lectures, 1x3 hr Comp Lab per week

Assessment:  9x2% Comp Labs, 2% Library Test, 10% Assignment, 70% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Both Sems from 2005-2011 (Only 3 with solutions)
 
Textbook Recommendation:  Textbooks were pointless for this unit, don't need them at all.

Topics

Lecturer(s): First 6 weeks: Dr Yi Hong, Second 6 weeks: Yogen Padayatchy

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 2

Rating: 3.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 92 HD

Comments: Besides the lectures being quite boring, and going over the simplest of things sometimes, this unit wasn't too bad, once you learnt how to put up with a frustrating Matlab. Looking back at it, you could probably learn this unit easily off the lecture notes and with a fair bit of practice. The compulsory library test is an absolute waste of time, but it needs to be done anyway. With labs, the best way to approach them is to prepare your code before hand, bring it in on USB and then just make the final touches to it during the lab. Its best if you get Matlab to use on a computer at home to practise on. With the assignment, while it isn't easy, its not hard, just confusing and not well worded (well for us anyway). Ended up getting the harder part right, but missing a line of code on q1a (the easiest one on the whole assignment...) which put the results of q1 b,c,d out... In short, make sure you check the easy parts too...., missing one line of code cost me full marking the internal component of assesment.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on November 15, 2012, 12:40:58 am
Subject Code/Name: MAE1042 - Introduction to Aircraft Structures and Dynamics

Workload:  1x2 hr + 1x1 hr lectures + 2 hr tutorial (not compulsorily, carries no marks) per week
 
Assessment:  10% on Field Trip Questionaire, 10% Midsem, 80% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, Only 1, with 1 set of solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Same Textbook as MAE1041, but to be honest, it isn't needed at all either.

Topics

Lecturer(s): Professor Brian G. Falzon

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 93 HD

Comments: I enjoyed most of this unit, particularly the Orbital Mechanics section towards the end of the semester. The crack propagation and beams sections were a little dry, while the mechanical vibrations had a lot of overlap with what we were covering in the Engineering Physics elective unit. The unit was fairly well delivered by Brian Falzon, and he tried to keep us interested at times when the material we were learning wasn't that interesting. The Field Trip was to the RAAF base at Point Cook, where we had a talk by a current employeed aerospace engineer, while the assesment for the day was a multiple choice question sheet on the displays at the museum, followed by an aerial display (which wasn't too interesting). With the mid semester, a fair few people found it hard, while a few of us scored well on it, although we were the ones that acutally went to the tutorials. They aren't compulsory, but helped quite a bit in learning the material, and I would say it would be best to go to them. The exam was worth 80% of the unit, which is a hell of a lot, but doing the tute questions prepared us well for the exam, and well since there was only one past exam, the tute questions were the major thing to focus on in SWOTVAC. So in conclusion, go to the tutes and actually do questions, as that is what will get you somewhere in this unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on November 15, 2012, 01:07:41 am
Subject Code/Name: ENG1081 - Physics for Engineering

Workload:  3x1 hr lectures +1x3 hr Laboratory per week

Assessment:  8% Midsem, 4x1.25% Online Mastering Physics Assigments, 5% Team Poster at the end of semester, 17% on labs, 5% on a formal report, 60% Exam
 
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, 8 past exams, 3 with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Physics for Scientists and Engineers by Randall D. Knight (2nd edition, Pearson 2008) - Was good for questions and to go over a bit of theory, you didn't 'need' it but it helped.

Topics

Lecturer(s): Newtonian Mechanics - Dr Mikhail Egorov, Waves - Mr Ali Moghimi, Quantum Physics - Dr Tim Petersen

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 2

Rating: 2 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments: I'm going to be honest, I didn't enjoy this unit (and kind feel like as others on here have said, that physics really is cursed). I don't really want to pay out the lecturers here but, there was more than a few occasions where I felt that I would have spent my time better learning it at home out of the textbook, than to waste the hour in the lecture learning nothing. The labs were quite annoying too, with you ending up being left to do all the work on your own when your team members had no idea what they were doing, although they were rotated each 3-4 weeks or so. The formal report was a bit of a mess too, as we found out we had to write it on a lab that we'd completed 4 weeks ago, which most of us had forgotten the key ideas and points about. The team poster was also another mess, as we were only allowed one slide, with a minimum text size of 16 pt, not much information could be fit onto the 'poster', which left a wordy presentation of it, not the most efficient method of doing it. We all did horribly on the mid semester, with not many people passing, as a result, they scaled it which made most people only just pass, although for some of use it meant a 30% increase in our mark, and those who had gotten 70%, ended up with scores of over 100% that counted as more than 100%. The exam itself wasn't easy, with somethings I had to kinda guess and prove it to myself that it fitted the situation on the spot, with the quantum mechanics section being the hardest, and well difficult to get your head around, although in the lectures it was presented at a higher level than the other two sections.

So in short, this wasn't a great unit, but we had to put up with it. Although for those doing aero (and possible mech-dynamics?) there was some overlap with mechanical vibrations (waves in physics) and orbital mechanics, which at some points, I was using what I'd learnt in physics and using it in the aero unit, while using what I'd learnt in aero and using it in physics. So the overlap did help a bit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: pi on November 16, 2012, 07:57:59 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED1022 - Medicine 2

Workload: per week: 9 x 1hr lectures + 3 x 2 hr prac + 2 x 2 hr tutorials + 3.5 hr CBL (Cased Based Learning tutorial) + occasional site visit

Assessment: For the semester - 18.75% Mid-Semester Test, 6.35% Rural Assignment, 12.5% Evaluating Popular Information Assignment, 37.5% End of Semester Exam (hurdle), 25% OSCE (hurdle), 0% Human Life-Span and Development Assignment (hurdle only) (formative assignments include practical write-ups, weekly quizzes, and the Injecting Competence Test). In terms of the year - 15% Mid-Semester Test, 5% Rural Assignment, 10% Evaluating Popular Information Assignment, 30% End of Semester Exam, 20% OSCE.

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture that includes lectures notes being written on

Past exams available: Yes, although the official ones are quite old, however past questions can be found in exam format through student compilations

Textbook Recommendation:
* means essential
^ means choose one of these based on personal preference (personally I used "Thieme Atlas and Textbook of Anatomy General Anatomy and Musculoskeletal System 1st - Schuenke, et al.")

Lecturer(s): Many, depending on the series of lecture (cancer, pharmacology, pathology, upper limb, lower limb, cardiology, neurology, etc.)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2012

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
The major difference between this unit and the previous one is the amount of content covered (despite there being less contact hours!). The Faculty really steps it up and personally, I found the semester alone more difficult than my whole VCE.

As with the rest of the course, the unit is divided into four parts (or themes of study):
Theme I: Personal and Professional Development
Theme II: Population, Society, Health and Illness
Theme III: Foundations of Medicine
Theme IV: Clinical Skills

Similarly with Semester 1's MED1011, of the four themes, I (and the vast majority of the cohort) found themes III and IV to be the most enjoyable because they focus on knowledge and skills that have a direct and practical use in future life as a clinician. Themes I and II, again, contain a lot of theory, a lot of which is very logical and dry. Unfortunately, a fair portion of the exam tests these Themes I and II.

Having said that, the semester is much more interesting. There is a large focus on gross anatomy, clinical anatomy and relevant physiology, this is not only reflected in the tutorials but also in our new lab sessions: cadaver dissections and radiology sessions. This new aspect of the course made all the work worthwhile. Despite initially being a somewhat daunting and queasy moment, dissections were definitely the highlight of my academic week. These sessions are complemented by anatomy tutorials, lecture series, and radiology tutorials.

Furthermore, OSCE preparation becomes more intense in clinical skills tutes, with the clinical systems covered being: upper-limb musculoskeletal (shoulder, elbow and wrist), lower-limb musculoskeletal (hip, knee, ankle), upper-limb neurological, lower-limb neurological, and cardio. Group and team work becomes vital in these tutes and participation is the key to preparation for the eventual OSCE.

However, not all is well. Epidemiology is introduced, a subject which I can safely say was the bane of my semester. The tutes were dull and far from engaging (I honestly fell asleep thrice) and seemed to largely be repetitions of the lecture content. The exact content of the tutes was, however, useful and will become important as you learn to read academic journals or when/if you conduct your own research.

In terms of the lectures throughout the semester, again, they are at a high standard, still captivating and interactive. As last semester, questions are allowed to be asked before, during and after the lectures, and all lecturers are more than happy to respond to emails afterwards. The lecture notes/slides given are also of a decent standard and it is possible to pass the unit solely using these. There is no attendance requirement for this unit, however it is expected that students attend all lectures (most lectures are nearly full, so that shows the quality of what is given).

External site visits also take a step-up in this unit, further giving this unit extra depth and enjoyment. During the unit, each student is able to have two hospital site visits, and will get the opportunity to test their musculoskeletal and neurological exams on real patients, as well as practice their clinical deduction skills for the first time in a clinical environment. A good taste for the clinical years of the MBBS.

In terms of the hurdle requirements, there are three (compared to none from the previous semester): the HLSD assignment, the OSCE and the End of Year Exam. The HLSD is fairly easily marked, so no worries there, however the other two are of concern as they are tough assessments. Passing these are compulsory to passing the unit (and hence the year) and failure to do so will result in your repeating of the year. However there are a few students who are on the borderline who are given the opportunity to sit Supplementary Exams (~20 students in total) to redeem themselves to the Faculty and progress to Year II.

On the whole though, a very intense unit in terms of workload, but again,a unit that is extremely enjoyable and rewarding :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: eeps on November 21, 2012, 10:52:51 am
Subject Code/Name: AFF1300 - Money and Capital Markets

Workload: One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment: Assignment (20%), Presentation (5%), Tutorial participation (5%), Exam - 3 hours (70%).

Recorded Lectures: No.

Past exams available: Yes. One past exam - from the previous semester.

Textbook Recommendation: 'AFF1300: Money and Capital Markets' 1st edition by Ben Hunt and Chris Terry (compiled by Piyadasa Edirisuriya).

Lecturer(s): Huu Nhan Duong and Wicky Wickramanayake.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2012.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Comments: This unit is a good introduction into what to expect if you are planning to major in banking and finance. It introduces you to a range of markets and how each one operates respectively. The major assignment is a business report (2,500 words +/- 10%) due late in the semester. It requires a lot of research and referencing to score highly. The lecturers can be difficult to understand at times, but if you keep up to date with everything - you will be fine. It is imperative you complete the weekly tutorial questions because the final exam questions are taken straight from the tutorial questions. Participation is an easy 5% as long as you do the tutorial questions. Overall, AFF1300 is a good unit, however, the content can be dry and boring at times.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on November 25, 2012, 07:07:57 pm
Subject Code/Name: ASP1022 - Life and the Universe

Workload:  (per week)

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, plenty. Around 4 with answers

Textbook Recommendation:

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 2

Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on November 29, 2012, 12:51:51 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHS1022 - Physics

Workload: (per week)
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, Stream 2 only

Past exams available: Yes, around 4-6 exam papers available, I think 3-4 have answers

Textbook Recommendation:
Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 2

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 82 HD

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on December 01, 2012, 01:22:04 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1030 - Techniques for Modelling

Workload:  (per week)
Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, no screen capture (they may change it next year)

Past exams available:  Yes, a few. Maths peps only allowed to give one solution

Textbook Recommendation:
Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 2

Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 80 HD

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Furbob on December 03, 2012, 12:08:12 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS3148 - Japanese Studies Advanced 2

Workload: 

- 1 hour lecture
- 1 hour tutorial
- 2 hour seminar

Assessment: 

- 10 minute job interview test: 20%
- homework exercises
- vocabulary/grammar tests
- haiku/tanka poetry project: 6%
- final examination: 25%

*cant remember how everything was calculated apart from the ones I mentioned

Recorded Lectures:  no

Past exams available:  no, but you will receive a handout outlining how the exam will be structured

Textbook Recommendation:  majority of the unit content is based on the prescribed textbook material, 上級へのとびら

Lecturer(s): Shimako Iwasaki

Year & Semester of completion: semester 2 2012

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: the course was organized very well with a weekly timetable sheet that you get in week 1 - detailing what we would go through each when and highlighting when tests would be held and due dates for projects. Attending all lectures/tutorials/seminars is compulsory (apparently) or Iwasaki sensei will try to chase you considering there's only 50~ students taking the subject so it's noticeable when you're away. This unit taught a reasonable amount of grammar patterns and vocabulary across three themes - history, literature and politics.

Overall I found Iwasaki sensei to be pretty bland as a lecturer although she got the job done. Most people tried to escape lectures by going on 1 hour "toilet breaks" since they taught very little but were interesting sometimes in various group activities.

I really wanted to love this subject but the lack of engagement from the lecturer was a let-down and the keigo (formal speech) part of the course was taught poorly. Not to mention how kanji felt non-existent in class outside the homework kanji exercises

It's not a difficult unit if you put the work in and I do value what I had learned it. Motivation for the learning the language is key really~
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Phy124 on December 03, 2012, 12:10:48 am
Subject Code/Name: ENG1060 - Computing for Engineers

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. The code shown in lectures is also uploaded.

Past exams available:  Yes, 14 (2005-2011, both semesters) available in the past exam database. Worked solutions were provided for 2011 semester 1 and 2, however I also have solutions to 2008 semester 2 and 2009 semester 1 and 2.

Textbook Recommendation:  Lecture notes will suffice for a good mark, however if you're interested in doing more reading or want more exposure to eng1060 related questions "Applied Numerical Methods for Engineers & Scientists" by Chapra may be helpful. A book written by Wai Ho Li, who wrote the lecture notes and from what I can gather helped design the unit, is also available in the Hargrave-Andrew Library.

Lecturer(s): Dr Yi Hong and Mr. Yogen Padayatchy

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2012

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments: Well firstly, if you're studying any type of engineering at monash you will be required to undertake this unit whether you want to or not. With this being said, I found the unit quite enjoyable, despite the amount of time I spent being frustrated at matlab.

My best recommendation towards studying for the unit isn't necessarily reading textbooks like you may other units, but rather spending quite a bit of time on matlab as it practically provides most of the stuff you need to know. The more time you spend on matlab the more you learn about how the code works and how to fix errors, which has focus in parts of the exam.

The lectures can be useful, but most of the time can be quite dry at times due to easy material and not all that engaging. The material is also taught pretty much from the slides with an example here and there. I made the decision to stop attending lectures early in the semester (although I still attended some), choosing to learn the course material solely from the lecture notes, which seemed to suffice.

I strongly recommend trying to begin, if not complete, the lab class questions before your session as they can be quite long and arduous at times. It's also a good idea to try and allocate your lab later in the week because if you get stuck you'll be able to get friends who have already done the lab to help. In regards to finishing the lab sessions early, the same goes for the assignment. Although, it isn't hard once you grasp the concepts, you do want to make sure you grasp them early and really avoid making silly mistakes, as they can be quite costly when you actually know what you're doing.

For the latter part of the unit I recommend doing more questions and really cementing in your brain the method behind the questions, as the only thing that really changes from year to year in part B of the exam is the numbers used in the questions.

Additionally, I attended a few PASS sessions which were quite helpful, you go through worksheets relating to the course material being studied that week and also do a bit of coding on matlab. If you're struggling grasping the course content I would certainly recommend dropping into one of these. Even if you don't sign up originally you can ask to be allocated to a time or just appear in one hoping they have room, which they most likely will.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on December 08, 2012, 05:09:24 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1022 - Chemistry II 

Workload: (per week) (this will change next year!!)

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, plenty. Answers available for plenty of them, but only at the library for short term loan

Textbook Recommendation:

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 Semester 2

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 94 HD

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Dallas45 on January 01, 2013, 10:01:49 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1248 - Ancient Civilisations II

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures + 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  With the new layout, if they put up the 2012 exam there will only be one past exam but they do give a brief sample of the layout. This isn't a full practice exam though, just an A4 page that shows the structure to give you an idea of the layout and what sort of questions to expect.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2012

Rating: 5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 79 D

Comments:

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: pi on June 13, 2013, 01:53:11 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED2031 - Medicine 3

Workload: per week: 12 x 1hr lectures + 3 x 2 hr prac + 2 x 2 hr tutorials + 3.5 hr PBL (Problem Based Learning tutorial - new name for CBL of last year) + 6 hr CBP (Community Based Placement)

Assessment: For the year - 10% Mid-Semester Test, 6% Student Project Case Written Summary, 3% Rural Individual Assignment, 7% Rural Group Assignment, 6.8% Health Promotion Assignment, 4% Student Project Case Oral Presentation, 10% End of Semester Written Examination, 0% Breast Examination (hurdle), 0% CBP Placement Plan (hurdle) (formative assignments include practical write-ups, system quizzes, and the formative OSCE)

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture that includes lectures notes being written on

Past exams available: No, the Faculty has now published a document with threats to expel students from the course if they are caught compiling past questions or distributing or using past compilations. All past compilations have been removed from the MUMUS site.

Textbook Recommendation:
* means essential

Lecturer(s): Many, depending on the series of lecture (respiratory, GIT, renal, urinary, endocrinology, pharmacology, pathology, etc.)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
The workload really steps up in second year, in both contact hours (commonly 30+) and in workload. However, unlike first year, I found the content to be much more relevant clinically, which provides incentive to learn.

As with the rest of the course, the unit is divided into four parts (or themes of study):
Theme I: Personal and Professional Development
Theme II: Population, Society, Health and Illness
Theme III: Foundations of Medicine
Theme IV: Clinical Skills

Similarly with first year, of the four themes, I (and the vast majority of the cohort) found themes III and IV to be the most enjoyable because aforementioned, they focus on knowledge and skills that have a direct and practical use in future life as a clinician. Themes I and II, again, contain a lot of theory, a lot of which is very logical and dry. Unfortunately, a fair portion of the exam tests these Themes I and II.

This unit essentially focuses on a few bodily systems, namely: respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal, urinary and endocrinology, in order of when you do them. Each system provides it's own challenges as you delve into the physiology, gross anatomy, pharmacology and clinical manifestations.

The physiology is taught primarily in the lectures and it is expected that you take the initiative to fill in the blanks in your own time. The anatomy, similar the semester 2 of first year, is taught through dissections, prossections, radiology and tutes with surgical registrars. These are invaluable and practical learning is very enjoyable. Histology practicals accompany each system and reinforce some of the learning.

Again, we pursue with clinical skills tutes and things become more intense. We cover more system reviews and more clinical examinations: respiratory, gastrointestinal, renal, obesity, dehydration, diabetes, endocrinology (focus on the thyroid). These are essential to OSCEs and future clinical practice. Again, group and team work becomes vital in these tutes and participation is the key to learning and preparation for the eventual OSCE.

There are two new aspects to this semester: Rural Weeks and Community Based Placements (CBP).

The Rural Weeks (2 week placement in groups of 10-20) are arguably the best two weeks of my academic life: simply amazing on so many levels. I was lucky to travel to Bairnsdale at stay at the luxurious Captains Cove. The placement, academically, consisted of placements at a GP, theatre, emergency department, district nursing, allied health, naturopathy, Indigenous, pharmacy, farm site visit and vets. So in terms of the healthcare aspect, we are given a very broad experience. Personally, I found the district nursing placement to be the best of them, learning so much from a different perspective. Throughout these placements you are able to refine your clinical skills: injections, examinations, histories, vital signs, etc. We are also given the opportunity to participate in a suturing workshop at Bairnsdale Regional Health Service.

On a social level, the placement is amazing too. After academic hours, you can expect a large party for all. The accommodation is simply stunning with large rooms and units and beautiful lakeside views when you wake up, perfect for a BBQ and some heavy partying. So, we did :P We also had the opportunity to socialise with the 4th year MBBS students who were there too, so we partied hard. In the weekend between the two weeks you are given the opportunity to go home but luckily no-one did, so we were able to road-trip to Lakes Entrance and many other touristy sites. Very enjoyable and many, many great memories.

However, there are two assignments to complete from this rural placement, one individual and one group, so being mindful of those is important too. Also important to note that only half the cohort goes on Rural Weeks in the first semester, the others go next semester in MED2042.

The CBP is also a good experience. Basically, in a small group of 3-6 you go to special schools, youth services, retirement homes, etc and participate and get involved in what is going on once a week for 14 weeks (continues in MED2042). I was lucky to be based in a special school and I am loving the opportunity. Whilst it's a little sad at times, I am really enjoying playing and teaching students. I really commend Monash for having a program like this, it really brings me down to Earth with where many health issues really lie.

However, there is always a downside. He have a "Health Promotion" series of lectures and tutes. In addition, there is also an assignment attached to this. Personally, I gave up on attending the lectures after the first one, honestly not worth my time. However, tutes were enjoyable. Not so much because the learning was beneficial or useful in any way (it isn't), but because my tutor was very engaging and spun the coursework into fun group tasks with opportunities for lots of laughs. These laughs soon diminish when the assignment comes up though.

Another downside (in my opinion), was the Student Project Case (SPC) which is completed in groups of 3-4. Essentially it has two parts: a written summary of your assigned condition (asbestos-related lung diseases, haemochromatosis, Dengue fever, or breast cancer) and then present a 30 minute oral (word used loosely as you can use technological aids - my group for example made short video clips and a powerpoint presentation) presentation. The downsides I found with this were how much of your time it consumes and the fact that the oral presentations are a couple of days before the End of Semester Exam. Other than the stress, the learning is somewhat enjoyable.

In terms of the lectures throughout the semester, again, they are at a high standard, still captivating and interactive (except for Health Promotion). As last semester, questions are allowed to be asked before, during and after the lectures, and all lecturers are more than happy to respond to emails afterwards. The lecture notes/slides given are also of a decent standard and it is possible to pass the unit solely using these. There is no attendance requirement for this unit, however it is expected that students attend all lectures (most lectures are nearly full, so that shows the quality of what is given).

In terms of the hurdle requirements, there are two: the CBP Placement Plan and the Breast Examination (completed by those who did not do Rural Weeks in this semester). Passing these are compulsory to passing the unit (and hence the year) and failure to do so will result in your repeating of the year. 

On word of caution is that if you are lucky to go on rural in this semester, the workload piles up at the end of the semester. Both rural assignments, the SPC oral presentations, the Health Promotion assignment  and the End of Semester exam are within 3 weeks of each other. This is a stressful time, but I guess it's better to get this whammy of assessments now that at the end of the year when there are even more exams (additional written exam and a summative OSCE). Better end of a bad deal.

Just something I'd like to add that isn't academic is the issue of study groups. Not being a jaffy, I've been given the opportunity to participate as a tutor (volunteering) in Year I/II study groups. This is something I've found not only very helpful to my own revision, but also very enjoyable. In addition there are also Year II/III study groups for you to get some extra help too, I love these too.

On the whole though, a very intense and tough unit in terms of workload, but again, a unit that is extremely enjoyable and rewarding :) Starting to feel like you know things is a good feeling :P
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on June 13, 2013, 10:22:44 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFX4030 - Advanced Modelling in Finance 

Workload:  3 hours lab each week.

Assessment:  3 assignments worth 10%, 10%, 15%. Academic paper presentation: 10%. Participation: 5%. Matlab/VBA/SAS Programming Exam: 30%. Research Paper Exam: 20%.

Recorded Lectures:  N/A

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  N/A

Lecturer(s): Assoc. Prof. Cameron Truong

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 1.

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: Pending

Comments: Perhaps the best Finance honours subject there is. I suggest this unit to those that have done AFC3540, which is the undergrad modelling in finance unit taken by Paul. AFX4030 combines both elements of academic research and modelling into one and does so in a way that makes it all seem so natural. Essentially the first 6 or so weeks you will be doing VBA/MATLAB programming then the last 6 weeks you will be doing SAS programming. Combined with this, each week there will be at least 3 academic papers to be read. The unit is then structured such that you replicate the methodology and analytical data manipulation in research papers using your own knowledge from each of the programming languages learnt in the unit. There will also be an academic paper review, essentially everyone is assigned a paper and you have to present the paper (similar to an academic research proposal) as if you were the actual author. This is a truly rewarding unit for those that want to delve deeper into academic finance research as you gain not only theoretical skills but also apply it in an academic context.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TommyLie on June 14, 2013, 05:45:18 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHS1011 - Physics

Workload: 3x1 hour lectures per week. 1x3 hour lab per week.

Assessment:  There is an online 'Mastering Physics' assignment every few weeks, which is essentially just questions which contribute to your final mark - they can be quite challenging, but every question has 'hints' which sacrifice marks for help, if the first hint doesn't help you can use another which will be more in depth than the last, but more costly of marks. There were two actual assignments. The first was just a set of questions which was on Mechanics and was easy marks (Finished it in half an hour). The second was a lab report on an experiment you and your partners will do sometime in the first few weeks. This was worth 5% but was quite large. There is some good resources on moodle to help you with this; an example of a bad lab report with annotations telling you why it was bad, along with an example of a good lab report.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes.

Past exams available:  Yes, back to 2006 with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  PHS1011/1022 directly follows the Randall D. Knight textbook. I got the 3rd edition which only came out a month or so before I got it. I highly, highly recommend it, it is very well written, thoroughly comprehensive and interesting. It has questions at the end of every chapter with answers to every second question.

Lecturer(s):  Kevin Pimblett and Tim Peterson. I only went to Kevin's lectures, but Tim came in to a few of Kevin's at the end. Kevin is an incredibly engaging lecture, he makes everything interesting and fun, and is able to explain things well. He is also very enthusiastic. From the little experience I had with Tim's lectures, I liked him a lot as well. Could explain things well and was entertaining.

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, sem 1

Rating:  4.5/5

Comments: I enjoyed this subject a lot. Mechanics was pretty much a coming together of specialist maths with VCE Physics, plus some additional Physics definitions. After that we did Thermodynamics, which I really enjoyed. Kevin took these topics, then we had Tim for Simple Harmonic Motion and Waves/optics. SHM was interesting, and Waves covered theory for all wave types in general. We finished with Special Relativity with Kevin, which while being very interesting, I felt it was rushed and was annoying that it was at the end of the course very close to the exam because it was quite difficult.

Make sure you read the texbook BEFORE you go to lectures, it helps sooooo much, especially for labs. I would advise you do some textbook questions before each lab if you want to do well in them. The 3 hour exam is 180 marks and, if you understand the theory and have done a couple of previous papers, then you will do well in this subject.

Also, I believe 2013, sem 1 was the last time PHS1011 will be have it's labs run in the way they have been the last few years. Next year the new $280 million dollar Physics building will be finished and first year labs will be done there with an entirely new lab structure.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: m.Chemia on June 17, 2013, 05:02:46 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1051 - Chemistry I (Advanced)

Workload:  2 x 1 hr Lectures, 1 x 1 hr Workshop (Lectorial), 1 x 4 hr Lab

Assessment: 5 x Pre-Lecture Quiz (2.5%), 5 x Post-Lecture Test (7.5%), Lab Proforma (30%), Final Exam (60%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, Many. The structure of first year chemistry was changed in 2012 or so, the new CHM1051/1011 stuff is the mixture of old CHM1011/1022. Two new sample exams are also provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  "Chemistry, 2nd Edition" by Blackman (Wiley). Not essential, only buy if you think explanations on lecture notes are not clear enough. 1st Edition is also okay.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Chris Thompson, Dr. Alison Funston, Dr. Mike Grace

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 1

Rating:  5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Pending

Comments: This is the advanced version of CHM1011 and this is a new unit in 2013. A VCE Chemistry score >=37 or ATAR >=90 is required. Since CHM1051 and CHM1011 have the same lecture content and the exam is the same/nearly the same, the only "advanced" part of the unit is we have longer labs. We do essentially the same pracs as CHM1011 but a bit more complex. Although the structured time slot for labs is 4 hrs, the longest lab we have is a bit more than 3 hrs. Instead of tutorials, we have the so-called workshops, basically the lecturer performs experiment and we work on a problem sheet each week. The whole unit is about physical chemistry, and divided into:

Atoms (Structures, periodicity)
Molecules (Lewis, VSEPR, VBT, MO, gases)
Thermodynamics
Equilibria
Kinetics

Some of the topics are VCE topics or extension of VCE topics, not too difficult if effort is put in. Physical chemistry might be boring for some people (me included) but is really important for later Chemistry units, and sometimes it is kind of rewarding. They lecturers are great, Chris Thompson (Wk 1-4, Atomic Structures, Molecular Sturctures up to VBT) is the best lecturer you could ever have, he really knows how to teach. Alison Funston (Wk 5-8, MO, Gases, Thermodynamics) is good too, but not as good as Chris, and apparently she is a better researcher. Mike Grace (Wk 9-12, Equilibria, Kinetics) is funny too. Labs are fun, sometimes you get to design experiments. Labs worth 30% and a pass in labs is a hurdle requirement, but don't stress out if you don't like labs, all the pracs are pretty easy/intuitive and the demonstrators are generally nice. There are no assignments, and each time you have a week or two to finish pre-/post-lecture tests.
This is an essential unit for people who want to major in chemistry and also for those who do chemistry to satisfy BSc requirement. There is not much difference between CHM1051 and CHM1011, after completing this unit, it is not like that you know more about chemistry than CHM1011 kids. But if you do have high enough ATAR and/or Chemistry score, DO CHM1051 Chemistry I (Advanced)!! At least it sounds cooler, doesn't it?  :P
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: brenden on June 18, 2013, 12:03:33 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1314 - Human Rights Theory 1 

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures (auto-allocated), 1 x 1 hour tutorial.

Assessment: 
Recorded Lectures:  Yep, no screen capture so you'll have to download the slides. There were more microphone muffles in the recordings of this unit than other unit, so wagging lectures is sometimes a gamble, as you might have a muffle-obstructed recording.

Past exams available:  None. They said if we wanted to practise writing essays, we should go back to AT 3 and write on a prompt that we haven't already written on. Evidently, in Sem 1, 2013, practise exams weren't a problem once they gave us the prompt. You would probably be better off doing the readings that will be tested in the exam and summarising them etc. rather than practicing an essay on readings that won't be assessed in the exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  You have to buy the ATS 1314 Reader, and that is all. You definitely need it.

Lecturer(s): Dr Linda Barclay and Dr Andy Lamey

Year & Semester of completion: ...Woops. 2013. Semester 1.

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 86

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: alondouek on June 18, 2013, 12:51:39 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1031 - Medical Biophysics

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Some. Most relevant ones uploaded to Moodle page by course admins, others available by searching the online library database.

Textbook Recommendation:


Not necessary to buy either, really - but Physics for Biosciences is extremely useful, especially for those who haven't done physics before.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: This is a core (and therefore compulsory) unit in the Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences. It is partly paired with PHS1030, so you'll be sharing 2/3 lectures with them per week (labs are separate, and you'll be split up for a couple of lectures during Electricity, Radiation and Waves and Optics. They also aren't part of your physiology lectures).

This is an interesting unit for those who like physics and how it relate to the body/to medical practices. The lecturers aren't the best, and the content can be a bit tough (especially at the beginning) for those who have no background in physics. Reading the textbook and doing questions helps, but ultimately lectures are the best source of information.

The unit is co-handled by the School of Physics (represented by Professor Kris Helmerson) and the School of Physiology (represented by Professor Helena Parkington).

You will have 8 physics labs (buoyancy, fluid flow, forces in biomechanics, energy, centrifuges, electricity, optics and radiation) and 2 physiology labs (cardiovascular systems and membrane potentials). The labs are reasonable easy, and you work in groups of 3.

There are 4 online Moodle quizzes throughout the unit (Fluids/Energy, Electricity, Waves and Optics, Radiation). These can be a little tricky, but you get two attempts and they take the highest grade. There are non-assessed quizzes with similar question for each topic that you can take prior to the actual quizzes, as many times as you want.

Two assignments are set during the course:

As for lecturers:

The exam is decent. I found it quite easy (having no physics background whatsoever), as it was generally just applications of formulae (a formula sheet is provided). Only trick they put in is unit conversion; I recalled just after the exam that m3≠L :-X. The exam is in two parts; Part A - Physics (116 marks, this may vary each year) and Part B - Physiology (24 marks, also subject to variation by year). The only real revision I did for the exam was past papers (for the physics component) and rewatched lectures (for physiology).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: alondouek on June 18, 2013, 01:20:01 am
Subject Code/Name: BIO1011 - Biology I

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Nope. Exam is reworked every year, but a 100-question practice quiz is available on Moodle close to exam time.

Textbook Recommendation:

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: Quite an easy unit, not significantly harder than VCE biology (in fact, all content other than plant and animal diversity was exactly the same as VCE biology).

There are 6 labs, 5 of which are practical and one being a poster that you create and present with a lab partner. Labs are fine, especially if you have a good TA (shout out to Claire!).

Over the course of the unit, there are 4 online Moodle tests. These questions are mostly taken from the Pearson database. Also, you have a Pearson MasteringBIO quiz to do each week, of material that will be lectured on in that following week. These are fairly easy, and often have video tutorials built in.

The textbook is good, but I used it maybe once - I didn't do the readings at all, but they'd definitely help someone who's never done biology before. Diagrams and explanations are good.

All of the course material and lecturers are fine (John Beardall (and his plant Boris) and Gerry Rayner are particularly good), but personally I found plant diversity to be incredibly boring.

Labs are alright, I had a good lab partner so that definitely helped. My one serious gripe about the labs were the weird 'quizzes' that we had prior to the labs - you needed to sign into a (fairly crap) system via Authcate and do a MC quiz (usually 4 questions) based on powerpoint slides. These quizzes counted for some of the lab mark.

The exam is 144 multiple-choice questions, with ~6 questions from each lecture.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: brenden on June 18, 2013, 07:01:13 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1371 - Philosophy: Introduction A (Life, Death, and Morality) 

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures (not auto-allocated), 1 x 1 hour tutorial.

Assessment: 
Recorded Lectures:  Chyup, but no screen capture. Lecture slides provided every week on Moodle.

Past exams available:  No, because that would be pointless - they give you seventeen potential questions ahead of time as aforementioned.

Textbook Recommendation:  Definitely need to buy the Unit Reader. (Really well written, too). Practical Ethics by Peter Singer is also a compulsory textbook and you definitely need to read some of it to get the marks on the ATs. I suppose you could borrow it from a library every time an AT comes around and prior to the exam, and only do the readings required for the various ATs - however, this will leave you with an extremely stunted and shallow understanding of the course material. I really would just buy Practical Ethics (very interesting read, anyway!). These two are all you will ever require.

Lecturer(s): Dr Justin Clark-Doane and Dr Toby Handfield.

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 1.

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 90

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: brenden on June 18, 2013, 07:51:51 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1903 - Introducing Literature: Ways of Reading 

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures (auto-allocated), 1 x 1 hour tutorial.

Assessment: 
Recorded Lectures:  Yeah, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  That's a negatory. However, you can practice with the essay prompts from AT 3 - which are highly relevant, as many of the same texts will be on the exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  If you want to be dodgy, you don't need to buy the Unit Reader. I bought the Reader and to be honest, I used it once, to read nine chapters of Don Quixote - the nine chapters were contained within the Reader, evidently. Otherwise, the reader is full of poems that you're supposed to read, but they don't discuss in the tutorials or lectures. Reading these poems would probably greatly enhance your understanding of the material. Perhaps not, I honestly have no idea due to not having read them. There are also novels that you need to read, but don't need to buy. You could easily source them from any local library, as they're relatively famous novels. You could theoretically get away with not reading Hamlet and just SparkNotes-ing the passage they give you - but good luck with that. Moreover, you could theoretically read zero novels this entire unit and still pass the exam, as you could look at the exam specifications, choose poems for comparison and analysis, and then Google the poems. This is likely a recipe for failure. I recommend finding out the booklist ahead of time, borrowing the books in February and reading some of them then. This will significantly decrease your workload.

Lecturer(s): Dr Peter Groves is the main lecturer, but they change frequently corresponding to their level of expertise in relation to the current topic (realism, modernism etc). I only listened to two other lectures other than ones of Peter's, and both of those lecturers are nice, but I'd have no idea who they are.

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 1.

Rating:  3/5

Your Mark/Grade: 82

Comments:
.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ninwa on June 18, 2013, 09:42:00 am
Subject Code/Name: LAW5152 - Taxation Law 506

Workload: 3 hour lecture per week

Assessment: Optional assignment (40%) + exam (60%), otherwise you do a 100% exam

Recorded Lectures: No

Past exams available: Yes, on the library database

Textbook Recommendation: Prescribed textbook (definitely necessary), plus a book of all the relevant taxation legislation which is twice the size of the textbook. You can print it yourself for free from AustLII of course, but the book contains annotations explaining the provisions, also I'm pretty sure printing that much legislation is going to cost you about the same anyway.

Lecturer(s): Stephen Barkoczy

Year & Semester of completion: 2012 semester 2

Rating: 2/5

Comments: Look, honestly, many people aren't going to enjoy tax law. It can be tricky and complicated, there's some maths involved (not very complicated maths thankfully) and it's just generally quite dry - you'll learn a bunch of rules on how to calculate income tax, GST, capital allowances and so on. It's handy knowledge to have if you're doing commerce/law I think, or wanting to supplement your knowledge if you intend on pursuing careers in accounting/finance or tax law.

If you're interested more in the policy issues behind taxation, this is a newly introduced subject that looks interesting and is taught by a highly competent person: http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2013handbooks/units/LAW4243.html
edit: I've now taken this subject and written a review on it here

Stephen is very good. The only criticism I have is that he wrote all the prescribed books and every single lecture he will talk about how brilliant the books are because he wrote them, hah. 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ninwa on June 18, 2013, 09:54:13 am
Subject Code/Name: LAW4155 - International Human Rights

Workload: This semester we started in week 6 and had a 4-hour lecture per week

Assessment: Optional assignment (40%) + exam (60%), otherwise you do a 100% exam. For the optional assignment, you are free to choose your own research topic (subject to approval by Adam), provided it has some relevance to the topics covered by this subject. This is a good chance for you to do some research into an area of human rights you are passionate about! Some of the topics approved in 2012 included offshore processing of refugees, abortion, environmental rights, humanitarian interventions, ASIO assessments and the right to a fair trial, and freedom of religion.

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with video capture

Past exams available: Yes, on the library database

Textbook Recommendation: Prescribed textbook is very good for getting more detail on the stuff talked about in lectures. The lecturer is one of the authors, so he sticks quite closely to what the textbook covers.

Lecturer(s): Adam McBeth

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 semester 1

Rating: 5/5

Comments: This is one of the very few law subjects I genuinely enjoyed. It is less intense (in my opinion anyway) than the compulsory law subjects in the sense that it is more policy-based and open-ended, and there have been many interesting discussions in lectures because of the nature of the subject.

The course focuses generally on the two primary international human rights treaties (ICCPR and ICESCR), but we do go into some depth (that is, looking into some of the international jurisprudence) on some of the specific civil and political rights, such as the right to life and the obligation on states to avoid discrimination. NB: the right to life case studies are about the death penalty, not abortion (if abortion is something that you're not comfortable discussing etc). You'll also learn about the limits on these rights and how the UN enforces them.

We also cover regional human rights systems, Australia's international human rights record (spoiler alert: our record on refugees is atrocious) and the relationship between human rights and terrorism. Recently (May 2013) the optional protocol for the ICESCR (treaty for economic, social and cultural rights) came into effect, which allows individuals to make complaints about states. So if you're studying this in 2014 or beyond, you'll hopefully get to see some interesting jurisprudence about that treaty as well. Unfortunately for us, we only really had the ICCPR-related (treaty for civil and political rights) decisions.

Finally, there is some discussion about the expanding scope of human rights - does it cover environmental rights? The rights of animals? Future generations? What are the obligations of non-state actors like corporations?

Adam himself is very knowledgeable, obviously, considering he wrote the textbook :P

I highly recommend this subject to anyone who is interested in human rights law.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ninwa on June 18, 2013, 10:12:54 am
Subject Code/Name: LAW5216 - Professional Practice 512

Workload:
This unit is run in 17-week blocks:
- Compulsory half-day (9am to 12:30pm) legal service session every week (this is where clients come into the service. You will be required to interview them and provide legal advice if necessary).
- Compulsory seminar (approx 2 hours) every week for the first 10 weeks. The service invites guest "lecturers" (including lawyers from other community legal centres, social workers and other professionals). You will learn about dealing with the most commonly encountered client matters, such as motor vehicle accidents, divorces/domestic issues, and basic criminal procedure.

The remainder of the time is spent on working at the legal service. Your time commitment will really depend on your caseload. The supervisors generally expect you to be at the service at least one other full day in addition to your legal service session, but I've had weeks where I've only needed to come in 2 days and other weeks where I was there 9am-6pm the entire week because I had so much to do.

You are expected to prioritise your prof prac work over any other academic commitments, such as lectures/tutes etc.

Assessment:
- 60% legal service work (interviewing, paperwork, court appearances if applicable)
- 20% "community engagement" - you will get a choice of activities. In my intake, this included working with troubled youth and updating the Lawyers Practice Manual.
- 20% "written assignment" - every fortnight you are required to write a reflective journal, which is pretty much a diary where you talk about how the subject makes you feel and then your supervisor reads it and discusses your feelings with you (seriously)

Recorded Lectures: No lectures, the seminars aren't recorded.

Past exams available: No exams.

Textbook Recommendation: No textbooks unless you feel like forking out $2000 to buy a Lawyers Practice Manual (I'm being facetious, please don't do this you don't need it)

Lecturer(s): No lecturers, you'll be assigned a supervisor who will be one of the solicitors at the legal service (either Monash Oakleigh or Springvale)

Year & Semester of completion: 2012-13 summer semester

Rating: 5 billion out of 5

Comments:
What this subject actually entails:
You are assigned to either the Monash-Oakleigh Legal Service (MOLS) or the Springvale-Monash Legal Service (SMLS).

The services have either opening hours where clients can drop in for legal advice (Springvale) or make an appointment for legal advice (Oakleigh). You are assigned to one of those sessions (at Springvale they were 9:30-12:30 every morning except Friday) along with about 4-5 other students and a supervising solicitor. From here I will only be speaking for SMLS since I have no experience of MOLS.

During the sessions, clients will come in. You will first do a conflict check using the CLSIS system, which basically involves you taking their name and the names of any other person involved in their matter, entering it into the system, and checking to see if the service has advised any other parties to the matter. If it has, this creates a conflict of interest and the service is NOT allowed to assist them. You will have to tell them to seek advice elsewhere.

If there is no conflict, then you will interview them to find out what their legal issue is. This can be frustrating because clients generally do not know how to only give you the salient legal details - you will need to know what questions to ask and how to stop them from going off on tangents, or you'll end up there for 3 hours listening to their life story. For some clients, this will also require you to use the services of a telephone interpreter. Many clients who come to the service speak very little English.

Then, you will speak to your supervising solicitor, telling them what the issue is (hopefully in a succinct and clear manner). Your supervisor will then tell you what legal advice to give the client. If it's just a minor issue they can sort out themselves then you will tell them what to do. If it's a more complicated matter (but not so complicated that the client will need to engage a private lawyer), the service may agree to take the client.

If a client's matter is taken on by the service, the file is assigned to one of the students. If you are assigned a file, from that point you are pretty much responsible for handling that case (though obviously you can always approach your supervisor for help). Handling files may involve paperwork like completing divorce applications or wills, as well as things like speaking to police, contacting government departments/agencies, and speaking to the other parties in the matter (e.g. one of my friends spent weeks trying to get in touch with the uncooperative spouse who just refused to accept that her husband wanted a divorce).

Generally, the supervisors will try to assign files so that you get a range of matters to deal with. Some of the stuff I handled included a will, power of attorney for a dying client, motor vehicle accident, theft (which I appeared in court for), body corporate disputes in VCAT, divorces, a debt matter, and a restraining order application.

If you are lucky enough to get a client who has to show up to court for a relatively minor offence (e.g. minor theft, divorce hearing, drink driving), you may be able to present a plea-in-mitigation for them in court as a barrister would. This will always be at the Magistrates' Court (no student would be allowed to present at a higher court). A supervising barrister will be present and ready to step in if you make a major screw up, but otherwise he/she is out of the picture and you are expected handle everything yourself in court.

This is an AMAZING experience - JUMP at it if you get the chance! I got some first-hand experience of court processes and received some fantastic advice from my supervising barristers (you generally only have one, I had two because the matter got adjourned and the first barrister couldn't make it to the second hearing) and the magistrate as well. It is not as scary as it sounds - apparently my magistrate had a reputation for being a hardass in court, but as soon as I sought leave to appear as a student I could see her demeanour change and everyone - the judge, the prosecution policemen, the court staff - was immensely supportive and encouraging.

I loved this subject and so did most people. I learned so much about running a client file - stuff you'll never learn in law school. And you also grow as a person, I think. Personally I learned to be more assertive - after dealing with abusive clients and incompetent police/govt departments, you kind of have to be or your matter will never be taken seriously! Not to mention, of course, that if you get to do a plea you'll have the chance to work with a barrister and pick their brain. I got a lot of "inside" knowledge about what to expect if you want to be a barrister this way.

If you are considering becoming a lawyer and want a taste of what it may entail, this is the subject for you.

It's worth 12 credit points, not 6, but this is for a reason - it is quite a heavy workload and I would not advise doing more than 2 law subjects alongside it. The supervisors will not take kindly to you leaving your work undone because you had an unrecorded lecture to go to! You WILL be expected to prioritise your prof prac work over everything else.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: alondouek on June 18, 2013, 03:17:58 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1011 - Biomedical Chemistry

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No, but practice questions are available on Moodle prior to the exam.

Textbook Recommendation:
None of these are absolutely critical, but Lehninger and MBOTC are extremely good texts and will be used in later units.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  3.7/5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: This is a good unit, pretty interesting and full of content. There is a lot to know, but assessment is done fairly and simply, so it's quite easy to score well. Tutorials are long, but often finish very early and you can usually leave as soon as you complete your work.

The unit is split into four sections:

Section A - Biological Chemistry
Section B - Enzymes: Structure & Mechanism of Action

Section C - Metabolic Release of Energy - the Body's Power Supply

Synthesis of Macromolecules

Section A is covered by the mid-semester test, and is therefore NOT on the exam.

The exam consists of 75 multiple choice questions, and is 3 hours long.

All lecturers are of extremely high quality, and are very enjoyable to listen to. All present their material in a very effective manner.[/list]
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: lynt.br on June 19, 2013, 02:31:31 am
Subject Code/Name: LAW3101 - Administrative Law 306

Workload:  3 hours of lectures per week + 1 hour tutorial every second week.

Assessment:  Examination with optional assignment (worth 40% in my year)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with/without screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes - but due to the nature of the subject it is difficult to do more than 1-2 past exams.

Textbook Recommendation: Control of Government Action by Creyke and McMillan (prescribed)

Lecturer(s): Changes each year.

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 sem 1

Rating:  4 out of 5

Comments: A lot of people find this subject boring but honestly I thought it was really interesting and fairly straightforward. The crux of the course involves challenging decisions of the executive and involves a lot of political tussling between the Courts and the Executive, which leads to some interesting policy issues. The course is structured a little bit back to front but ultimately you will learn about the main steps for seeking judicial or merits review of administrative decisions (e.g. decisions made by government bodies and specialist tribunals such as the Refugee Review Tribunal). It is more interesting than it sounds.

The exam involves a lot of statutory interpretation and will require you to read up on a short piece of legislation beforehand. Make sure you know it back to front before going into the exam. Unfortunately, because each exam is tailored to its particular legislation, it is difficult to do practice exams (as you won't have the legislation from those years).

Finally if you are interested in administrative law then I recommend taking part in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal moot which will give you practical insight into how merits review is conducted. It is also a very well run competition.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: lynt.br on June 19, 2013, 02:53:55 am
Subject Code/Name: LAW5147 - Intellectual property II: Patents, Trade Marks and Unfair Competition 506

Workload:  3 hours of lectures per week.

Assessment:  Examination with optional assignment

Recorded Lectures:  No, but the lectures are based heavily on the textbook which the lecturer co-authored

Past exams available:  Yes - but due to the nature of the subject it is difficult to do more than 1-2 past exams.

Textbook Recommendation: Australian Intellectual Property Law by Davison, Monotti and Wiseman (also used for Intellectual Property I)

Lecturer(s): Ann Monotti

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 sem 1

Rating:  3.5/5

Comments: This subject is divided into two parts. The first 6-7 weeks covers patents (including the requirements for a valid patent + infringement of patents). The rest of the course covers trademarks (including the tort of passing off). Patents can be a little confusing to begin with because there are a lot of technical legal terms that you will need to get use to. Once you get the hang of it is is not too bad. Trademarks and passing off are more straightforward but can be a little confusing here and there.

There is actually not that much content in the course (as an indicator, my exam notes were only 14 pages). The exam requires a lot more factual analysis than other subjects, and less reciting legal principles (which is great IMO). Before the exam, you will be given a sample 'patent specification' along with some 'prior art' (see what I mean about terminology!) which you will need to study for the patents section of the exam. There is also a bit of policy. Policy doesn't feature that heavily in the course but during the first few weeks you will look at 'patentable subject matter' which is pretty topical with things like gene patenting and such.

Lectures move through the material quite quickly which can make it a bit difficult to follow along. The first few weeks will be the most confusing, but once you get on top of it it isn't too bad. Occasionally you will have guest lecturers who are typically legal practitioners in the IP industry. They can be a bit hit and miss.

Finally you don't have to have done IP I to do IP II as they each cover different topics (IP I is more about copyright and registered designs).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: lynt.br on June 19, 2013, 03:12:57 am
Subject Code/Name: LAW5162 - Cyberlaw

Workload:  3 hours of lectures per week.

Assessment:  Examination with optional assignment

Recorded Lectures:  Yes with video capture

Past exams available:  Yes (roughly 2-3 available)

Textbook Recommendation: No prescribed textbook. The reading guide lists Internet and E-Commerce Law by Fitzgerald but I never used it all semester.

Lecturer(s): David Lindsay

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 sem 1

Rating:  3/5

Comments: So. Much. Content. This subject is HUGE - easily one of the biggest subjects I have done content wise. The subject covers the following topics: theories of internet governance, the domain name system, establishing jurisdiction, e-contracting, content regulation and classification, privacy and spam, trademarks and passing off, intermediary liability for copyright infringement, internet defamation and cyber-bullying and sexting (this last topic was cut my semester because of time constraints). Each topic has 100+ slides. Should give you an indication just ow huge this course is.

It helps (but is not strictly necessary) to have done/be doing the following subjects when doing this subject: Contracts, Equity, Civil Procedure, Media Law, IP I and II. It also helps if you have some basic understanding of computers and how the internet works (this is covered in the introductory lectures but it can be very technical if you don't know much about IT).

IMO this subject tries to squeeze too much in and as a consequence, lectures move ridiculously fast and I found it very hard to follow along in some topics. Topics range from the more philosophical (internet regulation), to understanding extremely complicated statutory schemes (content regulation), to understanding technical/political aspects of the internet (DNS Governance) and you will also learn a bit of comparative law (for instance, you learn a bit of US law here and there). The mix between content and policy is reflected in the exam, which has a 40% policy component if you don't do the optional assignment. I found these policy questions to be quite specific and challenging.

That said, some topics are really interesting, particularly intermediary liability which deals with issues such as whether ISPs should be liable for copyright infringement by their customers. You will learn about pretty recent cases such as the iiNet case and the Google Adwords case.

Overall a difficult subject but some parts near the end are quite interesting.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on June 21, 2013, 11:25:15 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2911 - Synthetic Chemistry I 

Workload: 

Assessment: 

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  A few, but no solutions manual

Textbook Recommendation: 


Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 86 HD

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: brenden on June 22, 2013, 01:16:52 am
Subject Code/Name: PSY1011 - Psychology 1A 

Workload:  1 x 2 hour lecture, 1 x 1 hour "lab" per week.

Assessment: 
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, I think with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Nope, but there's this thing called 'MyPsychLab' which generates multi-choice questions for you. I can't attest to how good it is 'cause I never used it (there's a code in the back of the textbook to redeem and I just borrowed the textbook).

Textbook Recommendation:  If you want to do well in the exam, you should probably get the compulsory Lillienfield textbook. If you took Psych Units 1-4 in VCE, you could probably skate through pretty nicely on lecture slides or something like that. If you have never done any Psych before... I probably wouldn't recommend winging it.
There is also a text that is referred to as "Findlay" which is quite useful for the written assignments they want you to hand n. Has how to reference, what font to use, what size to use, how to structure and whatever. If you wanted very high marks, get it. If you just want solid marks, you could probably navigate with your common sense and any sample-assignments provided by the lecturer and still get pretty good marks. In sum: If you want brilliant marks, get both Lillienfield and Findlay. If you don't give a fuck and you've taken VCE Psych, you could probably get away with not having either. If you don't give a fuck and you haven't taken VCE Psych, you'll probs fail.
Edit: If you're going to minor in Psych, get Findlay, because it's pretty cheap and I've got a friend in second year who's still using it, so it'll pay for itself. I also think the Lillienfield textbook might be used in second semester, but I'll come back and let you know.
Lecturer(s): Did not attend lectures (8am, good joke) or listen to majority of recordings, so, not sure.

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 1.

Rating:  2/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA 88

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: spaciiey on June 24, 2013, 10:58:12 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS2547 - Cities and Sustainability 

Workload:  2X 1 hr lectures per week, plus 1 weekly hour long tutorial

Assessment: 
participation -- 5
field trip -- 15
tute presentation -- 20
major essay -- 30
exam -- 30

Recorded Lectures:  yep, with screen capture. Stephen Legg likes to ramble though, so expect to miss the last few minutes of each lecture if you listen to them exclusively online.

Past exams available:  In the exams database. You need to look for 'Cities and Sustainability', not the unit code.

Textbook Recommendation:  None. Some readings, which I didn't do.

Lecturer(s): Stephen Legg

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 sem 1

Rating: 3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: Walk in the park if you are a geography student. The content itself was interesting enough, if you are into environmental issues and stuff like that. The assessments are generally easy marks, as long as you spend a little time doing the work before hand. Field trip is optional, if you don't go on it you have to do some alternate report, but I'd recommend going on it, the fieldtrip is only 1 day long and cost about 30 dollars. The major essay wasn't due til week 10 but I knocked mine out over the course of a few days, research and all during the Easter break so I could forget about it, and still got an easy D+. Having good writing skills is a prerequisite for doing well in this subject, you will be writing a fair few essays, and the exam is basically just 3 essays in 2 hours. The beauty about Geography is that even though it's a 'science' subject too, you can walk into the exam knowing that you've already passed.

Lectures were okay, when I went to them but I didnt find myself taking many notes. You can easily get away with not going to them because the slides have a lot of writing on them. Tutes were quite fun, but I think I was just lucky cause I had a good tute group. During the tutes you basically all take turns giving a presentation, and you get your participation marks by turning up to most of them and asking relevant questions/making relevant statements etc. I guess I'd recommend this unit if you are interested in Geography at all. It was pretty easy.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: spaciiey on June 24, 2013, 11:06:15 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS2674/3674 - Semantics and Pragmatics 

Workload:  a 2hr seminar per week.

Assessment: 
3x 20% assignments
10% midsem
30% exam
Recorded Lectures:  Yep

Past exams available:  None, but there are revision questions and the mid-sem gives you a good idea of what it will be like.

Textbook Recommendation:  Semantics by John Saeed. It's a good one to have, but you don't need to buy it. You will be doing a lot of reading from it but there's the library for that.

Lecturer(s): Alice Gaby

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 sem 1

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: A good fun unit. But I like linguistics, so I am quite biased. Alice is a good lecturer and is very receptive to feedback from students, making it a point to ask us several times throughout the semester what we thought of the unit, if we wanted anything to be changed, etc. She was quite thorough. Some of the stuff on logic and truth introduced a whole heap of symbols and stuff that you would be familiar with if you were a maths/computer science student, but if not you would probably be a bit clueless. Some of the content was more technical than I'd expected but it is still relatively easy to understand. Alice ran several optional tutorials throughout semester to go over some of the more difficult concepts and was very helpful.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ShortBlackChick on June 24, 2013, 04:16:18 pm
(Dammit Spaciiey, you beat me to it, but you just made my part easier now I can just casually quote you :P )
Subject Code/Name: ATS2547 - Cities and Sustainability 

Workload:  2X 1 hr lectures per week, plus 1 weekly hour long tutorial

Assessment: 
participation -- 5
field trip -- 15
tute presentation -- 20
major essay -- 30
exam -- 30

Recorded Lectures:  yep, with screen capture. Stephen Legg likes to ramble though, so expect to miss the last few minutes of each lecture if you listen to them exclusively online.

Past exams available:  In the exams database. You need to look for 'Cities and Sustainability', not the unit code.

Textbook Recommendation:  None. Some readings, which I didn't do.

Lecturer(s): Stephen Legg

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 sem 1

Rating: 2.5/5

Comments: The content seemed a bit too dry for me, could barely sit through the lectures because they went so slowly. I dont think it was as much of a fast-paced, shitload of content kinda unit which kills me a bit. A lot of it, I felt, was based on common sense, rather than actual content, just talking about society's and governments' responses to various sustainability issues. On the topic of Planning Cities, which seemed to be a theme, there was a bit of theory involved. I felt that the lectures didnt necessarily have any relevance to the tutorial presentation/questions, but rather served as a background for them, and similarly I didnt feel as if any of the so-called 'content' that was tested in the exam was directly covered in the lectures. Its one of those units that you will need to Bullshit your way through. Just make up shit, and as long as it answers the question and is relevant to the themes at play you should be fine.

Didnt go on the fieldtrip, did the 'virtual fieldtrip' which means you look at a whole bunch of maps and analyse the data presented in them pertaining to the demographics of certain municipalities, their position within Metropolitan Melbourne and problems that have arisen/could arise from such facts in terms of sustainability. Cant say I did too well in that though, seeing as I forgot a bibliography ahahaha. Didnt do too well in the Major Essay too, wrote about 900 out of 1500 words, but still got a Credit, I guess thats not too bad for a half-attempt, cant imagine it would be too hard to do well if you put in effort though.

Tutorial Presentation was fun though, I did the one on transport which meant we had to create a survey and ask Monash Students about their habits on transportation to uni and then come up with improvements to our (as in Monash as a whole) sustainability. Got a D for that though.

Definitely agree with Spaciiey though, a very cruisey unit
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: michak on June 25, 2013, 08:38:14 pm
Subject code/name: ATS1281 - Understanding Crime

Workload: 1 x 2hr lecture, 1 x 1hr tutorial

Assessment:
•   Tutorial attendance 10% (pretty much just need to rock up and sign your name)
•   Essay 40%, given the option of 4 different essay topics that mainly deal with the content from week 1 to 6. They were fairly easy topics that almost tell you exactly what to write in each paragraph.
•   Exam 40%, this year was the first year of the new exam format. This consisted of 25 multiple choice questions worth 2 marks each and 5 short answer questions worth 10 marks each. The exam isn’t a hurdle requirement.

Recorded lectures: Yes

Past exams available: No as this was the first year of new format. However in week 12 we were given a sheet of a practice questions with answers.

Textbook recommendation: Isn’t entirely necessary as the exam was purely based off the lecture slides. It is useful for the essay but there are about 5 copies in the library that you can borrow.

Lecture(s):
Dr Claire Spivakovsky (main) and Rachel Hale (guest)

Year and semester of completion: Semester 1 2013

Rating: 3/5

Your mark/grade: TBA

Comments:
•   To be honest going into this subject I was quite excited, the material looked very interesting and criminology was an area I have always enjoyed. However I was disappointed quite a bit.
•   In terms of content each week we would look at a different theory or two and look how it explained certain crimes. For example we did strain theory, social disorganisation, rational choice theory etc. The theories itself were interesting and quite informative but the subject itself became very rote-learning based in that we spent learning two hours on the facts of a theory and that was it. Most of the time this just got quite boring.
•   The tutorials themselves were ok and sometimes didn’t even relate to the actual lecture content. The thing that I didn’t like about the tutorials is that the theories themselves were never debated whilst looking at its advantages and disadvantages. It was kind of like we were accepting all these theories and just debating about which crimes they can explain; I for one was expecting more discussions about the theory itself.
•   The main lecturer Claire was brilliant and could tell that she not only knew what she was talking about but loved teaching us the information. Most of the time her lecture slides were quite bare so you actually had to listen to what she said which I think is much better than a lecturer just reading of their slides. She also regularly broke the lecturer up by playing us youtube clips and showing as articles that related to the information. Rachel Hale did the lecture on women and crime which is her area of expertise and she is also the head tutor for this subject. Also like Claire she was very well spoken and quite knowledgeable.
•   In all wasn’t my favourite subject this semester but it wasn’t all bad. 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on June 25, 2013, 09:12:03 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2010 - Multivariable Calculus

Workload: 3x1 hr lectures a week, 2 hr tute

Assessment:  4x20 min tests worth 5% each, 4 assignments worth 5% each, 60% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, audio only though, although lecture transparencies are scanned and put onto moodle.
 
Past exams available:  Yes, 1 exam with solutions (although you can probably dig around for others)

Textbook Recommendation:  Stewart's is a pretty good resource for this unit, although not absolutely necessary. Others I know relied on it heavily, I didn't really use it much though (tute questions were scanned onto moodle). If you want to (and have the time to... this was my problem this semester) to do a little bit extra then it's probably worth it.

Lecturer(s): Dr Simon Clarke

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2013

Rating: 5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 95 - HD

Comments: I really enjoyed this unit, but wished I had more time to enjoy the back end of the material properly. I didn't have much time at this stage, although that's probably more to do with me overloading than the unit itself. What you learn in MTH2010 seems to actually be useful, and in itself is interesting enough to entice you to do more tute questions (and put off other units/assignments to do them). In some of the early stages you may think that you're just learning random tools, but towards the end of semester it all ties in together really nicely, and I would say this is in my top 2 favourite units so far (I can't split this with ENG1091). Although in the odd case any of you transfer from eng to the double degree, the first couple of weeks will be a re-run of ENG1091.

One of the downsides to how the unit was run this semester was the 20 minute tests worth 5%. You normally get 3 or 4 questions, the first two tests this was doable without pushing two hard, but for the third and fourth test you really only got one shot at each question, no time to stop and think, you just had to power through it to try and get them done on time. As a result you make a lot more simple mistakes, or if you didn't see the way to do the question right away, you probably wouldn't have had time to get back to it.

Lectures are worth going to, as are tutes (although with a test one week and an assignment that has to be handed in in the tute the next you can't really skip too many, well skip showing up for at least 5 minutes anyways :P). Seriously though, it's just practice, make sure you do the tute questions each week, and make sure you go over past exams from previous years during swotvac. You'll see past questions coming up again, and the others are to be approached in similar ways to other questions, (and you'll see a tute question from the semester appear in the exam every now and then).

If anyone wants to start this unit early, here are the topics covered (roughly by week)
 - Vectors+Geometry of Space, Lines, Planes, Functions of Several Variables
 - Limits and Continuity, Partial Derivatives
 - Tangent Plane, Linear and Quadratic Approximations, Chain Rule for multivariable functions, directional derivative and the Gradient Vector
 - Double Integrals, Iterated Integrals
 - Double Integrals over a general Region, double ints over polar coordinates, applications of double integrals
 - Triple Integrals, Triple Integrals in Cylindrical Coordinates
 - Triple ints in Cylindrical + Change of variables in multiple integrals
 - Vector Fields, Line Integrals, Fundamental Theorem of Line Integrals
 - Green's Theorem, Curl and Divergence
 - Parametric Surfaces, surface area, surface integrals
 - Stoke's Theorem, The Divergence Theorem

But yeah, you'll be dealing with things like this (it's cool! :D)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on June 25, 2013, 10:00:29 pm
Subject Code/Name: MEC2401 - Dynamics I

Workload: 2x1 hr lectures, 2 hr tutes, 3 labs (which are done in the tutes)

Assessment: Tutes + 2 Assignments - 15%, Labs and Reports - 15%, Mid Semester Test - 10%, Exam - 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Nope, no recordings...

Past exams available:  Yes, 2 with sols, a few more in the textbook if you buy it

Textbook Recommendation: Custom made 'textbook' that basically has the lecture slides explanations and a bit more, the tute questions and a few more, and the past exams in the back. Worth buying, is useful to learn/revise from, and some of the tute questions are worked through in the book too.

Lecturer(s): A/Prof. Raafat Ibrahim

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2013

Rating:  3.8 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 76 - D

Comments: Even if you're told that the exam is not going to be that hard, make sure you prepare for whats coming. The content itself is interesting , but some questions can be quite tedious by hand. Actually that's an understatement, I should say most of the questions from the latter half of the course can be very tedious by hand. You may make a small mistake and spend the next 30-45 minutes trying to find it, or just put the wrong number into the scientific calc and be running in circles for the next hour. The concepts themselves isn't that hard, it's more just executing questions that is the hard part.

At the end of each tute you hand in the questions for the week to be marked, which contribute to the final overall grade. You will have 3 labs, all to do with balancing masses. The first is just observing whether a disk is balanced on a spinning machine. The second required you to do calculations to balance masses in a single plane, while the third requires you to actually balance masses in multiple planes on a rotor test rig, which leads into what you'd have to do to balance masses on pistons and crankshafts in an internal combustion engine (not exactly like that, but the ideas are similar, you deal with a rotating mass, the engine deals with rotating and reciprocating masses, although you do a complete balance rather than a partial balancing of the system). It's cool though, when you see the vibration minimise after your hard work and calculations. Something that I did learn from this semester though is that a V6 cylinder engine has a greater potential to reduce vibrations than a 4 cylinder engine as the V6 can be completely balanced, while the 4 cylinder can only be partially balanced when optimized, (I thought it was partly counter intuitive at first). After the labs you need to do a proper write of the three labs, which is marked. Just don't do what I did and be finishing it at 6am the day it was due, you want to do well on this, and do it properly.

You also deal with balancing train locomotives and such later on, which there always seems to be a question on this relating to balancing in multiple planes, so make sure you learn how to do it. The last point to note is, even if you cover vibrations in one lecture in the final week, expect it to come up on the exam, mostly it's just Lagrange's Formula, but know how to derive the equations from it.

As with the previous review, the topics covered are:
 - Revision on Kinematics, Rectilinear Motion, Displacement, Velocity, Acceleration
 - Dependent motion of particles and pulleys
 - Relative Motion, General Plane Motion, Absolute Motion
 - Velocity of a point on a Link
 - Acceleration of a point on a Link and Vector Analysis
 - Forces in Mechanisms using dismemberment and inertial forces
 - Balancing of Rotating Masses, Balancing of single and several rotating masses
 - Balancing of masses rotating in the same and different planes
 - Balancing of reciprocating masses
 - Forced Vibration, Lagrange Formula
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on June 25, 2013, 10:37:42 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAT1830 - Discrete Mathematics for Computer Science

Workload: 3x1 hr lectures, 1 hr tute

Assessment: 10 Weekly Assignments - 3% each, 70% Exam

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes, 2 Past Exams, 1 with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation: I think there was a textbook for the unit, but it's not needed at all, don't bother buying it.

Lecturer(s): Dr Daniel Horsley, Dr Heiko Dietrich

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2013

Rating:  4.2 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 - HD

Comments: Although this unit wasn't exactly my thing, I did enjoy some aspects of it (I was only in the unit to fill an elective slot). There are a few interesting concepts, and a few dry and dull ones to go with them. The content itself isn't too hard, although you have weekly assignments, so you can't really afford to get too behind, or you start dropping 3%'s, which add up. (I completely missed one assignment due to nearly burning out in the middle of semester, again more to do with me overloading than the unit itself). The lecturers are actually fairly nice compared to the standard uni lecturer, and are willing to help out and have a chat with you. As far as tutes go, I used them more as a social thing, rather than to learn the material.... (this was just me... make sure you learn the material). I was one of the louder ones in the tute, I think overall I.T. seems to be quieter than other faculties (not trying to stereotype, just an observation).

Really, as with most of my reviews so far, if you can do tute questions you can set yourself up well for the exam. As far as lectures go, I think they're worth it, but not entirely essential if you make it up in your own time. A side note, the lecturers like putting little comics/xkcd in the slides relevant to what you're learning :)

Topics for those who are interested:
 - Arithmetic
 - Logic
 - Logic + Induction
 - Sets
 - Functions
 - Relations
 - Recursion
 - Recurrence Relations
 - Graphs
 - Trees, Colourings
 - Congruences
 - Cryptosystems (Not assessed)
 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: alondouek on June 26, 2013, 12:26:43 am
Subject Code/Name: STA1010 - Statistical Methods for Science

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes. This semester we were only given the 2004 and 2012 exams (with solutions).

Textbook Recommendation:

Lecturer(s): Dr. Jonathan Keith

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  2.75-3/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: Not a fan of this unit, really. I found it to be extremely dry, and very broad in terms of difficulty (i.e. some areas were quite challenging, whilst others were ridiculously easy). This unit gives some very useful knowledge and techniques relating to scientific statistical practices and inference techniques, but it is very non-mathematical (if you can't do it on a basic scientific calculator, it's not in the course; e.g. no PDFs/CDFs/Calculus).

Jon is a good lecturer, and he delivers the necessary explanations well. However, he is quite softly-spoken so the attention tends to wander during the lectures; I found it worthwhile to relisten to critical lectures online. In all honesty, I stopped going to lectures after the sixth one (out of 31 or so), but I made sure to rewatch any lecture on things I wasn't sure about during SWOTVAC.

Labs were pretty much useless, in that the tutor simply walks you through the problems in that week's entry of the lab manual. In a way, it does reinforce the practices presented in the lecture, but more through repetition than anything else. You do get marked for attendance and participation (10% of the overall mark, if I understand correctly). The lab manual questions can provide a source of practice exam questions if needs be, I guess.

In-semester assessment consists of:

The areas of study covered (generally) are:
amongst other areas of study.

Be very prepared to be using a lot of statistical tables...

It's not really my thing, but some of the content (specifically hypothesis testing, ANOVA and confidence intervals) were very interesting and seem to be useful in many (if not most) areas of science.

The exam is very simple - the only real revision I did was the 2012 paper, which was extremely similar to the 2013 one. Success! The questions are very straightforward, and the exam is very easy to prepare for.

Also, from what I hear, this unit is compulsory (unless another Maths credit is done) for those undertaking the B.Sc. It must be completed at some point in the degree.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ShortBlackChick on June 26, 2013, 02:14:34 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS2909/3909 - Villains and Rogues: A History of Ideas About Gangsters 

Workload: 1x 1.5 hour lecture and 1x1 hour tutorial

Assessment: 

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screencapture

Past exams available:  No, it was not required as the unit had a take-home exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  The unit reader which cost about $25 from memory.

Lecturer(s): Annabelle Baldwin and Ernest Koh

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 1

Rating:  3 of 5

Comments: Yes, there's a unit about gangsters. It sounds very awesome and like its just a interesting unit, but in reality, its not.  The lectures act as a background to the weekly readings, providing historical context to the readings and random information relating back to the topic. Each week focused on a specific mafia or gang, besides the first 3 weeks which talked about Gangs and Mafias in general. The readings were the core of the unit, as in they were what was discussed in the tutorials- the ideas presented in the readings about the topic was focused on heavily in the tutorials and were expected to be discussed in the assessments. But they werent covered in the lectures, which made the lectures almost irrelevant. But I found them to be the most interesting. The readings unfortunately, were a drag, and many people struggled to get through them, as did I. I dont think the unit focused on the romanticisation and portrayal of gangsters by society as much as I expected, besides there being a whole reading on it in one of the first 3 weeks. I also struggled to comprehend the distinction between a Villain and a Rogue and a Mafia and a Gangster and as such I found myself just alternating between the 4 titles accordingly in the assessments as they werent clearly defined I felt. I didnt even attend the lectures half the time, but I think doing the readings and attending the tutorials is probably the most important and essential thing to doing well in this unit. I did feel a lack of direction half the time while doing the major assessments and struggled as a result. I just had no idea what to say. I felt like the unit was hyped up a lot, just by the name and what it seems to imply its about and the fact that Ernest Koh is a lecturer. He's no doubt an awesome lecturer, he's just funny and makes the lectures more enjoyable, but it didnt change the content I guess. You may remember him from Contemporary Worlds 1 and 2 (First Year History/Politics/International Studies Core Units) where he left quite the impression on students from his humor. I think he only took 2 lectures for this unit, those were enjoyable. Annabelle made the lectures interesting too, but they werent a highlight by any means.

I dont think I'm going to do as well as I hoped for this unit. It was quite complicated and not as interesting as I expected. Its more of a History Unit, but it wasnt as engaging as I hoped for.

I had other stuff to say but its 2AM and I cant remember what they were.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on June 26, 2013, 08:40:28 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2951 - Environmental Chemistry: Water

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  3-4 exams available, no solutions available. However, there are revision lectures during SWOTVAC where they pretty much give you every answer to one of the past exams

Textbook Recommendation:

Lecturer(s):


Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 89 HD

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: xZero on June 26, 2013, 10:52:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2121 - Algebra and Number Theory

Workload:
-Three 1-hour lectures
-One 1-hour support class per week

Assessment:
-Examination (3 hours): 70%
-Assignments and tests: 30%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, only voice recorded

Past exams available:  2 past exams, one came with solution

Textbook Recommendation: 
-Recommended: A Book of Abstract Algebra by Charles C. Pinter

Lecturer(s):Dr Tom Hall (Number Theory) and Dr Norm Do (Algebra)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 77 D

Comments:
Awesome unit, I find it quite manageable so if anyone is consider doing a higher maths level unit, may I suggest this. The lecturer (Norm) was excellent at explaining all the group theory etc. and for once the written notes were useful compared to other units. The tutorial was engaging enough that I never skipped out on a single one until the new guy for number theory came in. I reckon this unit is good for people who wants a taste of pure maths, its not overly complicated but it had some proofs which was fun to learn.

However I must emphasis on the fact that I enjoyed this unit purely because Norm was an excellent lecturer/tutor so if Daniel Delbourgo or Daniel Horsley ever teaches this unit, I recommend to just buy the book and read it at home.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: xZero on June 27, 2013, 12:01:13 am
Subject Code/Name: MTH2140/MTH3140 - Real Analysis 

Workload:
-Three 1-hour lectures
-One 2-hour support class per week

Assessment: 
-Examination (3 hours): 70%
-Assignments and participation in support classes: 30%

Recorded Lectures:  No recorded lectures, however there are hand written lectures notes

Past exams available: Multiple past exams on the monash library section, only one exam with solution

Textbook Recommendation:
-Must buy: Understanding Analysis by Stephen Abbott, you can bring a clean copy of this book into the exam

Lecturer(s): Dr Jerome Droniou, Dr Gilbert Weinstein

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating: 2 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 73 D

Comments:
This unit was fun to learn, if you're good at self learning. I didn't attend the lectures but from what I've heard, it is garbage. The written notes were barely readable so I suggest learning off the text book rather than spending hours deciphering what the heck was that word in the hand written notes. I thought the unit was a bit too difficult and there's hardly any relevant examples in the tutorial that can help you in the assignments, which is generally how I learn to approach a question. Furthermore, there aren't much pure maths units before this (I guess only MTH1112 and MTH1000, which is not exactly pure maths) and for an introductory unit to pure, they assumed that we had a very good knowledge to the relevant topics, which makes this unit more frustrating since they don't explain some of the topics such as probability generating function in detail. Also I'm not sure if it was just my tutor but she is terrible at marking, how can a marker skip an entire page of working, which was worth 6 marks out of 30, and when I ask her to read over my working, she gave me the full marks.

Anyways this is turning more to a rant but if anyone out there doing pure maths major, consider choosing level 2 over level 3 and do plenty of pre-reading before the semister starts
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on June 27, 2013, 04:30:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2021 - Linear Algebra with Applications

Workload: 3x1 hr lectures, 2 hr tute

Assessment: 3 Assignments - 6% & 7% & 7%, Midsem test - 10%, Exam - 70%

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: Yes 2, 1 with solutions. (there are more out there though)

Textbook Recommendation: You don't really need it but - Elementary Linear Algebra - Howard Anton

Lecturer(s): Week 1-6: Dr Tim Garoni, Week 7-12: Dr Jerome Droniou

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2013

Rating: 2.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 - HD

Comments: To be honest, I absolutely hated this unit throughout the semester, but over the day or two of cramming right before the exam, I've warmed to it a little bit more. I should note that this has nothing to do with the lecturers, who were fine, it has more to do with me not enjoying the course content, pure maths just isn't my thing. The first four weeks are not too hard, you start off with basis concepts dealing with matricies, determinates and such. After about 4 weeks you start on vector spaces, which is where everything seems to go downhill. A lot of the cohort struggled with this (me included), and once you down understand the first parts to it, you get lost and have no clue with the next couple of weeks of the course. We were told that the median mark for the semester was below 50%. After a bad midsemester result I may have started not attending lecturers as much. In short, I was still learning content the day before the exam. The main annoyance with this unit is that you have to remember a lot of material, it's not hard once you get it, it's just a lot.

Although, after I actually sat down and went through the course properly, and after it clicked, it isn't actually that hard, you've just got to remember how to do everything (a lot of things), and small, small notes here and there. There are proofs (it may be labelled an applied unit but it's basically an intro to pure maths with a few applications thrown in). About 12% of the exam was proofs with another 10% or so of 'show that' which required you to have the knowledge to do a proof of similar nature.

When I approached cramming for this (I did it in 1 day.. one long day...), I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get proofs down in time, and focused on learning how to do things from past exams, not exactly why.. (this is a very bad way of learning, if you can call it learning at all, don't do this unless you run out of time in the end). This required a fair bit of memorization, although I started to enjoy the unit a little bit, when I could actually do questions. There are some applications that can make a few things a lot easier, and so simple compared to other methods we would have used. (Think about cutting down 2 pages of working into a few lines using another method, this was actually quite cool).

For those who want to go ahead, the following are the topics covered:
 - Gaussian Elimination
 - Elementary matrices, LU decomposition
 - Determinants, Cramer's Rule, Constructing curves and surfaces
 - Euclidean Vector Spaces, Orthogonality, Real Vector Spaces and Subspaces
 - Spanning sets, linear independence, Bases and Dimension
 - Coordinates, change of basis, Fundamental matrix spaces
 - Matrix Transformations, transformations of the plane
 - Eigenvalues and eigenvectors, diagonalization
 - The power Method, differential equations
 - Inner Product Spaces, Gram-Schmidt Algorithm
 - Least Squares solution, fitting data
 - Orthogonal matrices and diagonalization
 - Quadratic Forms, Optimization
 - General Linear Transformations
 - Applications: Markov Chains, Discrete Dynamical Systems, Error Correcting Codes


EDIT: 100th review in this thread! \o/
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on June 27, 2013, 05:20:29 pm
Subject Code/Name: STA1010 - Statistical Methods for Science

Workload: 3x1 hr lectures, 1x2 hr "Lab" (using excel/tute questions)

Assessment: 10 On-line Quizzes - 1% each, Labs, prelabs & participation - 10%, Two assignments and group inference project - 20%, Exam - 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2 with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation: You really don't need it.

Lecturer(s): Dr Jonathan Keith

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2013

Rating: 2 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 - HD

Comments: I should start off by saying that Jon was a great lecturer and the rating should not reflect on him. It was more that the content he had to teach wasn't that great. If you did further and Methods during yr 12, then the first 6 weeks will be a piece of cake, you will learn next to nothing. Basically take a watered down version of the worst part of methods, probability and combine it with the driest part of of further, statistics. After that you learn a few more concepts (Central Limit Theorem, Confidence Intervals) before moving onto hypothesis testing, which is the meat of the course. In itself it's not too hard, but just like Yr 12 probability, the hardest part is picking which formula to build and apply to the situation.

Although this is an easy unit, it requires time throughout the semester, it sucked up time that I wanted to use for other units, you have all these small assessments here and there, prelabs, on-line tests, assignments. Although, as a result of being lax for this unit (only 2 hrs study during swotvac), I probably lost a few more marks than I planned to on the exam. But that was because of prioritising other units, but the message here is that yes it is easy, yes you can slack off, but don't completely slack off.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: eeps on June 27, 2013, 07:11:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFF2401 - Commercial Banking and Finance

Workload: One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment: Group assignment (20%), Class test (10%), Exam - 3 hours (70%).

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes, one sample exam with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation: Lange, H., Saunders, A., & Cornett, M. M. (2013). Financial institutions management (3rd ed.). North Ryde, NSW: McGraw-Hill. Not really necessary as it is sufficient to follow the lecture slides, however useful for practice of tutorial questions.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Kym Brown and Dr. Tram Vu.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: Pending.

Comments: Commercial banking and finance builds from AFF1300, and goes into greater depth and knowledge. The most difficult aspect of this unit is the group assignment (or can be done individually). This involves thorough research and detailed analysis of the Australian banking system in relation to the GFC and discussing whether the "big 4" banks have too much power or not. The report is 4,000 words long and hence, if you want to do well, you should start on it as soon as possible. The class test is held in the lecture theatre and is a mixture of short-answer and multiple-choice questions; it shouldn't be too difficult if you have studied for it. The exam itself is pretty similar to the set tutorial questions throughout the semester, so going over those questions and the sample exam is a good approach. Initially, I didn't really enjoy this unit however it gets better throughout the semester. Really interesting unit, and if you work hard, it will definitely pay off.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TrueTears on June 27, 2013, 07:30:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFX4060 - Issues in Corporate Finance 

Workload:  3 hours lab each week.

Assessment:  2 Paper Review each worth 10%. Participation 15%. Academic paper presentation: 15%. Exam: 50%

Recorded Lectures:  N/A

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  N/A

Lecturer(s): Prof. Madhu Veeraraghavan, Dr YangYang Chen.

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 1.

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: Pending

Comments: Brilliant unit. Do not compare this unit to the standard undergraduate corporate finance units, this unit is on a league of its own. In AFX4060, you tackle the forefront of corporate finance research by reading up-to-date academic papers, each week readings range from 4-6 academic papers and it is a truly rewarding experience. The first half of the unit is taken by Madhu, who is extremely knowledgeable in all aspects of corporate finance, each week he would give an academic presentation seminar and it really gives you a deep insight into how academic proposals are done by a professional. The second half of the unit is taken by Yang Yang, who is literally a beast at corporate finance. His part of the course is more theoretical based and focuses on the mathematical proofs of relevant theorems etc. Essentially, we go through 5 main theoretical aspects of corporate finance: Capital structure, payout policy, management compensation, cash holdings and securities issuance. Every single theorem/corollary/lemma that we go through is backed with a mathematical proof. The exam is split into 2 parts. First part is YangYang's theoretical aspects, hence they are all proof questions. Second part will be based on Madhu's part, which is basically the academic papers that were read throughout the semester. All in all, fantastic unit and I'd highly recommend it to anyone specialising in finance.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Fyrefly on June 27, 2013, 07:48:27 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS3083 - Translating Across Cultures

Workload:
Weekly 1.5h Lecture (called a "seminar" but really a lecture)
Weekly 2h Tute

Assessment:
Tute Participation Peer Review (5 x 2%)
Almost every week you either have "homework" or an assessed translation due. Weeks where you have homework due is where the peer review participation comes in. The homework is a short translation piece that you have to prepare beforehand and bring into class. During class, you'll swap your homework with a classmate, and you'll fill out a review sheet for each others' work. By filling out a review, you'll earn yourself tute participation marks for that week. Your review doesn't affect your classmates' mark (you can say their work was shit if you want, and it won't affect their mark). There are five peer review tute participation weeks, and each is worth 2%.
Assessed Translations (4 x 5%)
There are four translations during semester, each ~500 words. Two will be LOTE --> English translations, and two will be English --> LOTE translations. You also write a brief (~400 words) to accompany your translation, explaining and justifying the decisions you made while translating. The pieces you translate are selected by the lecturer/tutor, so everyone in your class will be translating the same piece.
Group Translation (1 x 20%)
Group of two or three people. Together, you translate a text of your own choosing either from LOTE --> English or English --> LOTE. I forget the word count exactly, but I think ~1600 words. You must also do a group presentation about your translation (15-20min presentation).
Long Translation (1 x 20%)
You translate a text of your own choosing either from LOTE --> English or English --> LOTE. The text should be ~1000 words. You also write a brief similar to those of the assessed translations, just longer (800-1000 words I think).
Final Exam (1 x 30%)
2 hours, plus 10min reading time. Purely practical. One translation from LOTE --> Eng, and one translation from Eng --> LOTE. Both translations are about 500 words. You must also write a brief no longer than one page for each translation. You can take a paper and/or electronic dictionary into the exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No sample exam, and I don’t think there are any past exams in the database… I don’t think you really need any though.

Textbook Recommendation:  This unit doesn’t have a textbook.

Lecturer(s): The unit coordinator is Kenta Koshiba, but he only does about two lectures himself. He organises for a different guest speaker to come in each week and speak about different topics related to translation. As far as I remember, the guest speakers are all university staff whom teach other units too. The unit as a whole is designed to be practical, so in the lectures there’s some theory but also lots of general discussion and examples. I think Kenta ran out of guest lecturers, because we only had lectures up until Week 10. Kenta himself is a really easygoing guy. The quality of the lectures varies week-to-week obviously, and is dependent on the quality of the guest speaker.

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1, 2013.

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Exam results aren’t out yet, but HD overall for the in-semester stuff.

Comments:

This unit had five streams this semester: German, Italian, Spanish, French and Japanese. In past semesters there was Chinese and Vietnamese too I think, but I’m not sure whether they’ll bring those back or not. I was in the Japanese stream. It’s necessary for you to have a relatively high level of proficiency in your chosen language stream, otherwise you won’t be able to grasp the intricacies of what you’re translating. Lectures are in English. Tutes are streamed into your languages. There’s only one tute time for each language stream, so you’ll have to work around it in your timetable. Each tute stream will have two tutors – one native speaker and one English background speaker proficient in your LOTE.

I felt like the lectures were kind of a waste of time, because all assessment in this unit is practical. Beyond serving as a means for you to get an understanding of the key terminology, I honestly don’t think there’s much point to them.

I feel that your mark in this unit is largely dependent on your level of language proficiency more than anything else. For me, I was getting HDs in the LOTE --> Eng translations, but only Ds in the Eng --> LOTE translations because my Japanese proficiency isn’t exactly absolute (I’m not good with idioms, flowery language… that sort of stuff, which happens to be important in translation). I can’t speak for all the language streams obviously, but everyone in the Japanese stream for this unit was either a native speaker, or studying Japanese Advanced 5 concurrently this semester. I think perhaps you’d also be okay with Japanese Advanced 3.

The other thing that will help you get a good mark is your ability to bullshit. So long as you demonstrate a bit of commonsense and you can justify it in your brief, you can pretty much translate your work however you want.

Overall, I think the assessment in this unit was pretty easy, though biased towards people with higher language proficiency. Putting the assessment aside though, this unit is practical and thus very applicable to real life. It doesn’t teach you about translation so much as it teaches you how to translate, which I think is far more useful and more important.

I felt like this unit was a good chance for me to be less concerned about assessments and more about learning for the sake of learning. It’s a third year unit, but I don’t think it’s particularly hard. Overall, this is a unit I found engaging, and that I would recommend to anyone interested in learning more about the practical side of translation and linguistics.

This unit will help you a LOT if you're studying Japanese and intend to do ATS3152 later on, which also has a heavy emphasis on translation.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: xZero on June 28, 2013, 02:14:54 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAE2401 - Aircraft Structures 1

Workload: 
-3 x 1 hour lectures
-3 hours practice sessions or laboratories and 6 hours of private study per week

Assessment:
-Progress test:10% (Basically 1% per tutorial)
-Computer Laboratory work:10%
-Final examination (3 hours): 80%

Recorded Lectures:  None, only lecture notes were uploaded

Past exams available:  5+ available from past exam data base, none with solution

Textbook Recommendation:  Mechanics of materials 5th edition by Bear, Johnson, DeWolf and Mazurek, textbook is a must for this unit

Lecturer(s): Tuncay Alan

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating: 2.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 84 HD

Comments: This review applies to MEC2403 - Mechanics of materials as well since its just the same unit but with different assessments (MEC is 5x easier than MAE). First of all the lecture notes have the basic information but it doesn't help you to do tutorials at all, if you want to pass the unit, make sure to buy the text book or at least loan it from Hargrave Library. The work load is not all that bad but it's always a good idea to finish the tutorial ahead of time because it's pretty hard to finish it in the 3 hour time frame they give you. Throughout this unit I felt like that I didn't learn much and the content is quite dull. Not sure if the lectures were useful since I didn't bother going but from what I've heard, just stick with reading the text book. For those of you doing the MEC version, the tutorials are worth 3% each and you don't have to do any computer laboratory work (so unfair :()
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: xZero on June 28, 2013, 02:53:43 pm
Subject Code/Name: MEC2402 - Engineering Design I

Workload: 
-2 x 1hours lectures
-3 hours laboratory/tutorial classes
-10 hours of private study per week during the Warman Competition and 3-4 hours during Assignment 2

Assessment:
-Computer Labs, Tutorial work and Design Assignments: 60%
-Examination (3 hours): 40%

Recorded Lectures:  None, only lecture notes were uploaded

Past exams available:  Yes, 5+ on moodle and 1 with solution

Textbook Recommendation: 
-Australian Engineering Drawing Handbook. SAA/IEAust. (EDH) (recommended)
-Introduction to Engineering Design. B. W. Field. (required)
(Both can be taken into the exam)

Lecturer(s):Scott Wordley

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating: 3.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 73 D

Comments:
Feel like doing a unit with an equivalent work load of 2? Well look no further, to some people this unit may even have a work load of 3 units worth. From week 1 you were given the Warman competition assignment, which is to design, draw, do calculations and build a working prototype to navigate a course while carrying an object within 5 weeks and the final product completed and ready for testing on week 6. Straight after this assignment, you are given another assignment, which is to simply design something, in my case a UAV Launcher. It may sound easy but the amount of calculation and CAD work you have to do is quite insane. Thankfully its a group work so be sure to find people who are committed and willing to spend hours on this unit. During the assignment 2, there will be tutorials on different drawings and computer CAD task which takes a long time to complete. In my opinion, they packed too much content in this unit, I genuinely felt like I was doing 3 units worth.

The Warman task was quite ridiculous since the time frame they give you is way too short, the actual competition starts in September so I don't understand why Monash wanted to finish the competition so early. However Monash do pick one group to represent in the national competition and from what I've heard, there are plenty of scouts in the national competition so doing well in it can land you some job/internship offers. Overall this unit was quite fun, if they reduce the work load by a bit I'd say this unit deserves at 4.5/5.

PS NEVER GO FULL MECHANICAL, THAT BONUS 1 MARK IS NOT WORTH ALL DEPRESSED FEELING AND HOURS OF EXTRA WORK ON SOMETHING THAT WILL NOT WORK GIVEN THE TIME FRAME >:(
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: eeps on June 28, 2013, 03:12:34 pm
Subject Code/Name: MKF2111 - Buyer Behaviour

Workload: One two-hour lecture and one 1-hr-30-mins tutorial per week.

Assessment: Tutorial presentation (15%), Consumer diary (15%), Mini tasks (20%), Exam - 2 hours (50%).

Mini tasks involve:
Recorded Lectures: No.

Past exams available: Yes, one sample exam (no solutions).
 
Textbook Recommendation: Hoyer, Wayne D., Deborah J. MacInnis, and Rik Pieters, "Consumer Behavior," South-Western Cengage Learning, 6th edition. Definitely consider purchasing as lecture slides alone are not sufficient for study.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Gerri Spassova (semester 1), Dr. Mauricio Palmeira (semester 2).

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: Pending.

Comments: This unit isn't too hard as the assessment tasks and exam are relatively easy. The consumer diary is the piece of assessment that takes time, as you have to record your product/service purchases for a week and with another person, analyse each other’s purchases in relation to marketing theories and principles. You have the option of either doing research participation surveys or a research paper to gain 4% of the marks. The research participation is an easy way to get free marks as you just complete surveys for the department which are quick and anonymous. The tutorial presentation requires some research, but again, not that difficult. The exam is pretty straightforward if you have read the textbook and made summary notes. Buyer behaviour can be quite dry at times, however it's a relatively straightforward unit as an elective or core major unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: nerdgasm on June 29, 2013, 07:03:18 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2911 - Synthetic Chemistry I 

Workload:
3 x 1 hour lectures per week
1 x 4 hour lab per week (Week 1 and 2 have 2 hour labs)
1 x 1 hour tutorial per week (optional). These start Week 2.

Assessment: 
Prac work: 30% (This is a hurdle requirement, you need at least 50% in this component to be awarded a pass)

Final exam: 70%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, many available from the Monash Library Exams database. Exams from the past two or three years are available, as well as some older ones (though the course structure may have changed a little since then). No solutions are provided.

Textbook Recommendation:
C.E Housecroft, A. G. Sharpe, Inorganic Chemistry (4ed. in Sem 1 2013)
J. Clayden, N. Greeves, S. Warren, Organic Chemistry (2ed. in Sem 1 2013)

Neither of these is compulsory to buy.

Lecturer(s):
Inorganic Chemistry: Leone Spiccia
Organometallic Chemistry: Cameron Jones
Organic Chemistry Part 1 : Kellie Tuck
Organic Chemistry Part 2: Brendan Wilkinson

Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade:
Unknown at this time.

Comments:
This subject is a prerequisite for most 3rd-year chemistry units. (so definitely a must if you wish to major in Chemistry).

The subject is largely divided into four sections:

Inorganic mainly builds on concepts learnt in first-year chemistry (properties of ligands, properties and structures of metal complexes, crystal field theory) and goes into a bit more depth. Lots of different kinds of ligands are introduced (thankfully, only a small subset of these need to be memorised). Crystal field theory is expanded upon a bit more, and is linked to UV-Vis spectroscopy. There is also a bit on the equilibria and thermodynamics (with regard to stability) at the end of the section.

Organometallic is more of an introduction, since this isn't really covered that much in first-year. It covers an introduction to organometallic bonding (the orbitals, electron donation and physical chemistry stuff), the 18-electron rule for complexes (similar to the Octet rule for regular molecules), and a wide variety of organometallic ligands and reaction types. Towards the end of the section, the role of organometallic chemistry in industry is covered, with some catalytic cycles discussed.

Organic Part 1 builds on the organic chemistry learnt in first-year, specifically mechanisms, resonance, carbocations and organic reactions. Don't worry if this isn't your strongest area of chemistry, all the first-year stuff is revised and everyone is brought up to speed. In terms of new concepts, NMR is covered in a bit more detail, as well as the different mechanisms of substitution and elimination reactions. If you want to do well in this section, make sure you have got the basics down pat.

Organic Part 2 is more about the various kinds of transformations involving functional groups that we can make (particularly those involving the carbonyl group). There are a lot of reactions and reagents to learn for this section. The difference between substitution and addition reactions is discussed, and how to predict which reaction will occur. Oxidation and reduction from an organic chemistry point of view is covered. Towards the end, there is a bit on pericylic and aromatic chemistry reactions. I felt this was the most memory-intensive of the four.

On the whole, this was a very enjoyable unit. All of the lecturers were very adept at explaining concepts, and all were more than happy to answer questions during and after lectures.

The labs could be draining at times (finishing uni at 6pm was never easy), but the lab demonstrators knew their stuff well, and were quite helpful and considerate, especially considering my ineptitude and slowness. In the labs, you mainly perform experiments related to the content covered in lectures (though the order of the labs won't necessarily match up to what you're currently learning). You also learn a wide variety of techniques (by the end of the semester, we had all tried Melting point, IR spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy. Thin-Layer Chromatography, Gas Chromatography, Liquid-liquid extraction, Recrystallisation and lots of Vacuum Filtration).

The lab marks consist of filling in 'proformas', which are just like worksheets, except you have to fill in an MSDS at the front, which is basically a risk assessment of all the chemicals and hazards you are dealing with in the prac. Weeks 1 and 2 are 'dry labs', you practice interpreting NMR spectra here. The 'wet' labs start from Week 3. Make sure you have good safety goggles and a lab coat. Gloves are provided.

The tutorials usually take one of two forms: Either you attempt the questions, and call the lecturer over when you're having a bit of trouble, or the lecturer will make it more interactive, and pick some questions for the class to have a Q-and-A session over. They're not compulsory, but doing the tute questions is good practice for the final exam.

The textbooks aren't really necessary to do well in the unit, but do offer good explanations (and can help a fair bit when trying to answer the lab proforma questions). Lecture notes are how content is delivered. Note, though, that some of the textbooks may be needed in 3rd year chemistry, should you wish to continue.

The subject isn't overly demanding in terms of workload, but there is a lot of content, so make sure you know at least a little before SWOTVAC comes along. It's practically impossible to cram this in one or two nights if you're looking for a really good mark. During SWOTVAC, a few revision sessions were held (where you just show up and ask the lecturer questions). These were quite helpful too. The exam isn't also overly difficult (but is a bit more difficult than the 1st-year exams), so long as you have revised.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: nerdgasm on June 29, 2013, 11:40:33 pm
Subject Code/Name: DEV2011 - Early Human Development from Cells to Tissues 

Workload:
3 x 1 hour lectures per week
1 x 3 hour lab per week.  This is optional, except for when you have to attend the midsemester test, and at the very start of the semester.

Assessment: 
Two online Moodle tests (Weeks 3 and 10): 5% each
Midsemester test (Week 6, in lab session): 10%
Cell Profile Report: 20%
Final exam: 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Not available. No sample exams either.

Textbook Recommendation: 
B. M. Carlson, Human embryology and developmental biology (4ed. in Semester 1, 2013)

Not compulsory to buy. Did not consult much during semester.

Lecturer(s): Too many to mention. Most lecturers only take 2-3 lectures each.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  3/5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown at this time.

Comments: This subject is a prerequisite for DEV2022 and 3rd year DEV units.

The content is fairly varied. At the start of semester, you learn about the various ways in which developmental biology is studied. You then move on to the basics of cells, such as communication, movement, adhesion, proliferation and death. After that, you learn about gamete formation, and the initial steps that occur during and after fertilisation. This includes the initial life of the zygote, how it develops and turns into an embryo, and the formation of the main cell layers.

After that, the focus is more on how individual cell types develop from these layers. Germ cells, muscle cells, nerve and neural cells, spinal cord and connective tissue cells, epithelial cells, blood and blood vessel cells, bone cells and stem cells are all covered. The last week is mostly revision.

Unfortunately, I found a significant proportion of the lectures fairly dull. Some of this is due to the subject matter, which I do not blame anybody for, but some of it was also because there were times when the lecturer was just reading from the lecture notes. In those times, it honestly would have been better had I just stayed at home and used the time to learn things by myself. There were some good lecturers who tried to explain things well, but these were in the minority, in my opinion. Also, a fair amount of the work in this unit requires rote-memory, which is something I don't particularly like to do (and there's a lot of content as well). In addition, I feel the lecture structure wasn't the best. There were just a couple of lectures that seemed 'out-of-place' given what we had just studied.

The labs were optional. I attended most of them in the first half of semester. You need to attend at the beginning in order to collect your cell slide. Most of the rest of the labs just consisted of us filling in our lab booklets with answers to questions, from the various posters put up around the lab. I think the material was designed to complement the stuff you learn in lectures, but after a while, my motivation for that decreased. The lab in the week before the midsemester test really helped for the test though. My lab demonstrator was very helpful and friendly, and pointed me to a good resource (Functional histology by Jeff Kerr). Honestly, I stopped going a week after the midsemester test.

There was one thing the labs were very good for, however: they provided a good amount of time to get work done on the Cell Profile Report. This is a written report on a cell type that you are assigned to when you first come in to the lab at the very beginning of semester. Basically, it's more like a research essay, but it's not like you're trying to research a topic you're really unfamiliar with (like in the BIO1011 and 1022 essays). You will write on the functions of your cell type and how it comes about from the initial fertilised egg. You then get a section to write on your own research choice for your cell type (and when I say your own choice, there have been some very creative and diverse choices in the past).

You also use a high-powered microscope to take pictures of the slide you collected (that's one of the good things about the lab time, the microscopes are there in practically all of the weeks). You're meant to annotate these pictures and use them in your report.

I didn't really consult the textbook much, so I can't really comment on its quality, but it seemed to explain some of the concepts fairly well.

The online Moodle tests are doable as long as you have your lecture notes with you. The mid-semester test isn't too bad either, as long as you've revised. It has a few questions from the lab the week before.

The final exam is divided into four parts. One consists of MCQ questions (and is worth around half the exam mark). The other three parts are short-answer (1-1.5 pages was what the lecturers intended) responses. In each of the three parts, you respond to one out of six prompts. (so there are 18 short-answer questions in total, but you answer three). I felt that this probably saved me from failing in the exam, because it meant that as long as you knew a few areas quite well, you could find something to write decently about. Some MCQ questions were directly recycled from the online and midsemester tests. I honestly was very lazy with this subject and ended up cramming for it on the night before the exam (please don't do that). I wouldn't suggest to take this unit if you're just looking for something to do. It genuinely seems like it'd be quite taxing if you didn't have a real passion for it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: nerdgasm on June 30, 2013, 01:51:36 am
Subject Code/Name: PHY2021 - Body Systems Physiology (Recoded as PHY2042)

Workload: 
3 x 1 hour lectures per week
1 x 3 hour lab per week (There are only about 6 labs, and 2 weeks where the lecturer will go through the theory behind the prac (which usually takes around 1 hour). So, you effectively get 4 weeks off.

Assessment:
11 online Moodle tests (your best 8 are counted) - 25%
5 Lab Reports - 20%
4 Online Learning Tasks - 5%
Final theory exam - 30%
Final prac exam - 20%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. However, there were lots of practice questions and sample exam questions on Moodle, for both the theory and prac exams.

Textbook Recommendation: 
E. P. Widmaier, H. Raff, K. T. Strang, Vander's Human Physiology - the mechanisms of body function (12ed. in Sem 1, 2013)

Not compulsory to buy. Did not use much during semester.

Lecturer(s):
Homeostasis: Wayne Sturrock
Autonomic nervous system: Marianne Tare
Cardiovascular: Roger Evans
Respiratory: Farshad Mansouri and Ross Young
Renal: Kate Denton and Yvonne Hodgson

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown at this point.

Comments:
This unit is largely divided into five sections:

Homeostasis is mainly a revision from first-year biology about homeostasis (what else?) and its role in allowing organisms to function. It also covers cell-cell communication and signalling, and goes into a little bit of detail about the various ways in which extracellular molecules interact with the cell membrane.

Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is about why we need such a nervous system, the division and difference between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and where all the nerves that lead to various organs are found in the brain and spinal cord (you're not meant to memorise all the positions). The main neurotransmitters, how they are synthesised, released and broken down, and their receptors are also covered for the ANS. These main concepts are applied to situations such as control of the bladder, heart and sexual response. There's also a bit about energy storage and release at the end.

Cardiovascular is an introduction into the structure and function of the heart, and goes through the cardiac cycle, how the heart contracts, blood flow through the heart and body, blood pressure and pulse, the role of the various blood vessels, and how these are all controlled. The knowledge here is applied to situations such as exercise and injury. Towards the end, there is also a bit on some heart diseases and their proposed causes, which is also meant to be an application of the knowledge you've learnt.

Respiratory is an introduction into the structure and function of the lung, and goes through the airways from the trachea down to the alveoli, how breathing is actually accomplished, how we can measure breathing capacity, the roles of some cells in the lungs, how gas exchange with the blood is accomplished, and how the body can regulate breathing. Throughout, the case studies of various lung diseases are used to help with understanding the concepts. Towards the end, there are applications such as being underwater or on a high mountain.

Renal is an introduction into the structure and function of the kidney, and goes through how substances are filtered from the blood into the kidney and how the kidney selectively reabsorbs substances. Water and sodium balance form a major component of the theory for this section, and the hormones, receptors and mechanisms by which this is achieved are covered. Also covered is a bit of acid-base homeostasis, and applications of water and sodium balance to various situations in the body.

This was also a very enjoyable unit. At the beginning of the unit, we were told "The more you understand, the less you have to memorise", and understanding the principles to apply to specific situations was a focus and a real highlight for me. All of the lecturers taught with this focus in mind, and it was probably the only thing keeping me awake throughout the lectures (as they were all at 8am or 9am).

The labs didn't reach this lofty standard, but were still decent. It's mostly done in groups of three or four (just whoever happens to be sitting at your table). When you perform the experiments, the data is logged into a computer at your table, and you email the data to yourselves. Then, you use the data to complete the lab reports (which are more like worksheets). These are usually due on the Friday two weeks after the relevant lab. The labs mainly reinforce the theory. On a couple of occasions, there will be a tutorial session a week after the lab, where the lecturer will go through the prac. Taking notes here is well worth it, as it really helps you to answer the worksheet questions well, and helps with prac exam revision.

I didn't really use the textbook much either, except for a little during SWOTVAC. I actually found the lecture notes and the lectures themselves more coherent than the textbook.

In terms of assessment, the online tests are reasonable, if you have your lecture notes in front of you. There are usually one or two more difficult questions in each test, just so everyone isn't getting 100% for that component. However, your best 8 marks out of 11 are counted, so it's not too difficult to get a pretty decent score for this section.

The prac reports are a little time consuming (expect to spend at least three hours if you want to do them well), but aren't overly difficult either. Almost all the questions you'll have to answer will come either from the theory, or will be explained by the demonstrators/lecturers at some point during the lab.

The online learning tasks are a really awesome revision tool. There are four of these, and each examines how a different body system works to maintain homeostasis in a specific situation (when I did it, it was when the body is exercising). The good thing about these is that as long as you put in a decent effort into answering all the questions, you'll get the 5% regardless of whether you're right or not. Suggested answers are provided after you submit each task. These are also a bit time consuming, it took me just over a full day to get through all of them.

The theory exam is divided into three sections. There's the MCQ, the short answer responses (I'd say you're expected to write around a page for each), and the extended responses (I'd say around two pages for each). For the short answer responses, you answer 5 out of 9 questions (there's usually two questions on each topic except for Homeostasis, you pick one of them). For the extended responses, you answer 2 out of 4 questions (one for each topic excluding Homeostasis.) It isn't particularly difficult, but you do have to know each system fairly well in order to be able to write the longer response questions.

The prac exam is just divided up into sections from each prac. If you go over the lab reports you've made in the semester, you should be well on your way to getting a good mark. For both exams, there are a fair number of revision and sample questions on Moodle. Taking a look at these is a good idea.

On the whole, this unit exceeded my expectations, and was the best biology unit I've done, by far.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: nerdgasm on July 01, 2013, 02:22:44 am
Subject Code/Name: MTH2021 - Linear Algebra with Applications 

Workload: 
3 x 1 hour lectures per week
1 x 2 hour tutorial per week (starts Week 2, not strictly compulsory, but you'll be attending a few weeks anyway)

Assessment: 
Three written assignments (6%, 7%, 7% respectively)
One midsemester test (10%)
Final exam (70%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, two available. One has answers.

Textbook Recommendation: 
H. Anton, C. Rorres, Elementary linear algebra (applications version) (10th ed. in Sem 1 2013). Not a compulsory buy. Did not consult much throughout semester.

Lecturer(s):
Weeks 1-6: Tim Garoni
Weeks 7-12: Jerome Droniou

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown at this point.

Comments:
This unit basically extends upon the concepts covered in part of MTH1030 (the matrices, Gaussian elimination, eigenvalues/eigenvectors part), and also tries to generalise some of the concepts of vectors into a more abstract sense.

The ordering of topics here doesn't quite reflect the order in which they will be covered in semester, but rather, a grouping that reflects the links between the familiar and the more abstract.

Interpretation of linear systems, Gaussian/Gauss-Jordan elimination, elementary row operations, matrix operations, determinants and inverses (largely a revision of MTH1030 bringing everyone up to speed, this will be at the start of semester).

General vector spaces - introduces the idea that there are really a LOT of things that can be called 'vectors', goes through some of the properties of these, including span, linear independence, basis and change of basis, dimension, subspaces. Links back to matrices are found in row space, column space, rank, nullity. This is really the foundation of a lot of the unit, so it's good if you understand the concepts here.

Dot products, angles between vectors, scalar and vector projections, magnitude and distance between two vectors are then covered, which is also revision from Spesh/MTH1020/MTH1030. There are a couple of new things (like the matrix of orthogonal projection), but most of the stuff is revision. Later on in the semester, these concepts are learnt in a more abstract sense. Instead of dot products, you now have inner products and inner product spaces. Instead of perpendicular vectors, you now have orthogonal vectors. Instead of magnitude, you now have the norm of a vector.

Matrix transformations/linear transformations - using matrices to transform vectors into other vectors (think rotations, reflections, stretches and skews, as well as just turning vectors into other vectors). Later on in the semester, we get the more abstract 'general linear transformations'. Now, we're no longer just mapping vectors from R^m to R^n, but from any vector space to any other vector space. Isomorphism, onto and one-to-one transformations, linearity of transformations and change of basis are covered here.

Eigenvalues and eigenvectors, eigenspaces, similarity and diagonalisation, as well as applications to quadratic forms, internet search engines, multivariable calculus, solving systems of differential equations. Later on, this gets combined with inner products/orthogonality to form 'orthogonal diagonalisation' (one of the best things Jerome will ever say with his French accent).

Finally, the last chapter is about some other applications in probability (if you remember Markov chains from Year 12 Methods probability, and how we used matrices there, it's a bit like that), and a bit about coding, and a bit about fields and modular arithmetic.

On the whole, this was also a pretty good unit for me (compared to MTH2010, for example). Both Tim and Jerome put in a decent effort to explain things, as opposed to just filling in the lecture notes booklet. On that note, I highly recommend you get the lecture notes booklet, and fill it in as we go through the course. Basically, it will have the theory already there, and the examples/proofs will be filled in by Tim and Jerome as you go through the course. I just found it to be a nice, organised way of having all the lecture notes with you at one time.

The tutorials were OK, you collect a particular week's problem sheet, and bring it to the tutorial where the demonstrator is there to help with any questions/do some examples on the board, etc. I don't think they're strictly compulsory, but you have to attend the tutorials sometimes anyway (in order to hand in assignments and sit the midsemester test), so you may as well stay :P.

I honestly didn't use the textbook at all, except for a bit of leisurely reading before the start of semester. It's definitely not required unless you want to learn more or consolidate your knowledge; the lecture notes booklet is what will be used.

In terms of assessment, the assignments are quite doable if you have your lecture notes in front of you and you are capable of following the steps/working out involved. There's usually one or two slightly more difficult questions on each assignment, just to provide a bit of challenge. For one of the assignments, you are encouraged to use a computer to help with your results, so if you can get Mathematica or MATLAB or something of that sort, it might make your life a little easier. (The use of computer software is not compulsory, however).

I found the mid-semester test to be quite doable, as long as you understand the concepts. University maths (from the science faculty at least) is really about understanding the concepts. Some of the more abstract stuff might make your head spin at first (it honestly did that to a lot of people, myself included), but if you can try to have it make sense in your mind, it really makes your life a lot easier. Apparently the median mark for the midsemester test was a fail, so please, please, try to understand the concepts.

The final exam was a little easier than I had expected. As Tim Garoni said in our final lecture, "If you want a HD, you will have to be able to do proofs/'show that' type questions. If you just want a C or a D, you can probably get away with just trying the numerical computation style questions." Basically, what he was trying to say is that proofs/'show that' questions aren't a major part of the exam, but will make a difference if you want a good mark. The proofs are usually the easier and simpler-type ones in the lecture, so don't feel as if you have to memorise the incredible number of proofs in the notes. As revision, he suggested going over the mid-semester test (there were similarly-styled questions on the final exam and the mid-sem test). Also, know the key ideas of each chapter well. The vast majority of marks are always for the working out, rather than the answer (I found out to my horror that even in 1-mark questions, you won't get the mark if your working is wrong).

In summary, this unit isn't really all about computations. There is a fair amount of abstract stuff to get your head around, and lots of content is linked, so if you miss a few lectures, it's really easy to have no idea what on earth is going on. The 'applications' aren't the major part of the unit; the theory is. (of course, applications can still be examinable). The content can honestly seem fairly 'dry' and be a seemingly endless maze of "Theory, Proof. Theory, Proof." most of the time. If you like fairly abstract stuff, I think this unit can be a good one to try. However, if you don't, you may find yourself resenting the theory and the way in which it is presented.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Reckoner on July 08, 2013, 08:16:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFC1000 - Principles of Accounting and Finance

Workload: Two 1-hour lectures and one 1.5 hour tutorial

Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Unfortunately not. Best to show up though, can be helpful despite being a bit boring at times. 

Past exams available:  Past exams with solutions are available dating back to 2009. Pretty similar across the years, but the emphasis on finance has decreased a bit since 2009.

Textbook Recommendation: Carey, P. (2010). Principles of accounting and finance (2nd ed.). Is prescribed and needed, covers just about everything you need to know, and contains the weekly tute questions which you need to do for preparation marks.

They also recommend this iStudy USB accounting study guide if you haven't done accounting before. This is not needed, save your $15. I hadn't done accounting before and didn't touch it.   

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 1

Rating: 4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 HD

Comments:
 
This is a core unit that you have to take if you're a commerce student at Clayton. Fairly interesting for the most part, however I can see how some of the content could be seen as dry. I highly recommend keeping up to date throughout the semester. Some of the content and terminology can take a little while to get used to if you haven't encountered it before. Cramming isn't easy for accounting, and with the hurdle on the exam you want to do well on the exam.

Financial Accounting
This is the part of the unit that I hear VCE accounting helps out with. I can't comment on the similarities between the two as I didn't do accounting in Yr 12. Covers the background + ideas of accounting, transaction analysis, debits and credits, the accounting equation, balance day adjustments and ratio analysis. Probably the part of the unit that people have the most trouble with, so again keep up with the course if you can. They use accounting to explain accounting here (the textbook defines a debit as "the left side of an account" which meant nothing to me when I was learning it) and is where the difficulty comes from. The mid-sem covers financial accounting         

Management Accounting
Covers performance measurement, costing and budgets. I actually found this to be the most interesting part of the course. Ralph was my favourite lecturer of the 3 too. Is easier than financial accounting, and is also much shorter at only 3 weeks/6 lectures. 

Finance
Not very much is covered, as this part of the unit has been reduced and is now only 4 lectures. Covers the time value of many, interest rates and compounding, types of investments and risk. The easiest part of the course if you haven't touched accounting before imo.

Tutorials
Tutorials consist of going through the answers to that weeks set questions, and then review of the material which is very helpful. Tutes are worth 15%, which is a good thing imo as it encourages you to show up. 5 of that 15 is a group presentation where you basically answer a question. You get 2 goes at this and only the best mark is used. 

Going into AFC1000 you hear about the 30% fail rate (only was that high one semester I think) and can be a bit intimidated by this unit, especially if you hadn't done accounting before. I sure was. Well don't be. Just keep up to date (hopefully I've drilled that into your head enough :P) which isn't too difficult given the structure of the unit and you may end up liking it. I definitely did.     

TL;DR Pretty good unit; basically accounting with only a little finance attached to the end; keep up to date so you don't have to cram. 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Furbob on July 14, 2013, 08:08:26 pm
Subject code/name ATS1001 - Chinese Introductory 1

Workload:

- 1 x 2 hr lecture
- 1 hr tutorial
- 1 hr seminar

Assessment: 

- 2 x 10% oral presentations (either individually or with a partner)
- 15% mid semester test
- 3 x 1% cultural presentation online quizzes
- weekly only quizzes (worth <1%)
- 3 x vocab quizzes
- 3 x 2 hr sessions of using Second Life to practice conversational skills
- 40% end of semester exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, but you will receive a guide outlining what questions will be on the exam

Textbook Recommendation:  Contemporary Chinese 1 by Wu Z - textbook, exercise book and character book

Lecturer(s): Scott Grant

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2013

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:  86

Comments:
This unit is the starting point for those that know 0 mandarin - if you have an asian-speaking background (such as being able to speak Cantonese or another Chinese dialect) you will be shifted to the background speakers class

This was a huge relief for me since I was worried that the class would be filled with an asian speaking background that would cruise through the unit for an easy HD. The staff are quite strict on this as they will scan through the role and question you on your last name and background to make this class a fair playing field for all students.

Scott is a fantastic lecturer who is very enthusiastic about teaching and is very active online with emails and conducting weekly online tasks. I was initially worried that I would be picking up Chinese in an Australian-accent from Scott as he's non-native but he has lived in China for 20+ years and has a chinese wife who he speaks to in mandarin so rest assured his accent and knowledge of the language is pretty damn good.

As for someone who already picked up a few hanzi (or kanji) characters from Japanese, I found it pretty easy to adapt to the writing system but this may be the hardest part (and the most rewarding) for most. Scott automatically gives everyone a Skritter account at the beginning of the semester to practice the weekly hanzi we learn. You can use Skritter on-the-go with an iPhone to practice but as an Android user I missed out on this.
The seminar teacher Chen laoshi also provides context behind the hanzi and why they are so which is pretty interesting and helps with memorizing as meaning is given to them

As for the tutes, most consist of The tutorial teacher, Yao laoshi was like the asian-uncle-I-never-had. He may come across as a grumpy asian uncle but he's very hilarious and I thoroughly enjoyed tutorials with him. Most of his tutes involve going through the weekly vocabulary from lectures, reading dialogue out loud and having him break down the sentences further for explanation on grammar and how the language works.

I wasn't a huge fan of using Second Life as a means to practice conversational skills and for doing tasks. I personally prefer having a real-human experience with speaking face-to-face with someone - but I suppose this provided a barrier for people to not go all nervous and quiet in front of native speakers since they were hidden behind an avatar. I thought that quite a bit of time was lost in these sessions from technical difficulties and having people lost behind the steps but I think this will all be smoothed out in coming semesters as we were the first semester to use Second Life (I think)

Overall I enjoyed this unit quite a lot and I give a thumbs-up to the staff. The semester load was made up of many little tasks but it makes up with a less-than-50% exam. Would recommend Scott as a great lecturer for newcomers to Chinese
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Phy124 on July 18, 2013, 02:31:39 am
Subject Code/Name: ENG2091 - Advanced Engineering Mathematics A

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures: Dr. Alina Donea uses a tablet to do examples and her lectures are recorded with screen capture. These examples are are also uploaded to moodle.

Prof. Paul Cally uses a computer to display lecture slides, however uses a separate (non record-able) projector to do examples on. These examples are scanned and uploaded to moodle, I believe.

Past exams available:  Yes, two, one with solutions as per the science faculty rules. However, more exams are available if you know where to look.

Textbook Recommendation:  Lecture notes will certainly suffice for a good mark, as this is all I used. However, if you are looking for some extra reading for consolidation or just extra questions to do, the recommended textbook is Advanced Modern Engineering Mathematics (4th Edition) by Glyn James, I believe.

Lecturer(s):
I watched a lecture or two of hers online in SWOTVAC when I was looking to learn PDEs, she's a good lecturer who explains the concepts well. She goes through A LOT of examples, so if this is how you learn you might benefit from going to her lectures.
I went to two of his lectures early in the semester, he was pretty good, it seems as though he takes a more theoretical approach to the concepts, with less examples than Alina. He uses lecture notes which are somewhat interactive (you can mess around with 3D diagrams and such) which is quite helpful, too.
I did not attend any (of the few) lectures he took, so I can't comment on his lecturing ability or style.


Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:

This unit covers the following topics:
Edit: Fuck clicked Post instead of Preview, I shall edit in part by part as I do each, stay tuned.

Edit #2: I'm lazy as fuck and have no motivation to finish this. However, it will happen, one day.

Edit #3: Don't worry guys, I promise I'll finish this. It will happen, eventually.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Hutchoo on July 18, 2013, 03:48:39 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1325 - Contemporary Worlds 1

Workload:  one 90 minute lecture
one 1-hour tutorial per week

Assessment:
1. Assignment 1  1000 words   20%   

2. Assignment 2 1500 words 30%   

3. Final Examination  2 hours   30%   

4. Tutorial Participation 10%   

5. Online quizzes 10%

The first assignment was based on two topics. The first topic was looking at the Russian occupation of East Germany and the second topic was looking at the partition of India. The second assignment had about 8-10 options based on the topics covered from weeks 1-10. The exam was split into two sections. Part A had 10 dot points. Each dot point was based upon one major factor/person/philosophy covered in each week. You had to choose 3 out of the 10 options and write ~250 words on them, talking about how the major factor/person/ideology shaped the modern world as well as defining it.  Part B was an essay, you had two options and both of these options were given to you in week 12. This means you have 2 weeks to write/memorise your essay!

EDIT: The online quizzes were a breeze. There were 10 quizzes in total and each quiz only had 3 questions. The questions were very easy! I counted these (as well tute participation) as 'free marks'.
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes.

Textbook Recommendation: I bought the textbook and it helped a little bit, but I don't recommend purchasing the textbook. The only thing you should really purchase is the unit reader, that is a definite 'must have'.

Lecturer(s): Various

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, S1

Rating:  4 of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Enough to make me aroused. lolwat?

Comments: I really enjoyed this subject. I've never studied politics (formally) before and I really regret it. They cover a wide array of topics  covering post-1945/WWII, with a focus on Eastern vs Western ideology (Capitalism vs Communism) as well as revolutions/oil etc. There is only 1 lecture per week and the lecturers are quite good and interesting. The lectures are full on, they only go for 90 minutes but you cover quite a lot of content. The tutors (from what I hear) are all great fun and really know their stuff. The whole faculty is quite structured so you definitely know what to study as they are direct with their instructions.

You should only do this unit if you're an active reader/writer. I saw a lot of international students struggle with this unit as it is wordy and difficult, so if you are an international student, only do this subject if you're very fluent with reading/writing. In terms of difficulty, the subject can be hard at times. When writing the first essay, I had no idea how to reference and actually write a university style essay (which reflected in my result). However, you do get better with time =)
As for the exam, it's not too hard. I read over the main concepts/topics and then memorised responses ~2 days before the exam. As long as you are good at memorising facts/dates, the exam will be a breeze. I crammed 2 days prior to the exam and still managed to get 94%.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Hutchoo on July 18, 2013, 04:22:57 am
Subject Code/Name: AFF1000 - Principles of Accounting and Finance

Workload:
Two hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial.

Assessment:
1.Major Assignment 20%
2.Tutorial presentation 10%
3.Mid-semester test 10%
4.Exam - 3 hours 60%.


Note: There is a 50% examination hurdle. If you do not achieve 50% or more on the exam the maximum mark you can get is 48%.




Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes. Four past exams are available - from the previous two years.

Textbook Recommendation: Carey, P. (Ed.). (2010). Principles of accounting and finance (2nd ed.). BUY THIS BOOK, IT'S YOUR BIBLE.

Lecturer(s): There were about 4, I only remember Ellinor Allen and Ralph Kober.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013.

Rating: -16 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: Distinction

Comments: I only did this unit because it is core for BComm/BBus students. I have never done accounting before so it was quite troublesome. Essentially, the first 6 or so weeks are based on VCE Accounting Units 1 - 4, so you cover 4 units worth of study about 6 weeks. This wouldn't be a problem, however, accounting is dry and boring. The only way I could do this subject is by taking long breaks in between my revision. The lecturers (God bless their socks) sucked. The worst lecturer was Ralph Kober. He reminded me of one of those people who think they're funny, but really aren't. His lecturing style was worthless, he would just stand there for 2 hours reading the powerpoint slides. He was also ostentatious, he spent the first 5 slides of the first lecture going over his accolades. This wouldn't be a huge problem, but he made it very clear that he was a douche by titling slide 1 as "Achievements" and then slide 4/5 as "but wait, there's more!".   -19/10 for you, Mr.Kober

The unit focuses on management and financial accounting. You delve into 'finance' during the last 2 weeks, going over complex topics like "calculating simple interest".
As for the assignments, they're split into two parts. Part I was based on a company that didn't know anything about accounting. You had to read through all of their transactions and then fix their errors/use accounting principles to order them. Part II was based on the same company in Part I, in fact, it's a continuation of their accounting transactions. The only difference is that with Part II, you go over adjusting entries (which differ from your normal entries), you also make balance sheets etc in Part II. The assignments overall aren't too hard, I got 18/20 overall and I have never done accounting before.

The tutorial group presentations were so stupid. You're either matched up with international students or people who generally don't give a damn. Luckily, I had a group that had 3 active members and 1 complete jackass. The presentations are essentially tutorial questions, you have to complete the questions and then tell everyone how you completed them/give them advice. Pretty boring and the marks are quite biased/inaccurate. I know people who said ~3 words and somehow got 10/10. The exam was very long - 3 hours of pure focus is required if you want to get a good mark. Why? Because accounting is one of those subjects that require you to make 0 mistakes, otherwise you will ruin your projections/ratios and then answer questions wrong. The exams are all quite similar, you are given a company and you have 8 tasks to complete. I strongly suggest you do the past exams if you're looking for a HD. If I didn't do the past exams, I would not have achieved a decent mark.

tl;dr: If you have done VCE Accounting/enjoy accounting (if you do, there's something wrong with you), this unit is a walk in the park. If you haven't, then be prepared to start memorising the crap out of your textbook. This subject is based purely on memorisation, nothing is abstract or complex.. it's simply memorising definitions....
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: spaciiey on July 19, 2013, 01:21:46 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2668/3668 Syntax - Grammatical Typology and Universals 

Workload: a 2 hr seminar per week

Assessment:
attendance -- 5
weekly homework -- 15
major essay -- 30
assignment -- 25
exam -- 25

Recorded Lectures:  Yep

Past exams available:  none, but there are revision questions given out in week 12. and the exam isn't worth much anyway!

Textbook Recommendation:  Understanding Syntax by Maggie Tallerman. I didn't buy it because you can get it online through the library. I did refer to it quite a bit though.

Lecturer(s): Anna Margetts

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 sem 1

Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: I didn't like this subject, but only because I don't really enjoy syntax -- I'd rather focus on applications of linguistics. In terms of structure, planning, workload, etc, I really don't have any complaints, which is why I am still giving this subject a positive review. If you turn up and pay attention and do the weekly homework, you are pretty much guaranteed an easy P or C (I mean, she practically gives away 20 marks for free just by turning up and doing the homework -- which doesn't even have to be right!). Getting anything more than a C takes effort obviously haha.

For the assignment, you are given a language data set. You have to decipher it and come up with phrase structure rules, and draw trees, etc. Pretty straightforward stuff if you're a linguistics student. The assignment I REALLY disliked was the major essay but it could be someone else's idea of fun! You had to pick two languages (not English!) and then compare the way they constructed either relative clauses, causatives or passives and write it up in a mini research essay. It was a pain in the butt to format and gloss and put in coherent academic writing, but it was very satisfying to finish. Anna is quite particular about how you set out your research though, so make sure you do what she wants and you will be fine.

I did this unit because I needed it for a linguistics major. You can do this unit at second or third year level, but I'm glad I waited til third year to do this unit, because I'm sure I would have struggled in second year. Do this unit if you like syntax, otherwise you probably won't like it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TommyLie on July 24, 2013, 11:08:03 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1035 - Techniques for Modelling (Advanced)

Workload: The workload was pretty decent. You need to make sure you keep up to date for lectures, and put in the effort for the extra content in MTH1035 compared to MTH1030, but otherwise I would put MTH1035 learning curve about the same as specialist math learning curve. Sometimes you will need to go out to the library and borrow a random textbook to read up on something, but otherwise it's easily manageable for a dedicated student.

Assessment: If I recall correctly, there were three assignments. There was nothing additional for MTH1035 though, 1035'ers just did the same assignments and the 1030 people. The first one being a massive project using vectors and a bit of linear algebra to finish designing a half build square. It had to be typed and every line of mathematics had to be justified with a sentence. Everyone hated the project and I feel sorry for those who must endure it again. The next one was a fairly straight forward answer Q's type assignment. Then the last one had three Q's, one wanted you to explain how matrix reflections related to some mirror image of the apple logo or something, then the last two were sort of proofs.

I did not enjoy the first or last assignments and did not feel like I benefited or learnt anything from them....the second assignment I leanred a great deal from.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes I believe so, but I never used them.

Past exams available:  Yes, there were a few with solutions. Leo did a sample exam in the last few lectures which he put up with solutions as well.

Textbook Recommendation:  Stewart Calculus: Early Transcendentals is the prescribed textbook, but in the beginning of the course they cover a lot of Linear Algebra with is not in Stewart, but is a vast chunk of the course. I just borrowed a book on Linear Algebra from the Hargave Library for this. If you plan on doing MTH2010/2015 - the next maths unit - then you should without a doubt get Stewart. Its contains a majority of the MTH1030/1035 course and is an excellent textbook with Q's & A's for every topic.

However, if you don't want to spend the money, you basically get a free textbook uploaded on Moodle written specifically for MTH1030. This is definitely sufficient in place of the textbook. But I would recommend Stewart if you want deeper a understanding and more questions.

Lecturer(s): Heiko - Vectors, Linear Algebra, Calculus. Leo - Sequences & Series, ODEs. Both Heiko and Leo were very good at teaching their material and exceptional lectures.
Year & Semester of completion: 2013, semester 1

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Comments: It was a decent unit. Pretty much the last 'broad' maths unit before you start specializing in specific maths units in later years, eg Multivariable Calculus or Linear Algebra. Simon Teague takes the MTH1035 Workshops and tutes, he is a good teacher and will ofter go off on tangents about strange and interesting things in mathematics if he is asked by someone in class - which often happens in 1035.

The difference between MTH1030 and MTH1035 is the final exam has two or three out of the 10ish questions replaced with harder ones for 1035. So about 80% of the exam is 1035. Another difference is that in the workshops, you go a bit further into the proofs and mathematics.

The topics covered are:

Also, Simon has thousands of question sheets for MTH1035 exam questions which you can get from him leading up to the exam.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TommyLie on July 25, 2013, 12:05:20 am
Subject Code/Name: MAE1041 - Introduction to Aerospace Engineering

Workload: Quite heavy, you will probably need to do a fair bit of study to follow the lectures. There is a very large amount of content compared to my other first year subjects - MTH1035, PHS1011.

Assessment: The first assignment was a lab on boundary layers using the small wind tunnel engines. I though this lab was poorly organized, rushed and there was not enough explanation of what was going on and why things were happening. After the demonstrator practically did everything for you, while leaving your group their wondering what was going on, we had to write a fairly substantial lab report on it...

The second assignment was a much better one, we had to design a paper airplane (It could be made of as many pieces of A4 paper and sticky tape as you want) that would fly as far as possible, from a height of 6 meters with a gentle gliding throw. We then had to write a report on our design, making reference to important design aspects of aircraft wings and aerodynamics, and how this affected the flight path and results.

These were worth a combined total of 20%. There was a weekly 2 hour tutorial session where you sat down and did a problem set. You either get a mark of 0, 1 or 2. These counted for another 10%. I wasn't very pleased that no solutions were posted on Moodle for these until literally the days leading up to the exam. Solutions would have helped a lot if they were posted earlier, if you wanted solutions you had to go to the tutors and look at them yourself - you weren't aloud to take a copy for some reason...

Recorded Lectures:  No.

Past exams available:  Yes, and solutions. I believe about 4 or 5.

Textbook Recommendation:  The prescribed textbook is 'Flight Physics'. It used to be 'Introduction to flight' by John Anderson, but Hugh changed it because he believes it explains the stuff we do later in the unit better. I had both textbooks and, in my opinion, Anderson's textbook is much better than 'Flight Physics', and I highly recommend it. It has Q's & A's, where as Flight Physics does not, it gives a much smoother transition between topics and is easier to understand.

Lecturer(s): Hugh Blackburn took the whole unit. Personally I did not find Hugh's teaching style to work for me. I certainly enjoyed his sense of humor, but it felt as if he assumed everyone in the class was a genius, and thus did not explain a lot of things in as much detail as I would have liked. I felt like a lot of things went over my head in lectures, and so I heavily relied on the textbook.

For me, the lecture notes were worthless. They were way too brief and did not explain how things work, they just had a lot of formulas and a few sentences here and there. But reading through them, it felt like all I was doing was trying to memories 50+ formulas and 100+ definitions, while not really understand that much.

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, semester 1

Rating: 2 Out of 5

Comments: Overall I did not enjoy this unit at all. Although I did like the stuff we were learning - particularly aerodynamics - the way it was presented to us and they way the unit was run was not good in my opinion. Like I said above, I did not really feel like I was actually doing much problem solving most of the time, just memorizing where and how to use the 50+ formulas they gave us. It was not fun to do this.

A major problem I found was the huge amount of content (IMO) combined with the broadness of it. We covered so many different topics which were not really at all connected (At least in the amount of depth we went into them they were not), and thus you could not really link things together, nor go into much detail into anything because there wasn't enough time. But I guess thats what you would expect with a unit called 'introduction to....'
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: synchronise3 on July 25, 2013, 12:12:58 am
Subject Code/Name: MGC1010 - Introduction to Management

Workload:  One 90 minute lecture and one 90 minute tute.

Assessment: 

Assignment 1 (Annotated bibliographies) = 15%
Assignment 2 (Individual Essay-2500 words) = 25%
In tutorial quiz = 10%
Exam = 50%

Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  No

Textbook Recommendation:  Schermerhorn, J., Davidson, P., Poole, D, Simon, A., Woods, P. & Chau S. S. (2011) Management:
4th Asia Pacific Edition John Wiley & Sons Australia Ltd. (This textbook is vital for this unit since the exam is open-book).

Lecturer(s): Dr Tui McKeown, Associate Professor Ingrid Nielsen, Dr Andrea North-Samardzic

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 1

Rating: 3.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: Good subject but can be a little bit boring. However, the content was fairly easy to grasp with nothing overly complex. I would definitely recommend going to tutes and lectures if you're keen (I only went to two). Like any other subject going to tutes will benefit you particularly when you're given assignments and tutor will often give great tips. There are two assignments and the first one requires you to read 5 (?) academic articles and write an annotated bibliography (don't worry if you don't know what this is, they cover it). The second assignment is an essay and I must stress that you are going to want to start it early, you wouldn't believe the amount of people writing up a 2500 word essay the night before. The exam was fairly straightforward and it was probably one of the exams I prepared least for. Given that the exam is open-book, you should do a few of the questions in the book as preparation because I found 1-2 of the questions I did from the text book ended up in the exam itself.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: babygurl on July 25, 2013, 04:34:32 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1355: Fanatics and Fundamentalists: The Global Politics of Violence (Recoded in 2014 as ATS2942)

Workload: 

1 x 2 hour lecture, 1 x 1 hour tutorial

Assessment: 

500 word essay - 10%

2000 word mid-semester exam - 40%

2500 research essay - 50%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Exam questions are posted on moodle one week prior to exam.

Textbook Recommendation: Unit instructor will recommend you to buy 'Terror In The Mind of God' by Mark Juergensmeyer and 'God Is Not One' by Stephen Prothero - the former is more useful than the latter.

Lecturer(s): Dr Irfan Ahmad, various guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 1.

Rating: 5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This unit is full of thought-provoking and dense readings on religion and theology (Nietzsche, Freud, Aquinas, Maududi), terrorism, violence and global politics. So if you're interested in doing a bludge unit and have no interest in religion, terrorism, violence or politics whatsoever, then this unit probably isn't for you.

Dr Irfan Ahmad was extremely knowledgeable about the subject matter and made the dense readings crystal clear. His lectures were very interesting and engaging at the same time. He also invited a guest lecturer almost every week for the second half of the lecture (this helped keep things fresh in my opinion). The tutorials (Dr Irfan Ahmad was my tutor as well) were also lively and full of interesting discussion, which is more than I can say for other arts units I've completed at Monash. Overall, the unit was taught extremely effectively and was well organised.

Even though it was one of the more dense first-year arts units I've completed, it was also one of the most rewarding! Your perception about global terrorism, violence and certain religions (such as Islam) will no doubt change by the end of the unit! I would highly recommend this unit for those seeking to complete a politics major at Monash :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Stojad on August 13, 2013, 11:58:38 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECE2061 Analogue Electronics

Workload:  3 lectures per week, 1 hour tutorial, 2 hour lab

Assessment:  Labs (30%) and exam (70%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available: No

Textbook Recommendation: The prescribed textbook is Microelectronic Circuit Design by Jaeger and Blalock. Lectures should suffice.

Lecturer(s): Jean-Michel Redoute

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, semester 1

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 92 HD

Comments: This unit is core for electrical engineering and is frankly one of the more enjoyable core units. It comprises three major parts. The first part is on operational amplifiers, starting with ideal operational amplifiers and moving on to non-ideal amplifiers, and some basic feedback systems theory. The second part is on solid state electronics (diodes and transistors), and the third part is on single transistor amplifiers.

The lecturer for this unit, Jean-Michel, is what makes this unit. He is entertaining and adds a lot of personality to the unit, which makes a huge difference. The lectures are thoroughly enjoyable and well-presented, especially for an engineering unit. The concepts are somewhat difficult, but pay close attention to the lectures (and watch the recordings of them during swotvac) and you will have no trouble with it. There is a book that covers all of the same material, but it is an absolute tome. Reading it is far from necessary to understand the concepts. It's one of those books you begin reading and soon after stop reading once you realise you have read the same paragraph four times and haven't paid any attention to the text.

The tutorials are not what you would traditionally expect. They are essentially like lectures except Jean-Michel spends the hour working through the tutorial sheets. They are also recorded like lectures, which is a bonus. There are weekly labs, and prepare to struggle with them on occasion, as things tend not to work as planned. Don't stress too much about the labs, though. The demonstrators hardly care about the overall quality of your lab work as long as you attempt everything. If you put in the effort, consider them an easy 30% of your grade.

Don't fall behind in this unit. Most of what you learn will build on what is previously covered, so make sure to be up to date with the lectures and tutorials. If you are comfortable with the tutorial problems, the exam won't be an issue. It is reasonable and none of the questions contain any nasty tricks. If you are interested in microelectronics, this unit is a very satisfying introduction. The unit also has a third year continuation: ECE3062 Electronic Systems and Control, so it would be a good idea to understand this unit well or ECE3062 will be very difficult for you (and it's also a core unit).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Ahmad on September 02, 2013, 01:02:20 am
Posting this on behalf of binders:

Subject Code/Name: ATS2924 - Ancient Egyptian Language: The Basics 

Workload:  Weekly 1 x 1h lecture, 1 x 90min tute.

Assessment:  80% 8 x weekly take home translation tasks, 2 x 10% in-tute tests.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No.

Textbook Recommendation:  A Concise Grammar of Middle Egyptian, Boyo G. Ockinga

Lecturer(s): Colin Hope

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Sem 1

Rating:  5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 86


Comments: This subject introduces you to the language of the middle kingdom period of ancient Egypt, and to the hieroglyphic script. The language is taught through lectures on grammar, and weekly, open book translation tasks where the grammar learned is applied. Colin's lectures are indispensable, as the textbook is quite dense, and a bit too concise. By the end of the semester,
you should be able to tackle simple hieroglyphic inscriptions, and have developed a love/hate relationship with Ockinga's text.

The textbook should provide you with everything you need to complete the subject, but occasionally you will find a word or hieroglyph missing, so access to Faulkner's Dictionary of Middle Egyptian or Gardiner's Egyptian Grammar (both available in the Matheson) can be useful when you're otherwise stumped by Ockinga.

The workload is heavy, especially at the start, with the tutor advising us in the first tute that 15hrs of study for the weekly homework is not unreasonable or unusual, but that this decreases as you start to master the signs and vocab. Both the lecturer and tutor are excellent, and take the time to clearly explain and repeat concepts until they are understood.

Advice: You won't need to learn every hieroglyph in the book (there are 54 different kinds of birds alone), but you really really should learn the 100 or so "alphabetic" hieroglyphs in the front of Ockinga sooner rather than later, as this will save you a huge
amount of time when it comes to the weekly tasks - other students who took the time to do this early on report that they only spent about 2-4 hours a week on the homework assignments.

I and many of my classmates really enjoyed this subject. It's pretty cool to be able to just read some text from 4,000 years ago, straight off a photo of a tomb wall or a papyrus (yes, just like Daniel Jackson) - but - it's easy to underestimate the workload for the first half of the semester. Easily the best and most well run subject I have taken at monash.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on October 19, 2013, 05:30:33 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2922 - Spectroscopy and Analytical Chemistry

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  A few. No answers as per School of Chemistry rules

Textbook Recommendation:
Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 2

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: eeps on October 23, 2013, 02:19:46 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFF2631 - Financial Management

Workload: One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment: Tutorial participation (5%), Trading simulation (5%), Mid-semester test (20%), Exam - 3 hours (70%).

Recorded Lectures: Yes.

Past exams available: Yes, two past exam papers with solutions are provided.
 
Textbook Recommendation: Corporate Finance Custom Book + Access card + Myfinancelab, 2nd edition PEARSON EDUCATION AUSTRALIA. Didn't buy it personally, but might help for extra reading.

Lecturer(s): Dr Manapon Limkriangkrai and Nigel Morkel-Kingsbury.
 
Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: TBC.

Comments: This unit is really quite interesting in my view. It builds on from previous finance units and you learn about topics such as financial mathematics, capital budgeting, portfolio theory and CAPM. The trading simulation is the most enjoyable aspect of the unit as you work in teams with other students, and you essentially trade stock on the market (this is done in one of the labs in week 10). You're assessed on the basis of your team's performance. Tutorials in this unit are crucial, because it really does help to solidify your understanding of the topics (you should get the full 5% just by attending all of the tutorials). Definitely try to keep up to date with the work because it gets progressively harder as the semester goes on. The mid-semester test is not that difficult as previous years' tests are provided for revision; practicing tutorial questions and the papers are a good idea.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ninwa on October 24, 2013, 12:17:55 am
Subject Code/Name: LAW4243 - Tax Policy

Workload:
3 hour lecture per week.
Compulsory readings per week which can take anywhere up to 12 hours depending on length and difficulty.
(NB: Unlike normal law subjects where I think you can get by without reading any cases, I strongly recommend doing the set readings because the topics are quite complex, and there's only so much time in lectures to go through the basics. Kathryn had to cut the last topic out of the exam because there was just too much content and not enough lecture time.)

Assessment:
10% class participation
40% compulsory assignment (2000 words strictly, no 10% leeway)
50% 2 hour exam (and 30 mins reading time)

Recorded Lectures: No, because this is the first time this subject has been offered and so the structure of the subject is still in development, but Kathryn mentioned it might be in future.

Past exams available: No because first time offered etc. Kathryn was kind enough to write up a sample exam though.

Textbook Recommendation: None - all set readings are uploaded to Moodle

Lecturer(s): Kathryn James

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 5 out of 5

Comments:
Lecturer: Kathryn is awesome. Engaging, extremely knowledgeable (her PhD was in this area), funny and she has really cool hair (used to be a mohawk, currently half-shaved :3)

Assessment: 10% class participation (not sure how this is marked, but she'll memorise everyone's names and faces by week 2 so you better have something interesting to contribute).
40% compulsory assignment covering 2-4 topics in the course and relating them to a current event. This year's assignment question related to the Business Council of Australia's proposal to increase the GST and reduce the company tax rate.
50% exam.

General comments:
We cover topics including:
- economic theories of tax reform
- philosophical perspectives on tax and justice
- criteria used to assess tax policies
- whether to tax the wealthy
- the theories and realities of taxing income and consumption (i.e. GST)
- tax bases like death and bequest taxes
- theories behind the politics of tax reform
- tax expenditures and how they help achieve social justice objectives

Because it's a policy unit, there are very few cases studied (and the ones we do look at, we only look at briefly). The majority of readings are more theoretical in nature. It is a very different subject to the majority of standard law subjects, and the exam reflects this (I've also attached the sample exam to this post).

I couldn't believe I chose this as an elective after how much I despised taxation law, but I'm so happy I did because it's been one of the most interesting law subjects I've studied. It's also by far the toughest subject I've ever studied and the hardest I have ever worked. Some of the readings will leave you feeling like you've been bashing your naked brain against a rusty barbed wire fence for 10 hours. In fact, all of the readings will leave your head aching... but in the same way that your muscles ache after a good work-out. Except philosophy which I will forever maintain that I'm too stupid to understand. Fuck you John Rawls you've taken 10 years off my life span.

If you've ever been interested in economics, tax reform or government policy, you will learn SO much interesting stuff in this unit. But be prepared to work your butt off, especially if you have no background in basic economics or philosophy. (I didn't, and a lot of people didn't, but after flailing around hopelessly for the first couple of weeks I managed okay.) I've attached the reading guide to this post as well to give an idea of the workload!
edit: sorry I forgot to remove all my crappy highlighting and notes from the reading guide that I uploaded
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Water on October 25, 2013, 01:38:54 am
Posting this on Behalf of Binders :)

Subject Code/Name: ATS2925 - Ancient Egyptian Language: Intermediary Stage
 
Workload:  Weekly 1 x 1h lecture, 1 x 90min tute.
 
Assessment:  100% 10 x weekly take home translation tasks.
 
Recorded Lectures:  No.
 
Past exams available:  No.
 
Textbook Recommendation:  A Concise Grammar of Middle Egyptian, Boyo G. Ockinga
 
Lecturer(s): Colin Hope
 
Year & Semester of completion: 2013 sem 2
 
Rating:  5 Out of 5
 
Your Mark/Grade: not yet released.
 
 
Comments:
 
This unit continues on from ATS2924 Ancient Egyptian Language: the basics, starting with a bit of revision on semester 1's noun clauses, then diving straight into verbal sentences.  The same textbook from semester one is used, and by the end of semester, you will probably have worked through most of it.  We didn't get to cover negative constructions in depth, but made it to the reading translation of The Shipwrecked Sailor - an actual ancient literary text - by week 12, which was tackled as an unseen - sight read - in class (not for assessment).
 
Comments on workload and resources from the review of ATS2924 apply to this unit also, though you will find yourself being able to sight read more hieroglyphs than you thought you could have in semester 1.
 
The format is slightly different, as the lectures were taken in a tute room and not a lecture theatre, and so more of an interactive, tute-feel.  Each week grammar would be introduced, some unseen examples worked through as a group, then a weekly translation and grammar analysis assignment given. In the next week's tute, the assignment is handed in and the answers worked through in thorough detail until everyone understands the material.
 
Don't be put off by the participle and relative forms of the verb towards the end of the textbook, if you are still baffled by them after the lecture, ask the lecturer and he will try another tack at explaining them.
The same admonition about rocking up to every lecture applies - if you miss them, you will really struggle.
 
My objective verdict is that I found this subject awesome.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on October 27, 2013, 11:37:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2962 - Food Chemistry

Workload:
Assessment:  (Outline the various assessments which make up the subject and how much each counts for)
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: A few, lecturer goes through answers for one

Textbook Recommendation: Don't need it at all

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 2

Rating:  3/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: BigAl on October 31, 2013, 12:16:10 am
Subject Code/Name: ASP2062: Introduction to Astrophysics

Workload:  3x1 hour lectures per week, 1x2 hour problem solving class or computer lab

Assessment:  Labs and tutorials 30% Mid Semester Test 10% Exam 60%

Recorded Lectures: Yes, overhead/notepad notes

Past exams available:  Yes, only two past exams available. Questions are pretty similar each year.

Textbook Recommendation:  Not necessary if you are not considering astrophysics major

Lecturer(s): Dr.Andrew Prentice-Best lecturer at Monash. He has so much sense of humour. He is also a genius. One of the best jokes he made was when we were discussing a past exam question and the answer was ambiguous..He said "That's alright..we invent a different answer every year" . And he calls some of the symbols a turkey
Dr. Alina Donea-She is a good lecturer. Most of you may know her from ENG2091 I believe.
Dr. Daniel Price-Pretty decent
Dr. Rosemary Mardling-Most of you may know her from MTH2032
Year & Semester of completion: S2/2013

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: tba

Comments: Overall I found this unit pretty interesting. It essentially extends upon the topics covered in ASP1010 with more detailed mathematical models and computer simulations. Firstly, you'll be going into star and planet formation with Dr.Prentice. He makes these topics so interesting that you may just fall in love with astrophysics. Then Dr.Alina Donea takes over the unit and then you'll pretty much work through things you learned in ASP1010 and watch couple of videos on youtube. Dr.Daniel Price teaches Stars and also Cosmology part. You may get into some mathematical modelling here with 4-5 differential equations and some nuclear physics. Make sure you have a decent background in maths, preferably MTH2010...because you need to be able to derive these equations. Dr. Rosemary Mardling's part was pretty interesting but also heavily overloaded with differential equations. You'll be solving two body problem and derive the equation of an ellipse out of Newton's law...I must say I really appreciate Newton's law after seeing all those things. Only negative side of this unit was computer labs...You'll be having a linux and windows day...and you'll be having a bad day with linux if you have no experience at all. Make sure you learn basic codes! Some of the tutorial work was so tedious that you pretty much hand your work in the following week. Each lab/tutorial class is 3% so make sure you turn up...Mid Semester test was not that hard at all.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on November 06, 2013, 06:27:12 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAE2402 - Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer

Workload:  3x1 hr lectures per week, 3 hr tute (not marked), 3 Labs throughout the semester with 2 small lab reports on the first 2 and a long group lab report on the last one

Assessment:  3x5% topic tests, 2x3% short lab reports, 9% long lab report, 70% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.
 
Past exams available:  7 past exams, no solutions or answers.

Textbook Recommendation:  Prescribed Text: Y.A. Çengel, Introduction to Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer, 2nd ed, McGraw-Hill, 2008.
The textbook is quite useful, you'll need to read up on extra material for this unit.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Meng Wai Woo

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2 2013

Rating:  3.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 60 - C

Comments: Going to get this out the way right away, this unit isn't easy. It'll require a lot of work, things aren't straight forward and you'll need to do a lot of extra work to just be baseline. The first half of the course is on Thermodynamics, as the unit title suggests, which at first is a little tricky and takes a bit of getting used to. There is one or two main formulas that you will use for Thermodynamics that you'll need to get manipulating for each problem (there are a whole heap of other smaller formulas for thermo, but that's the main one. Know how to use the first law and everything goes from there). Heat Transfer is quite different to Thermo, in the sense Thermo had a few main formulas, while Heat Transfer has a whole heap (and I meant a large amount) of formulas. Once you work out which formula to apply though, it's not too bad, it's just a matter of working out what fits the situation. I found Thermo harder than Heat Transfer, but most people were the other way around (could have something to do with being sick and missing a week of unit when we were covering the guts of the Thermo component though).

The labs aren't too bad, in our year we had a Steam Boiler efficiency lab where you look at efficiencies throughout certain stages of the steam boiler, a finned surfaces lab where you look at the heat transfer rate of different types of fins and compare them to a flat plate and finally an IC (Internal Combustion) Engine + Propeller lab where you try to work out a power band for the propeller and explain why it's the shape it is, and why the efficiency is so low or high. They take a bit of outside research to write them up properly, the last lab you write up as a group report and is worth three times as much as the other labs and you get 2 weeks to write it up. You get to choose which lab you want to do as the big write up, as you add yourself to a lab group at the start of semester corresponding to certain lab timetables. But there are only a limited number of slots for each, so I suggest you decide which one you want to do, form a group and get in early.

Now for tutes, they're aren't compulsory (and we're given solutions to them beforehand), and because of that not many people go, unless it is the tute which has the test in the same week (which for us was the 3 hr block before the actual test). Now this means in a tute you can get lots of help if you want to. I got slack a little bit after I got sick, and so wasn't always up to date with tutes. I suggest you go to the tutes and get worth out of them, I know they're not compulsory but don't get slack, don't put them off. The tests jump up on you quickly.

There are three tests, for us the first two were on the thermodynamics component and the last on one part of the Heat Transfer component. Not many people did well on theses tests, with the distribution of test 1 being multi-modal with one group centered at 25% and one group centered at around 75%. That is you either get it or you don't. It improved for the latter tests, but again, you don't want to be learning the content and questions the night before. Thermo and Heat Transfer takes a lot of situation and thinking about properties of the material or substance, rather than just using formuals. You need to be able to plug in the correct values into those formuals, which is the tricky part. It's not always clear cut, be prepared to have every question having something new in it.

The exam itself, I found it quite hard, even if you think that you're prepared, odds are you're not. Do not underestimate this unit. I did at the start of the semester, and then when I missed a week of uni was forever fighting to catch back up. Don't let yourself fall behind. You have a scientific calc, but at some points you will have to do fairly complicated methods with it.

Unit Topics and Breakdown:
Thermodynamics
 - Thermodynamic Concepts
 - Energy and Enegry Transfer
 - First Law and Energy Analysis
 - Properties of Pure Substances
 - Property Tables and Ideal Gases
 - Energy analysis of closed systems
 - Internal energy and specific heats
 - Energy transport by mass
 - Energy analysis of steay flow open systems
 - Second law of thermodynamics
 - Refrigerators and heat pump
 - The Carnot Cycle
Heat Transfer
 - Mechanisms of Heat Transfer
 - Steady Heat Conduction
 - Steady Heat Conduction in Cylinders and Spheres
 - Heat Transfer from Finned Surfaces
 - Transient Heat Conduction
 - Transient heat conduction in multidimensional geometries
 - Convection heat transfer
 - External forced convection
 - Internal forced convection
 - Laminar and Turbulent Flow
 - Natural convection
 - Internal natural convection
 - Radiation heat transfer
 - Radiation Properties
 - Radiation view factors
 - Radiation heat transfer between surfaces

I've also included two sample questions from the Heat Transfer part of the course, with what you'd have to do to approach it and go through it. Just to give you a feel for the unit.
Heat Transfer Sample Question 1
Engine oil at flows over a -m-long flat plate whose temperature is with a velocity of . Determine the total drag force and rate of heat transfer over the entire plate per unit width.

Solution:
Firstly we find the film temperature, which is the average of the temperature of the surface and the temperature of the free stream medium.
.

The fluid properties of oil are then evaluated at this temperature. For this we turn to our data tables, and since they normally have intervals of , we would linearly interpolate between the values to get our constants. That is we would use , which since we're going to need four constants means we have to do this four times (this is the annoying part -.-).
So we're given this for the properties of Engine Oil from the data table.

Interpolating gives


Now to find out the behavior of the flow (that is whether it is Laminar, Transitional or Turbulent), we need to find the Reynolds number, which is a dimensionless constant given by .
We are told that the critical Reynolds number is , since this is less than that we have a Laminar Flow.

Now to find the rate of heat transfer, we need the heat transfer coefficient, , but to find this we need to find another dimensionless constant, the Nusselt Number, Nu. The relationship between Nu and Re, Pr will change depending on the flow. We look at the formula sheet which has three relationships for Laminar, Transitional and Turbulent flows, which as we know the flow is turbulent comes out to be given that , which is true.


Now we can find the rate of heat transfer, using .

Heat Transfer Sample Question 2
A long -cm-diamter steam pipe whose external temperature is oasses through some open area that is not protected against the winds. Determine the rate of heat loss from the pipe per unit of its length when the air is at atm pressure and and the wind is blowing across the pipe at a velocity of .

Solution:
We'll use the same method as above, except that our relationship for flow around a sphere will be different, and the characteristic length, is the diameter of the cylinder, rather than the length of the plate. Since we have a sphere we will assume the flow is turbulent around the back end of the sphere, and so turbulent throughout.

Properties of air at atm.


Finding the Reynolds number.


Finding the Nu number. We have a correlation for flow around a cylinder.


The heat transfer rate then becomes

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TommyLie on November 06, 2013, 08:22:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2010 - Multivariable Calculus

Workload:  Three 1-hour lectures and one (non compulsory) 2-hour tutorial per week

Assessment:  Starting from week 3 I believe, we had an assignment every second week, and a 25 minute test every other second week, which were done in tutorial classes.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes. Steve uploaded everything he wrote down in lectures.

Past exams available:  1 with solutions, 1 without

Textbook Recommendation:  Stewart Calculus: Early transcendentals - basically a must in my opinion. Although Steve's lecture slides were excellent and he also uploaded a hand written summary of every topic in the unit on Moodle at the beginning of sem, the textbook is extremely well written and the unit follows it word for word basically. Another reason the textbook is a must is that your weekly problem set is a list of questions which are in the textbook, however I believe they photocopied these questions from the textbook and put them on Moodle anyway. Also, Steve pu up handwritten solutions on Moodle to all the selected textbook questions.

Lecturer(s): Steven Siems

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, semester 2

Rating:  4.9 Out of 5

Comments: I really enjoyed this unit. The content I found to be thoroughly interesting, it began with extending derivatives and integrals from single variable calculus into xyz space - partial derivatives and multiple integrals - then we moved onto Vector Calculus which is essentially a generalization of all calculus. Steve is a brilliant lecturer, he kept everyone interested with his enthusiasm and self proclaimed loud American voice, and is never afraid to crack a joke or to rip on engineers just for being engineers (For some reason he likes 'swearing at engineers' lol ).

The tutes are not compulsory but are well worth it, basically my tutor would go over all the content that Steve did in lectures but in a fair bit more detail and depth. I would highly recommend always showing up to tutes for this unit. Every second week there was a test which ran for 25 mins in tutes. They had generally 3 or 4 questions on them and were worth 5% each. They were always very doable, and if you had done all the problem sets before hand then there is no reason you couldn't get close to 100% on them every time - the questions were never anymore difficult than what was in the problem sets (sometimes it was even the same question). The assignments were every other second week and also worth 5% each.

If you enjoy Calculus - particularly if you enjoyed specialist maths - then you I think you will really enjoy this unit, as it basically completes elementary calculus and generalizes it quite nicely - although you will only do it for xyz space. If you want to do it for n space you will have to take real analysis and do some pure maths.

Also, I highly recommend anyone studying calculus use Pauls Online Maths Notes, its a fantastic resource and helped me a huge amount in this unit. I wish I had discovered it earlier. http://tutorial.math.lamar.edu/
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: ShortBlackChick on November 06, 2013, 09:37:06 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2626 - Global Disasters: Impact, Inquiry and Change (Recoded in 2014 as ATS3626 - Global Disasters: Catastrophe and Social Change)

Workload: 1x 90 min Lecture, 1x 1 hour tutorial

Assessment: 1000 word Disaster report, (20%) 2500 word Research Essay, (50%) In-class test, (20%) Tutorial Attendance and Participation. (10%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture etc.

Past exams available:  No, the In-class test doesnt really count as an exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  Unit reader, available from bookshop for ~$26

Lecturer(s): Dr Susie Protschky

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 2

Rating:  3.5 of 5

Comments:
I really enjoyed this unit, as it was structured well and gave way for discussion into disasters in a very in-depth and socially focused manner, including looking at why certain groups of people are more vulnerable to disasters and how they are impacted by them. The unit also emphasised on how Disasters and Disaster victims were portrayed by media outlets and the attitude towards them by wider societies. The lectures essentially provided a background for the readings and the analysis undertaken, especially where case studies were used. Tutes provided an outlet for the ideas in the readings to be discussed and debated, but I suppose at times could be quite a abysmal discussion considering the topics we discussed. I didnt really like the first assignment, where you had to link 3 of the first few readings and the arguments dicussed in them to a particular Natural Disaster. Pro-tip: Chose a Disaster wisely, search if there are relevant articles written on it, in relevance to the topics you need to talk about. I didnt do this and as a result I ended up talking about how Sunrise was an effective media outlet with regard to the 2011 Brisbane flood and how they essentially personalised the news and involved their audience :o Not necessarily the in-depth discussion I wanted to have, nonetheless, got a D for that assignment. (Pro-tip: Dont hand your work in 7 days late and lose 15 marks) For second years, the essay question for the Research Essay is provided. (If you do this unit 3rd year, you have to create your own essay topic) Essay topics are fairly straightforward, however I struggled to stay within the word limit. (Apparently it was a hard limit, . Also, Phy124 saw my tutor marking my essay on the bus LOL) In-class test is for an hour, except at Clayton, Susie SOMEHOW did not realise the lecture room was too small, and 20 people had to do it in a different room. Leaving spaces between each student? LOL yea totes. Anywho, it had 2 sections to it, the first was 5 short answers where you had to write 100 words each, which OMG is so hard when there's so much to say, then there was a extended response essay of 500 words, and the 3 questions to chose from were given out in the last lecture/tute. Lecturer was nice? Dunno only went to one lecture. Tutes were awesome, readings were worthwhile most of the time, tutor was coolbeans!!

tl;dr This unit is awesome, do it peeps.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: TommyLie on November 07, 2013, 01:05:48 am
Subject Code/Name: MAE1042 - Introduction to Aircraft Structures and Dynamics

Workload:  3 hours of lectures per week and one 2 hour tutorial. We had a one hour lecture on Monday and a two hour lecture on Tuesday. Personally I the workload in this unit very manageable, there was nothing revolutionary in the content that required hours of study to understand so it was just a matter of doing the tutes Q's and attending lectures and a bit of study to write up some notes. Quite a reasonable workload in my opinion.

Assessment:  We had a field trip that was worth 10% (It was easy to get 100% on this, all you had to do was walk around a museum and answer a multiple choice question sheet. All the answers were in the museum). The then tutorials were worth 10% in total as well - each being worth 0.5%. Further, all you had to do in order to get 100% in the tutes was ATTEMPT 70% or more of the questions. The exam was worth 80%.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes. But I never used them.

Past exams available:  There were none because at the time I took this unit, it had just been completely restructured in terms of content. So old MAE1042 exams were not relevant. However, Wenyi provided many worked examples in lectures, and there was the tutorial Q's. Also, much of the content was the same as Engineering Dynamics and Engineering Structures, so you could use these exams as practice.

Textbook Recommendation:  To be honest, most people probably won't need the textbook. Wenyi had all relevant theory on the lecture slides. This unit was much more about being able to solve the problems - there really wasn't that much theory to go with it. However, if you want to learn things in as much depth as possible (As I did), then I would recommend any Engineering Dynamics and statics textbooks (I used the ones by Meriam and Kraige, but Wenyi recommended the ones by Hibbler. It doesn't really matter though, as these these subjects are very traditional and wont really change from textbook to textbook). For the small airframe analysis component, a recommended reading is Understanding Aircraft Structures by Jeremy Liber.

Lecturer(s): Wenyi Yan

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, sem 2

Rating:  4.9 out of 5

Comments: Personally, I was very impressed with the way this unit was executed. This was the first time Wenyi had taught it, and he had changed the content quite drastically. But his lecturing was of a high caliber and he presented everything concisely and clearly. He did many examples in each lecture, which for the topics being taught is a must.

The tutes were always pretty straight forward and always drawn from the textbook. Although spending 2 hours of your life each week obtaining 0.5% may not sound fun, you will likely learn a lot from going. The tutors are also very helpful and Wenyi was at every one of them.

The content taught in this unit was, as the title suggests, introductory Engineering Statics and Dynamics with a small component of aircraft structure nomenclature and history. Its nothing all that exciting, but its is necessary to have a good foundation in these topics as an Aerospace & Mechanical Engineer.

For the aircraft structure and history part, we basically were taught about the famous pioneers of aerospace engineering and their contributions (About 1 - 2 lectures in total), then we spent 1 lecture on the anatomy of aircraft airframes - basically just nomenclature and nothing more.

For the statics component, we studied:

For the dynamics component, we studied:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: pi on November 12, 2013, 08:36:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED2042 - Medicine 4

Workload: per week: 10 x 1hr lectures + 3 x 2 hr prac + 2 x 2 hr tutorials + 3.5 hr PBL (Problem Based Learning tutoria) + 6 hr CBP (Community Based Placement - ends at around Week 10)

Assessment: For the year - 10% Mid-Semester Test, 6.8% Social Determinants of Health Group Assignment, 2.55% CBP Reflective Essay and Learning Journal, 0.85% CBP Academic Advisor Assessment, 10% End of Year Written Examination, 20% OSCE Examination (formative assignments include practical write-ups, anatomy "flag races" and system quizzes). Important to note that there is also another examination, the dreaded VIA, but this will be covered in my review of MED2000.

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture that includes lectures notes being written on

Past exams available: No, the Faculty has now published a document with threats to expel students from the course if they are caught compiling past questions or distributing or using past compilations. All past compilations have been removed from the MUMUS site.

Textbook Recommendation:
* means essential; ^ means a text not recommended by the Faculty but one I thought was amazing

Lecturer(s): Many, depending on the series of lecture (reproductive, haematology, neurology, psychiatry, pharmacology, pathology, etc.)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
The workload is similar to last year (30+ contact hours and so forth), but this is by far the most interesting unit and the last unit at the Clayton Campus.

As with the rest of the course, the unit is divided into four parts (or themes of study):
Theme I: Personal and Professional Development
Theme II: Population, Society, Health and Illness
Theme III: Foundations of Medicine
Theme IV: Clinical Skills

Similarly with first year and last semester, of the four themes, I (and the vast majority of the cohort) found themes III and IV to be the most enjoyable. However not only were they enjoyable, they were conceptually the hardest too. The physiology is far more advanced and there is much more to remember and the exams become more serious and more weighted. Again, fantastic relation to clinical practice as we refine our basic physical examinations and develop an understanding of examining all the major systems. Again, there is the burden of Themes I and II (including the surprisingly enjoyable Law and Ethics!), however to a much lesser degree, making this unit even more enjoyable.

This unit essentially focuses on a few bodily systems, namely: reproductive, haematology, psychiatry and neurology. Each system provides it's own challenges as you delve into the physiology, gross anatomy, pharmacology and clinical manifestations, however it was well agreed upon that neurology was by far the most content heavy and the End of Year examination is nearly entirely neurology.

As with previous units, the bulk of the physiology is taught in the lectures and it is expected that students take the initiative to fill in the blanks in your own time. The anatomy is taught much the same as previous semesters, through dissections, prossections, radiology and tutes with surgical registrars. A new inclusion this semester was "flag races" during prossections which are formative and test your understanding of the anatomy, great to try and see where you stand in the cohort. Arguably the last chance to learn some gross anatomy without getting grilled by consultants, these are more valuable than ever.

We finalise our basic set of clinical skills in this unit learning: haematology (history and examination), reproductive (history), cranial nerves (examination), mental state examination, eye examination, ear and throat examination, interpretation of ECGs. There is also a large amount of revision of previous examinations in preparation for the final OSCE. As previously mentioned, group and team work becomes vital in these tutes and participation is the key to learning and preparation for the eventual OSCE.

This semester marks the end of the Community Based Placements (CBP), and I personally count this as one of the major pluses of my degree so far: enjoyed it to bits! As mentioned in my MED2031 review, I was at a special school and coming back from the full 14 weeks of the placement, I was really glad I was there. So much practical learning and some amazing and touching memories that I will hold close forever. Definitely recommend taking full advantage of these placements and enjoy them.

An academic downside for me was a series of lectures on "Knowledge Management". Although I didn't actually attend any of them or watch/listen to them online or read the slides, I hear they were largely useless. Any questions from here can be winged on the exam with no troubles.

Otherwise lectures are still at a high standard, and as captivating and interactive (except for Knowledge Management). I particularly enjoyed the neurophysiology lectures, defnitely recommended to attend those. As with before, questions are allowed to be asked before, during and after the lectures, and all lecturers are more than happy to respond to emails afterwards. The lecture notes/slides given are also of a decent standard and it is possible to pass the unit solely using these. There is no attendance requirement for this unit, however it is expected that students attend all lectures (most lectures are nearly full, so that shows the quality of what is given).

In terms of the hurdle requirements, there are two: the End of Year Exam and the final OSCE. The MED2000 component is also a hurdle. Passing these are compulsory to passing the unit (and hence the year) and failure to do so will result in your repeating of the year (although there are some supplementary exams as with MED1022!). 

As mentioned in my previous review, study groups are amazing. Continuing my Year I/II study group was excellent revision and good to see yourself making a difference. The Year II/III study groups were again invaluable resources, and I can't thank my Third Years anough for their support and resources.

Social side took a back-seat for much of the semester with the heavy work-load and large exams coming. Having said that, there is time to party and post-exams there are AXPs and so forth to indulge in. One noteable exception is the MUMUS Medball, which was simply amazing.

This unit sees the end of pre-clinical medicine and peaks in intensity towards the end. Very enjoyable and worth every moment :) Come at us hospitals :D
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: pi on November 12, 2013, 08:50:31 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED2000 - Year 1 and 2 Final Grade

Workload: N/A, this unit consists of a single examination and occurs throughout the first two years. There is a VIA revision lecture every week run by MUMUS.

Assessment: As per the name of this unit, it combines the first two years of the MBBS into one grade:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: No (for the VIA), the Faculty has now published a document with threats to expel students from the course if they are caught compiling past questions or distributing or using past compilations. All past compilations have been removed from the MUMUS site.

Textbook Recommendation:
* means essential; ^ means a text not recommended by the Faculty but one I thought was amazing

Lecturer(s): Various presenters depending on revision topic being discussed.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
This is an unconventional "unit". Essentially it is one exam that demonstrates knowledge from Years I and II, so it's a pretty important exam (the second VIA is done after Year IV).

Preparation for the VIA is essential as it has a massive weighting, and everyone had a different style and approach. Personally I found re-writing notes on each system and topic to be useful with not too much reference to textbooks, however what is important is that you don't leave it to the last moment.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: michak on November 12, 2013, 09:59:13 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1873 - Introduction to International Relations

Workload: 2 x 1 hour lectures and 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week

Assessment:
•Comparative analysis 15%, 1000 words - two topics were provided and for each topic you were given two different articles covering that topic (this year we got the Syria crisis and nuclear weapons). As it states you had to compare the two articles arguments coming to the conclusion on which one argues the case the best. The sample pieces were provided for guidance which were extremely helpful. The big problem for a lot of people was they wrote their essay like a language analysis in school in that the compared the stylistic approach by the authors. This task doesn’t care what they have used to persuade you but looking at the argument itself and its credibility, what info have they left out etc. This piece helps you quite a bit for the major essay as valuable feedback is provided.
•Major essay 35%, 1500 words – 12 topics were provided one for each week. Topics were pretty straightforward and some a bit open ended allowing you to explore the topic from various angles if you wished.
•Tutorial participation/speech 15% - this was broken up into two parts. Tutorial participation and as the name states no marks were awarded for just showing up. My tutor was always stressing that he is very stingy with these marks and everyone must contribute to the discussion. The second part was a debate topic that you had to present. This involved picking one of the topics from the various weeks and present an argument with a powerpoint presentation arguing your point.
•Exam 35% - 2 hours in the exam period. First part requires you to write an essay on one of three topics. The topics were on the theories we looked – realism, liberalism and wold systems theory/Marxism. Second part is you are given 12 short answer questions in which you write on 6.

Recorded lectures: Yes

Past exams: Yes all the way back to like the late 90s but only the last few years are relevant as they changed the structure of the exam.

Textbook recommendation: there is one recommended but don’t buy, will be a waste of money. It’s good for extra reference but that it just borrow from library if needed.

Lecturers:
•Remy Davison is the main lecturer and he is really good. His powerpoints are laden with info but he doesn’t just read off of them. He gives many examples to go with the theory and unlike some other lecturers he generally enjoys what he is talking about. And he cracks jokes at everyone including university.
•Justin Shearer who is one of the tutors takes one of the lecturers and some other guy takes one as well.

Year & Semester of Completion: 2013, Semester 2.

Rating: 5/5

Your Mark: TBA

Comments:
•In terms of an introductory unit I thought this subject was brilliant.
•To start with you look at the major theories in world politics such as realism, liberalism, Marxism, world systems theory and all their variants. Next you move onto a new topic for each lecture. We looked at things like security, sovereignty, failed states, nuclear weapons, cold war, nationalism, United Nations, humanitarian intervention, human rights and others. Keep in mind that you spend only 50 minutes on each topic so you don’t look at them in depth but as an overview it was quite good. As a side note a lot of these subjects can be studied in later year such as security studies which is a whole 2nd year unit.
•Because of the array of topics some were more boring than others but there should be something there for everyone.
•In terms of assignments they are pretty standard for an Arts subject. They weren’t overly hard and my tutor provided brilliant feedback which is always good.
•For the tutes I had Justin and I would highly recommend him. The guy is like 25 but he is extremely knowledgeable on a lot of areas and he brought up some brilliant discussions. The discussions in this tutorial were so thought provoking that I actually enjoyed going and everyone was actually willing to provide their own input – something you don’t get in all tutes. I have also heard good things about the other tutors.
•In all a superb subject that was really well organised and run and would recommended it to other people.
•Also if you were wondering knowing and keeping up with world events is always advantageous in just everyday life but it isn’t necessary to do well in this subject. 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: JinXi on November 14, 2013, 12:23:24 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAE2403: Aerospace Computational Mechanics

Workload: 3x 1hr lectures, 1x 2hr labs (Not compulsory to attend)

Assessment: 30% Labs (3+6+6+7+8 % - 1 lab report due per 2 weeks approx.), 70% Exams

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture etc.

Past exams available: Many dating back to 2007. (Search for MAE3403 which was the previous unit code)

Textbook Recommendation:  YOU'RE IN 2ND YEAR AND STILL ASKING THIS QUESTION?

Lecturer(s): Prof. Murray Rudman

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Sem 2

Rating: 3 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Exams tomorrow. Procrastinating now.

Comments: Alright confession time I hardly went to any of the lectures at all as they put me to sleep. It isn't that Murray is a bad lecturer but its just there's WAAAay too much information on the slides and he tends to skips algebraic steps when going over the methods (which he has to or we'll run out of time). Also, I felt that the way to learn was to practice the methods instead of reading and listening. Attendance at the few lectures I went to were limt -> 8:00am Attendance = 0. We had around 80 people in the course and we'll get 15-20 people on a good day according to my friends that attends lectures.

Anyway the content taught in this unit was fairly useful and definitely challenging. Labs takes a huge amount of time to complete and you will want to punch the computer at times. Definitely one of the harder second year unit. Try not to fall behind in this unit as the content isn't easily crammed during swotvac as I'm realizing now...
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on November 14, 2013, 06:31:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHS1022 - Physics

Workload:  3x1 hr lectures and a 3 hr lab each week

Assessment: It's broken up a bit, so to list them
 - 20% Lab work (10 labs+1 presentation, includes prelabs)
 - 5% Formal Report
 - 3% written problem set
 - 7% Mastering Physics Assignments
 - 7% Mid-semester test
 - 58% Exam (yes, 58, such an odd (we'll even but the other kind of odd) number)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, 2011 and onwards are more relevant, we had two of those with solutions. Pre-2011 there were two exams instead of one, and we got 5 sets of 2 with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  You don't really need it, but anyways: Physics for Scientists & Engineers 3ed

Lecturer(s):
 - Rotation & Gravitation: Dr Istvan Laszlo
 - Electricity & Fields: Dr Shane Kennedy
 - Magnetism & Fields: Dr Istvan Laszlo
 - Quantum Physics: Professor Michael Morgan (Head of the School of Physics)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2 2013

Rating:  3.8 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 - HD

Comments: Overall this unit is alright, I don't particularly like physics so it goes without saying that since I partly enjoyed it that it's probably a good unit. I didn't go to lectures after the mid-semester test, which wasn't because of the lecturers but more because I just got lazy. You have clickers for this unit, that is you can go and borrow a clicker at the start of the semester, and throughout the lectures they'll ask questions, which you respond with your multiple choice option, then a chart comes up with the lectures %'s for each option. I decided not to get one, because I had a clash with 2 out of 3 lectures a week (so I was only physically going to one lecture a week for physics), but it seemed like a good idea.

The labs aren't too hard, as long as you keep on top of things. It's mostly groups of three, and every 4 weeks your group members change. In the first two blocks I was in a group of 2, which I feel we might have got marked a little easier because we had one less set of hands to do things. Towards the end there is a lab where you get to pick from a series of labs, you're not given a procedure but have to come up with your own idea and method on how to test the question or concept that you're given. Then 2 weeks later you give a 5 minute presentation as a group on what your experiment was, results and what you can conclude from it e.t.c. (For this I was in a group of three, but we had one member not show up and so had to wing a third of the presentation, if you know your material and sound like you know what you're doing then you'll do well. Even be a bit enthusiastic, the demonstrator seemed to like that for our presentation).

Some of the concepts might be a bit challenging, and hard to get your head around. The quantum section gets kind of tough at the end, but I seemed to enjoy it once it all made sense and fell into place. The breakdown of the exam was as follows:
Gravitation/Rotational     12.78%
Electrostatics                   26.11%
Magnetism                       30.56%
Quantum Mechanics         30.56%
Which meant that exam was weighted more towards the Electromagnetism part of the course.

Overall, I think if you keep on top of things you should be fine, but if you don't then it's crammable given that you put the hard yards in during swotvac (probably not a good idea though).

EDIT: Post number 3141 *cough* 3.141(592653589793.....) *cough* (and no I'm not rounding it up to 3.142)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: spaciiey on November 16, 2013, 07:37:15 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS3887/APG4887 - Designing Urban Futures: Urban Climate, Water and Adaptation

Workload:  2x 1 hour lectures
1 fortnightly(ish) 2 hour prac

Assessment: 

3rd year students:
Lit review -- 25%
Prac reports -- 3x 5%
Research essay -- 30%
Exam -- 30%

4th year students:
Lit review -- 20%
Prac reports -- 3x 5%
Class presentation -- 15%
Research essay -- 25%
Exam -- 25%

Recorded Lectures:  yes

Past exams available:  1 in the past exams database.

Textbook Recommendation: No single set text, but there is a reading list. If you're that interested you could probably find relevant stuff in the library.

Lecturer(s): Nigel Tapper, (many!) various guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2 2013

Rating:  1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA, probably a D

Comments: I don't even know where to begin. I guess I should say here: don't bother doing this unit, it's sh!t. I really did try to like this unit but there weren't any redeeming qualities, apart from the fact that the pracs are easy marks.

Okay, let's start from the start. The lectures were crap and this unit had no real structure. There were far too many guest lecturers and Nigel Tapper was, well, hardly around. Trying to get in contact with him was a royal pain in the arse and it took forever to get ANY work back at all. Case in point -- I handed in my research essay in Week 11, and I didn't get it back until the 14th of November -- the day before the exam. No one got any feedback, just a numerical grade number. The fact that most of the unit was made up of guest lecturers meant that there was no real cohesion, and a lot of confusion as to what was actually examinable/how we could be assessed on the stuff. There was maybe 3 or 4 weeks of actual content, and the rest of it felt like a long and drawn out advertisement for Nigel's CRC for Water Sensitive Cities. There was SOME interesting content, I'll grant it that, but a lot of it was a repeat of first and second year and to be honest, I got by with a basic understanding of climate science and common sense.

The lit review was annoying. They gave out the topic at the start of semester, but beyond that we weren't given any clues as to how to actually do it. Furthermore, it was not made clear to us that we were not to write on the topic that we were given, rather we were meant to take that topic and narrow it down so it could be refined into a 'better' topic. That would have been fine... if we were told we had to do it. As a result, a lot of us crashed and burned simply because we misunderstood what was wanted. Oh, and the marking criteria wasn't released until a day or two before it was due... but then when we got our essays back, a DIFFERENT marking criteria was used, so there was plenty of potential to lose marks in categories that didn't previously exist (like including an abstract!).

As for the research essay, well... we were given more help to work on it as opposed to the lit review, but not much more help. You're supposed to look at the data they give you and come up with a research question, answer it, etc. It was annoying because communication in the unit was really poor -- there was an extension given out at the last minute to everyone, but it was so poorly publicised that most of us were unaware until after we handed our stuff in. I've done research essays before and generally quite like them, but this one was just a pain.

Exam was straightforward, stock standard essay writing and a handful of definitions.

I was enrolled as a third year, not a fourth year, so I can't comment on how difficult the class presentation is to put together, but by the looks of things it seemed an easy way to get marks, so I'm kind of spewing that the third years weren't given a similar opportunity. Plus, if you enrol in this unit at 4th year level, all of your individual assessments are weighted less so I guess it's an advantage.

TL;DR unless they revamp this unit and get someone else in, don't bother. This unit sucked, and this is coming from someone that likes geography!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: spaciiey on November 18, 2013, 08:30:17 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2779 - Climate Change and Variability 

Workload:  2x 1 hour lectures per week, plus fortnightly 2 hour pracs

Assessment:  prac reports -- 6x 5% = 30%
writing task -- 35%
exam 35%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  None (see comments), but the review lecture gave a good indication of what the exam would be like.

Textbook Recommendation: Global Warming by Houghton. It's certainly useful but not absolutely necessary.

Lecturer(s): Ailie Gallant

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2 2013

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: I was a bit apprehensive going into this unit because it got a bit of a bad rep... but I was very pleasantly surprised. This is the first year that Ailie taught this unit and she did an excellent job. She is engaging, passionate about her work, a good teacher and very helpful (and made a good solid effort to learn everyone's names). We covered stuff about past climate variability, current climate variability, stuff about projections, modelling climate, and how various government bodies responded (or have not responded) to climate change. Although I'd seen some of the content before, quite a bit of it was new to me and so it was very interesting. I liked learning about it. There's a lot of content and the lectures are a tad fast, so if you're not a good note taker you might struggle a bit.

The only reason that I docked a mark off of my rating was that at the start of the semester the practicals were BAD. We had two hour classes but the amount of work we were supposed to do in them was really not possible. Also, there were major discrepancies in marking between tutors -- those who were in Ailie's prac class were marked generously but everyone else was marked (very!) harshly. However once it was found out, all of our marks were adjusted and our pracs became shorter too and turned out to be quite enjoyable. Mostly it's computer work in Excel, sifting through various data and answering questions based on it.

The other thing I didn't like was that stuff took FOREVER to come back to us. Though halfway through the unit the person taking the prac classes ditched and so Ailie took ALL of the classes on, so maybe that's why. The general consensus was that she was such a nice person that we couldn't mind *too* much, but if you're anal-retentive about getting work back on time you'll probably be a bit annoyed.

The writing task was quite fun, you picked a Wikipedia article on climate science and critiqued it in 2000 words, which is different from your standard geography essay. Naturally I picked something relatively short that had a fair few errors so I could spend most of my time saying that websites are not good sources of academic information. It was a bit of a drain to individually read and critique each reference though.

I found myself doing a fair amount of work for this unit, but overall it was nicely structured and there was a clear progression between topics. Lectures were engaging (though a very small turnout, probably because of previous years?) and so in order to I think encourage attendance we had 'bonus questions' that were asked during lectures, and we could answer them later for a once-off reward of 3 free marks to the best answer. A good idea in theory, but in practice it meant that people attended lectures until they got their bonus marks and they stopped coming.

The exam was straight forward, 5 short answer questions and 3 mini-essays. I found it to be very fair. No past exams because the unit has apparently been revamped, so past exams would have been a bit useless anyways. It's easy to pass this unit but if you want to do well you need to put in some effort. Overall I really liked this unit and I'd recommend it, especially if Ailie continues to take this unit next year.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on November 19, 2013, 07:18:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2132 - The Nature and Beauty of Mathematics

Workload:  1x1 hr lecture and 1x2 hr lecture a week (that's it!)

Assessment:
25% - Weekly Problem Sets which are handed in during the next week's 2 hr lecture
25% - 1500 word 'Essay' - It's more of a maths article where you pick something you're interested in, talk about it, explain it and show the maths
50% - Exam

Recorded Lectures: No.

Past exams available:  Not exactly a past exam, but a list of 120 questions. 80% of the exam will be these exact questions. (No solutions or answers to them though).

Textbook Recommendation: Don't have to buy anything, but Burkard's book 'Q.E.D.: Beauty in Mathematical Proof' is pretty good for what I've seen of it.

Lecturer(s): A/Prof Burkard Polster

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2 2013

Rating: 6 Out of 5 (not a typo)

Your Mark/Grade: 86 - HD

Comments: This has been the most enjoyable unit that I've completed so far, and it'll take a fair bit to top it, (I really think it'll stay my most enjoyable unit). While the maths itself in the unit isn't hard (basic maths really as a lot of students from other faculties take it as an elective, e.g. arts comm e.t.c), the approach to learning is different than most units. It's not just a 'here's the method/formula, plug and chug/apply', it requires more out of the box thinking in some situations.

Each week you'll get a problem set due in the next week's 2 hr lecture. These problems aren't too hard, and since there was more people taking the unit this year only one or two problems were marked out of the 4 each week. We weren't told which problems though, so you still had to do all of them really. Some of them will be a little... shall we say, different from what you're used to. That is you might have a basic algebraic manipulation from some kid of diagram to prove something, or you might need to take a photo of yourself with a hexaflexagon to prove you've made it, or even making a cube withing a cube with bubbles (you get the ingredients for the mixture you need to make). This may sound all odd, but there are mathematical principles behind it all, and really it's a lot of fun as well. There was a cool trick that you could do with the bubble mixture, setting your hands on fire without actually setting them on fire, which some of you might have seen ended up on Stalkerspace.

For the essay, don't make it hard on yourself, start early. At least have a good idea and do a bit of an investigation into it early on in the semester. Pick something your interested in and try and find a bit of math in your everyday life. It's due just before the midsem break (so that he can mark them over the midsem break).

Throughout the semester Burkard will show you a fair few mathematical movie/tv clips, which you'll find a few of them here http://www.qedcat.com/movieclips/index.html
Also you should check out his and Marty's (one of the guys who takes UMEP, also Burkard takes MUEP classes) website, always good for a bit of thought provoking procrastination: http://www.qedcat.com/.

Finally the exam itself, while the unit is not a hard unit, you'll need to remember a fair few theorems and concepts/ideas for the exam. I left it until a bit too late to start memorising and committing these to memory, start early if you can. Doing the list of questions he gives you is good practice for the exam (as half of them are the actual exam questions). Also the questions that were on the problem sets may come up again in the exam, my friends and I kinda assumed that they wouldn't since they were already on the problem set, and well lost a few marks when the popped up on the exam as we didn't revise them.

All in all, a great unit, I'll list the topics as follows.
• Symmetry (regular solids, tilings, Escher, ruler-and-compass, origami)
• Fibonacci numbers and Golden Ratio
• Optimal design (soap bubble maths, minimal networks)
• Mathematical soul capturing (the maths of juggling and lacing shoes)
• Visualising the 4th dimension
• The shape of space (Möbius bands, Klein bottles, "pacman" spaces)
• Infinity.

I should point out that he uses a lightsaber as a pointer, and the content and demonstrations will always keep you interested. Anyways, check out a juggling demonstration that he did for open day this year (you'll get to see it again during lectures), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zabtIAUKVXY.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: b^3 on November 20, 2013, 02:49:08 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2032 - Differential Equations with Modelling

Workload:  3x1 hr lectures, 1x2 hr tute per week

Assessment:  3x5% Assignments (The second two are 'reports' on excel modelling PDEs), 5x2% Quizzes, 15% Mid Semester Test, 60% exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, as per the Mathematics Faculty policy, 2 exams but only 1 with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation: You don't need it, (but if you're that keen: E. Kreysig, Advanced Engineering Mathematics (9th edition).

Lecturer(s): Weeks 1-6: Dr Jerome Droniou, Weeks 7-12: Rosemary Mardling

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2 2013

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 82 - HD

Comments: I enjoyed this unit, although at times there are some small annoyances. For the first 6 weeks under Jerome you will need to be meticulous in your working, and will need to write what you're doing for each step (i.e. "We have a second order linear homogeneous ODE (Ordinart Differential Equation)", <show the equation>. "Using the variation of parameter method" <show working>. Missing after introducing a constant of proportionality can lose you a mark, as well as if you don't have the right keyword in your explanation. i.e. I lost a mark on tests for not stating "By superposition" when finding the particular solution for a Second Order Linear Non-Homogenous ODE with constant coefficients. So yeah, what I'm getting at is you have to be picky with everything for the first six weeks. For the second six weeks, you can be fairly lazy in this regard, as Rosemary doesn't mind as much.

You won't be able to learn enough by just going to lectures. It's better to sit down with the lecture notes and go through and work out a method for each type of question, with the overhead slides from the lecture complimenting this. With that being said, I stopped going to lectures after week 7, but that was not because of Rosemary, (she was actually pretty good for the few I went to).

The averages for the 2% tests were all over the place, with some being med-high and others being really low. They're a good trial run though, as the questions are very similar to the mid-semester test (which is only on Jerome's content). The first assignment is like any other normal maths assignment, while the latter two will require you to come to the tute to do some work on excel (or Matlab or w.e. you wan't really), to model a situation regarding PDEs. The first is just about modelling a wave with a Fourier Series. The second is on the Heat Equation, so the heat transfer through a 1-dimensional rod and how it varies through time, modelling the temperature distribution with a Fourier Series.

Most people found the exam itself quite hard, and it was above average in the end. You probably won't be short on time, but will get to some questions and go "well,.. what... where am I even meant to start?". There was a 10 mark question (out of 99 marks, so around ~10%), that not many (if any) were able to get. Your best be for preparing is to make sure you know how to apply each method to solve an ODE, and memorise the few theorems that you will encounter throughout the unit, then do past exams and you should be fine.

Topics for those who are interested.

Weeks 1-6
 - First order ODEs - Separable, Linear, Exact, ODEs of Homogeneous Type
 - Existence and uniqueness of solutions      
 - Modelling with first order ODEs - Radiocarbon Dating, Newton's law of cooling, Gravity Currents, Curves of Pursuit, Kinetic Chemistry, Population Dynamics
 - Recasting ODEs of order into systems of first order ODEs
 - Numerical Solution of ODEs - Euler's method, Heun's method, error analysis and rounding errors
 - Second oarder ODEs- Existence and uniqueness of solutions, method for second order linear homogeneous ODEs, constant and non-constant coefficients cases
 - Free, Forced, Damped, Undamped Oscillations
 - Second Order ODEs - Non-homogeneous case - The method of undetermined coefficients, variation of parameters
 - Reduction of order methods
 - Series solutions of linear ODEs and Power Series Solutions

Weeks 7-12
 - Partial Differential Equations
 - Fourier Series
 - The Heat Equation
 - The Advection Equation
 - The Wave Equation

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: alondouek on November 20, 2013, 06:58:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: BIO1022 - Biology II

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. As with BIO1011, there is no practice exam supplied. However, a 'Revision Superquiz' (100 MCQs) is avaliable in the ~2 weeks prior to the exam from a bank of ~500 questions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Campbell Biology 9th Edition (the same textbook as for BIO1011) - 8th Edition is pefectly fine as of 2013.

Lecturer(s):
Dr. Heather Verkade (Molecular Biology)
Dr. Marien de Bruijne (Metabolism/Thermoregulation/Nervous System)
Dr. Christopher Johnstone (Homeostasis/Muscular-Skeletal Systems/Nutrition and Digestion)
Dr. Bob Wong (Hormones/Reproduction/Animal Development)
Dr. Meredith Hughes (Microbiology Lectures 1-3)
A/Prof. Frank Alderuccio (Microbiology Lecture 4)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: Objectively, this is quite a good unit, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd expected to (because a lot of it was just stuff we'd already covered to a greater extent in Biomed), though it was definitely an improvement on BIO1011 - presumably because there was no plant biology whatsoever ;D . The content was very good, and as always the lecturers were brilliant. Special mention to Chris Johnstone and Bob Wong, who were particularly entertaining.

If you've done VCE biology and BIO1011 (and you've definitely done the second one if you're doing this unit), then you shouldn't find the theory particularly difficult at all, though some of the content is new or in greater detail. For me, the most challenging stuff was Animal Development as I hadn't been exposed to the material before, and Reproduction for the same reason (these are both very anatomy- and developmental biology-based, so it's good to get a bit of background from the internet/readings first).

The most important advice I can impart for this unit is to do all readings BEFORE the lectures and labs (i.e. during the weekend). The textbook is really good, and the biology department makes a strong point throughout the semester that the material is examinable, and it's extremely useful otherwise. However, if you honestly don't have the time you can definitely get by on the lecture notes - they're very detailed and the exam is perfectly manageable from just these (as in, there's nothing examined that's not at least briefly mentioned in the lectures).

The labs are good, except the "E-Rat" lab (an "online rat dissection" which was optimised for windows '95 and didn't work for most people) which was a trainwreck. For labs where you need to write a report - and for the essay - follow the guidelines they provide you on Moodle VERY closely, even if you've learnt different ways of doing these things in other subjects. They will be very tough on you mark-wise otherwise.

There are a lot of assessment tasks that you need to keep track of like the MBio quizzes and the Moodle Tests. I personally recommend a calendar or a reminder system of sorts to keep on top of all these things - otherwise it can be very overwhelming, especially in the context of all your other units.

The exam is the same structure as in BIO1011, i.e. 144 MCQs (~6 from each lecture) in 2.5 hours. I studied by making fairly detailed summaries of each lecture, which ended up being 106 pages long. If you can find a better way of studying than this, PLEASE do it. I have never been so exhausted that when I finished those summaries.

This is a prerequisite unit for all life-science majors, and it's a pretty good one at that. It's even better if you're studying non-biology based things as well, because it'll provide a good amount of diversity to your studies.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: alondouek on November 20, 2013, 09:59:57 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1042 - Biomedical Science and Society

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, quite a few from 2009 backwards on the Monash exam database.

Textbook Recommendation:

Lecturer(s):

Biostatistics:

Epidemiology: (many guest lecturers)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  5 out of 5 (I'd give it more if I could lol)

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: I went into this unit expecting it to be terrible. Was I wrong! Many people didn't like this unit because they didn't consider it 'hard science' like most of our other biomed units, but I loved it. Even biostatistics was good, though it's usually a struggle.

I'll comment on this units in two parts with individual grades (epidemiology/public health and biostatistics), given that it was essentially two distinct areas combined into one unit.

Biostatistics - 3.5 out of 5
Biostats was admittedly a little bit boring, but it was made up for by the fact that the material was taught well and that it was obviously all relevant to vital procedures in biomedical and medical practice. Baki is a great guy and he really, REALLY knows his stuff - he's got such a great sense of humour (said in the first lecture that he'll respond to "Great Baki") and was such an interactive lecturer that he really got us interested in the biostatistics side of things. My only complaint is that he has a really thick Bangladeshi accent which was a little tough for white guys like me (hahahaha) to understand at first, but he makes up for this by going over everything in a logical, repeated and explanatory manner so you're not left behind. Plus, you get used to his accent after a couple of lectures. (Baki catchphrases to note: "Jiro" (= zero), "oh ma gahd").

The biostats material was as follows:

You have one 2-hour tutorial for biostatistics per week, and this is super-important for learning the content in detail. Have a read of the module notes both before and after the tute, it'll help reinforce the large amount of material you need to understand.

The assessment for biostats (outside the exam) consists of:
1. 5 weekly(ish) pre-tute question sets that you do as a group with 2 other people in your tute. These can be a bit tricky, but as a group you'll figure them out quickly. Also, make sure all your wording is specific and always correct, because your tutors are definitely trying to take marks off (even 0.25 of a mark, as was seen multiple times throughout the semester haha) to make you develop the correct language for statistical reporting.

2. A group biostatistics assignment with the same people you do your pre-labs with. This is also quite challenging, as a couple of the questions are trickily worded so as to see if you can describe and use the correct statistical analysis method for the data at hand. It also involves the interpretation of SPSS output data, so make sure you understand these outputs.

Epidemiology - 10000000 out of 5 :P

Epidemiology blew me away totally, I have never found anything as fascinating as the stuff I learnt in this unit. I'm even taking a Summer Research Scholarship at the Monash SPHPM (Alfred) because I want to pursue it further. I've listed the breakdown of the epidemiology material above in the "lecturers" section. All these people (except Basia) were guest lecturers, and all of them (including Basia) were brilliant and really enjoyable to learn from. I also found it a lot more intuitive than biostatistics, but that might just be down to bias and my particular style of learning.

You have one 2-hour epidemiology tute per week, which goes over the lecture content in much greater detail, with examples etc. I had an amazing tutor (shout out to Breanna) who really helped me understand the principles behind epidemiology and how disease manifests itself both in the individual and the population, and how it can be studied. It was worth getting up for the 8am tute every Wednesday, didn't even consider missing it once.

The epidemiology side of assessment (excluding the exam) consists of:
1. An online assessment (done through Twitter) that involves playing the 'Dumb Ways to Die' game and posting an example of public health that you encounter every day.

2. 2 group orals done in your epi tutes; one is on ethics and the other on population health. These are pretty easy to do well in, especially if you've got a passionate group.

3. An individual written assessment, where you review a journal article on a public health/epidemiological issue and a corresponding media article relating to the journal article. This was really easy to do as you were allowed to directly answer it in a 'question-answer' format (i.e. you just had to answer the questions instead of making it an essay). I chose to write on a study exploring the efficacy of Bifrontotemporoparietal Decompressive Craniectomies in treating trauma patients versus the 'standard care' option of induced coma. I found this really enjoyable to do, and it really got me interested in the clinical side of biomedical sciences.



Aside from these, there was a Moodle MCQ test as our mid-semester. In hindsight, it wasn't too hard but the time allocated was almost universally stated by we students to be insufficient. It was a combination of all the biostats and epi theory we'd learnt up to that point.

This issue of time allocation carried through to the exam, which was only 2 hours long (should have been AT LEAST 2.5 hours). It consisted of two sections, the first being 30 MCQs for epidemiology (with a tiny bit of biostats theory blended in), and this took me no time at all; if you know your epi theory well it's a breeze. Then came the biostats section, which although being only 4 short-answer questions long was really a struggle. The biostats questions were pretty tough (spent 45 minutes on the first question alone), and I only just finished when the invigilators called "pens down". Most of the people I know weren't even able to finish, so I hope they review and change this for next year (I have a feeling they will).

Overall, spectacular unit that massively exceeded all of my expectations.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: nerdgasm on November 22, 2013, 01:04:13 am
Subject Code/Name: PHY2032 - Endocrine Control Systems 

PLEASE NOTE: The structure of this unit has changed a bit from when I did it in Semester 2, 2013. Some parts of the course (such as the exercise physiology bit) are probably not in this unit any more, as there has been a reshuffle of the 2nd year physiology units and their content. For information about the other second year physiology units in general (and what you need to take to complete a minor/major in physiology etc.), a place to start is here.

Workload:
3 x 1 hour lectures per week
1 x 3 hour lab per week (there were 6 weeks of labs when I did it, 4 of which were genuine lab sessions, 1 intro lab and 1 speech presentation).

Assessment:
Four online Moodle tests - 5% each (20%)
Two prac reports - 10% and 15% respectively (25%)
One prac test - 5%
One research oral presentation - 10%
1 final exam - 40%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with/screen capture.

Past exams available:  No, but many practice questions put up on Moodle and in the final lecture.

Textbook Recommendation:  E. P. Widmaier, H. Raff, K. T. Strang, Vander's Human Physiology - the mechanisms of body function (12ed. in Sem 2, 2013)

Not compulsory to buy. Did not use much during semester.

Lecturer(s):
Endocrinology: Yvonne Hodgson
Digestion: Rick Lang
Metabolism: Aneta Stefanidis and Sarah Lockie
Reproduction: Renea Taylor
Exercise: Wayne Sturrock and Farshad Mansouri

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 4/5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown at this point.

Comments: This unit is largely divided into five sections:

Endocrinology is about the various parts of the body that make up the endocrine system, how endocrine communication works, what types of hormones there are and what they do. The pancreas, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, adrenal gland and thyroid gland are discussed in addition to what hormones they secrete/are affected by, and their modes/patterns of secretion as well as their effects (for example, growth hormone, adrenaline, thyroid stimulating hormone and many more). An interesting lecture was spent on looking through an old scientific paper on the link between a hormone from the hypothalamus and one from the pituitary gland, and drawing conclusions from it.

Digestion is about what happens in our bodies from the moment we see food to the moment we finally remove the waste products. The general anatomy and structure of the digestive system (such as the composition of the GI tract walls) is discussed, as well as the enteric nervous system - almost like a 'second brain' in the gut. We also learnt about how digestion and absorption work in the stomach, small intestine and large intestine, and the different kinds of contractions of the gut, to push the food along. There was also a bit about how activity in one part of the gut can alter the behaviour of other parts of the gut.

Metabolism is about how the body actually uses and stores the nutrients we get from our food, as well as the many pathways by which different stores of energy are converted into each other, and also how different hormones can affect this. We also consider the various ways in which energy can be expended, such as through heat production and exercise. We look at the brain, and how it controls our appetite in response to our current body energy stores and condition. Finally, we look at disorders of metabolism, how these are defined, how we test for them and how we can treat them.

Reproduction is about the male and female reproductive system anatomy, the ovarian and uterine cycles, how eggs and sperm are formed, what happens before, during and after fertilisation, the hormonal changes and triggers associated with puberty, and finally what happens during pregnancy, in order to ensure that the fetus can survive. There was also a bit at the end about methods used in research to study the genes involved in reproduction and the survival of the embryo.

Exercise is about how the cardiovascular, respiratory and muscle systems work together to allow the body to meet the demands of exercise. As not everyone is familiar with all three systems from earlier units, some general physiology lectures are given to ensure everyone is up to speed, and then concepts such as oxygen debt, methods of generating energy during exercise, how different nutrients are used in different proportions, the recovery process and adaptations to exercise are covered.

This was a reasonable unit. While there was a fair bit of content to learn, the lecturers made a good effort to go through it in a logical order, which made learning things a bit easier, and a bit more fun. The prac work is done in groups (as usual), but what happens this time is that all members of a group will work together to write up a lab report of around 2000 words or so. There is some peer feedback for this, but usually people put in a decent effort to get it done, since all members of the group get the same mark (assuming no great anomalies in the peer feedback form).

One fun thing this semester was a group research project. Basically, at the start of semester, you get into a group of 4-6 people, and pick a topic that is somewhat related to the stuff you cover in lectures. Then over the next 5 weeks, you go and look up papers on the topic, and eventually give a 10 minute group presentation to everyone in your lab session, and field questions from lecturers, guests and students.

In terms of assessment, the online tests aren't of an impossible difficulty (apparently the average mark is around 80-85% across the four), and sitting down with your lecture notes to do them really helps.

The lab reports were also OK, they're the standard introduction-methods-results-discussion-conclusion type of thing. The main hurdle (for me at least) were the statistical tests - you have to do tests on the data you receive, to see if any of it is different enough within certain confidence intervals, and you do it on the physiology lab's preferred software, which isn't the easiest to navigate. Nevertheless, you do get sheets that explain how to run and interpret the tests.

The final exam is divided into 3 sections: multiple choice (based only on the Exercise part of the course, because we didn't get an online test in the semester for it), short answer (answering a number of short answer questions that can range from labelling/drawing a diagram to standard answering), and essay questions.

Basically, for the short answer and essay questions, you get a bunch of options, from which you pick a few. This helps in revision, because if you really want to, you can skip revising your weakest area, since you don't have to write on it. Apparently the essays are the worst-performing area for most students, Rick said "Tell us a story. Even if you don't get all the facts right, we would like you to tell us a story". So make a good effort to structure your essay, and probably avoid dot points unless you're really running out of time. The exam was reasonable, I was just a bit time pressured (from writing too much in my essays), but it wasn't a particularly large deal.

All in all, this was a nice physiology unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: nerdgasm on November 22, 2013, 04:36:38 pm
Subject Code/Name: DEV2022 - Principles of Organ and Body Design 

Workload:
2 x 1 hour lectures per week (occasionally 3 lectures per week)
1 x 3 hour lab per week (NOT compulsory, except for when you have to sit the midsem, but attendance is marked, see note below (*)

Assessment: 
Two online Moodle tests - 5% each (10%)
Oral presentation - 15%
Poster presentation - 5%
Mid-semester test - 20%
Final exam - 50%
(*) It was implied during prac class that good prac attendance can lead to a small "boosting" of your final mark, so that if you're on the border between two different letter grades, there is some chance that your final mark will end up on the higher of those two grades. I'm not sure if this actually happens or not. You did not hear any of this from me.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Not from the library database, but in the final week of semester, Jeff goes through the topics from past exams. So it's a really good idea to attend those final lectures!

Textbook Recommendation: 
B. M. Carlson, Human embryology and developmental biology (4ed. in Semester 1, 2013) is the prescribed textbook. However, the two other textbooks that were used throughout the course are General Anatomy by Norman Eizenberg, and Functional histology by Jeff Kerr.
None really required, except when you want to do some further reading or research.

Lecturer(s):
Jeff Kerr - takes the majority of lectures
Other lecturers include Helen Abud (GI tract), Ryan Wood-Bradley (Kidney), and some other lecturers who give one lecture each.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 3.8/5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown at this point.

Comments: This subject is a prerequisite for 3rd year DEV units. Also, it's a prereq for Melbourne Med and Dent, if anyone wants such a thing.

 It is about studying the anatomy of the human body, with a developmental viewpoint in mind. Firstly, we cover the most general anatomy of the body (anatomical terms, compartments of the body and limbs, general nerve innervation, extensor and flexor muscles, and the spinal vertebrae). Then we move onto the more focused anatomy, which takes in the skin, bones, thorax, lungs, heart, abdomen, gut, liver/pancreas/gallbladder, kidneys, nervous system and reproductive system. Yes, that sounds like a great deal of stuff. And it is (I'm sorry, there's no other way of putting this).

The anatomy we learn is less specific than what a person in a Medicine degree would study, for example. It is more about general concepts than learning about every single thing in the body. For example, when we consider a nerve plexus, we simply learn that certain divisions of the plexus will cause general types of movements, instead of learning what each of the divisions does specifically. We still look at things from a developmental perspective, however. This means that you're not really just memorising where everything fits in the body, but you learn about how the developmental processes lead to everything being in its 'proper place' in the adult. In addition, most lectures having a short section on congenital abnormalities, where development does not go as planned.

Jeff Kerr takes the majority of lectures. How he knows so much anatomy, I have absolutely no idea. He can give off the impression of being a "schoolmaster" type, and makes you feel like you're back in the classroom again (even our demonstrator agreed with this), but he is a very good lecturer who puts in the effort to explain many of the concepts we encounter in simple and logical terms. One thing about him is that he speaks fairly slowly (good if you like taking notes), and clears his throat a lot. The other lecturers are decent too. (I particularly like Ryan's quote, "I don't do lectures. Lectures are what your parents give you when you misbehave, and what they did to people in the Dark Ages who couldn't read.")

Remember how I said most weeks, we had 2 lectures? Well, it turns out that instead of a third lecture each week, we get these things called "SDLs", or Self-Directed Learning tasks. Basically, these consist of a series of pictures that have questions/labels for you to fill in, based on that week's lecture material. You then go and discuss the previous week's SDL in your lab class, where you get put in a group of around 20 or so students with one demonstrator. You're not expected to know how to fill everything in, but some demonstrators do try to encourage you to actually think about the question, rather than just telling you the answer. They're also a pretty good revision tool (more about this later).

The SDL discussion takes up the last hour of the three-hour labs. For the first two hours, usually there is a dissection of a particular organ to be done, along with answering questions based on posters, X-rays, specimens, etc. around the anatomy lab. You don't have to answer everything, and there are no marks attached to the actual pracs themselves, the pracs are just there to consolidate your knowledge, see some of the things in anatomy first-hand, and are a really good opportunity to talk to the demonstrators about any concepts you're struggling with. So even if you're not a big fan of dissection (I'm certainly not the most enthusiastic), there are good benefits to going, and you may just end up memorising one or two little facts or tricks (perhaps just by overhearing things or by osmosis) that will come in handy for assessments.

In terms of assessment, the Moodle tests are MCQ tests where you get shown a picture, and asked a question on it. They're not too bad if you have your lecture notes in front of you when you do them.

The oral presentation is where you get assigned a topic in Week 2, and you work with a partner to research and present a 10 minute talk/powerpoint presentation on your topic. These topics were fairly diverse, from frog morphogenesis, to muscle regeneration, to bone cells. After the talk, you get asked questions from your demonstrator and peers in your group. I did end up consulting my textbook for this presentation, as well as a number of scientific papers, so it's good for developing research skills. It was also somewhat interesting, and at 15% of your final mark, is definitely worth putting effort into.

The poster presentation is where you choose a poster topic to work on over the mid-semester break. This is more in-line with what was covered in lectures. You work together with a partner to design an A3 poster (handwritten/drawn) on your topic, and draw up the poster during the actual lab class itself. Most people did quite well on this one, and it's a good way to shore up your understanding of concepts. You don't really 'present' your poster, you just make it and hand it in. The best posters get prizes though :)

The midsemester test takes 75 minutes and has both an MCQ section (which again, is questions based off images they give you), and a written section (where you write an essay on an organ).The list of possible organs is given out beforehand, but you won't know which one you have to write on until you actually start the test. The images for the MCQ section are based on your SDLs, so this is why it's a good idea to at least attend the pracs so you know something about the images.

The final exam is like DEV2011; you have an MCQ section (AGAIN based on the SDLs . . . see what I'm getting at here? ;) ), and three essay questions. For each essay question, you choose one topic out of 5 or so. So, your first essay will be on a topic from the first 1/3 of semester, your second from the second third of semester, and your third will be from the final third of semester. Before the exam, Jeff shows you all the past essay topics (so you can try to predict what will appear), and also publishes a 'shortlist' of images that the MCQ questions will be based on. I found that looking at these images, and writing a paragraph or so on each of these helped with revision, and also with getting enough information to write essay topics.

The standard of the final exam is somewhat demanding - Jeff said that in order to get the best marks, your essays must go beyond what was covered in lectures and need to include your own research - but it's still possible to get a HD-level response without that. At times, it honestly seemed like there was a mountain of stuff to memorise. However, this unit still had its nice moments, the lectures were done well, and at least you didn't have to memorise absolutely everything for the assessments. Definitely an improvement on DEV2011.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: steph753 on November 22, 2013, 08:01:27 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECF1100 - Microeconomics

Workload:
1 x 2 hour lecture per week and 1 x 1 hour tutorial each week

Assessment: 
Tutorial participation and homework completion - 10%
Group assignment - 10%
Mid semester test (multiple choice) - 20%
Online quizzes (weekly) - 10%
Exam - 50%

Recorded Lectures: 
Lectures are not recorded, however slides which the lecturer has annotated on are uploaded onto noodle

Past exams available: 
No past exam available, however there was one practice exam provided, some of the exam questions appeared on the practice exam

Textbook Recommendation:  What must you buy?  What is "recommended"?  Do you need it?

Lecturer(s): George Rivers and Kristy Coulter

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: (Pending)

Comments:
Overall this was a very good introductory subject into microeconomics. Assessments were easy and the lectures were engaging. I had George Rivers as my lecturer and he made the lectures interesting with the odd joke and showed the lighter side of the subject.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: steph753 on November 22, 2013, 08:10:59 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETX1100 - Business Statistics

Workload:
1 x 2 hour lecture per week and 1 x 1.5 hour tutorial each week

Assessment: 
Tutorial attendence and homework completion - 10%
4 assignments – 5% each (totalling 20%)
Exam - 70%

Recorded Lectures: 
Lectures are recorded

Past exams available: 
No past exam available, however there were 3  practice exams provided, which were helpful

Textbook Recommendation:
Business Statistics 3ed by Bereson prescribed. Didn’t use the textbook for most of the semester. The end of section questions were very useful when preparing for the exam

Lecturer(s): Gerrie Roberts

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: (Pending)

Comments:
As a compulsory Bachelor of Business subject, it wasn’t the greatest, however if you are maths minded you would probably enjoy the subject. Gerrie was a great lecturer (I have heard negative reviews about other lecturers). Assignments were very easy, however the subject does have a 25% fail rate most semesters
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: DisaFear on November 23, 2013, 12:53:23 am
Subject Code/Name: SCI2010 - Scientific Practice and Communication

Workload:
Assessment:
(This seems to have changed in the 2014 handbook!)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, a few. No answers available ( ;) ) but Moodle is active

Textbook Recommendation:  Don't even go there, the only thing from the two 'textbooks' are two diagrams or so, fully covered in the lecture notes

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 2

Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: steph753 on November 23, 2013, 03:11:03 pm
Subject Code/Name: MGF2661 - Human Resource Management

Workload:
1 x 1.5 hour lecture per week and 1 x 1.5 hour tutorial each week

Assessment: 
Inclass essay – 15%
Guided readings weeks 1-4 – 5%
Group essay  - 15%
Group presentation 10%
Guided readings weeks 5-11 – 5%
Exam - 50%

Recorded Lectures: 
Lectures are recorded

Past exams available: 
No past exam available, however there was one practice exam provided. This was very beneficial in exam preparation

Textbook Recommendation:
Human Resource Managament by Nankervis et al. 7th edition. This textbook is vital for this subject. Especially for the inclass essay and exam.

Lecturer(s): Dr Susan Mayson

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: (Pending)

Comments:
This was a really well run subject that prepares you for third year human resource subjects. It provides the foundation knowledge and it is quite easy to do well in this subject.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: steph753 on November 23, 2013, 03:16:39 pm
Subject Code/Name: BTF1010 - Commercial Law

Workload:
1 x 2 hour lecture per week and 1 x 1 hour tutorial each week

Assessment: 
Inclass test (one question like what features on the exam) – 20%
Online quizzes (weekly) – 20%
Exam - 60%

Recorded Lectures: 
Lectures are recorded

Past exams available: 
No past exams available, however there was one practice exam provided in week 12.

Textbook Recommendation:
Law in Commerce 4ed by  Sweeney, O’Reilly and Coleman. Essential for weekly quizzes, in class essay and exam. The subject is pretty much taught out of this textbook

Lecturer(s): Mark Bender

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments:
This was a pretty good subject, with easy straightforward assessments. You need to really keep on top of weekly readings in order to do well in this subject and preparing summary notes, especially of cases throughout the semester is extremely helpful when it comes to exam time as the exam is open book.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: steph753 on November 23, 2013, 03:23:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: MGF1100 - Managerial Communication

Workload:
1 x 1 hour lecture per week and 1 x 2 hour tutorial each week

Assessment: 
Self-analysis essay – 20%
Group project – 25% (10% for a group presentation and 15% for an individual essay on group dynamics)
Persuasive presentation – 10%
Participation – 5%
Exam – 40%

Recorded Lectures: 
Lectures are not recorded

Past exams available: 
No past exams available, however there was one practice exam provided in week 12.

Textbook Recommendation:
The textbook for this subject (Interpersonal skills in Organsations) was not very useful. It contained information that is common sense. This subject is engaging at times however it is pretty much what most people know about communicating in the workplace

Lecturer(s): Viv Interrigi

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 HD

Comments:
As mentioned above, this subject is fairly straightforward with very easy assessments. I managed to get a HD with barely any work undertaken outside the contact hours. This is a core subject of Bachelor of Business – majoring in management. If this is your major, I advise to get this subject done early in your degree as you will go insane if you leave it to late in your degree
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Reckoner on November 23, 2013, 09:14:43 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFC1030 - Introduction to Financial Accounting

Workload:  Two 1-hour lecture plus one 1.5-hour tutorial = 3.5 hours

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, about 7 all with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:
Introduction To Financial Accounting 2ed - Gerrand J & Hardy L & Contessotto C: Not a particularly helpful book to learn the material covered, but it has the tute questions in it, so you'd better get a copy.

Accounting handbook - this is what contains all of the accounting standards. Is recommended, and you're allowed to take it into the exam and tests with underlining (no writing). I hardly used it at all really, all of the relevant standards are covered in the lecture notes well enough, and its not too difficult to just remember the important aspects. If you're planning on doing more accounting, or have a really poor memory, or don't like studying then I suggest getting it, but if you aren't sure then maybe postpone buying it until you know whether it would be useful.

Lecturer(s):
Alan Serry: packs a lot into his lectures, but goes through things step by step and logically. Definitely worth going to his lectures. Also, he leaves part of the slides blank, so you at least have to watch them online to get all of the journal entries.

John Gerrand: As much as I love John, his lectures weren't particularly helpful. Although he did cover the more boring topics, so its not his fault. 

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 2

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments:
This unit essentially continues on from the accounting topic in AFC1000, but in more detail. The main topics are:

Week 1 - Conceptual Framework + capital maintenance
Not a whole lot in week 1. You should already be familiar with the conceptual framework from 1000, and capital maintenance is to do with how much profit can be distributed while maintaining the wealth of the business.

Week 2 - Incomplete records, internal control
Involves the reconstruction of accounts, which is important for the later lecture on cash flows. The main part of internal control discussed is bank reconciliation.

Week 3 - Inventory
Looks at AASB102, and covers what is included as part of the cost of inventory, and that inventories should be recorded at the lower of cost and Net Realisable Value (NRV)   

Week 4 - Balance day adjustments
Prepayments, accruals, straight line and reducing balance depreciation, and allowance for doubtful debts.

Week 5 - Background to financial regulation (zzzzz)
The various regulatory bodies of financial reporting, really dry stuff.

Week 6 - Companies
Also pretty dry, introduces goodwill and the purchase of companies, as well as the creation of a new company and issuing of shares via a prospectus.

Week 7 - Non-current assets
What is included as part of the cost of a non-current asset, and their subsequent revaluation and impairment. Also intangible assets. 

Week 8 - Liabilities/Leases
Looks at liabilities, operating and finance leases, provisions and contingent liabilities

Week 9 - Income
Looks at when to recognise income, and construction contracts (which weren't covered this semester, John ran out of time in his lecture)

Week 10 - Expenses and intangibles
Looks at whether particular items should be recognised as an asset or expense, such as oil exploration and research and development.

Week 11 - Cash flow statements
Primarily involves being given an income statement and balance sheet, and you have to create a cash flow statement.

Week 12 - Agriculture
The valuation of biological assets, tension/conflict between accounting standards and the conceptual framework (touched on in earlier weeks too) and revision.


The two tests are pretty straight forward, if you can do the tute questions you should be ok. The first one was almost entirely practical, but the second one had a bit more theory. The exam was VERY similar to the past papers, so if you work through them all then you can get through the exam fairly easily.

I didn't enjoy this unit much at all really. It's not particularly difficult, and doesn't involve much actual "study" I found. If you can force yourself to do the tute questions each week and read the lecture slides, then all should fall into place. It's just getting used to applying the various rules that you learn in a practical sense, which can be done easily from doing the past exams. Apart from the regulation week that is, I really do feel for anyone who has to endure that week, and also for John who has to give that lecture again... 

You'll be doing this unit of you want to major in accounting, but if you know that you're not going to major in accounting, I suggest doing something else as an elective. Sure it's not too taxing, but can be very dry which makes its not very enjoyable and difficult to force yourself through if you don't have an interest. Leases were my favourite part of the course, the rest was all pretty similar.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: nerdgasm on November 23, 2013, 09:56:48 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2922 - Spectroscopy and Analytical Chemistry 

Workload:
3 x 1 hour lectures per week
1 x 4 hour lab per week

Assessment: 
Practical work: 30% (consists of 8 Lab Reports and a Moot Court Presentation)
Three online Moodle Tests - 3.33% each (10%)
One Mid-semester test - 20%
Final exam - 40%
NOTE: Prac work is a hurdle requirement; you need at least 50% in the prac component to pass the unit.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, several from past years available on the Monash Library Database. No solutions provided. Note that not all topics in these past exams may be relevant, because the topics assessed in the mid-semester test and final exam occasionally get switched around (more on this later).

Textbook Recommendation:  Principles of Instrumental Analysis, by Skoog, Holler and Crouch. (6ed. in Semester 2, 2013).
 Did not consult much throughout the semester.

Lecturer(s):
General analytical principles, UV-Vis Spectroscopy, Atomic Spectroscopy, Chromatography: Mike Grace
Mass spectrometry, Electrochemistry: Chris Thompson
Fluorescence, IR spectoscopy, Raman spectroscopy: Toby Bell

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 4.75/5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown at this point.

Comments:
This subject is a prerequisite for most 3rd-year chemistry units. (so definitely a must if you wish to major in Chemistry).

Each of the three lecturers mentioned above takes four weeks of content:

Mike's section begins with an introduction to analytical chemistry, which is about key terminology in describing experimental results and methods (such as sensitivity, selectivity, accuracy, precision and so forth), and a brief description of what analytical chemistry is used for (as DisaFear mentions, there is an emphasis on forensic applications in this unit). The actual chemistry starts off with UV-Visible spectroscopy, and extends on from your first-year knowledge of the Beer Lambert Law, with complications and additional techniques introduced. We then move on to Atomic Absorption and Emission spectroscopy - so we learn about the Boltzmann distribution, briefly cover Grotian diagrams, and learn about the different types of techniques (e.g. Graphite Furnace AAS, Flame Ionisation Detection). Finally, we learn more about chromatography, with HPLC and GC techniques, along with general chromatographic principles such as gradient elution and resolution.

Chris' section starts off with an extension of the Mass Spectrometry you learnt in Year 12, except now it goes into more detail, like why you're likely to find certain fragments at certain intensity values, how isotopes affect mass spectra (behold, the BINOMIAL THEOREM!), and how fragmentation actually occurs (through the use of 'mechanisms', not dissimilar to mechanisms in organic chemistry)! Again, we go through the techniques and instrumentation (such as 'hard' and 'soft' methods of ionisation, and different kinds of detectors). Electrochemistry begins with a review of your standard Year 12 Redox section (so once again, we have the electrochemical series, salt bridges, anodes and cathodes and all that), before moving on to the Nernst equation, which FINALLY allows you to work out cell potentials under NON-STANDARD CONDITIONS!! We also further the concept of 'activity' versus 'concentration', and learn about the Debye-Huckel equation, and the ionic strength of a solution. We then learn about potentiometry, which is about how we can use electrochemistry to measure the concentrations of things, and go into some detail about the various electrodes used. There was meant to be a lecture on voltammetry, it got cancelled this year, but still appeared on the exam! Grrrr. . .

Toby's section is an introduction to the process of fluorescence, which covers the physical chemistry of fluorescence with Jablonski diagrams (basically more fancy energy level diagrams), Kasha's Rule, and some calculations on the kinetics of fluorescence (we get rate constants here too, and natural lifetimes). We also have a short bit on molecular orbital theory, and how it applies to more complicated molecules, and a bit on chemical and biological luminescence. We then move on to IR spectroscopy, but now we actually see why only some vibrations of some molecules show up on an IR spectra (if you do physics, this will be a piece of cake, if not, don't fret!). We consider IR instrumentation, as well as a modified form of the Beer-Lambert Law. Finally, we look at Raman spectroscopy, and how it differs from IR spectroscopy, Stokes and Anti-Stokes radiation, and applications such as monitoring ozone levels, and rocket fuel.

This was a nice unit. All the lecturers were really helpful at answering questions during and after lectures, and all taught logically and clearly. If you've somehow taken it upon yourself to read my summary of the course above, you'll notice that I mention "instrumentation" and "techniques" a lot. This is because this unit has a focus on not only the chemistry involved, but also on being a good experimental chemist. To this end, you're expected to learn a very basic knowledge of how instruments work (something as simple as knowing examples of a source of light, what kind of devices are used to select a particular wavelength, or how we can differentiate ions by their mass/charge ratio), as well as 'practical considerations' - where certain laws don't always hold, what kinds of things can interfere with your experiment and how to deal with them, and some statistical treatment of your results, with confidence intervals, standard deviations, and other related things.

Of course, the same focus on being a good experimental chemist also shows up in the lab. Being meticulous is encouraged (though after a few weeks, I think everyone just starts to slacken a bit on that), because you really want good experimental results (you get some marks for that, and also it comes in handy for the Moot Court). Often, you are asked to make multiple samples and readings, and then use statistical analysis on them in your lab reports, in order to demonstrate your findings. On that note, if you've done CHM2911 (Synthetic chemistry), I shall say now that the lab reports are a lot more involved than those proformas. You're now expected to do a formal write up of your experiment, due on the next lab session(with introduction, method, results, analysis, discussion and conclusion). I was spending at least 5 hours each week writing the lab reports, just trying to get a decent mark. The lab work is always done in groups of two or three, and the lab you do might not be related to what part of the course you're currently on.

For a couple of weeks, you don't have to write up a lab report; instead your group gets questioned by your demonstrator at the end of the prac, on the theory and results you have. This can sound a bit intimidating, so doing a bit of reading up on the theory beforehand helps. Usually though, the demonstrators try to guide you along and aren't too harsh (I definitely said a couple of things that were wrong, but still got a reasonable mark). And it's honestly a nice feeling to not have to write up a lab report.

Finally, there's the Moot Court. This is where you use your data from one of the pracs throughout the semester, and try to argue a pseudo-legal case against another group from your prac session (who are also given the same prac). You'll have to give a copy of your data to the other group for scrutiny, and in turn, they will give their data to you, so make sure you take good records, and perform your experiments well! Then, you have a week to prepare your case and argue it in front of a "judge" and "jury". This takes you all the way back to those key analytical chemistry terms at the start of the semester, as well as all those experimental considerations with the techniques used in the prac. It's honestly a lot of fun, some students dress up in suits, and you get to ask questions of your opposing group, and let your inner lawyer rule.

In terms of the assessment, I've already gone over the lab reports. The online tests are of a reasonable standard. Sometimes, you get to practice on a 'tutorial' mode before you undertake the 'assessment mode', and it's no surprises that lots of people just wrote down all the answers from the tutorial mode, and put them in to the assessment mode.

The mid-semester test was on Mike's section this year. A key thing is that the stuff on the mid-semester test doesn't appear on the final exam. The week beforehand, there was no practical, and instead Mike generously went through a past paper in the prac section, which really helped. Make sure you revise for it, as it's worth 20%, and can really put you in a good position before the final exam.

The final exam was on Chris and Toby's section this year. It wasn't incredibly difficult, but there was definitely a fair bit of time pressure on, and a few challenging questions in there. It definitely would end up separating students. In SWOTVAC, both Chris and Toby held a revision session (and there was free pizza afterwards!) where they also went through typical exam questions, so it's really worth going to those.

This unit could be tiring at times, and its experimental focus can be annoying to the theory-minded amongst us (as Mike said, "If you think 'analytical chemistry' is overly pedantic, look at the first four letters of 'analytic'. Does that make sense now?"), but the lecturers were simply awesome, had a great connection with the students, and all had a great sense of humour. If you want to major in Chemistry, you'll be taking this unit anyway, so I can't really tell you to take it or not. But it certainly offers perspective into 'real-world' chemistry, so I'd recommend to make the most of it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject reviews & ratings
Post by: Reckoner on November 23, 2013, 10:31:18 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECC1100 - Principles of Macroeconomics

Workload:  One 2-hour lecture + one 1-hour tutorial = 3 hours

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, but but Dinusha does a bit of work on transparencies that are not recorded.

Past exams available:  Nothing unfortunately.

Textbook Recommendation:  principles of macroeconomics seventh edition - Taylor, Weerapana. Prescribed. Contains the weekly tute questions, and isn't too bad at explaining the concepts. I recommend getting it. 

Lecturer(s):
Dinusha Dharmaratna - Knows her stuff. The lectures are very well structured imo, and are pretty helpful. Just about all you need to learn the content. 

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2 2013

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91

Comments:
The main topics covered are:

Enjoyable unit if you're interested in economics. The first half of the unit is primarily focused on defining relevant terms and ideas, and the second half is where you get into more economic analysis with monetary and fiscal policies. ECC1000 (microeconomics) is recommended before you do this unit, but definitely not necessary. The topics assume minimal prior economic knowledge, and what is assumed can be picked up very quickly. There is no maths beyond about year 7/8 level. Dinusha puts a slide on the maths and calculus behind the concepts, but its not discussed too heavily and you don't need to know it at all for the assessments   

The exam is a 50-50 split between multiple choice covering the whole course, and short answer questions relating to week 6 on-wards. It's not too difficult to guess the essence of the short answer questions. The online tests are fairly straightforward, if you have the textbook next to you should be able to do most of the questions, as the answers often come straight from the text. The mid-sem is entirely multiple choice with no real tricks thrown in.

I do recommend this unit if you have a spare elective spot if you have an interest in the subject. It doesn't take up a large amount of time (no assignments, unless you want to count the online tests which take 20 mins each) and can be interesting. Although if you go into this unit without at least some interest in economics I can see how it could be seen as pretty dull. A few eng people take this unit as an elective and from what I saw, a chunk (as well as some com students) lost interest in about week 6. 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Reckoner on November 24, 2013, 03:04:09 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC1010 - Data Modelling and Computing

Workload: Two 1-hour lectures and one 1.5-hour tutorial/computer lab = 3.5 hours

Assessment:

*Only applies to the first 4 tutes, 2 marks for each. Later tutes have no attendance marks.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, heaps most with solutions, some have incomplete solutions though

Textbook Recommendation:  Introductory econometrics by Wooldridge is recommended. Do NOT buy this textbook just for this unit. It only applies to about 4/5 weeks of the unit, and the lecture notes cover everything you need to know. Not needed at all for this subject. Save your money, unless you are planning on doing more econometrics.   

Lecturer(s):
Lee Gordon-Brown - Topic 1: spreadsheet/computer modelling (I think he may be leaving though?)

Donald Proskitt - Topic 2: Multiple regression

Graham Forbes - Topic 3: Actuarial stats (also may be leaving I think)

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 2

Rating:  3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87

Comments:
So this is a core unit for students in bachelors of economics and its double degrees. If you're in commerce, you'll be choosing this unit as part of an actuarial, econometrics or business modeling major. It's split up into 3 topics, so I'll review them one at a time.

Topic 1
Topic 1 covers spreadsheet modelling. Is VERY PRACTICAL, and is almost an excel tutorial. The whole topic is based on making decisions to optimise a certain output variable (eg profit). Lectures involved Lee effectively running through the construction of a model, and its interpretation. You learn a few handy excel functions, concept diagrams and sensitivity analysis. There is also a tiny bit of conditional probability chucked on the end, which isn't very demanding especially if you've done Maths Methods. That being said, the lectures aren't too important in terms of the exam. More on that later

I really enjoyed the lectures. Lee was very engaging, and you could immediately see that the stuff you were being taught was very applicable to the real world. I've already used some of the stuff we used at work.

The first assignment is from this topic, and you have to create a spreadsheet model and interpret it by answering a few questions. It's not too difficult (most people, myself included, tried to make it more complex than it really needed to be) but there are a few things that you can lose easy marks on. This included not identifying/highlighting your decision and output variables in the concept diagram and model; and not referring to specific figures from you model in the report. As in don't just say "Dodo power and gas should be chosen", say "the optimal decision in order to minimise average complaints is to choose Dodo Power and gas, because *insert values from the model here*". If you do these things you should be able to get a fairly good mark.

Tutes are very similar to the assignment, in the sense that you create a model and interpret it. Can be pretty fun if you have a good tute and tutor (Behrooz!!!) and your attendance is marked, so best to show up.

Topic 2
Multiple regression. Lectures were not particularly helpful here to be perfectly honest. Most of the stuff was covered in ETC1000. New parts were prediction intervals, taking the log of the dependent and independent variables, and interaction terms (you don't even have to know how to interpret them, just know that they exist and can change interpretations) all of which is covered thoroughly in the notes. But yeah, all of the hypothesis testing, dummy variables, confidence intervals and coefficient interpretation was covered in ETC1000.

Tutes are no longer marked, and are also no longer helpful as well, unless you have specific questions to ask the tutor. To be fair, I did this unit at the same time as ETC2410 (intro econometrics) so had done all of the new material 3 or 4 weeks prior, so don't really know how helpful the tutes and lectures were for learning this stuff personally. From speaking with other people though they too said they were not particularly beneficial.

All that you need to know for the assignment for this topic is covered in the lecture notes. If you have them next to you while doing it you shouldn't have too many hiccups. Just phrase your interpretations and set out your hypothesis tests the way they do in the notes and you're set.   

Topic 3
A very basic introduction to actuarial studies. Seems almost like a sales pitch trying to get more actuary majors. Covers compound interest and time value of money (If you've done AFC1000 you know this stuff already, even further maths and you should be sweet), demography (life tables, population pyramids) and also what insurance is, various types of policies, and introduces a few probability distributions that actuaries may use. Not a great deal of maths, all the formulas are given to you and you basically only have to know the names of the various distributions. A little bit on the principle of equivalence too.

All the topics are very introductory, and can be easily learned from the lecture slides and the past papers. Some people had stopped coming to the lectures after topic 2, and they follow the lecture slides extremely closely.

No assignments for this topic either. Tutes can be worth it, life tables may take a little getting used to so they can help with that. Decide for yourself. I personally didn't get much out of them (still went because my tute was good fun) but others found them to be pretty helpful.

Exam
The exam is made of of 20 marks from topic 1, 40 from topic 2 and 40 from topic 3. The structure is very similar to the past papers, so definitely work through them.

Topic 1 is always create a concept diagram for, and interpret, a model given to you. Also about 4 marks of conditional probability tacked on the end.

Topic 2 is interpreting a regression, perform hypothesis tests etc. If you can do the assignment and past papers you'll be set.

Topic 3 is a whole bunch of 1 and 2 mark questions, again not too difficult if you've done the past papers and at least read the lecture slides.

Overall the exam isn't too challenging, I was a bit pushed for time though so don't take it too leisurely. I had to rush the last 20 or so marks because I spent way too long on the concept diagram. I recommend doing topic 1 last.



Overall I liked this unit, mainly for topic 1. Involves minimal study throughout the semester, just the assignments. If you are half decent at maths, and didn't mind ETC1000 definitely worth it if you're looking for a not too taxing unit. That being said topics 2 and 3 aren't the most interesting things, especially if you've already done ETC2410, and lots of people hate it. So while I liked it, I'm doing an econometrics major. If you're doing accounting/marketing etc. it may not be your thing. Topic 1 is very practical and useful though, unless you are already very familiar with excel.     
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: d3stiny on November 24, 2013, 03:23:17 pm
Subject Code/Name: BTC1110 - Business Law

Workload:
Semester 1
1 x 3hr lectorial
Semester 2
1 x 2hr lecture, 1 x 1hr tutorial

Assessment: 

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, audio only

Past exams available:  1 past exam (2012) with sample answer guide

Textbook Recommendation:
Concise Australian Commercial Law 2ed (Prescribed) - You will most likely need this book.
Law in Commerce 5ed (Highly Recommended) - Not needed if you have CACL.

Lecturer(s):
Sem 1 - Roger Gamble
Sem 2 - Mathews Thomas

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2 2013

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 HD

Comments:
Enjoyable and challenging unit. Compulsory for all Commerce students at Clayton except Comm/Law students. If you have Mathews as a lecturer he will divide the classes into the usual lectures and tutorials but the other semester's lecturer (Roger) will combine the classes into one 3 hour long lectorial. No idea whether the lectorials are better or not but conventional lectures/tutorials work for me.
Make sure to print out all the Acts and statutes provided and have a concise summary of all the important cases (i.e. ones that are frequently mentioned in lectures etc.). It's emphasized so much through out the course but keeping them neat and organized really will help greatly in this subject, as you will need to constantly refer to cases and statutes in your answers.
Tutes aren't compulsory but they are pretty much the only source of getting answers to questions and such, since sample answers are rarely uploaded to Moodle and when they are, it's only to a question or two.

If you have Mathews as a tutor you will find that his teaching style is quite different, and you may find that he somewhat undermines or belittles students in a light hearted manner but i guess its just to set students straight haha. While others may not like him, he does a good job of teaching the material although being a tightass (especially with lateness to lectures). He says his methods are more suited to Science and Engineering students and I would say I'd agree, so if you happen to Sci or Eng at least give him a go.
One of the librarians, Tami Castillo holds two sets of seminars in the matheson library throughout the unit to assist with note taking and exam prep. The exam prep one was recorded but the exam prep wasnt, so you really have to attend them if you don't want to miss out. Just a word of warning that they get booked out super quick, as I found.

Concise Australian Commerical Law is needed for the tutorial questions. Not sure if the 1st edition is the same but apparently it is. Law in Commerce is the book used in Caulfield and was recommended by Mathews as it had better explanations of certain topics toward the end of the course, so it might be worth borrowing it and having a look. The multiple choice quizzes are a bit tricky but 10 out of the 20 marks available are pretty doable. Apparently Moodle stuffed up the displaying of the results so don't count on immediate results (they usually take a week or two and different weeks pop up randomly), and there are no reviews available. Going through the lectures will help you with them greatly.
 
Topics covered are:

As said by Mathews himself, it's probably the hardest first year compulsory Commerce unit, and with a high fail rate and low HD rate. However it is just a first year unit so it's still manageable, I'd say. Be prepared for lots of logical thinking and a loong 3.5 hr exam. However if you have an interest in Law and how it all works, you'll go a long way in this unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Reckoner on November 24, 2013, 04:04:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2410/3440 - Introductory Econometrics

While I took ETC2410, this can apply for ETC3440 as well. Everything is exactly the same, but 3440 students have one extra 5 mark question on the exam. Assignments/lectures/tutes are exactly the same otherwise.

Workload: Two 1-hour lectures and one 2-hour tutorial/computer lab = 4 hours

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, about 4 were given out with solutions, but there are quite a few on the library database without solutions.

Textbook Recommendation: Introductory econometrics 4th edition - Wooldridge. A pretty good textbook, the course follows it very closely, but you are given pretty comprehensive notes so its not entirely necessary. I bought it with the eviews software package, which you'll need if you want to do the assignments at home. I personally found buying it worthwhile, others didn't use it at all. Wait a week or two and see how you go. 

Lecturer(s):
Phil Edwards - cross sectional data

David Harris - Time series + regression with matrices

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 semester 2

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 86 HD

Comments:
I liked this a lot. You basically look into OLS. The underlying assumptions, when it is unbiased, what happens when the assumptions fail etc.

You start off looking at deriving the formula for B0_hat and B1_hat under OLS, and then go into proving their unbiasedness using summation notation. The Gauss-markov assumptions are introduced, which when they hold show the OLS is BLUE (best linear un-biased estimator). You then move onto omitted variable bias, functional form, inference and hypothesis testing, prediction intervals, dummy variables and interaction terms, and heteroskedasticity. Some of these topics can take a little while to get your head around, but the first 2 assignments help a lot with learning the material. Phil covered these topics. His lectures did seem a bit rushed, but he knew his stuff and I found them helpful. That being said, the textbook and notes could suffice.

David took over from week 8, and went into time series regression for a couple of weeks. You get a few new assumptions, and go into FDL, AR and ARDL models, and the interpretation of coefficients using lag multipliers. Pretty interesting stuff. David's lectures are much more structured, and he taught the stuff using an example, checking assumptions as we go. He finishes off by basically re-teaching the first part of the course, but using matrices rather than summation notation. Very good revision for the exam.

The assignments can be tough, but if you can work through them you'll be set for the exam, as the exam is pretty well the assignment regressions and questions with a few more in-depth theory questions attached. Make sure you are very clear with all of your explanations, and perform a billion hypothesis tests. There are no word limits so go nuts if you want to get a high mark. They're not too difficult to pass though, but to get 80+ on the assignments you have to put in a fair bit of time.

Tutes are very helpful. You learn how to use eviews here (essential for the assignments) and basically run through a few questions, while the tutor teaches some of the important parts of the theory. While there are no tute marks, I do suggest going as the questions that you run through in the tutes are similar to the assignments. Eviews is very simple to use and shouldn't take too long to pick up.

As mentioned before, the exam is primarily interpreting regression outputs, performing tests for heteroskedasticity and various hypothesis tests with some OLS theory chucked on. About 20% is theory based, while the rest is mainly interpreting and practical. The 3440 students have 1 extra question worth 5 marks on the theory of OLS, otherwise exactly the same.

This is required for an econometrics major, and can count towards economics (2410) and finance (3440) as well as a fair few others. ETC1010 used to be a pre-requisite but no longer is. I did 1010 at the same time as 2410, and found that 1010 didn't help a great deal with 2410, but 2410 helps a lot with 1010. ETC1000 (or equivalent intro stats unit) is all you really need.

Overall it is a fairly challenging unit with a fair amount of content to cover. Unless you're very strong at maths/stats already it will take a fair chunk of study to understand the topics completely. I spent about as much time on this unit as my other 3 commerce units combined and still felt I could have been more prepared and spent more time on it. While the maths behind it isn't too tough (methods is all you need to start off with), knowing summation notation and matrix algebra prior would help a lot with the proofs. You could just wrote learn them, but better to learn the small amount of maths so that you properly understand them. I did like the content though, and I recommend it. Pretty interesting and useful stuff on the whole.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rohmer on November 24, 2013, 04:42:41 pm
Subject Code/Name: AFC3240 - International Finance

Workload:

1 x 2hr Lecture
1 x 1hr Tutorial

Assessment:

Mid-Semester Test - 20%
Group Assignment - 20%
Exam - 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  One past exam (2012) but without the answers and the MCQ's

Textbook Recommendation:  Multinational Business Finance 13ed, (Eiteman, Stonehill and Moffett). There will be some tute questions from this book most weeks, so it's worth considering getting a copy. Alternatively you could photocopy pages from a library copy each week. The book itself covers most of the course material, though it isn't really essential reading. Some chapters use different terms and don't cover all the material. In terms of study you'd be better off generally doing the readings (articles are put up weekly on relevant topics), looking over the slides and doing the tutorial questions.

Lecturer(s):

Dr Mohan Nandha (First semester)
Assoc Prof Elaine Hutson (Second semester)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments: This is one of the better finance subjects at Monash in my opinion, and it mostly examines exchange rates and their impact on financial institutions. The first week is pretty much introductory stuff on the relevance of international finance. Week two introduces some exchange rate terminology and standards (probably a recap for most commerce students) and then covers the history of international monetary systems and currency regimes. Week 3 is the influence of the balance of payments on exchange rates, week 4 is a study of the Eurozone crisis and GFC. The next few weeks are then about the determinants of exchange rates in terms of interest rates, inflation etc. - this stuff is largely theory based (purchasing power parity, the fisher effect...) but none of it is particularly difficult; some if it was covered briefly in AFC2000 and I imagine it would be particularly easy for those studying economics. The mid-sem covered the first five weeks and was held the week 8 lecture. The content being tested largely related to the tute questions and was fairly expected. There aren't many calculations in this unit, particularly early in the course, to the extent that there isn't a formula sheet given. The best method of studying for the MST (and the exam) is to know the tute questions well. It's a good idea to go to the tutes for this, as although they aren't marked, solutions aren't generally released (except for calculation questions). You'll want to focus on some theory questions from the book, but also those that relate to the article readings as these are usually tested to an extent.

After the MST it's probably worth starting on the group assignment. This semester it was a 2000 word research essay on the 'carry trade' due at the end of week 10. Groups were self-organised, 3-5 people per group. I recommend using google doc's to write it all up together; research can basically all be done through journal databases (Econlit, ABInform etc.). Having a group essay was a strange piece of assessment I thought, an essay would usually be an individual task. Splitting it up can be a bit of a pain, but it's not too hard, and I thought the topic was interesting.

The lectures from week 9 to 11 cover currency derivatives and their use in firms preventing exchange rate exposure. Currency derivatives is pretty much a re-hash of the stuff you'd do in options in Advanced Corporate Finance. If you've done options then there's probably no need to show up for week 9. This part of the course has more calculations type questions, though there's still theory and practical examples from the readings. If there's an options question you'll get the formula in the exam though, so it's fairly straightforward. Probably the most difficult part of the course is the hedging of foreign currency receivables/payables in week 10-11, and this is usually on the exam. Week 12 was international portfolio finance - simple enough if you've done a few finance subjects (e.g. Equities), this week was only covered on the MCQ section of the exam. The exam this semester was 25 multi choice questions (worth 0.8 marks each, so 20 marks total), and 5 20 mark questions, of which you choose 4 = 80 marks; therefore a total of 100 marks. The multiple choice questions are fairly easy and are largely comprehension stuff - study the slides and the questions. The short answer questions are largely what you'd expect, although one question involved a 14 mark analysis of a certain reading - you'd have to know the readings fairly well to be able to answer that, so I (and a lot of other people) pretty much had to skip that question out of the 5.

Overall, a good unit. Covers a lot of real life examples and doesn't get too bogged down in theory. I took this unit s2 2013, so the lecturer was Elaine Hutson, it may be a bit different in s1 as I believe another lecturer takes it generally. Lectures were good if you went to them (recorded if you couldn't make it), Elaine knows her stuff and doesn't just read off the slides. Tutes, as mentioned, are probably more important though in terms of knowing the getting the answers down, as the mid sem and exam are generally not dissimilar.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: nerdgasm on November 24, 2013, 11:57:23 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2032 - Differential Equations with Modelling 

Workload: 
3 x 1 hour lectures per week
1 x 2 hour tutorial per week (Technically not compulsory, but you'll be attending most weeks for the quizzes and assignments).

Assessment: 
Five quizzes (in tutorials): 2% each (10%)
Three assignments: 5% each (15%)
One mid-semester test (in tutorials): 15%
Final exam: 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. For Weeks 1- 6 (Jerome's section), he wrote on a tablet and what he wrote on the tablet is the "video" for the recorded lecture. He also uploaded his writings on Moodle. For Weeks 7 - 12 (Rosemary's section), she did most of her writing on transparencies, which do not show up on the recorded lectures. However, most of what she writes is same as in the lecture notes booklet.

Past exams available:  Yes, two. One had answers.

Textbook Recommendation: E. Kreysig, Advanced Engineering Mathematics (9th edition).
Did not buy, so definitely not compulsory.

Lecturer(s):
Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs): Jerome Droniou, Weeks 1 - 6
Partial Differential Equations (PDEs): Rosemary Mardling, Weeks 7 - 12

Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown at this point.

Comments:
This subject revises and extends upon the concepts covered in the Differential Equations part of MTH1030, as well as providing an introduction to Partial Differential Equations, and some applications of both ODEs and PDEs.

Firstly, I'd encourage you all to go and buy the lecture notes (if available). They are really helpful in both sections of the course. For ODEs, they contain all the theory and necessary algorithms (if a bit verbose and densely-written at times), and for PDEs, they are an almost exact copy of what Rosemary writes on her transparencies. They also contain tutorial questions, two of the assignments you need to do, as well as the solutions to the tutorial questions for PDEs.

Jerome's section focused on ODEs. We start off with some basic terminology relating to DEs - linear, homogeneous, 1st and 2nd order etc. Then, we revisit some of the techniques you used in MTH1030 to solve 1st-order ODEs, except in a slightly more rigorous manner. For example, you will probably notice "separable" ODEs are the ones where you could go or something similar in MTH1030. "Linear" ODEs are the ones where you would use "the integrating factor", except now we cover it a bit more rigorously through understanding the "homogeneous" and "particular" solutions, and the principle of superposition. We also go through two new types of 1st-order ODEs, which are 'exact' and 'homogeneous type' ODEs. These have their own solving methods.

We then look at how we can turn higher-order ODEs into 1st order ODEs, except now with vectors replacing variables. Unfortunately, this does not make them any easier to solve (and most of us were questioning why we would even do such a thing), but it does allow us to more easily state if a solution exists. Remember Euler's method from Specialist Maths? Well, we revisit it, and learn that it is in fact a relatively poor approximation scheme. We look at Heun's method, which is more accurate, and work out a rough guide to "accuracy" of a general class of approximation schemes, which both Euler's and Heun's methods fall under.

Next, we turn to 2nd order ODEs. You probably learnt how to solve ones with constant coefficients in MTH1030; we do that again here. However, we also learn some new techniques for solving 2nd order linear ODEs, with non-constant coefficients, such as the method of "variation of parameters", and the humble "trial solutions" method. We learn how to check if solutions to an ODE are linearly independent (this is important because it is a necessary requirement for many of out solution methods), through the Wronskian matrix. Then, we learn about how to deal with ODEs where we might not have an present, or a present, even if is present (and things like that).

Finally, we learn about series solutions to ODEs. Sometimes, it is very difficult for us to see if a particular ODE has a solution. So what we can try and do is see if an infinite polynomial solution works (much like a Taylor series). There was also a section on Bessel's functions, Legendre's and Frobenius' methods, but we never got around to learning those in lectures.

Throughout this part of the course, there are applications mainly to simple harmonic motion and harmonic oscillators, but also things such as radioactive decay, Newton's Law of Cooling and curves of pursuit are covered. There are also a number of "fundamental theorems", which are basically statements that do not solve an equation, but tell you that a solution exists, or some property of the solutions. You will soon see that it is very important to know the conditions under which these apply, and to invoke them appropriately.

Rosemary's section is focused on PDEs. The general terminology is covered again, before we then look at the ways in which a PDE is different to an ODE (for example, you no longer get arbitrary constants when you integrate, but arbitrary functions). We look at boundary and initial conditions, and learn some relatively simple methods for solving PDEs (e.g. noticing it is similar to an ODE and the method of separation of variables).

We then move on to Fourier Series. Basically, the point of this section is to show you that any periodic function (a function that repeats itself after some time), can be modelled as a (potentially infinite) sum of sine and cosine graphs. Fourier Series solutions to differential equations actually make up the majority of solutions you're likely to see in the Heat and Wave equation parts, so it's really worth your while to make sure you understand this part of the course well. We look at periodic extensions of functions with limited domain, too.

After learning about Fourier Series, we look at the Heat Equation, which models how the temperature of a rod changes over time. We go over Taylor Series in two variables again, before deriving and solving the Heat Equation, given some initial and boundary conditions. Next, we learn about the Advection equation, which models how objects might float along a stream of some kind, and about "characteristics". Finally, we look at the Wave Equation, and how to solve it. We also see an alternative method of solving the Wave Equation (the solution of d'Alembert), which represents a wave as a sum of two travelling waves (if you do Physics, this should jog your memory), which interfere with each other. If nothing else, that's pretty cool.

This unit was a reasonable unit. Unfortunately, most students found it difficult to understand what Jerome was trying to teach, probably because he didn't really explain his derivations very well, and didn't have a good grasp of when he was talking about a difficult concept that he needed to spend more time on. Either that, or he expected us to work through any difficulties we faced at home. Rosemary was a pretty clear lecturer who had fairly good explanations.

In this unit, explanations are important. It's always a good idea to state what you're doing as you're doing it (even if it seems incredibly obvious to you), because there are always marks allocated for explanations. Knowing when to invoke theorems, writing down what class of DE we have, and things like that are all easy to forget, but cost you marks in the end.

The tutorial quizzes last for 20 minutes each, and were initially at the start of the tutorial, before we asked Jerome to put them at the end (so we could actually ask our tutors for help). The ODE quizzes were reasonably challenging and had a fair bit of time pressure. The PDE quizzes were a bit easier.

The first assignment was a typical maths assignment where you answer questions from a sheet. The latter two are more of a computer modelling exercise (using Excel, MATLAB, or other computer software), where you numerically approximate Fourier Series and the Heat Equation, respectively.

The mid-semester test is on Jerome's section of the course, and goes for an hour. It's not impossible, but does test several different areas of the course. The final exam is roughly of the same difficulty of the midsemester test, just covering the whole course. There were some tricky questions in both sections.

All in all, there were areas where the unit could have been improved, but it is certainly a useful unit if you wish to do maths or science, as DEs appear almost everywhere in those fields.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Dallas45 on November 28, 2013, 02:01:03 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2610 - Ancient Religions

Workload:  1 x 2 hour lecture + 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week

Assessment: 

Analytical Exercise | Worth 10%. Relatively simple task in which you are required to answer a few
                                questions in relation to a particular article or chapter and summarise/analyse
                                the main points. Completed by Week 4.

Oral Presentation  | Worth 10%. During one of the tutorials (weeks 2-11) you are required to give a
                                max 10 minute presentation on one of the readings for that week. It is your
                                choice what week you do the presentation and which reading you present on.

Long Essay            | Worth 50%. For the essay you have to write 1800-2000 words on a topic of
                                your choice. It could be related to an overall theme from the lectures/tutorials,
                                a particular ancient religion or something that caught your interest in one of
                                the tutorial readings.

Exam                      | Worth 30%. Comprised two sections. The first section, a short essay (700ish
                                 words) is on one of the lecture themes and is chosen by the lecturer. The
                                 second section, another short essay of approximately 700 words, is chosen by
                                 you and relates to one of the studied religions. The essays do not require you
                                 to "argue" anything but instead simply require you to summarise the lecture or
                                 aspect of a particular religion in question.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No and there was no sample exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  Ancient Religions - Sarah Iles Johnston. Prescribed and required as the lectures are based on this book specifically, with lecture one corresponding to chapter 1, lecture two to chapter 2 and so on.

Lecturer(s): Tamara Prosic

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: High Distinction 82

Comments: Overall, ATS2610 is interesting. Some weeks are more interesting than others which will depend on your personal interests. Each two hour lecture is broken into two sections with the first looking at a particular theme (e.g. Monotheism vs. polytheism; magic; law and ethics) and the second focusing on a particular religion (e.g. Egypt, Hittite, Early Christian).

Tamara is a good lecturer and tutorials helped to clarify anything as required. Tutorials were relatively small with around 12-15 students.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Dallas45 on November 28, 2013, 02:31:59 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2617 - American Civil War

Workload:  1 x 1.5 hour lecture + 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week

Assessment:

"Free Writing Task":     Worth 5%. Due in the first tutorial. This is a simple task which simply asks
                                     you to write about 250 words on why you are studying the subject, what
                                     you hope to learn etc. Easy marks basically.

2 x Film Reviews:          Worth 10% or 5% each. You MUST submit both reviews to receive credit.
                                     The first review is based on Birth of a Nation and the second is based on a
                                     movie of your choice (e.g. Cold Mountain, Django Unchained) which is taken
                                     from a given list. It sounds easy and to some extent it was. However, the
                                     tight word limit of 250 words is incredibly restrictive. The lecturer screens a
                                     number of the listed films as a class at Caulfield at night which was handy.

Convention Response: Worth 10%. Part of the course is a counter-factual role play in week 6.
                                     Basically, in the lecture we have to complete a role play in which we pretend
                                     we are negotiating to avoid the secession of the South from the US. This
                                     response is based on this event and you are required to answer one of
                                     about 4 or 5 questions.

Essay:                          Worth 35%. The essay topic is your choice of 12 given topics which included
                                     the home front, the global civil war, women in the war, soldiers' experiences
                                     etc. You are provided with some starting sources in the unit reader and the
                                     unit guide. You only have 2000 words at 2nd year and 2500 at 3rd year and
                                     you will find this incredibly hard to stick to as block quotes take up a lot of
                                     words, especially when the lecturer does not allow for the +/- 10% rule.

Exam:                           Worth 20%. Comprised 50 questions at 2nd year level and 60 at 3rd year
                                     level. It was an online exam of 2 hours and therefore was essentially
                                     open-book. It was also multiple choice/ true or false questions in its entirety
                                     and so was relatively easy as long as you attended the lectures and did
                                     some basic study.

Tutorial Participation:   Worth 20%. Participation marks were based upon your attendance at
                                     tutorials and completion of the weekly reading guide questions which were
                                     based on the weekly readings.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No and no sample exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  There is no textbook and instead you are required to buy the course reader. You must buy this as all readings and course info is found in this book.

Lecturer(s):  Taylor Spence. He is an American lecturer who only started at Monash last year. He is a hard marker and doesn't allow the +/- 10% rule which can be a real pain in terms of essays.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments: This course is definitely one of the most interesting I've taken so far. The course content can be heavy at times but the lecturer is great and makes it easy enough to follow. In comparison to previous years, Taylor additionally looks at the "West" as opposed to only the North vs. South idea as well as incorporating "the Global Civil War" where he looks at the effects of the civil war on places as far away as Australia and New Zealand. The course covers the antebellum US, the war years and the Reconstruction era which followed.

The Convention in week 6 is a great experience in which you have to work together as a lecture group to try negotiate and avoid war. Each tutorial takes on the role of a particular group such as the free blacks, the abolitionists or staunchest supporters of slavery. It's a fun experience, especially if you have drama students in the class who put their all into the performance as we did!

Assessment is good in that if you fail one piece of assessment it doesn't necessarily mean you will fail the class as there are many small assessments rather than one or two high percentage ones.

Tutorials are good with Taylor, the lecturer, and two other tutors taking the classes. Each tutorial was a mix of second and third years.

I would particularly recommend this course to anyone interested in military history, strategy and the like as Taylor Spence is particularly interested in this area and includes a lot of this type of information in addition to the social, cultural and political facets of the war.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Dallas45 on November 28, 2013, 02:47:09 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2352 - Egypt's Golden Age

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures + 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week

Assessment: 

Tutorial Participation:                    Worth 10%. This comprises not only attendance and participation
                                                      in tutorial discussions but also the completion/submission of a
                                                      reading summary each week.

Tutorial Presentation:                   Worth 10%. During one of the tutorials you must give an oral
                                                      presentation on the readings for that week. The exact week you
                                                      present is your choice.

Annotated Essay Bibliography:     Worth 10%. A few weeks before the major essay is due you need
                                                      to submit an annotated bibliography of at least 10 sources in
                                                      which you explain why you will be using them in your essay.

Essay:                                           Worth 50%. Topic is chosen from a given list.

2 x Exam:                                      There is no exam in the examination period. Instead you must
                                                     complete 2 slide tests, one in week 6 and the other in week
                                                     12/SWOTVAC. These tests comprise 10 powerpoint slides and you
                                                     have 5 minutes to answer each slide. Each slide comprises an
                                                     image of some sort, perhaps a particular artefact or building or a
                                                     photo of an excavator. You must answer the given questions
                                                     relating to that slide. Each image is taken from the lecture slides
                                                     and each exam is worth 10%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No.

Textbook Recommendation:  Oxford history of Ancient Egypt.

Lecturer(s): Colin Hope.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:

This course is particularly interesting and looks at the so-called Golden Age of Egypt. You will look at the reigns of kings/queens such as Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Hatshepsut as well as aspects of Egyptian culture and life such as religion, political administration, and conspiracy. You also look at particular archaeological sites such as Deir El-Medina.

The tutorials are really good, but like any unit there will always be some weeks where the readings are particularly boring. Tutorial and lecture size are relatively small with only 10-12 people in tutorials and maybe 40-50 in the lectures.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ShortBlackChick on November 30, 2013, 02:13:43 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS2634/3634 - Global indigeneity (Recoded in 2014 as ATS3634 - Global Indigeneity)

Workload:  1x 1 Hour lecture and a 1x 1 hour tute

Assessment:  3x1000 word Response Papers worth 20% each, 10% for participation and attendance and 30% In-class test

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available: No

Textbook Recommendation:  The reader from the bookshop which is kinda expensive coz it was massive- it was around 35 bucks

Lecturer(s): Jullian Millie and someone who substituted for a while when he was away

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  4.5 of 5

Comments:
I love love love this unit. I think its by far one of the best units I've taken at Monash. The response papers are structured around the 3 modules of 'Indigeneity in Kenya' on the Nubians, 'Indigenous religion in the nation state' on Indonesia and 'The endangered languages of indigeneity' on Aboriginal Indigeneity and you have to submit each paper for each module a week after the module finished, but all three times Jullian was kind enough to extend this to everyone for 2 days. The response papers were based around the readings, which forced you to read and understand the readings to a deeper level then just summarising it exam time. The questions for the response papers I found very hard to write in 1000 words, and often I had one massive paragraph with my main point and a significantly smaller paragraph for a counter-argument, and thank god for 10 percent leeway but it still wasnt enough, especially to cover all the readings. The modules were very interesting, the first covered international responses to indigeneity and how globalisation has helped indigenous groups in their fight for self determination, as well as the politicalisation of indigeneity, in general and in case study of the Egyptian and Kenyan Nubians. The second module was about the Indonesian politicalisation of religion in indigenous groups to gain status within Indonesia and how the indigenous were forced to conform to the state's expectations and generalisations of religion, away from customs, to gain political and social status and acceptance. Thirdly, was the module about the loss of language culture in Indigenous Australia and the inherent assimilation of Indigenous people into mainstream Australian society through the downplaying of their native languages, where it also discussed how cultures could be revived and the different views towards doing so. TBH I didnt do that well in the response papers, got average marks. The in-class test was where again you had to write I guess, mini essays. You had to answer 3 out of 5 questions and so each response was worth 10%. It was only for an hour so each response would only be like 400-500 words I guess. The questions were a tad less general and perhaps were testing knowledge of one weeks worth of content but tbh it wasnt hard to bullshit if you had done the readings. Oh 3rd years just have to submit a 1500 essay instead of doing the in-class test.

The lectures themselves, I never went to, purely because a) ceebs b) I heard they were pointless and he doesnt even have slides for the lectures and just keeps rambling on aimlessly and that its hard to actually decipher content from them. Also apparently the lectures was just an hour long version of the condensed weekly overview he posted on moodle each week. He's a nice guy, ran tutes awesomely, where we did group activities in scenarios which forced you to discuss and understand the various facets in the weeks' content.

Would definitely recommend this unit for any International Studies major, as it is List A (was??? Not sure with new restructuring of majors)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on December 04, 2013, 09:53:34 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1062 - Molecular Biology

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Nope!

Textbook Recommendation: Molecular Biology of the Cell 5th edition - Alberts et al. You don't need this book per se, but it's an incredible textbook and is written to cater to everyone from those who struggle with the material to those who are really good with it. (The pictures are pretty too :P )

There are also a lot of other textbooks that the lecturers talk about, but don't buy them! If you really need to read them, the Hargrave-Andrew Library will have numerous (dusty) copies for you to look through as you please.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: This is a very solid unit, and I know the organisers have worked very hard to improve it in any way they can. The content is exceedingly interesting but there is a lot to know.

The assessment is also quite good; labs are well-run, well-described and very interesting, but sometimes a little repetitive. The major complaint that I had is that the labs aren't always directly relevant to the content (p.s. if you don't like running gel electrophoresis, this unit is NOT for you, lol). For example, we'd learn about transgenic organisms in the immunology lectures but there's no way they could get us to do that in the labs. Also should note that the labs were really cool, especially doing extractions and tests with your own DNA, bacterial transformations and the ELISA lab to name a few.

The mid-sem was an MCQ test, 45 questions in as many minutes. It was definitely not hard, but the questions were sorta picky and you needed to know some very specific things (like sigma-subunits, holoenzymes etc. that were only covered briefly in the lectures).

The exam was looooong (or at least it felt like it), about 130-or-so MCQs. It wasn't exactly a hard exam either, just quite tedious (mind you, I'm limited by an inability to sit relatively still for 3 hours, so that might have been a factor). The invigilators interrupted our exam 12 times to issue corrections, and there were a few pissed off people, so I think that future exams will be proof-read and written a lot better.

One thing that is CRITICAL to know - and the lecturers will reinforce this throughout the semester - is that the lab materials are examinable, and you WILL get questions on the exam based on the lab theory and techniques. A few people were slightly thrown by some of the lab questions, especially those relating to bacterial transformation/conjugation and the ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, which will probably be your last lab of the semester).

The lecturers are great and really friendly, I haven't got a single bad thing to say about them except that Robyn Slattery sometimes gets so passionate about her material that she speaks unbelievably quickly (or at least it seemed so, some of her immunology stuff was pretty challenging). However, the lectures are recorded so you can go back to them for reference whenever.

Overall, a very good unit and one that provides a lot of important information and techniques for future studies and careers in biomedical sciences.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on December 08, 2013, 06:51:17 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1020 - Analysis of Change

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes but only audio is recorded. All the workings for your lecture notes are uploaded to Moodle though.

Past exams available:  Yes, but only one.

Textbook Recommendation:

Calculus – Early Transcendentals 7th edition by Stewart. This is a great textbook for explanations/reference/extra questions etc. but is by no stretch of the imagination critical. Not worth buying, and you can definitely find a .pdf version online if you look hard enough.

MTH1020 Lecture Notes by A/Prof Cristina Varsavsky, available from the Monash Bookstore for about $18. BUY THIS, you take it into the exam with you.

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: First things first, I passed lol, probably the most surprised I've ever been. This is in no way an indictment on the unit or its teachers, rather my unique and sometimes hilarious mathematical ineptitude. This unit is for the most part well taught, and the lecturers are quite passionate, definitely knowledgeable and deliver the content as well as any maths teacher I've ever had. In the interests of transparency, I didn't attend the majority of the lectures due to clashes with biomed stuff, so I can't comment well on the lecture quality - but I liked what I was there for.

The course content is essentially Specialist Mathematics plus a tiny bit more, all compressed to 12 weeks. It might sound difficult, but it's actually quite manageable, even with 3 other full-on units; you just need to manage your time well. The workload is by no means excessive and there are plenty of people you can approach for help.

Aside from the lectures, there is a 2-hour tutorial in which you complete a problem set (essentially a worksheet) with a tutor present if you need help. My tutor was very helpful, but if yours isn't then don't worry because tutes aren't compulsory, and there is the Maths Help Centre available in the Maths building if you need help (definitely use this, I didn't until the end of semester and I regret not doing so far earlier).

The assignments are a bit more complicated and involved than what you generally come across in the problem sets, but they're fairly easy to full-mark if you devote a fair amount of thought to them (hint, WolframAlpha helps if you're stuck). In order to get full marks for the assignments (as well as the exam questions) you need to do more than get the question right and show your working; you need to write "mathematically" according to the guidelines at the back of the lecture notes. In some cases, this might involve giving written explanations to your working (though you could probably get away with not doing this for the most part).

The exam is a hurdle (i.e. you need to pass the exam to pass the unit) and I personally found it quite tough, but I wasn't properly prepared and if you do the practice exam that they give you a few times you'll be well set for the exam. As mentioned above, you can take your annotated bound lecture notes book into the exam for reference, which is helpful given the length of the exam and the breadth of content.

Overall, I enjoyed this unit somewhat because it taught maths in a way that worked far better for me than how it's taught in VCE, even though the content was definitely harder than what I experienced in school.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: brenden on December 08, 2013, 10:22:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1315 - Human Rights Theory 2

Workload:
 Assessment: 
 
Recorded Lectures:  Yessum. With screen capture iirc. There was definitely a video file of the lecture if that counts?

Past exams available: Nope.

Textbook Recommendation: You need the Subject Reader if you want to pass. That's actually the only thing they tell you to buy.
Lecturer(s): Dr. Robert Simpson (maddest guy!)

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 2.

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81

Comments:

I really, really enjoyed this subject. The latter half of the semester gets more philosophy based, so it's definitely better than the first half of semester. The first half of semester was still pretty important though. The implicit philosophical question of this unit is: What does it mean to be human?

The topics covered were probably slightly less interesting than HRT1 but still pretty great. Bob is a pretty good lecturer and a really nice guy. He's really funny too, although I don't think many people got his sense of humour. I had Jess B as my tutor and she is actually phenomenal. She's a harsh marker and won't give away free marks - which is so fantastic and a bit different to the usual in my experience. Be prepared to get lower marks than you're used to if you get her has your tutor. My first assignment came back with a 69 which is significantly lower than a similar assignment in Sem 1. My essay score was also ten points lower than Sem 1. That said, she gives incredibly detailed feedback that can really bolster your philosophical thought. I consider myself pretty lucky to have landed in her tute and would highly recommend trying to get into one of her tutes (so long as you're not a pansy who wants free marks).

Would really recommend this unit if you enjoyed HRT1. If you didn't enjoy HRT1... well... yeah. Also, taking it without HRT1 is doable but would be challenging. They don't assume any knowledge to a massive degree, but the background was really valuable in my experience.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Poplar on December 09, 2013, 03:29:27 am
Subject Code/Name: FIT1040 - Programming Fundamentals

Workload: 2 hours of lectures, one 2-hour laboratory, one 1-hour tutorial

Assessment:

Short tests during tutorials and labs - 20% (tests are worth 1% each, pretty much just to make sure you didn't sleep through the tutorial)
Assignment 1 - 10%
Assignment 2 - 10%
Written exam - 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  I was part of the first group of students to do this subject so there were no past exams, only a sample exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  I don't remember if there was something on the recommended reading list, but I can't see how a textbook would be necessary or helpful.

Lecturer(s): Peter O'Donnell, definitely one of the more engaging lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 88 HD

Comments:

This is a core unit in all of the IT streams offered at Monash, although students with a background in programming could opt to 'test out' for an exemption. This is because the unit was designed for the students who have no background whatsoever in programming (like myself).

Instead of using a written programming language, we used a drag-and-drop interface called Scribble. It reminded me of those Lego Mindstorms kits I used when I was younger, haha. I found it kind of fun but a lot of the people I talked to thought it was pretty boring. A lot of these people could've tested out, but decided not to.

The lectures were quite engaging but I found I didn't miss much if I went straight to the tutorial without watching the week's lectures. I admittedly put quite a bit less energy/time into this subject than my other, more difficult units (namely FIT1029 and MAT1830).

Overall I enjoyed this unit as a relaxed introduction to programming, although in hindsight I would've liked to do a bit more as it's not, in my opinion, a sufficient introduction to lead onto units such as FIT1008.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Poplar on December 09, 2013, 03:58:15 am
Subject Code/Name: FIT1029 - Algorithmic Problem Solving

Workload: Two hours of lectures, one 2-hour tutorial. I highly recommend giving the optional PASS sessions (1 hour/week) a try.

Assessment:

Assignment 1 - 10%
Midsemester test - 15%
Assignment 2 - 15%
Written exam - 60% (hurdle requirement, you must get 40% or more on the exam to complete the unit)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: There were some available but no solutions so it wasn't very useful to me. I tend to do the past exams at ridiculous hours of the morning so a response on the online forum would take a while, and I can't be bothered travelling 1.5 hours each way to uni just to get some feedback. The PASS leader supplied a bunch of exam-style questions (with answers) which were helpful.

Textbook Recommendation: I think there were ~7 books on the "recommended" list. There's really no need to buy them unless you want to pay $1000 on a bunch of textbooks of which you might look at 1-2 pages.

Lecturer(s): Dr Peter Tischer

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, semester 1

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 69 C

Comments:

This unit made me want to sleep. Zzzzzzz.

For someone 100% new to the subject, it was kind of hard at first to work out how the lectures actually related to the tutorials or actually writing out an algorithm. The first half of the semester seemed to be just talking about different puzzles, and the second half different algorithms (using recursion, search algorithms etc). Even when I attended lectures, I often couldn't work out what was going on in the tutorial. The PASS sessions were much more useful for me.

I didn't really understand what was going on in this unit until the night before the exam, after doing 10000000 past exam questions. This was known for having a particularly high fail rate, so I kind of panicked a bit in the nights leading up the the exam. It wasn't particularly easy or particularly engaging but looking back, I feel like I actually learned something so it's a worthwhile subject if you can get through it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: xZero on December 09, 2013, 05:29:33 pm
Subject Code/Name: ASP3012 - Stars and Galaxies

Workload: 
- 3 x 1hours lectures
- 1 hour laboratory
- 1 hour  tutorial class

Assessment:
- Examination (3 hours): 60%
- Assignments: 20%
- Computer laboratories: 10%
- Field-trip report: 10%

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2 on moodle and 1 with solution

Textbook Recommendation:  None, the lecture notes + extra reading materials is all you need

Lecturer(s): Dr Maria Lugaro, Dr Daniel Price and Dr Alina Donea

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 2 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 70 D

Comments:
Another unit with a HUGE amount of workload, they give you 2 x 1 hour lab to finish a lab sheet that requires at least 5 - 6 hours, worst of all only the specific computers in the math building has the linux program that you need to complete the lab. Besides that the tutorial are almost useless as they ask you to proof ridiculous amount of theorem, which would be fine if they don't do any weird math logic. An example would be "hey look I know that there's a square root of 2 here, but let's just ignore it since it doesn't affect the equation much anyways" or "quick, assume density does not depend on distance so we can integrate this!", these logic just frustrates me to no end.

The amount of content in this course is quite scary, especially if you came from a physics minor with no astrophysics background, the lecture notes are terrible and the only saving grace is the extra reading material they upload. Despite all that, the field trip was rather mind blowing, I never knew so many stars were visible at night!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: xZero on December 09, 2013, 05:50:30 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3020 - Complex Analysis and Integral Transforms

Workload: 
- 3 x 1hours lectures
- 1 hour tutorial class

Assessment:
- Examination (3 hours): 60%
- Assignments and quizzes: 40%

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2 on moodle and 1 with solution

Textbook Recommendation:
- Fundamentals of Complex Analysis by E.B. Saff and A.D. Snider (optional)
- Schaum's outlines Laplace Transforms by Murray R. Spiegel (must for exam)

Lecturer(s): Dr Greg Markowsky

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 76 D

Comments:
Overall an enjoyable unit, though I can't say the same for many of my friends. The content is very challenging and despite the name "analysis", it is very different from real analysis, there won't be many rigorous proofs like induction, contradiction and all that, its more of algebra manipulation and theorem application. This course will start off quite easy, with some basic complex numbers such as Euler's identity, the imaginary plane, conjugate and whatnot. Then the course takes you to a brand new territory, filled with new theorems that's only available in complex numbers (they are quite fun to think about) and they teach you how to do integration and differentiation in complex plane. Then it moves onto taylor series, laurent series, a slight introduction to mobius transformation and conformal mapping. But hang on, theres more! You will also learn laplace and fourier transformation! This unit is very useful for engineering students whose also taking a science degree, it's not overly difficult but don't underestimate the amount of things you have to study for the exam.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: xZero on December 09, 2013, 06:04:41 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3150 - Algebra and Number Theory II

Workload: 
- 3 x 1hours lectures
- 1 hour tutorial class

Assessment:
- Examination (3 hours): 70%
- Assignments and tests: 30%

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2 on moodle and 1 with solution

Textbook Recommendation: Lecture notes will suffice

Lecturer(s): Associate Professor Ian Wanless and Heiko Dietrich

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating: 5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments:
In terms of the content, this unit is the best out of everything I've done. This unit dwarfs algebra and number theory 1 in terms of difficulty, yet it is doable while remaining enjoyable. Similar to the first unit, there's a weekly assignment that's worth 10/3% and they are quite challenging. I'm trying to think of other things to say but this unit is just so awesome that I don't know where to begin so rather than writing a massive essay, I would fully recommend you to check this unit out yourself!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: xZero on December 12, 2013, 12:19:31 am
Subject Code/Name: PHS2022 - Physics: Electromagnetism, Light and Entropy

Workload: 
- 3 x 1hours lectures
- 3 hours lab

Assessment:
- Examinations (One x 3 hours and One x 2 hours): 50%
- Assignments: 16%
- Practical work (compulsory): 34%

Recorded Lectures: Forgot, most likely recorded with screen capture although they are all useless

Past exams available: Multiple exams, the number varies between each sub topics

Textbook Recommendation: Wikipedia and library, no need to buy any text book

Lecturer(s): Again I don't remember, all lecturers were different for each sub topic

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2012

Rating:  1.5 Out of 5 (comparatively)

Your Mark/Grade: 68 C

Comments:
First of all let me just say that I did this unit a year ago so my memory aren't the best so do ask around before deciding whether this unit is for you or not!

When I wrote comparatively, I meant that it is slightly more enjoyable compare to PHS2011. The 3 hours lab each week is quite troublesome and most likely you won't finish it on time, which is to be expected. In terms of lecture quality, it's a physics unit so don't expect anything awesome, personally watching a lecture is worse than staring at a hypnotoad gif for an hour. With my personal opinion out of way, lets look at things more objectively. There are some pros such as the content is ... decent, I'm not saying that its not boring (if its fun then its either not physics or its too basic) but you do learn some interesting stuff, optics was quite fun and electromagnetism was good as well since its mostly an application of calculus. Optics involves stuff like polariser, phase difference with some matrix while electromagnetism is just applying Maxwell's equation to simple cases like calculating the electric field of a single electron with spherical co-ordinates. You also get to go on an excursion to visit the synchrotron, its sounds cooler than it is and you'll have to summarise an article from the Natures journal afterwards. Now onto the cons, thermal physics...... when I did thermodynamics I thought that was the hardest shit I've ever done, I passed it with a very satisfying results and going into this sub topic I thought I would be ready, how wrong was I (story time).

I rocked up to the exam (2 hours) and I swear to god, I prepared the shit out of thermal physics, during the reading time I cried because I couldn't do most of the questions. I don't know if its just my year but they gave us questions that wasn't even on the lecture/tutorial/assignments, HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSE TO DERIVE SOME BULLSHIT ENTROPY STATE FOR THE CURRENT ROOM?? I AIN'T A PHD AND FUCK YOU DR LINCOLN TURNER. Similar story can be said about optics, but not as bad as thermal physics.

All in all, if you're considering this unit then either your majoring in physics or astrophysics, let's just say that this unit deterred me from doing a physics major. For those who are seriously considering doing a physics major, the work load from now on will only get worse and the content will be even harder (from what I've heard off a friend, who never complained about the difficulty of a unit, he said that physics is "fucking g**")
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Poplar on December 12, 2013, 05:59:01 am
Subject Code/Name: FIT1004 - Data Management

Workload:

Two hours of lectures, one 2-hour laboratory

Assessment:

Assignment 1: Data collection and markup - 5%
Assignment 2: Database manipulation - 20%
Assignment 3A: Conceptual design - hurdle requirement
Assignment 3B: Full database design - 20%
Tutorial participation and quiz completion - 5%
Written exam: 50%

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: 6 past exams with solutions

Textbook Recommendation: Database systems - Design, Implementation and Management - I used this book a bit, but mostly for looking up the notation for diagrams. There's nothing in the book that you couldn't get on the internet.

Lecturer(s): A./Prof. David Dowe

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, semester 2

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83 HD

Comments:

The workload isn't HUGE for this subject but I found it pretty daunting.

The exam for this unit was divided into six parts, and this could apply to the unit as a whole as well:
The hardest part for me was the SQL. My lab demonstrator wasn't the best at explaining what we had to do, so it was pretty much up to us to work on the questions given for that week. I talked to people in other classes who said they learned a lot during labs so it really depends on who you have as a demonstrator.

I found assignments 2 and 3 pretty hard, so I attended consultation sessions when I got really stuck. Maybe I wouldn't have needed to so much if my lab demonstrator was a bit clearer, but the consultation really was helpful for me so I managed. With the exception of assignment 1, the content of the assignments was quite similar to what was on the exam, so if you understand the assignments you'll be okay on the exam.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Cappuccinos on December 13, 2013, 12:50:09 am
Subject Code/Name: MKC1200 - Principles of Marketing 

Workload:  2 x 1hr Lecture,  1 x 1 hr tutorial
Tutorial Structure: Submit tutorial exercises, do some practice multiple choice questions, discuss tutorial exercise, random group activity.  I found that time in tutorials flew pretty quickly.

Assessment:
Assessment 1: Individual Tutorial Exercises 10%
So for 8 of 12 the weeks of tutorials, there were tutorial exercises that needed to be completed. These tutorial exercises were uploaded onto Moodle and you needed to complete before your tutorial and then submit them in your tutorial. The tutorial exercises where mainly 1 page tables that you had to fill out but somtimes were textbook questions. Each exercise was worth 1.25 and you could consider the easy marks because they were either marked as satisfactory (got the 1.25 marks) or not (0 marks). Staying in bed and skipping your tutorial can be tempting though :3

Assessment 2: Multiple Choice Test 15%
Test done in tutorial consisting of 25 MCQ. I just remember the night before frantically trying to learn 4 weeks of content and still doing good/average (21/25 was the average mark). You could have deduced most of the answers from common sense, but some were pretty specific. If I recall correctly, you got the whole hour to do it which was way more than enough time imo

Assessment 3: Marketing Mix Analysis 25%
I hate writing essays so when I saw this in the unit guide I was like 'oh boy'. But it’s actually not too bad! The essay is 1800 (±10%) words and involves analysing the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion) of a product (we got to choose between Toyota Prius C, some tooth brush thing and the HTC One). You also get to make a pretty cover sheet for it :3

Pretty straight forward once you figure out what you're doing. Spent around 2-3 days on it and managed a C (would’ve been a HD if I didn’t hand it in two days late #regrets). You may or may not think 1800 words is heaps, but I struggled to keep below the word limit and for most people I spoke to they hit above 1800 words. Some of the knowledge required for the essay needed to be self-learnt because it was due to be covered after the essay was due. This may or may not be the case when you do this unit, it was easily managed though.

This essay can be tough as it might be the first essay you’ve written in uni and have no clue about APA referencing (Q MANUAL IS YOUR BIBLE), and finding good journal articles was an absolute pain but there’s a library seminars specifically for this essay and it’s not restricted to peer reviewed journals (“only” had to use 4) and you could use textbooks (including the prescribed), company/product websites, newspaper articles etc. 

Oh and you don’t actually get a numbered mark for this essay. You do however get a filled out rubric and a letter grade (N, P, C, D or HD)

Exam (50%)
2 hour exam. 100 marks. Hurdle (must achieve at least 50%)
Make sure you know your examples!

Recorded Lectures:  Nope

Past exams available:  Sample exam and one from 2007. Dewi told us not to look at the 2007 one as she has a different style of exam writing. The sample exam was pretty good indication of the structure of the exam. She also held a lecture in the last week about what topics would be covered on the exam which was very helpful.

Textbook Recommendation:  The prescribed book is Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L., and Armstrong, G. (2013). Marketing (9th Ed.). Pearson Australia.

Didn't buy it (new textbook, $$$, yolo) so can't really comment on it. I did however consult other textbooks by one of the authors. Some tutorial exercises did come from the textbook, but when this was the case an excerpt of relevant part of the book was uploaded onto Moodle so yeah. I think the textbook would have been really useful for the essay, I ended up referencing the textbook through quotes in the lecture slides >< (wouldn’t recommend haha). Oh and the textbook would be really useful for examples. Every question on the exam required a few examples. The textbook I consulted had random American examples which I hadn’t even heard of haha.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Dewi Tojib (Chief Examiner), Peter Thompson

Each lecturer would take one lecture a week.
It was Dewi’s first semester of taking this unit and when I found the motivation to attend uni she was great! Didn’t read off the lecture slides, had great examples and a few good jokes. Peter, on the other hand,  scared me off from his lectures in the first week (picking on random students to answer, finds students with laptops annoying, angry kind of tone etc) so I can’t comment further :P  Seriously, I didn’t attend any of his lectures afterwards hahaha. I heard he reads of the lecture slides and left the lecture 5 minutes in when the technology wasn’t working. 

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2013

Rating:  3.75 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 78

Comments: A lot of content but most of it is fairly straightforward and not too dry. Overall a decent unit and well organised. Disappointed with myself for not putting more effort in the class
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: m.Chemia on December 21, 2013, 12:48:02 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1171 - Korean Introductory 1

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

Assessment: 1 x Read aloud test - 10%
                      5 x Online listening tasks - 5 x 1%
                      1 x Listening test during last lecture - 15%
                      1 x Written work - 10% (IIRC, as I took it in semester 1 and I can't find the unit guide anywhere.)
                      1 x Speaking test - 20% (IIRC, same as above)
                      1 x Final exam - 40%


Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture, but the recording will be online for one week only. Lecture slides are uploaded.

Past exams available:  No.

Textbook Recommendation: My Korean 1 by Moansh. PDF version is on moodle. A hard or soft copy must be brought to tutorials.

Lecturer(s): Dr. In Jun Cho, Dr. Dam Bi Kim

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 1

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments: Overall, this is an enjoyable and easy unit. Most of the people doing Korean really like K-Pop and they already know some expressions/vocabs. But it doesn't really matter, this unit assumes zero previous knowledge and they teach you from the very beginning so there is nothing to worry about. I stopped going to lectures after week 5 or so because I found them pretty useless, not that Dr. Dam Bi Kim is not good, she is actually pretty awesome. And my tutor, Hye Yun Bae is the most awesome tutor I have met at uni so far. She is nice, approachable, caring and is pretty good at teaching. Try and get into her tutes if you can. (She will most likely be the only 1st year Korean tutor  anyway as the other female tutor was on maternity leave.) And one final thing about the exam, don't focus too much about the weird vocabs (such as crab) you are never gonna use, just study the common ones and read the book through from the beginning to the end for 20 times or so, read every single thing written in the book aloud and you'll most likely get a good mark.
I'm not sure about other languages, people doing Koreans (from the same tutorial) are generally quite close to each other, and I mean go out all the time kind of close, so it is very likely to you will make some good friends doing Korean. So anyone thinking about doing a language at an introductory level, Korean is probably the best.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: m.Chemia on December 21, 2013, 09:55:12 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1172 - Korean Introductory 2

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

Assessment:  1 x Read aloud test - 10%
                       4 x Online listening tasks - 4 x 1%
                       1 x Listening test during last lecture - 16%
                       1 x Written work - 10%
                       1 x Speaking test - 20%
                       1 x Final exam - 40%


Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture, but the recording will be online for one week only. Lecture slides are uploaded.

Past exams available:  No.

Textbook Recommendation:  My Korean 2 by Moansh. PDF version is on moodle. A hard or soft copy must be brought to tutorials.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Dam Bi Kim

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 2

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 93 HD

Comments: This is the second Korean unit at Monash. The vast majority of students have completed Korean Introductory 1 in Semester 1, but some students who have Korean language skill to some sort of extend might be put into Korean Introductory 2 directly. This uni basically has the same difficult as Korean Introductory 1. And again, I only went to the lectures in week 1 and week 12, I personally found them useless but I don't recommend anyone to skip them. As usual, the tutorials are compulsory, and you actually learn stuff from tutorial. I didn't even listen to the recording of the lectures. All I did was going to the tutorials and work really hard. And once again, I have to mention that the only tutor (she took SIX tutes this semester), Ms Hye Yun Bae was amazing! She was so friendly, helpful and approachable. Geez, I don't know what else to say, this unit is pretty much the same as Korean Introductory 1. Please refer to the review for that as well for exam tips and everything.

*The Korean Introductory 1 review is right above this one.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Dallas45 on January 21, 2014, 10:41:33 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1041 - World Religions

Workload:  2 x hour lecture + 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week

Assessment:

10 x Pre-tutorial quizzes: Worth 20% (2% each). Relatively simple, short answer online quizzes for which you have the questions in advance in the unit reader. Based on the weekly readings.

Expository Exercise:         Worth 10%. Summary of an article.

Essay:                              Worth 30%. 1500 words. On a topic of your choice from a set list of questions. There are around 10 questions per religion studied so there is heaps of choice and you should be able to find something of interest.

Tutorial Presentation:      Worth 10%. A short 5-10 minute presentation during one of the tutorial weeks on that week's studied religion.

Exam:                              Worth 30%. 2 hour examination. The lecturer gives really good preparation in the last week, but other than that there are no practice exams or other help.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No and no sample exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  There is no textbook and instead you are required to buy the course reader. You must buy this as all readings and course info is found in this book.

Lecturer(s):  Constant Mews (Course Co-Ordinator) + various other lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  3 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 71 D

Comments: The assessment was pretty easy (just tutorial participation/attendance, a couple of article summaries/synthesis exercises, an essay and an exam if i remember correctly.)
The lectures and tutorials were easy to follow and easy lecture was given by a different lecturer with expertise in that particular religion. Each week looked at a different religion (Aboriginal spirituality, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, new religious movements like Scientology etc) and the essay was a topic chosen from a list based on one of these religions. You are given roughly 10 essay topics to choose from per religion so there is heaps of choice.

The exam was relatively simple and the lecturer/tutor (Constant Mews) prepared for it well.

Overall, the subject was good, though it could get a bit boring sometimes but that's the same with any subject - some topics will interest you more than others. Workload wasn't too bad either. Only 1 x 2hr lecture + 1 x 1 hr tutorial per week and the weekly readings/essay readings and research :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ninwa on January 26, 2014, 03:30:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW4160 - Negotiation and Mediation Law 406

Workload:
Summer semester intensive: scheduled for 9am - 5pm Monday to Friday (1 week), but in reality we finished around 3pm every day.

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:
No. Negotiation is a practical thing anyway so if you don't plan to show up to class then don't bother taking the subject, you won't learn anything.

Past exams available:
No exam, you get the scenario/facts for your simulated negotiations in advance.

Textbook Recommendation:
Pre-reading: Fisher and Ury, Getting to Yes - Negotiating an Agreement Without Giving In - you can find this online for free if you Google it, and it's a really useful and very easy-to-read summary of a lot of the skills you'll be learning.

There is also a course book with relevant excerpts from a range of textbooks on negotiation/mediation, which you are expected to purchase. I would buy it because it's a handy resource not just for this subject but also for life in general.

Lecturer(s):
Tom Harber (summer and winter semesters)
Dr Sandy Caspi-Sable (semester 1 and 2)

Year & Semester of completion:
Summer semester B, 2014

Rating: 10 out of 5, shut up I'm admin and I say this rating is possible

Comments:
Lecturer: Tom is a negotiation/mediation skills consultant. He used to be a lawyer for Allens, then went to Harvard to get an MBA which included studies in negotiation (basically he is incredibly smart). All of the skills and theories we learned came from Harvard; all our handouts were branded with the Harvard Business School logo etc., so (IMO) you would be learning some of the best skills out there. Tom is highly engaging, knowledgeable and funny. You'll have a good time with him.

I don't know what Sandy is like as a lecturer, but we did watch a video where she was mediating a negotiation and it was clear that she very much knew her stuff.

Subject: I've enjoyed subjects before, yes, but I never thought I'd actually have FUN at law school. But here we are and I will gladly eat my hat. This is a great subject, not just for conducting negotiations in future (which you will have to do in almost any industry you decide to go into, including legal - most legal disputes do not actually go to litigation), but also just generally in real life. Cashier won't let you return your item 1 day after the return period? Negotiation skills! Internet company being stubborn dicks again? Negotiation skills! Boyfriend won't see a girly movie with you? NEGOTIATION. SKILLS.

You will learn not only negotiation, but also basic game theory, economics, psychology and there's even a neurobiology bit about the brain and amygdala and emotions or something like that, which I'm sure would have been interesting if I had any idea what any of it meant.

Make sure to start applying for this subject at least 1 or 2 semesters before you graduate, because it is highly popular and you might not get in the first time. For example, there were 42 spots in my class and, according to Tom, 94 people on the waiting list. (NB: those graduating sooner will take precedence, then the rest will depend on what you write on your application, your transcript has nothing to do with whether you'll get in so don't worry about that.)

My only slight criticism is regarding the 30% worth of in-class simulated negotiations. Basically, you got a general summary of the facts, then a confidential summary of facts applicable to your side (e.g. what the party you are representing wants out of the negotiation, what they are willing to concede on etc.). The most desirable outcomes are assigned the most points and the least, 0 points. This points system is also confidential to you (so your opposing party can't exploit the points your party is willing to concede on, and vice versa).

I totally understand that time constraints make it impossible for the lecturer to sit through and assess every single group, and therefore it naturally has to be results-oriented. But I found the outcome also depended a lot on who you are assigned with. For example, in one negotiation the opposite party refused to budge on something which could have benefited BOTH of us (i.e. we BOTH would have gotten more points if he'd backed off, which was really bloody annoying when I found out later). In the 6-party negotiation, another party and I wasted like 15 minutes engaging in a battle of wills arguing over a point on which neither of us was willing to concede, which must have really pissed off the remaining 4 members who were very willing to compromise on everything else (lol my bad, in my defence my party was the veto-holding party and without this concession I wouldn't have been allowed to agree to any agreement).

Anyway, tl;dr highly recommend this subject it's great and you should apply for it ASAP.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: DisaFear on March 01, 2014, 11:54:27 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2990 - Introductory chemical research project

Workload:
Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  No lectures for this unit

Past exams available: No exams for this unit

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook for this unit

Lecturer(s): No lecturer for this unit. However, I worked under:

Year & Semester of completion: 2013/2014 Summer Semester

Rating:  6/5

Your Mark/Grade: 82 HD

Comments:

This is going to be really long. So hold onto your horses.

What is this unit about?

This unit is about research. It allows undergraduates the chance to try out their hand at one of the research projects available from the Chemistry Honours Handbook. It is a great way to see what research is like, see if you'll want to do it in the future or not.

Basically, you go through the handbook. If there is a project you like, you contact the person associated with it and if they're interested in taking you on, then bam, you're a researcher part of their group working on stuff that no one has worked on before!

I had the privilege of being in a 'joint-project' between two groups. I worked on a project in collaboration between Professor Alan Chaffee's group and Professor Douglas MacFarlane's group.

Is it scary?

Oh yea. During the first 3-4 days when you start out, sure you'll be questioning if you are worthy, as a second/third year student, of undertaking  'real' research. But you are worthy! I was scared everything I touched would break, but I only managed to break one beaker over 2 months :)

The people are there to help. Everyone is so so so friendly. You will use equipment you've never used before, equipment that could take up whole rooms by themselves. But your supervisor will show you, and you will get the hang of it.

What did I work on?

My project involved the capture of carbon dioxide using mesoporous silicas infiltrated with amine-functional ionic liquids. Ionic liquids have the ability to form carbamates with carbon dioxide, meaning you can have carbon dioxide adsorb to the ionic liquid at certain conditions (temperature/pressure) and then have it desorb at other conditions, to safely store the carbon dioxide while regenerating the adsorbent. This was to be developed especially for carbon dioxide capture from post-combustion waste gas from places like coal-fired power generators.

There was a lot of paper work to fill out initially. All the usual safety stuff.

After all that was covered, straight to the synthesis. I had to make 18 samples; made them 3 at a time, each sample taking around 2-3 days to make. If nothing else, this unit will make you very confident in your lab work in future years. I have so much experience now, it feels great. Got to use vacuum ovens, rotary evaporation units, thermogravimetric analysis units, pycnometers and lots of other cool stuff. I had a lab which I shared with two other people.

After making the samples, they were characterised using techniques like Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Helium pycnometry and Nitrogen adsorption/desorption. Then, we tested the materials for their carbon capture capacity.

Life is good. You can take breaks whenever you want. It's just like you're working, without the pay. Leave a sample to stir or sonicate for a while...if it needs one hour and you have no other samples to prepare, bam, you have a break :) and there's all the facilities you need like a microwave, fridge, hot water, coffee, etc. I had a bit of office space to myself too, shared with Honours/PhD students in our research group, but I  never used it because they all had keys and I didn't so it was locked all the time - embarrassing to always ask them to open the door.

I loved every bit of this unit. You get to meet some amazing people around the faculty. You get to see how cool instruments work. You get to see all the mechanics of a lab, like how they change gas cylinders, how to use the liquid nitrogen tanks, how to order new glassware. You overhear conversations where people are talking about how their paper is about to be published, or how their results look good, etc. It's such a friendly atmosphere.

Yea, I could keep going on about how great it was, because it was!

Assessment

The oral presentation was quite scary. I had to present in front of 20 odd scientists for 10 minutes...even though I'm usually decent at presentations, I stammered a lot in that. Be prepared for questions...if this is what conferences are like, haha...

The report was 13-14 pages long, ~3300 words. There are samples on the Moodle page. Don't leave it to the last minute :P

Lab work should be easy marks. Just work diligently, keep your lab tidy, etc. Label stuff properly, keep clear records. When you are making 18 samples, accidents in naming can occur. One white powder looks the same as another white powder :P

Final words

If you are interested in research, definitely do it. It is an amazing experience. The professors are very adept at explaining concepts, if you're worried that you won't understand what's going on, it won't be that way. I remember, we had a group lunch once to say farewell to a German researcher. The professor, while explaining some chemistry to me, pulled out a pen, took a napkin off the table and started drawing diagrams. Everyone is there to help! So don't be afraid :)

If you have any questions regarding the unit, feel free to contact me. Or maybe if you want to read my crappy report.

IMAGE GALLERY
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on March 02, 2014, 01:59:48 am
Subject Code/Name: SPHPM Summer Research Scholarship

Workload:

Assessment: There is no official, graded assessment, but there are certain conditions that you need to meet:

Recorded Lectures: N/A

Past exams available: N/A

Textbook Recommendation: There are no textbooks - given that this isn't a unit - but get ready to read a boatload of journal articles!

Lecturer(s): N/A

Year & Semester of completion: Summer 2013-2014

Rating: 5/5 at least!

Your Mark/Grade: N/A

Comments:

A bit about SPHPM

So it's not technically a unit, but it is offered by Monash and it is an amazing learning experience so I thought I might write up a review of the SPHPM Summer Research Scholarship. SPHPM is the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine under the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science. It is located at Monash's Alfred hospital campus, and contains a number of departments including the DEPM (Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine) and the DOFM (Department of Forensic Medicine) amongst others. As well as being right in the hospital premises, it's also right next door to the Burnet Institute, Baker IDI and AMREP so it really is a central hub for medical research.

There isn't any undergrad representation at SPHPM, which consists of Honours, Masters and PhD students, as well as post-docs and full-time researchers. This gave those of us who were part of the program the opportunity of working in a research centre devoted to everything postgraduate and beyond.

Applying for the program:

Like all other Summer and Winter research scholarships offered by Monash, you need to apply during the relevant period. Make sure to check the Monash website for the specific dates. Also like many of these scholarships, there is paid remuneration for your time spend on the scholarship program.

N.B. that as I write this, the program is offered only to those in MBBS, BBiomedSc and BHSc. I doubt they'd expand it to other degrees like BSc or BA in future, but you never know!

The application process for this was fairly straightforward:

If you are successful in both of these, the program coordinator will email you with your research topic and supervisor prior to the start of the program.

The program itself

Unlike many other vacation research scholarships offered by Monash, the SPHPM program offers a group experience because you're in constant contact with the other people in the program, e.g. there are several tours that you'll go on as a group (I'll elaborate on these shortly), and you'll (hopefully) end up hanging around with these people almost every day by going out to lunch or just seeing each other around the office. Also, it's likely that you'll be sharing a research unit with another person on the program, but you'll probably be working on individual projects. The people who did the program with me were all lovely, friendly, incredibly intelligent people and I made a lot of friends - it's hard not to when you're working with these people all day, every day!

As mentioned above, the program itself is divided into two parts; as well as working on a research project, there are also other activities run for all the scholars by the program coordinators. For us, these activities were the following:

These were all really fun, exciting and informative, and it really helped everyone connect with each other. It can be a bit intimidating working at SPHPM with the amount of incredible and fascinating research going on at any one time, so it was great to have a group of friendly people around to experience the program with (and to complain about the workload to :P).

The research side of the project varies in its specifics depending on your project and supervisor, but the constant is that it's intense. You'll most likely be writing A LOT, be it an abstract, a lit review, parts of the research team's primary paper - you name it. Expect to be at the computer typing a lot; this isn't lab-based research but you'll be doing a lot of data collection and interpretation. This might not sound so great but it is very engaging and it sets you up not only for any research-based stuff you might do in future, but also for scientific practice in later years uni, especially units like SCI2010/2015 if you ever happen to take one of those.

My personal project (simply stated) looked at the causes and effects of various delays in the diagnosis and treatment of NSCLC (non-small cell lung carcinoma), a type of lung cancer. It was really interesting to learn so much about one particular condition and how prevalent it is. At the moment (i.e. I am procrastinating as I write this), I'm writing a literature review and contributing to the research team's primary paper. I'm hoping to submit the lit review for publication soon (I should really get back to work hahaha), and tbh I'm really proud of the effort I've put into my work at SPHPM - I know the same goes for all the other participants in the Summer research program as well. It was a wonderful experience overall, and it gave me a taste of what medical research is really like; I definitely want to do more in this general field.

Highly, highly recommended for those students looking to go into medical research at some point, or even just those interested in public health and medical science.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Treeman on March 05, 2014, 09:28:24 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2132 - Nature and Beauty of Mathematics

Workload:  Two 1-hour lectures and one 1-hour support class per week

Assessment:  I think there were 6 assessments spread out across the semester each weighing the same.

Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  Not when I did it. We were given exam preparation materials.

Textbook Recommendation:  Each topic gets handed out relevant materials, no textbook necessary.

Lecturer(s): Dr Burhard Polster

Year & Semester of completion: 2010, it was also coded MTH1122

Rating: 6 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 68

Comments: This is a very interesting unit which places mathematics in a more artsy perspective (probably designed for art students whose maths is not their strong point haha). Philosophical topics surrounding maths are raised but lightly delved in so don't be put off by that, the assignments are fairly easy but more importantly the material is interesting. Talks about the Golden Ratio all the way to the shape of the universe and mobius strip explained so that layman can understand. Some of the later assignments can get a little tricky but just ask Burkard (he urges you this thru out he entire semester) and he is happy to explain with all too many hints.

Exam: I thought the exam was a bit harder than the assessments he gave us and there was quite a lot to cover for the time given. I'm pretty lazy tho but if you put in some effort this is almost a guaranteed HD

Bottom line: This is a piss easy subject that has a low mathematical component and is great for filling up electives while undertaking your course.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Treeman on March 05, 2014, 10:19:38 pm
Subject Code/Name ATS1347: Music Ensemble (Also known as ATS1347/ATS1348/ATS2800/ATS2801; the unit codes refer to the same subject, labelled for different semester/year)

Workload:  2 hours every Monday from 2pm to 4pm in the Music Auditorium

Assessment:  The music ensemble is an umbrella term for the choir or orchestra. You choose one or the other obviously depending on whether you want to sing in the choir or play an instrument in an orchestra.

The assessment is basically having attendance every week and turning up to live performances that are usually held in the city or the surrounding suburbs or at Monash. The no. of live performances really depend on the unit coordinator, so it could be 3-4 performances, or even just 1. When there was only one performance, we did a very short aural pitch test where you basically just hum in the same key as the piano. Possibly the easiest assessment ever, given you have relative pitch.

I've only done the choir so I can't comment on the orchestra but I'm sure it's very similar.

Recorded Lectures:  N/A

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  You are given the music sheet for each music piece.

Lecturer(s): I've had Frank Dobbs twice now but there seems to be a new conductor this semester for 2014, didn't get his name...

Year & Semester of completion: ATS1348 in 2012, ATS2801 in 2013.

Rating: 10 out of 5, oh yeh

Your Mark/Grade: 90 for ATS1348, 90 for ATS2801

Comments: This subject is a walk in the park IF you have a musical background, can sing with relative pitch and can read music notes. Actually reading music notes isn't even necessary if you have very good ears and good control over your voice. Just stand next to someone who can read and you'll be right. But still, reading music should be something all musicians know.
Frank Dobbs was a great conductor, a man with character and excitement about him.

Bottom line: Guaranteed HD for those with a musical background or relative pitch.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ninwa on March 28, 2014, 08:09:28 pm
Subject code/name: LAW7011 - Copyright
Please note that this is a JD/LLM elective*. However, LAW5146 - Intellectual property I: Copyright and designs also covers copyright law. LAW5146 has more of an emphasis on designs though.

Workload:
Intensive lectures (9am to 4pm for five days), no tutorials

Assessment:
Research assignment (3,750 words): 50%
Take-home exam (3,750 words): 50%

Recorded Lectures: No

Past exams available: No

Textbook Recommendation:
N/A; we got a folder full of the major cases for free, and additional cases/other readings were uploaded to Moodle.
Optional: hard copy of Copyright Act. I would recommend it if you can afford it because the CA is rather confusing and it might help you visualise its structure if you actually have it in front of you.

Lecturer(s): Assoc Prof David Lindsay

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Comments:
The unit
I remember looking up the unit evaluation and the only comment was "Unit was intellectually stimulating", and I remember saying to enwiabe that this was almost definitely lawyer-speak for "shit's bloody hard yo". And I was right, and why didn't I discontinue and finish my law degree with easy electives like a normal person? sobs quietly

Aaaaanyway, so copyright law can get quite complex. There were top tier lawyers in my class and even they found it confusing at times! There is a LOT of content to get through, meaning that a lot of it was skipped through fairly quickly due to time constraints, which leaves you to work it out yourself at home. The difficulty also comes from the fact that copyright law can get very philosophical/meta/policy-based - there is almost never a firm answer - it's always "a question of fact and degree" (as a law student that phrase should terrify you)

That said, I found this subject extremely fascinating (when I could understand it). I've heard people criticise it for being way too technical and theoretical, but in my opinion it is very applicable to real life - especially if you are interested in the arts or sciences. The importance of copyright law to innovation and cultural development is undeniable.

For me, the most interesting part was seeing how copyright law adapts to and moulds itself in line with technological developments. For example, computer games can only be protected as "films", because at the time the Act was drafted obviously computer games didn't exist. And, my essay topic was on whether computer-generated works could be protected which, given how much more advanced AI is becoming, is only going to be more and more relevant. I was also fascinated by the intersection between copyright law, designs law and the boundary-pushing tendencies of modern art (is a urinal classified as a sculpture and therefore protected by copyright? What about a well-designed and very beautiful yacht?)

If you're looking for an easy D/HD, stay away unless you're the second coming of Michael Kirby, but if you're looking for a challenge - or "intellectual stimulation" - definitely give it a shot.

The lecturer
(David Lindsay takes Intellectual Property I as well, interchangeably with Rebecca Giblin.)

From what I've heard talking to people, you either hate David or you love him. He's extremely knowledgeable, funny and a very kind man who will take all your stupid questions seriously so you never feel embarrassed. I think the problem some people might have with his teaching style is that his explanations sometimes complicate rather than clarify the matter, just because he's such a walking encyclopedia about copyright/internet/broadcasting law that he'll explain a difficult concept by bombarding you with 10 other difficult concepts. Occasionally his "explanations" give me a headache haha. But emphasis on "occasionally"!



*For LLB students: the reason I'm taking a couple of postgrad units is thanks to the Master of Laws Elective Program for undergraduate students, whereby you can take up to two electives from the JD or LLM course. You will study at Monash's city law chambers for JD students, which is right next to the County Court and is seriously so much prettier than Clayton. The classes are much smaller - 15 to 20 maximum - which means it's a lot more interactive. Some of the postgrad lecturers are really great and have amazing credentials. I also found that a lot of my classmates were older students who had already had years of experience in various fields and so could make really interesting contributions to class discussions - some of them were international or top tier Australian lawyers, for example. I highly recommend you take up this opportunity if you have the chance!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on June 09, 2014, 12:18:51 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED3051 - Medicine and Surgery 1

Workload: per week: varies between sites, you're expected to stay between 7-8am (former for surgery, latter for medicine) to 4-5pm each day giving a total of ~50 contact hours per week, whether you stay that whole time depends on how you study and what you want to get out of being on the wards. Each site usually has lectures on Wednesday and it varies between sites how many lectures there are.

Assessment: 70% Mini Case Records (MCRs - two formative and two summative in this unit), 30% Evidence Based Clinical Practice "Therapy" Task, attendance (80% hurdle), completion of online pathology quizzes (14 in all - hurdle), complete submission of portfolio (hurdle), formative end of semester exam (non-hurdle or hurdle depending on site) .

Recorded Lectures: No.

Past exams available: No, the Faculty has now published a document with threats to expel students from the course if they are caught compiling past questions or distributing or using past compilations. All past compilations have been removed from the MUMUS site. Many EMQ/MCQ books can substitute for official exams though.

Textbook Recommendation:
*Pick one depending on how keen or lazy you are

I'd also recommend utilising UpToDate as much as possible.

Lecturer(s): Many, depending on the series of lecture (reproductive, haematology, neurology, psychiatry, pharmacology, pathology, etc.)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
This unit is something completely new! I'll keep this general given that every student will have their own unique experience depending on their site, their rotations, their group, and how keen they are to get what they can out of it.

Basically the sites Monash have are (I may be missing some!):
- Central: Alfred, Cabrini, Peninsula
- Monash (formerly "Southern"): Monash Medical Center, Dandenong, Casey
- Eastern: Box Hill, Maroondah, Angliss
- A bunch of rural sites such as Bendigo, Mildura, Bairnsdale, Traralgon, etc

It is completely randomised as to which hospital/site you get (other than the choice of rural vs metro sites), no more preferences!

Each site has their ups and downs in terms of a balance between practical skills and teaching and it's probably not up to me to make a comment on this, but the feedback I get back form peers is that the clinical years (so far) are SO MUCH better than the preclinical ones, and I'd agree with that 100% percent. Each student will have their own medical (gen med, oncology, cardio, neuro, rheum, etc) and surgical (gen surg, neurosurg, cardiothoracics, bariatric, vascular, etc.) rotations depending on luck and where they are placed.

The gist of a day on either surg or med plays out like this:

So I mentioned a few practical skills above. The new ones to clinical years include: cannulation (putting in a "drip"/"bung"), venipuncture  (taking bloods), urinary catheters, rectal examinations, injections, performing lung function tests, and some unofficial ones that your team might teach you such as taking arterial blood gases, taking blood cultures, and so forth. You also may be able to help out and learn about more complex procedures such as ascitic taps, pleural drains and lumbar punctures. Some sites it may be very difficult to get any practice but in other sites you may be able to do a few of each practical skill a day (think smaller hospitals). The practical skills I mentioned (the "official ones) are important to do because you need to mark them off in a "logbook", a small book which has a list of skills which need to be done including histories and exams from all systems and a bunch of practical skills as aforementioned. This needs to be handed in as talked about later.

To further your skills, and if you're on a good basis with your team, is to get involved with doing admissions, ie. admitting patients to the ward or to the hospital (sneak into ED!). I've had the opportunity to do this a few times both supervised and unsupervised and it's a really great learning experience. If you ever get a chance be sure to put your hand up first and take it!

In terms of tutes, there are may kinds and the amount of them depends on your site. Medical and surgical bedside tutes are commonplace, here you have a small group and a consultant and as the name suggests, you have a tute at a patient's bedside learning about their condition and examining them. Other tutes include PBLs, specialty tutes, practical skills tutes, clinical skills tutes, epidemiology tutes, law and ethics tutes, etc etc. Some sites have an attendance that includes these tutes, others do not.

Another thing I want to touch on are a few of the assessments:

Now with so many differences between sites and hospitals and student experiences, a fair question to ask is: "how do they examine this theory later?". The simple answer: "The Matrix". It's a huge table of conditions, a total of OVER 250 conditions that are examinable. If it sounds scary and daunting, it's because it damn well is.

Just at the end I feel I should mention some of the areas of clinical medicine which are often overlooked by all the exciting things. It's important to remember that you're in hospitals and that people are sick. Some sicker than others, and some of your patients may pass away whilst you are there. We get taught about this sort of thing during preclinical years but it's something completely different to experience it in real life. It's hard to deal with, and if you need some help with it seek assistance from your seniors, they'll always have a handy word or two. Here's something I wrote about this on Med Students Online, copied here for convenience:
Spoiler
My introduction to clinical years
Not sure how to feel, but my first few weeks on the wards have been interesting. Being on an oncology rotation first-up I can't say I didn't expect it (I certainly did), but I don't think any amount of pre-contemplation prepared me for the real deal: when a patient passes away in front of your eyes.

Now in the "predictable" pre-clinical environment I wasn't really phased emotionally by much, the Aussie notion of "grin and bear it" was really the way to get through. Everything was simply just theory and more facts to understand and remember. As morbid as it might sound, I even had no issues with cadavers, as it was all part of this "learning environment" and dissections were very much academic and not at all patient-orientated.

On the wards and in clinics, it's a different ball-game altogether. Being a medical student here isn't all about the exams and the textbooks, it's about being part of the healthcare team and learning from their expertise so you can be the best that you can be. I have a great and supportive team, and being their junior is an exciting privilege, however being part of the team is only a minor aspect in comparison to what the team actually does: manage patients.

From Day 1, it was confronting. I have never seen so much suffering, so much pain, so many tears. From the pre-clin years I guess one could say I was disillusioned by what some doctors have to deal with, I didn't think some things could be "that" tough in real life. What if the patient doesn't want to undergo the advised treatment? What if the patient's treatment options are at an end and they're looking to you as to what is next? What if things are far worse than the patient had hoped for? What if a patient you have seen for weeks unexpectedly passes away?

As only a student I guess I don't have to have answers to those questions, but there's always that feeling that I should? It's tough, when reality hits that doctors have limitations from all areas whether that be from their patient's decisions, from treatment options, from financial stand-points, and the list goes on. We learnt about this, but it doesn't come close at all to seeing it in real life - patients do make decisions and do pass away and sometimes there is nothing we can do about it.

So early onto my clinical experience, it's been a roller-coaster taking this all in. Learning with how to approach different situations has been very helpful, from what I gather it's like desensitising yourself from the patient in an emotional sense. Having said that, one of my greatest fears is being one of those people who don't say "John, the fellow with <x> in Bed 14, needs some fluids" but instead say "Bed 14 needs some fluids". I'd hate to lose the personallness (is that a word?) of it all - it's my greatest fear and I have seen in it on the wards and I don't like it at all.

This beings me back to the patient passing away in front of me last week. That patient was in pain, they had multi-organ failure, mets from their primary cancer, and suspected infection. There was part of me that hoped they would pass away as they would be in a much better place, but there was also part of me that wanted them to keep fighting it all. When it happened though, when they passed away, I was just lost. I felt bad, almost wanted to cry, not sure what to do. We couldn't save them. Did I care too much? Am I just "weak" as a person? Is this just me being a novice medical student?

I guess it's all about finding that professional balance between being too affected and not being affected at all. I want to care, but I don't want to care "too much" as I think that'll hurt me and I won't be able to function to my best, if that makes sense.

Hopefully that balance comes with time.

Thanks for reading, sorry about this slightly depressing blog post (my first) and I'm betting there are some incoherent lines in there - was just typing my mood and thoughts.

Having said that, it's always a great feeling seeing one of your sicker patients get discharged cancer-free or in fine health, you don't get a feeling like that anywhere else and it's one of the best feelings I've ever had. It's even better if you took up an opportunity and did an admission on that patient, you can see them from admission to discharge and it's really rewarding to see the health system at work!

As with my reviews of the previous MBBS units, I think it's really important to get involved with the course outside of the teaching periods too. I'd highly recommend getting involved in inter-year study groups (teaching in Year 2/3, learning from Year 3/4) and getting involved in the social events such as the "Half Way Party" which was a pretty sweet night ;)

All-in-all, a very exciting unit. Being on the wards has been amazing and no amount of money would persuade me to go back to the Clayton campus for days of lectures. I've kept it general because everyone has a unique experience with how clinical years play out for them but if you have any specific questions feel free to PM me (please only PM me if you're already in the Monash MBBS, it's far too keen otherwise -_-).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: vashappenin on June 09, 2014, 09:49:36 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC1000 - Business and Economic Statistics

Workload: Weekly 1.5hr lecture and 1.5 hour computer lab (starting in week 2 and ending in week 11)

Assessment: 30% Lab quizzes, 70% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 12 exams including solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  No compulsory textbooks

Lecturer(s): Brett Inder - he's a really laid back, friendly guy who's really good at explaining the concepts, not to mention that he's been teaching the unit for quite a while so he's VERY familiar with it.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating:  3 out of 5

Comments:
When I first started this unit, I HATED it, but once I gave it a chance I actually quite like it! Although not advised, I ended up doing a lot of learning for this unit during SWOTVAC and to be honest, it's pretty easy to pick up all the concepts in such a small timeframe so don't panic if you get to that stage, although just don't do that to make your life easier haha :P You can score well in this unit if you put in the work. So it's really important to keep up to date and understand everything as you go because (especially with the last few topics) you need to understand the past topics' content in order to be able to successfully get through the rest of the topics.

In terms of workload, this subject is really good if you're looking for something that doesn't take up much time. All you really need to do every week is watch the YouTube lectures for the week (which go through the slides anyway), watch the live lecture (i.e. the lectures conducted at uni) and do the lab homework.

Lectures: To be honest, I didn't physically attend a single lecture (only because the time was too inconvenient for me).. I watched most online, but it got to a point where I stopped watching the live lectures. Only because Brett made YouTube video lectures for each topic which were SO useful, so definitely don't skip those. The videos are pretty much Brett talking through the powerpoint slides for the relevant week's lectures. The live lectures were more application of the content, so honestly, don't miss those either. I definitely wish I didn't, because although they got boring at times, the knowledge would've been pretty useful come exam time.

Computer Labs: Most of the lab quizzes were usually able to be finished in 30 mins-1 hour, but took longer to complete in the last few weeks. The labs were a really good way of applying all the excel processes and procedures, and were generally not too hard to get through. It's recommended that you complete the homework (not compulsory) prior to the week's lab, because the homework pretty much contains step-by-step instructions that really come in handy when doing the lab quizzes.

Exam: A two-hour, non-calc exam. It wasn't too bad considering the fact that there's a plethora of past exams WITH solutions available to you, on top of revision during week 12 (going through exams). Even though maths is required in the exam, you pretty much just need to show working to get the marks, not the actual answer (since there's no calculators allowed). If you do as many past exams as you can and know your content, you should be fine for the exam. Keep in mind that in order to pass this unit, you must score at least 40% on the exam.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: simba on June 09, 2014, 11:34:28 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1035- Techniques for modelling (advanced) 


Workload:  3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 hour tutorials and 2 hour workshops

Assessment:  3 x 10% Assignments, 10% Test and 60% exam (although I vaguely remember hearing this was set to change next year)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No, but they did release a sample

Textbook Recommendation:  Don't need a textbook

Lecturer(s): Burkard Polster (essentially the best lecturer you will have in the existence of anything!) and Simon Teague (Who is pretty great too)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2014

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:Initially I found this unit extremely daunting, in the 1035 workshops we almost immediately began working on cartesian tensors (which confused the hell out of me for months and have really only begun to understand them today!).
The workload for this unit is fairly consistently high, so expect to be doing plenty of practice questions, readings and such to gain a thorough understanding.

In saying that, the lecturer Burkard Polster is insanely good at explaining concepts in a very visual and layman's way which really makes all the coursework much more manageable to tackle. Prepare to watch him with a whole bunch of lightsabers too...(He also likes to juggle them sometimes ;) ) Anyway back on topic, Simon taught us for the 1035 workshops and also had us for tutorials. Although he's usually late for them 8am workshop starts (=death), he has a real passion for the subjects and has millions of exam type questions if you want any extra stuff to do!

The assignments themselves aren't too bad (just really long and tedious). My main tip for them would be make friends in the unit and see if you can work together and collaborate answers (I do mean WORK TOGETHER not copy each others answers, but let's be honest, that will probably happen too). The test was fairly simple, pretty easy marks as long as you know your stuff!

Overall, if you love maths, pick this unit. But you will need to be dedicated and consistent to keep up to date and do well!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Reckoner on June 09, 2014, 11:52:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECC2000 - Intermediate Microeconomics

Workload:  One 2-hour lecture + one 1-hour tute = 3 hours

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:

Yes

Past exams available:
The past exams on the database are from 15 years ago, and no longer particularly relevant. We were given a sample exam though.

Textbook Recommendation:

Pyndick, Robert S, and Daniel L Rubinfeld: Microeconomics. Seventh or Eighth Edition, Pearson.

I'd say worth it if you don’t have to buy it new from the bookstore. The questions at the end of the chapters are pretty useful for revision and are pretty similar to the exam style questions. Buy it second hand/eBay though - $200 from the bookstore is way too much. Solutions and the textbook can be found somewhere that shall remain nameless as well ;)

Lecturer(s):

Yinhua Mai.

Year & Semester of completion:

2014 Semester 1

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:
HD

Comments:
The course is broken up into three main sections – Consumer theory, producer theory, and analysis of market structure/competitive strategy.

Consumer theory is all about maximising utility given an individual’s preferences for various goods, the relative prices of the goods and a budget constraint.  This involves indifference curves, budget constraints, marginal rate of substituting, normal goods, giffen goods and Engel curves. The general gist of a question on this topic would be you’re given a utility function, say U(x,y)=20x^(2/3)y^(1/3), the prices of good y and good x, and the consumers budget. You’re then asked to find the utility maximising combination of goods. Then follow up questions on price changes, income changes et cetera. You also get the classic social surplus and elasticities, price floors and the like.

Producer theory is almost exactly the same as consumer theory. You have labour and capital as factors of production, and each has a given cost. You have some production function telling you how much output can be produced from some combination of capital and Labour. You then need to find the cost minimising ratio of capital and labour to produce a given output. Instead of indifference curves you have isoquants, and instead of budget constraints you have isocost curves. Essentially the same principles apply as in consumer theory. You also revisit the cost curves from first year, but again with actual equations.

Market structures is when the course gets a lot more interesting though. You analyse profit maximising output under various models. You get perfect competition and monopoly like in ECC1000, but this time you have numbers, equations and differentiation. But the best part of the course for me was oligopolistic competition. Various equilibrium settings and output decision models, price discrimination, collusion, competition, and a bit of game theory. This part of the course follows on from producer theory.

I didn’t really like the unit at first to be honest. It was basically a rehash of ECC1000, with the lectures moving very slowly (a whole hour on what a demand curve is). While the basics are important in economics, it was just a bit slow and dry.

However after the first few weeks, and we started on cost curves and market structures, it started to grow on me a bit more. I found learning the actual content to be easier from youtube/textbook than the lectures. At this point Yin started to run though examples in the lectures which made them more worthwhile.

Tutes are pretty standard, just go over the 3-4 questions that were set that week. However due to the length of each question you rarely get though all of them.

The mid-sem covers consumer and producer theory. Mostly multiple choice with a short answer chucked on the end. You need to know a few definitions though.

The exam was pretty good I thought. 6 Questions, of which you answer 4. However each of them are pretty involved, which lots of re-arranging and substituting into equations. And then changing one variable, doing the whole process again and seeing what has changed. Doing all of the tute questions and the questions from the textbook will be enough for you to prepare. You don’t really need to know definitions as much as the mid-sem, so just know how to approach each type of question and you should be right. Also lots of algebra and partial differentiation. Nothing too crazy, but you should be comfortable with derivatives and solving linear equations.

TL;DR Starts off pretty slow and not particularly interesting, but gets a bit better as the unit progresses. Think ECC1000, but with algebra, differentiation and a few extra topics thrown in.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Professor Polonsky on June 10, 2014, 02:01:45 am
Subject Code/Name: ETC1000 -  Business and Economics Statistics

Workload:  1 x 1.5 hour lecture, 1 x 1.5 hour lab (will probably only take you 20-60 minutes).

Assessment: 30% Weekly computer labs - 10 labs, out of which only your top 8 results are taken into account. 70% - Exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. Also on YouTube, I believe.

Past exams available: All exams (both semesters) since 2008 are available, with solutions released in the final week of the semester. Some of the content has been cut in recent years, so don't panic if something looks entirely unfamiliar.

Textbook Recommendation:  No prescribed textbook. Australasian Business Statistics is "highly recommended", with readings highlighted, but I don't know if it's actually any good. You probably won't need it.

Lecturer(s): Brett Inder. Lectures are very slow, and most people feel that they are unnecessary. Some of the examples used in the lectures though might pop up on the exam - so make sure that you grab the live lecture notes (they're on moodle) and read through them. If you're unclear about anything, it might be worth watching the lecture.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating:  2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This unit was not particularly enjoyable. As a forewarning, it is basically about the interpretation of statistical outputs by Excel, given businessy examples. The actual mathematical concepts are not at the forefront of the unit, although they are touched on, and some level of understanding might be occasionally required. Some statistical business concepts (mostly GDP, real vs nominal value of money) are covered. So that's what's meant by 'business statistics'. In some ways, there are some parallels with Further Maths. There is certainly a lot of overlap in the content, with the first half of the unit being the Core section of Further.

The way this unit is organised as follows: Initially, the content is delivered through YouTube videos, which are supposed to accompany PowerPoint notes. In reality, the notes do not cover most of the things that are in the video, or might not make sense without them. I would like to take this opportunity to commend you if you manage to actually watch the videos. This is then followed by a live lecture, which I commented on above. It partly re-teaches the content again, but mostly is concerned with interpreting some given data on a particular topic (some of them are actually quite interesting!) using Excel. The latter is much more succinctly covered by the live lecture notes, which will save you a lot of time should you decide not to turn up (and let's be honest, who actually ends up watching the lectures online?)

You are given weekly homework. It is basically a walkthrough of how to get the statistical output through Excel, and how to interpret it. Do it. It links directly to the following week's computer lab, and perhaps apart from the last few weeks of the semester, it is all you need to know for the lab. It gets trickier later on, and some conceptual understanding may be required.

So as might have become apparent to you already, many aspects of this unit are quite duplicitous. At some point, you will likely stop coming to the lectures (though you probably would have anyway), and perhaps also stop watching the YouTube lectures. That's okay. Just keep up with the homework.

So, come Week 11 (this unit has two weeks of revision), and the realisation hits that it's really just all about the exam. You might not even really have an idea of what's going on in this unit. That's fine. Why? Because the majority of the exam is entirely formulaic. And the previous 10 exams are all on Moodle. Do previous years' ones, check the answers. Or maybe even just check the answers, depending on how confident you are. Knowing what's on the exams, and how they mark them, is basically how you will pick-up the vast majority of marks in this unit. This is how it's very much like Further. Don't have a 'hat' over your dependent variable in the equation? Docked a mark. Didn't write "on average" when interpreting a coefficient? Docked a mark. Week 11 and 12 lectures are devoted entirely to going through those exams. You would do yourself an immense injustice if you missed out on them. They are all recorded, so just make sure you watch them.

So basically - read the live lecture notes, do the homework, make sure you do well on the labs, and past exams.

A note on consultation - you don't contact the lecturer, nor your lab supervisor. There is a walk-in consultation period, which I believe the chief tutor does (never been). There is also an email address specific for the unit, but I don't think you're supposed to ask questions there.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on June 10, 2014, 02:56:31 pm
Subject Code/Name: SCI2015 - Scientific Practice and Communication (Advanced)

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, but the past papers are under SCI2010 (you sit the same exam). There are several on the database, with the 2004 exam under "SCI2010: How Science Works" and 2005-2009 under "SCI2010: Practice and Application of Science". The 2011 exam was also provided on Moodle.

Textbook Recommendation: You don't need anything.

Lecturer(s): A/Prof. Roslyn Gleadow

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This unit is a bit of a mixed bag. It (or SCI2010) is a compulsory unit in the Bachelor of Science; SCI2010 is the standard unit that most people take, while SCI2015 is the "advanced" version for students doing the BSc Advanced (Research) or other degrees - such as BSc double degrees or standard BSc - by invitation if your results are good enough.

The content of this unit is pretty interesting; it's got a lot to do with how science works, how it can go wrong, and how you should conduct yourself as a researcher. Topics range from the history and origins of science, to scientific ethics, to pseudoscience, to career development and others. I only went to one lecture, but it was fun and interesting given that you're passionate about science. The highlight of the lecture series - and the only lecture I attended - was a magician/illusionist who was brought in for a performance during the pseudoscience section.

Assessment is pretty good too; the exam is worth 10% less in SCI2015 than in SCI2010 (which is nice :P), because you have more formative presentation-based assessments leading up to your final literature review. The other major bonus of SCI2015 is that you get to pick your literature review topic, which essentially makes writing the final paper a lot less painful. There are 5 assignments that make up the in-semester assessment:


The exam is really, really quite simple if you've done a couple of past exams. It consists of 2 parts, A) being 40 MCQs based on lecture/tute material and B) Written responses (short and long) based on various areas of the course (pseudoscience, communication, ethics etc.). Most of the MCQs are taken from recent past exams, so I'd advise you work through them and it'll be a breeze. The written responses are a little bit harder, but if you understand what you're talking about - as well as specific examples of things like scientific misconduct and research fraud) - then you won't have an issues whatsoever.

All in all, this is a really interesting unit, and I recommend it to anyone interested in science and scientific practice (aside from the fact that you don't really have a choice if you're doing a BSc :P).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: b^3 on June 10, 2014, 03:41:33 pm
Subject Code/Name: MEC2402 - Engineering Design I

Workload:  2*1 hr Lectures (Workshops), 3 hr Comp Lab, 2 hr Tutorial

Assessment: Note: This changes year to year.
 - Online quizzes before each Lecture: 8%
 - Worksheets each lecture: 8%
 - Weekly CAD Tasks (x8): 8%
 - CAD Exam: 6%
 - Warman Prelim Submission: 10%
 - Warman Competition Results: 12%
 - Warman Final Submission: 18 %
 - Exam: 30%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, Most exams bar one back to 2006, only the last year or two were indicative of the actual exam.

Textbook Recommendation:
1. Field, B. Introduction to Engineering Design (any edition)
2. SAA/Inst of Engineers, Australia: Engineering Drawing Handbook, SAA HB7, 1993.
The former is a must have, you'll use it a lot, the latter you'll use too but not as much. You can bring both into the exam with you so they're worth getting.

Lecturer(s): Scott Wordley

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2014

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Pending

Comments:
There are a lot of aspects to Design I which I'll try and go over individually, but in short Design I will take most of your time throughout the semester, it's a workload heavy unit (especially the Warman Competition), but you gain a lot of experience and get a lot out of it.

Flipped Classroom Model
I'll start off with the way lectures were run. This year was the first year that the Engineering Faculty have tried the flipped classroom model, and it make be used for other units in the future if they think it was beneficial this semester. Basically, there are small videos put up before each lecture, ranging from 10 minutes to say about 40 minutes, which you watch and learn about the content and theory side of things. Before the lecture, which is now called a Workshop, you would then complete an online quiz about the videos, they're quite easy and are there to make sure you've watched the videos beforehand. Then in the Workshop (lecture), you come in and as a lecture and/or with your Warman Competition group (more on that later), you work through the worksheet, getting tips and help from the lecturer and tutors at the same time. These are then marked in the tutorial the week later. Overall, I think this was a good way to go, at least for design. It's one of those units where the lectures would be quite dry if it were run like a normal unit, but having the workshops allowed you to put into practice and try things out, while having the lecturers and tutors there to guide you along. It seems to fit the unit particularly well.

THE WARMAN COMPETITION
This really does deserve the capitals above. It will really take up a lot of your time and effort outside of uni. The Warman Design and Build competition is a competition in which teams from across the country design and build a robot like device to navigate a certain course and achieve certain goals. The track and objective changes year to year, and for design a campus competition is run just for the unit. The winners of the competition go on to represent Monash at the National Finals.

This year, we didn't get to pick our teams. Normally it's in teams of, but the difficulty of the competition was ramped up this year, as most teams found it too easy to navigate the course at the national finals. As a result for the campus competition, we had teams of 8, but unlike most years had to build two devices. To give you an idea of what kinds of things you'll have to do, here is the National Competition from the year before:
There are three stages to the competition, the Preliminary submission in which you create a design and work out what goals you want to achieve, along with some drawing, the actual competition where you are judged on your runs, and the final submission which mostly includes engineering drawings done through CAD.

For our year, we had to transport "e-waste", which was a payload of rice, the mass of which we nominated (minimum 200g), around a barrier and then over a bar at a set height, which again we nominated (in 10 cm increments, maximum being 120 cm). The design brief for your year will be along the same format as ours: http://www.ncedaust.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Warman%2014%20v1_1_1.pdf
The scoring formula was fairly complicated (under R45) and it set teams on two paths to maximise their score. You could either go for maximising the height with the minimum payload mass or maximising the mass with the smallest height. This was a design decision that had to be made early, with most teams going for the former option, which would include a lifting mechanism and somehow counterbalancing it, keeping in mind that the larger the mass of the system, the more your score decreased. So as with engineering, it was a balancing act, making compromises. Our team initially went for a height based system, attempted to go over the largest height of 120 cm. I should also note, as with most years, there is a limit on the size of your device, most years it has to fit in a 40x40x40cm cube. We had to have two devices, one had to be purely mechanical, no batteries, no electronics, no nothing. The device that started had to start in the 40cm cubic envelope and could finish at whatever size while the device that finished could start as large as it wanted to but had to fit in the 40cm cube at the end of the run. This meant there had to be a large extension compared to the base size, and ultimately meant a lot of devices were unstable at high heights.

A lot of teams, as did we, went for a scissor lifting mechanism, some went for a telescoping air system to lift the mass, while others didn't lift at all, but put a large mass over the 30 cm bar. We had to CAD up our initial design, and if your design is the same as your initial design by the time the competition comes around, then you're doing something wrong. There will be a lot of changes in the design process, as you realise certain things just won't work, or that you won't be able to put certain parts together since you may have not allowed for access to screw something up. You and your team will have to fund the build and all the materials for the competition. Most years teams get away with $100-$400, since our year was a bit more complicated, we set our budget at $400 initially, which was $50 per person. By the end of the competition we had spent close to $800, and a fair few other teams had too. We weren't the highest spending team, with one hitting close to $1200 (a lot of that in burnt chips, but I'll get to that later). You'll ending up making a lot of trips to Bunnings and/or Masters, throughout the competition we would have racked up a fair few laps around the places. You don't get a workshop for the competition either, so you need to make use of the limited tools you have, which restricts what you can do a fair bit. WD-40 and Duck tape will be your best friend though!

For the first time, we were provided with "Arduino kits", which were basically electronics kits with an Arduino controller (the brain of your robot), a motor controller (since the arduino can't handle the current or voltage needed to drive any decent motors, the one provided matched with the rover that was purchased), a voltmeter and an assortment of wires and other things. At the end of the semester you have to return this kit, and anything that you break or damage you will have to pay for. This is partly the reason one team spent so much, they blew up or so chips, which at $20-40 each starts adding up. The coding for the arduino takes a bit of getting used to at first, but isn't too bad.
The Arduino with the motor controller in the backgroung, connected to the rover.
(http://content.screencast.com/users/tbatty/folders/Jing/media/46abc64d-fe01-4a5b-ae42-96c944b9fd17/2014-06-10_1535.png)

Keeping within the rules of the competition, you have to either buy parts or make them from scratch without professional help. Most teams bought a rover chassis for their electronic device:  http://www.pololu.com/product/1551
The rover
(http://gammon.com.au/images/Dagu%20Photo.png)
The teams who didn't had a lot of trouble getting their device to go in a straight line, you need that consistency in your runs. The rover chassis helped with this, and since it has encoders (something that reads the wheel rotation and sends it back to the arduino chip), you can control how far you want it to go via the number of wheel rotations. Without this you can only set it to power the wheels for a certain amount of time, and as your batteries drain down this changes every run, you end up chasing your own tail and never reaching it. Also, rechargeable batteries are a good idea, we did buy some but had a problem with the connections and as a result didn't end up using them. Another team used mecanum wheels, which would allow them to drive sideways, in practice it didn't quite go completely sideways, which is why you shouldn't expect everything to work as you would think it will.

The one main thing idea for the Warman Competition is to start early, I cannot stress this enough. If you can, order locally. We had ordered specific motors which had to come from Perth, the first time they sent the wrong motors and we had to get them to resend them, which put us back a week. The second time we received one of the correct motors and one of the wrong motors, which put us back another week. At this stage it was too late to change the coupling mechanism and we couldn't adapt motors from Jaycar locally. As a result this meant despite spending a lot of money on scissors lifts and getting them to work well, we had to redesign the whole device to move from a height-based system to a mass based-system the day before our competition. This meant that our device was not optimised, and was a lot minute job to bring it all together. We worked on it, rebuilding it from 10am in the morning to about 8-9 pm, with minimal breaks.

There is a track in the Engineering Building to test on, the earlier you get onto it, the better. We were one of the first few teams testing, and at our first and second tests the only team on the track at the time. As a result we got a lot done, didn't have to wait for other teams to have a go. In the week or two leading up to the competition, the track will get insanely busy, imaging around 10 teams (there was about 28 in our year) trying to get their testing done on the same track at the same time. Sometimes you could be waiting up to 30 minutes between runs, just to make minor adjustments. The night before the competition, don't be surprised if you have to pull an all nighter and work your ass off at the last minute. A few from my team were there, testing for about 4 hours, at around 2am my laptop battery died. We had forgotten that the code doesn't save to the arduino when you upload it, so we lost those 4 hours of code and testing. So make sure you save the damn code regularly! At that point the others gave up and went home. If we had left it in that situation, then our team would have gotten zero for the runs. I stayed there working on our device on my own throughout the night and early morning, along with 4-5 other teams pulling the all nighter as well (being up that long with no sleep you make a few new friends :P) Since we didn't know if our device B would be functional at the time or not, we lowered our goals and just got device A set up to transfer the payload without turning. In the end I broke my record of hours staying awake straight, 32 hours straight, with 30 of those being at uni. It's quite weird to see the sun rise through the windows at the end of the engineering building.

During the competition you get two runs, the score system dependent on the runs changes each year. For us it was meant to be your best run plus half the other run, but ended up just being the score from your best run. Our first run went well, and our second had a bit of a problem and ended up being a zero run score. A lot of teams that were going for the 120 cm bar, had achieved it in practice and got it on video, but ended up with two zero run scores on the day, (one device did really well, but drove off the end of the track). You either seemed to score really high or get a zero (or close to it). The second run, teams improved a bit, and since there was a lot of zero, they decided to be lenient on the scoring and give some of the score for the run in certain cases. This was only due to the difficulty of our competition this year. This again, is where consistency comes into play, you need to be able to reproduce the results on he day when it matters (much like the real world I guess, in Motorsport there's no point in being fastest on a test day if you can't pull it off on raceday). We ended up being ranked right in the middle of the pack, there were a few teams that made it to the end zone.

We initially got 2.8/10, but had our score bumped up to 8/10 due to the issues we encountered and what we showed would have been possible. Normally this doesn't happen, but since a lot of teams put a hell of a lot of effort into the comp and then got some low scores, they allowed us to do this for this year. Don't expect it to happen every year. We also had to keep a moodle log of the project, to show who was contributing and have ideas floating around. A lot of people spoke on fb, which you would then have to copy the conversations over to moodle. They may change the way this is done next year. There is also a peer-assessment component to the whole project, where you rate group members on what they contributed. This is then used to scale the marks of team members, where you can get anywhere from a 0.3 to a 1.1. It's a good idea, but you will still get some slack team members who don't care about the grade they get.

After all of this you will then have to do a big report on the competition, and use some of the CAD of your device to make proper engineering detailed drawings and assembly drawings. This has an individual component and a group work component. Try not to leave this to the last minute either. The submission was due at 1am, but we encountered problems with the computers in the Engineering Comp Labs, and so weren't ready at that time. We ended up going back to one of our team members house at 2am to use his computer (since it could handle just about anything), didn't get home until 4.30 am that morning. You get to make use of the New Horizons building computer labs for the tutorials, we were unlucky, being one of two teams that couldn't fit and so had to do our tutes in the computer lab, (more on the CAD sides of things later).

I should also point out, if you join the FSAE team (Monash Motorsports) or the UAS team (http://www.monashuas.org/ - Builds autonomous planes) then you won't have to do the Warman Competition, but will have your work based around what you do in those teams. They're good teams to join, Monash Motorsports is currently ranked 2nd worldwide (they were first a few months ago!), while the UAS team do a lot more of the aero side of things. I know a fair few mates in UAS, and they do learn a lot more through the team.

Overall, you do learn a hell of a lot from the Warman Competition, but have to sacrifice a lot of energy, time (and money) for it.

CAD and Solidworks
Through the tutes, you learn a bit about using the CAD (Computer Aided Design) program Solidworks, basically making parts and assemblies in a 3d computer environment. You can get a student copy of Solidworks through Monash, which you will be told how to do at the start of the semester. It really is a useful tool, allows you to see some problems before you make the part, which ultimately saves time and money. It simplifies doing engineering drawings, once you have the part cadded up it is a few clicks here and there. I really enjoyed working with Solidworks, but it can have a step learning curve at times. It also takes a decent amount of computing power to run mid-large parts and assemblies. At times the Engineering Computer Lab computers may crash on you or lag like there's no tomorrow (and they're not that bad computers). The computers in the New-Horizons design labs are a lot faster, it may take 30-60 seconds to load Solidworks in the comp labs, where as the New Horizons labs takes about 2-3 seconds.

Towards the end of the semester you'll sit a 3 hr CSWA CAD Exam, which is a computer test designed to see how well you can use Solidworks. You're given a few drawings of parts or assemblies and then have to make them, then you're asked something about the part which you have. So like what is the center of mass or the moment of inertia around a particular axis, which you get from the tools in Solidworks. If you're made the part right you should get the right answer, otherwise it'll be completely off. You need 70% to pass the exam, worth 6% of the unit. A fair few people were getting around 65-69%, from memory we had around 1-4 fail. At the end of it if you do pass you get a CSWA certification which you can put on your resume.
E.g. One of the CAD Tasks we had to do
(http://content.screencast.com/users/tbatty/folders/Jing/media/4012adff-e915-4a44-854c-56d36061ef65/2014-06-10_1539.png)

Exam
For us, the in semester work was worth 70%, so the majority of us had passed before we had even sat the exam (it's a nice feeling). The proportional of marks changes each year, but it should be around there. The Exam will be mostly on Detailed Drawings, Assembly Drawings to the Australian Standard AS1100, Casting and Manufacturing Methods. If anything, Detailed drawings will be the most important topic for the exam, so make sure you learn that properly. While it's quite easy to get some marks on these, it's really easy to lose marks on them as well. Small, simple things that you overlook will cost you marks, not putting a border around the drawing, not including the projection system in the Title Block, over-dimensioning the drawing or using too many views to represent something that can be done in less views. You'll need to know how to do this later in industry though, so it's good practice.

EDIT: I'll put the images in spoilers to make the post not as long
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on June 11, 2014, 08:57:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1035 Techniques for Modelling (Advanced)

Workload:  3x1 hour lectures, 1x1 hour tutes and 1x2 hour workshops (however, from next year Simon wants to change this to two hour tutes. This is already in place for MTH2015, which is the follow-on unit)

Assessment:  3 assignments, all 10%. 1 "mid semester test" worth 10%, you'll do it in about week 10 (yeah, 10/12 is about half-way) and finally the exam which was worth 60%. However, this exam will change to 70% from next year (as it will in all maths units. So glad I decided to do a double major...) Note: All assignments and the mid-sem test are material from MTH1030, and 80% of your exam is material from MTH1030. Only 20% of your exam is material from MTH1035.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture for the lectures. Without for the workshops, however Simon will post up the boards, so you can see what was written anyway.

Past exams available:  No, however a sample exam was made available to us.

Textbook Recommendation:  Kutler's linear algebra book, which is mentioned in the notes. It's absolutely FREE. I never used it, but hey, could be good? Also stewart's early transcendental's. I glanced through it, looks alright, not necessary though. It's also available from the library. I have heard it's necessary for MTH2015/MTH2010 if you plan to continue on to that, though, so it's up to you.

Lecturer(s): MTH1035 has two sections - MTH1030 material and MTH1035 material. MTH1030 material is taught in lecturers, my MTH1030 lecturer was Burkard Polster. Famous for being a mathemagician, juggling and lecturing with lightsabers. The MTH1035 lecturer is Simon Teague - famous for always having a coke zero with him (yes, this does include in his 8 am lectures). Burkard is amazing - I don't think it's possible to hate him. Simon's not as well loved, but I quite liked him. Preferences are preferences, so eh.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1. Don't let the unit code or the MTH1030 parallels fool you - MTH1035 is ONLY offered in semester 1.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments: Before you sign up for this subject, realise this: you are not good at maths. In all seriousness though, the biggest thing I learnt in this unit is that what you got in year 12 does not reflect how you will do at uni. Throughout the year, I was doing much better than people who did way better than me in year 12. If you struggle, this is normal, don't worry - this unit is very different. So, onto the actual course:

Linear Algebra
You start off with brief revision of year twelve - what's a vector, what can you do with a vector. Then you move on to some more things, including the cross-product. You'll look at vector spaces in R^n, even though you'll only do most of your calculations in R^3 and then just do some conceptual things in R^n. After you do this stuff, you'll look at how to make lines and planes, and this stuff is quite possibly the most annoying things you'll ever work with. You'll follow this with systems of linear equations, which is actually just extensions on methods stuff, believe it or not. Next is simple matrix stuff - arithmetic, determinants, inverses, that fun stuff, followed by using matrices to form linear transformations on vectors. You'll then move onto subspaces (generally focusing on R^4 for some reason...) and finally eigenvalues and eigenvectors. Those are funny words, and you won't know what they are until much later, don't worry about that. None of any of this is particularly hard if you do the tute sheets, so do the tute sheets, you'll be fine.

The only stuff you do in 1035 that really sticks out in this section is quaternions and tensors - neither of which ACTUALLY make sense. Simon will tell you which of these are on your exam, so when he tells you, do some reading and do the questions he gives you, and hopefully you'll pick up marks. If you do well on the assignments (which you should), you should be fine.

Calculus
When I say calculus, it's not calculus like you think calculus from high school. In fact, the elementary functions you remember from high school only really come up in the last week and a half.

You start off thinking about limits - how to compute some basic limits, some more annoying limits, and just sort of what a limit is. In the 1035 workshops, you'll also look at the epsilon-delta definition of a limit. Next up is determinate and indeterminate forms, and how we find an indeterminate form using L'Hopital's Rule. Then, you move on to sequences and series - yes, they're a thing. :P First you find how to work with sequences, then the more important series. You'll learn how to work with some general types - like telescoping, geometric, harmonic, etc. You'll learn how to find if a series converges, diverges, and a bunch of other things. This then leads into one of the bigger types of power series - Taylor series, and its special partner Maclaurin series. This stuff is actually really cool, and can be used to prove Euler's identity (which is how I chose my name :P). After all this series stuff, you finally move on to integration. You'll learn integration by parts, finishing up your integrating techniques repertoire. Then, you'll learn a few more DE solving techniques - seperation of variables, the integrating factor and using eigenvalues to solve second order homogenous DEs, and that's the course.

Not really anything special in 1035 - Simon will tell you what's in the exam for 1035, just expect something hard, and hope you can do it when you get to the exam. I can tell you that for our calculus question, not very many could...
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: vashappenin on June 12, 2014, 11:10:30 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW2101 - Contract A

Workload: 2 x 1.5 hour lectures per week, 1 hour tutorial per week from week 6-11 (attendance isn't compulsory)

Assessment: 20% Optional written assignment and 80% Exam, OR 100% exam (for those who opt against optional assignment) 

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, chief examiner's lectures are recorded with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, 2011-13 plus a few more older ones

Textbook Recommendation:
Lecturer(s): There are different lecturers for each stream and it usually differs slightly every year. Five streams this year: Jennifer Paneth (my lecturer), Emmanuel Laryea (chief examiner), Rowena Cantley-Smith, Lisa Di Marco, Sirko Harder

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Comments:
Overall, Contract A has been okay. Being most law students' first proper law unit, it's a bit overwhelming and you'll feel pretty lost for a while towards the beginning. The content itself was mostly quite interesting, although there were weeks where it was extremely dull. This unit covers the following topics:
I can't really 'recommend' this unit since it's compulsory, but thought I'd review it anyway because I know I was definitely looking for subject reviews on this unit when I started uni. So yes, regardless of whether you like it or not, you kinda have to suck it up because it's one of the 'Priestley 11' law units (i.e. it's compulsory so you can't escape it!). Also, there's a second part that you do in Semester 2 (Contract B), for which this is a prerequisite so make sure you pass! :P

Lectures
DEFINITELY do attend lectures. At times, contracts gets kind of dry but trust me, it's so much more beneficial that you don't turn lazy and just force yourself to attend, because your future self in week 12 + SWOTVAC will really, really thank you (I say this from experience). You could listen to them online but you're probably going to get lazy. Just make your life easier and attend them.

Also, the lectures really come in handy in helping you understand the cases and how they reflect legal principles because this can be difficult at time, so don't miss your lectures!!

It doesn't really matter who your lecturer is, although it IS important that you attend the lectures for YOUR stream, because you need to know what YOUR lecturer wants. I remember stressing because I really wanted to ensure I had the chief examiner, but it honestly doesn't matter. My lecturer, Paneth, was really helpful and she provided a lot of information for us. She'd go through revision questions at the end of each topic and this was SO useful; something you won't get from trying to self-learn the slides at home.

Tutes
Tutes aren't compulsory so obviously not a lot of people attended. I only attended a few myself and I really regretted it because the tutes were pretty much going through different questions that covered each topic, with the last week's tute being a run-through of a past exam. The tutors are very knowledgeable as well and provide a lot of handy tips so even though you don't have to, I'd recommend that you do go out of your way to attend. It'll be really helpful in the end, because you'll find that you know what you're doing and you've already applied your knowledge through problem questions. Not to mention you can ask for feedback on questions as well.

Exam
The exam is out of 100 and goes for 2 hours, plus 30 minutes noting/highlighting at the beginning. Honestly, it's like a race. In order to satisfy the marks you're pretty much writing as fast as you can until the exam finishes. What you should really practice is issue-spotting, which is why the tutes are useful, because you get practice at this and feedback as well. This was the first time they did it for Contract A, but they also had a 20-mark case question. Here, you're pretty much regurgitating the facts, issues and judgments of a select case, chosen out of 100+ odd cases (which, yes, you're expected to have studied/memorized, along with their related principles).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on June 13, 2014, 09:52:51 am
Subject Code/Name: CHM1051 - Chemistry I Advanced

Workload: 2x1 hour lectures, 1x1 hour workshop, 1x4 hour lab (you normally won't go for the full 4 hours, expect to go for 2-3)

Assessment:  You have 4 assessments - 10% is based off of 5 pre-lecture tests and 5 post lecture tests, 30% is based off of your laboratory work and 60% is based off of your exam, as opposed to CHM1011 when the exam is 50% and the missing 10% comes off of tutorial attendance.

Recorded Lectures: The lectures and workshops are with screen capture, but there's no point watching a recorded workshop. You should go to it to watch (and sometimes breathe ;) ) all that chemically goodness.

Past exams available:  No, but Chris will give you some CHM1011 sample exams. They'll be good enough.

Textbook Recommendation:  There are two "recommended" buys, I think one of them was just an e-book. Don't bother, really. Chris himself said they'll only assess you with what's on the lecture slides.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 78 D

Comments: Overall, it was a fun unit. Initially, I was struggling, and I didn't like it, and was opting to drop out of chemistry. However, after the revision lecture, I am considering going for a major in chemistry. (dramatic turnaround, if you had spoken to me in semester)

I thought every lecturer was brilliant - a lot of people didn't like Alison (she was my favourite, but nobody cares for my opinion there, so whatever), and while a lot of the initial topics might go over your head, a lot of it seems to come together at the end come exam time. Just let it kind of fester in there and wait until the exams. It'll make sense eventually, don't worry about it.

On assessments, I don't think that this is a hard subject to do well in. You've just got to keep on top of your game. First thing, though, don't let your study score in Chemistry fool you - I got a 33, and I was still allowed in. I personally think that if you get an ATAR over 90 and understand chemistry, you should at least try CHM1051. You have a few weeks grace period to drop into CHM1011 if you think that you won't be able to handle CHM1051 without the support of the tutorials. In terms of actual content, the only difference between the two is two labs and one equation in gas laws. So, don't drop down if it's because you think the actual content will get easier, because it won't.

The pre-lecture tests are easy - quite literally, you watch the pre-lecture video and fill in the questions as you listen to Chris talk. Guaranteed 10/10. These only count for 2.5 of that 10%.

The post-lecture tests are a little harder, but don't worry, you get three tries at those. These count for 7.5 of that 10%. Your best bet is to do it once blindly, then look at the comments on that first attempt, then use those comments to do better on your second and third attempts with friends. The questions change, but you'll do better that way.

The laboratories are fun, and are really what sets this a part from CHM1011. The laboratories are longer, and there are a couple of different ones than there are to CHM1011. There are more IDEA labs, which are sort of like designing your own labs (not really at all, but just roll with that idea [pun not intended]). However, because everyone in CHM1051 is supposed to be good at chemistry, that means the labs are more relaxed, get done quicker, and you have more fun with them. This is the biggest bonus of CHM1051 - not the fact that the content is "harder", it's the people you're doing it with makes things easier to work with.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on June 13, 2014, 04:31:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2021 - Biochemistry of Human Function

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Nope!

Textbook Recommendation: If you don't already have a copy of Molecular Biology of the Cell and Lehninger's Principles of Biochemistry, now's as good a time as any to get one. You don't strictly need either but this is a hard unit and they're good resources to have on hand.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating:  2.5 out of 5

Comments: This unit is hard. Really hard. Take any unit or subject you've ever done and laugh at it because they pale in comparison compared to this one. The amount of information that you need to learn, consolidate and understand is immense, and it's pretty independent too so aside from the fact that communication with staff is great, you're quite on your own (so find a group of friends to study with and stick with them).

If I could get a do over, I'd go to every lecture possible; it just not worthwhile cramming this unit because there's so much to know. Try to stay up to date as much as possible with the assessments too; there is quite a bit of online assessment and it's pretty easy to forget to do something.

The semester starts of with Integration and Regulation of Metabolism, which is predominantly glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and other glucoregulatory processes and their regulation; you also cover nitrogen-based concepts like the urea cycle and  pyrimidine and purine metabolism. Next you'll cover cell signalling, with things like hormonal control, different types of cell surface and intracellular receptors and the regulatory mechanisms of all of these. Afterwards, you'll study regulation of the cell cycle and the CDK-cyclin regulation of it. You'll also look at the 'checkpoints' of the cycle and why they are important in preventing tumourigenesis due to mutations in proto-oncogenes and in tumour-suppressor genes. You'll also look at apoptosis in great detail, examining many of the various pathways that cells can trigger apoptosis. As well as this, you'll examine necrosis and oncosis and how they differ. Finally, you'll deal with neurochemistry and other neurobiochemical areas of study. In all of these modules, you'll be learning about the clinical significance and applications of these areas of study.

In-semester assessment consists entirely of A) your tutes and B) online quizzes. Tutes are quite fun, especially the weeks where you do clinical case studies. Other weeks are group oral presentation-based, and these are pretty fun, not a lot of work to do for them in all honesty. You do spend one tute session doing a paper chromatography lab involving amino acid <-> alpha-ketoglutarate transamination; you'll then have to write up a detailed lab report based on your results. Some weeks your tute grades were split 66% in-tute work and 33% for an online quiz.

The other component of in-semester assessment are 6 online quizzes after each module of the unit. These, frankly, were ridiculously structured and hopefully (given the SETU surveys that people filed) they should be changed for next year. Basically, they were 8-12 MCQs, with 1 minute per question; only problem is the question and responses were very detailed and it generally took more than a minute to read everything. This was made worse by the fact that some of the questions were drop-down boxes or multi-option MCQs, which too even longer to get done. All in all, this part of the assessment was very poorly thought out by the faculty, and it really caused a great deal of stress among most students.

The exam is enormous. It consists of 10 essay topics from the modules that make up the unit; you pick 5 and write essays on them. You're expected to know a lot of biochemical detail which is a pain, and chances are you're not going to know everything, but if you can make links between concepts you'll be fine for the exam. You have three hours, and this is generally enough time to write everything up (most of us were done by about 2.5 hours); the main issue is that it's bloody painful to write this much regardless. There were a good deal of people doing that goddamn-it-my-wrist-hurts hand-shake thingy every few minutes haha.

Unfortunately there isn't a set reading list but Alfons and the other unit contributors often put some references with page numbers which pretty much pass as reading recommendations. They'll also upload some papers and articles for you to read if you want, but you can probably get by without them (they are really interesting though, so you may as well if you have a spare few minutes between classes).

The best thing is that Alfons uploads some condensed summary papers for all his modules closer to the exam - read and know these, they contain basically all the details you need for his sections of the exam.

In conclusion, this unit is by no means a walk in the park (then again, nothing in biomed past first year is easy). There is so much to know, and all of it is examinable - but at the end of the day it's not insurmountable. The material is pretty interesting overall, so if you put some time into it things tie together without too much issue; the main thing is just to stay up-to-date as much as possible, because it's really easy to fall behind and pretty tough to catch up.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on June 16, 2014, 10:13:46 am
Subject Code/Name: ESC1011 - Planet earth: Our place in the universe

Workload:  3x1 hour lectures, 1x3 hour labs

Assessment: 5 quizzes, 3 based on labs, 2 based on self-guided "field-trips", one poster, which from what I have gathered changes from year to year (this year it was on hazards) and the exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No, with no sample exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  Marion says that Earth: Portrait of a Planet is a required AND that the edition she prescribes is the one you need, because the other ones will be years out of date. Supposedly, the one we had this year was a few years out of date (however, I can agree with her, so... Yeah). It was certainly useful, but I wouldn't say it was required.

Lecturer(s): Marion Anderson

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 60 C

Comments: First, a disclaimer: geology is changing everyday, and what I write in here you may not be learning in your year of completion. Given that there's actually been evidence put forth that there's more to the structure to the Earth than scientists have recently though, there's good chance that the content to this unit will change quite a bit. You have been forewarned.

This was a good, fun unit. You start off learning about cosmology - which I'm assuming is to hook people on what is otherwise, let's face it, rocks.

As someone who was originally going to major in geology, I didn't mind the idea of learning about rocks, however starting in astrogeology was a nice little treat, and it was very interesting. Basically covered things like, "what is a planet" (spoiler: not Jupiter) and what the other planets are made of, as well as confusing things like where the universe came from. Also covering other concepts such as the likelihood of being hit by a comet. The first quiz was based on this material, and the last topic (hazards) some crossover into here.

Next, we moved onto rocks and minerals. We did some detouring into what the Earth was made of and what it looks like first, and then the big things. We covered different minerals and identifying them, and then types of rocks and identifying those. Where those rocks might be find. Doesn't sound like much, but once you get there, you'll realise there's a lot in here (the tragedies of there being no Earth sciences in VCE...)

Next comes the paleontology side of things, and you learn about time before now. Basically just what kind of life there was like before now, learning about dinosaurs and the megafauna. Not my favourite topic, but whatever floats your boat. (on the plus side, Bunyips were real).

Then, finishing up on geohazards. Pretty cool stuff. How close can you get to lava before catching fire? Can you surf on it? Are we at risk from being hit by a comet? What even is a landslide? All that fun stuff.

The best part about this unit, though - science changes every day, and Marion tries (and I reckon she succeeded) to keep up with this in the course. Especially in geo, if a new hazard happens, you will know, and you will learn about it. Nothing assessable, don't worry about being assessed, but you will learn first hand what it's like living in the world of research and science.

Oh, and Marion's a sarcastic bitch. A funny one, but she's a sarcastic bitch.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on June 16, 2014, 06:11:24 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHS1080 - Foundation Physics

Workload:  3x1 hour lectures, 1x3 hour labs

Assessment:  6 assignments (7%), practical work (25%), mid-semester test (8%), exam (60%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 3 useful ones

Textbook Recommendation:  Physics for Scientists & Engineers is prescribed. It's not required, but highly recommended, for reasons outlined below.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating: 0.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 69 C

Comments: This unit is utter crap. Before I give any detailed comments about the unit, I want to say this - you should only take PHS1080 if you have no other choice. If you only want it because it might be useful, don't do it. There are so many better units to fill your course with - like sexology (not a joke - Monash are incorporating this unit/course). I was excited for physics before doing this, and am now dropping it, so you can see the impact of this unit on me.

So, firstly, the lectures. Ali is a horrible lecturer, but if you didn't do spec, try to either stick out the lectures or keep up. If you can but the textbook, do so and complete the suggested questions as you go by them in the unit. You can then go by TAPAS for help if you need it (and, you probably will need it). Ali does have one good thing going for him, though - he's incredibly quoteable. "It's ze force BY ze apple ON ze Earth"

Shane isn't that great, but he's a whole lot better than Ali, and he cares (thankfully - someone in the course needs to). He works through one concept at a time, and he has lots of online simulators for you to play with, so that's good, too. The best part about Shane is that he's always posting on moodle, so you know that he's there and he's with you.

Istvan is quite popular with the 1011 kids, so maybe you'll like him? I don't quite know why, though... Then again, my favourite chem lecturer is hated by most, so yeah, whatever. He was alright, explained concepts, but he seemed to have this issue of not uploading the slides that he actually showed to us (for whatever reason that is...)

Next is the labs - they're... Completely independant of the lectures. Yes - you'd expect the lab people to talk to the lecture people, but they don't. Quite often you'll learn something in a lab then learn it in a lecture the next week. Or, you'll learn something in a lab then never touch it in a lecture. OR (worst case scenario), be EXPECTED TO KNOW SOMETHING FOR A LAB EVEN IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE. (yes, in a course designed for people who know no physics)  Labs will probably be quite stressful at first, but they'll even out and turn into quite a formula, and this formula represents the 0.5 of my rating.

In summary: don't do this unit UNLESS YOU HAVE TO. If you want to do this unit because "physics is good to have" - there is always something better. Do something different, like geo or astro. Do more maths, take an elective from outside science. Maybe try the science equivalent of biophysics, PHS1031. Just only take this unit if you absolutely have to (i.e. you need a major or minor in physics/are doing eng)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Reckoner on June 16, 2014, 09:53:03 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC2140 – Corporate Finance

Workload: 
One 2-hour lecture
One 1-hour tutorial

Assessment: 
•   Midsem: 30%
•   Tute attendance/participation: 10%
•   Exam: 60%

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes

Past exams available: 
Yes - 2 were given out with solutions, but there are more available from past students if you ask nicely 

Textbook Recommendation: 
Fundamentals of corporate finance – The second edition is prescribed, but the 1st is almost identical so buy second-hand if you can. Has the weekly tute questions in it, so best get your hands on a copy. I didn’t really use it much for the learning of the theory, but others who did said it did its job.

Lecturer(s):
Dr Hue Hwa Au Yong (Weeks 1-6)

Dr Jason Choo (Weeks 7-12)

Both are great lecturers. Au Yong sticks to the lecture slides, but her explanations are pretty clear. Writes the answers to the lecture examples on transparencies, and they don't get recorded unfortunately. The slides on Moodle get updated though so all's well. Jason talks more generally about finance. He follows the slides, but also talks about what is generally happening in the finance world. While not directly related to the material, they can be interesting tangents. 

Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 1 2014

Rating:
3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:
HD

Comments:
This unit is required for accounting and finance majors, and can be a part of a few others. Its one of you staple second year commerce subjects, so chances are you'll be doing it even if you don't major in finance.

Very well run unit. You would know exactly what was happening, what topics would be covered, what questions would be set, and tutorial answers came out quickly. No complaints what so ever about the lecturers or the administration side of things.

However the actual course material isn’t too amazing. I’m not a huge finance guy, and seemed to just go with the flow of the unit. I wouldn’t say I didn’t like it, there was just nothing that really jumped out at me. I liked the lectures though, and most of the stuff that you learn is fairly interesting. 

The topics covered include:
Financial Maths: Should really be called “formulae that you will need”. Not a great deal of maths involved, just number plugging really. You don’t need to know the derivations of any of the formulae, just what each of the variables represents, and when to use each formulae.

Valuation of bonds and equities: All in the title. What is a bond, how do you price a bond etc.. For share valuation you mainly look at constant dividend growth models. P/E ratios are touched on but not in depth. A little bit on risk too.

Project Evaluation: Remember NPV and IRR from first year accounting? These are touched on again, as well as a few other methods such as MIRR and payback period. You also look at projects with different lives and decision tree analysis (with probabilities of events occurring). You look at the advantages/disadvantages of each, which eventually leads you to the idea NPV is the best. Simulation and sensitivity analysis are touched on.

Risk and Return: High risk requires a higher rate of return. Diversification of portfolios and a few more types of risk. You look at very basic stats/probability calculations such as expected returns, standard deviation, covariance a normal distributions. The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) is introduced.

Cost of Capital: Looks into how the discount rate used for project evaluation is calculated, from the cost of equity and the cost of debt as the weighted average cost of capital (WACC).

Working capital management: Accounting, with a few formulas thrown in. Looks at how current assets are managed, trade-offs between carrying and shortage costs, reordering of stock, and funding strategies.

Capital Structure: How much debt and equity are be used to finance projects and companies. Looks at various factors that should be considered when considering how to finance companies.

Dividend policy: the decisions and effects of different policies in how dividends are paid out by companies.

Mid-sem/exam: The mid-sem is multiple choice and short answer. IS almost entirely number plugging with a couple of theory questions tacked on the end. Past tests with solutions are given out, and the actual test is very similar to the past ones. Same thing holds for the exam, but with no multiple choice and more theory questions.

Tutes aren’t especially helpful. You just run through that particular weeks questions, and the answers are uploaded to moodle at the end of the week anyway. But they are marked, so best to show up.

Overall not particularly challenging unit, is pretty accessible if you don’t leave everything last minute. Don’t be worried about the maths that is involved; if you are ok with plugging numbers into a formula then you should be alright. Not much higher level maths is involved.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: spaciiey on June 17, 2014, 03:48:54 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2676 - Sociolinguistics 

Workload:  One 2 hour seminar per week.

Assessment: 

Scrapbook - 20%
Mid semester test - 25%
Mini research project and group presentation - 10%
Major essay - 45%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, because you can also do this unit by distance ed.

Past exams available:  N/A, there is no exam.

Textbook Recommendation: The Guidebook to Sociolinguistics by Allan Bell. No, you don't need it because you can get it for free online. You might want it for the mid-sem because it's open book, but to be honest it's not needed, just bring your own notes!

Lecturer(s): Melanie Burns

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 79 (grrrrrr just one more mark!!)

Comments: Until this year, this used to be a second AND third year unit. THIS IS NO LONGER THE CASE! So if you need to round out your majors and whatnot and you are NOT a first year, make sure that you have the right amount of third year units to get a linguistics major. I believe under the new system it's one of those 'cornerstone' units, but don't hold me 100% to it.

Okay now to the actual unit itself. This was the first year that Melanie took this unit, it was previously taken by Julie Bradshaw. So things might change next semester. I liked the content. It was basically a broad overview of sociolinguistics in general. The first half of the semester looked at more technical stuff, and then the second half of the semester focused on the applied side of sociolinguistics, so stuff like language policy and planning, research, multilingualism, etc. The topics and stuff were set out in a way that made sense and Melanie was mostly good at explaining stuff but sometimes it felt like she was rushing through the content because there was a lot of it.

The mid semester test is taken in class, and it goes for an hour. It's all the stuff from the first half of semester, and it's open book. But I struggled to finish it on time because there was lots of writing involved -- lots of short answer questions and a handful of longer ones.

The scrapbook was weird. Kind of fun as far as assessments go, but weird. You had to find 5 popular media articles (newsapers, magazines, and so on) that talked about sociolinguistic stuff and write a short commentary on it, comparing it to how accurate it is to actual sociolinguistic research. Then you had to chose one of the articles and write a 'letter to the editor' in reply to it. I didn't find it too bad and there was lots of help given with regards to how to do it, BUT the word count drove me crazy because each 'commentary' is only 100 (yes, 100!) words.

Group project was time consuming but there was lots of time set aside to do it in class at least. You had to make a survey about language use, collect data and come up with something interesting to present in week 12 about it, but you only have 3 minutes to present in so time management is an issue there. It's also a bit hard to coordinate if you have a big group but for some reason it was insisted upon that our groups were 5 to 8 people.

The essay is 2000 words and you have all semester to work on it. You can pick a topic out of a pre-made list, or you can make your own topic to suit your own interests, provided you ask permission first. To provide context, I made up my own topic and went with: "Malaysia has recently reversed its policy on teaching Mathematics and Science at school in English instead of Malay. Explain the decision and assess its impact."
The essay has a lot of flexibility so you can do what you want, but it's a pretty stock standard linguistics essay.

Also, no exam, yay! It's a good enough unit as far as linguistics goes and I generally liked it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: spaciiey on June 17, 2014, 04:21:48 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS3259/APG4758 - Geographical information systems (GIS) for environmental science

Workload:
ATS3259:
1 hour 'interactive class' per week (tbh it's really more like a lecture)
7 x 3 hour computer labs

APG4578: All classes are optional, as long as all assessment is handed in as required.

Assessment: 
Practicals: 50%
Project : 25%
Exam: 25%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, in the exams database. But they're somewhat outdated so don't bother. In the review lecture there were slides that had sample questions. More detail in 'comments'.

Textbook Recommendation:  Erm probably, but to be honest I didn't bother.

Lecturer(s): Xuan Zhu

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 semester 1

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 80

Comments: First off I want to say that I really liked this unit but it is not for everyone. If you are a technophobe I would recommend you pick another unit because you WILL spend a lot of time using ArcGIS, which is simultaneously a pain in the butt of a program to use and a miraculous godsend. I don't think I've ever had a subject that is so insanely content heavy and at times it did do my head in a little bit. Unfortunately GIS is a HUGE area and so there's a LOT of content in this unit.

It starts off by giving an overview of GIS and what you might use it for, and talks about different kinds of data and map projections. If you have done ATS2780 the stuff that you see in the first week or two of this unit shouldn't be new to you. After that you learn about different kinds of analysis, so spatial analysis, terrain analysis, interpolation and you finish off the unit with applications of GIS, so land suitability modelling, habitat mapping and the like. Having a good grasp of maths is useful for this unit, too by the way, especially when it comes to understanding some of the concepts with interpolation.

There are no real lectures, you are supposed to either read the notes or watch a pre-recorded video about the content before class. I can't speak for the videos because I never watched them (Xuan has a bit of an accent and I find it hard to follow if it's not irl) but his lecture notes were, uhm, dense. They are very thorough, but very content-heavy. There were weekly quizzes you could do to check your progress, which was good, but they're not graded so you don't have to do them if you don't want to.

The lectures were okay I guess. Some of the stuff he did was useful but I wouldn't say it's 100% necessary to go, but sometimes Xuan draws stuff on the whiteboard (usually flowcharts) so you won't get to see those. The practicals started off incredibly easy but they got difficult quickly. Each one builds off of the previous one in some way shape or form. I found them generally well thought-out. They're easy marks if you read the instructions carefully and answer the questions properly though. I really liked them but I know that the other people in my prac class thought differently!

The project was one of the better assessments I have done in Geography. It goes something like this: You have to do a site selection. Here are some maps. Here is a list of criteria, x, y, and z. Given these things, Find and present a solution using GIS and write it up in a 2500 word report. He has a rubric put up of how to do it and stuff and if you have been following the content and practicals you basically know how to do it. It's a little bit difficult though because in the practicals you have lots of instructions on how to move from step A to B, but in the project you don't have any more hand holding.

The only thing that kind of irked me was the exam. It was a bit of a bitch, to be honest. Thankfully it's only worth 25% and so most likely you will have already passed the unit by the time you actually DO the exam. I found that the practice questions were way easier than the actual exam itself, so I'd recommend finding a way to study everything as thoroughly as possible so you can make the content stick. If you are good at flow charts and explaining the difference between vector and raster data there are a few easy marks chucked in there too.

I docked some marks off of my rating because I didn't like the exam and I found the unit a little TOO content heavy. It's a pretty decent unit though, I would recommend it overall.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: slothpomba on June 17, 2014, 08:43:12 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1041 - World religions

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

Assessment: 20% Pre-lecture quizes based on readings, 10% expository essay (my year was dialogue between Buddha and a fictional character; i chose Dr.House), 30% essay (selection from a list), 10% tutorial presentation, 30% exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen caputre. Approximately 20% of the recordings failed though, be careful. The subject is simulatenous run at Caufield, thankfully both caufield and clayton did not mess up in the same week.

Past exams available:  No. 20% of the exam marks are defining terms, you are given a large list of definitions, a subset of these are on the exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  No, available online via library website. Honestly not a very good textbook though.

Lecturer(s): Scott Dunbar and various guests

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown, did fairly well overall though.

Comments: Standard religious studies 101 class really.

It includes a basic description of the beliefs and doctrines of what Scott terms/decides to be "world religions". The use of this term, like most of the field of religious studies, is up for significant debate. To simplify though, he definitely does included all the biggest faiths in the world. A few exceptions are Judaism (which is actually relatively small now) and Chinese religions like Daoism/Confucianism which have a debatable number of actual followers. New religious movement (think Scientology, hare krishna) are covered in one lecture, approaches to religious diversity are covered in another.  As a nod to the country we're in, Indigenous religion is covered as well.

I feel it was a bit hit and miss sometimes. Religious studies is a relatively new field compared to its older academic brethren, it's still finding its feet. Compounding this is the fact that it's an interdisciplinary field and theres no one right way to go about it either. Some lectures seemed to be regurgitations of the textbook, especially when Scott was lecturing on ones he wasn't familiar with. Often, he did a good job of adding value beyond the textbook. He was rather entertaining and bought a genuine enthusiasm to the class.

It seemed a bit over the place sometimes. Sometimes religion and modernity was included, other times its really wasn't (Daoism/Confucianism, except maybe the link to fortune cookies). This is half the textbook chapter for each religion. It describes the basic beliefs then how the religions have responded to the modern world (women, democracy, violence, etc).

The guest lecturers themselves were judiciously selected, all were very interesting. Our indigenous religion lecturer for example spent decades in the NT and could sing to us in various aboriginal languages (on which he wrote a book). Considering he wasn't indigenous, it was very impressive having access to an academic who has poured his heart and soul into it so much. The Judaism guest lecturer was very through but also very skilled at actually weaving a coherent lecture narrative together which i felt was sometimes missed in Scott's lectures.

That said, Scott did a pretty good job for the 2 hours we had each week to learn about a major belief system. As almost every lecturer admitted, it was "mission impossible" to lecture about an entire religion in 2 hours, you could spend 2 hours talking about a single word or concept from any religion, let alone the religion as a whole. Given this constraint and expecting superficiality, i think they did OK.

A better textbook could be selected, for one that talks about modernity, it was published in 2002, just after 9/11 and before many major religious controversies of the past decade. I've read ones by oxford and routledge which i think are much better. The assessment was great and even fun. The Buddha dialogue is explained above. You're still doing work but its an engaging and interesting way to do it. The essay topics went beyond the lecture material which is great. I'm sick of essays which simply require you to mostly regurgitate lectures. Most of these topics were not at all touched on, requiring 100% original research. The topics themselves were very interesting, i wrote my essay on the links between the Bushido code of the Samurai and the religions of Japan (Buddhism, Confucianism, Shinto). Scott offered anyone who wasn't pleased with the list a chance to nominate their own topic which i thought we very great of him.

Overall, a good unit, a bit shallow, needs improvement in areas but the assessment regime and energy in it is fantastic.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: kinslayer on June 18, 2014, 01:01:56 am
Subject Code/Name: ECC1000 - Principles of Microeconomics

NOTE: this course is taught differently in semester 1 to semester 2. The below is current for semester 1, 2014.

Workload:  3 contact hours - 2 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 1 hour tutorial.

Assessment:  40% in-semester assessment comprising: tutorial participation 10%, midsemester test 20% (redeemable, week 6), APLIA tests (in Moodle) 10%. Final exam: 60% (or 80% if your performance on the final exam exceeds that of your midsemester test)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, both streams (same lecturer), with screen capture (if Stephen remembers to set the right camera to MULO, lol). Stephen also uploads supplementary lecture material to Youtube (~1 hour per week). Very useful.

Past exams available:  Yes, last year's. However, there is a large number of "sample exam questions" provided which are much more difficult than the exam questions typically set. There is no shortage of exam-style questions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Principles of Microeconomics, Gans et al. 5th edition (2011)

It is not essential to have this textbook, though I found it quite useful. You can get it on 1 week loan from the Caulfield or Clayton libraries without too much fuss and you can get the full length loan on hold too if you can be bothered waiting a few weeks. I think it's a good book, but you don't need to buy it or even have access to it. All of the examinable material is presented in lectures and tutorials. There are no assessable exercises from the book.

Lecturer(s): Stephen King. Great lecturer, my favourite so far. He has a good sense of humour, knows the course back to front, and thinks quicker than he talks (watch the youtube videos, you'll see what I mean).

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 90

Comments:

I enrolled in this course because it was a core unit for the BComm; after sitting it, I can see why it is a core unit. In this course you will learn about how firms make decisions, specifically how they set prices; how they decide whether or not to produce, temporarily shut down or leave the market; how government policy affects the behaviour of individual players in the market; how international trade affects domestic social surplus; and the differences between competition and monopoly in the marketplace.

Pretty much every week Stephen had a new example from the news to put our learning in context, from the mining boom to energy prices to the minimum wage and beyond. He is a former chairman of the ACCC, he's given evidence in court cases as an expert witness and he brings a lot of his experience to bear in his lectures.

The essence of the course is having a thorough understanding of firm behaviour at a basic level. The midsemester test is multiple choice, but none of the questions is easy; the questions draw inspiration from the lectures, but most of the questions are phrased in such a way that you need to apply concepts learned in class, not just remember definitions. So you need to attend tutorials and understand the examples to do well.

The final exam is 40% short answer (is this statement true? yes/no/maybe/why) and 60% extended response. It's basically diagram after diagram after diagram. It's not as hard as the practice questions uploaded on Moodle, but you need to understand each of the topics and know how to visualise each situation under consideration. For each concept learnt in the course, you need to know how to draw the diagram to show how it works. Since the midsemester exam is multichoice and the tutorials are only assessable in terms of participation and attendance, you need to practice drawing the diagrams on your own. Go through the textbook, ask your tutors, make sure you understand APLIA, etc. There is a lot of material available, you just need to know how to use it.

Regarding in-semester assessment:

The APLIA testing is just a carrot to get you to look at the material before it is presented in lectures. There are 10 tests, each worth 1%. You get 0.5 marks if you complete every question and another 0.5 marks if you get over 50% correct. So essentially you get the full 10% if you attempt APLIA and get over 50% for each test. It's an easy 10% but it helps your mark in the course overall because it forces you to think about the concepts before they're explained in lectures.

The midsemester test is worth 20%, unless you do better on the final exam than the midsem. The midsem isn't easy, but I think the exam is harder. So it's up to you to do well on the midsem to take some pressure off when the exam comes. If you do better on the final exam then the midsem won't be counted, so you can redeem your midsem mark by doing well on the exam.

Conversely, there is NO hurdle requirement for the final exam, so if you do really well on the midsem then you're looking at a 30-40% threshold on the final exam for passing the subject (very easy). My advice is to study as hard as you can for the midsemester test and take the pressure off.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: BigAl on June 18, 2014, 03:01:46 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHS2011 - Physics: Quantum concepts and technologies



Workload:  6 contact hours - 3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 3 hour lab weekly.

Assessment:  50% in-semester assessment comprising: 3 assignments (5% each) 2 quizzes (2.5%each) labs and report (30%) 2 exams (20% and 30%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Plenty of past exams available for Quantum mechanics section, however only 2 past exams available for condensed matter and atomic physics( no solution for A.P exams)

Textbook Recommendation:  serway moses moyer modern physics-get a pdf version or hard copy...you'll need it for the labs.


Lecturer(s): Prof Michael Morgan, Dr. Scott Findlay and Dr. Alexis Bishop

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating:  2/5

Your Mark/Grade: 53

Comments:

Completing first year physics, you should already know what's coming. You should be aware of intensive workload with labs and assignments, however I found that it was much more relaxing towards the end of semester (Maybe it's just me). You'll be welcomed by the first assignment as soon as you walk in the lecture room...It's a set of questions consisting of last year's exam questions. Don't get frustrated if you can't do them in the first week..With Michael Morgan's super teaching, you'll get a full mark. The second assignment is exactly the same procedure. The exam is 2 hour long and worth 20%
Let's talk about Dr. Findlay's part.
You'll learn nothing at this part. The lecture notes are just bunch of words squished together and Findlay's monotonic speech makes you sleepy. I was lucky some of the concepts in this sub unit was exactly the same as my eng unit (MAE2400:Engineering materials) so I was lucky. I was cramming for this section expecting somewhat similar exam from previous years...How wrong I was...Most of my friends and I struggled in the first exam. The assignment is a different story..You'll be given a set of question at the start of the sub unit...None of the questions will make sense because you haven't learned anything.

Dr. Bishop's part wasn't as bad as Dr.Findlay's. Perhaps that's because I like atomic and nuclear physics. This sub unit was much more easier than condensed matter physics in my opinion. The quizzes weren't difficult...Don't let the past papers deceive you though. Be prepared for anything.

Side notes on labs: Absolute bullsh*t. You'll encounter technical problems for sure. In the first week, we spent 30-45 mins to log into the computer...in the third week, the computer was almost frozen and I was about to lose all my data for the experiment...In week 6 or 7, I had to deal with this tablet bullsh*t and got 2/20 for that lab...I was lucky the demonstrator was lenient so he re-marked my lab. In week 10, I lost all my data so I had to write the whole lab discussion in 5 minutes. Some of my friends failed failed lab.

Fingers crossed if I have done enough to pass...Can't wait to finish second year physics..If I fail this unit, it's going to cost my double degree...It's a unit you dont want to repeat. 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: jeanweasley on June 20, 2014, 05:46:22 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSY1011 - PSYCHOLOGY 1A 

Workload: 2 hour lectorials (lecture and a tutorial, but mostly a long lecture that sometimes have hands on activities, eg. measuring each other's personalities on the Likert scale by asking them a couple of questions or working through a handout with application questions about the topic with the people around you. Normally these tutorial type activities happen during the last hour or half an hour but normally by then, people would just walk out.

Assessment:  5 x lecture topic quizzes: 15%
Oral paper report (video) and written summary (1000words): 20%, apparently doing the video was a first for this year and caused confusion and frustration for some of us. The style of the summary depended on your facilitator/tutor so some did the 1000 word summary in a table, some in essay format and some in numbered bullet style. For a first assignment, this was particularly difficult because we only had a few lectures' knowledge of what was going on so to go find three research papers and summarise them was quite a task, especially since the papers didn't really make sense until after we've covered the "Learning" topic (we had a choice between choosing between media violence, punishment and aversion therapy). Coupled with the oral paper, this assignment was just too much stress for a first assignment. First of all, to upload the video you have to enable your Google account with Monash but that part wasn't in the guide so some people, including me just used whichever Google account they had to upload the video on Youtube (some didn't know that the video had to be unlisted so you can go watch some for tips). Going back to the written summary, the criticism part was a big part of the assignment but I really had no idea how we were meant to criticise when we hadn't even learn any tools to do that.

Critical evaluation exercise (1000words): 15%

Examination (2 hours): 50%, not a hurdle requirement although the unit guide says it is.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No, they don't provide you one but you do have MyPsychLab (an accompanying source with the book that generates questions for you) and they do recycle questions from that. The exam I did had about 50% of the questions from MyPsychLab, some from the weekly quizzes and some were too specific like in the learning or sensation & perception topic, that probably came from the extra info the lecturers talked about. They also had two questions that were the exact same in the exam that I did so I guess that was an easy mark to get provided you got the previous question right. (The exam wasn't too hard and it was pretty much matching definition to an answer or naming a function, no funky diagrams that you had to pick the name from and almost no application type questions where you get given a scenario and see the results and say what those results mean)

Textbook Recommendation:  I got the Custom Lillinfield textbook and all the readings are there plus each chapter  has revision questions but it's mostly memorising definitions. I did get the one by Finlay but I didn't really think it helped me with writing the summary or the lit review but it could be useful for next semester so I'm keeping it.

Lecturer(s): Varies, but you get a lecturer for two weeks because each topic goes for two weeks except for the introduction lecture and the historical timeline of psychology one. Some of the lecturers I remember: Matt Mundy(developmental psych, I think), Sean Cain (sensation & perception), Kim Cornish (bio psych) Wei Wei (Personality), Russell Conduit, also the coordinator (first two lectures)

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA 74 D

Comments: I came into this unit knowing it was disorganised and that the assignments were a mess to understand and these sentiments couldn't be more true. This unit suffers from not being structured properly mainly because it was hard to understand what was going on half the time and the advice you get from the Moodle forum differs greatly to other people's advice or your tutor - basically, there's no universal standard and there's a lot of variation. You really do need to go to your consultation class because your tutor tells you what you need to do and if they want an essay instead of a tabled answer, you have to write an essay EVEN IF the assignment does say that you can choose which format you do your assignment in.

The criteria sheet also didn't match with what my tutor said he was grading and it appeared to be just a copy from another assignment (and like with anything in this unit caused confusion), but if you form a facebook/study group, you'll be more than okay since people share their tips and things like that on there.

The other downfall of this unit was that some lecturers were uninteresting or mumbled their words a lot or had trouble forming sentences due to their native language not being English that it was hard to keep up or try to understand what was being said, because by the time the lecturer had said the next word, you'd already forgotten what was said before (sorry, this is a mouthful haha). Also, some lecturers seemed to talk a lot about their Phd and while it was interesting to listen to, it felt like advertising.

Other than that, I liked this unit although it was reallly reallllllly hard to get well or a HD compared to other subjects (I got told that the average was around 5 or 6 for the first assignment that was out of 10 and that only 16 people got HDs - also beware, there are a lot of people that have dropped out of this course because of how difficult/unclear it was BUT if you do the work and ask for feedback, you will be okay, probably not HD okay but okay enough :P) but the weekly quizzes were easy enough to get well, especially the later quizzes since they just regurgitate the MyPsychLab questions.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Blues Fan on June 20, 2014, 09:04:52 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1261 - UNDERSTANDING HUMAN BEHAVIOUR  
Workload:  2h lecture (lecture slides are posted on Moodle after both campuses have had their lectures)
1h tutorial

Assessment:  20% In lecture short answer test (1)
45% Written research report
25% In lecture short answer test (2)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No exams, only 2 in lecture tests.

Textbook Recommendation:  Text book is not required. Readings will be on Moodle.

Lecturer(s):  Attitudes and behaviour, Behaviour and attitudes, Assessment of attitudes and behaviour, Behavioural research report, Social perceptions and attitudes, Cultural world views and behaviour and Social cognition and behaviour  (Kerry O'Brien)
Music influence on emotion and cognition (Sherilene Carr)
Prosocial behaviour and Social influence (Nick Faulkner)
Attachment/child development (Eloise Zoppos)

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments: The overall unit was good, however the long lectures can be very boring since it was jam packed with theories and experiments. Also, tutorials were a waste of time since most of the discussion was already explained during the lectures. Everything is posted on moodle in terms of readings and information for the research assignment. The unit is structured and organised well. The lecture slides are not posted on Moodle until Caulfield and Clayton have had their lectures. I found that it was hard follow the lecture since I had nothing to write on and sometimes there is too much information to write down. Study the lecture slides well and readings prescribed for the in lecture tests. If you enjoy psychology, this unit is very similar (PSY1011).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: jeanweasley on June 20, 2014, 09:10:48 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1061 - FRENCH INTRODUCTORY 

Workload:  Language and Culture component:
One 1-hour grammar lecture
One 2 hour writing/grammar workshop
One 1 hour oral/aural tutorial
Specialized Culture component:
One 1-hour lecture

Assessment:  Weekly written and aural language homework (800 words): 17%
Class tests: oral, aural and written (1500 words ): 33% - the written tests weren't hard since you have the internet/dictionary to look the words up but there was one assignment which was unclear why one part of the table had 'x' and because of my misinterpretation, I lost marks. So definitely double check your understanding of writing assessment!
Written language exam (1200 words): 25%
2 Written assignments (1000 words): 25%

The workload isn't that heavy but if you're not used to learning a language it could definitely be a hurdle for you. However, in saying that, this is introductory French so it's not that hard compared to learning French in high school - here you start at the very basic but the pace is fast.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No, and you don't need to, really. You just gotta practise conjugation but you can use the Alter Ego exercise book for revision.

Textbook Recommendation:  The Alter Ego textbook is a must because you WILL be using it every class and the accompanying workbook is optional if you want to practice your grammar so I suggest that you should probably get it if you have no background in French whatsoever (I did Year 9 and dropped out so I covered most of the basics) and intend to do well, you should get it. However, there are other online activities that you could print and check but most of the online ones don't really have answers to them.

I didn't buy any other verbs list or dictionary. I used Google Translate and Collins French Dictionary to help with translating some of the words that weren't covered in the lectures for the written assignments.

Lecturer(s): Jessica Chakowa, (also the coordinator) for Grammar, Benjamin Andréo & Chris Watkin for Culture. Chris speaks really fast and is quite soft-spoken but he has a lot of knowledge about culture so make sure you go rewatch his videos and take notes down because chances are it's going to be in the Culture Quiz. Ben is awesome too but he speaks slightly slower and is obsessed about Tour de France and cycling. The lecturers are amazing and while you don't see the culture lecturers for workshops or tutes, they know their stuff and are really good to chat with. (The tutors are also native French speakers so you get to hear how you should sound and things like that because you can observe how they pronounce words)

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83 HD

Comments: I can't really say much about this unit because there isn't much to say other than the fact that I liked this unit and that the lecturers and tutors were always ready to answer my questions. But I do have one criticism regarding the culture assessments that were a little harder than normal compared to the language tests. The culture assessments sometimes relied on extra reading that was given or other material said in the lecture that could have easily been missed and there were also details that we didn't go through in the lecture but did appear in the quiz; I can't remember exactly what the question was but there were at least one and two.

For the third culture assessment which was a series of four short answer questions focusing on a French comic strip but (be warned there is no word 'comic' in French so it should always be referred to as bande dessinée or BD) it was kind of difficult to answer even with the slides with all the information on them. I think with this kind of assessment or with any culture component, you do need to do a bit of additional reading because you need to be able to explain the reason why things happen and how, and not just use information from the powerpoint because the information presented can be the bare minimum. Overall, it's a good unit and if you're looking for a language to learn, this could be the one.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: nosuperstar on June 21, 2014, 02:42:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETX1100 - Business Statistics

Workload:  3 1/2 contact hours - 1 x 2 hour lecture, 1 x 1 1/2 hour tutorial

Assessment: 
•   Assignment: 5%
•   Mid Semester test: 15%
•   Tutorial attendance + H/W completion: 10%
•   Exam: 70%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes.

Past exams available:  There were no past exams available but instead 3 sample exams were provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  Basic Business Statistics - Berenson 3rd Edition (2012). It is prescribed but honestly not used, countless times Gerrie has indicated to do calculations based on the way its presented in the Lectures rather than the textbook's method. It's only useful for practice questions.

Lecturer(s): Gerrie Roberts

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: A relatively easy subject to pass, although if you don't keep on top of the work, it can seem pretty difficult (like it did for me most of the semester). The concepts are simple although a major issue would be the 70% weighing of the exam, as it is a hurdle requirement, this subject has a high fail rate due to the heaving weighing of the exam. The mid semester test and assignment are easy marks, as are the tutorial attendance ones which contribute 10%. These marks are achieved through 1% per tutorial, 0.5% for attendance and the other 0.5% for completing the part A work to be prepared before the tutorial.

The mid semester test covered topics from weeks 1-4, thus those were not included in the final exam, which made it a lot easier to study for also.

Overall, it was quite a dry subject but if you are good at maths you will like it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on June 21, 2014, 09:23:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2637 - The Human Body and the International Marketplace

Workload: 2 hours per week (1x one hour lecture, 1x one hour tutorial)

Assessment:
Essay 1: 30%
Essay 2: 40%
Exam (two hours): 30%

Recorded Lectures: Yes

Past exams available: No idea, but probably not necessary

Textbook Recommendation: Nothing further to the Unit Reader (which is, obviously, essential)

Lecturer(s): Dr. Ryan Tonkens

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: N/A

Comments: This was the last unit I chose for Semester 1 of my second year (in fact, I switched into it in about Week 2), and I'm glad that I did. It provides a fairly general overview of some major issues in bioethics, including prostitution, surrogacy motherhood, gene patenting, and the purchase and sale of human organs (which I found most interesting). There is also a major emphasis on a few key concepts which relate to most if not all of the topics, being commodification, exploitation and objectification.

Ryan is a very good lecturer; he is engaging, encourages further learning and is more than willing to meet outside of class to clarify any questions you may have. He also offered his services throughout the year to read essay plans, and provides very extensive feedback. I was a little concerned that I would be overwhelmed with some of the content (as I had never done any bioethics units), but a lot of it is intuitive. In fact, I guess that's a main objective of the unit - to challenge your intuitions.

This unit had pretty much my perfect assessment structure - two major essays (the first one was 30%, the second 40%), and then the exam. The exam was rather lengthy, but it covered a good range of material. There were five definition questions (choose 5 from 10), five short-answer questions (choose 5 from 10), and then one mini-essay (choose 1 from 3, if my memory serves me well (which it probably doesn't)).

I would recommend the unit to anybody who is interested in bioethics or philosophy. I think it's an excellent unit, and made better by virtue of Ryan and the tutors doing everything they can to improve the unit in the future. Another plus is that it falls under the brackets of Bioethics, Human Rights, Philosophy and International Studies (which I am using it for); a significant portion of the content relates to countries further to Australia.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: spaciiey on June 22, 2014, 10:47:18 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1903 - Introducing Literature: Ways of Reading 

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures per week
1 x 1 hour tute per week

Assessment:
Close reading exercise: 10%
Essay: 30%
Class exercise on translation: 10%
Moodle quiz on using sources and library: 10%
Exam: 40%

Attendance at tutes is compulsory! In other words you have to attend 3/4 of the tutes otherwise you need a medical cert/a really good explanation/etc.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available: Nope. Maybe there are some in the past exams database but they're not relevant. We had to make educated guesses of what we thought would be on the exam and prepare accordingly.

Textbook Recommendation:  Unit Reader, Hamlet, That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott, Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Kafka, Therese Raquin by Emilie Zola.
There were various editions and whatnot that you were supposed to buy, and because this is a jaffy unit just about everyone bought the correct editions presumably from the bookshop (lol). But because I'm a rebel and all I used my own copy of Hamlet and Therese Raquin and acquired second hand versions that were the wrong edition for everything else. They made a big deal about having the correct 'translation' or whatever but I personally think it didn't matter in the end. Unit reader is cheap and useful, because they had all the poems in the one place, which is good for lazy people like me.

Lecturer(s): Peter Groves and various other people depending on what the topic was.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 semester 1

Rating:  2.5 out of 5

Comments: I wasn't going to write a review but having looked at the last review on the thread, there's been a few changes in the unit since, so hey, let's keep things updated! I really wanted to like this unit but I feel that it's one of the most wishy-washy of arts subjects that I have taken so far, and so I couldn't really take it seriously.

I felt that the lectures varied in quality: some were really good, and others just dragged no matter how much I tried to pay attention. It's a bit of pot luck, depending on who the lecturer is for the week, but the unit itself is pretty well structured. If you took Lit in VCE you won't mind this unit too much but if you come from mainstream English I think you'll struggle a bit with stuff like passage analysis. It doesn't mean you can't do well though!

There are far fewer texts this semester as opposed to last time the unit ran. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Previously, if you didn't like a text, you could just wait for next week and you'd have a new one, and there were so many options in the exam that you could just choose to focus on a select few texts. This time you actually have to make an effort to read more of them. For the essay you either have to write on the ballads in the unit reader or Hamlet, and then in the exam you had to write on whichever text you didn't write your essay on, AND do a comparative essay on two out of three of the remaining texts. So you can afford to skip ONE text, and that's really it. So make sure you do your readings!

The exam was fairly straight forward. Like I said there's two parts to it. My only main beef was that there were no past exams and we didn't have any sample topics or anything like that. My method of preparing was to make guesses on parallels between the set texts and to brainstorm some points based on that, and it ended up serving me pretty well.

I felt that the assessments were generally fair. The first assessment was a relatively straight forward passage analysis on Hamlet. If you're a lit kid you'll find it easy, the only thing that threw me was how LONG the passage was and short the word count was. Alas. I found a similar problem when it came to the class exercise on translation, where you were given several translations of the same text (for us, Metamorphosis) and we had to write a commentary on how they differed. For both of these assessments you get tute time to work on it, then you write it up at home.

Like I said, the essay was either on Hamlet or the ballads in the unit reader. There's a fair few topics to choose from, but I found this essay a bit of a bitch to write, but it's probably because all of my arts essays except for this are more, um, 'science-based'. If you treat it as if you would an English essay in high school but with citations you'll probably be fine.

Moodle quiz was piss easy, you can have the quiz and the moodle resource open at the same time, so it's more a test of how well you can proofread and find information, but it does teach you how to reference and use the library if you do not already know how to do so.

Take this unit if you really care about literature. Don't do this unit thinking it's a bludge: it isn't. I took this unit only because I need a first year Arts sequence . In hindsight, not the best idea. Oops.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: xZero on June 22, 2014, 09:33:39 pm
Subject Code/Name: ASP3051 - Relativity and cosmology

Workload: 
- 3 x 1 hour lectures
- 1 hour tutorial class

Assessment:
- Examination (3 hours): 70%
- Laboratory work and reports: 30%

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 3 exams with solutions provided

Textbook Recommendation:  Officially 2 recommended textbooks, personally I recommend none of them, lecture notes will suffice

Lecturer(s): Dr Duncan Galloway

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating: 3 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 70 D

Comments:
Quite possibly the most enjoyable unit (relativity part mainly) I've done in astrophysics major. There are 2 lab sheet throughout the semester and rather than asking you to code all these pointless programs, it actually help you understand special relativity and black hole. The work load required is quite good, with 2 short assignments which only takes about 2 hrs to complete each. However this unit does require you to fully understand all the derivations, they will ask you to proof k-calculus or relativistic velocity in the mid semester test, all applications should be fairly simple, mostly just have to understand the situation and plug in values. Relativity and black hole are just as interesting as it sounds, they actually teach you some mind bending facts and back it up with some maths!

Despite all these, why did I rate it 3/5? Because the second part of this course, cosmology. I shit you not you have to memorise every single derivation, but wait we have to do that for relativity done we? Here's the difference, relativity proofs actually make sense, if you draw some diagram everything actually make sense, it doesn't require rote learning. As long as you vaguely remember the graph, you can derive most of things they ask you in test/exam. Cosmology is different, first of all half of the algebra steps were wrong, although the end results were correct. They do not give any reason for any algebraic step (trust me I've been doing math for the past 4 years and I can't follow most of the steps), which means that all derivations must be learnt through rote learning. If this doesn't scare you enough, the only question in exam about cosmology is basically asking you to replicate the entire cosmology lecture notes, glhf.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: xZero on June 22, 2014, 10:04:43 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3360 - Fluid dynamics

Workload: 
- 3 x 1 hour lectures
- 1.5 hours tutorial class

Assessment:
-Examination (3 hours): 60%
-Assignments: 20%
-Tests: 20%

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 5 past exams with 2 mock exams. All comes with solution

Textbook Recommendation: None, you can buy the bounded lecture notes for $10, buy it! It's worth it!

Lecturer(s): Dr Anja Slim and Dr Rosemary Mardling

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 78 D

Comments:
Overall an enjoyable unit, since I've done aerodynamics I and II I don't think my comment on the difficulty of this unit will be accurate. With that said I'd give this unit a 7/10 in difficulty. This unit is separated into two sections, compressible and incompressible flow. The first section was quite easy, it's mostly algebra manipulation and some vector calculus stuff. For people who has done aerodynamics, the only thing that's new would be tensor calculus, which is not overly difficult but can get quite confusing the first few times you play with it. Once you find the trick it becomes free mark in exam. I can't comment too much on the lecture since I haven't been but the lecture notes were top notch. The typed notes were short, concise and to top it off, the hand written worked examples were actually readable! There will be a revision test on week 2 for vector calculus (not too difficult, just have to memorise Stoke's theorem) and a mid semester test later on, which is also not too bad if you went through the tutorial solutions.

The second part was almost entirely application, you'll actually learn some interesting flow but the amount of estimation here was on a similar level to astrophysics units (which has been bugging me to no end). This section involves dynamic similarity, similarity equation, exact solution to 1 dimensional flow, perturbation, stokes flow, Reynolds number and a slight touch on boundary layer. If you think this is a lot of content, well that's because it is, you'll have enough time to learn all these but it might be better to rote learn some of them. The assignment was really challenging, frustrating but personally I really enjoyed it. The exam will take the whole 3 hours to complete and part II will give you a lot of headache, just a heads up.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Reckoner on June 24, 2014, 10:20:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2440 - Mathematics for Economics and Business

Workload: 
Two 1-hour lectures and one 2-hour tutorial/comp lab

Assessment:
Assignments: 2 x 20%
Exam: 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available: 
Yes, about 6 but with no solutions. Tutors were instructed to not hand out any solutions to them either.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Alpha C. Chiang and Kevin Wainwright (2005), Fundamental Methods of Mathematical
Economics, 4th edition, McGraw-Hill.

Meant to be a pretty good textbook from what I've heard (didn't have it myself). But it is NOT necessary for this unit (depite being prescribed) unless you want to look into what you learn much deeper.

Lecturer(s):
Ralph Snyder (Part 1 - Linear Algebra): Lectures move pretty slowly, and can be hard to pay attention too because his voice is pretty monotonous. However, if you don't have the textbook, it is wort hat least watching the lectures online. The lecture slides that are provided are pretty hard to follow by themselves. So if you don't know much about the maths, looking at the lecture slides with no background of the material (whether it be from the lectures, previous units, youtube etc.) can be a struggle at first.

John Stapleton (Part 2 -Calculus): Fantastic Lecturer (saved the unit for me). Lectures were engaging. Lecture slides were thorough, fairly rigorous and could be treated as a resource by themselves unlike with Ralph's. He does cover a lot of material each lecture though.   

Year & Semester of completion:
2014 Semester 1

Rating:
2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:
HD

Comments:
Part 1 of the course is linear algebra (taught by Ralph), with the main topics of:

Part 2 of the course is taught by John and covers:


Not my favourite unit tbh. The topics are pretty rushed, as this unit is effectively the buseco equivalent of MTH2010 and MTH2032. If you have a passion for maths, I’d say you’d be better off doing MTH2010 and MTH2032. John’s part of the course is very solid though, just a lot crammed in. Ralphs isn’t as formal with definitions, and it can be a tricky to find what you actually need to know at stages, especially in Ralphs part of the course. if you haven’t touched maths before, this can make the unit pretty tough. Its hard to gauge how much detail you need to go into (especially for Ralphs part), so you can understand something sufficiently, but not know that you do. Which can make things a bit stressful
 
Tutes for part 1 of the course incorporate matlab. However you don’t really learn how to use matlab. You use it as nothing more than a calculator for inverses, schurr decompositions, eigenvalues etc. You also just work through that week’s questions. Not all that helpful, and the answers get uploaded at the end of the week. In John’s part of the course you no longer use matlab, the tutor just goes of the solutions. Solutions are not handed out for John’s tutes though, so better show up. 

The assignments were very time consuming compared to other buseco ones I'd done, especially if this is the first “maths” unit that you’re doing at uni.  Just stick to the definitions and methods in the lecture slides. Also the internet can be helpful.

The exam was surprisingly easy compared to the assignments and tute questions I found. There are 2 questions from each part of the course, but you only have to answer 3 out of the 4. If you can handle the past exams then you can handle this exam. Although the course has changed a tiny bit year to year, so not all topics you cover have past exam questions. But if they aren't in the past exams, there's a high chance that something similar to the assignments will be there. You also don’t get given solutions to the past exams.

Do I recommend it? In most cases no. If it were only John’s topics I would, but the linear algebra isn’t too interesting. Also, if you’re really interested in maths, probably best to do actual maths units. And if you don’t like maths, well don’t do any maths. However if you’re looking at higher level economics, econometrics, finance, actuarial studies or financial maths; and don’t have enough units left in your degree to do MTH1030 and MTH2010 (or aren’t the greatest at maths, it’s a bit easier than MTH units!) then I would say it’s worthwhile.

In short, if you have this deep burning passion for maths then perhaps look elsewhere, as its pretty diluted. If you're a com/eng or com/sci (maths major) then you would have covered the material already. If you hate maths stay away. But if you fall in the middle and feel like developing your maths skills then yes, give it a go. Just be prepared to be confused at numerous stages, as its not easy.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on June 25, 2014, 09:22:05 pm
Subject Code/Name: DEV2011 - Early Human Development from Cells to Tissues

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Not at all, and no sample/practice exams either.

Textbook Recommendation: Human Embryology and Developmental Biology, Carlson 2009 (4th Edition). You don't explicitly need it, but it's a fantastic textbook for developmental biology and a great source of info for course material (it's particularly helpful for the Cell Profile Report).

Other recommended readings (don't buy these, but peruse them in the library as needed if you don't already own a copy):

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:

Overview
I opted to enrol in DEV2011 at the last possible second after changing my mind about taking IMM2011 (well, technically after the last possible second, I had to email Julia Young to enrol :-X), and it was easily the best decision I made this semester. Although I really, really didn't enjoy any of the Animal Development stuff in BIO1011 and 1022 (which is required for DEV units) - I was extremely pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this unit, so much so that I've decided to switch my GEN/PHY major to GEN/DEV. All the teaching staff were fantastic, and the assessments were pretty much all interesting and engaging. The only complaint - and I'll elaborate on this a bit more later - is to do with the mark breakdown of the unit (so pretty minor stuff).

Lecture Series
As noted above, I really enjoyed the course material. The first week is just an intro to developmental biology and a basic overview of cell biology (organelle function etc. etc.), but it picks up in terms of interest quickly. Each week comprises 3 lectures on a specific 'sub-topic':

Admittedly I didn't attend several lectures, but the ones that I went to were exceptional in terms of delivery and interesting content (also not having 8am lectures is a big plus :P).

Labs
The lab-based component of DEV2011 is kind of different to other second-year life science units in that you don't do very much actual 'lab stuff' in the traditional sense. Only ~1-2 weeks are spent doing that sort of thing, where you extract and stain a sample of your own buccal epithelial cells in different ways for imaging under light and confocal microscopes, which was pretty cool. Also, the first hour of your 'lab' session is spent in a small tute-group (in a designated tute room), in which you'll go through lecture-review questions (kinda like unassessed pre-labs) and a developmental biology case study. The tutors in general were all really helpful and friendly, and they all work, study or do research in a field of developmental biology so they know their stuff!

Also, not all labs are compulsory/assessed; only weeks where you have to complete a lab report (which is essentially a basic worksheet worth 2% each of your semester mark) require you to be there if you want the marks. This semester, these were weeks 2, 3, 5, 8 and 10 + 1 week where you had the MST during your lab session.

Most of the other labs were taken up by imaging for your cell profile report, which I'll talk about in a bit.

Assessment
Generally the assessment was fair, well-constructed and well thought out. Aside from lab reports and the MST, you also have 2 online timed 'exams' on Moodle worth 5%; these are pretty easy so if you know your lecture materials you won't have any trouble at all.

The 'major' in-semester assessment task for DEV2011 is the cell profile report, which is a long journal article-style paper that you write on a specific cell type, looking at the developmental aspects of that cell as well as writing a 'discussion topic' (which can be anything so long as it's related to that cell type). You also need to take microscopic images of your cell type and associated tissues from a specific slide of a mouse/rat embryo provided to you (you have an opportunity to do this most weeks, but you really should only need 1 or 2 sessions to get everything you need). My cell type was the lymphocyte - kinda ironic given that I dropped immunology for developmental biology - and my discussion topic was “The role of lymphocytes and the immune system in contemporary regenerative medicine.” Although I was pretty heavily pressed for time in writing this report (because second year biomed is relentless), it was a pleasure to write this report because you're given a good deal of freedom in doing so. However, as you are reminded several times throughout the semester, 'you're not alone' and you should approach the academic staff for help if you need assistance/advice etc.

However, the cell profile report brings me to what is basically my only gripe with this unit - the fact that it is worth only 10% of the semester grade. Hopefully this will be changed in later years, but this is a long assessment task and the effort and time required to complete it to a high standard is worth well over 10% of your semester mark. I've put this in my SETU survey, but the end-of-semester exam doesn't need to be worth 60% for what it is, and some of that allocation should be put towards the report (I personally believe it should be work 20-25% at least).

Exam
I don't have much to say about the exam other than that it's not particularly difficult, even though it's definitely harder and tests way more material than any of the in-semester assessment. It is comprised of 90 MCQs, and the fact that you're given 3 hours to complete it in is extremely generous (i.e. I was able to go over my responses 3 or so times in full, mainly because leaving early meant that I had to go outside - and it was fucking freezing outside that day haha).

A word of advice for the exam is to make sure that you can do (and already HAVE done during the semester) the lecture-review questions for each week. Although the lecture-review questions aren't MCQs, they test the generally the same material that is on the exam, and being able to do these questions without issue means that you won't have much trouble with the exam proper.

Concluding statements
In summary, this was an absolutely brilliant unit, and I'm greatly looking forward to taking DEV2022 and later DEV units further into my degree. The unit was exceptionally organised and executed, and the material was a pleasure to learn, especially given its relevance to my biomed studies (NB to biomed students, if you're doing Biomed/Sci look to do DEV2011 in the same semester as BMS2011, it really helps with the embryological component of BMS2011) and the fact that it had a really interesting clinical skew, especially in the areas that dealt with developmental defects. I'm not entirely sure if DEV2011 is a prerequisite for postgrad medicine for BSc students -  I think it is because it fulfils the anatomy prerequisite for Monash postgrad MBBS and UoM MD - but it's a unit worth taking nonetheless.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: brenden on June 25, 2014, 10:12:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2640 - The Ethics of Global Conflict

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yep, with slides shown.

Past exams available:  No, but unnecessary.

Textbook Recommendation:

The unit reader is highly recommended. To be honest, you don't need it for the article analyses, but they would be difficult to do without a grasp of the content. Even for the essay + exam, you could feasibly find the journal articles on a database. So, whilst not technically necessary in the literal sense of the word, I would really, really get it.

Just and Unjust Wars would be an excellent secondary source for an essay, but it's completely unnecessary. I should score an HD for the unit and didn't use it all semester.

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating:  4.23 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments: Firstly, the unit is very coordinated quite well. It's the first time Bob has ran the subject and to my understanding it has undergone some structural changes which I'm going to assume were positive ones, as I thought the structure of the unit was very well thought out. The first nine weeks are on 'Just War Theory', and the last three weeks examine a possible addition to JWT, and two criticisms or, more appropriately, 'alternatives' to JWT. Bob is also a habitual email checker (or at least, he's responded to me quite quickly whenever I've contacted him). He's also really receptive to feedback about the unit. He made a strange decision with regards to the assessment that I spoke to him about for a good 20-25 minutes and afterwards he said he'd change things around, which I find to be pretty awesome.

Bob as a lecturer is also fantastic. Not that it ever mattered to me, but he's insanely fast at uploading the lecture slides after a lecture - like, I think it's the very first thing he does after a lecture. He also has a really awesome way of presenting the material. He couldn't make you understand it more if he shot you with bullets full of understanding. He's not over the top humorous or extravagant or particularly "quirky" in the ways that might make for a "good" lecturer. Rather, he gets down to the juicy bits of the material and delivers in a really genuine, relatable way. He actually does have an awesome sense of humour though, people just don't seem to laugh. I think they don't laugh out of respect or not wanting to interrupt or something, or they're just too silly to see the subtle jokes, but I personally pmsl every lecture I attend haha.

Ron G was my tutor. A man certainly not to be underestimated. To be honest, he seems a bit loose in the head for the first tutorial because of his eccentricities but the man is crazy smart. He's actually got a PhD in Lit, and another one in Philosophy, so never make the mistake of thinking he won't pick up on a dodgy you're trying to pull on an assignment. He sees all the dodgies. Really nice guy, great tutor, fair marker, fiercely rational fellow.

The exams is really easy. I think Bob constructs "easy" exams because it makes more pedagogical sense. Just the last three weeks are examinable, and the exam is three short-answer questions in two hours (average of 300 words each, although they're weighted differently). Bob also gave 5 revision questions for each topic which served for excellent night-before revision.

I feel like the article analyses could have been more specifically targeted in the content (re: basic comprehension questions). Probably a bit boring but I actually feel like these type of assignments really cement the material in my head, whereas you can get away with a 'theoretical' understanding of the course without a hyper-detailed knowledge of its nuances when doing the article analyses. That said, they were actually really interesting/different assignments (and a tiny bit of extra reading, supplied by Bob). There was also a weird feature which meant that our second analysis was handed in before he got our marks for the first one. This is what I spoke to Bob about and what he agreed to change (despite having good reasons for having it the way it was). This paragraph is essentially the only real "issues" I have with the unit.

Call me psycho, but another 30 or 60 minutes of lectures with Bob would also be great -- not that he ever needed to skip anything, but sometimes more time just really cements things.

Oh yeah, and, some of the readings are fucking enormous.

Overall, really well designed, well taught unit. I would recommend enrolling in the third year unit code on moodle as there is virtually no difference - you just need to use an external source for your essay in third year (used one in second year anyway). It can also credit a whole range of AoS, Phi, Politics, etc etc. Would recommend this unit.

P.S: an awesome quote from Bob...

"Under standard Just War Theory, that's true, even if what the war gives way to is some sort of disasterous... umm... I keep wanting to use the word cluster-eff, because that just seems to be the word that comes to my lips when I talk about Libya, but I'll refrain from using that because it is a little bit gratuitously rude."
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: brenden on June 26, 2014, 08:04:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2839 - Ethics

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yep, with slides shown.

Past exams available:  No, but unnecessary.

Textbook Recommendation:

The unit reader and study guide are both necessary for high marks. The study guide is like "the explanation" and the reader is the collection of chapters/articles that make up the course content. Would keep up to date with the readings for both because the exam tests every week and it's just horrible to cram (I weep at the not so distant memories). Those two are all that's necessary.

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating:  3.33 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments: The exam is the major assessment of the unit but it's crazy easy. Before the exam you get given five short-answer questions, of which three will appear on the exam, of which you will have to answer two. The exam has a multi-choice section which is worth 20%, and the short-answer is also worth 20%, but you get the short-answer gifted to you. You also get a "sample" multi-choice exam with twelve questions, even though there is twenty five questions on the actual exam. Of those twelve questions, nine of them appeared on my exam (luckily I had the good sense to look at the answers once or twice before entering the exam room - saved me a shitload of time). The other multi-choice questions can be kinda like "wut". This is why I say keep up with the readings because if you're unsure, the multi-choice are like "dafuq" whereas when you're sure they're impossible to get wrong. Unless you're me, in which case you find out on the train from a friend that you answered a question incorrectly after correcting him on the same question the day before. Just... how?

Paul's lecturing is good. Some people found him monotonous but they're silly. We had a pretty small lecture hall/room on level four of the Menzies - this actually sucked but yolo - and so it restricted his ability to move around. He basically couldn't even if he wanted to, which meant the lectures consisted of him at the podium thing talking. His lecture slides were humorous but consisted of Star Wars jokes and things of the like which is why I think some people were bored by lectures whist I was pmsl. He also uses really funny examples/phrases despite not being overly vocally animated. I digress a bit - basically, he's a good, solid lecturer, but not as good as Toby or Bob (my two favourites if you read my other reviews lol).

The content is almost entirely based around the "big three" normative theories; consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics. Amongst those, you touch on egoism, Hume (excellent). Honestly, if you weren't really interested in morality/ethics, you're probably going to find this content a bit dry :P. I love Philosophy and there were moments of this semester where my enthusiasm waned slightly (that said, it was a "low on enthusiasm" type of semester. Due to the nature of the unit - covering many topics etc., it can seem like less of smooth progression that some other units, like a bit "jumpy" but really, I don't think there's many ways around this except for have an extra lecture a week which is probably a bit unnecessary.

The assignments are pretty stock standard. Questions on the readings, basic comprehension, standard comprehension/argument essay. I had Ros as a tutor who I thought marked generously. Ros is a good tutor, but our tute this semester had a very difficult dynamic, so it wasn't the most effective hour of my week - hard to fully evaluate Ros because of that but I did like her.

It'd probably be an easy grade if someone put the work in, but I probably wouldn't recommend this to someone who is just lazily thinking of taking a Philo unit or something like that. It'd be a horrible time to realise that you didn't like normative ethics or something like that. I'd recommend it to someone who's interested in the field and wants to go a bit deeper than Life, Death, Morality. Also expect the content to be a little bit more difficult that previous Phil units. Hume, Kant, and the Frege-Geache problem gave many people a lot of trouble so expect to be challenged in parts.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: |ll|lll| on June 26, 2014, 11:20:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC3140 – Advanced Corporate Finance

Workload: 2 hour lecs + 1 hour tute per week

Assessment: 25% Mid-sem test; 75% exam

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: Yes, 5 exams available with solutions (but...)

Textbook Recommendation: Corporate Finance 2E by Berk, DeMarzo (Prescribed)

Lecturer(s): Phil G

Year & Semester of completion: S1, 2014

Rating: out of 5

Comments: This unit is a notch harder than Corp Fi, but I recommend doing them consecutively as it builds upon it. The unit covers IPOs (Phil loves this), CAPM, Options, Optimal Capital Structure, International Finance, M&A and Corporate Governance. As you can see, a broad range of topics under corporate finance taught but there’s insufficient time to delve into details. You spend a week on international finance/forex and a week on M&A which is a bit of a shame as one could probably learn more about valuation and LBO models.

Also recommend doing Equities (2240) and Options (3340) alongside this unit if you can since there will be a decent amount of overlap.
This is a core finance unit so it’s compulsory. If you like 2140, you will probably enjoy this unit although it requires a greater level of maturity and knowledge of finance since you’ll be introduced to many new concepts (as opposed to learning a single in-depth concept).

Tutes were helpful so turn up if possible. The harder part of the course is at the start so make sure you gain a deep understanding of it for the mid-sem. The mid-sem questions were way tougher than the tutes; C.E said that the fail rate was so high that he didn’t even want to mention it.

I recommend getting the text as it helps with understanding and there are small nifty things that you need to pick up to do well. Tute questions are from the text but they are also available on Moodle.

tl;dr This unit is not easy, but it’s the easiest out of all 3rd-year units. Do it the semester after 2140 if possible, but do it alongside 2240/3340 if you can.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rohmer on June 27, 2014, 02:57:10 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW 5144 - Media Law 1

Workload:  3hrs lectures per week

Assessment:  Either 30% Optional Assignment, 70% Exam OR 100% Exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Nope.

Past exams available:  Three past exams, most questions are still relevant.

Textbook Recommendation:  There are no prescribed textbooks, although Australian Media Law by Butler & Rodrick (2012) is highly recommended (several other books are 'recommended' - not sure how useful they are). Although the 4th Ed. is now a little out of date as it doesn't cover a few recent pieces of legislation, e.g. the Open Courts Act 2013, it's quite a useful textbook for the unit. It was written by the lecturer/co-ordinator (Sharon Rodrick) and she follows it fairly closely in most lectures...you could probably get away without buying it though, as it's in the library, though that's provided you go to the lectures and get your notes mainly from there (as above, lectures weren't recorded).

Lecturer(s): Sharon Rodrick

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014. Note: This unit is an elective and only runs every 2nd year.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments: Have you ever wondered about the answers to questions such as:

- Why did everyone in Vic. have to wait so long for Underbelly s1 to be released?
- How come the news often leaves out certain details in reporting crimes & court cases?
- Why does Derryn Hinch keep getting charged with contempt of court?
- What's up with that blurb 'spoken by bla bla bla' at the end of every government ad on TV?
- Could I, if so inclined, sell pornography in the state of Victoria?
- Why and how do some films/books/games get Rated, & what is it that leads Australia/States to banning some of them?
- What's up with this whole 'Racial Discrimination Act' reform thing that Brandis is talking about?*

If so, then Media Law 1 may be the unit for you! Media Law 1 is a pretty broad unit. It doesn't cover an area of law per se (e.g. Contract law or Property law or any number of core/elective law units), but rather, it tries to cover all the legal issues that may affect 'The Media'. As it turns out, this is quite a range of stuff across a few areas of law. There are quite a lot of relevant pieces of legislation at State and Vic levels, but there's also a reasonable number of common law decisions, especially for the section on Contempt of Court, which covers about 1/3 of the course. A general overview of the semester:

The first five weeks are split between Open Justice and Contempt of Court. OJ is pretty much all about courts being open & how and in what circumstances they conceal information and prevent it from being published. There are a few interesting cases here (Mokbel, Underbelly etc.) but there's also a bit of legislation to work through at Cth and State levels. The principles themselves aren't very conceptually difficult though (Cf. some units like Property B or Equity in which things aren't always so intuitive). One of the main challenges of this unit is really just working through all the provisions to determine their effect. This unit has quite a lot of content, though I understand that's pretty common for the elective subjects which are often rather broad and include a bit more policy. At the time of writing I haven't done any other electives though, so I don't have much to compare it to in terms of difficulty. I get the feeling it isn't one of the harder electives, although if you're gonna attempt it in say 2nd year, you might find that there's quite a bit more content than core units like contract, crim, torts etc.

Anyway, contempt of court is the second topic, and a pretty important one (basically always appears on the exam). There are quite a range of situations where the media can get into trouble for publishing/broadcasting material in terms of: interference with juries, witnesses, parties, judges etc. - a constant test you'll be using here is whether there's a tendency for interference with the administration of justice. Aside from that, you've mainly just got quite a bit of case law, although most decisions are summarised in the book and aren't hard to read as far as cases in law units go.

Then there's briefly some coverage of journalists and their sources + Juries & reporting. This is mostly governed by legislation and it's reasonably straightforward. The Media and Parliament is next, which again involves some more legislation, e.g. on the reporting of elections, and parliamentary broadcasts & identification requirements. It also emerges that Parliament itself has contempt powers, which it pretty much never bothers to use.

Lastly, and perhaps the most interesting topic, is Offensive publications. There are three weeks on this. The first covers obscene libel, which is probably still an offence, but who knows. Mainly though, it's about classifications: how are books, films, computer games etc. classified in Australia. Here you'll learn the reasoning behind the decisions for ratings (e.g. Why a certain film was banned/rated, and how this can be challenged). There are only a couple of cases on this, but the federal court's assessment of the review of a porn video in the Adultshop.com case makes for an interesting read.

Onto blasphemy and religious vilification and there's more controversy. Firstly, over whether the offence of blasphemy actually exists in Australia (there is a bit of a trend in this unit of their not being sufficient case law on certain areas). The main case in this area is the Pell case (George Pell tried to get an injunction against this artwork called 'Piss Christ' and it didn't work out in the end, but I digress...). That case also covers Vic's religious vilification laws, which extend on to the 3rd week of the topic because...

The race laws in the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act are pretty much the same as the religious ones (substitute religious beliefs for race). But, there's also the Racial Discrimination Act and the controversial Bolt case. Lastly there's a bit of policy on that and whether the new amendments are any good. Actually, there's quite a bit of policy in this area and on most topics.

Which brings me to the exam: 3h writing and 30mins reading, whether you did the assignment or not (I didn't, not sure what it was about). It's usually 5-7 questions with some policy in there. This year, out of 100 marks, there was one compulsory 15m policy question, plus another choice between two policy questions or a hypothetical for 20 marks. Overall, quite a fair exam that usually indicates the topics, e.g. 'is there a contempt', 'can X protect the identity of the source' and such. Although, as per pretty much every law exam, you'll still be very pushed for time.

Overall: A good unit, covers a number of interesting topics. Possible downside of some legislation that's a bit procedural and not always exciting, but good on the whole. Sharon's lectures are quite good and worth going to, although it is possible to rely on the book. I'd advise attending going the last lecture though, as a hint was given as to the RDA being a likely policy Q on the exam - which it was.

*(1) Concerns about prejudice over proceedings in the gangland trials; (2) Suppression orders; (3) Cause he keeps making prejudicial statements in paedophilia/sex abuse cases; (4) Identification requirements exist on political matter to prevent that kind of deception in politics; (5) Technically legally no, but the police don't really enforce it...wouldn't advise it though; (6) It's all in the Classification Act '95, the Guidelines for classifying and the Code of Classification...which the Classification Board then makes a call on; (7) Andrew Bolt was forced to apologise following a case brought under the RDA, an act which arguably restricts freedom of speech in the name of vilification...it has some exceptions for public interest and fair comment but he got his facts wrong and didn't do it 'in good faith' acc. to the Court so he got busted.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on June 28, 2014, 09:54:25 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2011 - Structure of the Human Body: An Evolutionary and Functional Perspective

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: No, but Colin uploaded many practice questions to our Facebook group which ended up being a massive, massive help (I'll talk about this more later).

Textbook Recommendation: As with any anatomy course there is a veritable bevy of potential textbooks out there for you to peruse. However, I'd personally recommend:
And depending on what you choose to do your group project on, you might like to look through various, more specific, textbooks. I found Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain by Bear, Connors and Paradiso extremely helpful for my CNS-related project (students who have done BMS1052 might already have a copy of this).

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1, 2014

Rating: 4.25 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:

Overview
This is a great unit, really spectacularly well-organised and executed. I admit I had a bit of a love/hate relationship with it throughout the semester, predominantly because it's immense in terms of content. Ostensibly, this is an anatomy unit, but it's also bolstered by the fact that you're not only looking at human anatomy, or anatomy solely through a clinical viewpoint; instead, this unit aims to provide a well-rounded anatomical understanding that incorporates both human anatomy as well as embryological, palaeontological and zoological anatomy and how they compare. As such, instead of devoting the whole course to clinical stuff, you look at evolutionary and environmental aspects as well. This is a really well-rounded course, but it eats up a massive amount of time and requires a good deal of effort and organisation to do well throughout the semester.

Lecture Series
Lectures are all brilliant, engaging and entertaining. Aside from the content being pretty much ubiquitously interesting, the lecturers are all engaging, funny and really passionate about anatomy. My personal favourites were Prof Norm Eizenberg and Dr Colin McHenry, who were both absolutely fantastic lecturers.

The lecture series was as follow:

It should be noted that although the lectures are very entertaining and interactive, they are absolutely packed with content, all of which is assessable unless the lecturer says otherwise. I found it helpful to not write any notes during the lectures so I could focus as much as possible on what the lecturer was actually saying, but everyone has a different strategy.

Masterclasses
Colin decided to do something different this year, which was the implementation of four interactive anatomical Masterclasses tying together key concepts throughout the semester. These sessions, which took place in the 2-hour lecture slot, were great fun and really helpful in preventing the course from becoming an exercise in memorisation. The Masterclasses were essentially an 'open lecture', where there would be some presenting by lecturers but a lot of back-and-forth discussion between them and students.

The Masterclasses were as follows:

As with lectures, material in these is examinable but the extent of this might vary between semesters (i.e. MC1 material was present on our MST and MC2 was listed as directly examinable for our end-of-semester exam, but MCs 3+4 weren't, although the related lecture theory was present).

Practicals
The practicals were really different to anything I've ever done before at uni. Basically, each prac session was divided into 3 parts: 1) Specimen sketching, 2) Tutorial room exercises (either a specific content-driven tutorial or a practice exam question session) and 3) "Other" exercises, which varied week to week but included group project discussion and coordination, functional anatomy tutorials, anatomical body painting, anatomical plasticine modelling and a biomedical imaging tutorial. Everything you do in a lab needs to be recorded in your 'lab journal', a major assessment task where you do all your anatomical sketching and record all tute activities and discussion. This lab journal is worth 25% of your semester mark, and to do well you are going to have to devote a large amount of time during the semester working on your lab journal (e.g. there is no way you will be able to get your anatomical sketches completely done during class time unless you are some artistic savant).

All in all, the pracs were fun and I had a brilliant tutor (Zhou, who was about to take his medical Registrar exams). The tute groups are pretty small which aids discussion, and that's a pretty important factor (imo) in understanding the material properly.

Other Assessments
The only other assessment task, aside from the 2 exams and the lab journal, was the 15% group project. Along with 2 or 3 other people, you choose a topic, develop a proper working title, then research that topic using medical (or otherwise academic) literature. Although this is called an "oral presentation", you don't actually do any first-hand presentation. Instead, you record your presented material by voice onto the powerpoint presentation that you'd ordinarily present alongside a standard presentation. I can't say I was or am a fan of this system - predominantly because it was prone to technical difficulties (especially given the advent of ~30 groups attempting to each upload ~90mb files to Moodle at approximately the same time) - but in truth it's fairly easy to organise, coordinate, delegate and get very high marks.

Make sure you and your group sorts out the organisational stuff early, because it's rather hard to 'whip' people into submitting by deadlines over a computer! Luckily my group was extremely helpful and we worked well together to get everything done on time (huzzah!).

Exams
Both the MST and the end-of-semester exam were worth 30%; I - and I think many other people - found the MST to be much, much harder than the end-of-semester exam. As with any other anatomy subject anywhere, there is a degree of memorisation required but this course was superbly constructed in that it actively aimed to minimise the rote learning required, and taught anatomy with a more integrated focus than purely focusing on the clinical and rote side of things (take that MEDxxxx students, our anatomy course is better :P). In reality for both exams, the only true memorisation was that of the 12 cranial nerves, which are easily recalled by mnemonic:

Here's a standard mnemonic
On Old Olympus's Towering Top, A Fat Vested German Viewed A Ham

(Olfactory, Optic, Occulomotor, Trochlear, Trigeminal, Abducens, Facial, Vestibulocochlear, Glossopharyngeal, Accessory, Hypoglossal)
and...
A slightly more adult one...
Oh Oh Oh To Touch And Feel Virgin Girls' Vaginas And Hymens ;)

The format of the exams was quite novel for what I've had in university thus far; the format was kind of similar to that of a VCE biology or chemistry exam, whereby there were several (40 if I recall correctly) MCQs and then a few SA questions, some of which were picture-based. In short, the MST was a pain (not entirely sure why, but possibly because many of us simply didn't have much time to study during the semester), but the end-of-semester exam was rather (dare I say it) fun.

Concluding Statements
In summary, this is a great - if extremely heavy - unit. It's far more than a memorisation-based course because it aims to examine comparative anatomy as well as clinical aspects, and provided us with a well-rounded anatomical understanding from various anatomy-related areas and viewpoints. The teaching staff are easily among the best I've ever had at uni so far, main;y because of how directly and closely involved they were in teaching and learning during the semester. For example, Dr McHenry was extremely regularly present on the Year 2 Biomed Facebook group, where he frequently helped people out with difficult concepts (and come end of semester he essentially gave us a practice exam by parts in several posts in the group haha!).

The complaints I have about this unit are few and far between, but they're present; the lab journal task takes up many hours of work both in and out of class hours per week and should be worth far more than 25%, and the requirement to give an oral presentation through a powerpoint rather than alongside a powerpoint was a bit strange and more than a little bit inconvenient.

All in all, this is a fantastic unit and really helps you develop a passion for anatomy and a great basis for further anatomical study.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: m.Chemia on June 30, 2014, 01:09:12 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3011 - Partial Differential Equations

Workload: 
Assessment: 
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, two. One with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  There is no formal prescribed or recommended textbooks. A list of textbooks on PDEs suitable for this level is included in the unit guide and it is mentioned that Partial Differential Equations: An Introduction by W.A. Strauss is the closest to the unit content. I never really used it though.

Lecturer(s):  Associate Professor Michael Page

Year & Semester of completion:  2014, Semester 1

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:  TBA

Comments:  First of all, although this unit can count to both Applied Maths major and Pure Maths major, this is totally an Applied Maths unit. I was expecting this unit to cover more pure/theoretical side of PDEs but nonetheless this is an amazing unit.

Topics covered include:

We have covered different classes of PDEs and various methods to solve them both analytically and numerically. In fact, it might be a good thing or bad thing depending on what you think but almost half of the unit is on numerical methods, including accuracies, stablities etc. (It has a slight overlap with MTH3051 Introduction to Computational Mathematics.) PDEs are extremely important in Science and Engineering (a majority  of student is doing Sci/Eng degree), and is a prerequisite for most of the honours subjects as well as honours research projects in Applied/Computational Maths, so you really have to do this unit if you ever want to study Applied Maths at a higher level.

Michael is definitely the best lecturer I have ever had so far. (Completely irrelevant but he is a lot like my Specialist teacher.) As there is no typed lecture notes ready on Moodle, it is quite essential to copy down the notes he writes in lecture. (He writes a lot and he write really fast so you might want to copy the notes after lecture otherwise you'll miss what he says. They will be uploaded on Moodle after each lecture.) All the notes are super clear, and what impresses me is that all the notes he writes in lectures are in full sentences! One down side (probably won't happen again) is that Michael takes his time to go through each topics slowly in the first half of the semester (We spent more than 2 lectures just to work on examples of the advection equation), so towards the end, we are obviously behind the schedule by like a week so he is rushing at a bit, for some topics I feel like not enough discussion or examples are given. All the topics in schedule are covered though.

As for the assessments, out of the 11 tutorials, 7 involves a quiz and 3 involve a computer lab exercise (each worth 0.5%). The weekly quizzes are practically free marks. You only have 10 minutes for each quiz but the questions are very easy. If you read your notes after lecture at all you should be able to get full mark or close to full mark for those. As for the computer labs, 1 is on numerical solution of ODEs and the other 2 are on PDEs. We can choose to use either Excel or Matlab to complete the exercise. For these computer lab exercises, we are given a semi-finished program, and we only need to follow the instruction and fill in relevant details. Sure, these are easy marks to get, but I personally find this quite stupid as we have lost the opportunity of actually coding for the numerical methods we have learned in the lectures.

A mid-semester test is held in week 7 during the lecture. It has the same style of questions as the weekly quizzes. It is worth 10% so it's quite important. But if you revise consistently and do all the exercise sheet questions, you should find the test pretty easy.

The problem is the assignments. There are two of them, each worth 7.5%. They are very long and most people find them really challenging. They are nothing like the exercise sheet questions, so make sure you spend time on them or maybe collaborates with your mates.

The final exam is actually doable. It's long, not surprisingly, but the questions are not hard, I actually find them really straight forward. But to do well, you need to have a good memory. Everything covered in lectures is examinable and everything is actually examined. So make sure you understand everything. Also the exam questions are quite similar to those of past years (more than half of the questions are exactly the same), so make sure you do those or at least look at the provided solutions.

Overall, great unit. You actually learn a lot in this unit if you like Applied Maths. Pure people might be disappointed though. The assessments are pretty fair and apparently the pass rate was 85% and 50% of students received a D or better. (These statistics are included in the 2005 exam solutions so is for 2005, but I don't think it would be that different from year to year) Definitely do this unit because no one doesn't like PDEs and Michael Page is awesome.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: EspoirTron on July 01, 2014, 03:58:29 pm
MTH1020 - Analysis of Change

Workload: 

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, two. One with solutions and one without.

Textbook Recommendation:  The recommended textbook was James Stewart's Calculus Early Transcendentals. This book is absolutely amazing. I recommend it to anyone who is serious about Maths, wants more rigorous definitions, looking to deepen their knowledge or is going to continue with Maths. If you're doing this unit because it is compulsory then there is no need for the textbook.  You can also purchase the MTH1020 lecture material from the book store and fill them out during lectures. Just to note: you can no longer bring the lecture materials into the exam, they won't really help that much anyway.

Lecturer(s): Dr Daniel Mathews, there are others but he will be the lecturer that takes you through the major chunk of the content.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014.

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Not available as of yet.

Comments: This unit is centered around students who have not completed Specialist Maths in VCE. It does go into a bit more depth than specialist and introduces students to proofs.

Topics covered include:

The course begins with a refreshment of Year 12 Methods, and in this time you'll cover topics which include basic functions and the four ways to represent functions. It is in the second week when you're introduced to new topics - inverse circular functions. For the most part this is fairly intuitive and is taught while you're learning about inverse functions so it is very fitting.

After establishing a solid understanding of functions you will move onto limits and derivatives. In this segment of the course you will learn about what limits are and how we can use them to find derivatives of functions. This is probably one of the most important parts of the course. I say this because if you wish to continue with Mathematics you must have a very good understanding of limits and be able to compute them almost effortlessly. When then moving onto differentiation the newly covered topics include implicit differentiation and logarithmic differentiation. These topics are not too much and they are definitely intuitive if you understand the chain rule - yet another important concept to grasp.

The next new thing you will cover is integration by substitution and trigonometric substitution. Everything after this in the course is completely new and would not have been covered in Methods. So after week 7 you should begin paying a lot of attention because this also forms a pertinent component of assignments and the exam. Differential equations, vectors and complex numbers are all manageable, but you have to be diligent because some people lost focus here and it really hurt them during SWOTVAC.

As for the assignments. Assignments will be due in weeks 3, 7 and 11. Each of these assignments have some application questions such as 'find the derivative of blah' and they also have proof questions such as 'is this true or false, justify'. The assignments are not too long and usually don't take longer than a few hours to complete. If you are serious about doing well in this unit then use these assignments so that you can get ~35% out of the possible 40%. They're not overly difficult and if you complete the tutorial sheets then these are quite doable.

As for the tutorials. You will have a tutorial once a week that goes for approximately two hours, although some people decided to walk out much earlier or not come at all. These tutorials were fun and interesting. There were times were clarification with the tutor was great, such as asking if you're methods were right, but overall everyone listened to music and the room was dead silent as everyone did the tutorial sheets. Admittedly I had excellent discussions with my tutor about Maths and he helped ascertain my knowledge while showing me how to improve and consolidate my methods. It's up to you if you want to go to tutorials. They can either be incredible beneficial if you are not understanding the lectures or they can just not be your cup of tea. I'll go on to why later. Each week you'll also get a problem set to work over which will cover everything in the past week's lectures. These sheets are really great to consolidate your knowledge and bolster your chances of doing well in the examination. All the questions are exam standard so don't just skip ones you can't do because you don't understand it. Do them. Get the help that you need because it will benefit you during the exam.

Now the lectures. Dr Mathews is hilarious and just a really down to earth lecturer. He definitely knows what he is talking about and the only mistake I ever saw him make was one arithmetic error. Overall the quality of his lectures were impeccable despite the content of the course getting incredibly dry at times. If you really want logical explanations on topics and an insight to the Mathematical jargon then I recommend that you go to his lectures. However, the lectures are really not necessary at all. They're only really necessary if you want to fill out your lecture materials, which can also be done at home. I went to a lot of my lectures simple because I enjoy Mathematics but I didn't really gain an incredible benefit from it. I'll also come back as to why this was the case.

Lastly, the exam. If you have done the problem sets and the past exams they give you, there is no reason why you cannot do well in this unit. The exam is very straight forward and the past exams give a good indication of what to expect. Time isn't really an issue in these exams and you should be able to comfortably finish within the three hours. Although I felt there was always one question that gets you stumped so that may push you for time. Nonetheless, the exam is the good way to secure a good score in this unit if you have been doing well in assignments. Please don't walk into this unit thinking that a HD is impossible because it is University Mathematics. Most students who applied themselves in this unit seemed to have done very well so it is definitely doable.

Now onto the points I said I would come back to. If you decide to buy the textbook because you're serious about Math then you are in for a treat. The book is absolutely amazing and I cannot speak highly enough of it. Everything you cover in lectures is in the textbook and with greater depth as well. Although, complex numbers don't get a big mention (they are mentioned in the appendix) so use the lecture notes for this part. The textbook starts from the most basic, intuitive ideas and builds you up into understanding the more intricate Mathematics occurring in the background. If you intend on doing MTH1030 and MTH2010 I would suggest this textbook. So how does this tie into the tutorials and lectures? Owning this textbook made going to lectures almost redundant and made tutorials  less useful. Firstly because the textbook gave me everything in much more detail, and secondly I had about 70 problems to work through for one concept. I went to lectures as a form of revision or 'pre-reading' really. The lectures ascertained the knowledge the textbook was already giving me. For example, the lecture materials have a about a page and a half  dedicated to trigonometric substitution and about three or four examples. Conversely the textbook has several pages, tips and tricks, and a multitude of problems to work though. Using the textbook also made tutorials not feel as important as they could have been since it gave more difficult questions, probably a bit beyond the scope of the course too. However, going to tutorials helped me with the little things which made them worthwhile going to and since there is only one per week it is worth it.

Now one question remains, why isn't this unit a 5/5? Well there is much that could be improved in this unit. The course is dominated by a lot of application (when I say this I mean solving equations etc. not real-world application problems) and not as many proofs which is disappointing. Throughout all the topics there are many proofs that could be shown but are skipped due to time constraints: textbook rectifies this with proofs about literally everything. Alas, more proofs would help students who are more keen to continue with Mathematics get a feel for the pure side and the applied side. Also the tutorials could definitely be more interesting. Sitting there for two hours quietly doing problems is something you could do at home and not have to come to uni for. It could probably be improved by some interesting real-world applications or actually using the textbook which has a plethora of these. As much as this course is exciting it has a dark shadow of boredom that lurks closely behind it. Much of the course is designed to set you up for future units but there are a minimal amount of 'real-life' applications which makes the content become monotonous at times because you feel like you're really just solving equations constantly.

Overall, I recommend this unit to anyone who wants to continue with Mathematics and has not completed Specialist Mathematics in Year 12. I also highly condone the textbook if you fall into the category of the former as it will allow you to get a very deep understanding.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: nerdgasm on July 02, 2014, 02:56:42 am
Subject Code/Name: CHM3911 - Advanced physical chemistry

Workload: 
3 x 1 hour lectures per week
1 x 4 hour labs per week (this goes for pretty much all weeks besides Weeks 1 and 12, at least in the semester I did it)
1 x 1 hour tutorial per week (optional).

Assessment: 
Practical work: 30% (consists of 9 Lab Reports)
Various assignments/tests throughout semester (total 30%), such as:
Three Molecular Symmetry assignments (total of 8%, later assignments worth more than earlier ones)
One-hour (midsem-ish) test on Molecular Symmetry (10%)
Introductory assignment on Computational Chemistry (3%)
Online test on Computational Chemistry (3%)
Molecular Spectroscopy assignment (6%)
Final exam: 40%
Note: Prac work is a HURDLE REQUIREMENT. You need at least 50% in pracs to pass the unit.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. From personal experience, on rare occasions, the video is somehow missing (you still get the audio). Most lectures will be captured accurately though.

Past exams available:  Yes, a couple posted on Moodle. The past exams database has some exams, but it appears this unit has undergone changes in the past, so not all of the material may be relevant. The ones on Moodle are relevant to the current course - the only thing to keep in mind is which parts of the course are being assessed on the final exam (more on this later). No solutions available.

Textbook Recommendation: As the course is reasonably diverse in terms of its content, there is no real "prescribed" textbook. Some of the more commonly mentioned suggested textbooks include "Physical chemistry" by Atkins (9th or slightly earlier editions), and "Modern spectroscopy" by Hollas (4th or slightly earlier editions). Personally, I found neither to be a compulsory buy, as the lecture notes do a reasonably good job at covering the content. However, if you enjoy learning from textbooks, or like to go more in-depth and have more explanations, then by all means consider using some of the recommended reading.

Lecturer(s):
Computational Chemistry, Thermodynamics and Kinetics: Katya Pas
Molecular Symmetry and Molecular Spectroscopy: Don McNaughton
Surface Chemistry and Colloid Chemistry: Alison Funston

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating: 4.2  out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Unknown at this point.

Comments: This subject can form part of a chemistry major. If you wish to do Honours in chemistry, you need at least one unit from either Physical or Analytical Chemistry, and at least one unit from either Organic or Inorganic Chemistry.

This unit is divided into six major topics, and each lecturer goes through two of them:

Computational Chemistry (Katya)
Katya's section starts off with Computational Chemistry. This begins with a brief introduction to quantum mechanics (it's pretty much all qualitative, and if you have some background in Physics, this will probably be a recap of things for you). Why is this necessary? Because ultimately, there are some reactions in the lab which might be somewhat dangerous to carry out, require expensive materials/difficult preparation or are difficult to accurately gather data from. Sometimes, it's better to model things before trying them in the lab themselves (e.g. drug design). Therefore, it is better to simulate these reactions. In order to do this though, we need to have an accurate description of the molecule's structure and physical properties. And an accurate description of these requires quantum mechanics to be invoked. So that's why we do computational chemistry.

The next few lectures go through things such as potential energy surfaces (basically multi-dimensional versions of the potential energy diagrams you're used to seeing) and how they are computed, why they have the shape they do, how we interpret local minima and maxima on these diagrams, and why they are important. We then go through some of the computational chemistry methods that allow us to correctly interpret these potential energy diagrams, and hence allow us to predict molecular structure and reaction properties.

However, calculating exact properties is very computationally intensive, and in many cases, thoroughly impractical. So we also learn about the various approximations that are made (both to our "energy-calculator" Hamiltonian and our molecule, which is represented in quantum mechanics as a "wavefunction"). We learn some theoretical basis behind the methods, and their strengths and weaknesses, as well as important properties. Throughout this lecture series, there will often be comparisons of various computational chemistry methods. You will get to do these things yourself in the lab component (more on this later).
Thermodynamics and Kinetics (Katya)
Katya's section continues with Thermodynamics and Kinetics. This lecture series touches on the Fundamental Laws of Thermodynamics, an introduction to macroscopic and microscopic entropy, a recap of enthalpy and Gibbs' free energy, and how we interpret these in terms of chemical thermodynamics and kinetics. Some of this will be revision, and if you did Physics, probably all of it will be. We then briefly look at the Carnot cycle as an example of analysing entropy and enthalpy. The derivations of Gibbs' free energy and the reaction equilibrium constant are also shown.

After this, we look a bit more at phase equilibria. Remember those temperature-pressure diagrams for water, which showed the triple point and critical point? We look at them again here, in the context of the Phase Rule, which is a shortcut way to determine how many variables you can change to keep the same phases as you currently have. We also look at phase equilibria for mixtures of substances, in particular liquid-vapour phase equilibria. This is the theoretical basis for separation techniques such as fractional distillation, and now we can see why such techniques are effective (or not). Finally, we look at supersaturated solutions - how entropy changes with phase, and come across the Kauzmann Paradox, which appears to consider a situation where the Third Law of Thermodynamics is broken. It's never been observed (so Physics isn't broken), but we don't actually know why that is so!

Finally, we look at classical nucleation theory, which explains the kinetics (or time-scale formation) of crystals from supersaturated solution. This is then linked to the Arrhenius equation, and shows a great parallel between crystallisation reactions and regular chemical reactions. There's still a bit of QM thrown in at the end, with quantum 'tunnelling' effects showing up in real-life reactions.
Molecular Symmetry (Don)
Don's section starts off with Molecular Symmetry. This is basically an introduction to the various kinds of symmetry molecules can have (which we call 'symmetry elements'). Once everyone is capable of looking at a molecule and determining what kinds of symmetry it has, we then look at classifying molecules by their key symmetry elements (these molecular classifications are called 'point groups'). Also, we notice that we can do symmetry analysis of rotations, translations and vibrations of a molecule, and to things such as molecular orbitals, dipole moment vectors, and polarisability tensors. So why do we do all this stuff? Well, it turns out that with a bit more work, molecular symmetry actually can help us in identifying the structure of a molecule we might not be able to determine by other means. We can use molecular symmetry to predict the appearance (or non-appearance) of an IR or Raman spectrum, and what we should see if the spectra exist. There is actually some mathematical basis behind all of this, as the study of symmetry comes down to mathematical group theory - but you don't need to worry about any of that here. For the mathematically minded, there's also some matrix algebra involved - see if you can spot where it occurs!
Molecular Spectroscopy (Don)
Don's section then continues with Molecular Spectroscopy. Here, we consider three kinds of spectroscopy - microwave (or rotational), IR (or vibrational), and UV-Vis (or electronic). The theoretical basis of all three methods is considered. For example, where you may recall from CHM2922 that the "ball-and-spring" approximation is used to come up with the energy levels observed in IR spectroscopy, we also have the "rigid rotor" model for microwave spectroscopy to predict energy levels. For each kind of spectroscopy, we basically consider the following questions:
1. Which kinds of molecules will appear on this spectrum?
2. Why are the spectral lines separated in the way they are?
3. Why are the heights of the lines the way they are?
4. How does changing the chemical compound being studied affect the spectrum?
5. What other information can we get from analysing the spectrum?
Understanding this, in conjunction with molecular symmetry, really provides a sound basis for understanding spectroscopy of relatively simple molecules.
Surface Chemistry (Alison)
Alison's section starts off with Surface Chemistry. In a way, this area of chemistry gets partly neglected during VCE and earlier Chemistry units. But, if you recall from your high-school days some strange things about "surface tension/surface energy", "spreading/wetting", "contact angle" or "surfactants", then this is what the lecture series is about. It goes into the reason behind surface tension, and why properties of surface molecules are often different to non-surface molecules (which we call the "bulk"). Much of this section (and the subsequent section) is really based on intermolecular forces, so it's a good idea to revise those so you have a good foundation for the section. However, surface tension is also based on energetics. This means that there is some maths involved in working out various surface-tension related properties, and in calculating surface tension itself. There are derivations of the formulas you will eventually use, which require some knowledge of maths/physics (for example, steps in derivations include knowing that Pressure = Force / Area, or that Change in Energy = Work = Force x Distance). These derivations are usually not examinable, however. After learning about surface tension and how to measure it, we consider the role that surfactants play in reducing surface tension, and the formation of micelles at higher surfactant concentrations. Applications of this section include in detergents, oil drilling and flotation. We also learn about how surface chemistry affects the pressure in objects such as bubbles and droplets.

Then, we learn about spreading/wetting on surfaces, and what factors determine whether one substance will spread over another. The applications of this include water-resistant and water-proof fabrics, and glues/adhesives. After this, we learn about adsorption, which is the adhering of one substance onto the surface of another. Once again, we consider the energetics of adsorption and its reverse process, desorption, and look at how the amount of adsorption varies with how much stuff you put in (which is represented graphically by "adsorption isotherms"). We look at several models of adsorption, and their assumptions, the difference between physical and chemical adsorption, and what happens if your surface has lots of little pores on it.
Colloid Chemistry (Alison)
Alison's section concludes with Colloid Chemistry. Basically, a colloid is when you have a system of particles suspended in a (different) bulk medium, except the particles are usually much larger than your average molecule. We learn about why these are actually thermodynamically unstable, and what makes them last for so long. We learn about how we can make colloids, how we can ensure that they don't come together to form large clumps and effectively precipitate out of solution, and how we can break them apart again. We learn about the models that aim to predict the immediate environment around a colloid particle, based on electrostatics and van der Waal's forces (giving rise to an overall potential). Finally, we see applications and examples in emulsions and foams.

Personally, I found this unit to be a reasonably fun unit, once I actually started listening and learning from the lectures. This is probably because I enjoy the idea of Physics (if not the mind-crushingly difficult maths), and I've always liked learning about orbitals and bonding. I must admit that Surface and Colloid Chemistry was not the most fun topic I learnt in high-school chemistry, but if I treated it as a fusion of chemistry and some maths, the learning wasn't too bad at all. Computational Chemistry was a bit dry on its own - but it's nice to apply what you've learnt from the lectures in the labs. I had quite a love/hate relationship with Molecular Symmetry, because I absolutely cannot rotate things in my head, which made each bit of work I had to do on it incredibly painstaking. With each success, however, there came a lot of satisfaction. I also liked Thermodynamics and Kinetics particularly for its derivations and its brief description of the fundamental thermodynamics laws (well, I guess that means I like Physics).

The lecturers were all great at explaining concepts and answering questions. In particular, I liked how Katya interspersed questions throughout her lectures to give them a more interactive feel. Alison also gave little demonstrations during her lectures and asked us to predict what might happen beforehand. Don also went through some worked examples in his lectures. All of this made the overall learning experience better, in my opinion.

I didn't attend any of the tutes (they were held at pretty inconvenient times for me), but in them, you appear to go through questions from a tute sheet related to the lecture material. The tute sheets (and sometimes the answers) are put up on Moodle as well, and they're often a good revision tool for the exam.

Now, for some comments regarding the assessments:

Labs
Workload-wise, the labs aren't actually too different to those found in CHM2922. You'll have to either write up a full lab report or fill in an extended proforma for each prac that you do. I found that I had to spend at least 5 hours on each full lab report and at least 3 hours on each proforma in order to get a decent mark - so make sure you allocate a reasonable amount of time to get these done. Particularly if you're doing other units with experiments and lab reports in them, the overall amount of work each week can really start getting to you. The lab staff are usually more than happy to consider requests for extension if things really do get too busy.

The lab demonstrators themselves are all very competent and helpful - there's nothing really more to say.
Regarding lab work, there are usually two kinds of labs. Computational chemistry labs are done individually and usually see you in the computer lab, using the computational chemistry program GAUSSIAN09 in conjunction with the Monash Campus Cluster (basically a big supercomputer for all kinds of Monash students to run programs on) in order to complete the lab work for the day. Then, you analyse your readouts from the computational chemistry files in order to help you fill out the lab proforma for that experiment. This kind of lab can be very frustrating at times - because omission of a single space in what you type can cause the subsequent results files you get to either record numerous errors, or not give you what you want at all. One thing that I would suggest is to download the copy of GAUSSIAN09 that gets placed on the Moodle page, and save it to your Monash account and your laptop/computer. This means that you can work on the computational chemistry assignments from any computer in Monash or at home, and really increases the time you get to work on those experiments.

Another thing is that at the start of the semester, you'll probably feel like you're basically blindly copying down instructions from your lab manuals with no idea why anything is going on. However, as you learn the principles of Computational Chemistry, things will start to make a bit more sense. So, my advice here is to persevere, and try not to get too violent when stuff goes wrong - your demonstrator is there to help.  :)

 "Wet" labs are more like your standard lab where you get/make some sort of chemical compounds, perform some chemistry on them, analyse them, and then analyse the results later. One good thing about these is that the experimental procedure is nowhere near as demanding as more synthetic-based labs. Usually, the most you'll have to do is make up a series of solutions of different concentrations, perform a pH titration, run a series of IR/UV-Vis spectra, take some measurements from a scale, or some simple chemistry like exposing a sample to light radiation, or using a centrifuge to separate components of a solution. That being said, while it is not as intense, it can still be fairly time-consuming, particularly if your experiment has multiple parts in it. Having a good partner really makes work easier and also more enjoyable. You'll still have to write up your own individual lab reports, but discussing things with your lab partner tends to benefit both of you.
Symmetry assignments
The symmetry assignments are designed to reinforce and apply what you have learnt in lectures, by having you perform symmetry analyses on various simple molecules. This kind of assessment starts straight after your first lecture (when you've learnt all the basic symmetry elements and then have to identify them in other molecules), and continues after you learn more (the second assignment has you assigning point groups, and the third one has you finding irreducible representations to ultimately work out the predicted IR and Raman spectra of molecules). If you're not too good at rotating things in your head, this might take a while, but the skills learnt are well worth it, as they are applied again in the 'midsem' test. One thing I did find handy was to look at 3-D structures of the molecules themselves (particularly ones that you can freely manipulate). Also, there's always this point group database if ever you are stuck. If you put some effort into them, it's usually enough to get a decent mark. Some people find this easier than others, but as you go through and practice, you tend to come up with your own little tricks or procedures for making things easier for yourself.
Symmetry 'Midsem' Test
The Symmetry 'Midsem' Test is a 50 minute test held during one of the lectures. It basically goes through all the symmetry material, which has hopefully been drummed into you by the assignments. While the molecules present on the test might be different, the tasks rarely change - so if you know the procedures to follow, it's just a matter of identifying and implementing them correctly. Early in the semester, Don puts a file on Moodle of some molecules that you can practice your skills on - usually one of these will be on the test paper in some form, so if you can do most of the 'medium' level molecules on there, you should be fine for that part. The main thing to be aware of, however, is time pressure. I knew how to do all the questions on the midsem - I just couldn't get them all down quickly enough, panicked, and made a mistake that ended up costing a bunch of marks. So, it's really important to get some practice, and to really know what your planned procedures are before the test.
Introductory Computational Chemistry assignment
This assignment is basically meant to help you become used to the basic kinds of procedures you will do in your subsequent computational chemistry labs. How this works is that in Week 2, instead of having a normal chem lab, you'll have a tutorial lab where you're introduced to the Monash Campus Cluster and Gaussian09 and how to do really simple things with the program interface. You'll then work through the instructions on a PDF which tells you what to do in order to get the actual assignment done and fill in the associated proforma. The intention is that when you then do your subsequent computational chemistry labs, what you're doing will be less familiar. That being said, it still took me quite a while to understand what I needed to be doing in those labs. Your demonstrators are really a big source of help on this.
Online Computational Chemistry Test
This online test is more of a theory test on the Computational Chemistry material. You get 1 hour to complete some questions (most are multiple choice or matching-type questions). There isn't really much more to say here - as long as you have your lecture notes in front of you and have a basic grasp of what is going on, you should get a decent mark.
Molecular Spectroscopy Assignment
This assignment comes in two parts: The first part is a standard (untimed) online test with a few questions/calculations relating to what you learnt in lectures. You'll then use the numbers from one of the questions (thankfully not numbers that you've calculated, so don't worry about everything being mucked up) in order to make an Excel-based plot of a rovibrational spectrum, and to answer more questions. It's probably a good idea to leave at least a couple of hours to do the second part.
Final exam
This year, there was none of Don's material on the final exam, which thankfully made it easier to revise for. Revising a number of diverse topics comes with its own challenges. Most people found some pain in the revision process, and I can't say I found many people who liked it that much. One of the really good things though, was that one a day close to the final exam, lots of people from the cohort came to uni and basically went through the past exams together! If you can get this going with your cohort, it's a really, REALLY good way for everyone to benefit and help each other learn. The two past exams we were given on Moodle were reasonable guides to what would appear on the final exam, but there were a few other questions in there too (which I assume must have come from the tute material). The exam itself wasn't too bad - most of the questions weren't overly difficult, but there was a fair bit of time pressure, which really caused me to rush at the end. There were a number of questions where you had to draw diagrams/graphs to help with explaining (as well as other questions where drawing a diagram may have helped too). The material is crammable, but you really should try to avoid this, as it just compounds the pain. Particularly in Alison's sections, KNOW HOW TO CONVERT UNITS. For some reason, surface chemists tend to express their quantities in all kinds of units. So know when you have to adjust the units of things, and what units your answer is expected to take! (Yep, dimensional analysis can really point you i nthe right direction for some of the calculation-based questions there.

In conclusion, if you enjoy Physics but dislike the associated maths that comes with it, you have a decent chance of enjoying this unit. If you always liked orbitals, or thermodynamics/kinetics/equilibria, you'll find some interesting stuff here. If you don't really enjoy these things, or don't like having lots of equations in Chemistry, or don't like doing maths that much, then this unit might not be the best fit for you - there's always Medicinal, Inorganic, and Environmental Chemistry units that you might find more enjoyable.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Reckoner on July 07, 2014, 06:37:17 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENG1010 - Process Systems Analysis

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, heaps, all with solutions. Also heaps of past hand-calculation tests with solutions too.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Not needed at all. You're given very comprehensive course notes that cover everything, in addition to the lecture slides that are used during lectures.

Lecturer(s):
A/Professor Cordelia Selomulya


Year & Semester of completion: 2014 - Semester 1

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
This unit is pretty well run. Everything you need is provided for you in moodle with frequent updates, and an active discussion forum. There's even a video showing you how to get to the right lab for your practical project, for all the lost jaffys (or clueless second year com students).

Unit Content
The unit is split into 5 main topics, however the general jist of the unit is "what goes in must come out". These topics are:

  • Dimensions - Basically an introduction to units
  • Mass balances - Looks at the concentration and flow rates of streams of solutions. Things like desalination of water via reverse osmosis or evaporation; or looking at how the concentration of urea in the bloods stream changes from dialysis. Involves a few linear simultaneous equations to solve, but not too tricky once you’ve done a couple
  • Mass balances with chemical reactions - You have a feed stream, a reaction occurs, then you have a product stream. You look at how the composition changes. Continuous stirred-tank reactors (CSTRs) are introduced. If you can handle stoichiometry from VCE chem, then you can handle most of this topic before you actually learn any of the stuff at uni. CSTRs may take a little work though.
  • Energy Balances - A much larger topic than the previous ones. You look at enthalpy changes first, then move into mechanical energy balances. Things like Bernoulli's equation and the pump head required for a given flow rate.
  • Heat Transfer - Thing like convection and conduction, overall heat transfer coefficients, heat flux through a wall, and finding the required length of a heat exchange to achieve a certain degree of heating/cooling.
My favourite topics were mass balances with chemical reactions (I like stoich haha) and heat transfer. Mechanical energy balance I found to be pretty boring, number-plugging into formulae. Think VCE physics. But once I got into some of the more long-winded questions, and you had to actually think about what each of the variables represents and how they would change I began to like it more. Just hope you don’t get one of these on the exam – they can be very long. I used I think 5 pages of workings to do the exam question we had on this. If you didn't like chem in VCE then don't worry, I'd say it more closely follows on from VCE physics. There's not much high level maths. A few simultaneous equations, and the occasional need to the quadratic formula. 

Tutes/Labs
The hand tutorial classes weren’t particularly helpful. Most weeks you just work through the problem sets, but full solutions are uploaded at the end of the week so no dramas if you miss them. They were however, a good chance to work on your case studies with your group.

The HYSYS computer labs weren’t too bad. The program can be incredibly fiddly and hard to use at first, but once you get used to it then it’s not too bad at all. These are more helpful than the tutes though, as you can get help for the HYSYS components of the case study (and you need to know how to use HYSYS for one of the tests.)

Lectures
Lectures weren’t particularly helpful either. Also could be a bit boring. They mostly teach the content through examples anyway, so you can learn all that you need from the comprehensive course notes that are uploaded to moodle. However in the last week the lectures are just running through past exams, which can be very helpful for working out how you have to structure your short answer questions for the exam.

Assessments
The 3 case studies that you have to do are all pretty similar. You basically look into the production process of a given substance. They can be pretty time consuming, so having a group is pretty helpful. I actually enjoyed them a bit, as some of the analytical questions required a fair amount of problem solving. There was the odd easy question though. Some were qualitative to, looking into the process a bit, and sustainability measures. There’s also HYSYS computer simulation question. To score well in these, make sure you read the required case study format PDF on moodle. 

The practical project again is a group assessment. You submit a loose plan, then go into one of the labs and do the project (ours was cooling beer), and then have to submit the full report a few hours later. MAKE SURE YOU PLAN EVERYTHING. Seriously, this includes how you will perform all the calculations, how you will structure your discussion and analysis. Everything.  Otherwise it would be very difficult to get your report completed in time. My group finished the practical component at 1pm, and most of us worked non stop until the due time of 7pm. Submitted with 30 seconds left. Intense stuff, which could have been avoided with a bit more preparation. That being said, I did enjoy it, and probably prefer this type of assessment as opposed to the case studies. Simply because of the time limit you don’t spend as long working on them.

The tests aren’t particularly challenging if you’ve kept up to date with the problem sets. For the hand calculation one, it is very similar to the past tests of which heaps are uploaded. So make sure you can work through them and then you should be all good. Also make sure to write out all your assumptions for the short answer questions. For the HYSYS test, there aren’t any past papers, but if you’ve gone to all of the computer labs and could work through those problems then it should be a breeze.
The exam is very similar to the hand calculation test. Lots of papers given out, and the same format of multiple choice and a few short answers. Again, make sure to write out all your assumptions for the SA.

Overall I liked this unit a lot. I liked the way the assessments were structured, and enjoyed the case studies. Would have given it a 5 if the lectures were a bit more entertaining, and a little more breadth in the content. Although, not many other people liked it as much as me, with others thinking it being the worst of all the first year eng units. I haven’t done them, so can’t really comment on that.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: m.Chemia on July 09, 2014, 12:59:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3051 - Introduction to Computational Mathematics

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, one, with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  The recommended textbook is Getting Started with MATLAB 7 by Rudra Pratap, Oxford Uni Press. As MABLAB is only covered in the first 1 or 2 lectures and the rest of the course is about numerical analysis, plus the assignments require minimum programming skills, the textbook is of little use.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion:  2014, Semester 1

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:  TBA

Comments:  First of all, this unit is mostly about numerical analysis and not much computing/programming. That said, MATLAB programming can be picked up through the semester but nothing more than from a first year eng computing unit.

Topics include:

As most (real-life) mathematical problems cannot be solved analytically/exactly, we have to somehow approximate the solutions. In this unit, you will learn how to solve a wide range of problems using various numerical methods, their derivations and error analyses. Taylor series is used A LOT in this unit, in fact, 2/3 of the numerical methods are based on Taylor Series expansion, so make sure you are comfortable with that. All the topics sound pretty easy but there is no other way than using numerical approximations when solving equations like or evaluating . Surely you can use a calculator, but how does your calculator do the job? That's what you will be learning in this unit. Not everyone enjoys this unit. (It really can be told by the attendance of lectures.) The main reason being many people think computational maths is not real maths. (Just like when I first encountered Euler's method in VCE Specialist Maths, I didn't appreciate it much either.) But in this unit, it's not like all these numerical methods are just thrown at you without explanations, in fact, everything is derived from scratch. But then, there are lots of different topics, and the topics are not really interrelated and I didn't really tried make sense of it, as a result, I kind of regretted choosing it and neglected it throughout the semester (I didn't study for it, didn't do a single exercise sheet question, although I did spend a decent amount of time working on the assignments as they are actually enjoyable.) However, it was my first exam and all my other units were 2 weeks after this, so I spent quite a lot of time on it during the exam period. Once I sat down and read and tried and understood everything slowly, everything just made so much sense and it was actually really enjoyable (In comparison to MTH3011, which makes sense as Michael Page makes everything clear but not really 'enjoyable').

Lectures/Lecturers:
Leo took the first 6 weeks of the course. Many students had Leo in first year and I think he was one of the lectures of MTH1035, but I didn't go to a single lecture for MTH1035 so who knows. Anyway, I'm not a big fan of him myself. He definitely is a good mathematician (he teaches Honours General Relativity), but for some reason I just feel lost in his lecture despite the topics are really simple. Jennifer came in in week 7. She happened to be my tutor for this unit. In my opinion she is a much better lecturer than Leo. She is organized, makes everything clear and I actually understanding what she is talking about in lectures without any confusion.

Computer Labs/Tutorials:
Tutorials are not compulsory for this unit. I heard that the way the tutors run the tutes vary a lot from tutor to tutor. Some tutors go through questions from the problem set in the tutes and teach a fair bit, but not mine. I had Jennifer Flegg as my tutor. As aforementioned, she was the lecturer of the second half of the unit and she definitely knows her stuff, and she is super good with MATLAB. In my tutes, instead of going through the problem sets as a class, each week up to around week 9 or 10, we simply just work on the assignments and ask for help. This is a good and bad thing for me. As there are 5 assignments and there is always one due every second week, I'm always working on the assignments and never really spend anytime on the exercise sheet. Starting from week 9 or so, each week we also spend some time talking about the exercise sheet questions and also past exam questions. Once again, although the tutes are not compulsory, go to the tutes and ask questions about the assignments.

Assignments:
There are 5 assignments, each worth 6%. Each assignment has one big question and we are meant to solve it using MATLAB. The assignment are not hard and in fact quite fun, the programming involved was really basic and 3 out of the 5 assignments are not related the course material whatsoever. Some of them can be tricky but you can always discuss the assignments with your tutor so even if you had no clue how to start, your tutor would definitely guide you through it. The marking, on the other hand, was quite harsh. Almost everyone gets 100% for the first assignment as long as you get the answer right. (It is hard not to get it right and Leo spends like half a lecture discussing about that first assignment.) But from second one, the marks drop quite a bit for most students, apparently the marking scheme has changed and every steps needed to be made clear in the assignment in order to get a good mark. But then, if effort were put in and everything were explained step by step, getting a good mark was not too hard. Don't forget you can always ask you tutor for help.

Final Examination:
The exam is worth 70% and is consisted of 20 MC questions and the rest are long questions. Most questions ask you to derive a certain numerical method, which of course are all covered in lectures so you will be fine if you memorize most the derivation and also error analysis for the 20 or 30 numerical methods. Also, the exam is quite similar to past exam; most MC are exactly the same, and same for the long questions. For a third year mathematics unit, the exam is really easy. If you spent time studying for it, even start cramming from SWOTVAC like me, the exam wouldn't be much of a problem. Apparently some people finished this exam in like 1.5 or 2 hours comfortably.

Overall, a fantastic and actually useful unit. If you are an Applied Mathematics major, you will most likely be doing this unit anyway, but even if you are a Pure Mathematics major (I would imaging Pure Maths major enjoy this unit more than MTH3011) or even not a Mathematics major, definitely consider doing this unit as it is actually quite fun and useful, not overly difficult and you will be picking up a programming language.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: simba on July 10, 2014, 02:16:01 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENG1060- Computing for engineers 

Workload:  2x 1 hour lectures and a 3 hour computer lab each week

Assessment: 
9 labs worth 2% each (18% total)
Library session/ test (2%)
Assignment (10%)
Exam (70%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, but they only released two sets of solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Don't even bother

Lecturer(s): Wai Ho Li and Murray Rudman

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2014

Rating:  1.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 88 HD

Comments: Okay, so a lot of the reviews for computing on AN are pretty positive. From what I've found, computing is generally a subject that you either love or hate. Unfortunately I strongly disliked the unit.

The first six weeks of content covers the basics on how to use MATLAB, such as writing M-files, for and while loops, loading data if statements etc. I've never had any experience with MATLAB or programming at all whatsoever, which made the labs so much more terrifying. For the most part I thought I understood the content fairly well, but the labs would take hours and hours to complete, and were extremely draining and frustrating to say the least. I would highly recommend obtaining your own copy of MATLAB as the computer labs at Monash can get quite loud which makes it pretty hard to concentrate (plus, think of the convenience!)
The last six weeks of content covers numerical methods, which is essentially writing MATLAB codes that are able to fit curves, solve ODE's (through trapezoidal and simpsons rules), perform gaussian elimination and solve simultaneous equations. Personally, I found numerical methods to be more interesting and logical than the first six weeks of content. The labs were less frustrating for me and much more manageable time wise! Although the content for this topic was still fairly dry, it was MUCH better than the previous content!!

Wai Ho Li covered the first six weeks of the course. She wasn't particularly great but wasn't absolutely horrible either. (Her voice is very high pitched if trying to watch on MULO though so beware!)
Murray Rudman took the last six weeks. I didn't actually physically attend any of his lectures, but from what I saw on MULO, he seemed to be a decent lecturer (again not amazing though)

The library session is a total waste of time and is done in place of a lab. On the bright side is super easy to score full marks and you'll be out long before the lab was meant to finish!
As for the exam, the first 40 marks cover the first six weeks of content and is fairly straightforward. No huge issues in this section.
The last 60 marks cover the last six weeks of content. This part was more challenging than the previous one, but is still manageable. The main issues I had with this section were the questions asking to write out and correct code, as it was difficult to recall how some of the codes were written (probably my fault for not studying enough though). The rest of the section shouldn't be too bad if you've practiced the questions on past exams and are good with the scientific calculator.

Overall a super unenjoyable unit. Even though it managed to be my highest average coursework mark, I still consistently felt confused and behind in terms of the workload. The labs were horrible. Worst thing in my timetable all semester. So happy I never have to look at this unit again!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ChloeCameleon3 on July 10, 2014, 09:09:38 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2340 - International Security Studies

Workload:  1 x 1 hour lecture weekly, 1 X 1 hour tutorial weekly

Assessment: 
1 X Short Essay (1000 words) (20%)
1 X Major Essay (2500 words) (40%)
2 Hour exam (2000 words) (30%)
Tutorial Participation (10%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, without screen capture

Past exams available:  None, and no sample exams either.

Textbook Recommendation:  Prescribed textbook was Contemporary Security Studies by Alan Collins. However, only the first 3 weeks' readings came from this textbook, so it was a bit of a waste of money. Also, Ben MacQueen uploads all readings onto Moodle.

Lecturer(s): Ben MacQueen

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 Semester 1

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: N/A

Comments:
Comments: I really loved this unit. Ben's lectures are fantastic, and once you get past the first three week's lectures on international relations theory, the content becomes really interesting. The three tutors each had a lecture or two to present, and they were all on really interesting topics. We also had a guest lecturer for week 10. But really, it was the tutorials that made this unit so great. I had Dara Conduit, who was super nice and probably my favourite tutor. We began each week by discussing the latest news events, such as the Ukraine/Russia conflict, North Korea's everything, South Sudan, Venezuela etc. It was a great way to get the 10% participation marks, particularly for me as I'm always super shy and quiet. Dara always organised the tutorial really well, where every minute of the tutorial was used usefully.

Assessments:
The assessments were fairly standard for Arts units. For the minor essay, we had to pick from a list of IR theories/approaches and analyse it. The major essay involved choosing a question from a list, and writing a 2500 word research essay. Questions included: "Does International Law, with particular reference to collective security and the United Nations, effectively constrain the actions of states in relation to engaging in armed conflict with other states?" and "Critically evaluate the concepts of transitional justice and human security in relation to the processes of post‐conflict reconstruction".
I found the exam to be a bit tricky, but the questions were actually straightforward. It consisted of 6 short answer questions based on the readings. The exam was supposed to be held at Caulfield Racecourse, but somehow the scheduling stuffed up and it ended up being an online take-home exam. Biggest win of the semester.

Overview of the semester:
Weeks 1 - 4 we looked at key theories and approaches, including realism, liberalism, Critical Security Studies, the Copenhagen School (securitization), Social Constructivism and Post-Structuralism. We also looked at the United Nations' role in international affairs. I found the readings for these weeks to be pretty dry, the readings were basically just brief descriptions of the theories...
Weeks 5 - 6 we looked at Intra-State Conflict (civil wars), and Inter-State Conflict. These topics were really good. Ben used a number of case studies, all of which I found incredibly interesting, including the Korean War, Iran-Iraq War, Lebanese Civil War, Second Congo War.
Weeks 7 -8 we looked at Organised Crime, Terrorism and Insurgency. These were my favourite weeks by far!! Alex, one of the three tutors, gave the lecture for Organised Crime. She gave a really great lecture on drug cartels in Central and Southern America. We looked at the Medellin Cartel and the Cali Cartel in Colombia, and the whole Pablo Escobar ordeal. We also looked at Mexico, and the value of the drug trafficking and the key actors involved in the trafficking of drugs across borders there. I felt like I learnt a lot in the one hour lecture! Another tutor Matteo gave a lecture on Terrorism and Insurgency in week 8. He used case studies from Algeria, and it was a bit refreshing to not just focus on the frequently-used 9/11.
Weeks 9 - 11 we looked at Intervention and State Building, Post Conflict Reconstruction, International Law and Regulation of Conflict. We had Assoc. Prof Adam McBeth from the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law for week 10's lecture on International Law, which was really good. He went over the UN Charter in further detail, and highlighted Rwanda and the Balkans as key case studies.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: simba on July 10, 2014, 10:12:36 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1051- Chemistry 1 Advanced 

Workload:  3x 1 hour lectures and a 4 hour lab each week

Assessment: 
Lab work - 30%
Pre lecture quizzes - 2.5%
Post lecture quizzes - 7.5%
Exam - 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Two CHM1011 practice exams were posted on moodle with solutions (and were a pretty decent indicator of content on the exam!)

Textbook Recommendation:  Chemistry 2nd ed by Blackman et al. it can be helpful but definitely isn't necessary. Lecture notes are quite comprehensive imo

Lecturer(s): Chris Thompson, Alison Funston and Mike Grace

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating: 4.75 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments: This was probably my favourite unit this semester. The first 4 weeks of the course are taken by Chris who is a fantastic lecturer! He covers the atomic structure and bonding. I know what you're thinking. 'Come on, I learnt all this in like year 10, do we really need to spend FOUR WEEKS learning about electrons?!'
In short, yes. Chris will disprove all the simple models of how electrons orbit around the nucleus, the way electrons act and everything else VCE had to keep oversimplified. Although Chris often got quite carried away in discussion and ended up covering the second half of the lecture slides in the last 10 minutes of class, he really is great at describing the concepts and was my favourite lecturer for chemistry. The content itself isn't too difficult for atomic structure and bonding, it just requires you to keep up to date (with the online quizzes being helpful with that!)

The next four weeks are taken by Alison, who covers thermodynamics, ideal gas laws and molecular orbital theory. Alison was a pretty good lecturer and explained the coursework very well. A fair amount of this content builds on VCE chemistry and shouldn't be too foreign (apart from MO theory, but once you understand how it works, it's quite simple to work out and easy marks on the exam!!)

The last four weeks are taken by Mike, who is also a decent lecturer (just prepare yourself for some pretty lame dad jokes!). Mike mainly covered Kinetics, Equlibria and Acids and Bases. Again, most of the content merely built further upon what was learnt in VCE chem which makes the coursework less daunting! The main advice I have for this section is beware of the tricky acid base questions! I didn't review this section closely enough and the exam continued two pretty difficult acid base questions which I couldn't work out properly!

Considering how much I normally hate labs, these were actually fairly interesting! One of the benefits of CHM1051 is having 4 hour labs in comparison to only 3 hours for the CHM1011 kids. Each lab was relevant to the course content (yay) and were pretty manageable in terms of time. The only labs that we were pressed for time was in the IDEA pracs (there are about 4 or 5 of these. They essentially require you to create your own experiment to work out whatever the design brief requires. It could be finding the metals present in contaminated water (and how much of them are present), or determining the rate order of alterations to a reaction. Your demonstrator will make sure you're on the right track though so don't worry about totally going in the wrong direction!)

The online quizzes were fairly easy and a great way to reinforce the course content!

The exam wasn't too bad (apart from those few acid base questions). Most of the questions are at a reasonable level and if you've revised sufficiently then the exam really shouldn't be too much of an issue. Biggest piece of advice I could give is to work fast. I think the exam was about 27 pages and a fair few people I talked to said they struggled to finish on time/ didn't finish/ had no time to review questions.

Overall a great unit. Highly recommended! :D
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ShortBlackChick on July 12, 2014, 03:52:44 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2548 - Environmental policy and management 

Workload:  1x1 hour weekly lecture, 1x 1-2hr weekly Tutorial; Weeks 1-5 led by Tutor, Weeks 6-12 led by Students

Assessment: 
Essay: 40%
Tutorials presentation: 25%
Tutorial paper: 25%
Participation in tutorials: 10%
Total assessment: = 100%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  There is no exam, the 40% Mini State of the Environment Report serves as the final assessment due at the end of SWOTVAC

Textbook Recommendation:  Harding, R., Hendriks, C.M., and Faruqi, M., 2009. Environmental Decision-Making: Exploring
Complexity and Context. The Federation Press, Sydney. The full text is available online through the library

Lecturer(s): Bruce Missingham

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Should be a D

Comments: Love this unit, given how easy it was, based on my prediction for what my mark will be. I averaged a raw HD in all my assessments but as always had marks taken off for lateness. Bruce is easy to engage with and is ever so helpful with anything and always interacts with the class well. The topics were interesting and it was great to see the different ideas students came up with to have the practical and interactive element in class. Groups get chosen in week 3 or so for the Student led tutorials from week 6-12, my tutorial was in week 7 and was so fun to do. The tutorial paper of 600-800 words was a breeze, you just had to summarise the articles from any given week and critically analyse them, which wasnt hard to do- you could just read some reviews of the articles and reference them. The Mini State of the Environment Report was also fun and easy, where you had to pick an environmental issue and answer the questions given in the unit guide and you just needed to reference the topics and articles studying in the unit as the basis for your findings, as well as do other research. Lucy, the other tutor was fun as well, loved both Lucy and Bruce, they made the unit so interesting and engaging. I guess I would have expected/liked the unit to be more harder/challenging, given that I put the bare minimum into the unit. But that said I find that most units from the School of Geography are quite easy.

UNIT OVERVIEW:
1 Introduction & Overview of Unit
2 Background: Contexts for environmental policy; State of the Environment in Australia; causes of environmental problems and policy needs
3 Sustainable Development in Principle & Policy
4 Actors & Institutions in policy processes
5 Public Participation - As element of sustainable development, aspect of governance, & policy instrument
6 Tools for Environmental Decision-Making: Environmental Assessment, Environmental Monitoring and Reporting
7 Policy Approaches/Instruments: Market based approaches
8 Policy Approaches/Instruments: Corporate sustainability; Environmental management systems
9 Policy Approaches/Instruments: Environmental Communication and Media for Public Education
10 Environmental policy in practice: Environmental & Sustainability Policy at Monash - Guest speaker: Paul Barton, Director of Monashs Office of Environmental Sustainability
11 Environmental policy in practice: Local Government Sustainability Policy
12 Environmental policy in practice: Climate Change & Carbon Emissions Policy
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ChloeCameleon3 on July 12, 2014, 07:53:31 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSY2031 - Developmental and Biological Psychology

Workload:  1 X 2 hour lecture weekly, 2 hour labs fortnightly

Assessment:
Examination (2 hours, multiple-choice): 45%
Biological lab report (1500 words): 20%
8 x Multiple Choice Quizzes throughout the semester (takes your 5 highest grades): 15%
Developmental Report for Virtual Child: 10%
Oral presentation (Group, 12mins): 10%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Nope, but plenty of practice questions are available online

Textbook Recommendation:  Prescribed textbooks are Biopsychology by John Pinel, and Development Across the Lifespan by Robert Feldman. The weekly readings come from these textbooks, so it is best to acquire them.

Lecturer(s): Prof. Julie Stout, Prof. Shantha Rajaratnam, Prof. Dan Lubman, Prof. Nellie Georgiou-Karistianis, Ms. Claudine Kraan, Assoc. Prof. Jeroen van Boxtel

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: N/A, probably a distinction

Comments:
Overall: I gave this unit 3/5 purely because I enjoyed the content for the first 4 weeks, and I thought a few of the lecturers were really good. However, overall this unit is disorganised (like most Monash psych units unfortunately), with vague assessment instructions and absent coordinators. I think I only sighted one of the coordinators once for the entire semester. The other I didn't even see once...

Overview: The unit is split into 2 topics: Biological psych for weeks 1-6, and developmental psych for weeks 7-12. I thoroughly enjoyed the biological psych component, especially the first month on systems neuroscience, sleep and psychiatric disorders. I thought Prof. Julie Stout's (who is Ellen DeGeneres' doppelganger) lectures were great; she covered a huge amount of content, and tended to deviate from the readings, but I did not find this to be a bad thing! Prof. Shantha Rajaratnam has an incredibly soothing voice (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU5n--d1KNg, #notcreepin'), which made me quite sleepy sometimes haha (more my fault and the fact that we had morning lectures for this unit). And when he lectured on sleep, it was a bit of a double whammy of yawn-inducing triggers :P

I found the developmental psych component to be pretty standard, just looking at different theories and their applications during different stages of development, from infancy to late adulthood. I didn't find the lecturers for these weeks to be as good as the biopsych lecturers, but that could be because of my bias towards the biopsych topics!

The fortnightly labs were pretty useless, we never actually covered the content or learnt anything, it was pretty much just a way to get the oral presentation groups sorted out, and the virtual child report completed.

Assessments
The quizzes were pretty frequent, but were an easy way to get 15% (or close to it). They were all multiple choice, and taken directly from the prescribed readings. However, occasionally you'd get a question that was well outside of the reading's scope, which was a bit irritating.

The exam was 2 hours long, and all multiple choice. We weren't given much guidance in terms of what to focus on for studying, which many others found frustrating because some of the weekly readings were 90+ pages long in total, so there was obviously a LOT of content covered. I actually zoomed through the exam paper surprisingly quickly (cheers, adrenaline) and didn't think the questions were unfair or overly difficult at all.

The lab report was a very frustrating assignment. We were given only a tiny little bit of guidance from the lab tutor, but were basically left to our won devices to figure out how to complete the assignment. For the small word count, it was extremely difficult to include all the information in good enough to get high marks. I guess it was good practice at being concise???????

The oral presentation was fairly standard. We were organised into groups of 3, and were allowed some flexibility in which topic to present on. The topics were all developmental disorders, such as Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, and Cerebral Palsy. This assessment was pretty disorganised, due to a lot of people not turning up etc., which is probably a normal issue for group assignments.

The virtual child report was a short assessment where we had to assess a child's developmental progress from a child psychologist's perspective. We had to 'raise' our child online (which was just answering mind-numbing multiple choice questions). An easy 10% really.

tl;dr Badly organised, poor communication from staff, a few really good lecturers, and one very, very frustrating assignment = PSY2031
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: mrb3n on July 14, 2014, 01:26:27 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENE1621 – Environmental Engineering 

Workload:  1 x 2hr tute and 3 x 1hr lectures/week

Assessment: 

Midsem test – 5% - Fairly straightforward test in the form of short answer questions. Almost all material from lectures and textbook.

Scrapbook – 5% - Quite a strange assessment. Have to collect news articles and critique them. The time spent doing this is not really justified in the percentage of overall unit mark.

Group Project – 30% - Need to put quite a lot of effort into this one. You’ll work in groups have to balance this project with other assignments. Make sure you keep on track and don’t slack off, cos the due date will creep up on you. I recommend doing lots of research and planning before you start writing the final report.

Assignment 1(Gavin) – 5% - Involved analysing household bills and energy/water use. This assignment was particularly tedious. The instructions were vague and I often felt very frustrated trying to figure out the best way to approach this one.

Assignment 2(Cordelia) – 5% - Straightforward assessment in the form of essay style questions. Requires a bit of reading, research and planning. I did this one hungover in a few hours, after going on a pub crawl, and still got a very good mark. Moral of story: university marking is subjective and sometimes unpredictable.

Exam – 50% - Similar format to midsem test, but this time there are long answer questions. Be prepared to write a lot during this exam. It is three hours long, and you need to pump out a lot during that time, so know the course content well, and have a practice at formulating answers.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, four, but no sample answers. Sample answers are not really necessary for the practice exam, so don’t fret.

Textbook Recommendation:  “Living in the environment”. Text book is not essential, but there are some really handy passages, and it is good for practice questions. Lecturers will often refer to parts of the textbook, and reading this bits gives a clearer understanding of course content.

Lecturer(s): Gavin Mudd and Cordelia Selomulya. Both lecturers are clear and concise, but I had a few communication problems throughout the semester. No serious quabbles here.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 S1

Rating:  3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This unit definitely gave me a good idea of how to approach environmental engineering as a discipline. Some of the content is truly fascinating, and some of it is dead boring. The exam will cover almost everything from the entire semester. I recommend therefore, that you take the unit seriously. I had no serious issues with the lecturers, but there are flaws in the assessment. The group project requires a huge amount of effort, and you will often have to complete other assignments while still working on the group project. This makes for a very stressful time. Furthmore, the weighting of the smaller assignments is never really justified in the overall unit mark. I had to expend a lot of effort in finishing these fiddly little assignments and scrapbook, when I would have rather worked on the group project. All in all, not a bad unit, but I think a rethink of the assessment is needed.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: EspoirTron on July 16, 2014, 03:21:57 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1011 -Biomedical Chemistry 

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

Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: No past exams, but a few practise questions were made available on Moodle.

Textbook Recommendation:  Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry is necessary and definitely worth the buy. You may not use it a lot in this unit but it is essential for later units I hear, and besides, if you want more depth this textbook is designed for that. If you can't though, you will be fine. Introduction to Organic Chemistry by Brown and Poon is also recommended but it is really unnecessary and not worth spending your money on.

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

 
Comments: This unit was an absolutely splendid introduction to Biomedicine. It was well coordinated, without hiccups and the lecturers made the transition from VCE into Biomedicine smooth and enjoyable. I'll break the unit down into what each lecturer covered first and then I'll move onto the assessments.

Section A of the course is the Structure of Biological Macromolecules. This is covered neatly in 12 lectures and basically is a run through all of the organic chemistry you will have to be aware of within the unit. The first 6 lectures cover VCE content and hence why the transition into the unit is smooth since you're doing revision for a while. You'll go into to bit more depth about Equilibrium with a focus on the Biological aspects and implications. It is in the 7th lecture where you will cover Isomerism, which is a new, challenging topic. Really pay attention here because it forms an important part of the whole course and make sure you understand it well. Since you won't go into a lot of depth it may seem overwhelming, but to Patrick's credit he gives you everything you need to really master what you need to know. The suggested textbook doesn't have a lot of problems relating to Isomerism, so if you want practise I have an alternate suggestion. I used 'Organic Chemistry' by McMurry and this had many problems to work through that were completely relevant to the course. This was my little secret and I would really recommend seeing if you can borrow this textbook from a library. I owned a copy but it isn't worth buying for a semester. It helped me with the whole course and gave really good summaries about everything.  Lectures 8-11 are VCE content but in more depth so you will cover things like Lipids, Carbohydrates and Proteins. You'll finally finish off with a revision lecture prior to the Mid-semester which is really worth going to. Patrick was a fantastic lecturer, he definitely knew his content and how to teach. On top of this he was really approachable and hilarious! He made going to lectures totally worth it and if you listen to his advice you should be prepared for the Mid-Semester adequately. Word of warning: Keep you phone on silent and whisper when talking in his lectures!

Section B of the course is Enzymes: Structure and Mechanism of Action. This again, was really enjoyable, but here is where things become new and relatively unfamiliar from VCE. Having only done VCE Chemistry I had only a brief understanding of biological enzymes (BIO1011 helps here since you cover enzymes earlier than you do in BMS1011 but in less depth), but it is a new area and it is absolutely pertinent that you understand everything. In this part of the course you'll cover protein structure and function, quaternary structure and enzyme kinetics and mechanics. You'll learn why the activation energy is lowered and how this is favourable. In addition, you will be introduced to Mathematical models that describe enzyme kinectis and how inhibitors work. Overall it gives a great depth to enzymes and their intricacies. Rob is again a great lecturer, he makes things fun with his analogies and he goes into great depth and detail to ensure that you, the students, understand everything.

Section C and D of the course are so closely connected so I'll speak about them as one. Section C covers the Metabolic release of energy and Section D covers the Synthesis of Biological Macromolecules. In Section C you'll become familiar with how carbohydrates and fats are broken down and how the body uses them for energy and how excess energy is stored. You will go into a lot of depth when it comes to covering the Glycolytic pathway, Citric Acid cycle, the Electron transport chain and Oxidative Phosphorylation. Here is where knowing about Isomerism will really help you out. Be warned, this part of the course, Sections C and D is where you are going to have to rote-learn like crazy, and this is one of the reasons as to  why the unit isn't 5/5. The rote-learning can become tedious but this is the first time ever I can say that it had elements of enjoyment. You will also cover things like how fatty acids are stored and mobilised and why fats are important, how glucose is used and the regulatory hormones that dictate its release into the bloodstream and its absorption by the body.
Section D will cover pretty much the reverse of everything you have learned in Section C, you will learn how everything you broke down is synthesised in 'times of plenty'. Here gluconeogenesis, beta oxidation, pentose sugar pathway and ketone bodies are covered. In addition the role of inhibitors will be introduced and how the impinge certain pathways. Janet will cover Sections C and D, and like the other lecturers she goes into great depth and length to ensure that you understand it all. Overall she made this part of the unit enjoyable and very interesting to learn.

Now to the assessments. SDLs are online quizzes that will replace a one hour lecture some weeks and they're usually about 6-7 questions that quiz you on content covered in lectures and things you have to go read up on yourself. Don't worry, most of the content can be found on Google but this is where having Principles of Biochemistry really helps since it has a lot of the content you need to know to access high marks on the quiz.

Small group exercises refer to in-tute assessments, and they include things like worksheets, group exercises and quizzes. The faculty got it right here since these assessments encourage you to build teamwork and how to use your knowledge and apply it to case studies. You will work on patient files in the last few weeks of tutorials and you have to apply everything you have learned in lectures and at home to diagnose a patient. Overall, this and the SDLs are really straight forward marks, and if you are serious about doing well this is your chance to get some booster marks. The tutorials in themselves are fun, but they do get boring at times because you're basically covering the weeks lectures and doing quesitons. I blocked mine on a Friday afternoon, don't do this! Since the tutorials did feel a bit dry it deterred from the overall enjoyability, but if you put up with them they will ascertain your knowledge and give you so much more depth that you definitely need for the exam.

The Mid-Semester test will cover everything in Section A and it goes for half an hour, if my memory does not mistake me. Patrick put up some practise questions on Moodle a week or two from the Mid-Semester that gave a really good indication of what to expect and if you do these, revise the lectures and do your own practise problems then you should be set to do really well in the test.

Lastly is the exam. This covers everything in Sections B, C and D. Again, if you have been consistently following lectures and have been doing the provided problems in tutorials than this exam should be relatively straight forward for you. It's 75 multiple choice questions and you get 3 hours to complete it, i.e. plenty of time. Most people walked out early and the exam is only challenging if you have done no work. If you've studied hard this is where it will all comes together and finally pay off.

I can't speak highly enough of this unit. It was an absolute blast and an amazing introduction to Biomedicine. It is a core unit so if you are enrolled in Biomedicine you are going to have to take it. One thing, this unit surprisingly will make you realise a lot of things about food. My sceptisim for tv adds claiming 'Cholesterol is bad, don't have it' and 'Fats are going to kill you' has gone though the roof. This unit will wake you up and probably make you read the back label of the food you buy. It will actually alert you to the fact that most things that these ads claim is 'healthy' is the complete opposite.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: eeps on July 16, 2014, 08:36:09 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFF3351 - Investment banking

Workload: One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment: Joint mergers and acquisitions case study (20%), In-semester test (10%), Exam - 3 hours (70%).

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes, exams from the past four semesters are available.

Textbook Recommendation: No prescribed textbook. Online readings are sufficient.

Lecturer(s): Mr Roger Love and Professor Christine Brown.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: Distinction.

Comments: This unit is really fascinating and it really goes into specific theories and concepts about investment banking. Topics covered include mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, share buybacks, project and structured finance. BFF3351 gives you an insight into what it is like to work in investment banking and is like the UBS Investment Banking Challenge in many regards. The most difficult part of the unit, in my view, is the mergers and acquisitions case study. The assignment takes a lot of time, as you have to develop figures and calculations based on the case study to determine whether the M&A should go ahead or not. When I did the unit, the M&A proposal was between David Jones and Myer - a real-life example today. The mergers and acquisitions case study is 2,500 words and should be in a business report format. The exam and mid-semester test are fairly straight-forward, as they are based entirely off tutorial questions. The lecturers and tutors are quite good and they do go into a lot of depth to explain the concepts. Overall, a good unit to undertake, especially if you are considering working in finance or the investment banking sector.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: eeps on July 16, 2014, 10:44:10 pm
Subject Code/Name: BTF2220 - Corporations Law

Workload: One two-hour lecture and one one-hour tutorial per week.

Assessment: Assignment (30%), Exam - 3 hours (70%).

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes, two or three exams from previous years are uploaded to Moodle.

Textbook Recommendation: Lipton P, Herzberg A & Welsh M, Understanding Company Law, 17th edition, Thomson Reuters 2014. Would recommend purchasing.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Phillip Lipton.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: High distinction.

Comments: Not a bad unit, can be dry though. Assignment is based on an area of law of your own choice and you are required to answer questions in regards to it; has to be in a report format. Not too difficult if you start early - 1,800 words including footnotes. The exam itself is all based off tutorial questions and past exam papers, if you do both, you should be easily able to achieve a high mark in this unit. Having a good set of notes is also beneficial because the exam is open book, you can easily refer to legislation or cases quickly. To do well in corporations law, do all the tutorial questions and have a set of notes to bring into the exam. Definitely one of the easier units I've done.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: eeps on July 16, 2014, 11:10:45 pm
Subject Code/Name: MGX3100 - Management ethics and corporate governance

Workload: One 1.5 hour lecture and one 1.5 hour tutorial per week.

Assessment: Presentation (10%), Essay (30%), Exam - 3 hours (60%).

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, four or five exams are available to do.

Textbook Recommendation: Arnold D.G, Beauchamp T.L. and Bowie N.E. (2014) Ethical Theory and Business (9th edition) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Don’t recommend buying, didn’t use it the whole semester.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Elizabeth Prior Jonson and Dr. Michelle Greenwood.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: High distinction.

Comments: Not the best unit I have ever done. MGX3100 is considered as a finance and management unit (overlaps with both), however it seems more like an Arts unit if anything else. Can be incredibly boring. Personally didn’t find it that engaging at times, however the theories and concepts covered are applicable to real life. The essay is really the challenging aspect of the unit, it is 3,000 words for an individual essay and it takes a considerable amount of research and planning in order to do well. The class presentation is done in class and in groups. The exam is a choice of five essay-style questions and you are required to do three questions, they don’t vary too much from semester to semester. Going through the past exam papers provided is more than sufficient to do well.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: achre on July 18, 2014, 10:36:42 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1305 – Introduction to Film Studies

Workload: 1x2hr Screening, 1x1hr Lecture, 1x1hr Tutorial

Assessment: Minor Assignment (20%): You pick one of the films you watch in the first four weeks, choose a segment of up to 10 minutes in length, and identify and explain how it uses elements of film form and narrative. ~800 words.

Major Assignment (45%): Four questions get posted up on Moodle that are fairly broad in scope, and you just explore one of them in relation to one or more of the films studied in the course. The research is somewhat involved, they expect (or at least my tutor did) a minimum of 8 different sources. 2000 words.

Visual Test (25%): This is done in the cinema, which is kind of inconvenient because the “desks” are tiny. They show you three segments of ~3-4 minutes in length, and you’re given a question for each. I believe you had 20 minutes to respond to the question in relation to the segment. Students tend to do very badly in this, my tutor told us it typically bumps half of the cohort down from a high distinction to a credit. (Can’t comment on validity of this – I mean it’s only weighted 25%?) I personally got very panicky with the last question and didn’t manage to finish, so it’s definitely tricky ;__;.

Attendance & Participation (10%): I have no idea what this is but apparently it has a wordcount of 400 and I got 80% for it, so I’m sure you’ll be fine.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, sample questions from previous visual tests are available, but they’re useless. The topics & films change each year. I think Digital Cinema was a topic just introduced this year, last year there was a week done on multiculturalism in film, apparently.

Textbook Recommendation:  You don’t need anything. There’s like 10 “recommended” texts, but the readings are all online.

Lecturer(s): Assoc. Prof. Deane Williams, Assoc. Prof. Constantine Verevis, Dr. Julia Vassilieva

Year & Semester of completion: Sem. 1 2014

Rating:  2.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 82

Comments: Okay, this subject is called “Intro to Film Studies” and I obviously got a HD for it, so there’s probably a slight inclination for you right now to think of this as an absolute bludge of a subject that you might do should you ever need an easy elective. Let me be clear from the word go: NO.

This is a challenging subject not because it concerns itself with particularly difficult topics, but because it’s structured in such a way that you fly past very dense material at a pace that doesn’t really facilitate complete engagement with the topic at hand – and yet the assessment appears to be set with the expectation that you’re very aware of all the nuances in content. There’s a week on genre, a week on representation in film, a week on the ontology of digital cinema, a week on auteurism and the idea of film authorship, a week on ideology in cinema... and so on and so on. No effort is made to really “connect the dots”, they’re treated as discrete topics with little or no overlap, and on completing one week, you move on and never touch the topic again, except for a "review" week, which honestly, was a complete joke. I got lucky in two ways – firstly, I like talking about film and I was already familiar with some of the topics (like the technical and philosophical differences between traditional and digital cinema, or the use of auteurism as a mode of reading film), and secondly, I was able to do the major research essay on one of my favourite films, Breathless, and I already had some fairly respectable sources on-hand that I could cite. (Interviews from the original Cahiers du Cinema releases, obscure videographic essays that I could *cough cough* "borrow" some ideas/phrasing from...)

Some readings for the subject total close to 100 pages, so it didn’t really surprise my tutor when week after week, nobody had done the readings and we basically launched off from the lectures as a starting point for discussion. (Myself included - I didn't do a single reading for this unit) I’d like to excuse the poorly structured nature of this unit as a product of its being new, but it’s been around for quite a few years now, so I don’t expect it’s going to radically change anytime soon. I frankly can’t recommend this, which is a shame, because some of its content could have been really interesting. It’s not easy, it’s not fun, and the only reason to do it is to pursue a major/minor in Screen studies. Which I’m not. So goodbye Intro to Television Studies.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: G-lain on July 19, 2014, 07:14:09 pm
Subject Code/Name: IMM2011 - Basic immunology: The body's defence system

Workload:  3 weekly 1 hour lectures, one 3 hour lab every second week, one 2 hour tutorial every other week.

Assessment:: Mid-semester MCQ exam worth 10%, final exam is worth 60%, tutorials/labs/lab reports make up 30%. The mid Semester was relatively difficult, there’s only 1 lab report for the unit which is worth roughly 3-4% of total mark. Participation makes up roughly 10% of total mark.  There’s also an oral presentation, which makes up roughly 4-5% of your total mark iirc.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes.

Past exams available:  Yes, several available. As well as general glossary mc. The exam was harder than all practice material provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  Basic Immunology: Function and Disorders of the Immune system, 4th edition by Abbas. The textbook is extremely useful, but not necessary at all. Most lecturers will tell you that they’re only going to examine/only care about what is in their slides. That said, I’d recommend picking up a copy, it’s a short and concise (approx. 300pgs.) book that really does help to make sense of the immune system. That said, if you don’t have a background in biology the textbook may as well have been written in Chinese, since there is no introduction given to biological concepts, terminology, etc.

Lecturer(s): Several, I’d say Dr Kim Murphy, and A/P Frank Alderuccio are the key lecturers.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: Put bluntly, many people struggle with this unit, for example, the average mid-sem MCQ  result was 65%. There’s an awful lot of content to get through, and the complexity and interconnected nature of the immune system is thrown at you in a way that is seemingly disconnected and it's up to you to make those connections.

That said, this is an extremely interesting unit. The immune system is vast and complex, and can be quite difficult to grasp in its entirety. Topics covered include the innate immune system, immune signalling, the adaptive immune response, the connection between innate and adaptive immunity, immunological techniques, mucosal immunity, and so on.

The entire purpose of this unit is to allow you to appreciate the immune system, and beyond several key cytokines, cells, molecules, and structures, doesn’t really dig deeper into the complexities of it. Nor does it give a context for the role of immunology, and the immune system in health and disease. 

The lectures themselves are hit and miss, because of either the lecturer, the topic, or both. The important part is that you have to
adjust your study routine based on which lecturer is lecturing, specifically for two lecturers.

The first is A/P Frank Alderuccio, Frank is an excellent presenter, he isn’t afraid to walk around the room, ask questions, or reward students for correct answers. However, Frank will tell you that you don’t need to know much detail, and his slides will reflect this, ignore him. If you want to do well, make sure that any time he says “you might want to know one or two of these”, you know all of them. Especially when it comes to the complement system, and key cytokines. But also for Pattern Recognition Receptors, mainly TLRs but I’d also recommend learning about NLRs and key DAMPs for NLRs.  If you don’t know those words, don’t worry, you’ll be taught them. The key thing to take away for Frank is that you need to go beyond him and his slides. Frank also gives the two final revision lecturers, these are mostly pointless and most people don’t go to the second one.

The second is A/P Robyn Slattery, Robyn is both a wonderful lecturer, and a wonderful person. You will enjoy her lectures and really should go to all of them. The key thing to know about Robyn is that you need to know every single detail that is on her slides. She’ll make this pretty clear, but you really do need to know her slides inside out. 

In terms of the other lecturers, A/P Mark Wright was probably my favourite, he’s funny, relatable, and makes complicated topics quite accessible. He gives a lecture on signal transduction that you really should go to if you don’t do any biochem. Make sure you know the pathways he goes over, you’ll see variations of them appear in B-cells later on, and the concept of transduction is applicable to basically everything in this unit/most of biology.

The worst lecturer was probably Dr Rose Ffrench, who lectures on humeral immunity. She is clearly very knowledgeable, but her presentation style is unbearable for two reasons. The first is that she has a monotone voice, the second is that she struggles to breathe and this will put you on edge. She was the only lecturer whose lectures I purposefully avoided, because they were simply unbearable.

The labs and tutorials rotate every week, so one week you will do a lab, and the second a tutorial. This is a problematic set up, as it creates a divide between the tutorial, and whatever it is you learned that week in the lectures.

The tutorials were generally quite enjoyable, however I assume that depends on the tutor. Each tutorial has an assessment essay at the end of session, and each is worth about 1 or 2 percent of your total mark. They’re open book so you shouldn’t struggle too much with the content.

The labs were so and so. I personally found labs involving microscopy to be the most fun, this involved histology of generative and peripheral lymphoid organs, and examining the cells of the immune system. The assessment task for these are normally done as homework, and can be quite challenging. Some maths is occasionally involved in this, but if you watch the lab calculations videos on moodle you’ll be fine. The labs tend to be relevant to an extent, e.g. the MHC restriction prac, and the blood typing prac, but overall they’re more relevant to immunological techniques, e.g. ELISAs.

Overall, this unit provided a pretty decent introduction to the immune system, while still being fairly accessible to most student.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on July 23, 2014, 10:21:32 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS2667 - Language Across Time

Workload:  1x two hour seminar per week

Assessment:  Assignment 1: 15%; Assignment 2: 15%; Assignment 3: 30%; Exam: 40%
Assignment 1 and 2 entailed of numerous short-answer-cum-problem-solving questions, quite similar to those presented in some of first year Linguistics. In Assignment 3, you had a choice of either a reconstruction exercise or a major essay. I am horrible at reconstruction (i.e. looking at old languages and working out which of those languages are related to others, and why), so I chose the major essay. In hindsight, doing the reconstruction exercise would have been much more beneficial in preparation for the exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture (I was thankful for this, as the seminars were 3pm - 5pm, and I otherwise didn't have classes on that day)

Past exams available:  No idea, but Olav presented a sample exam (with subsequent suggested solutions) in the weeks leading up to the actual exam

Textbook Recommendation:  Trask's Historical Linguistics, 2nd edition. Revised by Robert McColl Millar. Hodder Education, 2007
I'm not sure that you need it, as such, but I certainly found it useful (mainly for the major essay, which I wrote on euphemism).

Lecturer(s): Olav Kuhn

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 1

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 86

Comments:
Two primary things stand out for me about this unit:

1. Olav is a legend. One of my favourite lecturers. There were times during the week where I would honestly look forward to listening to his seminars, as he made me laugh and was just a generally excellent fellow. He does go on tangents, sometimes. He certainly knows what he's talking about, though - that much is very clear. I had him in first year Linguistics, so I knew that I liked him and his lecturing style.

2. If I were to name this unit, it would be 'Historical Linguistics' rather than 'Language Across Time.' I was expecting slightly more emphasis on the nature of change and why it occurs. There was, of course, a lot of this in the unit, but I found the last few weeks of content a little dry and uninteresting. That's probably just me, and more a reflection of the time of semester. It should be noted, too, that I was extremely inattentive during all of Olav's numerous practical examples, which may be a contributing factor as to why I didn't like the last few weeks (which focused on what we had learned (or, more accurately, what we were supposed to have learned) during those examples). Specifically, this was in regard to the comparative method - a tool used by linguists to reconstruct old proto-languages.

Overall, though, I enjoyed the unit. Olav provides good and fair feedback on the assignments, and is always more than happy to have a chat about any concerns. He is rather flexible, too, and understands that his students have more to their lives than just his one particular unit.

The exam is reasonable, testing a wide range of skills acquired during the semester. For us, it started with some short answer questions, then a few using a case study, moved on to the comparative method (these questions were, unfortunately, worth the greatest proportion of marks), and then some longer response questions (almost like a very, very small essay).

Looking back on it, the unit is almost sub-divided into a few different parts, including the types of linguistic change, the reasons for linguistic change, and then the comparative method. So, on the assumption that you are interested in the first two, and actually pay attention for the third, I would highly recommend this unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rohmer on July 23, 2014, 11:01:08 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW3201 - Constitutional Law

Workload: 3hrs of lectures per week, plus 6 weeks of a 1hr tutorial (i.e. standard core law unit)

Assessment: Either 90% Exam & 10% Tute Participation OR 60% Exam & 30% Research Assignment & 10% Tute Participation.

Recorded Lectures:  Two streams out of three were recorded last semester.

Past exams available:  Yes, several.

Textbook Recommendation:  The prescribed text is/was Federal Constitutional Law: A Contemporary View 3ed. (2010) by Joseph & Castan. It's not a bad book as far as law textbooks go. It's fairly succinct and doesn't overcomplicate things, while at the same time usually covering the relevant passages of judgments from HC cases. This makes it worth reading, as the cases in this subject are usually quite long and often arduous (as mentioned below). Other textbooks are recommended; I didn't read any, although they may be good for supplementing understanding of cases.

Lecturer(s): First semester it was Jeff Goldsworthy (chief examiner), Melissa Castan & Ronli Sifris, though there'll likely be some change to that line-up for S2 2014 since it's a different chief examiner.

Year & Semester of completion: S1 2014

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: This is a core unit for all law students, so arguably there's not that much point in reviewing it since it's unavoidable either way, but I thought I'd try and summarise it in case anyone wants some sense of what consti is like.

With that in mind...the unit was okay, but not a favourite of mine. The assessment is pretty standard for core law units (optional essay & exam) except there is a tute participation mark of 10%. My first reaction to the tute mark was 'what is this, a first year subject? I have to actually show-up to tutes now?' but then I realised that I usually show up for tutes anyway, and that this is a plus since tute marks are pretty easy to get. You get 5 marks out of 10 for showing up to five tutes, and the other five marks are graded on the quality/quantity of your participation. Basic strategy here - jump in on the easy questions and answer a couple of them per class, and you should end up with a good mark out of 10. Did not do the optional assignment, so can't comment on that.

Lectures: Had Goldsworthy for the lectures. He knows his stuff very well and is happy to answer questions, although he does speak in something of a monotone voice which can make it hard to concentrate for long periods of time (he said that consti was sometimes seen as 'boring' by students, though if studied it could be interesting/exciting, although I never got the impression he found it exciting, not that I'd blame him or anyone else for not finding it so). Occasionally he'll crack a one-liner, although his sense of humour is dry. Really dry. Like, wheat-in-the-Sahara dry. I didn't listen to/attend any of the other streams so I can't really comment there, though I didn't hear anything bad about the other lecturers.

Content: This subject is all about the Constitution (the Federal one, no need to worry much about State ones) and the interpretation of it. So you basically study a number of Cth powers (e.g. External Affairs, Corporations power) and then limits on powers (Intergovernmental immunities, s92, Separation of Powers) - these two things being established through what's written/'implied' in the Constitution - and their subsequent interpretation. The interpretations/doctrines are basically all HC judgments (except for a Privy Council mention or two) which means a lot of long cases if you actually read them. There's usually only a case or two that you're supposed/required to read for each topic, so it's doable, but I personally don't think I actually read any cases in their entirety. Time-wise reading all the cases would not be very efficient - reading the key ones is useful though, especially for the policy aspect of the exam as it's hard to discuss a couple of specific decisions in answering a policy question without knowing a fair bit of detail about the cases. In terms of exam hypotheticals it's arguably less important that you've read the cases, as you can generally apply a good set of exam notes to a factual scenario without a strong in-depth knowledge of the lines of argument made individual cases. In terms of difficulty I'd place Consti around the mark of Property A. It's harder than torts/crim, but easier than Property B.

The topics: The first real (i.e. examinable) topic is Manner & Form, which actually concerns State Parliaments. It's not usually one of the bigger exam areas, although it can be a little confusing, although the nub of it is simply that State Parliaments can insert 'manner and form' provisions in Acts, providing for a certain stricter-than-usual manner of amendment of certain provisions of Acts (i.e. binding later Parliaments to higher thresholds when they try to make certain amendments). It may seem kinda complicated, but in the end it can be boiled down to a 4 or 5 step test that you just have to apply to your facts and conclude on, like pretty much all the topics in this unit. After MaF there's External Affairs (the first big topic, really) which relates to Cth powers. In summary, the Cth has very wide powers over EA, and can gain a lot of power through the ratification of international treaties (the limits on this ability are somewhat vague per the case law, and you'll likely spend some of your exam arguing it back and forth). The next head of Cth power, the Corporations Power, is similarly wide and similarly likely to appear on the exam in the form of questions about whether the Cth can regulate certain corporate entities and their employees - key cases to know here are ones like WorkChoices and Dingjan. Financial Powers is/was the last Head of Power topic, although it's somewhat smaller than EA/Corps powers and isn't really covered that well (no tute on it). The HC interpretations of all these heads of power will be discussed in detail, and there's usually some change between doctrines over the years - there'll be a majority in the HC for taking a particular side/position on the interpretation some issue, but then over time this will slowly change, before perhaps eventually even changing back the other way. There are usually a lot of grey areas and a lot of persuasive arguments on both sides in most topics, and it can be interesting arguing a position on these doctrines. It is sometimes interesting seeing how the position of the court gradually changes over time, and also how certain members of the court continually find novel arguments and end up disagreeing with one another (Kirby dissents at a record rate). A lot of the time I wasn't really that into it though, as I didn't have strong view either way.

Limitations on power are Intergovernmental Immunities, Separation of Judicial Power, Freedom of Interstate Trade and Commerce and the Implied Freedom of Political Communication. Much of the above applies for these topics. Again you get some degree of indecisiveness from the HC, albeit the span of decades. The IFPC is one of the most interesting topics, as the cases have interesting facts, and the sudden recognition of this entire doctrine has been quite controversial, although the case law for it is now fairly well settled. Lastly in the course, Section 109 holds that in the event of a conflict between the Cth and the States, the Cth prevails to the extent of the inconsistency. This semester one or more streams fell a bit behind, so this wasn't actually examinable/covered in detail, although it appears to be one of the smaller and simpler topics.

The Exam: Is another speed-writing contest. Typically three sections, two parts being hypotheticals with usually about 3 issues mixed into each of them (e.g. a couple of heads of power and limitations, or vice versa) though there have been as many as 4. The first key thing is to recognise all the issues, as otherwise a HD is basically out of the question, though you can still go ok if you miss one. As usual, apply all your relevant tests with case law and sections succinctly and argue it both ways on the facts before concluding. Try to apply it as much as possible and avoid copying out your notes - if you are too busy transcribing your notes then you just won't have enough time to apply, hence it's important to actually understand your notes so you can get down the relevant law as quickly as possible. Exam Policy, for those who didn't do the assignment (most) was two short-answer questions (30 mins each) out of four possible choices. As previously mentioned, policy may actually require an in-depth knowledge of lines of reasoning in specific cases, and how doctrines/interpretations by the HC have evolved over time, so it's probably worth reading some of the key cases (asterisks on the RG) for this. Mainly, avoid writing out your notes or some pre-prepared answer that doesn't quite fit the question, as examiners tend to hate this and usually note it as a negative in the Examiner's comments. Just try and form a thesis statement and argue it using your knowledge of the relevant cases and you should be ok for policy.




Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: spaciiey on July 26, 2014, 01:16:14 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2140/MTH3140 - Real Analysis 

Workload:
-Three 1-hour lectures
-One 2-hour support class per week

Assessment: 
- Examination (3 hours): 70%
- 3x assignments: 3 x 8% = 24%
- Participation: 6%

Recorded Lectures:  No recorded lectures, however towards the end Jerome would take pictures of the stuff he wrote on the blackboards.

Past exams available: Multiple past exams on the monash library section, only one exam with solution

Textbook Recommendation:
Understanding Analysis by Stephen Abbott
DO NOT BUY THE BOOK unless you want a hard copy: you can get it online with answers, for free (thanks, Google!)
Also, you can no longer bring the book into the exam!

Lecturer(s): Dr Jerome Droniou

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2014

Rating: 1.5 Out of 5

Comments:
First off, word has been going around that you can take the textbook in the exam, THIS IS NO LONGER TRUE!

I had heard nothing but bad things about this unit. Unfortunately I also have the same opinion, it's my least favourite maths unit I have taken by far. The lecture notes have been revamped from last time the unit ran, which is good, but the lectures are still crap. Jerome did make an effort to improve them towards the end of semester, though.

Jerome as a tutor is kind of intimidating. He makes an effort to be approachable and to respond to feedback but doesn't quite succeed. The participation marks are easy enough to get though -- just show up to most of the tutes and have something to say every time (present an answer  to a question on the board every few weeks, too -- probably the most intimidating thing about the tutes), and you will get full participation marks. Also, marks are given for presentation/clarity, so when you do your assignments (and the exam!) write neatly, and use full English sentences. Keep the maths-speak to a minimum, or you are throwing away free marks.

I felt the exam was more an exercise of how well you can memorise stuff and THEN use it to apply to proofs/theorems, so I kind of got screwed over a bit because I couldn't memorise the specifics of theorems which were needed to start a lot of the proofs off. Not having the textbook I felt was a detriment to me, because I can't always remember specifics and you kind of need that for this subject.

Maths doesn't come that easily to me (and yet it's one of my majors... fail logic is fail). But general consensus is that this is a hard unit and I agree. Think carefully before you choose it. There is no real difference between second and third year level by the way, only in the assignments you will have one extra question. If you need this unit for a pure maths major and you struggle with exams like I do, I recommend trying to get as many of the coursework and participation marks as possible and just trying your best in the exam. If you are really good at self learning, or are a gun at maths, you will be fine.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ninwa on September 20, 2014, 08:23:48 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW7019 - European Union law and policy
Please note that this is a JD/LLM elective. The undergraduate equivalent is LAW4161 - Introduction to European Union law 406. Judging from the handbook descriptions, the postgrad and undergrad units cover substantially the same topics, but I can't guarantee that everything in this review is relevant. The assessments are obviously different as well.

For information on how you can study postgraduate law subjects as an undergraduate student please see the bottom of this post.*

Workload: Intensive - 9am to 4pm for 4 days.

Assessment: (NB: the unit handbook is wrong on this)
- Take-home exam: 1,000 words with 10% leeway, worth 20%
--- Not the usual law exam - there are no fact scenarios to apply legal principles to - rather, you are required to write an essay on the basis of a statement.
This year it was: "EULEX has a lot of work ahead of it to prepare Kosovo for EU membership. In particular, we need to train Supreme Court judges and staff so that they are familiar with the Union Acquis, for they are the ones that will be ensuring it is applied in Kosovo."

- Research assignment (case note): 3,500 words with 10% leeway, worth 80%
--- Case note on a significant, recent European Court of Justice case of your choice. You are required to provide a summary of the facts of the case, including the Advocate-General opinion where relevant, followed by an analysis of the legal issues and their relevance in the context of European Union law (e.g. whether the case has now settled the law in that area).

Recorded Lectures: No

Past exams available: No

Textbook Recommendation:
No prescribed textbooks. The reading guide is 119 pages long because it is actually the course notes, rather than a guide to what to read. The classes are simply intended to be elaborations on those notes, so if you want to get the most out of the classes, then read the notes beforehand.

If you want further information on any particular topic(s), The ABC of European Union law by Professor Klaus-Dieter Borchardt is very good. You can download a soft copy for free from that link.

Lecturer(s): Professor Geert Van Calster

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, term 3

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Comments:
Lecturer
It really pains me to say bad things about Geert because he is such a nice person. As a European Union lawyer, he also has a lot of practical experience, and often will go on tangents about actual EU court of justice cases that he defended, which is really cool. He also speaks like 6 languages fluently *fangirl squeals* However, the structure of the classes left a lot to be desired. He does not use Powerpoint slides and does not appear to use any notes while lecturing. Some lecturers can manage this fine, but he would wander off on tangents, or jump between topics in a very confusing way. I struggled to follow him sometimes and judging from conversations with my classmates, I was not the only one. Thankfully the notes provided in the reading guide and the "ABC of EU Law" book were good supplements.

Subject content
For me, this subject was too humanities-like. It felt more like a course in international studies or politics or history than a law subject. Most of the people in my class were Masters of International Business (or something like that) students rather than law students, which meant Geert actively veered away from the really legalistic topics (i.e. he actually said that that is what he would do). However, it is probably different in the undergraduate version of this subject.

The topics covered included:
- Basic constitutional framework of the EU, both current and historic
- EU institutions, decision-making process and legal instruments
- Division of competences (i.e. where the EU can legislate) between the EU and member states
- Primacy and direct effect
- Judicial protection in the EU i.e. the courts

Some people enjoy looking at the politics/history side of things and if you do, you'll probably love this subject! I just personally prefer subjects with a little bit more actual legal relevance. The only really law-related stuff I did was in my case note and very little of that was actually taught in class. I would have liked to have delved more deeply into some of the more important EU court of justice cases, for example.

On another note, this was my final subject and also the highest mark I've ever received in a law subject, so it's nice to end my degree on a high, even if I didn't like the subject that much :P



*Monash offers a Master of Laws Elective Program for undergraduate students, whereby you can take up to two electives from the JD or LLM course. You will study at Monash's city campus for JD students, which is right next to the County Court and is seriously so much prettier than Clayton. The classes are much smaller - 15 to 20 maximum - which means it's a lot more interactive. Some of the postgrad lecturers are really great and have amazing credentials. I also found that a lot of my classmates were older students who had already had years of experience in various fields and so could make really interesting contributions to class discussions - some of them were international or top tier Australian lawyers, for example. I highly recommend you take up this opportunity if you have the chance!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on October 29, 2014, 03:57:54 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2222 - Mathematics of Uncertainty (note: I suggest reading this in tandem with my review for MTH2232, here)

Workload (per week):
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures: No - however, this was due to the lack of equipment in S14, not because Kais is against recording lectures.

Past exams available: Yes, 2 exams provided with solutions

Textbook Recommendation: Introduction to Probability 2ed, Bertsekas D & Tsitsiklis J (Recommended)
Personally, I didn't use it, I didn't think it was that great a resource. However, my tutor loved it and had it with him every tutorial.

Lecturer(s):
Daniel was alright, however it was obvious he was only a step-in while Kais was busy with work. He wasn't bad, he often went on completely irrelevant tangents (although they were interesting), but he's nowhere near as good as Kais (which is something he very much hinted at during our last lecture). He did put in a real effort, though, despite the fact he was only a step-in.

Kais was an AMAZING lecturer. He REALLY cares about you, and he works hard to help you understand the material. He's my favourite lecturer so far into my university experience, and for good reason.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 82, HD

Comments: This is your basic Introduction to Probability unit, and can be separated into 5 different topics which I'm going to go over:

1. Basics of Probability
Most of this chapter isn't really assessed (one question on the both the mid-sem and exam, one or two questions on the first assignment), however it covers extremely important concepts. You go over Kolmogorov's axioms, which is the basis of probability theory, and learn some important notation along with De Morgan's laws. The most important part of this section, though, is the law of total probability and Bayes' Law. LTP will come up again in future problems, Bayes' Law is just an important thing. Basic conditioning is also covered. This first section is very similar to what you'll have seen from your high school probability days.

2. Discrete Distributions
This chapter is all about common discrete distributions (from methods, you may remember binomial), including Bernoulli, binomial, Poisson, geometric and discrete uniform. You go over the PMFs of the distributions, what makes them a valid PMF (in reference to the axioms), and derive their means and variances through various methods. You also learn about basic concepts that can be applied to all distributions (such as moments, variance, etc.).

3. Continuous Distributions
This chapter extends our knowledge into continuous distributions. You cover much more in this case, including continuous uniform, exponential, gamma (including the gamma function) and normal. Once again, you learn about the PDF and what makes them valid PDFs, and look at their CDFs. After this, you extend your knowledge into joint distributions (also applying this knowledge to discrete distributions), and look at conditional distributions.

4. Further Topics
This is where you no longer expand on year 12 knowledge, and instead learn all new material. Important topics include transformation of distributions (for example, ), and combining distributions (for example, ). The latter you look at through the use of Moment Generating Functions (MGFs) and by convolution. You also look at the application of MGFs to find any moment of a distribution (the th moment of is defined as ). Conditioning is also explored in more depth, including a proper look at the law of total expectation and law of total variance (which are introduced in topics 2 and 3). You also explore the idea of the bivariate normal distribution, and then extend this into the multivariate normal distribution.

5. Limit Theorems
This part of the course is very analytical - if you've done Real Analysis, you may find it helpful. However, having only done 1030 before this (I did do 1035, didn't understand most of the extra content...), I was able to understand the material fine. There are 5 laws you work with, each will be proven. Very little of this is assessed, just one question on the exam. The laws are,
You also go over the idea of "convergence in probability" compared to "true convergence". Personally, I found this chapter very interesting, and the best part of the unit.

Chapters 1-3 seem very fiddly and tedious, however the assignments are super interesting which made up for it. Chapters 4 and 5 were easily the most interesting, however it makes sense that they are left to the end.

There are also a LOT of parallels between this unit and the first 4 weeks of MTH2232 - in fact, everything in the first 3 topics (And some in the fourth and fifth) will be seen in 2232 before you get to it in 2222. So, if you're considering a stats major/minor, I highly suggest doing them together.

The overall difficulty isn't that high, however the unit as a whole is not as interesting as MTH2232. If you're looking for a fun unit, do MTH2232, however if you want to go onto further stats units, do this one for obvious reasons. If you have to put either MTH2232 or MTH2222 off for a year, do this one. It's not as fun, but it'll be much easier for you when you get to MTH2232 having seen all this before.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: achre on October 29, 2014, 04:49:14 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2869 – Political Philosophy

Workload:  1x1hr lecture, 1hr tute.

Assessment:
Weekly tute papers: (300 words, 50 words) worth 5% each for a total of 30%. You submit 8, only your best 6 count, so if you wanna take a gamble you can technically skip two weeks. And I guess if you're perfect, you can safely skip at least one.

Major essay (2500 words): This was a very lax sort of assessment task. You pick one topic from six topics, but if you like, you have the option to come up with your own topic that you’re interested in and just write on that. If you submitted it before a certain date, you got it back with feedback and you’re given a week to edit it in view of the feedback, resubmit it, and get a new grade formed from the average of your two submissions. Worth 70% of your grade.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No exam :)

Textbook Recommendation:  Unit reader is essential.

Lecturer(s): John Thrasher & Toby Handfield

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 Semester 2

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:

I gave the least helpful SETU evaluation for this unit. Something to the effect of “I have absolutely no complaints*** for this subject”. This is easily the best unit I’ve taken so far at Monash. It’s also the second subject run by Toby that I’ve taken, and I’m noticing some trends there. He cares a lot about pedagogy, and has a greater concern for the extent to which people learn the content than to the extent to which assessment tasks can be used to discern the good students from the great students. To this end, none of the assessment in this course was particularly challenging. Political Philosophy manages to be intellectually stimulating, while remaining juuust easy enough to keep you motivated throughout the semester. In the first week, the idea of weekly paper submissions sounded very demanding, but they were super short, marked extremely generously, and were a great way to keep you on your toes with the readings. In the 2nd year flavour at least, these papers were mostly expository, with the main criteria being your ability to express philosophical ideas with appropriate sophistication and language.

If it’s not clear enough from the unit description or guide (which, apparently, it wasn’t), this unit isn’t concerned with exploring the philosophical underpinnings of different political ideologies like conservatism or communism or authoritarianism. It seems some students were anticipating a type of hybrid polisci/philosophy unit. This isn’t the case, and while that sounds like an exciting subject, I think the actual content of this unit is far more interesting.

Pol Phil is mainly concerned with the question of how we ought to conceptualize “justice”. It was structured really well in this regard – we introduced some classical conceptions of liberal justice in week one, then got some quasi-economic tools to bring to contemporary perspectives on the matter. John Rawls (probably the main philosopher of the unit, like Peter Singer in ATS1371) comes in in week 3, then some feminist criticisms of Rawlsian justice, and then the idea of desert (pronounced like the culinary item, spelt like the arid geographic area, actually the noun form of deservingness) is introduced in opposition to Rawlsian egalitarianism. The unit then roughly shifts to a sort of desert V equality debate, which, in my opinion, is where the unit got really interesting. My essay was a defence of justice as desert, and I got a little obsessed, and haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Make my day, ask me about Rawls's metaphysical argument against desert.

I would definitely recommend this to any philosophy major, or, hell, anybody with a spare elective. Top unit.



***If I have one complaint, though, it’s this: for no apparent reason, ATS2869 does not constitute a Human Rights elective. In 2015 and 2013, it is a HR elective. In 2014, for whatever reason, it’s not. The third year flavour is, but ATS2869 is a bioethics elective (despite only having one week, sort of just tacked on at the end, that gives any sort of biological context to justice). Like I said, if you’re taking this up post-2014, this doesn’t apply to you at all. But yeah, bit annoying.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: DisaFear on October 31, 2014, 07:04:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM3922 - Advanced Organic Chemistry

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Depends. Two of the three lecturers used screen capture, last lecturer used transparencies

Past exams available:  Yes, about 2-3 past exams available. Answers are not available

Textbook Recommendation:
Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: 2014 Semester 2

Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on November 01, 2014, 11:30:13 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2232 - Mathematical Statistics (note: I suggest reading this in tandem with my review for MTH2222, here)

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture/blackboard recording.

Past exams available:  Yes, three available with solutions. However, one of these wasn't very relevant to the unit.

Textbook Recommendation: Probability & Statistical Inference 8ed PNIE, Hogg R (Recommended)
Honestly - I LOVED this textbook. I originally had it borrowed from the library, but I loved it so much that I actually went out and bought it. (Note, I got it off of fishpond for $60 as opposed to Monash's price of $116.51)

Lecturer(s):
Pavel was... Not my favourite lecturer, to say the least. He got sidetracked a lot early on, and so when we got to the end of week 4 he had to rush through all the content. Unfortunately, the content that he rushed through is the single most important content in the whole unit (NOT an understatement. You'll see why later)

Kais, I have nothing but love for. He felt we were so far behind at one point, he actually spent a whole week to consolidate information, cancelling the week's assessment. Seriously, he is an amazing man.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 2

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90, HD
Don't let the higher mark than MTH2222 fool you - I would rate this as higher in difficulty. The marks only reflect how much more enjoyable I found this over MTH2222, rather than a reflection on difficulty.

Comments: This unit is (from what I could tell) actually very similar to STA1010. The reason for that is quite simple, though - STA1010 is a unit to teach statistical methods that are very useful for one in the sciences. MTH2232, however, is designed so that one can create these statistical tests. As such, a lot of the content is similar, however in MTH2232 you are expected to be able to derive any form of statistical test through what you've learned. Funnily enough, MTH2232 and STA1010 aren't prohibitions - means you can get a nice bludge if you do MTH2232 first. (and I do often help my friends with STA1010, so there is a lot of relevance). MTH2232 can be broken up into three sections, like so:

1. Probability
This section is a doozy - basically, to do statistical inference, you need to understand probability. This is because probability is the language of statistical inference. So, you spend the first four weeks in intense work, learning about all the necessary skills. It's basically 2/3 of the MTH2222 course condensed into four weeks - minus limit theorems (except Central Limit Theorem) and some of the bits from section 4. We also don't have the time to extend all the different techniques to the distributions we know as a result.

Something that is done, however, is we consider three "extra" distributions - the chi-squared distribution, which is a special case of the gamma distribution, and the F and t-distributions. The latter 2 just randomly pop up for no reason in chapter 5's content, however it makes sense very quickly why we considered them. There is a much heavier emphasis on the transformations of random variables in this unit.

Finally, the most important content of the whole unit is in section - often referred to as "chapter 5" (since this is where the content is in the textbook). This is no understatement, either - EVERYTHING you learn in chapter 5 is ESSENTIAL to later parts of the unit, whereas earlier chapters are only really necessary so that you can understand chapter 5 and play around with populations.

2. Statistical Tests
This is the bulk of the unit, and can be further separated into two parts - confidence intervals and hypothesis testing.

There's not really much else to say - you consider how to create confidence intervals using the content from chapter 5, and do this for a bunch of different cases. For means, variances, proportions, and you also consider the optimal sample sizes for different situations.

Hypothesis testing then extends on from confidence intervals, but you also consider hypothesis tests for other situations, such as when you have m different sets of n samples. (ANOVA tables)

The proofs from this section are often hard to follow, but nothing a good sit-down and looking at can't help.

3. Other things
I can't comment too much on this - Kais said he wanted to go over some "very nice" results from chapter 10 (the chapter is literally titled "Some Theory"), but we ran out of time. We did go over chi-squared tests, which are designed to check lots of different things. One thing they can do is check how well a distribution fits to a sample (which is why the tests are often called "chi-squared goodness-of-fit tests). These particular tests are based the multinomial distribution, which is some new theory to add on from section 1.

On the Exam...
One thing I wanted to highlight special is that this unit's exam is different to many other unit's exams. Firstly, you don't get a scientific calculator like in STA1010. Secondly, you're allowed a double sided summary sheet which you can take into the exam (we were also allowed this for the mid-sem). Thirdly, it's split up into two sections, but these two sections don't work like many other units. Unlike in most units, where it's a case of "here's the content from weeks 1-6, and here's the content from weeks 7-12". Rather, section A is a "Theory" section, in which you need to be able to derive your own statistical tests (as well as some minor probability questions, nothing like MTH2222 though), and section B is an "Application" section. Unlike in section A, for section B you're allowed to just blindly use formula without any explanation as to why (much like how I'd expect STA1010 to be).

In terms of MTH2222, the crossover was very nice. For the most part, it made MTH2222 a lot easier because I had already seen the material (I nearly started skipping lectures altogether for MTH2222 as a result, and sometimes did skip the lecture because I knew what was coming), but near the end it helped consolidate what I'd learned in MTH2232 (this was probably due to the rush at the end, though).

I found MTH2232 to be a lot more fun that MTH2222, however MTH2222 was obviously much more necessary for future probability/statistics units. Same advice from my other review if you're unsure of which to pick.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on November 14, 2014, 03:17:41 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED3062 - Medicine and Surgery 2

Workload: per week: varies between sites, you're expected to stay between 7-8am (former for surgery, latter for medicine) to 4-5pm each day giving a total of ~50 contact hours per week, whether you stay that whole time depends on how you study and what you want to get out of being on the wards. Each site usually has lectures on Wednesday and it varies between sites how many lectures there are. This is identical to MED3051.

Assessment: 70% Mini Case Records (MCRs - four summative in this unit), 30% Evidence Based Clinical Practice "Therapy" Task, attendance (80% hurdle), completion of online pathology quizzes (14 in all - hurdle), complete submission of portfolio (hurdle).

Recorded Lectures: No.

Past exams available: No, the Faculty has now published a document with threats to expel students from the course if they are caught compiling past questions or distributing or using past compilations. All past compilations have been removed from the MUMUS site. Many EMQ/MCQ books can substitute for official exams though.

Textbook Recommendation: (these are going to be a bit different to MED3051 as I discovered some better books ;))
*Pick one depending on how keen or lazy you are, I don't feel a need to go into more high-power texts

I'd also recommend utilising UpToDate as much as possible.

Lecturer(s): Many, depending on the series of lecture (reproductive, haematology, neurology, psychiatry, pharmacology, pathology, etc.)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2014

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
So this unit follows on from and is almost identical to MED3051. It's a continuation of the Monash MBBS clinical training, and I'd advise you read up on my previous review for how typical days entail for medicine and surgery from my experience.

If I were to add an additional piece of advice to prospective students taking this unit, it would be "take advantage of clinics"! Go to as many as possible as they are a fantastic learning opportunity. I went to a number of clinics from units I didn't have a chance to rotate in and you'll find that if you ask nicely and appear keen most consultants and registrars are me than happy for you to sit in and participate. It really adds an extra dimension to your clinical learning, and I'd highly recommend stalking these out-patient clinics as much as possible.

I guess with this unit, comes the big assessments of MED3200 (next review!) so I think whilst MED3051 is more of an "intro to the wards, have some fun with procedures, etc", this unit is more about "knuckling down and trying to learn as much as possible". Practice is the key here, and I'll be talking more about this in the MED3200 review.

With the format being the same as MED3051, there really isn't a great deal more to add. Make sure you stay on top of your assessments and you stay on top of your study, it's difficult to cram a year's worth of material into SWOTVAC.

Again, as with my reviews of the previous MBBS units, I think it's really important to get involved with the course outside of the teaching periods too. Something I did which I found amazing, was volunteer for the practice and real FRACP clinical exams. These are exams sat by medical registrars in order to progress to become advanced trainees in their desired specialty, so the stakes are very high :P In some ways they are OSCE-esque, and I found helping out to be useful on two fronts:
1) I'm interested in the Physician pathway myself, so found this to be really exciting!
2) You get to see high-standard clinical examinations, and get to see what the required knowledge it like, it's really amazing and I picked up a lot of tips.

Again, I'd highly recommend getting involved in inter-year study groups (teaching in Year 2/3, learning from Year 3/4) and getting involved in the social events such as the "Year 3B AXP" which was a pretty sweet night (last night) from what I can remember of it ;)

All-in-all, whilst this is again a very exciting unit, it's also one that is a bit more stressful with the big assessments coming your way. As mentioned, far better than pre-clinical learning, and I wouldn't trade my experiences here for any other course :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on November 14, 2014, 03:30:32 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED3200 - Introductory clinical studies

Workload: N/A, this unit consists of an OSCE and a written examination and occurs throughout this Year III. There are revision lectures held every 2 weeks run by MUMUS.

Assessment: 55% OSCE, 45% End of year written examination.

Recorded Lectures: N/A

Past exams available: No, the Faculty has now published a document with threats to expel students from the course if they are caught compiling past questions or distributing or using past compilations. All past compilations have been removed from the MUMUS site.

Textbook Recommendation: (specific to OSCE and written exam)
OSCE:

Written exam:

I'd also recommend utilising UpToDate as much as possible.

Lecturer(s): Various presenters depending on revision topic being discussed.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2014

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
This is an unconventional "unit", like MED2000. It runs "throughout" the year and is essentially the bulk of assessment for Year III. The OSCE, unlike pre-clinical ones, is 10 stations (+ 2 rest stations) in a single day, held at clinical sites (not your own) or on campus. The written exam is a 3 hour examination with 100 MCQ and EMQ questions only.

The key to doing well, is consistent practice.

For the OSCE, try and take as many histories and exams as you can, practice in study groups, practice on patients, practice in bedside tutes. Be that guy who sticks up their hand and volunteers to see the patient in the group, you'll get a lot out of it even if it does mean a few minutes in the hot-seat. I'd also recommend, when practicing in groups, to throw a lot of "curve-balls" as stations as this is what Monash likes to do. Make sure you can perform every clinical exam, do every procedure, explain consent for anything, describe pathology specimens, interpret ECGs, etc.

For the written exam, I think there are really two ways to go about this:
1) The "proper" way - consulting textbooks and learning a huge amount of detail. You'll be very well versed in pretty much anything Monash can throw at your but it will take a lot of time and persistence.
2) The "lazy" way - learning how Monash writes exam questions. Get hold of past papers and try and smash them out. Do MCQ/EMQ books, learn what the "buzzwords" are for various conditions. You may struggle if a consultant asks you a detailed question, but you should be alright for the exam.

In the end, I think most people start off with Option 1 and during the tail-end of the year end up falling onto Option 2. Not a bad way to go about it. Either way, finding which way works for you is something you should have discovered in your prep for pre-clinical exams, but make sure you don't fall behind and leave too much to do in the last moment.

To be perfectly honest, the best part of this assessment unit, is finishing it :P On to Year IV! :D
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ChloeCameleon3 on November 19, 2014, 10:21:17 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS2624 - Global Governance 

Workload:  1 x 1 hour lecture and 1 x 1 hour tutorial weekly

Assessment:
1: 20%, "The Limits and Possibilities of Global Governance from Different Theoretical perspectives"
2: 35%, "A Critical Analysis of Governance in Film"
3: 35%, exam
4: 10%, tutorial participation

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, with no sample exams either.

Textbook Recommendation:  Prescribed is 'Weiss, T 2013, Global Governance: Why? What? Whither?, Polity Press, Cambridge'. It is the main textbook used every week for the readings. Additional articles are accessible online.

Lecturer(s): Anne McNevin, Sara Meger

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 2

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: N/A

Comments:
Overview of Semester: The first month focused on looking at the history and elements of global governance, and covered the main theories of international relations (i.e., Realism, liberalism, critical theories). These weeks were pretty boring, but necessary for the first assignment. From weeks 5-11, more specific types of governance were covered, including economic governance, development governance, environmental governance, security governance, and humanitarian governance. These were more interesting, especially as the lecturers were mixed up and the content much more relevant to current global affairs.
Assessment: The first assignment was a real pain, as it was 'NOT AN ESSAY' (Anne emphasised this a lot), but there was no great guidance given to us on what was expected etc. I've heard that heaps of people failed this assignment, due to harsh marking and lack of guidance. Average mark was around 55% I think. For the assignment, we basically had to pick a theory (e.g., realism), and describe what that theory says about global governance.
The second assignment was a lot better. At first, I was a little disappointed that there were no set essay questions, but as I was actually writing the assignment, I enjoyed having the freedom to choose what to discuss and not be limited by the essay question. For the essay, we watched a film that addressed a global governance issue (e.g., Hotel Rwanda, Outbreak), and applied knowledge of global governance to the film's events.
I am writing this review before sitting the exam (in fact, the exam is in about 4 hours), so I can't comment about the quality of the exam.
Comments:   Overall, this unit was run in a fairly basic and organised manner. There were some issues with the online library reading list, which the tutor (Anne) basically blamed on the students. I don't think anyone enjoyed the first assignment , but I can kinda see the value in doing it (in hindsight). Generally, there was not a lot of support from the staff throughout the semester. I found some staff to be condescending and unsympathetic when students skipped the reading for one week. In tutorials, students were individually picked on to justify why they had not done the readings. I can see that it would be frustrating to have 25% of the class not do the readings, but for most people, there were extremely legitimate reasons.
Things I liked: the low contact hours, the second assignment, and the guest lecturer for week 11 (Tom Bamforth).
Things I didn't like: lectures were pretty boring, tutes were not engaging, the first assignment as bad. I was really hoping to have some lively discussions in class, and was really disappointed in how dull they were.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: DisaFear on November 19, 2014, 10:19:13 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM3972 - Sustainable Chemistry

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  None because it was the first year the unit ran when I did it

Textbook Recommendation:  None

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 2

Rating:  3.8/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: jeanweasley on November 19, 2014, 10:20:09 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1282 - CRIMINAL JUSTICE (IN) ACTION 

Workload:  1x 2 hour lecture, 1x 1 hour tute

Assessment:  Research Task & Online activity (10%, 5% each) and Major Essay 2,000 words (40%) Attendance (10%) End of semester Exam (40%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, until 2011 but 2011 does not really count as the unit was changed since then. The format of the exams now consists of two sections which ask you to write a short essay instead of just the definition questions like in 2011.

Textbook Recommendation:  The custom textbook is a must for tutorial discussions as readings are often discussed in the tutes. If you don't want to buy it, though, you definitely can just exist with reading the slides and listening to the lectures as most of the information is cross-presented, however, there are just some little facts and other theories that were not covered in depth, that you could probably benefit from reading. If you want to do well in the exam, having this book is also helpful as the lecturers really are keen in you using the criminology terms such as overpolicing, underpolicing, recidivism etc.

Lecturer(s): Lecturers varied depending on the module. First three weeks was Asher Flynn specialising on Police, then James Roffee on Courts, others also included the co-ordinator Bree Carlton, & also Danielle Tyson.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2014

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: (Optional) TBA

Comments: To be honest, I was going to take this unit instead of Philosophy this year as one of my possible minors but I was turned off by the handbook description as it sounded really dry and tedious. However, while I still took this unit instead of Philosophy because I thought why not give it a try.

I was disappointed. First of all, I really would have to say that Wednesday afternoons listening to the 2 hour lecture was my favourite, mainly because I was genuinely interested in the content and that the lecturers were often interesting and they really did present tough questions for us to think about. I also wished that I had done this earlier in the year as the unit really was interesting and it did give me insight to crime.

But and this is really big but, there was no depth. I felt like while I was able to argue about crime and provide solutions, there was no real discussion in tutorials. It was like a regurgitation of what was spoken about in the lecture. The tutorials always begin with questions about definitions and we were tasked to talk into groups and then explain our thoughts. While this seems ideal, group talk doesn't always work, especially in tough groups. But the main complaint here is that the questions were far too basic, they didn't really prompt any discussion. Like I said, they were just definition questions which asked us what x definition was and why it happened, there was no, challenging this definition or questioning its acceptance.  There was no scenario scenes where we could have used the new terms we learnt and came up with, or tried to come up with solutions to a possible problem.

In short, I felt like we weren't trusted enough to share our opinion and that as long as we put in the terms that were mentioned in the lecture in our essay, that we'd be guaranteed a good mark. It's really disappointing because we could have talked more about Bentham's theory, the positivist model, and the theory of technologies of power as reasons for why people choose the criminal life. Now, I don't know if this was covered in Semester 1 but I know that this would have made the unit more interesting.

Another criticism is that while the first two lecturers were amazing , the rest didn't really exude any enthusiasm. There wasn't enough feeling that hey, as future criminologists, your viewpoint should be challenged and you should think about things. To me, it felt like we were being taught but not really taught. Like we were good enough to participate but not really learn. Now I don't know if that's too harsh a review but I really felt like with all the interesting topics covered that at least the tutorials could have had some challenging questions instead of "what is this and that and why does this and that happen", because in all honesty anyone can define why things happen and why. It's in the readings, it's not that hard. The real thinking comes when real scenarios happen. To be fair though, we did have extra readings but again, the questions in those readings were pretty simplistic. eg. what is mandatory sentencing and why is it important etc. They were all questions we could all answer.

Nonetheless, it is a good unit and if you are interested in doing Criminology, it is not that bad to take, but be prepared to not have real class discussions.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: JinXi on November 20, 2014, 08:22:22 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAE3401 - Aerodynamics II

Workload:  3 x 1hr lectures, 1 x 2hr tutorial

Assessment:  10% Tutorial Marks (Basically just rock up and you'll get your marks), 20% Written Report

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, dating back to 2007. Solutions to at least 2 papers were provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  None, but it would be useful to have "Fundamentals of Aerodynamics by Anderson" from Aerodynamics I

Lecturer(s): A/Prof Greg Sheard

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Sem 1

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87

Comments: This unit was just an extension of Aerodynamics I, with some revision. Typical aerodynamics stuff like Boundary layers, flows (This time with compressible flows instead of just incompressible flows, which adds extra terms to the NSE), basic circulation etc. were covered. I would assume that you've already had Greg previously from Aerodynamics I, and the way he delivers Aero II is EXACTLY the same.

For the assignment, you basically have to use a software called VIPER which was developed by Greg, run some flow simulations, then extract the data and analyse them using a program called tecplot. It was fairly time consuming analysing the data and would require reading up on some past articles (there are plenty available) to get a high mark. I would definitely suggest learning how to use macros on tecplot when you come across it as the process is really repetitive.

As with Aero I, the lecture notes and tutorial were very well documented, which lead to low attendance in lectures. This is a unit that you can cram 2 days before the exams and wing a HD so no complaints on my side. One of the easier 3rd year unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: JinXi on November 20, 2014, 08:38:30 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAE3404 - Flight Vehicle Dynamics

Workload:  3 x 1hr lectures, 1 x 2hr tutorials (optional)

Assessment:  5 x 6% Assignment, 70% Final Exam

Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  Yes, but without solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  None

Lecturer(s): Prof. Bijan Shirinzadeh

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Sem 1

Rating:  3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 70

Comments: So first day of lecture, and this man walks into a 3rd year Aerospace class and announces that he's Bijan and is our lecturer. Then, he drops the bomb. "WHY ARE YOU ALL STUDYING AEROSPACE ENGINEERING? You realize that the job market has gone to shits and there is NO JOBS for you out there?" I mean what the heck can you tell us when we're in first year and not when we've already invested 2 years in the degree?

The he follows up with "THIS IS THE HARDEST UNIT IN THE UNIVERSITY, BAR NONE! There is NOOOOO other subject in your ENTIRE course that is similar to this UNIT!" I'll give him credit for this though... This unit is easily one of the hardest unit (until Flight Vehicle Propulsion which will rekt your life) and he isn't joking when you says you'll fail if you don't study. I know 3 people that failed this unit and they've haven't previously failed a unit before. Let this be a warning to all future victims to keep up to speed on this unit. I am a massive last minute crammer and procrastinator but not for this unit.

Also, be prepared to hear countless stories of Bijan life, from conferences in the states, to rants about star trek technologies to dissing the university system. Also, please don't try and be smart and pick an argument with this man as he'll make you'll immediately regret your decision. Attend ALL lectures as it isn't recorded but most importantly, because he drops massive assignment hints in lectures. Without the hints, it is near impossible to complete the assignments so make sure you have friends who are covering your back if you have to skip lectures.

Now onto the more serious stuff, I found the content covered in this unit to be really interesting albeit really complicated to grasp. Nothing will click into place until the final few lectures where everything just links together and you feel awesome.

Anyway, if you still haven't got the message, THIS IS NOT A UNIT YOU CAN SLACK AND GET AWAY WITH IT WITHOUT GETTING OWNED. Have fun.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: JinXi on November 20, 2014, 08:53:28 pm
Subject Code/Name: MEC4426 - Computer-aided Design 

Workload:  2 x 1 hr lectures, 1 x 2hr computer labs

Assessment:  30% Assignments, 20% Mid-Semester, 50% Final

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, with a couple of solutions.

Textbook Recommendation: -

Lecturer(s): Dr. Wenyi Yan

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Sem 1

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 85

Comments: This unit is an introduction to the different type of industrial simulations, with high focus on meshing techniques, computational problems, computational costs, and is really applicable to the engineering industry. The maths involved in this unit is fairly simple and nothing harder than 2nd year engineering maths. To do well, you will need to be able to select different type of model set-ups depending on the applications.

The content in this unit was well organized, but there are a fair number of students who found it difficult to understand Wenyi's accent (Chinese) which lead to some confusion. However, he is really helpful and approachable when you need extra clarification and goes out of his way to help students understand the material.

The main component of this course was the computer labs (duh) and you will be required to learn some basic coding in Abaqus. (a CFD software) I've used Abaqus previously during a summer internship thus I found it really basic and straightforward, but a few of my peers took some time to get used to the new language. The tutors are really helpful during the computer labs, so do approach them for help. The will also guide you in the right direction for the assignments which isn't too tricky but takes some time to set up properly so I would advise you to get started early.

Overall, I'm not the best person to rate this unit as it is a computer based unit as I really like programming/simulations but I really enjoyed this unit as I found it relevant to what I may be doing in the future.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: JinXi on November 20, 2014, 09:32:18 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAE3402 - Aerospace Design Project 

Workload:  3 x 1hr lectures, 1 x 2hr tutorial (Optional)

Assessment:  50% Design Project (35% Final Report, 10% Concept Report, 5% Presentation), 50% Final Exam

Recorded Lectures: No

Past exams available:  Yes, dating back to 2009 with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Library

Lecturer(s): Prof. Hugh Blackburn

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Sem 2

Rating: 1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Pending

Comments: Me and a few of my friend had really high expectations of this unit after hearing about it from the previous cohort (Unit was taken by Daniel Mitchell in 2013). We've formed our group of 8 members before the semester started, and began conceptualizing ideas, planning our timetables and brushing up on our specialization (each of us in the group were good in something). Come's first week, Hugh walks in and announces that this year, the groups will be allocated randomly which caused a huge uproar. When asked why he simply said there were too many good groups and too many bad groups in the previous year and so he wanted to even out the field. I would be fine if it was a small assignment, but for 50% with 8 randoms? Hugh tried to justify his choice by saying that we have to work with different type of people in the workforce, and was met with the retort of the year:"But retards won't get a job in the Aerospace Industry". He just smirked and went on with this lectures.

Let me tell you, pray to god that you have a decent group and a couple of hardworking members in your group. Meeting were impossible to schedule and the only time we had all 8 members present was during the presentation (One member didn't bother to show up to sign the coversheet of the final submission report and got 0, which was fair cause he didn't do anything) Only 2-3 members were working in each group, and say goodbye to your sleep leading up to the final report submission. The week prior to the submission, the earliest I left uni was 3am in the morning and coming back to uni no later than 9am for 5 consecutive days. On the day before submission, I brought my toothbrush and stayed throughout the night. It definitely wouldn't be so hectic if everyone in the team pulled their weight, but naturally, that will never be the case in a group of 8 randoms.

We had to design a lame Short-Take off and Landing (STOL) amphibious fire fighting aircraft for our year while the previous year got to design a space tourism aircraft (not unlike what space X/virgin galactic is doing)...The final report is going to include alot of details, and will be well over 150 pages, with some groups going over 250 pages. You will need literature review, solidworks, flow simulations, matlab, design calculations, basically everything that you've learnt previously.

The lectures were really really boring as hugh basically faces the slides and reads off them. The amount of information on the slides doesn't help too as it's filled to the brim with calculations and words. My advice is to just skip the lectures completely and read the slides. Attendance were a record low for this unit and barely achieves 10 people on good days.

After the hell of finishing off the final report, you have to look forward to the presentations where Hugh will try his absolute best to pick out flaws in your design instead of giving constructive criticism. Past that, you have the final exam to look forward to which was incredibly hard in previous years and got us panicking as many of us were focused on the project and fell way behind in tutorials and lectures (I started doing my first tutorial sheet in swotvac). Luckily for us, the 2014 exam was reasonably simple and straightforward.

Anyway, the unit inspired me to make this image of our design.
(http://www.jobspiria.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/MAE3402Pic.png)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on November 20, 2014, 09:57:38 pm
Subject Code/Name: MON2002 - Improving Health Futures in a Global World

Workload: 1x 3-hr lecture/tutorial/discussion per week

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Nope. You wouldn't need them to be recorded anyway.

Past exams available: No exam!

Textbook Recommendation: No textbooks required.

Lecturer(s): Mr. (Soon to be Dr.) Brad Crammond

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2014

Rating: 4 out of 5

Comments:

Overview
This is a "Depth" unit, part of the Monash Passport "Enhance Program" set of units. I'm not going to elaborate much on this, but please have a read of what the Monash Passport program is about here.

This is a really interesting and very unconventionally structured unit. The unit is co-run at the Monash Caulfield campus and Oxfam in Carlton, and tutes were roughly divided between these two places. The aim of MON2002 was to look primarily at developing countries and communities and the health-based, social, economic, political and cultural problems they face. The unit provides an education of and a historical background on global development and how they relate to contemporary and major historical health problems and the many factors that contribute to them. Understandably, a lot of classes were spent getting distracted by discussing la maladie du jour - Ebola.


Unit location:
As mentioned above, the unit is partly run at Monash Caulfield and partly at the Oxfam offices in Carlton (pretty much opposite the UoM Law building, which I must admit is a pretty cool building *grumbles*).

(http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/33067707.jpg)
The very impressive UoM law building...

(http://i.imgur.com/bXUTxmb.png)
...and the slightly less impressive Oxfam Australia offices. 10/10 bathrooms though.

Full disclosure: I went into the unit with a fairly poor opinion of Oxfam as an organisation; although they do a lot of good in the developing world I was, and am still, critical of the political skew they often lend towards their activities and opinions. However, in the interests of not being a douchebag, I didn't make a big deal of it because at the end of the day your opinions - positive, negative or anything in between - of Oxfam aren't relevant to the unit. What you might want to be aware of is that this unit is run jointly between Monash and Oxfam, so you pretty much aren't going to be seeing any material critical of Oxfam.


Classes
Classes are fairly informal - to an extent - which was a wonderful departure from the standard lecture/lab or lecture/tute combinations which are prevalent in biomed and science.

There is only one class per week, a 3-hour 'lectorial'/discussion session-type thing. Broadly speaking, the session is broken up into a 1-hour lecture from either Brad or a guest lecturer, then a ~2 hour discussion on a case study relevant to the global development topic covered that week. Inevitably the lecture and discussion sections were broken up by a coffee break, which was welcome.


Lecture topics

All of these were really interesting, engaging and great for discussion. Because this unit doesn't really belong to any degree, the class consisted of a few biomed students, some health science students and one or two arts/law students. The diversity of opinions, experiences and paradigms on global development made for some intense but fascinating discussions, and Brad was really good in that he was more like a peer than as a teacher during discussions (albeit a peer who's responsible for your grades, lol).


Assessment:
Like so many other aspects of this unit, the assessments in MON2002 were unlike anything else I've experienced in biomed or science which was a generally welcome change.

A big benefit of this unit to me was that there are only 3 pieces of assessment in the entire course:


All these assessments were relatively straightforward (barring the group oral, where true to form I went way, way over time), and 2,000 words really isn't a stretch to write in a fairly short period of time  - or it really shouldn't be in second year of university :P.

Personally I prefer having more assessments, worth less, throughout semester as opposed to the system in place here. However, it was good to have sparse assessments for a unit for once, which meant I could devote more time to some of my more time-intensive units this semester.

Exam? NO EXAM, get on my level. This may or may not have been a major factor in me picking the unit in the first place. That said, it certainly didn't disappoint in any way.


Overall, this is a fantastic unit on topics that aren't really available to students outside of the Bachelor of Health Science. It was refreshing to learn about health issues outside of the biomed/science spectrum where the presumption is often based on the presence of existing health infrastructure and abundant resources, which is often not the case in developing countries. This unit was coordinated well (it helped that the class size was initially very small, and halved after the first week), and the discussions were very engaging and in-depth. There are also some great pubs in Carlton, make sure to check those out after class during the Oxfam weeks :P
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: brenden on November 21, 2014, 12:06:22 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2875 - The Moral Psychology of Evil

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yep, with slides shown.

Past exams available:  Sample exam available.

Textbook Recommendation:

The unit reader isn't HUGELY important. I skipped a LOT of readings for this unit just because I was under the pump... I mean, the first essay  I got through by referencing one article in the reader and then referencing other journal articles etc, the second essay was a similar process - used a lot of external research on virtue ethics (SEP, Hurthouse, Annas). The exam was two short answer questions (choose from 8 or 10 or something), and I'd been a pretty lively member of tutorials so I had a good memory for the conceptual issues behind the questions. So, I got through the unit comfortably only doing three or so readings. That said, it was definitely a pain at times and my personal learning almost certainly suffered, but the unit is structured in a way that you won't be screwed if you don't do them. Obviously they'd be a really great thing to do, though.

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2014

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments: Firstly, Justin is a great tutor and I loved tutorials for this unit. I would highly highly highly recommend doing whatever you can to get into his tutorials. He was missing for a few of our tutes, and whilst the replacements were still alright, they simply weren't as enjoyable or effective as Justin's. For this reason I would really do your best to get into Justin's tute. So... Once more... in case you missed it or think I'm joking. Do yourself a favour. Get into his tute. He's pretty jovial, has some really valuable thoughts on the subject (I think he's kinda one of the leading academic in the area? I know he made this unit a few years ago and there's not really too many similar units around in other unis, not that I've done extensive research, but he definitely jets off to all sorts of different countries to give conferences and things of that nature).

Lectures were good, but Justin's a better tutor than he is lecturer. (He's still a good lecturer, though), but often I was less engaged by the lectures than I was by the tutorials... I think he's just stylistically different to the 'deep philosophy' type that I'm used to - Bob Simpson, Toby, Linda etc... I'm used to people isolating one really specific conceptual issue and then breaking it into parts from different angles. Justin sort of told a type of narrative that involved the conceptual issue but it seemed harder to focus on for me, and so the lectures were just a bit harder to really focus on.

Content-wise, the unit material is in a large way concerned with the concept of "character" qua virtue ethics, so if you in some way reject out of hand that people have deep characters, you'd probably be in for a bad time. Some interest questions asked by the unit: are remote scenarios more indicative of someone's "authentic" character than their everyday actions? Are people less evil if they were merely 'unlucky' (shit childhood, bad situations qua Nazis)? Is someone more evil if they recognise it or have a role against it (doctors)? Can psychopaths be thought of as evil? In some ways, many of these questions rely upon certain empirical beliefs about human psychology, so took away from the 'conceptual meat' imo (which is probably represented in the missing 1.5 marks in my rating)... Because of the quasi empirical nature of the discussion and occasionally diluted conceptual idea - along with the somewhat, and merely somewhat, repetitive feel to the theme of 'evil' (well... let's face it... look at the unit name), the unit was at times less gripping than is ideal, but still good. I don't want to give a negative impression, because it really was a good unit, it just wasn't my favourite unit, but that doesn't make it bad.

Assessment was pretty standard. At the same time as this unit I was taking third year Political Philosophy which had a bit more meatiness to it, as well as another third year philosophy subject, so relative to those, this units assessment felt really easy to me (e.g., a 1000 word essay, whilst somewhat challenging, can't really be marked as harshly as a 2200 word essay).

The exam was 2 hours, 1500-2000 words in length. Sample exam was given prior to the exam with the old "the real exam will be very close to this exam" recommendation. To Justin's credit, the questions actually WEREN'T exactly the same, although they were quite similar. One question was outright completely different (as in, one was taken out, another completely new one put in). I'd only prepped for two questions, and one of the ones I prepped for was taken out, so that was a hilarious 10 minutes during reading time xD. So yep - be wary of that, but the exam is pretty easy given you prep well.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: brenden on November 21, 2014, 12:40:30 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2628 - Power and Poverty: International Development in a Globalised World

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yep, with slides shown.

Past exams available:  Take home exam.

Textbook Recommendation:

Get the textbook they prescribe. You'd probably be a bit screwed without it. You could take a gamble by not doing the weekly readings and trying to 'bullshit' your answers to the quizzes, and just borrow the textbook from the library when you have to make your quiz, but you'd be playing with fire a bit, really. I gambled on like 3 or 4 of the quizzes and it went okay (but they were later in the semester so I'd already grasped the type of things the textbook would have said), but I definitely scored lower on those quizzes.

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2014

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:

Firstly, I have to mention that the lecture isn't always two hours. For the first three weeks it was close to two hours, but then for the rest it was closer to an hour and ten, an hour and twenty minutes. Further, I had a three hour break after the lecture and before the tutorial (if the lecture went for two hours, so it was normally a four hour break). Like, the lecture was meant to finish at 2pm, usually finished just after 1pm, and my tute was at 5pm. I had the option to change tutorials and I didn't take it. Why? My tute was fucking amazing. I had Tom (Thomas) as my tutor and he is probably the equal best tutor I've ever had if not the outright best. He's a pretty top bloke in general - nice guy etc - but he has an insanely good 'feel' for the mood of the tutorial and modifies the way he goes about things accordingly. He's insanely genuine and straightforward (to the point that, when he made us go around the room saying our names, no one even complained, because he explained it was a necessary evil). I could literally break down this guy's style over the course of an essay, but I'm not going to bother. Safe to say, I noticed particular ways he goes about things and I'll definitely be integrating them in the way I teach my own VCE students. He's just fucking fantastic, so you'd be pretty comprehensively stupid not to get into one of his tute groups. (Also, just by chance, the 5pm tute had a bunch of really good students. Tom said he had other, shitty tutes, so the tutes weren't awesome JUST because of Tom - we just had a great bunch of people).

Lectures were really enlightening. I found them really hard in terms of focussing because this isn't a philosophy unit and I've basically only listened to philosophy lectures for the last two years and this is really empirical in nature. But it's crazy enlightening just as far as, like, "holy shit I had no idea about that". Poverty in parts of the world, misconceptions about poverty in others, economic actions taken by big countries that have failed and sort of succeeded. Just really interesting, crazy bits of information. There's also some pretty fucked parts that make you lose hope in humanity. I'm not sure if that's just me (got wrecked hard by the poverty week in Human Rights 1) but yeah, there are definitely some bits of this unit that should make you really angry and challenge you emotionally.

As far as material goes, if you're politically conservative you're probably going to have a shit time. The name of this unit was so long that I never read it, and thus never really knew what the unit was called, so in my head, I thought of the unit as "How America and neoliberalism fucked the world". As you might now know, how America and neoliberalism fucked the world is one of the main themes of the unit :P. It's quite leftist in that sense - it really challenges the international status quo, which has traditionally/historically been American conservatism. This was also crazy enlightening though. "Free trade" is really great theoretically, but not really when there's a big power imbalance. In that case, it ends up more "Basically trade that's free for America and comes at a great cost to developing countries". (See what I did there?)

The material covers a few different themes, beginning with economics (although this runs throughout the unit), touching on gender, climate change, education, sanitation/structure, etc and how all of these impact upon development. Really, a huge theme throughout all of these topics is, what is development? Wtf is that? Where does the word come from? "Getting better, moving forward?"... Well, forward to what? Industrialisation? Neoliberalism? The Western conception of development? It's a pretty tricky question, and whilst we all took the idea that "developing nations need to develop" for granted at the beginning of the unit, you'll begin to see the way that 'development' has sort of been used by political bodies with agendas and starts to take on many different meanings to the point that it starts to become an empty concept. Prepare to let go of your conception of development :P.

Assessment wise, the unit was kinda weird. Like, you do the readings, then write 4 questions on the readings, then give those questions to everyone else, they do the quiz in 15 minute of class, then give them back to you and your partner, then you grade the quizzes and give them back to the tutor. You do that for one week, and you get marked out of 15 for it. I did mine in the very first week (which I would recommend because it makes the rest of your semester easier. I have no idea why everyone else hesitated to take the first week - it basically meant that this unit had NO in-semester assessment). On top of that quiz, every single week you write your answers to everyone else's quiz, and they grade you out of 4 (with translates to 1.5% for each quiz). It's pretty easy to get full marks, because you either get 0, .5, or 1 for any given answer you write, and people are pretty hesitant to give you a 0 if it seems like you're on track. Some weeks I didn't do the readings (was getting crazy pumped)  and still managed 3.5s etc from writing my answers as confidently as possible. It's kind've annoying to think you're getting assessed by other students, but really, it's just a method to motivate you to do the readings, and for the most part it works and you should comfortable get an 80% average for the quizzes if you can read and write well.

Tutorial participation is probably a big thing from what I can see. It doesn't mean "attendance". It really does mean participation. That's my guess anyway. From what I know of Tom, if you didn't participate, he's not going to give you a 10/10 for participation. If you only attended and never spoke, chances are you'll cop a 5/10 or something. Just do your best to speak up twice or so in every tute and you should score really comfortably if not 10/10.

The IRO is the biggest "wtf". What's an IRO? Good question, I'm not really sure. Basically, they said "pick something to research, research it, and present it to us. You can do this in a power point, in a YouTube video, on a poster, or in whichever way you want. You need 10+ references. By the way, we look more favourably upon these things than essays". And that's basically that. You pick a topic, ANY topic, and do it. That doesn't even mean "research gender in development!". It could be like, one page's worth of information in the textbook within the chapter of gender in development, then you research it. For me, I researched the practice of giving loans/aid to developing countries and argues that loans/aid are inherently self-interested and detrimental to developing countries because of power structures. I made a Camtasia YouTube video (shows a power point slide but also your face... look at the videos on vtextbook.com for an example - because that's where I learnt about the software). They liked this format - Tom sent me an email saying it was a good choice, so I'm glad I didn't go for an essay. The IRO caused a lot of angst amongst the student body because it was a bit ambiguous, but really, all it does is just force you to be independent and think about something rather than just responding to a question/prompt in an essay.

The take home exam - we had like 3 weeks to do it, we picked two questions out of like ten, and wrote 500-1000 word answers for each question. It was relatively easy, due on the first day of the exam period.

Really interesting unit, very valuable, glad I did it. Challenged me a little bit, not being philosophical in any sense of the word, but it was very rewarding.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: spaciiey on November 23, 2014, 03:32:31 pm
Subject Code/Name:  ATS3787/ATS4587 Research Methods in Geography, Environment and Sustainability  
Workload:  Weekly 3hr seminar (usually finished about 2.5 hours in). It is not recorded.

Assessment: 
20% Take home exam
20% Initial research project proposal presentation
20% Answers to SAQs based on individual research proposal
40% Full project proposal.
Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  No final exam, you do a project proposal instead.

Textbook Recommendation:  Clifford, N. French, S. And Valentine, G. (eds) (2010) Key Methods in Geography (2nd edn)
It was recommended but you don't need it. If you're that interested, there is a PDF somewhere.

Lecturer(s): Vanessa Wong, Haripriya Rangan

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 sem 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA, probably a D 80

Comments:

First things first: this unit walks you through how to do a full project proposal. You do not have to do the research project that you are proposing! If you are even mildly considering the idea of Honours in Geography for Arts OR Science, this is a good unit to start with in your final year, because it means that by the end of the unit you basically already know what you will be doing next year.

This unit takes you through various methods of research in geography. It covers both qualitative and quantitative methods of research, ethics, why we do research, analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, and other such things. Classes are a mixture of lectures, discussions and various hands-on activities. Priya and Vanessa were pretty good, and are mostly very prompt at responding to emails.

In terms of assessments: the take home exam is a case study, and you have to read it, and come up with a project idea based on it, answering various questions about why you think it's a good idea, how you would answer your research question, etc. It is pretty straight forward.

The 2nd and 3rd assessment tasks are where you start to do your own thing. This unit relies on the fact that you are motivated enough to do your own research and so on. You have to basically pick an are of geography that you care about and come up with a research topic that you could theoretically do over the course of a year (in other words, it's preparation for an Honours year). The 2nd assessment is basically a speech/powerpoint presentation where you show everyone what you're thinking of doing, and the 3rd assessment is a whole heap of short answer questions about your topic.

The final assessment is the final research proposal. It has a max word limit of 4000 words. It's a bit like a research report, without the actual 'results' component. Instead you introduce your topic, give a lit review and talk about why it's an important topic. Then you talk about methodological aspects of your proposed project and what you expect to find. This is easily the most time consuming of the assessment tasks but it isn't too bad.

Your topic doesn't have to be strongly geographically related by the way -- mine was more education-related and it was still acceptable.

It's a pretty decent (but small) unit, not many people take it. Do this unit if you are thinking of an Honours/Masters project in Geography.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: spaciiey on November 23, 2014, 03:55:38 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS3552/APG4552 Remote Sensing of the Environment  

Workload:  7 x 3 hour pracs over the semester. I usually finished 1.5-2 hours in, with only one prac taking the full 3 hours.
Weekly 1 hour 'interactive class' (basically a lecture)

Assessment: 50% prac reports
50% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No

Textbook Recommendation: From the unit guide --  Lillesand, T.M., Kiefer, R.W. and Chipman, J.W. (2008) Remote Sensing and Image
Interpretation, Sixth Edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
OR
Jensen, J.R. (2007) Remote Sensing of the Environment: An Earth Resource Perspective, Second
Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

TBH I did not do any of the readings.
Lecturer(s): Xuan Zhu

Year & Semester of completion: sem 2 2014

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA, probably a D 78

Comments: Do not do this unit if you are colourblind, because well, I don't think it's possible, really. If you are poor at discriminating between different colours, you are going to have a hard time.

This was a pretty cool unit, for the most part, pretty cruisy. Prac marks are easy to get, and make sure you get them because the exam is on the tougher side. I didn't go to the lectures because I had a clash, but I heard from a reliable source that they are a mixed bag. Sometimes there are in class exercises that Xuan gives out, but you can easily do them at home (I did).

In terms of learning content, you don't do that in the lectures, you are supposed to watch the videos online at home before class. The videos vary in length, sometimes they're an hour, sometimes longer, and I couldn't really watch them in one sitting. Xuan's accent takes getting used to if you haven't listened to him before. If you're stuck with anything he's very helpful though and won't give up on explaining things until you get it. There are weekly quizzes to check your progress with, which is helpful. You mark them yourself so they're not graded.

I liked the pracs. The first few were a bit 'meh', in that you mostly end up staring at pictures of things and saying 'this is an aerial photo of an amusement park, this is a golf course, this is a shopping centre', etc. Really a lot of the pracs involve staring at pictures and figuring out what they are. But afterwards, you get to do some pretty cool stuff on the computer with regards to mapping and so on. Pracs are easy marks, don't waste them.

I guess the exam was mostly pretty fair, but a bit tough. There was a review lecture and an explanation of the format of the exam, with some sample questions. However an entire exam paper would have been nice.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: spaciiey on November 23, 2014, 04:27:04 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2672/ATS3672 Computational Linguistics: An Introduction

Workload:  Weekly 2hr seminar

Assessment: 
10% Assignment 1
15% Assignment 2
25% Take home exam
40% Assignment 3
10% Participation/attendance

Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  None, but there is a reading list online.

Lecturer(s): Simon Musgrave

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 sem 2

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA, somewhere between D to HD 82

Comments: To be honest, I didn't like this subject at first, but then it grew on me. Sadly this is a very tiny unit. There were barely enough people enrolled to run the unit at the start of semester, and by the end of semester numbers dwindled down to about 8 people. Suffice to say this unit will probably not run again, which is a pity.

That said however, onto the review. As I said before, I didn't like the subject at first, mostly because I had no idea how to do the first assessment. To his credit, Simon was pretty helpful at trying to explain it to me, but I think because it required a bit of programming knowledge I crashed and burned. Having said that, apart from the first assessment, you really don't need any computing knowledge to do well in this unit -- I managed just fine.

This unit takes you through a basic history of computing and why we might need computational linguistics, as well as various other topics like rules and algorithms, parsing, building a corpus, tagging and annotation, using the internet as a corpus and speech recognition. It's pretty interesting stuff, but what made this unit good was that there was also some hands-on activities. The thing I didn't like was I felt that the activities were too rushed and the lectures dragged on a bit though.

Okay, assessments. The first assessment task had to do with phonology, and I HATED it. Mostly because I don't like phonology, but also because I couldn't wrap my head around the program we were meant to use for the assignment. It sort of runs like cmd, so you type in lines and hope they work. But you also had to write a rules file so it DOES work. I somehow managed a credit, even though my code fell flat on its face, but this assignment is only worth 10% so it's no huge deal if you can't work it out.

The 2nd task is much nicer, it's based on corpus analysis, and so you are given data to interpret and analyse, and explain why you think what you do, along with some references to appropriate literature. The take home exam is pretty straight forward, it is just some short questions on the content covered thus far. If you are a 3rd year you have one extra question to answer.

Now, the last project was pretty cool. It's basically a research project. About halfway through the semester Simon posted a list of possible topics that we could do. There was a topic based on the first assignment, a topic where you had to write a lexicon and a set of rules to parse a passage of text, a topic on variation in English, one on lexicography, and one on semantics. I went with lexicography. In other words, I picked 'new' English word and did a whole heap of research on it. I picked 'noob', and did a 2000 word research report about how I collected a whole heap of web data on the word 'noob' and how/where it is used, and discussed various pros and cons of using the internet as your 'data source'.

If you are a 3rd year, you also have to give a short talk about your research project in week 12. But, it's very informal: I just stood up with only a whiteboard marker and no notes, and just drew diagrams and explained what I was doing until I got sick of it.

I doubt this unit will run next year because of lack of interest. If you are interested, you can still ask Simon about it and I'm sure you could do an Honours project based on some of this stuff, because it really is fascinating.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: spaciiey on November 23, 2014, 04:46:15 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3110 Differential Geometry

Workload: 3x 1 hour lectures per week
1x 1 hour tute per week

Assessment: 30% Assignments (fortnightly starting from week 3)
10% Participation (just turn up and tick your name off the list)
60% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  For the first time ever, yes. They are videotaped with blackboards and all.

Past exams available:  Yes, there are 2 with answers. If you want an extra practice exam, PM me.

Textbook Recommendation:  Elementary Differential Geometry, Andrew Pressley.

This textbook is your bible. You don't need to buy it though, there is a PDF version online. The course covers chapters 1-10.

Lecturer(s): Daniel Mathews, Enrico Carlini

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 sem 2

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: This is an introduction to differential geometry. The first half of the course is taught by Dan, who talks about geometry of curves. The second half of the course is taught by Enrico, who talks about geometry of surfaces. They have very different lecturing styles from each other -- Dan talks a lot and writes down EVERYTHING but in contrast Enrico is very minimalist. I think I liked Enrico's lectures better because I had a better understanding as to what was 'important' and what was 'less important' to know.

Assignments are easy. They are especially easy if you read the textbook, if you know what I mean... There were some issues with plagiarism because of that, so maybe it'll change next year. But they should still be relatively straightforward questions. Tutes are stock-standard. Just turn up and tick your name off, and walk out the door. I found the exam fair -- there are lots of easy marks but also enough harder questions to separate the strong from the weak students.

When I got to the end of the unit, to be honest, I wasn't really sure what I'd learned. As the name implies there is a lot of differentiation. I guess this unit is okay.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on November 23, 2014, 07:51:49 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1052 - Chemistry II Advanced

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No, but there were two CHM1022 sample exams - however, neither were very indicative of the actual exam.

Textbook Recommendation: "Prescribed" text is Blackman, again. However, there was a separate book recommended for the organic section of the unit titled "An Introduction to Organic Chemistry" by William H. Brown. It should be available from the library.

Lecturer(s):

Kellie is an AMAZING lecturer and quite honestly my favourite lecturer ever - of all time. I'm looking into doing a second year research project, and am considering asking her to be my supervisor just because she was that good. She really puts the effort in to make sure you understand everything, and does her best to teach it in a way that is very understandable.

Phil on the other hand wasn't that great (however, I know a lot of people who will argue this). Not to say he's bad at what he does, however his lectures definitely lacked a certain structure that I craved. I didn't feel like I was learning anything with him, and it was after he stepped in that I stopped going to lectures.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81, HD

Comments: Unlike the first semester where it feels like you've learnt a bunch of crap and will probably have trouble seeing where it relates until the end, this semester everything is structured and makes sense. The unit can be easily broken into 2 topics, organic and inorganic chemistry.

Organic Chemistry
This single chemistry section is going to be the most similar to VCE chemistry. The first three weeks are all about naming organic molecules, what organic molecules look like, how to make them, how to identify them using various methods (namely NMR, Mass spec and IR spectroscopy) and finally about stability and aromaticity.

The next three weeks is a repeat of all the biological chem stuff from VCE (minus biofuels), and some polymerisation tagged on at the end.

There's not really much else to say about this section - you've probably never seen a mechanism before, and might not have heard of carbocation stability - but otherwise, there's not much new stuff.

Inorganic Chemistry
This section revolves entirely around metal complexes, in particular focusing on the 3d metals - that is, the metals where the 3d sub-shell is the outer shell. You learn all about the different kinds of complexes that can form, naming them, and finish it all up with some Crystal Field Theory and applications in biological systems.

This section is a LOT emptier than the previous one, and you might feel like you're often repeating things you already knew. However, this is mainly because of the lack of inorganic chemistry in year 12.

However, something to note is that a lot of what you did last semester will come back into the game this semester - whilst there will be no calculations, thermodynamics will often be mentioned ("more thermodynamically stable" is Phil's favourite phrase), equilibrium constants will be mentioned, MO theory and VSEPR (more MO theory) and all the orbitals/sub-shell diagrams come into the game more often this semester than last semester when you actually learned it.

Practical Work
This semester, the practical work is a LOT more related to what you'll be doing in lectures. Whilst last semester, it was more a case of "here's pretty chemistry stuff" with little reference to lecture material, your labs are split equally into organic and inorganic labs.

On top of this, half of your lab mark is comprised of two extended investigations - one to determine the composition of some unknown chemical and then synthesise it, and the other to determine the percentage composition of two cymbals (Chris is an avid drummer, y'see... There is no real way to explain it. It must be felt in those pre-lab videos). These investigations were my FAVOURITE part of the CHM1052 labs - there was very little guidance from the demonstrator, and the whole prac was very open-ended in how we could do it. There was definitely a direction the demonstrators wanted us to go in, but it was up to us to find and go in the direction. I know quite a few people struggled with these labs, however they were also my highest scoring labs of the semester (probably second highest of the year), because I just found them that interesting and wanted to devote that kind of time to them.

Something else to note - the extended investigations will only really require you for 3 hours (although you can take more time if you wanted - not suggested for the organic ones, though you'll find out why during it), however the other labs are quite intense, and are a real step up. Unlike last semester where you probably very rarely went until 6, expect to use all 4 hours this time round. Unlike last semester, this time the labs are very different to 1022, and you will be tested.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on November 24, 2014, 02:12:21 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2679/ATS3679 - Psycholinguistics and Child Language Acquisition

Workload:
1x two hour seminar per week

Assessment:
5%: Class attendance
10%: Class preparation
10%: 2nd/3rd year assignment
45%: Research essay
25%: End of year examination

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes. I'm assuming that there was also screen capture, but I never watched the online lectures.

Past exams available: 
No idea.

Textbook Recommendation: 
First Language Acquisition by Eve Clark. I wouldn't say that it is absolutely necessary, but it was helpful for some of the weekly exercises. You could probably get away with borrowing it from the library when needed.

Lecturer(s):
Dr. Anna Margetts. Anna is a very good and engaging lecturer - no complaints, there. Anna is very approachable; I spoke to her a couple of times about various things, and she gave me more of her time than could be reasonably expected of a lecturer. She clearly cares about her students' learning and well-being, which is appreciated. We also had one seminar in which current Honours students came in and talked to us about their present studies.

Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 2, 2014.

Rating: 
3.5 out of 5 (but only due to minor grievances with the organisation of the unit - the actual content is worthy of 4.5/5 at least)

Your Mark/Grade:
N/A

Comments:
Here, I will run through the different assessment tasks.

Class attendance:
I'm assuming you need to attend a particular number of seminars to get the 5%. However, my timetable meant that I attended every seminar, resulting in the ignorance that now sees me speculating as to how many seminars you need to attend. Regardless, it's an easy 5%.

Class preparation:
This comes in the form of weekly exercises, typically consisting of 3-4 (very) short questions. These questions may relate to the textbook readings or other (provided) sources. Again, an easy enough 10%. It's worth noting that accuracy of responses is immaterial; should you make some kind of effort and submit on time, you should get the marks. I think the point of this was simply to get you thinking about the topic of the week before the seminar.

2nd/3rd year assignment:
This is really the only difference between taking the unit at 2nd or 3rd year level. Those taking the unit at 2nd year level needed to make some kind of essay proposal, directly relating to the major essay outlined below. I didn't do this, so I'm not 100% what it involves, but from what I have gleaned, it consists of explaining a potential topic, looking around for potential resources, and discussing potential methodology for your essay. All of the 3rd years would have had to have done this, too, to some extent, in preparation for the major essay (but for no marks).

Comparatively, those taking the unit at 3rd year level were required to make a 'journal'. I'm not really sure why it's labelled as such, because it's nothing like my understanding of journals. Rather, the task required two potential topics of examination related to the content covered in the course to that point, but not directly taken from any material. That is, students had to take inspiration from the content covered and formulate their own research questions. Then, for each of the two questions, students had to explain methodology that could be used to investigate the topic, potential methodological problems and the population used. At least two scientific journals also had to be incorporated. Noteworthy is the fact that you don't actually have to conduct the research; rather, you just need to explain how you would do so. Each question is worth 5%. There was nothing particularly difficult about this task apart from the word limit (200-250 words for each question). I found it very difficult to get all of the required information into such a small word count. I also found the feedback to this task to be a little vague - in fact, I'm still not really sure how I scored.

Research essay:
Anna introduced this essay very early in the piece, which I think was a good idea. She warned us that by the end of the semester, we would probably hate this particular assignment (based on past students' feedback). That was an accurate prediction, I suppose, but it was probably avoidable. In the essay, you need to develop your own research question. A significant part of the essay is that it must be based on data from the CHILDES Database, which makes research question choice fairly crucial. Basically, the essay requires you to compare a particular linguistic topic in regard to two groups (the more specific, the better). For example, my essay investigated utterance type (declarative, imperative, interrogative, exclamative) development in boys with Down syndrome versus girls with Down syndrome.

The assignment is labelled as an essay, and I think this is where a bit of confusion comes in. From what I gathered, there was a little anxiety within the cohort because people didn't really know where to start. That was certainly the case with me, at least. When I discussed this with Anna, it became apparent that what was required was actually more of a scientific write-up than a typical essay. As such, my assignment finished with multiple sub-headings (basically adhering to psychology conventions), graphs and a lot of data. The assignment, I think, would have been less stressful - and it was fairly taxing - had this been made clear from the outset. Regardless, I enjoyed my topic for the most part, and it was probably my favourite part of the unit by the end. The due date for this assessment was (I think) five and a half weeks ago, and we still haven't received our grades. Considering that I misread the due date and finished mine a week and a half early, it feels like an eternity without feedback.

End of year exam:
The exam consisted of five sections. The first two were (very) short answer; the third required slightly lengthier responses; the final two sections were more 'case-study'-esque, giving you transcripts and then asking questions based on those transcripts.

The content and structure of the exam itself was fine. However, the organisation of the exam could have been better. The exam was at Clayton rather than Caulfield, which was fine, except we didn't find out what room the exam was in until well into the examination period. The time of the exam changed the night before, which was very frustrating for me (it changed from 9am to 10.15am). Then, the exam room changed about 15 minutes before the exam was scheduled to begin. This all disrupted my usual exam routines, but perhaps others are more flexible. Lastly - and most annoyingly - the exam was only meant to run for one hour, but it ended up going for about 150% of that, and students could simply keep writing for as long as they wished. The exam was quite long, so I had rushed to get through it in the hour, and finished bang on, so it was frustrating to think that I could have taken my time more. Of course, I used the extra time, but only to go back and fix the errors that I wouldn't have made in the first place if the length of the exam had been made clear.

Overall, I would recommend this unit to anybody interested in (obviously) child language acquisition, but also anybody interested in psychology in general. It's a very interesting unit with a fantastic lecturer, and could be a great stepping stone to careers such as speech pathology.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on November 24, 2014, 08:37:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1052 - Human Neurobiology

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Nope! However there were some practice MCQ quizzes available on Moodle covering much of the course, and Prof. Helena Parkington posted 5 or so SAQs on Moodle some time prior to the exam.

Textbook Recommendation:
Prescribed: Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain - Bear, Connors and Paradiso

There are other neuroscience textbooks available (see the references listed on lecture slides), but the prescribed one is generally all you need. I would recommend buying it, it is a great textbook and I referred to it often throughout semester.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2, 2014

Rating: 3.5-4 out of 5

Comments:

Overview
This is a core first-year biomed unit, and is admittedly surprisingly in-depth for a level-one unit. It is certainly the most content-heavy level-one BMS unit, though fortunately I found it to be one of the more interesting and engaging ones. A big benefit was that BMS1052, despite being a fairly general introductory neuroscience/neurophysiology unit, was more specific in its content and structure than other units - in particular the incredibly hotchpotch BMS1031 (N.B. this may have changed since I took BMS1031 in 2013 - I bloody hope so).


Lectures
As a brief overview, this unit is broken up into several lecture/topic blocks:

The lectures are all very good in terms of content, interest and delivery (in particular, Nic Price is a quality lecturer). The vignettes were particularly personally engaging: I have a strong interest in neurodegeneration, neuroregeneration and general regenerative medicine, so Siew Chai's lectures were extremely interesting to me. It was also great to hear about the practical side of neuroscientific research via Di Ashworth and the MND Victoria Foundation.

However, it did at times feel like the lectures were trying too hard to cram information in for the sake of producing lots of examinable material. In my personal opinion (albeit one shared by several people I have discussed this unit with), the lecture series - and ultimately the unit - would have been better off if the lectures were better spaced. This doesn't necessarily require the cutting of content from the course, but possibly some more direction towards self-directed learning and readings.

A final note: GO TO LECTURES. 'Tis a bit hypocritical of me but this is a given in biomed units, and it's a lesson learned the hard way by me. The examinable content assessed in the MSTs and exam (and to a lesser extent in the labs) is drawn almost completely from lecture content. If you don't keep up to date you're going to have a bad time come SWOTVAC - which I did. For me, SWOTVAC consisted almost solely of 1. Freaking out big time and 2. Noting the lecture content which I missed.

Ladies and Gentlemen: 5 days well spent... unless you are my carpal tunnel.
(http://i.imgur.com/Tz9zqCe.png)


Labs
On the one hand, I loved the lab timetable structure. More to the point, I loved that there was only a lab every two weeks.

On the other hand, I didn't like the labs themselves very much at all.

There are 4 labs in total, covering (1.) membrane permeability; (2.) Sensation; (3.) Human Electromyogram - Neural Control of Muscle Activity and (4.) Action Potential recordings.

The good stuff: The labs themselves weren't too bad; the lab work was hands on which was a nice break from some of the more boring biomed "labs" (looking at you, BMS1031). The best lab was either the 3rd or 4th one; the Human EMG prac consisted of delivering repeated electric shocks to a poor lab partner (all in the name of SCIENCE), which the fourth was stimulating movement in a disembodied cockroach leg by everyone's favourite mad-scientist trope - electricity! The primary reason that these two labs stand out as superior was that they A) Reflected the lecture content quite closely and/or B) Didn't try to do to much. I'll get to this point in the following section:

The bad stuff: Occasionally it felt as if the labs were trying to cram too damn much into 3 hours. This was most evident in the second lab, which aimed to fit ALL of the vision theory and ALL of the somatosensation theory and ALL of the audition theory into a single lab. Nope, didn't work. The fact that there was so much to do, yet the assessment associated with labs was done via Moodle quizzes, made for a rather jumbled and seemingly pointless three hours. On that note, having none of the lab assessment occur during the labs was annoying. By the time I got onto the Moodle lab quiz I'd forgotten plenty of important lab details, i.e. whatever I hadn't recorded because of the hectic nature of the labs themselves. Also, the first lab was just pointless; if you've done one osmosis/membrane permeability lab, you've done them all. I'd done identical labs in BIO1011, BIO1022, BMS1011 and BMS1031 if I recall correctly. Just once would have been enough, thanks Monash.


Other in-semester assessments
There were two MSTs during the semester; the first covered the Foundations and Sensation lectures, while the second covered Movement and the ANS lectures. These were purely lecture-based MCQ tests, and they're really not so bad if you're up-to-date with lectures (lol). The downside was that unlike in many other units with MSTs, the MST material is still examinable on the final exam. Seems a bit pointless to have an MST then - let alone two.


Exam
The exam was a little bit different. Total 40 marks (i.e. 1 mark = 1% of the unit grade); 26 MCQs work 0.5 marks each and 27 marks worth of SAQs (though truth be told most of the "short-answer questions" were basically long-form responses.

If you know you're course material to a fair degree of detail then you'll be fine; however the difficulty lies in that there is a vast amount of examinable content - basically the whole unit minus labs (and the labs are just reflections of part of the lecture content anyway).

But yeah, I've had worse exams. The good part is that the exam format was disclosed well in advance of the exam so I had a general idea of how to approach everything and study strategically - which is a must for this unit... unless you have an eidetic memory (you lucky bastard).



Overall, a solid unit. Good lectures, great lecturers and a good range of topics. Would benefit from some better organisation and mark allocation to tasks. The labs need a major do-over in terms of structure, content and assessment but they're not bad enough to ruin the unit. One of the best first-year biomed units (though it's not like you have a choice whether or not to do it :P).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on November 25, 2014, 02:13:55 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2872/ATS2873 - Topics in Indian Philosophy

Workload:
1x two hour seminar per week

Assessment:
15%: Expository exercise 1
15%: Expository exercise 2
40%: Major essay
30%: End of year examination

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes. However, I tried to access one for revision purposes, and it cut out about halfway through. Further, there is no screen capture because no other materials are used. A handout is provided each week (also available on Moodle), and that's all that you really need.

Past exams available: 
Not sure, but a 'sample exam' was provided in Week 12 (which was handy).

Textbook Recommendation: 
Nothing but the unit reader, which is essential.

Lecturer(s):
Dr. Monima Chadha. I like Monima; she is casual but at the same time very informative. She clearly knows what she is talking about very well, values students' opinions and input, and is more than happy to discuss any concerns. Her classes were easy to follow - I liked the inclusion of the summary handout per week. This unit has a lot of terminology that may be unfamiliar, so the handout certainly helps in that regard.

Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 2, 2014.

Rating: 
4 out of 5 (but only due to minor grievances with the organisation of the unit - the actual content is worthy of 4.5/5 at least)

Your Mark/Grade:
N/A

Comments:
Overall, I must say that I am very glad that I took this unit. I was apprehensive, having never done anything even remotely related to Indian philosophy. But I think that that was part of the appeal, for me - doing something completely new about which I was entirely ignorant. Now, after having finished the unit, I feel a little less ignorant, and a little more open-minded.

This unit was quite small in terms of number of students; a rough estimation would suggest around thirty students, but this varied a little from week to week. Participation is encouraged in class, and some robust debates were had. But what I liked about Monima is that she didn't force interaction; if you just wanted to sit back and listen (like me, for most of the time), you didn't really feel inferior for not contributing much.

The content of the unit is split into a few blocks, focusing first on Hinduism (encompassing numerous schools of Hinduism), then Buddhism, then Carvaka. And there are two main things looked at throughout the semester: whether a persisting 'Self' (soul) persists throughout time, and what it means to be a person. Of course, it's more complicated than this, because each philosophical position has many arguments and counter-arguments for each issue.

The first two assessment tasks were expository, in which you had to choose two out of three questions to write about. The responses were fairly short. The first half of each question tended to be summarising a particular argument, before providing a philosophical commentary or analysis on that position. All of the questions directly related to the content that had been covered to that point in the course. These assessment tasks sound easy, but due to the new concepts and very new terminology, I found these challenging at times, which was good. The feedback provided for the expository exercises was adequate but not in-depth. I would have liked a bit more guidance as to how to improve at times. To Monima's credit, she was good at explaining where I went wrong when I asked her directly.

The major assessment task was in essay form. I think this is where the unit differs for those taking it at second year level and those taking it at third year level. If my memory is accurate (which is unlikely), third years were required to use external sources whilst second years were not. I find writing essays much easier when I am using external sources, so I was more than happy to take the unit at third year level. As there doesn't seem to be much of a difference otherwise, I would encourage others to the same. Another benefit of this unit is that, as it can be taken as part of Religious Studies, Philosophy or International Studies, it can nicely fit into numerous course structures. I was flat-out disappointed with my essay mark, and I thought that the feedback was minimal, but this is probably a reflection of my poor head space when I am disappointed by a mark more than a reflection of the unit itself.

The exam was well structured. The sample exam from Week 12 had sixteen questions from throughout the course. Each question was actually a quotation from one of the readings. It was made clear that the exam would be similar; from the sixteen questions, you choose six, and write about those. Similar to the expository exercises, the first half of each response was a summary of the philosophical position of the author(s)/proponent(s), and the second half was your own opinion (or a feigned opinion) on that position. The exam went for two hours, meaning that you had about twenty minutes to write about each quote. In the end, seven of the quotes from the sample exam appeared on the actual exam.

I was very close to not taking this unit, but I'm glad that I did despite my relatively poor performance in the assessment tasks. I figure that if you have the opportunity to learn something entirely new about which you are interested, you may as well take it. I encourage others to do the same. Moreover, this unit has made me think very seriously about further studies in religion and philosophy - something that I have always wanted to pursue, but have never really known where or how to start.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on November 25, 2014, 05:28:15 pm
Subject Code/Name: DEV2022 - Principles of Organ and Body Design

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Nope. However, a practice Moodle quiz was available well in advance of the exam.

Textbook Recommendation: Textbooks in this unit were fucking brilliant.
These are the ones that are officially prescribed or recommended for the unit:

However, on top of these I went and got myself a copy of Gray's Anatomy 40th Edition. I did this because a) I could get it for cheap and b) it is by far the most in-depth, comprehensive anatomy text available. As someone with a keen interest in anatomy, this text was a great reference for when I had questions beyond the scope of lectures, or when I wanted some extra explanations on any topic I didn't fully understand at first (*cough* foetal circulation *cough*).

As always, I find that the best way of getting hard-copy textbooks as cheap as possible (which usually isn't saying much) is to get the ISBN of the book and search for it at booko.com.au, which compares prices for you.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2, 2014

Rating: 5 out of 5. 10 out of 5! (Yes, I can do that).

Comments:

Overview
This is an absolutely superb unit in every way possible. The unit organisation and coordination was on-point, learning objectives were always clear and unambiguous, the lectures were all incredibly engaging, the labs were brilliant, really informative and fun and the teaching staff were of supremely high quality. I have absolutely no reservation in saying that DEV2022 is the best all-round unit offered by Monash.


Lectures
As above, the lecture series was - to me, anyway - some of the most interesting stuff I have ever studied before. Every lecturer was engaging and the subject material was perfectly aligned with my interests. Put it this way: Even with my very shitty lecture attendance, I was always keen to go to a DEV2022 lecture. In fact, the DEV2022 lectures have made up more than half of the lectures I've attended this year (lol).

One of the first things this unit did to get on my good side was, prior to the start of semester, to cancel one of the lectures scheduled each week. It just so happens that the cancelled lecture would have been my only 8am start. I will be forever grateful for just that :P.

This is at heart an anatomy course, though it integrates a lot of other stuff such as embryology and histology, and the unit has a fairly clinical focus (i.e. a lot of the labs are focused around pathologies and their anatomical basis).

The lecture series is broken up as such:

And each block of lectures has 1-2 associated labs.


Labs
Much like the lectures, the labs were superb. Honestly, the tutors and other teaching staff in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology are the best I've ever had. Every lab was a pleasure, and the lab activities in each lab were varied enough such that it was easy to get involved in discussion with tutors and hard to get bored.

There were 8 labs throughout the semester:

Assessed labs are bolded.

The labs were often broken into 2-3 parts; usually a dissection + a tutorial and/or a semi-self-directed learning session. I really enjoyed all of these components; the dissections were really helpful in learning gross anatomy, while the tute/semi-SDL component helped teach some of the course material that would be difficult to do a devoted lab on, e.g. embryology/subcellular developmental biological processes.

As above, the lab tutors were really friendly, helpful and keen to see you do well. You'll know many of them from DEV2011 too, so it's nice to have some familiar non-student faces in the labs.

As well as the formal labs, the teaching staff offered DEV2022 students the opportunity to observe dissected cadavers so as to better understand systems anatomy (as opposed to the gross anatomical approach in most of the labs). If this is still offered when you (the reader) do the unit - which it should, as it was a resounding success - then I highly recommend taking part in some of them. It really helped cement several concepts in my mind.


Other in-semester assessment
The only other piece of in-semester assessment in DEV2022 is the mid-semester test, worth 25%. This is a combination of SAQs and two mini-essay type questions, assessing all course material up to that point. The two long-form questions specifically test the histology component of DEV2022; students are given 1 of 5 histological slides from tissue types looked at throughout the semester, and the two mini-essays required us to write about the histological, structural, pathological and developmental features of the tissue type in the slide.

I had expected the MST to be much harder than it actually was - with some decent study it's not at all hard to do well even though a large volume of course information is tested.


Exam
Given that this is an anatomy course, there is a lot of assessable information. Luckily, the final exam for DEV2022 (50%) is all MCQs, which means that although you do need to know basically all the course content in significant detail, there is the chance for you to use anatomical logic to work out the solution to things you might not know.

As above, the exam is all MCQs, consisting of approx. 85 (if I recall correctly) questions in 3 hours. I finished the exam for the first time in 1.5 hours, even after spending a lot of time thinking about several questions. This is definitely an exam that you'd want time to go over a couple more times (as has been my experience with past MCQ exams).

Some parts of this exam were tricky, but I can't say that it was ever unfair in the amount of detail required. With proper, structured revision you shouldn't have any trouble scoring well.


Final comments
If at some point down the track I end up working in medicine, it will partially have been because of this unit. It was a real eye-opener for me in terms of how I enjoy the clinical side of science most of all.

This really does have all the hallmarks of a fantastic unit. I might be biased because I found it so incredibly interesting, but from a structural and organisational standpoint it was superior to any other unit I've done. This is a core compulsory unit in the Developmental Biology major, so anyone thinking of doing that major is in for a treat!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rohmer on November 25, 2014, 08:55:36 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW4537 - Public Policy, Regulation and the Law

Workload:  3hrs of lectures a week

Assessment:  40% Research Assignment Essay, 10% for the corresponding speech, and 50% for the Exam.

Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  Yes, one, the 2012 Paper (no suggested answers)

Textbook Recommendation:  None, all the readings are uploaded to Moodle.

Lecturer(s): Eric Windholz

Year & Semester of completion: S2 2014

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:

General Comments: As law students quickly find out, core units are pretty much all about black-letter law, with usually a bit of policy tacked on at the end, or representing itself in optional assignment form. Electives, on the other hand, usually go a bit broader and have time to cover some policy issues. In this unit, as the name suggests, it's nothing but policy. There are weekly readings from academic books (e.g. on regulatory theory), from publications by regulators and government bodies, and some opinion pieces, but no cases/legislation, aside from one admin law case in the 'Law and Regulation' topic. It's a fairly light unit in terms of readings (RG is only 7 pages) and a good one to do alongside some of the tougher intensive black-letter law subjects (corps, trusts etc.). Generally I liked the unit - I think it gives a lot of context to the way in which law is made in its exploration of questions such as 'how does regulation emerge?' and 'how well is the law achieving its aims?' In that sense it could be considered quite a broad, 'artsy' unit, which may not interest some, but I found it to be a good change-up.

Course outline: The unit starts off with an overview of the role of government in public administration, the functions of law, and the general role of regulation, before introducing the policy process/ policy cycle. Each week there is basically a step in the process: 'why do we regulate?' 'who should regulate whom, what and how?', 'evaluating regulatory options' etc. The second half of the course is a bit less structured, but has some interesting topics, such as 'is regulating a science or an art?' and 'explaining regulatory failure'. The latter part of the course had three guest lecturers, all of whom were pretty good. For example, Arie Freiberg (former dean), who specialises in regulatory theory, discussed law as a form of regulation (he has a bit of that old-school 'socratic method' style of teaching where he approaches people individually and asks them questions). In another guest lecture, an employee of the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) came in to discuss how the EPA regulates in terms of monitoring and compliance for various environmental issues.

Other than the three 1 hour guest lectures, the course was taken by Eric Windholz (also takes/has taken Corps & Admin). Generally his lecture style was very good. Most lectures only had 40-50 people (60 in the unit) so they ran more like seminars. Usually they started with some discussion of the relevant policy/regulatory issues in the news that week (e.g. the 'baby gammy' issue or the problem of Australians being recruited by ISIS or increased restrictions on smoking in outdoor dining etc. After that, theory (usually drawn from the readings, which was useful for your notes if you hadn't read them or couldn't quite get the gist of them) followed by case study examples and discussion. E.g. for a typical case study example, the way in which smoking is regulated through various methods of altering behaviour - Disincentives (high tax, advertising bans), Assisting (Quit-line), Persuasion (Advertising, publishing of studies), or more subtle 'Nudging' methods (Cigarettes being hidden out of sight at shops, designated smoking points being far away, plain packaging...). At times I thought there could have been more case examples to practically illustrate the theory, but the lectures were on the whole quite good. Eric knows his stuff well, has a good sense of humour, and the classes are fairly well-paced.

Assignment/Oral Presentation: The subject has a compulsory assignment in which (this semester, at least) you had to choose a policy problem, describe its regulatory space (i.e. key players/stakeholders), explain how the problem has been framed, explain the 'regulatory regime' and outline any changes you would make to improve its performance. This is actually quite a lot of stuff, and is hard to fit into 2000 words, so you're going to want to make sure you don't define your topic too broadly (e.g. 'asylum seekers' may be too general). Topics had to be approved by the lecturer (week 5) though anyway, which ensures you'll have something doable that fits the criteria. This assignment could actually be done as a group assignment (2-4) instead of individually, although most people did their own thing, I think because people had their own ideas on topics they were interested in, and because essays aren't very conducive to group work. There were about 40 different topics covered by the individual/groups all-up, which ranged over all sorts of issues - from animal exports to religion in schools to drone privacy to cyber-bullying etc. It was therefore a pretty open assignment, and although it required a fair bit of research (you have to do a fair bit of pre-reading on the issue before you can really form an opinion on regulating it) it was my favourite law assignment yet.

For the 10% assessment, there was a speech on your assignment topic - 10 minutes for groups and 5 minutes for individuals. The time-limit was enforced fairly strictly, and like in the assignment, it was difficult to cover everything. Basically you just had to give a brief outline of your topic, before focussing on 1 or 2 of the more interesting issues at play, and then answer any questions from the lecturer/students at the end. As there were so many groups/individuals, the speeches this semester were all done outside of class hours in weeks 10-11 of semester, so you could attend as many or as little as you liked, as long as you went to the 1hr block in which you were allocated (first come, first serve). I was lazy and only went to my block of a few people, but later regretted not hearing some of the others beforehand, as it would've been useful for structuring my own presentation, and there were many interesting topics being discussed.

Exam: The Exam was open book (c.f. 2012) with 6 essay style questions of which you had to pick four, and answer them in 2hrs, i.e. 30 mins per question. They were fairly broad questions (e.g. 'Is regulation an Art or a Science; or 'Is this exam regulation') covering all parts of the course, and generally required you to integrate different weeks in your discussion. As this isn't an exam with hypotheticals, you don't need a quick step-by-step method of answering a question, but you want to have your notes concisely written out, with the relevant authors names and knowing where the definitions (regulation, policy,) and concepts are so you can quickly structure an argument (the invigilators wouldn't allow any noting during the 10mins reading time, despite the paper saying there was noting time) and plan a response.

Overall, a good unit, and one I'd recommend to anyone interested in policy & regulation, or considering a career in policy-making/politics/government.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on November 26, 2014, 05:22:10 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2681 - Structure of English

Workload:
1x two hour seminar per week
1x one hour tutorial per fortnight

Assessment:
10%: Weekly exercises
30%: Assignment 1
30%: Assignment 2
30%: End of year examination

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes. Izzy used slides; Kate did not. I'm not sure if there was screen cap or not, but I would highly recommend actually attending the lectures.

Past exams available: 
Not sure, but a 'sample exam' was provided.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Introducing English Grammar by Kersti Börjars and Kate Burridge. I guess the textbook isn't crucial; it is nicely summarised in the unit booklet that is provided in Week 1. However, it does go into much more depth and provides more examples, so I recommend finding yourself a copy. Further, because this is the kind of book that I would read in my spare time, I had no problem in buying it. The textbook is well written, with clear headings and sub-headings, which were helpful. An advantage of having one of the co-authors as the unit co-ordinator is that the unit is essentially based on the book: each week is based on a particular chapter, making navigation easy and efficient.

Lecturer(s):
I have insufficient abilities to explain how terrifically fantastic Kate is. She is easily the best lecturer I've ever had, and probably the best teacher. My respect for her is just so ridiculously high. Kate is probably the only lecturer who would render me tempted to attend extra classes. I made sure that one of my units next year is run by Kate. Her knowledge in Linguistics is unparalleled, she understands how to explain that knowledge, she is very patient, she wants her students to learn, she is clearly passionate about her area. To summarise: Kate is great, and it's worth doing this unit just to experience her lectures.
Izzy is also a good lecturer. I think we had her for two weeks throughout the semester - one lecture on negation was of particular interest. I didn't enjoy her lectures as much as Kate's, but that is certainly not a knock on Izzy; I haven't enjoyed anybody's lectures as much as Kate's.

Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 2, 2014.

Rating: 
5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:
N/A

Comments:
Firstly, I'd like to point out that I took this unit at third year level, but I have labelled it as a second year unit. This is because the unit was meant to only cater for second years, and this will be the case hereafter. My understanding is that it is now a compulsory cornerstone or capstone or somethingstone unit in Linguistics, but all of that terminology doesn't apply to me. Frankly, I find it intimidating and scary. But the point is, this unit will only be available at second year level in the future.

As I mentioned in the textbook section above, I appreciated the structure of this unit. Each week was based on a chapter of the textbook, and followed a logical progression. The unit caters for all, regardless of linguistic background or ability, and Kate and Izzy are well aware that such backgrounds will be diverse. The weeks progressed as follows (I have bastardised the names for sake of simplicity):


Now, if you happened to do EngLang 3/4, some of these topics may seem familiar. But I did EngLang, too, and I certainly learned many new things every week (I especially liked Kate's tangential historical linguistics lessons). Despite my majoring in Linguistics, I was still confused about some fairly basic concepts. Thus, I was able to a) consolidate things that I always thought that I should probably know, and b) learn entirely new concepts.

Tutorials were engaging. I would have actually liked them to run weekly, which is particularly deviant from my usual attitude regarding tutes. Kate is a stupendously encouraging tutor; and, whilst I never experienced her tutes, I have also heard great things about Izzy's teaching style. You can't really go wrong, I don't think.

I will now take this opportunity to run through the assessment tasks, because I think I have made my general views on the unit fairly apparent.

Weekly exercises:
The exercises come from the end of each chapter of the textbook (actually, I guess that this means that the textbook is needed a little more than I made out in earlier sections of this review). Typically, we were required to answer 3-4 questions, some with many (many) parts. The answers to these exercises were actually provided right at the start of the semester. As such, should you be that way inclined, you could easily just look at the answers and not really have to do the exercises at all. But I strongly recommend against this, because they are fantastic revision and in a very similar structure to both the assignments and the exam. Each weekly exercise is worth 1%, for a total of 10%.

Assignment 1:
Both assignments adopted the same kind of structure: short answer with a couple of longer responses thrown in. But, like a lot of Linguistics assignments, I found myself spending longer thinking about each question than (metaphorically) putting pen to paper. The first assignment encompassed questions on word class analysis and constituency analysis (both in various forms). Whilst I did have to think quite a lot about some of the questions, it was a fairly gentle assignment. This would especially have been the case had I completed the weekly exercises in their relevant weeks, rather than leaving them until the end of semester.

Assignment 2:
Assignment 2 had questions on basic clauses and their functions, discourse strategies, subordinate clauses, verb forms, and a longer question on grammar of a particular variety of English. I think the general consensus was that this assignment was easier than the first one, but I actually found it more difficult. I guess it's subjective and depends on your strengths and weaknesses, like most assessment tasks. Feedback for both Assignment 1 and Assignment 2 was fair, helpful and encouraged further thought.

End of year examination:
This was my first exam, and also the one that I studied most for (I was progressively ill throughout the exam period, so it just worked out that way). There was nothing particularly unexpected; however, I felt that the vast majority of content from during the year remained unexamined. I would have preferred a greater range of topics in the exam, but I understand that they were looking for depth of understanding rather than breadth of understanding. I guess the point to take home, though, is to know each topic well, for you may come across a fairly weighted question on any topic.

tl;dr: Radical unit. Take it.

... Did I mention that Kate is great?
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ChloeCameleon3 on November 26, 2014, 11:02:05 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2698 - Middle East Politics: Continuity, change, conflict, and co-operation

Workload: 1 x 1 hour lecture and 1 x 1 hour tutorial weekly

Assessment:  Tutorial participation 10%, Major Essay (3000 words) 50%, Exam 40%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  None, and no sample exams.

Textbook Recommendation:  Prescribed text is 'An Introduction to Middle East Politics' by Benjamin MacQueen. It is necessary, as each chapter has a week dedicated to it. Handy to follow!

Lecturer(s): Ben MacQueen

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 Semester 2

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Middle East Politics is a really fantastic unit. If you're keen to be able to know what the news stories are on about, and wanting to be able to understand their significance and context, then this unit is perfect! Ben MacQueen is a really good lecturer. I have taken a couple of his units, and they have all been well run and his lectures always interesting. I had Alex as a tutor, and she was incredibly engaging and challenged me to understand topics a little deeper than what was covered in the textbook and lectures. I felt like she was a very fair marker (perhaps a too generous, giving me 8/10 for participation when I said like 4 words max. for the entire semester). Alex was also very accessible. She answered emails promptly, and made time to be meet me even when it was outside her consult hour. She really helped me out with my major essay, more so than most other tutors I've had!

Outline of the unit:
Each week generally had a specific theme, but it was obviously hard to cover everything in 12 weeks so a lot of content was crammed into lectures and readings. The first couple of weeks were spent looking at the Ottoman Empire and Colonial Period in order to provide some background and context to more current events. Following that, from week 4 - 11 topics included:

- Superpower rivalry and the Cold War in the Middle East
- Nationalism, Islamism and Ideology
- Authoritarianism in the ME
- Oil, Economy and Development
- The Military, Security and Politics
- US Military Intervention
- Israel, Palestine and the Peace Process
- Democratisation and the Arab Uprisings

Obviously, it was crazy trying to cram in huge topics such as 'democratisation and the Arab Uprisings' into one one-hour lecture, so the readings were relied on quite a bit! I personally felt as though the unit moved on so quickly each week that I was always one step behind and trying to catch up, but by the end everything just started to click into place and I loved it. It's great to be able to read any news article on the Middle Eats now, and know what has happened there, who's involved, what the outcome could be and where it is! Having gone into the unit being mildy interested in the area, yet completely uneducated about it, I really think it was an informative and great unit to learn the basic background to soooo many topics!

The textbook is really good. It was a chapter for each week, so it was very easy to follow and keep track of where you were if, say, you happened to skip a week's reading... Ben MacQueen wrote the book specifically for the unit, so it's all relevant to the subject, unlike other textbooks! It was quite a dense read, but plenty of photos and maps to break things up!

Assessment:
The biggest assessment piece is the major essay, worth 50%. It's basically a standard 3000 word research essay answering one of the 10 questions available to us. I did mine on the characteristics of US military and security engagement in the Middle East since the invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. There was a really good variety of topics to choose from, so at least one would be appealing!

The exam, worth 40%, was split into three parts. The first was essentially a blank map, where knowledge of key places was tested. The second section was multiple choice, testing important dates (mostly). The third section was short answer, covering a range of topics from Israel's nuclear program to future challenged for the US in the Middle East. I liked the format of the exam, it was really different to anything I had done before, particularly in Arts.

This would have to be one of the best units I have taken so far... I can't actually think of any others where I felt disappointed that it was over like I did for this one! It was challenging and fast-paced, but very rewarding and eye-opening. Only downsides I can think of includes the tutorial participation marks (I'm never a fan of that), the shitty ancient lecture theatre we had the lectures in, and the inconvenient 9am Monday morning lecture :'(
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on November 27, 2014, 02:24:41 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS3639 - Poverty, ecology and international justice

Workload:
1x one hour lecture per week
1x one hour tutorial per week

Assessment:
50%: Major essay 1
50%: Major essay 2

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture (I think).

Past exams available: 
That I do not know.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Nothing is needed aside from the unit reader, and even that is questionable. (Well, not really, but I'll expand on that in a bit.)

Lecturer(s):
I have had Linda as a lecturer in some previous units (Human Rights 1, Philosophy 1), and enjoyed her style, so I was glad to see that she was taking this unit. One of Linda's biggest strengths, I think, is her ability to clearly explain concepts in isolation, and then relate them back to the bigger picture. She obviously knows the content very well. Something else I like is that she doesn't tolerate students talking during her lectures. Now, I'm too shy to actually approach other students to ask them to be quiet, but talking through lectures is one of my biggest pet peeves. As such, I like that Linda calls out those being inconsiderate. Linda took us for the first half of the semester. I'm not sure if she will continue to lecture next year, but I very much hope she does.

We were fortunate enough to have Neville take us for a one-off lecture around the middle of the semester. The unit is broken into two parts, looking firstly at poverty, and then climate change. Neville's lecture was an introduction to climate change for students like me who are horribly ignorant. This lecture was enjoyable, very informative, and a nice change-up from the usual lectures.

Toby has been given great reviews in this thread, and deservedly so. He reminds me of a VisCom teacher I had at school; he is respected too much for anybody to misbehave. The reason that he is respected is probably because he's a grouse lecturer. He makes concepts so clear, and even the trickier ones to grasp become less overwhelming thanks to Toby's analogies and numerous examples. He is a fantastic lecturer to have in a unit such as this.

In summary, the lecturers in this unit are terrific.

Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 2, 2014.

Rating: 
4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:
N/A

Comments:
Let me first explain what I meant by suggesting that the unit reader isn't critical. The assessment structure in this unit is rather unusual: simply two essays worth 50% each. Each essay topic focuses primarily on one reading, while other readings may or may not be peripherally relevant. Subsequently, there is really little incentive (in terms of marks, at least) to complete all of the readings. In fact, attendance at the lectures seemed to drop continually throughout the semester, for what I assume were similar issues. Really, you could get by by completing two readings for the semester and attending none of the lectures. Obviously, this isn't at all advised, and one suggests that marks would not be particularly favourable, but I think that it would be possible. But anyway, get the reader: the readings are actually very interesting, and unless you want to feel silly during tutes, it's best to read them.

I like the structure of this unit. Really, it's two mini-units in one. The first six weeks or so focuses on the morality of poverty; then, the second half of the semester relates more to the morality of climate change. Both parts of the unit are particularly interesting. By the end of the semester, it's fairly clear how the two issues intertwine, which is rather thought-provoking.

Based on advice in this thread (I think from Brenden, though I can't seem to find the relevant post), I made sure that I hate Kate as my tutor. That proved to be a good decision. Kate relates well with her students, and is extremely approachable. When I asked her how I could improve on my first essay, she went well out of her way to try to help me for the second one. The tutes themselves varied a bit, depending mostly on the collective mood of the class. Sometimes, discussions were active and lively; other times, they were less so. I didn't contribute a great deal, so I guess I'm not in a position to critique this part of the unit. Regardless, Kate did her best to encourage students to participate without being at all forceful or judgmental. She's a very good tutor.

Here is a brief overview of the assessment tasks:

Essay 1:
Students were required to choose one of five essay topics. Each topic related directly to one of the readings from earlyish in the semester. My essay, for example, was on Peter Singer's (good old Singer - I was surprised that Bentham didn't pop up in this unit, because most of the usual suspects did) suggestion that most of us have very extensive obligations to the poor.

Essay 2:
The structure of the second essay was essentially the same as the first. Again, there were five essay topics from which to choose. My essay was on the alleged conflict between generations in regard to the issue of climate change.

But both of these essays grated me for a couple of reasons. Firstly (and I acknowledge that this is a minor issue), the word count for each essay was 2,250 words. Now, usually that would be fine, but here's the thing: that included all referencing, footnotes, and even the bibliography. I am rather a prolific footnoter, so this knocked me off course, a little. I guess you could treat the essays as 2,000 word essays, which would give you a buffer for referencing and the like. Still, I found it a little frustrating.

Secondly, a ridiculous proportion of the cohort was granted an extension for the first essay (I can't quite remember, but I think it was something like 55/80 students). As a result, a cohort-wide extension was given for the second essay. I guess this isn't really a criticism of this unit so much as a criticism of Monash's extension policy, but I was a little bitter after submitting my first essay (on time).

A final word on the unit: I encourage students to take this unit. However, I think it would be improved should the assessment structure be modified slightly. Making each essay worth 40% and then having a 20% exam, say, would encourage greater consistency throughout the unit. However, the 50% essays did result in less stress during the exam period!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: bobbyz0r on December 05, 2014, 04:14:55 am
Subject Code/Name: ECC2010 - Intermediate Macroeconomics

Workload:
2 x 1 hour lectures
1 x 1 hour tutorial

Assessment:  (Outline the various assessments which make up the subject and how much each counts for)
5 % Participation, 15 % Mid-semester test, 80 % Final Exam.
Exam was answer 3 of 6 questions. Questions are long response, with an exam duration of 2 hours (so essentially 3 x 40 minute questions)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with/without screen capture
Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:
Yes, last year’s was available, but without solutions. No sample exam was really required as exam questions are in the same style as the tutorial questions.

Textbook Recommendation: Blanchard & Sheen, Macroeconomics 4e. Not really needed, but there were a couple tutorial questions from the textbook. Also, readings for each topic are provided from the textbook.

Lecturer(s):
Michael White (Semester 2)

Didn’t go to any lectures, but he seems to be quite easy to understand. He goes quite slowly which got quite annoying for me.

Year & Semester of completion:
2014, Semester 2

Rating:
1.5/5

Your Mark/Grade:
N/A

Comments:

Being a core unit for the Bachelor of Economics course and the Economics major, it has quite a sizeable cohort ~160. The course was divided up into 7 topics:

IS-LM Model (Goods and Financial Markets)
WPS Model (Labour Market)
AD-AS Model
Inflation and Unemployment (Phillips Curve)
Monetary Policy and the RBA
The Global Financial Crisis
Public Debates after GFC, the Australian Case


The first 4 weeks covered the first two topics. These topics are quite important and form a basis for the following topics. The mid-semester test covers the first two topics. The test is quite difficult. My tutor, Li Huang (who was a very good tutor), said that the previous year’s fail rate (I’m assuming that means < 50 %) was around 70 % of the cohort, where as it was ‘only’ around 50 % this year. The mid-semester test was in the same style as the tutorial questions and final exam. The final exam only covers the remaining 5 topics, however, understanding of the first two are very necessary.

And here comes my biggest gripe with the unit: exams test memory of theory more than it tests application of the theory. This is more or less true for the first year unit as well (ECC1100), where you are expected to remember then regurgitate all the information from the lectures. Simply answering the question sometimes isn’t enough. It is expected that you will be able to write everything you know about the topic. The upside of this is that ECC2010 has a reasonable tolerance for cramming. You can get away with relying on memory for a reasonable chuck of the content.

I personally did not enjoy this unit very much, but it certainly has some very interesting content. Doing this unit as a first year student, it is definitely a step up in terms of the complexity in the concepts, but quite doable. It is mainly a amendment to the content taught in ECC1100, which you’ll find out to be largely too simplistic, and is replaced with quite different concepts and intuitions. However, as per the rant above about the assessments, I found it a bit enjoyable.

The lecture slides are a mess. They can get hard to follow without watching the lectures as there is a lot of shorthand notes in them. For example, increase/decrease is simply denoted as and change in as . Most parameters were given by their mathematical notation (eg. interest rate = i, unemployment rate = u, output = Y, etc...)
While it’s easy enough to understand, it gets very messy.

Another thing to note is that solutions to the tutorial questions are not uploaded onto Moodle, so it is up to you to turn up to tutorials. Mind you, they are very helpful, and also worth the 5 %. Also, another very important thing to note is that the unit is run differently between Semester 1 and Semester 2, so YMMV during Semester 1.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: xZero on December 07, 2014, 07:19:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAE3402 - Aerospace design project

Workload:  3 x 1hr lectures, 1 x 2hr tutorial (Optional)

Assessment:  50% Design Project (35% Final Report, 10% Concept Report, 5% Presentation), 50% Final Exam

Recorded Lectures: No

Past exams available:  Yes, dating back to 2009 with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Library

Lecturer(s): Prof. Hugh Blackburn

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Sem 2

Rating: fuck you team / 5

Your Mark/Grade: 82 HD

Comments:
As Jinxi mentioned, all the groups were random, lucky for me I was grouped with a friend which meant that 2/9 people were actually working rather than me solo this project. Long story short, 1 person on the team plagiarised last years work (even the layout was the same...), 1 person afked for the first 6/7 weeks, everyone else was decent/ok/trash, Hugh is an asshole and be prepared to lose sleep the week before its due. If you're doing this unit I suggest doing the high priority things yourself (such as weight analysis, CG calculation and constraint analysis) and don't forget, ITS OK TO CRY SOMETIMES!!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: xZero on December 07, 2014, 07:43:51 pm
Subject Code/Name: MAE3405 - Flight vehicle propulsion

Workload:  3 x 1hr lectures, 1 x 2hr tutorial (Optional)

Assessment:
3Laboratory work: 30%
Examination: (3 hours) 70%

Recorded Lectures: No

Past exams available:  Yes, dating back to 2009 with no solution

Textbook Recommendation:  Library

Lecturer(s): Associate Professor Damon Honnery

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Sem 2

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83 HD

Comments:
One of the hardest and interesting unit in aerospace engineering, as usual I can't comment much on lectures since I never been but Damon doesn't upload any work example written during lectures and those are really helpful for assignments, in short go to lecture or get someone to take notes. The assignments are biweekly, with questions already uploaded on moodle, most of them are from previous exams so if you can do them, you'll be fine in the final exam. That being said, the questions gets impossibly hard initially but once you get use to the method its simple, every question follows the identical method, which is draw up your engine stages and find temperature and pressure at different stages. There's also 1 lab, which is fairly simple, its all excel work but they don't give you the thermal efficiency equation until much later in the unit which is really stupid imo.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: alondouek on December 08, 2014, 08:45:36 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2042 - Human Genetics

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Nope. There was a kind-of sample exam for the SAQ component up on Moodle. Best case scenario would be to do the MasteringGenetics exercises on areas you're uncomfortable with.

Textbook Recommendation: The prescribed textbook is Concepts of Genetics 10th Edition by Klug et al. I didn't get it as I couldn't find an acceptably-priced one. If you struggle with some genetics concepts, then it's probably a good idea to get a copy (which I probably should have done).

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2, 2014

Rating: 3.5-4 out of 5

Comments:

Overview
I have mixed feelings about this unit because I haven't really enjoyed "pure" genetics (that is, basic, not-directly medical/clinical genetics theory) in the past, as might be found in VCE biology or early university biology units (such as BIO1011). This is kind of stupid considering one of my majors will be genetics, but c'est la vie - it's not really my choice due to some silly faculty policies regarding my double degree. Unfortunately, a portion of this unit is - understandably, given it starts as an introductory unit - this sort of genetics, incorporating basic cellular and genotype/phenotype principles such as epistasis, population and quantitative genetics etc. etc. My grades during this early part of semester weren't overly great partially because of my shoddy organisational skills and partially because I wasn't really engaged with the material. However, the second half of the unit is pretty much exactly what I wanted the unit to be: a medical/clinical focus on genetics and its impact on cellular and developmental biology (with a huge emphasis on cancer biology) as well as a bit of genetics-based molecular techniques such as gene knockout and model organisms. I enjoyed the second portion of this unit, especially because the assessment switched from labs in the first half that felt somewhat pointless, to more oral-presentation and group-based work (which is my gig, yo).


Lectures:
As usual, my lecture attendance for this unit was fairly poor and this is probably one of the main reasons that I struggled somewhat with early parts of the unit. Essentially ALL assessment in this unit is derived from lectures (which are then consolidated in labs/SGS's), so if I had my time again I'd go to more of them or been more diligent in staying up-to-date with recordings.

I did listen to all the lectures during SWOTVAC/exam period and from what I could tell, the quality of the lecturers and the lectures is very good. Concepts are generally well-explained (the only time I went over recordings multiple times was during Richard Burke's Bayes Analysis lectures, which is fair enough in my (heavily defensive) opinion because that shit's pretty tricky the first few times).

Saw-Hoon is an absolute hero and easily one of the kindest people I've met at university - she spent two hours with me about mid-way through semester going over some assessment where I hadn't done too well and basically getting me back on track with the unit. She takes the first few lectures on introductory genetics, and anyone who's had her as a lecturer in BIO1011/1022 will know that she's a superb and engaging lecturer.

I can't comment too much on A/Prof Warr as lecturer as I only (hastily) listened to her lectures during SWOTVAC. However, her explanations were generally very clear and her material is alright - A/Prof Warr dealt with chromosomal aberration/mutation theory (which I enjoyed) and genetic linkage mapping (which I didn't really enjoy). The second part is very important for the gene mapping project (10% of semester marks), so with the benefit of hindsight I would advise anyone taking this unit to attend these lectures and to do so diligently.

Richard Burke is a great lecturer; his lecture series deals with a pretty wide variety of genetic concepts ranging from quantitative genetics and Bayes Analysis to mitochondrial genetic disorders and behavioural genetics. He also takes some lectures in molecular biological genetic techniques such as DNA fingerprinting and profiling, which is pretty interesting. It was towards the latter part of Dr Burke's lectures that I started to enjoy this unit more, because it was moving away from the "fundamentals" of genetics to more involved, specific and practical areas.

The next set of lectures were taken by Dr Caroline Speed and these were easily my favourite in terms of content. Dr Speed as a lecturer wasn't the best I've had (though not even close to the worst for that matter), but that didn't matter because the content itself was really engaging. I really enjoy medical/clinical developmental and cellular biology, and Dr Speed's lectures focus primarily on cancer and the genetic basis of the disease. This series starts with some introductory lectures on tumour suppressor genes (such as APC etc.), chromosomal translocations and fusion genes (e.g. BCR-ABL) and continues with two lectures consist of an in-depth analysis of colon and breast cancer and the genetic principles behind them (including their origins due to mutations to tumour suppressor genes or (proto-)oncogenes). I'd covered some of this in prior and concurrent DEV units - and thoroughly enjoyed it there - and this was also the case in this unit.

Dr Michelle Dunstone takes the final few lectures on modelling diseases in model organisms and transgenics. I liked these lectures, expect that some parts (mainly the transgenics lecture) felt a bit like a methods paper translated into a lecture. Still, this particular lecture series gets a big thumbs-up from me because it deals with model organisms which are heavily relevant to another of my interests - regenerative medicine.


In-Semester Assessment:
In-semester assessment consisted of 7 labs, 1 SGS on cancer biology and 1 SGS-based oral presentation, a gene linkage mapping project and a mid-sem test. The labs were alright, but I struggled (needlessly, in hindsight) with the latter two. Keeping up-to-date with lectures will make all of these fairly easy.

The labs are as follows:
None are particularly tricky and you work in groups so it's fairly easy to score really well in these. My only real gripe is at the seemingly unending scoring of Drosophila in a couple of the labs. Unlucky me got a vial of 43 flies (most vials were of around 17 flies) to score and I had anaesthetise those fuckers 4 times before I was done. The resulting microscope headache was pretty intense.

The cancer SGS consists of a set of worksheets to be done before class, which are run through in a SGS with a tutor. I enjoyed the theory behind it, but it was ultimately pointless. Everyone came to class with the correct answers and there wasn't really any need for discussion, so the whole thing took less than 45 minutes (instead of the scheduled 3 hours).

The second pseudo-SGS was an group oral presentation on a model organism you'd chosen earlier in semester. My group chose D. rerio - the zebrafish - which is a pretty awesome animal from a biomedical potential perspective. We were given a week to prepare the presentation which was ample time to put together a high-quality presentation. This was great fun for me (though I might be the only person in the university universe who strongly prefers group-work and oral presentation to any other form of assessment lel).

The mid-sem (which took place in week 9 due to the bullshit timing of the mid-sem break) would have been quite simple... if I'd stayed up to date with lectures (you should be noticing a theme at this point). I didn't do particularly well because of this and it would be unfair for me to complain about it because of it. That said, the consensus seemed to be that there really wasn't enough time allocated for it (55 mins for ~13 pages of short-answer questions and a good deal of associated text in the leaders of questions).

The mapping project was annoying because they deliberately gave little instruction or guidance as to how to approach the mapping of your allocated gene. This was compounded by the fact that they expected you to map your gene in a particular way, and even if you got the right answer/map distance for your gene via an alternative method, they took heavy marks off. No me gusta. Hint: USE TRIHYBRID CROSSES or else. This is an assessment that I'd hope is changed in the future. The fact that we were supposed to adapt our results into an essay was also a bit pointless and irritating given that were weren't actually given anything to write about.


Exam:
I was dreading the exam as it covered the entirety of the (considerably-sized) course. However the fact that I'd taken the time during SWOTVAC/exam period between exams to go through the entire course again in detail really, really helped. The exam format was 60-ish MCQs and then 19 short-answer questions. This is a tad misleading as the final two "short answer" questions are basically an essay/long-response question.

Given that I'd actually studied for once, the exam was pretty good and not the utter thunderbastard I'd expected it to be. I did use the whole allocated 3 hours (including reviewing the MCQs once), and I'm unsure as to whether this is because the exam was really, really hefty (which is true) or because I was still a bit sucky at some of the theory (which may have been true).


Final comments:
Decent unit, but one where it's important not to be blasé about the work or attendance. The key to doing well in this unit is just that - attending the lectures and taking some notes. In terms of quality this is a pretty good unit, though there are some areas that can definitely be massively improved upon.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LaLaLouise on December 13, 2014, 06:39:07 pm
Subject Code/Name: ASP2062 - Introduction to astrophysics 

The subject has changed this year (2014) so I'd thought I'd upload a more updated review for students.

Workload: 
3 x 1hr lectures and a 2hr lab per week

Assessment: 

30% - Computer laboratories (Mix of lab and tutorials)
60% - Exam (Must pass to pass the unit)
10% - Mid semester test (Week 7)
There are no assignments in this subject

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. However some of the lectures use the projector.

Past exams available:  Yes, a single one from a previous year which was really irrelevant since the course changed this year.

Textbook Recommendation: I believe it was an Introduction to Modern Astrophysics 2ed PNIE . I got a pirated version and still didn't use it (if you want it send me a message). It's not necessary at all as the lectures notes cover everything in great detail.

Lecturer(s):
Duncan Galloway - Takes Black holes and Stellar structure + Evolution
Daniel Price - Takes Star + Planet formation and Galaxies + Cosmology
Alina Donea - Introduction, the Universe and the Sun
Rosemary Mardling - Dynamics

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 semester 2

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD 89

Comments:

Lectures
I attended almost all of the lectures for this subject and made sure to catch up on any I missed. I'd highly recommend attending the lectures as they helped a lot with the tutorial assessment and the lectures will generally get to know you since the attendance was around 15 - 20 students.
I enjoyed all of the lectures for this subject but here is just a few comments:
Duncan Galloway - Always had very well made slides that where easy to follow along with in and out of class. He would sometimes use the projector to do practice questions but always inserted these into the notes before uploading which was very helpful if you didn't want to listen to the recording.
Daniel Price - Came with a prepared book of notes and used the electronic tablet to write them out. This sounds boring but it wasn't.... I promise. He goes into great depth of the concepts to ensure you understand them and gives ample examples to concepts. He also enjoys asking a lot of questions in order to have a discussion and creates animations (on the bus) to show in class.   
Alina Donea - Covers the first topic, if you've done any astronomy this part will be a breeze. Just make sure to know Kepler's laws of by heart! She is also a great lecture but be warned that she does have an accent, it is nothing to strong or annoying but I did attend all her lectures so I'm not sure how it sounds on recording.
Rosemary Mardling - Rosemary likes to use the projector and will upload her slides to moodle. My saving grace for Dynamics was that Rosemary handed out a bound book of notes (on first lecture) that covered everything and had examples with answers. It's not that she is a bad lecturer but she tends to waste time and recover things that we just did the last lecture.   

Computer laboratories
Make up a large portion of the assessment at 30%, they are a generally an even mix of tutorials and prac work. The prac work is very simple, just have to use the Linux code they supply, plug it into Linux and answer questions. The tutorials are very helpful , can not stress enough to make sure you understand the answers to the questions and give them a good shot. They are perfect practice for the mid semester test.
Also forgot to mention that the work done in the 2 hrs isn't due till the start of the next weeks lab and the computer room is generally open to be used if you don't finish. This made it really easy to get the work done and written up well to get high marks.

Mid semester test
Only worth 10% but be warned that it can hurt and goes for approximately 40 minutes. The highest score from my year was a 24/34 (I think it was out of 34 but I could be wrong) and I managed a 21. Only 8 students in the whole cohort passed and with scaling to out of 25 still more than half the students still failed. I think this was due to low preparation levels and bad communication between lectures.   
To prep for the test we where given the previous years test, the only problem was that this tests questions weren't relevant to most of our concepts and consisted of about 12 multi. choice and a few short answers. However when we sat our test it was about 6 pages long and each lecturer (for the content we had covered up to week 7) had supplied at least 5 questions each, only Daniel gave a mix of multi. choice and short answer where as the rest where all just short answer. Not surprised that many didn't finish it considering the amount of questions and there difficulty.
So to prepare for the test look at the derivations and practice questions in the lecture notes. These and some tutorial questions will make up the mid semester test.

Exam
Went for 3 hrs and is the only hurdle. The exam itself I found quite doable however it was quite long which I expected due to the amount of questions expected to be done in the 40 mid. semester test. The only structure in the exam was that each lecturer had their own section of questions for the exam. Which was generally 2 - 3 pages, some do a mix of multiple choice and short answer questions. But a lot of the exam was just doing derivations from lectures and questions similar to tutorials.
The best prep I can suggest is the same prep and the mid semester test. Re-do the tutorials and go over all derivations and practice questions in the lecture notes.

Final comments
I really did enjoy this unit and would highly recommend it. However be warned that it has changed structure this year so the lectures are still getting used to things and there won't be many (or none if they don't give you my years exam) exams that are relevant to the material. Remember to properly do tutorial questions and go over the derivations from the lectures and you should be fine!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Cloud.Nine on December 17, 2014, 01:52:24 am
Subject Code/Name: BIO1022 - Biology II

Workload: Fortnightly Labs (3 hours), 2 x 1hr Lectures/week

Assessment: 2.5hr MC Exam (45%), Lab Reports, online quizzes, assessment tasks (55%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: No, although there is a super quiz comprised of a large bank of questions (in excess of a few hundred aprrox.), which can be completed an unlimited amount of times, 100 MC per attempt (solutions provided).

Textbook Recommendation:  A recent change to this course this year was the introduction of an online interactive textbook 'Principles of Biology' by Nature, this is essential as online quizzes (5% of assessment) are accessed through this e-book and the answers are obtained throughout the prescribed readings.

Lecturer(s): Numerous. A lecturer from their respective faculty would present for around 2 weeks according to the present topic.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, semester 2.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 86 HD

Comments: I thoroughly enjoyed the diverse range of content presented in the lectures, it really captured my interest in areas of Biology I was previously unaware about. There's a lot of content to know, this is largely due to how the unit is a prerequisite for a wide range of 2nd year units, in which first year students should all be appropriately prepared for. Overall, the lecturers were passionate, had a high degree of knowledge, and were good presenters. If you're more interested in human biology (physiology, homeostasis, development, immunology) you will probably prefer this unit over BIO1011, although many topics are illustrated and contrasted within through examples of various animals and humans.

Possibly due to how this is the most popular unit at Monash (source: unit coordinator), Labs run on a fortnightly basis. Be early and be prepared for these. At the designated starting time, a pre-lab quiz will commence (4 MC), this will contribute to your overall Lab mark for that week. At the commencement of the Lab, students will have a week to complete an assessment which has various formats. The final week of Labs, consists of group oral presentation session, in which you will present to your bay (16 students) on a designated topic, you will have a powerpoint to assist. Personally speaking, I was dissapointed with some aspects of the Lab component, in particular the variation in how the individual assessment was marked, I felt like I lost a lot more marks than I should have for this. Lab reports are submitted online, a very important tip to keep in my mind (especially because many students work on these past midnight, when its due at 10am the following morning), ensure you follow the correct steps in uploading, saving then clicking 'send for marking'. Some students missed the final step in this process, in which no sympathy is given and received no marks for their work. Keep this in mind!

Overall, I would definitely recommend this unit. I found it to be much more engaging, diverse and interesting than 3,4 VCE Biology. I would love to continue studying many areas that were covered in this BIO1011 & 22 but unfortunately in second year its important to narrow your scope. My personal favourite topic covered in this unit was a 2 week course of hormones, reproduction and developmental biology, the lecturer was great too. Remember to study everything covered in this course, don't just concentrate on the areas you think are the most challenging, everything is equally weighted. It occurred to myself and others, that arguably the more challenging topics had the most easiest exam questions! Stay on top of your lecture content, and use many resources to assist your understanding. This unit is rather demanding in my opinion.

There are also optional PASS sessions, this is a peer assisted weekly study session hosted by a high achieving second year student. Great way to meet others and share knowledge around in a collaborative manner. Would recommend attending these.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: TommyLie on December 20, 2014, 04:05:47 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3020 - Complex analysis and integral transforms

Workload: 3X1 hour lectures per week, 1 hour of practice tutorial class per week. A fairly involved problem set each week - I would highly recommend completing them all if you want a distinction or above.

Assessment:  3 10% assignments (Fairly easy if you keep up to date), 3 3.3% in class tests going for 25 mins each (very straight forward if you stay up to date)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, all lectures are recorded. For integral transforms, Paul's handwritten work is recorded live on the overhead. For complex analysis, lecture slides are on the overhead and the old fashion projector is used by Greg for writing. These are uploaded to moodle and so you can listen to the audio recordings and follow the slides if you need.

Past exams available:  2 available on Moodle, 1 with comprehensive worked solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Schaums Outlines for Laplace Transforms (Can be taken into exam with highlighting allowed), and Saff and Snider introduction to complex analysis for scientists and engineers (Optional, but I would recommend if you want to consolidate lectures further, it's very relevant to the lectures)

Lecturer(s): Greg Markowsky - Complex Analysis (Solid lecturer, I never found his explanations difficult to comprehend and kept me engaged), Paul Cally - Integral Transforms (Also a solid lecturer, great explanations and loved telling stories ever now and then and making funny remarks to keep us engaged).

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2, 2014

Rating:  5 out of 5

Comments: A really enjoyable unit, challenging however but very rewarding. If you attend all lectures (Which I highly recommend, theres no reason not too, both lectures are great and explain things clearly), complete all problem sets and read through the textbook and Schaums Outlines then you're set for a great mark in this unit.

This unit is technically a pure & applied one, although I'd say its largely just applied. There was 6 questions on the exam and only 1 was a 'pure/proof' style, the rest were simple calculation/evaluation style questions. That being said however, there are a lot of proof questions in the problem sets for the complec analysis part, in fact they are mostly proof questions, and in the lectures there will be a lot of detail in explaining why and how certain theorems and results are derived. That is to say if your a pure guy and worried this will be a boring unit I think you'll find that it has more than enough to keep you interested, and if you an applied guy, while some of the detailed proofs in lectures and tutorials may scare or even bore you, have no fear because the exam will mostly be applied style questions. Also the Integral transforms section is entirely applied, there are no proofs here only application - but this only makes about 1/3 of the course.

The topics covered in Complex Analysis are:

The topics covered in Integral Transforms are:

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: aalk15 on January 04, 2015, 11:27:14 pm
Subject Code/Name: SCI1020

Workload: Weekly workshops (2 hours) and 3 lectures once per week.

Assessment:
60% Exam, 10% weekly quiz (take best 10 out of 12), 10% weekly workshop questions, 20% assignments (2 x 5% and 1 x 10%).

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes, 2 will be provided. They are almost exactly the exam.

Textbook Recommendation: Forgot what it's called, but you will need it for your work shops and for your exam prep.

Lecturer(s): Dr Dianne Atkinson.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, semester 2.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 95 HD

Comments: If you are a science student, it is mandatory that you complete a first year maths unit to be able to graduate. Many students in science are not good at maths, and are advised to take this unit. Why do I say this? This unit is piss easy maths. When I mean piss easy, I really mean it. You learn how to draw a linear graph. That easy. I'm fairly decent at maths, and I admittedly took it because I knew it was easy, which meant that I had to put in shit all effort.

Lets put it this way, its really easy to do shit, and really easy to do well. For the former, this will happen if you dont do the work, and for the latter, this will happen if you are consistently diligent at completing your assignments to a high standard. If you want to get an HD, take this unit and do all the homework, assignments well. When I mean well, I mean starting 2 weeks before and taking 1 hour of your day for 2 weeks to complete it. Go to Dianne's room and ask for help if you dont know what to do, she is really helpful. REALLY helpful ;). Also, do the quizzes, they are pretty easy and if you study for it before hand you are probably going to get 8-9 out of 10. Which will average out as 85%.

Its the easiest math unit at Monash. But dont be fooled, there is a lot of work in it. Easy, but a lot.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: DisaFear on February 15, 2015, 01:47:47 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM3990 - Chemistry project

Workload:
Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  N/A

Past exams available:  Past sample reports may be available

Textbook Recommendation:  Depends on what project you're working on

Lecturer(s): N/A but I worked under Dr. Andreas Stasch and Dr. Lea Fohlmeister

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 Semester 2

Rating:  6/5

Your Mark/Grade: 86 HD

Comments:

What is a research unit about?

This unit is designed to give undergraduates a go at real research that goes on in labs. It is aimed at applying your knowledge rather than simply listening to lectures and doing exams.

It is a great way to see what research is like, whether or not you want to continue with it in the future.

Not everyone will like it. A friend or two of mine who did it decided chemistry research isn't for them and won't be doing Honours etc. However, it is worth a try.

What did I do?

My project title was "Synthesis and Reactivity of Novel Phosphinoamide Group I Complexes". I made phosphinoamide complexes using various Group I metals. Then, I tested their reactivity against other ligands such as azobenzene, ketones, ketenes, imines, azides, nitries, etc. It was sort of like trial and error, but someone needs to do it to see if they portray unusual behaviour! Used the standard NMR to see what products I had but I also got my crystals sent off to the Synchrotron to be analysed! Probably the most exciting part of the project, to get a concrete structure of what happened in the test tube. And oh boy were there some wacky results.

So what is research like?

At the start, it is scary. Of course it is scary. You're doing real science. You're using dangerous equipment and chemicals. You're scared that if you screw up, you'll be sent to a dungeon where failed scientists are kept.

You'll soon realise that your supervisors are always around to help you. They'll guide you through all the things you'll do for at least 2 weeks. Then you'll get the hang of it and be absolutely fine! My supervisor worked on the bench beside me and was always open to stupid questions, not always related to chemistry.

I was very lucky to have a good group though. On the rare occasion, you might not have a good group (research this before you get into a group!). My friend had a not-so-good group and hated the whole experience.

Assessment

The final report has a page limit of 15 pages, excluding bibliography and experimental section. This isn't too daunting, you'll realise at the end of semester. However, be prepared to have whole chunks of text crossed out by your supervisor and then feel like a waste of oxygen. However, mine left extremely helpful comments. Eternally glad.

There is an oral presentation too. Our cohort was big so we had two separate sessions. You give it in front of the other students and their lab teams. It wasn't too bad, in hindsight. If anyone wants my presentation (which I was thoroughly proud of :3 ) I can provide on demand. The question grilling section can be tough though. I couldn't answer Phil Andrew's questions :(

Be diligent in your labwork, be tidy, record everything in your book, ask questions and you'll get the 30% free.

Final words

Should you do a research unit? If you have the goal of doing Honours, PhD etc, then definitely. I've done two of these and feel very confident going into Honours now.
Should you do it just to see how it is? Yes! Firstly, most people get HD for this unit. It is just a fact. Usually people enjoy what they work on and put in good effort. Secondly, it is a great experience. You'll be working with people at the cutting edge of science. You'll hear about the life of scientists, whether they're at the Synchrotron at 4am or at conference for 4 days in a row, or how the Faculty won't repair their machines. It is interesting. But yea. Do it. :)

Be sure to check out the review on CHM2990 for more rambling. There was a lot more I could've said but it has been about 4 months now!

IMAGE GALLERY
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: brenden on February 15, 2015, 02:19:42 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1835 - Time, Self, and Mind (Summer Unit)

Workload:  2 x Weekly lectures (accessed via MULO if you're taking the subject via distance)
1 x Weekly tutes (there are no tutes for summer units, but you'll have one tute a week if you do it during the regular semester).

Assessment: 
5% Assessment Task (2 or 3 questions).
10% Assessment Task (2 or 3 questions).
15% Assessment Task (2 or 3 questions).
30% Essay task.
40% Exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  There's a sample exam, more on that in the 'comments' section.

Textbook Recommendation:  ATS1835 Reader. Absolutely necessary.

Lecturer(s): I think Paul Silva or Sam Butchart take the lectures. I'm not sure - I listened to two lectures and Paul/Sam took one each out of the ones I listened to. They probably share it each semester. I know Paul has been doing it the last few semesters from talking to him in Ethics class.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014-2015 Summer semester.

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Dunno yet.

Comments:

So, the exam is pretty generous. It's 20 multiple choice questions, and 2 short answer questions. The multi choice section is worth 40%, and each short answer question is worth 30%.

There's a sample exam where they give you 15 multi-choice questions (something like 12 of which appeared on the actual exam), and they give you like 12 short-answer questions, 3 of which are guaranteed to appear on the exam, and 2 of which you're supposed to answer.

So essentially, if you're taking this unit as a first year and you keep up with your readings, the exam should be really easy. If you're taking this as a third year philosophy student, you'll be able to cram it over a weekend because a lot of the concepts have already cropped up in other units.

The unit is split into five sections: time travel, logic, the 'mind', the 'self', and 'knowledge. So basically, the unit is made up of logic, metaphysics and epistemology. I already took a unit on logic, but if you haven't done that unit, that section might take a bit to grasp and would recommend reading twice and taking notes on it, just because it's hard to feel how 'definitive' it is when you just read through it. Otherwise, all the other sections raised pretty cool conceptual questions.

As far as being a summer unit - the support was pretty good. The staff are pretty good with email responses and normally have a really quick turnaround, and your assessments get marked insanely fast, too. Also, when taking the unit by distance, you get a chance to nominate what mark you'd like up to a distinction, and if you achieve lower than that mark you get a 'reattempt' after reading feedback, which means that you can essentially guarantee yourself at least a distinction if you focus on the unit.

It kind of went by in a bit of a blur over summer and so my mind is really scattered - if you have any questions about the unit feel free to message me so I can make additions to this section and give a more comprehensive review.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: achre on February 22, 2015, 08:06:54 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1873 – Introduction to International Relations

Workload:  1 2hr Lecture, 1 1hr Tute

Assessment: 

Recorded Lectures:  Yep, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yeah, dating back to the '90s, I believe, but they look nothing like the exam from 2014 onwards.

Textbook Recommendation:  You need to get your hands on a copy of “An Introduction to International Relations”, Devetak et al., 2nd edition.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Ben Wellings, with guest lecturers Dr. Remy Davison, Dr. Anne McNevin and Dr. Swati Parashar.

Year & Semester of completion: 2014, Semester 2

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 79

Comments:

A few things have changed just since 2013 (mostly in terms of assessment), and since this is now a first semester unit and jaffys will be piling in soon, I thought I might as well write up a second opinion review on Intro to IR.

This is your standard “big picture” first year unit. Each week touches on a different topic in International Relations, ranging from poverty, refugees and humanitarian intervention, to global governance, human rights, globalisation and international political economy, to critical and prescriptive theories of International Relations, and back around to war, arms control, terrorism and security studies.

The unit starts off with a look at what present day International Relations consists of (remember kids: International Relations is the study of international relations). You get a very broad overview of the four subdivisions of IR: “Foreign Policy Analysis”, “International Security Studies”, “Global Governance” and “International Political Economy”, each of which is available to study as a second and third year unit. You’re also provided with an equally broad overview of the most prominent theories in IR: realism, liberalism and constructivism, as well as the critical turn (Marxist, Feminist and Postmodern perspectives on contemporary IR issues). The present historical context of IR is then introduced by way of showing what era we’ve just emerged from – Cold War bipolarity (two great powers: the US and Russia) - contrasted with 21st century unipolarity (one great power: the US). If you’re not interested in the Cold War, I would suggest getting yourself interested in it ASAP, because it is absolutely pivotal to all contemporary discussions in IR. History has always bored me, and I’ve always been crap at geography. But just like a good historian needs to have good geographic intuition (think of a country -> have a good idea about what countries border it), a good IR student needs to have good historical intuition (think of a point in history -> have a good idea of what was going on around that time, and where), because IR is a social science - meaning it’s not really a science, but it likes to dress up like one. Your experiment is the entirety of world history, all evidence for this subject comes from the past, and considering everything from the ancient Greeks to the Libyan intervention is fair game, the more knowledge of history you have, the more compelling an argument you can make - in an essay, in a tute or in a pub argument. The Cold War was utterly unprecedented in world history, and seemed to defy the expectations of conventional accounts of international relations. The way it ended in 1991 was even more exotic and theoretically inexplicable as an historical event. The study of IR has had to adapt to these occurrences with new theories and accounts of the way the world is. So it will pay to give it your full attention early in the unit, because it won't seem too important at a first encounter.

From here on out, as above, the unit just meanders through the academic environment of modern IR scholarship. You get a little bit of knowledge about a lot of things, just enough for you to figure out what turns you on and what doesn’t. If you were keen on the weeks on human rights, IPE and security studies, well, good news! You can study them all in much more depth in later years. And if you found the weeks on development or globalisation boring, you neve have to study them again. Unless they’re a cornerstone. In which case, it sucks to be you. Indonesia also came up a fair bit, particularly in tutes, which was actually quite interesting as a repeat case study in diplomacy, refugees and terrorism.

The last week comes back with a somewhat more comprehensive re-introduction to IR theory, the idea presumably being that you’ll appreciate it more having spent 12 weeks being exposed to nearly everything there is to be studied. It was a good way to round off the unit, seeing as how the only absolutely necessary retained knowledge for future units are the tools of analysis in IR  ::)

The unit didn’t suffer too badly from any administrative or organisational faults, and they were, in fact, so minor that only a stressed out pre-exams student would have taken note of them. It can only run more smoothly in 2015 and beyond, so in that sense I certainly think this is a good unit.

That said, I don’t know if I’d recommend this unit to someone looking for an elective that will give them a keener perspective on the way the world around them works. The two Contemporary Worlds units do a good job at that. I loved this unit, but I also love this subject. This is more of a unit tailored for someone looking to major in IR. So in that sense I suppose I’m not really recommending it to anyone but people looking already to major in IR – and if you are majoring in IR, this is a gateway unit. So I guess I’m not recommending it to anyone at all lmao
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on May 23, 2015, 08:02:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2911 - Synthetic Chemistry

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes, two mock exams were provided.

Textbook Recommendation: There's 4 recommended texts. I borrowed them all from the library, and I don't even remember what they were called. *Definitely* not needed unless you plan on going on further into organic chemistry (even then, only the main one was recommended by Kellie, who lectures CHM3922). The textbook for inorganic was not commented on.

Lecturer(s): Where there's two lecturers, the first lecturer is the one I had.

Year & Semester of completion: 2015 Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 84 HD

Comments: Before I begin this review, I'd like it noted that the unit is currently undergoing a lot of changes. Even if you take the unit next year, a lot of what I've written might be changed.

This unit is a fairly standard chemistry unit, and required if you plan on majoring in Chemistry (whilst not specifically stated in the handbook, you *have* to do CHM2911 to be able to do enough third units for a major. This doesn't reflect on CHM2922, though). Essentially, it looks at two forms of synthesis - synthesis with organic reagents, and synthesis with inorganic reagents. The tests are nice and chill, and done in groups. The OLAs are quite different, and this year our first one was an informal lab report (i.e, 7 questions and a conclusion) which helped you learn how to use chem draw (a software to draw molecules and display them in 3D), the second one being the use of peerwise, which is a website based around writing and answering questions on a given topic. The first OLA required drawing molecules given by the demonstrator, and the second required you to write x amount of questions, answer y amount of questions and give feedback on z amount of questions. Both were fairly easy, given you put some effort into it.

Organic Chemistry I
This topic was, essentially, a refresher of the first half of CHM1022/1052, with a couple extra things. You're reminded of functional groups, resonance, carbocation stability, how to draw mechanisms and hybridisation, as well as further going through NMR, looking at some more complicated molecules (this essentially just means looking beyond the "n+1" rule, and instead considering coupling and coupling constants). After that, you go over some common mechanisms, which is all the new content offered by this topic.

The labs are very nice for this topic - it's essentially the only topic with 3 labs (the rest only have 2), as there's an NMR workshop which correlates directly with content from the second lecture. Granted, the NMR workshop is quite general, and was useful in topic 1, 2 and 4 labs. The second prac was a simple one in that you had to analyse the components of a drug "panacetin" and decide if it was safe to put on the market, which taught a lot of separation techniques. The third prac was quite a mess, but it was easy-going in that there wasn't a lot to do. It also taught the use of gas chromatography.

All in all, this topic is a nice, slow, introduction that I enjoyed (but I may be biased because Kellie is an AMAZING lecturer), which is quite unfortunate given what follows...

Organic Chemistry II
This topic is absolutely crazy. And by absolutely crazy, I'm currently looking at the lecture notes to figure out what we actually DID, because I just remember it as an onslaught of mechanisms. Thankfully, Phil was a very level-headed lecturer, and managed to take us through nice and slowly and did a fairly good job of making sense of it. The real difficulty is the notes - assumedly, Brenden wrote the notes the best he could, but it is an awful topic to have to write them for. To honestly do well in this section of the unit, you'll need to be proactive. Figure out *exactly* what's being taught that lecture before you go in, and make sure to keep an eye on it, because otherwise you *will* get lost in the many, many mechanisms.

Thankfully, the labs aren't as crazy. Sure, the mechanisms suck, but all the pracs are quite well known, and so simply googling the mechanism you're after will give it to you. Also, in all the labs the demonstrators will give you quite a bit of hints towards what the mechanisms are (particularly if you did the labs before covering the content, like I did). I don't remember much of them (since these were the first labs I did), however I don't remember them being particularly hard. (minus the first one just not working for me, and both the demonstrator and lab tech had no idea why. It was kinda funny, tbh)

Coordination Chemistry
This topic was quite similar to CHM1022/1052, as with the first topic. Also like the first topic, it essentially focuses on what make a compound stable, but this time with a focus on metal complexes. Fan favourites such as crystal field theory return, but unlike last time which was essentially just learning how to name these complexes and what CFT for octahedral complexes was, we dive quite a bit deeper. The topic is a lot really fast, but unlike in topic 2, Tina has laid out the full topic quite systematically, and you can tell very easily what you're covering at the time, and after that figure out how it correlates with previous topics. This section is definitely the best taught, so if you hate the unit after about topic 2, hold out for this part.

The labs were also absolutely amazing - very easy, very dealable, and I finished both in about 2 hours (which is *insane* given the labs are booked for 4). In fact, the first lab me and my partner stuffed up our titration (meaning we had to start from scratch), and *still* finished incredibly early. The first of these labs was a simple "we're going to bond our metal to glycine and see what happens", with no real goal other than just swapping some ligands. The second one there was an actual focus on making a complex, though, and examining the differences between this complex and its cis-isomer.

Organometallic Chemistry
This topic is it - the joining of all that is good and pure in the world of chemistry (ehhh, not really). Essentially, this unit just focuses on the special case of when your metal complex is coordinated to organic ligands (more specifically, metal-carbon bonds). The first lecture is essentially all about defining the topic, though, because organometallic concepts can be readily applied to ligands that aren't organic (eg, PX3), but there are some organic ligands that we don't consider (eg, ethylenediamine). This unit is essentially just focused on the specific reactions that organometallic compounds undergo, as well as judging stability by the 18 electron rule. There's also a point on "hapticity", as some ligands can delocalise their pi-electrons to bond at multiple sites (and hence donate more electrons to the metal centre). After this, there's a big look at the use of organometallic compounds for catalysis, as this is was a major contributor to research in the area.

These labs weren't as nice as those for coordination chemistry, but still quite good. The first lab was fairly standard, although you learned a new technique in column chromatography which was kinda weird (also fairly sure it gave me super bogus results because I didn't know what I was doing, but eh), and the second one consisted of about 1.5 hours sitting around waiting for the reaction to happen. Both labs finished in about 2.5 hours, really stressing how much of the second lab was spent on sitting around doing nothing.


Overall, a very good unit, and even if you only want a minor in chem, I suggest taking it (unless you have a special calling for another two units or something, like a friend of mine who's majoring in geo. He suggests taking water and analytical chem as opposed to synthesis)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on May 23, 2015, 10:40:37 pm
Subject Code/Name: SCI2015 - Scientific Practice and Communication

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: No, but there are some online quizzes which seem similar enough.

Textbook Recommendation: There's a couple of recommended books which, after a quick look through, contain essentially no similarities whatsoever to the lecture content.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: 2015 Semester 1.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83 HD

Comments: There is no way to put this nicely - I hated this unit. There are a lot of things in it that, IMHO, just don't hold up, and need refinements. Not to say that the content isn't valid, it just needs a look through by some other scientists. I will note that most of my issues with this unit are extremely micromanaging, but there is one massive one, which you need to be aware of before you take this unit:

It is run by the school of biological sciences. In fact, let me write it again:

SCI2015 (and SCI2010), the only core science unit, is run by the school of biological sciences. I don't mean this in a sense of "the unit has to go somewhere, so that's where it goes". I mean this in a sense of almost all examples relate to biology (with *some*, and I mean very few because I saw 1 maths example, 0 physics, 1 geoscience, maybe 2 chemistry [both of which I don't remember, but I swear they were there...], and 1 psychology, from other disciplines), the lecturer is from the school of biological sciences, all of the tutors are from the school of biological sciences, and also I basically did not understand any of the analogies because they assumed I knew what biology is (note: the last time I formally studied biology was in year 7). On top of this, according to their pseudoscience model, things like maths, theoretical physics and all things quantum (including atomic models) aren't science, and the only ethical issue we'll ever see is when it relates to animals or humans. This is really the *BIGGEST* downfall of the unit.

Otherwise, the unit can be re-classified as "common sense for scientists". You'll most likely learn something new throughout the unit, but if you've done a fair bit of science (as opposed to just "I liked this in high school, let's see where I can go with it", which is certainly a valid path) expect to be able to count the new things on one hand.

The unit can be broken into three themes, which you study alongside the SCI2010 cohort, so feel free to check one of those reviews for that part. The first theme is scientific practice/communication - how do we "do" science, and how should this be communicated? Including the review process of sciencetific writing. The second theme is pseudoscience - what is science, what isn't science and what makes this science good or bad? Not much to it, really. The final theme is ethics, which is just about what kind of testing is ethical and what kind of testing isn't. Importantly, Ros likes to say that each lecture is separate (despite being in one 2 hour block), however the one time I had to miss a lecture (due to having a mid-sem at the same time), the lecture afterwards constantly referenced the lecture beforehand. So, beware of that.

Also new to this year, every fourth week, the SCI2010 cohort had an online test, and the SCI2015 cohort got to hear from scientists in what they do now. Week 4 we heard from a climate scientist at Monash talk about global warming, week 8 we heard from a geneticist (I think... could've been any profession >.>;), also from Monash, about dengue fever. Next week (as I'm writing this in week 11), though, we will be hearing from someone who works at Catalyst. So, there are a few non-Monash picks among the mix (having said that, I got something great from both of the other presenters).

Now, for the part that makes this unit special - the "advanced".

Essentially, the only real difference between the two, is the assessment. The material in both units is dry, but the assessments in SCI2015 is 50x better. The first assignment, the lit review, is common to both. But, in SCI2015, you get to pick your topic (whereas the topics in SCI2010 are chosen from a batch of last semester's SCI2015 group), and spend more time on it (and it's understandably worth more as a result). This is a really good thing, because our lit review is a little more broken up mark-wise, but also the only part of the unit worth doing. My advice: don't pick a maths or physics project, because no one will understand it since most science students hate physics/maths (quite upsettedly...), but also because your tutor probably won't understand it. (granted, Mel actually is the most amazing tutor ever, and made an extra effort to make those who picked maths/physics topics more welcome in the group) As an example, I love statistics and would've done my lit review on Markov processes in a second, but chose to do metal-organic frameworks (chemistry topic) because I knew it was the only way for anyone to understand me.

Topics aside, the lit review can be broken down into 5 parts - the first is the proposal, where you present your broad topic to the class. Your annotated bibliography, which you narrow down your topic, write an introduction about it, and comment on 4 articles you'll later include in your review. Your draft, which should be close to the completed product. The draft isn't marked, but is used for assignment 3, so you have to submit it. Your poster, which you once again present to the class, but this is after you've done quite a bit of research, so your now presenting the results of your research as opposed to introducing it to everyone. And then, finally, the actual lit review.

The rest of your assignments are - of course - much smaller. The second is an "interview with a scientist". Basically, find a scientist, ask them what they do for a living, then tell your workshop about them. They can work anywhere, they just need to be currently in research - my group interviewed one of the pharmaceutical researchers at Parkville campus, another group interviewed a PhD graduate who is now teaching at a high school (but looking to enter academia).

The third assignment is a "peer review" - this time, you'll write a peer review based on the lit review draft given by one of your peers. You'll also get the feedback from whoever got your draft, which you can then incorporate in your review, so it's a very good system. Your draft won't be marked, but you are assessed on who good your peer review is.

The fourth assignment is "journal club" - basically, you find an article, and then present its findings to the class. You should pick one that's both fun for you, understandable by everyone else, but also funny in its own way. For example, I picked the "mean time until absorption for the asymmetric gambler's ruin problem with ties allowed". It sounds really "blegh", but it's an article that takes a simple game (which I did play with my class), and figures out how long, on average, you'll play the game until it stops. It's super fun for me, really playing with some cool stochastic processes, understandable by everyone (which says A LOT considering it's a maths paper), particularly when I found links to how it can be used to model cancer cells, but also funny in its own way (I mean, c'mon, it's an article about gambling.)

The fifth assignment, the one you'll keep forgetting is there until you do it, is the blog. In the blog, you have to make posts about the lecture content, and expand on it. I made posts about what ethics means for a computer scientist (based, obviously, on the lack of non-living-things ethics presented in lectures), the parallel postulate (a maths problem, based on a comment in lectures about how you always need two premises before making a theory [in this case, FIVE premises were needed before any comment could be made]), why MatPat from game theory is the best scientist (relating to communication and pseudoscience, exploring how "non-conventional" science doesn't mean "psuedoscience") and similar topics. It's also made a good outlet, my year has discovered, to really point out the pitfalls in some of the content in the unit (the first post and comments on the last post pointing out some of the inconsistencies in the unit).

The final verdict?
If you've never done any science before, but want to know how science works, SCI2010 is a good unit, but this one isn't for you.
If you know anything about science and don't have to do this unit, avoid it like the plague.
If you *have* to do this or SCI2010 (aka, are studying science), pick this unit - both suck, but this one has a much better assessment structure, and your main point of contact (the tutor, aka Mel) is absolutely fantastic.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on June 01, 2015, 12:03:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2025 - Linear Algebra (Advanced)

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2 for 2021 and 1 for 2025.

Textbook Recommendation:  Some book by Anton and Torres. You definitely don't need it.

Lecturer(s): Tim Garoni

Year & Semester of completion: 2015 Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments: This is the first time the unit run, so we could be seeing some massive changes in future years. The unit itself runs very similarly to 2021 content, and so feel free to look through those reviews as well. Importantly, this unit doesn't run like the advanced equivalents 2015 and 1035 where you learn a bunch of new content to support what you're currently doing - instead, 2021 teases some proofs and information, and then 2025 properly goes through them. So, if you're interested in pure maths, 2025 is the unit for you. Unfortunately, the content done in 2025 doesn't extend to applications, but they're of course still assessable since you're also doing 2021.

As for 2021 material, it's fairly standard, really. I'm not going to go into it, just look at other reviews/the handbook - I don't really have anything to add. However, a lot of people *do* say that the unit is "quite pure". I disagree - the unit is certainly rigorous, and is most likely the first rigorous maths unit you will take, but a lot of the stuff covered is quite general, and anything that's very "pure maths" (such as inner products or eigenspaces) is offset by an application of some sort, and this unit is very good in that it dabbles in everything. You see some applications in discrete maths, solving DEs, and even some statistics stuff.

The 2025 material essentially just goes through all the proofs you missed in 2021, with only two new additions in content. You learn about some group theory (just for fun, I guess? Essentially to show that matrix multiplication forms a group), and more importantly permutation matrices, Leibniz formula for calculating determinants and dual spaces. The last three bits are used to make their own little additions (show some nice things about them, how they work, etc.), but are required for some of the proofs missed in 2021. You are of course expected to use these by themselves, but otherwise they're just tag-along to make everything more rigorous.

Tl;dr, this is just like MTH2021, but with more rigour.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on June 01, 2015, 01:01:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3241 - Random Processes in the Sciences and Engineering

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture and blackboard recording

Past exams available: Yes, 2 plus another Kais goes through.

Textbook Recommendation: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. In fact, more than nothing. They're all silly (as Kais will outline fairly quickly).

Lecturer(s): Kais Hamza

Year & Semester of completion:

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 HD

Comments: This is my favourite unit I've done so far - even better than MTH2232 for those who read that review. Before I go over each section, though, I will mention that the unit isn't quite named appropriately - it *is* a unit on stochastic processes, but little attention is made to applications in the sciences or engineering. A couple sections mention them (namely continuous-time Markov Chains and Branching Processes) and sometimes a modelling question comes up, but otherwise you don't see it much. Now, for the section-by-section review:

1. Stochastic Processes
This is a rather funnily titled topic since the whole unit is based in stochastic processes - but, eh. In particular, the topic focuses on Bernoulli processes and Poisson processes, and then the general arrival process. Not really too much to say if you don't know about arrival processes, so let's move on:

2. Discrete-Time Markov Chains
Now, we get into the bulk of the unit - I say "bulk", because with the exception of Martingales (topic 6, last week), everything from here on out are Markov Processes. The first of these is the discrete-time Markov chain, which you may or may not have seen in VCE methods. Essentially, assume someone sits on a graph, and moves between vertices with a probability p_{ij}, which is the probability of moving from "state" i to "state" j. From here, you look into how to decompose these graphs into several states, and then what happens in the long-term of the process.

3. Continuous-time Markov Chains
This is simply the continuous time analogue of the above topic, and the transition is quite nice. The discrete case assumes that after some time t, a step is made - and if no step is made, then a self-transition occurs. Instead of checking the state every t period of time (say, each day), the continuous analogue instead says that a step is made after some exponentially distributed amount of time. This then creates a few more things to play with, and then the long-term distribution is considered. Interestingly, all continuous-time Markov chains have a "steady-state distribution", even though not all discrete-time chains do. MLEs (Maximum Likelihood Estimators) also make a brief appearance at the end, for practically no reason whatsoever (they were in our last assignment, though).

4. Branching Processes
Now we see Kais' excuse to teach us about probability generating functions. The branching process seems a bit strange at first, and even now is slightly wedged in, but it still has the Markov property and is quite fun. This is possibly my favourite of the 6 topics, and is introduced through some history of "how long does it take for a family name to disappear?" You consider the idea of if something can disappear forever (that is, the probability of "ultimate extinction"), and then the mean time until this "ultimate extinction".

5. Simple Random Walks
Aaaaand we're back to Markov jump processes. This is essentially just like discrete Markov chains, but instead of a finite amount of states, it's now an infinite amount of states. Not much new, really - but instead of steady-state distributions, you instead look at the probability of "infinitely returning" to one place, since you can't have a steady-state because you can always move forwards and backwards to infinity. Moving on.

6. Martingales
If you plan on doing MTH3251 whilst doing MTH3241/or have already done it, this section will be quite easy for you. Otherwise, it's just an introduction to Martingales, nothing too crazy, just how to make something a Martingale and some properties of them (also the definition to what a Martingale is, obviously)


In summary, fantastic unit - even if you don't want to pursue statistics, definitely do it if you can fit it and don't know what else to do.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: HighTide on June 05, 2015, 07:14:55 am
Subject Code/Name: BIO1011-Biology I [Review 2]

Workload:

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture, found on Echosystem.

Past Exams Available: No past exams available. 100 Question, "Revision Superquiz" given ~ 1.5 weeks prior to examination. Copies of Mastering Biology quizzes also given for reattempts.

Textbook recommendation: Campbell Biology, 10th Edition. 9th edition is usable. 8th edition or before, is not.

Lecturers:
Year and semester of completion: 2015, Semester 1

Rating: 4/5

Your mark/Grade: TBD

Comments:
The content is pretty simple and can be managed with VCE Biology. BIO1011 has a broad scope but is less in depth than VCE Biology, thus you have less to understand but more to remember. The content began with macromolecules, to reactions (metabolism), to cell structure, respiration, photosynthesis and then to genetics and ecology.

The content is covered in the lectures. The recommended book is there to elaborate on the concepts through the use of diagrams, background history, and theory. I found some areas can be extremely verbose. At the end of each unit, there is a revision on the chapters with some questions. I found the review to be pretty useful. However, overall, it is recommended to make summary notes from each chapter as you go along, as it will help in revision when examination time dawns.

The weekly Pearson Mastering Biology quizzes will test lecture content and also theory from the textbook. Each week, there will be an adaptive followup to the parent assignment. There is an opportunity to "test out" of these adaptive followups (you won't have to do them) if you get higher than 95% on the parent assignment (29/30 or 30/30). The questions range from interactive video components and matching questions to some straightforward questions. There will be a 30 minute time limit once you begin the assignment. Out of 12 assignments, only your top 10 will be taken. There are no short-answer questions.

In practicals, you will be assigned to bays and given a TA who will be marking your practical reports. You can and should ask them anything if you need to clear something up. Ensure you do this DURING the practical as you can't contact them via email, etc. Furthermore, there are pre-lab quizzes consisting of usually 4 questions. These quizzes are done on "clickers" which can be confusing, but you can ask the supervisors for help in using the clicker.

The laboratory sessions should run for 3 hours. However, on occasion, you will finish early and can leave. The second practical (10%) will be accompanied by a Moodle quiz which is 3%, hence the 13% overall. Practical 6 (12%) is also special as it is a group powerpoint presentation. We were given ample time to work on it, but most did it at the last minute (recommended that you don't do the same!!).

The exam will consist of 144 questions and is reused every year (hence no practice exams). From sources, it is said to be pretty simple and manageable with the lecture content! [/list]<-- Ignore that, it won't go away!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: achre on June 18, 2015, 01:31:31 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2600 – The Holocaust

Workload:  1x1.5hr lecture, 1x1hr tute

Assessment:


Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Nope. There was one sample (10/10) identification answer posted to Moodle.

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook or unit reader, all the readings are posted to Moodle.

Lecturer: Daniella Doron

Year & Semester of completion: 2015, Semester One

Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 82

Comments:

This was a great unit. I actually really enjoyed doing the readings and writing on the subject – maybe not the most appropriate reaction to a unit on a genocide, but definitely a truthful one. I feel compelled to just say at the start of this review that nothing on Holocaust denial is covered in this unit. I only say that because literally every person not doing this unit who I informed I was studying this unit asked this. Yes, all 4 of them. I suppose if it’s a topic that interests you, you could do it for the major essay. Probably. Well, maybe. Maybe not. It's not really a position taken seriously in revisionist scholarship. In any case, it's not an assigned part of the course.

I had Daniella (the lecturer) as my tutor, and she was brilliant. It’s very clear from the breadth of her knowledge and her enthusiasm in conducting the tutes that the study of the Holocaust is a passion of hers.
 
The course content canvasses a series of debates on the causes of the Holocaust (Functionalism v. Intentionalism), and a series of debates about the nature of the Holocaust (Uniqueness - why do we pay so much attention to this particular genocide, and not others? Explicability – can it be explained? Comparability - can it be compared to other genocides? Collaboration and resistance – how should we understand the reactions and behaviours of participants in, bystanders to and victims of the genocide?) Other debates – such as the question of Nazi humanity or the problematic role of modernity in the Holocaust - are present in the background as solutions. I found the question of explicability to be fascinating, the idea that there are explicable components (such as Nazi strategy, i.e., why the switch was made from bullets to poison as instruments of genocide) and inexplicable components (such as how people can be moved to participate in genocide) of the Holocaust.

The engagement of the course with contemporary Holocaust scholarship and disagreements between famous scholars was very, very interesting. Scholars covered include Claudia Koonz, Christopher Browning, Jonah Goldhagen, Primo Levi, Marion Kaplan, Raul Hilberg and Yehuda Bauer, as well as primary source documents such as Monika Richarz’s collection of memoirs, Chaim Rumkowski’s “Give Me Your Children” speech, and the diary of Felix Landau. When you utilise primary source documents in the major research essay and compare them to interpretations in serious, contemporary academia, you really feel like your participating in the conversation, which can be exciting.

The one drawback I did find in this unit is Daniella’s fixation on passive voice. I remember passive voice being covered very briefly in year 10 English, before I moved onto lit, and to be honest I’m still not totally sure what passive voice is. Something about omitting the verb “to be”. I set MS word to underline instances of passive voice and fiddled around with sentences until the green line disappeared, but other than that, I lost a few marks for the presence of passivity. Real pain in the ass because I do like to think my writing has some clarity  ::).

Another drawback is that I've been provoking the ire of Godwin's Law a lot more often these days.

The main reason I enrolled in ATS2600 was because I needed one more human rights unit to finish my minor, and nothing else offered in semester one seemed interesting. I definitely feel I made the right choice in selecting it, and would recommend it to anybody who wants to develop a better comprehension of human nature and the atrocities that emerge from it. If you're sick and tired of the Holocaust from studying it in high school and watching countless movies on it, Monash also offers a straight genocide unit, ATS2057 - Genocide, next semester. ATS2600 and 2057 used to be the same unit (The Holocaust in an Age of Genocide), which spent half the course on the Holocaust and the other half on other genocides (Bosnia, Rwanda, Darfur, etc.), but the decision was made to split it in two. If you wanna know why, you should take this unit. ;)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: EnglishStudent1 on June 23, 2015, 05:05:59 pm
Subject Code/Name:

ATS1339: Describing and analysing language and communication 

Workload: 

2x 1 hour lectures per week
1x tutorial per week.

Assessment:

Assignment 1 - Morphology (15%)
Assignment 2 - Syntax (15%)
Assignment 3 - Phonology (30%)
Exam - 2 hours testing the topics stated above plus semantics and pragmatics (30%)
Note: Online students complete a 4th assignment. 

Recorded Lectures: 

Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: 

No, however, a sample exam was provided.

Textbook Recommendation: 

As of 2014, we used An Introduction to Language: Australia and New Zealand 7th Ed.. If you studied ATS1338 (The Language Game: Why do we talk the way we do?) in semester 1 you will not have to purchase this book again. Definitely recommended as it contains all the weekly exercises and readings. Although the textbook can drag on, it is useful in explaining more difficult topics.

Lecturer(s):

Depended on the week's topic:

- Catherine Cook

Cat is the unit coordinator and one of the tutors. I believe this was her first year running a unit. She did a wonderful job and is a fantastic tutor from my experience (beware; do not bring electronic items to her tutes!) Cat will lecture at the start of the unit (the introductory lecture) and during the semantics and pragmatics part of the unit. Very approachable and endearingly dorky.

- Olav Kuhn

Olav lectures on morphology for the first 2 1/2 weeks of the unit. He is also very engaging and competent. Olav tends to lecture quite fast and can sometimes cram his lectures. He will reappear briefly for a lecture of morphosyntactic analysis.

-Simon Musgrave

Simon is an ok lecturer, but I think he is often hindered by the content of his lectures. He lectures primarily on syntax for this unit (3 weeks) and was scheduled to take us for phonology but this never eventuated. His lectures are heavy in content which could be perceived as boring. I would highly recommend doing the readings prior to his lectures so you understand where he is going.

- Mystery guest lecturer (whose name I have unfortunately forgotten).

The name escapes me, but this man took us for phonology (another difficult topic). He had a relatively interesting style of lecturing and made the content as simple as possible.

- Kate Burridge

Kate made a brief appearance at the end of the semantics and pragmatics lectures. She lectured on the history of semantic change. I won't ramble on, but Kate is simply a whiz at what she does. Very interesting. Note that she does not use lecture slides.

Year & Semester of completion:

Semester 2, 2014

Rating: 

3.5 out of 5 (only just, points deducted for the unit's structure)

Your Mark/Grade:

79, D.

Comments:

This unit is the second gateway unit for linguistics taught at Monash (Clayton and online). For those of you who have taken ATS1338, I should warn you that this unit is no walk in the park like first semester. This unit is much harder, more in depth and at times can be intense.

The unit is split up into four major topics:

1. Morphology
2. Syntax
3. Phonology
4. Semantics and pragmatics

Basically, these fall under branch of 'pure' linguistics: linguistic theory rather than linguistic application. Not 100% sure whether English Language would be of great use, but it would familiarise you with some topics.

Tutorials were pretty helpful. The generally cover key concepts and allow you to work through pratice questions. The tutors this year were Catherine Cook, Aly Severin, Amanda Young and Lee Murray. I can vouch for Cat and say she is an excellent tutor. Also heard good reviews about Lee. There were mixed reviews about Aly and Amanda, so I guess you can be the judge  ;D

Assessment   

There were four major assessments plus tutorial participation/attendance. The first assignment I found quite hard and I narrowly avoided a C. It includes a series of short answers on morphology, so pace yourself and you should be fine. The second assignment was on syntax. Again, another challenging assignment, but the marking was relatively fair and forgiving. You are required to draw some syntax trees, answer some short answer questions and examine foreign data. Work carefully through this one, it is easy to lose marks. Assignment 3 is certainly the most daunting one. This covers phonology and requires you to transcribe an audio clip (2:00 mins) into IPA and answer a set of short answers. I would advise starting this one at least 2 weeks in advance, it's very complicated and tricky. Alas, I scored an HD, so not impossible!  :)

In addition, each tutorial (bar week 1), a few people will be asked to present one of the homework questions. This counts as your tutorial participation once combined with your attendance record. My advice would be to pick your question wisely. Make sure you a) don't have any major assignments or events (teaching rounds, parties etc.) in that week, b) pick a question which isn't too short/easy or long/hard (you only have 4 mins to present), and c) are genuinely passionate about the topic.

Exam

This exam was VERY HARD. You are provided with a practice exam, but this is deceivingly easy. Make sure you prepare thoroughly. All topics are covered and you will be presented with a range of data. The exam is more heavily weighted towards semantics and pragmatics because there is no assignment on it. 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: EnglishStudent1 on June 23, 2015, 05:58:02 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2673/3673 - History and Sociolinguistics of English 

Workload: 

1x 2 hour seminar per week

Assessment: 

Assignment 1 - Critical Review (15%)

Assignment 2 - Short Answers (25%)

Assignment 3 - Major Essay / Research project (30%)

Exam - Mix of long and short answers (30%)


Recorded Lectures:  Yes, without screen capture. This problem stemmed from the lecture theatre we were put in. Kate recorded the lecture audio and uploaded it manually to MULO, so expect online lecture availability to be slow.

Past exams available:  Yes there was one, but it was quite old and had nothing to do with what we did during the unit.

Textbook Recommendation:  As of 2015, we used A Biography of the English Language. I honestly would not bother buying this one. It simply goes into greater detail of what you will discuss in lectures. Kate provided a neat little summary of the entire unit in the first lecture with extensive notes. That is all you will need.

Lecturer(s):

- Kate Burridge

Kate is the main lecturer/tutor you will have. She is an exceptional teacher and makes even the most tedious of Old English grammar interesting. She will primarily discuss the 'inner' history of English with you ('inner' history meaning the complex changes in the language). Note that she rarely uses lecture slides and usually follows the notes provided. Although this worked, you'll find yourself never writing many notes during the lecture (this can be both bad and good!).

- Robert 'Bob' Dinapoli

Bob is a guest lecturer (a former lecturer at the University of Melbourne) who will discuss the 'outer' history of English ('outer' meaning the socio-political events) and what happened to the literature at the time. Bob is lovely, but his lectures do drag on and he finishes right on 2 hours  >:( He has a great passion for English and balances between a historical view of the language and literary interpretation. He even speaks in Old English!! He does use slides, but they mostly have paradigms and text not worth copying down. 

Year & Semester of completion:

Semester 1, 2015

Rating:

3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:

N/A at this time, but ~HD.

Comments:

This unit is an elective for linguistics taught at Monash Clayton campus. For those of you who have taken English Language Unit 1 & 2, this content will be familiar. The unit is structured like so:

Week 1: Introduction
Week 2 and 3: Old English - 449AD to 1100AD
Week 4 and 5: Middle English - 1100AD to 1500AD
Week 6 and 7: Early Modern English - 1500AD to 1800AD
Week 8: The development of standardisation and purism
Week 9 and 10: Modern English - 1800AD to present
Week 11: Global Englishes
Week 12: Review and hands on with Old English/Medieval texts

Although this didn't exactly go according to plan, we managed to cover it all. I found the unit overall fairly good. It was challenging at times but the assessments are designed so you can pass (pending you have attended/listened to the seminars). I would not take this unit if you have no background in linguistics. Kate made every effort to cater for these people, but as a linguistics student myself I often found some of the discussion hard to follow. I can't see how a non-linguistics student would cope. But hey, give it a go if it is something you are into  :) My major complaint is about the seminars. This subject demands a tutorial and a lecture. The seminar set up was a disaster because so many (~50) people took the unit and we were crammed into this ghastly lecture theatre with backboards and no recording facilities.

Kate was approachable and ran the unit well. She was, however, very busy at times, so emails were often never replied to and consultations hard to get. She does make every effort to make time, though.

Assessments

There were four major assessments for this unit. Participation was not marked. Assignment 1 was a critical review of one of five articles. It's a reasonably easy 15%, but don't leave it to the last minute like I did  :P The short answer assignment is a very easy 25%. Many of the answers simply require you to write what is already present in Kate's book of notes. Just don't go overboard with them, a lot of people overthought every answer and subsequently missed the point of the question. Assignment 3 was interesting. It was originally a 'major essay' but Kate altered it and it became a research project. Some of them require a lot more preparation than others, but they are all evenly matched in terms of difficulty. Some are more data driven, others require an opinion. I enjoyed this assignment, but it is due during week 11 which can be hell at the best of times.

Exam
 
The exam was worth 30% of the overall unit mark. It was mostly straight forward except for the first question. Most of the questions were short/long answers. They covered almost all the topics covered in the lectures. Now... the first question. That was an absolute doozey. It was about grammar over time and you needed to have extensive knowledge of English grammatical functions. Study hard for that section because you will need it!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: vashappenin on June 26, 2015, 11:05:33 pm
Subject Code/Name: MGC1010 - Introduction to Management

Workload: Weekly 1.5 hour lecture and 1.5 hour tute (attendance isn't compulsory)

Assessment: 15% annotated bibliography, 25% essay, 10% in-tute quiz, 50% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Textbook Recommendation: Management 5th Ed. - Schermerhorn et al. - good idea to have this because the exam is open book, so just annotate it throughout the semester and you're good.

Lecturer(s): Robyn Cochrane - she's really friendly and happy to help people which is great if you're struggling with anything.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2015

Rating: 3 out of 5

Comments:
Honestly, Management is quite easy but really dry. A lot of the concepts are relatively straightforward and even common sense which can be a bonus if you haven't studied much. Other than that, it was a pretty boring unit, although there were some quite interesting concepts. This is a good unit to do if your other units are quite heavy as it's pretty easy to do well and the exam is open book. It is a core unit so you're stuck with it whether you like it or not :P

Also, just a note that for this unit, you only get a grade mark for each individual assessment during the semester, not the actual number.

Lectures
I didn't attend a single lecture and only ended up watching the lecture that covered content for the in-tute quiz, and parts of lectures that covered any important assessment information. From what I've heard, the lectures are quite pointless in that you could easily do the same work at home. You won't really miss out on much if you choose not to attend.

Tutes
Tutes aren't compulsory, so attendance started to drop after a while - I myself skipped quite a few. Honestly, the tutes were really pointless. Only very rarely did we cover something relevant. Other than that, we spent time doing group activities which were not that stimulating or interesting. I definitely don't think the tutes need to run for 1.5 hours and I mostly left having learnt nothing and regretting going. With that being said, it's a good idea to attend at least the important tutes so your tutor is familiar with who you are. The only times the tutes were somewhat important were when the tutor returned assessments or covered important information for assessments. And, of course, you have to attend your tute in the week of the in-tute quiz.

In-tute quiz
The quiz is done in your tute and only goes for 20 minutes, with 2 or 3 minutes reading time (so pointless LOL). It covered the lecture content from the week before and it was closed book. Each tute group gets assigned two random questions to ensure nobody cheats - one on each chapter covered. The quiz is out of 10 and each question is worth 5 marks.

Exam
The exam was relatively straightforward. It was 2 hours long with 10 minutes reading time. There is a hurdle requirement to pass the exam (50%), and it is out of 50. A lot of people spent time making notes but I ended up prioritising my law units, so didn't study much for this unit. I ended up taking in my textbook and I wasn't at a disadvantage because everything is in there. The good thing about the exam is that you have a selection of questions to choose from for section A (short answer) and section B (long answer), so it makes life a lot easier! The questions themselves were relatively straightforward. Just make sure you manage your time properly so you don't spend too much time on a particular question, which can quite easily happen for management units.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Zealous on June 27, 2015, 06:38:22 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENG1002 – Engineering Design: Cleaner, Safer, Smarter

Workload: 1x2hr lecture, 1x3hr practical

Assessment:
10% - Pre-lecture Quizzes: It wasn’t too difficult to get all the marks for the pre-lecture quizzes because you got more than one attempt and you got answers from the previous attempts. Even if you didn’t have an idea of the concepts behind it (like with some of the electrical stuff), you could still find a way to get to the answer. The pre-lecture quizzes do get harder as the semester progresses though.

15% - Project 1: Report on Fuel Sustainability and Efficiency when used in lamps. We tested different fuels (kerosene, butanol, methylated spirits etc.) in a fuel lamp and measured the light output as well as fuel consumption over a time interval. Writing this report and doing the tasks during the practical was a little dry and repetitive.

15% - Project 2: Building an LED lamp and writing a design report. All the parts for building an LED lamp were given to us except the frame (which we had to come up with) and we were marked based on it fulfilling certain criteria such as uniform light intensity, sturdiness, power drawn etc. It took a really long time to get this working and I did not expect to be working up until 10pm on the lamp in the last week. Getting the lamp working was incredibly satisfying and it was fun working with my teammates.

5% - Lecture Participation: There’s a lecture response system called Melts which they use so you can answer questions during lectures. Apparently if you answered 80%+ of the questions you would have “participated” and you’ll get all of these marks. To be honest, I don’t think they really asked that many questions during lectures. Also, it doesn’t matter if you’re incorrect though it’s just the participation that matters.

15% - Pre-practical quizzes + other quizzes: These pre-practical quizzes were much harder than the pre-lecture quizzes as they were designed to be completed after the lectures. They started appearing once we hit electrical and featured some fancy circuit questions. Still, because the solutions to the first attempt were given, it wasn’t hard to get most of the marks.

40% - Exam: Exam is split into 3 sections with around a 1/3 weighting for each section. The sections are Chemical, Electrical and Materials. The hardest topic by far was electrical engineering as it had some unexpected questions, but the exam other than that wasn’t too bad. The materials section felt very similar to the weekly problem sheets which we received. The exam is a hurdle requiring 45% to pass the unit.

Recorded Lectures: Yep, with screen capture. Although in earlier weeks there are physical items brought into lectures by the lecturer which make it interesting. Also remember there is a participation mark!

Past Exams: Nope! Brand new unit. However you can do some questions from previous past exams which made up this unit (ENG1010, ENG1030, and ENG1050).

Lecturers: Meng Wei, Christopher Hutchison, Jonathan Li

Year & Semester of Completion: 2015, S1

Rating: 4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 98 HD

Comments:
This was a brand new unit for all first year engineering students starting in 2015. It aimed to combine 3 previous first year engineering units, and I think they did a really good job. Of course we weren’t able to get into as much detail as each of the three, but I still felt I learnt quite a lot about each discipline. Chemical Engineering was covered in weeks 1-4, Materials in weeks 6-8 and Electrical in Week 5, 9-10.

The lectures were quite interesting, and all of the lecturers really made the effort to answer questions. Chris Hutchison’s lecturing was extremely clear and interesting – he made materials engineering sound extremely awesome with his examples and explanations.

This unit focuses hugely on teamwork. You do a Belbon quiz to work out your team personality attributes and then you’re apparently grouped up to make the best team. I think it really worked out well in this unit. My team was great and I think that’s a huge part of why I rated this unit so high. Even if the content was really hard and confusing, my prac team just had fun messing around, Teams are also huge when it comes to the projects. Project 1 and 2 are team based, and in Project 2 you see your teammates a lot. On that night I mentioned previously, I spent around 7 hours with my team working on the LED lamp. It was great that my team were all motivated and willing to get it done. One of my other friends from a different practical session was there alone because all his teammates were unmotivated – would’ve been really tough for him.

There's also peer assessment using CATME on top of the Belbon quiz. After each assignment, you got to rate each of your teammates in different areas based on how you believe they contributed to the team. They would also do the same for you. This would scale marks up or down. The team members who were highly rated would get a scaling upwards, and lower rated team members would be scaled down. I don't think there's a limit to how low you can be scaled down - one of my friends had a terrible teammate who got voted down a lot resulting in his marks being multiplied by 0.6-0.7. I think CATME gives everyone added incentive to actually contribute to the team and it gives teammates a good way of recognising who put in a lot of effort and those who didn't do so much.

My main issue with the course is the chemical engineering at the start. I didn’t do VCE chemistry… the last time I did chemistry before this year was back in Year 9. So jumping into chemical engineering straight away was really tough – I was doing Foundation Chemistry (ENG1070) at the same time but topics just came together out of order and I learnt tough things in ENG1002 before I learnt them in Foundation Chemistry. Odd. So if you haven’t done Chemistry it might be better to do ENG1001 in first semester then ENG1002 in second semester once you’ve done the foundation unit.

I’d say don’t leave things too late in this unit. Unlike ENG1001, the problem sheets are not compulsory, so there’s not much incentive for doing them (unless you really want to learn). So I ended up leaving most of the problem sheets until late in the semester and ended up playing catch up with the earlier content – especially chemistry since I barely understood it the first time around.

Other than that, I think it was a great move by the Engineering faculty. I’m not a big fan of chemistry and I have a good idea of the engineering major I want to do. This unit allowed me to just get a glimpse of three of the engineering discipliens without having to do an entire unit like in previous years.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Zealous on June 29, 2015, 12:28:25 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENG1003 – Engineering Mobile Apps

Workload: 2x1hr lecture, 1x3hr practical

Assessment:
12% - Pre-lecture Quizzes: The pre-lecture quizzes tested the content covered in pre-readings. I'm pretty sure that the majority of students just used control-f to work their way through all of these quizzes. They were not particularly difficult but some questions had some confusing wording.

10% - Assignment 1: Height Measurement App. Teams were given a skeleton/template code which showed the camera of a smartphone. Then teams then had to write an app which could be used to estimate the height of an object.  This required use of the orientation sensor to pick up angles of elevation and some trigonometry to tie it all together. 7% was allocated to the code and 3% was for an oral presentation about how the team put the code together.

30% - Assignment 2: Route Tracking App. Teams got skeleton code which showed a map on the phone screen, and then had to build an app that would use GPS to plot out walking routes.  When looking at previously saved routes, the app needed to be able to optimise routes and remove unnecessary portions of routes. The code was worth 16%, an oral presentation was worth 6%, and some technical documentation (user guide, project management plan) was worth 8%. I've put some more information about assignments and screenshots below!

8% - In Class Assessment: Week 8 had a software design report, which was supposed to be completed in an hour. We had to discuss the pros and cons of a diagram used for a flight booking program. Week 10 had a black box testing exercise where you needed to find bugs in code which was supposed to parse the text in names.

40% - Exam: The exam was a hurdle (45%) and was open book.  The exam was not hard if you knew your stuff, but it was long so answering all the questions took most of the three hours. It was split into three sections: IT Concepts, Javascript and Software Engineering. As it was open book, the majority of students ended up printing out all of the pre-readings and using that throughout the exam.

Recorded Lectures: Yep! With screen capture!

Past Exams: None. Brand new unit but there was a sample exam released.

Lecturers: Michael Wybrow

Years & Semester of Completion: 2015, S1

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Rating: 2.5/5

Comments:
This was another brand new unit launched by the engineering faculty for first year students. I praised ENG1002 for how well it was run, but I don't think I can say the same for this unit. The content was fairly interesting for those who like IT and are interested in app development. The IT Concepts section was quite good and learning to code in JavaScript think was quite satisfying and rewarding. Software engineering was a little dry though. It's important to note that all the coding in this unit was done in JavaScript and all the apps we made were web apps.

Lectures were okay.  Michael definitely knows his stuff and the first few lectures were quite good as he introduced coding to us and showed all of its benefits and difficulties. However, as the semester progressed some lectures felt quite dry when he spent long periods of time demonstrating coding in the JavaScript playground. A lot of people actually found it better to watch the lectures online as it allowed them to pause the lecture and try out some of the code which was being demonstrated, then continue when they were ready. On top of that, some of the concepts in Software Engineering felt extremely basic so you didn’t actually gain too much from going to the lecture on top of what you learnt from the pre-reading.

Practical classes were alright - the content covered during lectures was usually worked on during these sessions. Each team was given a Motorola G 2nd Generation smartphone to use in the first week. I didn’t end up using it though since all the exercises could just be tested on my own android phone anyway. Some of the exercises that we completed in the practical classes felt quite in line with what the assignments were requiring of us, but some exercises we had to complete felt like they had absolutely no relevance to the assignment and were just there to fill time and boy the 3 hours can go very slowly in the computer labs.

Team work and assignments is where I really, really disliked this unit.  Just like ENG1002, all students did a Belbon personality survey and teams were apparently put together based on team attributes of different members. It did not work and I ended up with two people who didn't do the quiz and there was really no sign of teamwork in my team except for maybe the oral presentations. However, I don’t think this was an issue which was specific to my group. It seemed like most teams were not very cooperative – maybe due to the nature of the unit. In ENG1002, team members could feel involved and make a genuine contribution simply by measuring the mass of a lamp, by starting a stopwatch or by soldering a cable together – by doing the simple tasks. But in ENG1003 there really weren't any simple tasks. It was you either understand the coding and how to use JavaScript, or you don’t and you do absolutely nothing in your team.

The assignments were terrible when working in teams. From discussion from many other groups,  most of the assignment were handled by one person in the team and no one else did anything else.  In my team, I was the one who ended up doing all the coding for both assignments. It was just poorly planned out - I don't think teamwork suits these sort of topics very well and people could have probably been pushed more and learnt more if we had to work individually. Furthermore, there was no peer assessment for 1003. Unlike 1002 where your marks were scaled up or down based on how you think your teammates did, there was no way to recognise those who put in the hours into getting the apps done. Everyone got the exact same mark, and all of my teammates received pretty high marks for their assignments with minimal effort. The same happened for most groups.

I really hope they do something about this. It was the engineering faculties idea to force us to do a lot more teamwork, but it did not work for this unit. So that's where my 2.5 rating comes from. I enjoyed about half of it, which was the content, concepts and the rewarding feeling you get from actually getting code to work. But the other half, which involved teamwork and assignments really spoiled the unit. It had a lot of potential but it ended up leaving a lot of the first year engineering cohort with a poor experience. Out of the three brand new engineering units (ENG1001, ENG1002, ENG1003), this definitely needs the most work to make it better for students.

Anyway, my review sort of turned into a rant but I'm just being honest... so I'll finish it here and leave you with some screenshots of the app we made so you can have a feel for what came out of the assignments:

Spoiler
(http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a531/Ovazealous/screenshot.273_zpsvpzm6rxd.png)
This was my teams height measurement app. You had to enter your phone height, then tilt your phone to the bottom and top of the object in order to estimate its height. In the address bar is the ENG1003 server. Each team was given their own specific directory/address so they could upload and test their assignment code.

(http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/a531/Ovazealous/screenshot.274_zpsojb3sc54.png)
This was my teams GPS route tracking app. The left screenshot shows the app when you are recording a route. The middle and right screenshot show the view route page where you could optimise a route. As you can see, optimising a route removed a lot of the repetitive sections of the route. This portion of the assignment was actually changed from a requirement to bonus marks as teams were finding optimising routes very difficult. Again, not everything you see on the app was necessary but I added a few extra features to improve the usability of the app.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on June 29, 2015, 06:06:49 pm
Firstly, here is Brenden's (excellent) review of this unit. Some things have changed since then.

Subject Code/Name: ATS2640 - The Ethics of Global Conflict

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures: 
Yes. I assume they have screen capture but I never used them.

Past exams available: 
No idea.

Textbook Recommendation:
I got by with just the reader. There are other recommended readings, but Paul mostly provided those for keen students (I never bothered). You could probably complete the first two assessment tasks without even the reader, but not to a particularly high standard; the background reading is what makes them fairly straight forward. So yeah, get the reader, but don't feel like you need to get anything else.

Lecturer(s):
Paul Daniels.

Year & Semester of completion:
2015, Semester 1.

Rating:
4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:
N/A

Comments:
Despite the handbook saying that Dr. Bob Simpson still ran the unit, Paul was the lecturer and unit co-ordinator. He also happened to be my tutor. I was fairly disappointed at first, because a large portion of why I chose the unit in the first place was that I enjoyed Bob from a previous unit. But Paul was at least as good.

Paul explains things in such a way that makes them really clear without going into laborious depth, which is great. His lectures were always timely and well-structured - perhaps slightly dry at times, but that is probably inevitable for the theory aspects of just war theory.

And speaking of just war theory, that is what the unit is centred on. Just war theory is essentially the idea that war is morally permissible if and only if certain criteria (the just war principles) are met. The unit is structured as follows:

I found the content in basically all of the weeks particularly interesting. I stopped doing the readings from about Week 5 until about Week 11, but made them up during SWOTVAC. The reason for this was that I thought they might come up on the exam; I expected it to be sort of like the exam for The Human Body and the International Marketplace, if anybody has done that unit. But the exam focused exclusively on the readings from the final three weeks (Paul did mention something about this during the semester, but I thought it was more of an emphasis on those weeks rather than only those weeks being examined). So I wasted a fair bit of time preparing for content that I didn't need to know, but the exam otherwise was okay. It was structured as three extended response - not essay - questions.

The other assessments were fairly straight forward. Paul goes to great lengths to be clear in what he wants and expects in the assessment tasks. The first two are based on a reading from outside the prescribed readings, but relevant to a particular week or weeks. And then you can choose your major essay topic from a decent range. I agreed with practically all of the feedback that I received for these tasks, and the feedback was great in amount.

In the tutorials, we split up into small groups to discuss various hypothetical and real scenarios, debating the morality of various means. I don't like group work at the best of times, but this wasn't too bad. Paul is extremely approachable and always happy to help, but I can't see much about the other tutors because I never had them.

Overall, I would recommend the unit. I had an okay background in Philosophy before this unit (having done three other Philosophy units off the top of my head), but a very limited background in the content itself. The unit caters for everybody, really.

4/5, would unit again.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Dejan on June 29, 2015, 10:32:41 pm
Subject Code/ Name: ATS1191 - Spanish Introductory 1

Workload:
- 1 Weekly Cultural Seminar Lecture (1 hour)                     
- 1 Weekly Grammar Lecture (1 hour)                     
- 3 Weekly Tutorials (1 hour each)

Assessment:
Grammar Section is worth 80% of the unit, it consists of:

Mid- semester tests:
1) In-class composition 10%: A few days before the exam you will be given a number of possible topics for this exam (for example "your family" or "my daily routine"). You the can prepare your texts at home. The day of the exam we draw a number and the whole class has 25 minutes time to write 100 words on that topic.

2) Grammar Exam 10%: You will be tested on questions which are based around vocabulary and grammar on the Aula units 0-3

3) Listening comprehension 10%: Students listen to a number of recordings, and answer short questions on them. Every text is heard three times, with approximately ten seconds of silence between repetitions.

End of Semester:
4) In-class composition 12.5%: The day of the exam you will receive a sheet with pictures providing information about a person. You then have to write 125 words on that person. This composition is part of the formal examination.

5) Grammar Exam 12.5%: You will be tested on questions which are based around vocabulary and grammar on the Aula units 0-7

6) Listening comprehension 12.5%: Same as the mid-semester test

7) Oral exam 12.5%: Students are paired for this exam. You will be given a "task" that need to fulfil in ten minutes by talking with each other (example: student A is a tourist that wants to know at what times trains depart from Madrid to Barcelona; student B works for the train company and is given a timetable at the beginning of the exam)

The Cultural Section makes up for the rest of the 20%
8) Cultural test 10%: On the topics covered in weeks 1-5 on Latin America. All multiple choice questions.

9) Take-home exam 10%: A “take-home” exam consisting all multiple choice questions except for one short answer question based on the texts and concepts studied during weeks 8-12.

Recorded Lectures: Yes with screen capture

Past Exams Available: No past exams available however, there is plenty of practice exercises that are available on Moodle and sample exams were provided in tutorials in preparation for the in-class composition tests.

Textbook Recommendation: You must buy the Aula Internacional Nueva Edicion Student Book 1 + Exercises + CD New Edition because it will used in the tutorials to complete exercises and class activities and also, it helps to solidify the understanding of concepts that you will go through during the unit.

Lecturer(s):
Dr Carlos Uxo: He lectures the first 5 five weeks of the Cultural Seminars and all of the Grammar Lectures.

Gabriel Garcia-Ochoa: He lectures the remainder of the Cultural Seminars.

Year & Semester of completion: 2015, Semester 1

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your mark/grade: N/A

Comments:                             
Cultural Seminars Week 1-7
- Introduction
- The Cuban Revolution
- Dictatorships
- Neoliberalism and the Pink Tide
- Current Issues in Latin America

Cultural Seminars Week 8-12
- Before the "Boom"
- The Latin American Boom and its Implications: Intro to Magical Realism
- After the "Boom"
- Indigeneity and Literature

Grammar Lectures:
- Week 1: The concepts of gender, number and agreement in Spanish

- Week 2: Distinguishing the three types of regular verbs (aka “conjugations”), subject pronouns and the present tense of regular verbs and negative sentences.

- Week 3: Talking about motivations and revision of present and querer

- Week 4: Hay vs es, asking questions using “qué” and “cuál” + verbo ser and using “muy” and “mucho”

- Week 5:  Superlativo relative and revision of revision of units 0-3

- Week 8: Talking about things you like and dislike

- Week 9: Reflexive verbs

- Week 10: Verbos reflexivos (+ Secuenciación; También / Tampoco) and objecto directo

- Week 11: (Verbos irregulares) and ordering food

Comments:
This was a really fantastic unit as I really enjoyed all of the cultural seminar lectures since the content was very interesting and that the lectures were taught very well. The grammar lectures were also great because they provided students who were struggling with Spanish (in particular, myself) with the opportunity to have the topics to be discussed and demonstrated in the lecture more thoroughly which helps significantly with understanding topics as they can be difficult and challenging.

Lecturer(s)
Carlos and Gabriel are great lecturers because the classes were taught and delivered at such high quality, they encouraged student participation which helped keep me interested and attentive, they were knowledgeable and they were very friendly and approachable.

Assessments
- In class composition; Fairly straightforward assessment because during the tutorials, the topics which need to spoken about in the test will be covered in great detail as the tutor will explore how to speak these topics, helpful key terms and any useful sentence phrases etc. which acts as in a way as preparation for this test. You will be provided details regarding the test a week or two before the test so you will have time to prepare. For the end of semester test only, you may be able to have your text marked by tutors if you start writing it early so I would suggest to start early in order to maximise your marks. It is also good to make your sentences long because it's a good exercise and practice for the end of semester exams, you may be awarded more marks and that less themes would need to be discussed in order to meet the word limit.

- Grammar exam: A much more difficult exam because it really tests your knowledge and understanding of the Aula units and therefore, it is really essential that you have understood the topics really well and this can be achieved through spamming grammar exercises and asking for practice material (if possible) and clarification on these topics from tutors. Also, you will tested on terms which haven't been previously discussed in tutes or lectures so ensure you learn many new terms and thus, building up to an extensive vocabulary.   

- Listening comprehension: This is can be both a really tough and tricky exam and or a simple and straightforward exam. It can be tricky because the people who are speaking in the audio may have accents which are really thick and just really difficult to understand and so trying to decipher what one is saying makes it sometimes an impossible thing to do and so you can get screwed over a fair few marks over this. Also, at times, I felt that the people in audio were speaking way too fast and yet again, lots of marks can be lost which can be so frustrating. If you manage to get past these barriers, you will do fine if you have put in the practice. My advice for this exam would be to expose yourself to many Latin American accents as a way to be familiar with the accents.

Oral exam: Probably the hardest exam of them all because it requires that you prepare for 7 topics when you only need to talk about 2 topics which involves heaps of practice. I didn't attend the exam so the only possible advice that I can give for this exam is that you start preparing very early (at the time when you find out what topics are on the exam). Don't try and remember the scripts that you have used in your practice because you will probably forget it all.

Cultural test: Probably the least hardest exams from the rest as it requires very little preparation (watching the lectures should be sufficient enough) and the questions are easy and straightforward. It's important to pay real attention when you watch the lectures because everything is examinable since there were a few surprise questions this year. They were 72 multiple choices and so you could be asked anything so be prepared for everything. It's an easy HD.

Take home exam: This exam is completed on Moodle and is the most easiest exam in the whole unit because the questions fairly easy and straightforward. All the preparation that is required for this exam is to watch all the lectures (Weeks 8-12). It's an easy HD

One final piece of advice for the unit general that is the most obvious is to practice daily. I cannot stress this enough, it is so important to practice every day or else you will struggle badly (It's the reason why I failed this unit, unfortunately). If you are unable to do this, I would not recommend this unit to because learning and studying a language is very demanding.                       
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: vashappenin on June 29, 2015, 11:21:41 pm
Subject Code/Name: MGC2230 - Organisational Behaviour

Workload: Weekly 2 hour lecture and 1 hour tute (attendance isn't compulsory)

Assessment: 20% lit review, 40% in-tute group presentation (10% presentation, 15% group report, 15% personal reflection), 40% exam

Recorded Lectures:  No

Textbook Recommendation: Organisational Behaviour 7th Ed. - Robbins et al. - definitely purchase because it goes through everything really well and the exam is open book.

Lecturer(s): Tui McKeown

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2015

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (only because the content was in many circumstances the same as MGC1010, which I thought was quite silly. Other than that, loved it!)

Comments:
When I was looking at units to do for my Commerce degree, this was one I definitely wanted to do somewhere along the course of my degree because it seemed so interesting! I find psychology quite interesting, and the theories and research in this unit are based on social and behavioural sciences so I really enjoyed it.

I really loved how organised and well put together this unit was. I was a little disappointed by the fact that quite a few concepts were exactly the same as in MGC1010, so I felt like for those topics I learnt nothing new. However, since I studied both units together this semester (note: It's totally possible to study MGC1010 alongside MGC2230 as there are no prerequisites), it made life a bit easier as I'd already covered the same content before.

Also, this unit is really interesting and very applicable to real life situations. There were many times where I could easily relate to the concepts as I'd experienced or seen them being experienced at work. This unit really helps you to realise why managers and employees act certain ways at work and what improvements they can make from both an individual and organisational perspective.

Lectures
I only attended the first lecture for this unit, and it made me realise that two hours is a waste for this unit. A lot of the content is relatively straightforward. However, I would recommend attending the last few lectures for exam revision purposes - you won't miss out on much if you don't attend but I would still recommend you do if you've got nothing else on.

Tutes
Tute attendance isn't marked, but it's a good idea to show up. There were two tutors this semester - Olga and Brian. I had Olga and she was absolutely amazing! She's so organised, kept the tutes really interactive and always made an effort to include everyone. The tutes were great because they pushed me to do the readings in order to participate in class discussions and go through the tute questions. This really helps come exam time.

In-tute presentation
It's really important that you attend the first tute as this is where you form a group for the group presentation. Basically, each group does a presentation and conducts activities covering the assigned week's lecture content. The groups are made up of 2-4 people, and you can choose who to work with. Presentations must encourage class participation in order for marks to be awarded. Each group gets to choose which topic to present, and must do so in the week that the lecture for that topic takes place. Although it seemed quite daunting at first, it's a really great way for students to learn.

The presentation itself is worth 10%, and you also need to hand in a group report (worth 15%) and a self-reflection (15%). Don't leave this to the last minute and you've earned yourself an easy 40% of your overall score :)

Exam
This year's exam was out of 40 and consisted of two short answer questions (worth 10 marks each) and two case-study questions (worth 10 marks each), which you get to choose from a number of different options. The exam is open book and goes for 2 hours, with 10 minutes reading time. There is a hurdle requirement to get at least a 40% on the exam in order to pass the unit.

If you have time, I would recommend making some shorter more concise notes as you go throughout the semester. Pay attention to the research and theories that are mentioned for each topic during the semester, as these are key to get you good marks. Our tutor also emphasised the importance of including examples, so I'd recommend making a bank of examples for each topic covered in the textbook, or you could even make up your own so long as they are relevant. I ended up running out of time to make notes but I found that the textbook was still sufficient, as I was already familiar with everything from doing all the readings and applying all the content in tutes (which is why I recommend that you go to all the tutes!!). Managing your time is really important for management units, so make sure you don't get carried away answering a question or you'll end up running out of time!

All in all, I would definitely recommend this unit to anyone looking for a cruisey elective to do (and, of course, it's a compulsory unit for people majoring in Management Studies). Keep up to date with the content, attend all tutes and participate, make concise notes as you go, and you will definitely do well :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on July 09, 2015, 12:42:18 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2683 - The Analysis of Discourse: Texts, narrative and society

Workload:
1x one hour lecture per week
1x one hour tutorial per week

Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:
Even with screen capture, I believe!

Past exams available:
Not a clue, but not really needed even if there were.

Textbook Recommendation:
The textbook is Discourse Analysis (2ed) (2008) by Barbara Johnstone. A lot of the readings (none of which I completed) are from this. Despite the fact that I didn't do the readings, I did buy the textbook and I did use it at times as an aid in assignments and revision. I wouldn't say that it's strictly necessary; it is prescribed, but you could get away without it if you needed to.

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 1, 2015

Rating:  out of 5
3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:
N/A

Comments:
I guess I should be transparent from the start, here. Discourse Analysis doesn't interest me hugely, and if not for a shortage of Linguistics staff this semester, I probably would have avoided the unit. There were very few Linguistics units to choose from this semester, and I needed to do two to complete my major before studying abroad next semester. But I was pleasantly surprised by the unit.

I had Mel last year for Sociolinguistics, which I quite enjoyed. I would have been a lot more hesitant going into the unit if she wasn't running it; Mel is very approachable, fair, and a good teacher. The unit was split up in the following fashion:



I found Week 7 - Week 12 a lot more interesting than the first six weeks, which I found a little dry.

One thing I will say about the lectures is that they are very fast-paced. I found this in Socio, too, so I think it might be an aspect of Mel's lecture style. I would contend that there is about 40% too much content, or that the lectures go about 40% too quickly. That's not to say that I'm complaining about the content as such; I just think that the main messages could be portrayed without a lot of the secondary information.

The tutes were good and largely engaging. I think all of the tutes had Lee Murray. A lot of the students had her in their first year studies, but I had never had her (she started teaching first year in my second year). But she was excellent: easy to get along with, made the most important things clear, and was happy to cover the content that the students were having the most trouble with. By the end of the semester, Lee even went out of her way to help me prepare for (hopefully) Honours in Linguistics next year, which was very kind of her. I would definitely choose her again if I had a choice of tutors, so you will be in good hands, there.

The assignments were fine - I think they were well structured during the semester. The short answer assignment was fairly self-explanatory and was based almost exclusively on core content from the first few weeks. I was happy with how it was marked, too - lots of good feedback for improvement. Then there was nothing until the test in Week 11. I think a lot of students struggled for time, as many didn't finish. I only just finished the last question, and I write quite quickly. The test was open book, so you could take in anything (that wasn't electronic) at all, but you would have been in Struggle Street if you had to rely on your notes. The last assignment is the most interesting, from my viewpoint. You select your own extract from a major text (I did Joe Hockey's first budget speech), and then analyse it in depth using everything that you have covered during the semester. This was also marked thoroughly, which was appreciated.

I can see how a lot of people would love this unit. I went in thinking that I wouldn't enjoy it much, but it did surprise me. In fact, I'm thinking of now doing a D.A. Honours project, which is quite a large turnaround. I would recommend the unit to anybody studying Linguistics, but especially those with an interest in Socio or Discourse.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on July 09, 2015, 01:06:01 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS3627 Global Cultures, Local Traditions: Creating and Consuming (Popular) Culture

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:
Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:
Not that I know of, but there is no exam.

Textbook Recommendation:
Not a thing.

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 1, 2015.

Rating:
3 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade:
N/A.

Comments:
Firstly, I chose this unit as an elective, but I think it now might be a cornerstone or capstone or whatever unit for particular (International Studies?) majors. I didn't pay attention to that, because none of it applies to me. But that might be something to consider.

All in all, while the unit was interesting enough, I was probably slightly disappointed in it. A lot of the content I had covered in past units (perhaps my mistake for choosing the unit in the first place, then), and much of the other stuff was sort of common sensical. But as far as units go, it was fairly enjoyable.

The unit was set out like this:



My favourite subjects were probably the concepts of 'soft power' and 'hard power,' which are covered in some detail during the semester. I hope to do more work on this in the future, but we'll see.

I found the lectures slow. Unlike the last unit I reviewed (see above), where I played the lectures on about 0.9 speed if ever I had to listen to them, I could get through these ones at about 1.5. Combined with the fact that they were in the warm Rotunda, the lectures weren't overly inspiring. But Carolyn is clearly passionate about what she does, and is great at getting information across. I guess the benefit of going at a slightly slower pace is that the information really solidifies in memory. Further, Carolyn used a lot of videos, images and other sources of information which livened things up a little. The guest lecturers were all good, and it was enjoyable to hear the perspectives of people (all of whom were quite young) who had been researching a particular field in great depth.

I didn't like the tutes. The room was very crammed compared to basically every other tute that I have ever had. My tutor was Phyllis, who marks well and seems extremely knowledgeable, but the tutes were structured in a way that didn't really suit my learning style. I don't think this was really up to Phyllis, so all I will say about her is that she seems super, super intelligent and is very friendly. The vast majority of the tutes were based around the online discussion board. Each week, we had to write a post on Moodle relating to the lecture content and/or readings content, and then preferably comment on other students'. It wasn't particularly onerous, so it was okay in isolation. But then pretty much every tute was spent discussing other people's posts and comments, which I found uninteresting and largely unproductive.

The tests, which were held every three weeks in the tute, only took about five minutes each. There were typically 3-5 multiple choice questions, and a (very) short answer question. It was frustrating at times because, despite doing all of the readings thoroughly to prepare for the online discussion board (I acknowledge that it served its purpose in this regard; this was the only unit where I did every reading on time), the questions were sometimes very specific.

The essay, on the other hand, was great. There was a wide range of suggested topics to devise your own essay around. I did mine on the influence of bubble tea on soft power in Taiwan, which I found interesting and enjoyable.

In summary, the unit is pretty good, and I think a lot of its downfalls were sort of created by my own previous studies, attitude toward social interaction, and warm lecture theatres.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on July 09, 2015, 04:06:57 pm
Before I start, here is EnglishStudent1's review of this unit (do I know you?). I have't read it yet, because I didn't want it to influence my own review.

Subject Code/Name: ATS3673 - History and Sociolinguistics of English

Workload:
1x 2 hour seminar per week

Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:
Yes, the lectures were recorded (manually). However, due to having the lectures held in a theatre built around the time of the Industrial Revolution, the facilities were limited. Kate and Bob had to record the lectures themselves, which was very good of them. But I don't think there would have been screen capture to go alongside the recordings directly. This wasn't really the fault of Kate or Bob; I don't think the unit will be held in the same place the next time it runs.

Past exams available:
One was provided. It wasn't directly related - some of the questions on it we hadn't covered - but it did give a vague idea of what the exam would be like.

Textbook Recommendation:  What must you buy?  What is "recommended"?  Do you need it?
The prescribed textbook was A Biography of the English Language (3ed) (2012) by Millward and Hayes, but I had to look that up, because I didn't buy it. I'd recommend against getting the textbook because it's simply superfluous. Kate's unit handout (you'll know what I'm talking about if you've taken any of her other units) is more than sufficient both during the semester and as exam revision.

Lecturer(s):
Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 1, 2015

Rating:
4.95 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:
N/A

Comments:
As you may or may not know, I like Kate Burridge. Here is my review of the last unit that I took in which she taught. My gushing in that post probably says enough, so I'll try not to go on about it too much here.

Here is how the unit was structured:



I didn't know much about historical linguistics going into that unit, so don't let that put you off if you feel a little unsure. I did do the unit 'Language Across Time' with Olav, but that was a little different in the sense that it looked more at the processes than the changes themselves, if that makes sense. But yeah, this unit absolutely caters for those with limited historical linguistics exposure. In fact, some of the students in our class hadn't ever done any formal linguistics at all before this semester, so that's pretty neat.

I don't want to ramble about Kate again (well, I do), so to keep it succinct, I'll just say that she is by far and away the best lecturer I've ever had. 10/10.

Bob was new to me. I think due to the shortage of staff this semester, Kate invited him to join her in this unit (there were a few weeks where Kate was unavailable). Bob was really great, too. His weeks tended to be on the social sides of the language, whilst Kate then followed that up with the technical stuff. Bob obviously has a lot of knowledge in the area, and it comes across in his presentations, which are really enjoyable to listen to. I got the impression by the end of the semester that a lot of the content he was covering wasn't going to be examinable (a prediction that came to fruition), but I still immensely enjoyed his lectures.

Both Kate and Bob are ridiculously friendly and keen to answer any questions. In fact, after each lecture, they continued the class less formally at Sir John's. I never took up this offer, but I know that others did, and they enjoyed it very much. I think this sort of thing is what takes a unit from 'good' territory to 'great' territory. They just wanted to share their passion with others similarly passionate. Awesome.

The content itself is structured logically. As you can see above, it starts with Old English, and eventually moves into English of the present day. I learnt a lot in this unit. Interestingly (for me, at least), I didn't take very many notes. This is different for me, because I am a religious note-taker. But I found that the knowledge sort of just stuck deep within me because I was so interested in it; that's probably credit to the lecturers, because there's only so much passion one can have about syntactic structures of the 14th century. So yeah, the only real downside of the lectures was the lecture theatre, which I'm sure will be changed.

Assignment one was an essay on a range of several topics. I did mine on Standard English. I thought that it was generously marked, but the feedback was good. It wasn't a particularly exciting assessment task, but I did enjoy it. I found the second assignment quite difficult, but it was by no means impossible if you had been to the lectures. Kate's notes helped quite a lot here. I think the third assignment was originally going to be another essay, but Kate changed it a bit to be more of a research project, which was good. I liked this one, because (despite the fact that it took a while) it felt more like a mild introduction to Honours.

Really, the only issue I had with the unit (hence the rating of 4.95 rather than 5) was that it didn't have tutes. This is a unit that, in my opinion, requires them, and the unit would have been a lot better off with them. But aside from that, wicked unit. Do it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Joseph41 on July 10, 2015, 12:44:05 pm
Major: Linguistics

First Year Subjects:
Second Year Subjects:
Third Year Subjects:
Year of completion:
2015

Rating:
4.5 out of 5

Comments:
Cool, cool. Linguistics.

So a bit of background: I did English Language in 2012 and had an interest in language in general, but I initially wasn't even planning to do Linguistics as an elective at uni. I am super glad that I did, though, because it has become a passion and something that I really enjoy. The great thing is that there are still heaps of units that I would love to do, to the point that I have considered further study just so that I can learn more. I'm planning on doing Honours in Linguistics next year.

In general, the Linguistics staff are really great. I haven't come across a single one that I haven't liked. I guess the thing with Linguistics is that the school isn't that large compared to many others, so you sort of get to know the staff members fairly well. In saying that, you can definitely fly by unnoticed if that's what you want; I don't think I spoke to anybody in any of my lectures until maybe late last year.

Something I do want to say is don't be put off from Linguistics if you have no prior experience (tautological?) in the field. The units - particularly the first year units - cater for such students, especially considering that EngLang isn't offered at many schools. Now, speaking of the units, the handbook has changed a little since I started in 2013. You now have gateway, cornerstone and capstone units, which I didn't have to worry about. But basically, all it means is that you have to do the following two units (the 'gateway' units):



And you have to do one of the following three units ('cornerstone' units):



And you have to do one of the following three units ('capstone' units):



But in all likelihood, you would probably adhere to these criteria even without trying. I didn't do any of those units listed as capstone units, but from my recollection they either weren't offered or were superfluous to the needs of my degree. I would be very interested in doing ATS3816 now if I had the chance.

So further to the two gateway units, the cornerstone unit and the capstone unit, you have four electives to choose from. You can choose any of the following, on the assumption that they are being offered:



Now, if you look at that list - particularly if you haven't done any Linguistics before - it may be a bit overwhelming or confusing. It might be especially hard to know what you will be interested in. But don't worry: first year Linguistics is basically an introduction to all of the types of Linguistics. Once you complete first year, you should have a much better understanding of what metaphorically tickles your whiskers. For what it's worth, here are the best Linguistics units that I did:



That's not to say that I didn't enjoy the other four units, because I did. But you will find that you are naturally interested in some aspects of the field more than others, and that's okay. You can find individual unit reviews for all of these units in this thread.

Now, why is it that I give this major 4.5 out of 5 rather than 5 out of 5? I haven't said anything bad about it at all thus far. The reason is a bit petty, but it did frustrate me at times. The unit availability is sometimes a little lacking. This semester, for example, there were very few units on offer. This was due to a shortage of staff, but it means that units that were meant to be running, were not. I would have loved to have done ATS3674 in particular, and I was saving it for my final semester, but now I can't. (Although I think it might be offered next semester, so that might have been my own stuff up.)

If you did English Language in VCE and liked it, do Linguistics. If you did English Language in VCE and hated it, don't do Linguistics. If you have an interest in language but didn't do English Language in VCE, do Linguistics. If you don't have an interest in language and didn't do English Language in VCE, don't do Linguistics.

tl;dr: Kate Burridge is great.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: gabo8273 on July 13, 2015, 03:00:42 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1021 - Cells Tissues and Organisms 

Workload:
 - 3x 1 hour lecture per week
 - 1x 3 hour lab almost all weeks

Assessment: 
 - 8x Practicals [25%]
 - 1x Mid-sem moodle quiz [10%]
 - 1x 1000 word essay [15%]
 - 1x 3 hour MCQ exam [50%]
 
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, but many questions were provided by the lecturers and PASS. Also, a "peer-wise" program was utilized, in which questions are generated by students, for students. These are often quite good at determining weaknesses, or so I found.

Textbook Recommendation:  Cambell Biology, Xth Edition is recommended, however all the required information can be extracted from the lectures in this unit.

Lecturer(s):
 - Dr. Chantelle Hoppe (Histology)
 - Dr Robyn Slattery  (Immunology)
 - Dr John Beardall   
 - Dr Chris Johnstone (Homeostasis)
 - A/Prof Jose Garcia-Bustos  (Viruses, Fungi etc..)
 - Dr Helen Abud (Developmental Biology)
 - Dr Anne Peters (Animal Diversity)
 - Mrs Wilma Checkley (Introduction to Bio)
 - Dr Paul Crellin  (Bacteria)

Year & Semester of completion: 2015

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This unit was easily the best unit of the first semester. It is one of the three compulsory core subjects that must be completed alongside BMS1031 and BMS1011 in Biomed. It is the most content-heavy subject of the core units, but also the most simple.

All of the practicals were completed in the lab-slots. It is possible to get good marks in the pracs, even if you didn't attend the lectures. Most barely relied on course material. However, many pracs had prep-work that is essential to complete. It is also quite easy to forget about the prep-work. Note that on my exam (maybe not yours) pracs were assessed.

Lectures were usually good. Some got a bit boring, and I often struggled to maintain my consciousness during some of the later lectures. As usual, you should watch all lectures, either by actually going to the lectures or watching them on mulo.

The  essay was the worst part of this unit. I'm bad at essay writing, so I wasted many hours fruitlessly attempting to add few more words to reach the word limit. If essays are more your thing, this won't be difficult. The essay offered 10 topics, which are all marked by different lecturers.

ALL of my exam was MCQs, which was great. It was a grueling 3 hour, 100 question exam. Similarly, the mid-sem test was also MCQs, and had ~25 questions (I forget the exact number). Neither of these were very difficult.

Finally, they offered a PASS program in my year. This is where 3rd year students would teach you the content for an hour. It was less productive than the BMS1031 PASS, however its still covered much more than I could in an hour, so I'd recommend doing it if possible (note that classes fill up fast).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: 174929482 on July 13, 2015, 03:02:06 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENG1001 - Engineering design: lighter, faster, stronger

Workload:  1x 2h lecture, 1x 3h practical

Assessment: 
Project 1- 18%: This project was my favourite of the two, and was a challenge to work in groups of four to build an 85 cm long bridge that could hold a weight of up to 950g, that was constructed entirely out of spaghetti.Marks were awarded for speed of construction (the fastest team getting full marks in this category, and everyone else being assigned marks based on the ratio of their construction time to the fastest), and the failure load to weight ratio of the bridge (again, marks being given as a ratio like with the construction time), making this project more of a competition. We also had to write a detailed report about our design process, and provide calculations demonstrating where, and at what load the bridge will fail. Marks were distributed so that it is possible to still pass the project on the report section alone (just in case your bridge sucked).

Project 2- 18%: This project was similar to the first, except our task was to modify a meccano style trebuchet so it would consistently knock over a stack of cups from a distance of 4, 8, and a mystery distance in between, again, with marks being awarded based on the ratio between the best team's score, and yours. Like before, documentation and testing data had to be provided, and marks were distributed so that it is possible to pass the project on the documentation alone (just in case your trebuchet sucked)

Tensile test report- 4%: This was a report addressing 6 questions in regards to aluminium sample testing, mainly focussing on basic materials science principals, and the impact of different treatments on the samples. I found it to be pretty dry.

Materials selection report- 4%: This was a report that focussed on selecting the ideal material and dimensions for a bridge of set length that would have to be able to carry a given range of loads, focussing not only on the properties of the potential materials, but also on the cost, ease of manufacture, durability, and environmental impact.

It is worth noting that the above four assessments are all completed in the same group of four, and individual marks for each assessment are scaled by a factor of 0.5-1.1 based on evaluations of you fro by the other group members.

Worksheets- 10%: These were given out and worked through at each lecture, and had to be stamped off by a tutor by the practical the following week. They got progressively more complex as each portion of the unit went on, but were quite straightforward if you did the readings and watched the videos.
 
Moodle Quizzes- 6%: These were short quizzes given each week that simply made sure we had watched and understood the pre-lecture videos. They were not hard at all.

Exam- 40% (hurdle): Nearly identical to the practice exam. Each of the components (Civil, Materials & Mechanical) were worth the same number of marks. Was similar to the difficulty of the final question from each of the worksheets. If you did the work, it was pretty easy.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  There were two past exams available, one with worked solutions, and one with answers only.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics- Hibbeler
Engineering Mechanics: Statics- Hibbeler
Mechanics of materials- Hibbeler

I wouldn't recommend buying any of the textbooks though, because you get all the information you would ever need through the 'youtube lectures', and online readings.

Lecturer(s):
Civil: Lizi Sironic and Bill Wong
Materials: John Forsythe
Mechanical: Kris Ryan


Year & Semester of completion: S1 2015

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
This was a brand new unit this year, and is essentially the sister unit to ENG1002. It combined the old ENG1020 (Civil), ENG1040 (mechanical), and ENG1050 (materials) into one nice package. The unit was very clearly divided into two halves, the first being civil/materials (7 weeks), and mechanical (5 weeks), with each of the two portions operating completely independently of each other in regards to the content, projects, lecturers, and tutors.

The unit has a very different content delivery system to others, in that 25-40 minutes of videos are uploaded to youtube each week, and they are how you learn the content for the subject (you can watch them here if you're keen). Then there are optional readings, and a 0.5% quiz on moodle (you get 3 attempts) to make sure you understand everything. What would traditionally be a lecture in this subject is a 'workshop', essentially, you have 2 hours to do the worksheet with tutors walking around the theatre helping you out.

The Practicals were exactly that. 3 hours a week you could get questions answered by the tutors, and work on your project with your group while completing a set of tasks related to the project.

The main reason the units were redesigned was to make the first level in eng more practical and hands on, and they definitely succeeded with that. Overall, the unit was very well run & planned out. You could easily have completed the unit without physics or specialist maths, as the maths was simply plugging values into a given formula, and there was absolutely no assumed knowledge of physics.

Overall, a great unit. It does a good job of introducing the basics of 3 major engineering disciplines, and does a good job of showing how different engineering disciplines work together in the real world. A word of advice would be to not do ENG1001 and ENG1002 in the same semester, as they are quite intense units, and require more contact hours, study & extra group meetings than the other units.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Hutchoo on July 13, 2015, 06:33:44 pm
Subject Code/Name: FIT2081 - Mobile application development 

Workload:  1 x 2 hour lecture and 1 x 2 hour laboratory

Assessment:  11 x Lab worth 2%, 11 x Quiz worth 2% (top 10 of each count)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, no idea if it has screen capture or not (wtf is screen capture?)

Past exams available:  no. the exams are just the questions taken from the quizzes

Textbook Recommendation: No recommendations, everything you need is in the lecture notes and quizzes

Lecturer(s): Mr Stephen Huxford

Year & Semester of completion: 2015 Sem 1

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Pretty good

Comments:
Just a heads up, these comments aren't structured properly, so soz in advance.
___
This subject is somewhat interesting. You get taught Java and Android, you spend the first few weeks going over basics (what is a for loop etc.) and then after week 5, you go balls deep with programming computer programs/Android apps.

I did this unit as an elective, because I'm interested in the Android OS and I just wanted to gain some more experience with Java. In saying that, the majority of the students in this class are from the Bachelor of Business Information Systems. One thing that I found interesting is the lack of programming knowledge that the BBIS kids have. They found the most basic programming stuff to be hard (e.g. what is a for loop?) and they didn't really understand any of the code. This resulted in the majority of the BBIS kids receiving lowish marks for the internal labs. So if you're reading this and you're a BBIS kid with limited programming knowledge... pls program more and get a head start!

As for the weekly quizzes, they are really, really weird. Some of the questions aren't even in English and come across as super convoluted. However, I'd say ~70% of the quiz questions and answers are in the lecture notes.

I can't really be bothered to write more, but essentially.. this subject isn't hard at all. If you know basic programming rules/syntax, learning Java and Android won't be hard, meaning you'll do very well in the labs. As for the quizzes, the majority of the questions/answers are taken from the actual lecture slides and aren't that bad... HOWEVER, depending on your tutor, you may get really weird marks (e.g. I wrote the same answers as a friend, copied from the lecture notes; he got full marks, I got 3/4). The quizzes are done in an informal fashion, meaning you get to use your computer and talk to your friends about figuring out the answers.

ALSO, THE EXAM IS THE EXACT SAME AS THE LECTURE QUIZZES. Stephen admits this, and tells everyone to only study the lecture quizzes for the exam.

Tl;dr, program a bit, remember lecture quizzes, get a HD

 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Hutchoo on July 13, 2015, 06:47:02 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3051 - Introduction to Computational Mathematics

Workload:
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, one, with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  The recommended textbook is Getting Started with MATLAB 7 by Rudra Pratap, Oxford Uni Press. Don't bother reading it, I didn't.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion:  2015, Semester 1

Rating:  1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:  Ye not 2 bad given I crammed 12 weeks in 2 days

Comments:  First and foremost, READ THE OTHER REVIEW TO GET INSIGHTFUL COMMENTS.

This unit is OKAY at best. The thing that pissed me off was that the assignments weren't related to the actual unit/exam questions. For example, one of the assignments was literally about converting psuedocode into MATLAB or some other programming language. I ended up doing the majority of my code in Python because Python is cool and MATLAB is gross.

Also, Leo (although a super nice guy) is really, really, REALLY slow with the lectures (e.g. he spent like 20 minutes writing down 1 matrix/figuring out how to find and use the eraser for his iPad). He's a super smart guy, and really down to earth, but he can be slow with his explanations at times.. and that's why I didn't bother going to his lectures.

Jennifer Flegg on the other hand is nothing less than awesome. She really knows her stuff and is amazing at explaining tough concepts. I didn't end up going to any of her lectures either, but from what I saw, she was awesome. Also, if you have a 1 on 1 consultation with her, you won't leave feeling like you've wasted your time.

Now, for the exam. The MCQ are the exact same as every other year, but they might have some different numbers. As for the SA, there is some similarities (e.g. define round off error), but the majority is totally different! I was under the assumption that they were the same, but they aren't, so make sure you understand the concepts in the unit!

All in all, the unit is easy. The majority of people walk into the exam room only needing 30% to pass. The majority of people also walk into the exam room with 2 days of study under their belt. As for me, I was in both categories. I went to like 3 lectures out of the 30 odd lectures (and didn't catch up, even when I was studying for the exam).. did all the assignments (and did well because they aren't hard), and then did 2 days of study and still managed to get a decent mark. Do this unit if you cbf with uni but still want to get a good mark.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: extremeftw on July 14, 2015, 12:50:39 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1353 - Foundations of modern politics 

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

Assessment: 10% class test (is held around week 4), 10% tutorial attendance & participation, 30% end of semester exam, 50% major essay assignment.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No past exams.

Textbook Recommendation:  The textbook was Comparative government and politics: An introduction. I personally found the textbook to be very good and extremely useful as it is very thorough on the topics covered.

Lecturer(s): The main lecturer is Narelle Miragliotta, but she sometimes gets other people from her faculty to perform guest lectures on certain topics related to their fields of study.

Year & Semester of completion: 2015, semester 1.

Rating:  4.5/5.

Your Mark/Grade: 88 HD.

Comments: So I believe this is the first year that this particular subject has ran, so keep in mind that the structure of the unit may change.

 During the first week of the unit, I was kind of worried. The content seemed to be quite dry and not particularly interesting. Thankfully, the unit became much more interesting and involved as it progressed through the semester as you begin to analyse various political themes such as authoritarian government, elections, democracy, different systems of government, etc. If you are at all interested in politics then you are likely to find the content at least interesting.

 The first graded assessment occurs in Week 4 and it is a quiz with 10 short answer questions that must be completed within an hour (or 50 minutes if you are like me and were late because of train delays...) which is worth 10% of the overall unit.  Do not underestimate this quiz. Apparently a lot of people went into it completely unprepared and therefore a lot of people started the semester off terribly by getting <50% on the quiz. To do well on the quiz, simply study the lecture notes and supplementary textbook readings on the topics covered in the first few weeks of the unit; I personally found it pretty straightforward and I barely studied for it at all.

 The major essay assignment is worth 50% of the unit's overall grade and therefore you really need to ensure that you put a lot of effort into it. The topics are released very, very early on in the semester (may have even been during week 1) and it is due in week 9, so you have heaps of time to do it. There are 5 topics that you can choose from and you can approach each of them in a variety of different ways, for example the topic I chose to do was "Are popular elections an indication of a free and fair society?", so you can see that the topic is quite open-ended which makes developing an argument not too difficult. It is very important to have a very strong and clear contention to put forth a compelling argument in the essay. You need to use at least 8 different scholarly references in your essay and it sometimes felt frustratingly difficult to find academic papers that were at all relevant to the topic, so make sure you spend a significant amount of time researching to find solid references. Since the major essay was worth so much of the unit, I would recommend only doing this unit if you have decent writing abilities as otherwise you will probably find writing a good essay quite difficult.

 The exam for this unit was somewhat interesting in that it was done online through moodle (keep in mind that the deadline for doing the exam was very early June, i.e. before the official exam period had started, so you need to make sure you get your study done quite early on.) The exam was structured as 25% multiple choice, 25% short answer, and 50% essay question. The multiple choice was very easy (since you can do the exam on your home computer so you can just google the answers to every question...) The short answer section consisted of 3 questions with a 30 minute time limit and again it was pretty easy since you can use your textbook/internet/notes to help if you aren't very familiar with the topics that pop up (funnily enough I thought I absolutely screwed up this section since one of the questions was kind of confusing, but I think they marked this section fairly generously so I wouldn't worry too much.) The essay section had a choice of I think 5 different topics that you can choose from to type a piece that was at least 700 words long, with an hour time limit. Truth be told, I was really worried that I  had done poorly on the exam and was feeling pretty down after I finished it, but apparently I must have gotten like 97% on it so it seems like it isn't very difficult to do very well on the exam if you put some study in.

 Overall, I felt like this was a good and interesting introductory unit. The time commitment to this unit isn't very demanding (especially if you skip lectures like I did) and the assessment structure is really quite nice. If you have solid writing skills and have an interest in politics then I would highly recommend doing this unit.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ~V on July 14, 2015, 01:08:44 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1297 - Academic Writing

Workload:

Assessment: 5 x Quizzes worth 20%, 3 writing tasks: 10% Opinion/Position piece, 25% Short practice essay (1500 words), 40% Final essay (2000 words)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: No exam

Textbook Recommendation:  Jean Brick's "Academic culture: a student's guide to studying at university".

Lecturer(s): Dr Andrew Johnson

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2015

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:
Guess you can say it's one of those GPA booster units, if you're looking for a unit with low contact hours, no exams and don't mind bullshitting through assignments then this is the unit. Also, It's great for first year students, as we get a feel of what university essays are like. There are weeks where the unit emphasizes on what types of evidence/sources are best to use in your essays, plagiarism, structure, paraphrasing and referencing. Those are honestly the things i found useful in this unit. For our assignments, we focus on the topic of "moral panic". In the first assignment, you write an opinion piece on a topic and if it's an example of a moral panic then you write a revised academic version of the opinion piece, to test if you understand the different elements in the two styles of writing. The short practice essay was in preparation for the final essay in which we were given a topic related to moral panic and had to write with all the elements of a academic essay. The final essay was similar to the short practice essay but the word limit is higher and we had the freedom to choose our own topic. 4 Quizzes were done online about every 2 weeks, they were mostly based on readings and lecture slides, i highly recommend the textbook for quizzes and in class activities, but it's not worth buying imo, so borrow it from the library before a quiz or something. The last quiz was an in class test done in Week 10, much harder than the online quizzes but i found the tutors to be fairly easy markers. The 5% participation grade was said to encourage involvement in class discussions in tutes but honestly, you automatically get a HD for showing up in more than  90% of the tutes. I barely went to any lectures, they weren't too necessary but Andrew was a great lecturer/co-ordinator of unit, understands that we have a lot on our plate late in the semester and extends due dates generously!Overall, a chill unit but didn't enjoy the topic they chose for us for the first 2 assignments and unit can get daunting when you're learning about grammar and punctuation.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: M_BONG on July 21, 2015, 08:52:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1353 - Foundations of Modern Politics

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

Assessment: Major Essay worth 50%
Exam 30%
Tutorial participation (subjective grade determined by tutor) 10%
Class Test 10%


Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. Exam done online on Moodle; open book.

Textbook Recommendation:  There are a few prescribed textbook but none of them are compulsory.

Lecturer(s): Dr Narelle Miragliotta

Year & Semester of completion: 2015, Sem 1:

Rating: 3.5/5

Grade: 85/100 HD

Comments
Decent subject and introduction to politics. I didn't do Global politics in VCE and didn't struggle at all because this subject is introductory and a little bit simple and perhaps not very intellectually stimulating (fair enough.. it's a first year subject). I say this because, apart from the Major Essay, it focuses more on comparisons, definitions etc. rather than analytical skills.

I think the best part of this subject is the Major Essay and the flexibility. They provide five topic questions and they cover a wide range of areas from federalism vs unitary states to fair elections. It really allowed me to delve into what politics is all about. The exam is conducted on Moodle - it's open book and timed.

Readings were interesting and stimulating - we learned about a wide range of concepts albeit superficially. They included: Political culture, Constitutions, Elections, Types of States (Authoritarian, Fascist, Totalitarian, Liberal Democracy etc.) and I think they will allow a good glimpse into what politics is about. However, what you learn in one week does not overlap with another week so this subject does not focus on one concept in detail (again, fair enough because it's a Foundations-based subject). In saying that, I really understood what *politics is* from this subject - ie. we were taught things like political culture, what a nation-state is and what is inherent within politics (ie. power, authority, legitimacy etc.)

Overall, I think this unit is essential if you want to do Politics and you won't struggle if you haven't done VCE Politics.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: M_BONG on July 22, 2015, 11:03:55 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW1111 - Foundations of Law

Workload: 2 x 1.5 hour "lecture-seminars"

Assessment: 
Exam: 50% - not a hurdle task
Court Report 30%
Class Test on theory 20%
Research Task 10%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, only Chief Examiner's lectures recorded
Past exams available:  A lot. But none of them have sample answers so they might as well be useless.

Textbook Recommendation:  You must buy the prescribed compilation/custom-made textbook written by Ross. It is essential and you can't get away without it.

Also, Faculty Notes are amazing and you also definitely need it - they're $15.

Lecturer(s): Jessie Taylor

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1, 2015

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 71 D

Comments:
So obviously this is an introductory subject and is compulsory for all students doing the LLB at Monash. I am going to separate this review into four main parts to provide some pointers to avoid making the same mistakes I did: lecturers, workload, effort required and assessments. Since all law students will be doing this subject, I thought some pointers would be helpful!

Lecturers:
So not much to say here but to give credit to my lecturer, Jessie Taylor. She is a refugee lawyer and is compassionate; also very knowledgable and passionate about the law. Really pick her if you can. Extremely tough marker though.

I have also heard good stuff about the Chief Examiner, Ross.

Workload:
There is a lot of reading for this unit, for a first year subject I recond. It ranges from one chapter to excerpts from multiple chapters of the textbook (anywhere between 20 - 60 pages per week) but the slides provided by the lecturers (which are the same for all Streams) are comprehensive and may work as a substitute.

Also, I spent most of my time making chapter notes but if you want to reduce your workload make them succinct! The only time the theory from weeks 1 - 4 or 5 will be tested is on the 20% class test so don't go crazy on the note-making. Reduce your workload by understanding the skills of statutory interpretation which is what will be tested on the exam, and ultimately what counts the most.

Effort
I am not exaggerating here, this subject requires a lot of effort despite being only a Foundations subject. Also, take note like all Law subjects it is bell-curved meaning that you will be compared against your cohort and as a result of that, you will be marked very harshly if you don't put in any effort. I was shocked with a 65% on my Court Report because I thought little effort was required.

Assessments
The Court Report worth 30% is your best shot at gaining a headstart in this subject. They will be testing you on your ability to observe legal processes but most importantly your ability to develop a thesis/argument! Be careful of not doing just an informative/reflective essay!

Class test is quite difficult as well simply because it's multiple choice and the options they give you are quite dodgy. One question I got (and I kid you not) was: what is feminism about? Another question had a whole page of writing on it and you had 1 minute per question!

The exam is a killer. You will be begging for more time because (in 2015 anyway) you had to work through a piece of legislation and write an essay in 2 hours. I had 40 minutes to write the essay and the topics were not disclosed beforehand. Do study for the exam because it's worth a lot.

Overall thoughts
 I think FOL provides a very good foundation to all law students. A lot of Law students dislike it and this sometimes gives it a bad reputation but I think essential skills are learned from this subject. 
The structure of this course lends itself well to an introduction to law as the subject starts off with the basic history of the Australian legal system - ranging from things like Aboriginal law to the impact of British colonisation on Australian law. Then it moves on to practical things like legal philosophy to the court hierachy. 

However, the course, at time, got a bit boring on mundane things like referencing however, do take note of these little things because you will lose marks for not referencing properly throughout. I thought the exam was thrilling (trust me, the adrenaline rush was amazing haha) and this subject I think is a good introduction to law!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: keltingmeith on November 10, 2015, 02:27:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2990 - Introductory chemical research project

Workload: Varies depending on project and availability (generally, your availability). About 8-10 hours of labwork recommended per week. This could be done all in one day (what most people opt to), the whole week (what I did), or anywhere in-between.

Assessment:

Recorded Lectures: No lectures.

Past exams available: No exam, your group should have some past reports/theses they can show you to help you with writing your report, though.

Textbook Recommendation: None you need to buy - you might find you'll need to borrow a book depending on your project, but it'll probs be so niche there'll be 5 borrowable copies in the library.

Lecturer(s): N/A. The unit coordinator is David Turner, and he'll correspond a bit. Most of your discussion will be between your supervisor and their research group, so your mileage may vary. (My supervisor was David Turner, for comparison)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2015

Rating: 7 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBC

Comments: This is the best unit I have ever done. If you read my MTH3241 review, ignore that - that unit was a piece of shit compared to this one. The rest of these comments will be rambling. I hope you like rambling. :P

What I Did:
So, before I begin, a quick outline of what I did:

If you imagine a coordination complex with a metal, it looks something like this:
(http://www.chem1.com/acad/webtext/chembond/CB-images/ccdefin.gif)

Now, question - what happens if each of the ligands bridge to another coordination complex? Well, you get something that looks like this:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Niobium-pentachloride-dimer-2D.png/194px-Niobium-pentachloride-dimer-2D.png)

NOW, what if you bridge that to another complex? And another? And another? Well, you get a polymer! This particular type of polymer is known as a coordination polymer, and so my project revolved around the synthesis and characterisation of a novel coordination polymer.

And just for completeness, here's a 2D coordination polymer (you can get them in 1, 2 or 3 dimensions):
(http://www.mdpi.com/polymers/polymers-03-01458/article_deploy/html/images/polymers-03-01458f2-1024.png)

What Did I Do?/What Might You Do?
So, this varies from project to project, but the best part of the unit is that you'll get to develop your lab skills - whether they be synthetic or analytical skills. This is in particular to analytical techniques you don't get to do in undergrad - I can very easily run IRs now, set up reflux stuff, weighing is super easy (and no longer seems annoying!) and I've even got to run NMRs and done some crystallography at the synchrotron! (take THAT DisaFear. :P )

Wasn't it SCARY??? :'(
Ehhhh. Yes, it is a little scary when you're filling in your safety stuff at the start, and one of the MSDS simply lists "fatal if inhaled", as opposed to the usual "might cause cancer" or what have you. But the excitement so easily takes over that you don't notice. Plus, the chem people at Monash are generally nice, helpful people, and that makes things SO much easier.

Overall?
10/10, would recommend. Do it. Happy to be PMed about picking supervisors and stuff if you want someone to chat to/you're super excited by everything and nobody is willing to share in the excitement with you.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: bobbyz0r on November 12, 2015, 08:15:42 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC3410 – Applied Econometrics
Workload: Two 1-hour lectures and a 2-hour comp lab/tute

Assessment:  Two assignments worth 20% each, and 60% exam (2 hour). No group assignments.
Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  Yes, most available from Monash Library online. Sample questions for some topics also provided

Textbook Recommendation:  Don’t need one.

Lecturer(s):
Jun Sung Kim for the first half covering Binary Choice Models, Endogeneity and IV Estimation. Seems like a nice guy, but lectures can be a bit hard to follow at times.

John Stapleton for second half covering system of equations and panel data models (time series). He also doubles as the tutor for the whole semester. Excellent lecturer/tutor. Easy to understand for me, and less boring in general.

Year & Semester of completion: 2015, Semester 2

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Pretty decent unit. Decent amount of content without being too much. Doesn’t take too much work to stay on top of the content. Gives the impression that it is extremely useful if you plan to do any research in economics (such as honours) as you learn how limited OLS taught in ETC2410 is. Highly recommended to any considering research.
Highly recommend attending the tutorials, even though participation is not required (attendance is taken though). The lectures are not as necessary, and ended up going to about half of them. The lecture slides are very comprehensive, so no textbook is required. The lectures are not recorded.

Tutorials are split roughly 50/50 between tute work (maths on the whiteboard and theory discussion) and using STATA on the computers. The computer tutes are quite basic, but can be quite boring. All you do is replicate results by following instructions. John will talk for about 45 minutes going through how to get the results. Takes no more than 20 minutes to replicate the results. You will need to know how to use STATA as it is required for both assignments. The tutes can be ahead of the lectures at times, so you won’t be at much of a disadvantage by not attending lectures. In fact, as John is also the lecturer for half of the unit, I found that I learnt much more from the tutes than the lectures.

With regards to the assignments, they are quite straightforward. In my opinion, they are easier than the ones from ETC2410. Not too time consuming. The assignment from Jun for the first four topics is very easy, and shouldn’t take more than 6 hours to complete. John’s is a bit more challenging, but probably still easier than the second assignment from ETC2410 in my opinion.
In terms of the content covered, it is mainly going through the estimators used in econometrics. Gone is the days of OLS for a lot of the models used. Where ETC2410 mainly goes through how to calculate marginal effects, derivation of OLS, etc.., ETC3410 goes through the different estimators used in different cases.

Topic 1: Basic Theory and Revision (Asymptotic Theory)
Topic 2: Binary Choice Models (modelling dependent variables which are binary such as employment using linear probability, logit and probit models)
Topic 3: Endogeneity Bias (consequences of having an endogenous regressor)
Topic 4: IV Estimation (using instrumental variables when an endogenous regressor is present – SIV and GIV, 2SLS/two-stage least squares)
Topic 5: System of Equations (estimating multiple equations in one model)
Topic 6: Pooled OLS
Topic 7: Static Panel Data Models (Fixed Effects and Random Effects Estimators)
Topic 8: Dynamic Panel Data Models (Anderson-Hsiao, GMM, Arellano-Bond and Blundell-Bond)

Although the unit is called “Applied” Econometrics, the lectures cover a lot of the derivation and theory. After completing the exam, I can say that, while knowing the derivation and theory of how the estimators work is necessary, the bulk of the assessment is on how it would affect models when applied. So while it doesn’t seem very “applied” in the lectures, the assignments and the exam is mainly concentrated on hypothesis testing and interpretation of models (about 70/30 split between applied and theory).
In terms of the maths skills required, ETC2440 is helpful (another of John's units), but isn't necessary.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: EspoirTron on November 12, 2015, 11:54:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2052 - Microbes in health and disease

Workload:  3x1hour lectures and a 3 hour lab for 6 weeks and 2 hour tute for 6 weeks 

Assessment:  Theory examination (40%), Practical examination (25%), Mid-semester test (10%) and laboratory and tutorial assessments (25%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. There are no practice exams or practice questions provided

Textbook Recommendation:  Don't need any

Lecturer(s): Too many to recall

Year & Semester of completion: 2015, Semester 2

Rating: 3.8 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: N/A

Comments: As an overall this unit is pretty good. There are certain things however that do need more careful attention.

Lectures
The unit has a total of 32 lectures which span a wide array of topics. The first 9 lectures cover the fundamentals of Microbiology and Virology, there's an emphasis on bacterial characteristics, how they're classified and what exactly makes certain bacteria "pathogenic". At the end of these core lectures you will see a bit of Virology but this is quite basic and expands only a little further than what you would have already been exposed to in first year biology.

You then get a set of 9 lectures which cover vaccinations, molecular techniques and immunology. Six of these lectures are specifically devoted to Immunology, 3 will cover innate immunity and another 3 will cover adaptive immunity. Here's the thing, these lectures are almost identical to what you learn in IMM2021 so if you're trying to pick electives IMM2021 wouldn't be such a bad idea because it makes approaching this part of the course a lot easier.

There are 4 lectures on epidemiology and antimicrobial agents, these are pretty basic and the former is just a reiteration of BMS1042. The antimicrobial lectures were fantastic and this is the first time in the BMS course where you get a real taste of drug design (this is backed up in the end of BMS2062 in which you cover rational drug design).

Lastly, you get 9 lectures in which you cover parasitic functions, clostridial infections, fungal infections and Helicobacter pylori. The parasitic lectures were not too interested and you focus mainly on 3 types of parasites with not a lot of depth; these lectures felt a bit odd and were probably the ones I enjoyed the least throughout the course (although they were delivered very well). The clostridial and H. pyrlori lectures are great and you learn a lot more about pathogenesis and biochemistry comes into play a lot because you will be learning how secretion systems work and how toxins have an effect on a cellular level. The fungal lectures were again great because you learnt about various fungi but this was backed with how fungal infections are treated.

Overall I would have to say my favourite lectures were the ones revolving around Virology and Antimicrobials. All of the lectures were delivered well and I really don't see any issues here. The lecturers were all nice and approachable and replied promptly to emails regarding lectures.

Pracs/Tutes
The course is split up such that you get 6 weeks of tutorials and 6 weeks of labs, depending on which stream  you may have labs in the first 6 weeks or in the last 6 weeks. Personally I found the labs to be hectic and I really didn't gain a wealth of knowledge as I was expecting. The labs felt rushed and you were often conducting 2-3 experiments at the any one time. When looking at samples under the microscope you often felt rushed due to time constraints and the labs usually lasted the full 3 hours or went overtime. Despite this you get exposed to some cool types of media that you can use to differentiate certain organisms. The labs are just 6 weeks of learning how to plate things properly, obtain pure cultures and tests to employ when identifying certain organisms. Although it felt rushed, in retrospect if sets you up pretty well for 3rd Microbiology/Immunology.

Comparatively, the tutes were very well organised and you often finished in 40-80 minutes. My tutor was fantastic (and from what I heard from other students all the tutors were good) and really knew how to explain some of the more complicated topics in a really easy-to-understand way. In tutes you will mainly be consolidating what you learnt in lectures and an emphasis is placed on learning about the techniques we employ when identifying particular microbes. You learn about Elek's test, the Nagler test and a few others.

25% of your unit mark comes from the tute and labs. This is where the problems in the unit are; 5% of your lab marks come from two 2.5% lab tests that ask you short questions on the techniques you use. Often these tests asked some obscure questions and there was a large discrepancy in the difficult levels among different sessions, i.e. some groups got very easy tests while other groups got harder tests. Another 5% of your mark comes from what your demonstrator thinks of your ability in the lab, this is standard and these are accessible marks for anyone, as long as you paid attention in the labs! 10% of your mark comes from a lab report, this is report  had a huge discrepancy in marking and unfortunately it wasn't very clear what was expected and even adhering to the guidelines you were set didn't guarantee a good score as it was basically a case of "does the tutor like the report or not". Given this I'd highly suggest doing the practice report to gauge what your tutor expects of you.

Another 5% of your mark comes from 2x2.5% tests in your tutes. These are quite straight-forward and all of the assessable content is given through the tute anyway.

Mid-semester test
This was your standard Microbiology/Immunology MST. It was pretty pushy for time and unfortunately you get 0 sample questions. The MST covers the first 18 lectures and the questions were quite fair. All in all the MST was okay if you had studied and made sure you really understand the foundations of the course it okay. 

Theory examination 
The theory exam is worth 40% and is comprised of over a hundred MCQs for which you had 2 hours. This was one of the more difficult Biomed exams I've had to sit. There was A LOT of content covered, some topics had more specific focus than others but the exam certainly went into some nuances of the course. I don't think the textbook is necessary for the exam but I definitely think in order to perform well in this exam it's important you understand the specifics of every lecture. You get no sample questions provided, which again raises another slight issue as the format was quite ambiguous until I actually sat in the exam. I'd suggest maybe getting a study group and making questions yourself, this is one of the units in which you can definitely do that.

Practical exam
This is worth 25% and it's based off the lab and tute content. I have to say this exam was quite straight forward and although you get two hours most people left after an hour. As long as you have a basic understanding of the molecular techniques used in the lab and the different tests we employ to identify certain bacteria and viruses, then this exam is straight-forward.

Overall Comments
A fairly enjoyable unit in terms of content but 6 labs and 6 tutes did feel a bit unnecessary and this could have been cut down on. There was some problems with the assessments but hopefully these get weeded out soon enough. For all the Biomed students you have to take this unit so no choice there! I would however recommend brushing over the basic characteristics of bacteria and viruses over the winter break so that the foundations of the unit will not seem as overwhelming.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: BigAl on November 13, 2015, 02:59:32 pm
Subject Code/Name: MEC2405 - Thermodynamics

Workload:  1x2 and 1 hour lectures and 7 tutorials and 3 labs.

Assessment: 
Exam - 70% (Hurdle next year)
Mid semester test - 10%
3 Labs 5% in total
7 tutorials 5% in total
Recorded Lectures:  No, the reason behind this is to increase the amount of attendance and it's been very successful and helpful.

Past exams available:  Plenty of past exams are available and no solutions are provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  Thermodynamics: an engineering approach by Yunus Cengel. Purchase the book! This unit examines a lot of conceptual understandings and you need to be constantly reading the book.

Lecturer(s): Daniel Mitchell

Year & Semester of completion: 2015, Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 70 - D

Comments:  I will be doing a lot of comparison between the aero version of this unit as I failed that unit last year. After switching my degree to mechanical engineering I had to do this unit. The unit is taught  by Meng Woo from the Chemical Engineering department in first semester, who also teaches the aero version. I won't comment on him here but if you ask me you should take this unit in second semester rather than first semester as there is a huge difference between Daniel and Meng. Daniel explains the conceptions very well that thermodynamics has been my favourite unit this semester and I appreciate the physics behind it very well now. The aero version doesn't dive into the heart of thermodynamics which is the second law so that makes the first law useless anyway. And this even makes things worse in the third year as aerodynamics II feels very dry without the complete understanding of the second law.

Lectures

We had a 2 hour and an hour lectures in total. The one hour lecture was in 8:00 AM and there was no recording for it. This was deliberate to encourage the amount of attendance. The 2 hour lecture was more on conceptual understanding and the one hour was on solving questions. The lectures were delivered very well by Daniel. He was so enthusiastic and made sure we understood the topics by interactive learning. These topics include the zeroth, first and second law. There was a heavy emphasis on the second law as this was the foundation of the conceptual part of this unit. Applications of these laws such as gas and vapour-steam engines/cycles were presented too. 

Combustion Lecture

Yes, you've heard it right. Combustion lecture. Get some popcorn and take your seat. This will be fun. In the last lecture of w12, Daniel will demonstrate a series of combustions of various fuels. The most crazy one was the shush bottle where he combusted methanol in a big water battle (19L). Ok no more spoilers. And safety was number one priority here so don't worry.

Tutorials

In these 3 hour tutorials, you'll work on a set of problems. Again, I have to compare this with the aero version. Daniel made sure that everyone actually uses his methodology of solving questions which is tedious but the correct way of solving thermo questions. The aero version was a mess. There was no emphasis on it whatsoever. At the end of the session, you'll get marked on your solutions. These questions get very tedious so you need to start early.

Labs

There were 3 labs in this unit.
1- Refrigeration cycle lab
2- Stirling engine lab
3- Petrol and diesel engine lab

You have 2 days to submit a page of report after completing the lab. It is easily manageable except for the refrigeration cycle lab which was a bit tedious.

Mid Semester Test

This test was held in week 8. It consisted of 3 main questions and its subparts. The last question was on entirely on the second law of thermodynamics. It is essentially free marks if you know your stuff. However, please don't underestimate the second law as it is always counterintuitive at the beginning.

Overall, this unit was fun. I thought thermo was going to be very painful for the second time. With consistent working and reading, this unit is very manageable and fun.

Don't take this unit in first semester



Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billion on November 20, 2015, 12:40:52 am
Subject Code/Name: ECC1000 - Principles of Microeconomics 

Workload:  12x2 hour Lectures, 12x1 hour tutes

Assessment:  10% APLIA weekly tests,  20% Multiple Choice Exam , 10% Tute Participation, 60% exam
Note:  If you score higher on the end of year exam, the mid semester exam score will be redundant. That is, if you score higher on the end of year exam, it is worth 80% of your total mark as opposed to only 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes.

Past exams available: No

Textbook Recommendation:  Principles of Microeconomics 6th Edition.

Lecturer(s): Stephen King (first sem), Philip Grossman (second sem)

Year & Semester of completion: 2015 Semester 1

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: Great subject. Stephen King is such a good lecturer. I've only ever heard good things about him, if you do this unit in semester 1, he's guaranteed to pass you. However his exams are slightly more difficult. I stopped using the prescribed textbook and just used his lecture notes and videos explaining the content on his YouTube channel. He knows his stuff inside and out, and his videos explain the content amazingly well.
My recommended way of learning content would be to watch the relevant YouTube video explaining the content + note taking, attend lecture + note taking, refer to textbook if needed for extra detail or diagrams, do APLIA quiz, repeat.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on November 21, 2015, 11:29:02 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED4190 - Specialty clinical practices

Workload: per week: varies between rotations and sites
- Paediatrics (perspective from MMC and Casey): get there at 8.30am for ward rounds and you can probably leave at around 2pm
- Women's health (perspective from Angliss): depends what you're doing, days can be long (including night shifts for delivering babies!), days can start early (for surgery), days can be short; highly variable
- Psychiatry (perspective from MMC and Kingston): get there at 8.30am for ward rounds and you can probably leave at around 12pm
- General practice: expected to do two full days of GP a week, there is 9-5 teaching two days a week, and one day off

Assessment:
- Paediatrics: tutor assessments (11%), written case report (4.6%), oral case report (4.6%), contemporary issues in health group oral presentation (2.8%), logbook tasks (hurdle)
- Women's health: written case report (4.6%), oral case report (4.6%), observed clinical encounters (2.2% x 5), contemporary issues in health group oral presentation (2.8%), logbook tasks (hurdle)
- Psychiatry: written case report (23%)
- General practice: chronic disease assignment (23%)
- Other: attendance of 80% for all rotations (hurdle), evidence-based clinical practice quizzes (1% x 8 ) and forum posts (hurdle), health services management forum posts (hurdle, semester 1), health economics forum posts (hurdle, semester 2)

Recorded Lectures: No.

Past exams available: N/A, exams fall under MED4200, but I'll be discussing some exam study in this review too

Textbook and Website Recommendation:
Paediatrics:
- Clinical Paediatrics for Post Graduate Examinations 3rd - Stephenson, Thomas and Wallace
- Illustrated Textbook of Paediatrics 4th -  Graham and Lissauer
- Jones' Clinical Paediatric Surgery 7th - Beasley, Hutson, King, O'Brien and Teague
- Toronto Notes 2015 31st - Hall and Premji
- http://www.health.vic.gov.au/neonatalhandbook/conditions/
- http://www.rch.org.au/clinicalguide/
- http://muppits.mumus.org/clinical-cases/
- http://www.health.gov.au/internet/immunise/publishing.nsf/content/handbook10-home
- http://www.asthmaaustralia.org.au/Inhaler_technique_videos_for_HPs.aspx
- http://www.asthmahandbook.org.au/

Women's health:
- Gynaecology by Ten Teachers 19th - Monga
- Lectures in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Women's Health 1st - Kovacs
- Obstetrics by Ten Teachers 19th - Baker and Kenny
- Practice OSCEs in Obstetrics and Gynaecology - McNeilage, Vollenhoven and Weston
- Toronto Notes 2015 31st - Hall and Premji
- https://system.prompt.org.au/login.aspx
- http://geekymedics.com/how-to-read-a-ctg/
- https://www.thewomens.org.au/health-professionals/clinical-resources/clinical-guidelines-gps/
- http://medilinks.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/instruments-used-in-gynecology-and.html
- http://www.menopause.org.au/health-professionals/management

Psychiatry:
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th - American Psychiatric Association
- DSM-5 Guidebook - Black and Grant
- Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry – Behavioral Sciences - Clinical Psychiatry 11th - Ruiz, Sadock and Sadock
- Toronto Notes 2015 31st - Hall and Premji
- https://masteringpsychiatry.wordpress.com/ (there is a textbook in here too which is excellent)
- http://www.trickcyclists.co.uk/
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBF6D1605733BAACB

General practice:
- Clinical Examination A Systematic Guide 7th - O'Connor and Talley
- Clinical Orthopaedic Examination 5th - McRae
- Eye Emergency Manual 1st - NSW Department of Health
- Murtagh's General Practice 5th - Murtagh
- OphthoBook 1st - Root
- The ECG Made Easy 7th - Hampton
- Toronto Notes 2015 31st - Hall and Premji
- http://www.racgp.org.au/your-practice/guidelines/redbook/
- http://www.dermnetnz.org/
- http://elearning.dermcoll.asn.au/login/index.php
- http://lifeinthefastlane.com/ecg-library/
- http://www.ranzco.edu/index.php/ophthalmology-and-eye-health/eye-conditions-information
- http://www.ophthobook.com/ or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSfq-96NwFRpmEZXxI7WIEw
- http://www.racgp.org.au/afp/
- http://copdx.org.au/copd-x-plan/
- http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/palliativecare/health_professionals/symptom_management_guidelines
- http://www.eyeandear.org.au/page/Health_Professionals/Education_and_Training/Lecture_series/

I'd also recommend utilising UpToDate, eTG, and http://radiopaedia.org/ as much as possible.

Lecturer(s): Many, depending on the series of lecture

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 and 2, 2015

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
This is a very challenging year and unit. It is essentially one big unit divided into four topics: paediatrics, women's health (obstetrics and gynaecology), psychiatry, and general practice. I'll keep this general given that every student will have their own unique experience depending on their site, their rotations, their group, and how keen they are to get what they can out of it.

Basically the sites Monash have are (I may be missing some!):
- Central: Alfred (psychiatry), Cabrini (paediatrics), Peninsula (paediatrics, women's health, psychiatry)
- Monash: Monash Medical Center (paediatrics, women's health, psychiatry), Dandenong (paediatrics, women's health,psychiatry), Casey (paediatrics, women's health,psychiatry)
- Eastern: Box Hill (paediatrics, women's health), Maroondah (paediatrics, psychiatry), Angliss (paediatrics, women's health)
- A bunch of rural sites such as Bendigo, Mildura, Bairnsdale, Traralgon, etc
- Hundreds of GPs, although the teaching home base is in Notting Hill

Basically how rotations are allocated is that after giving preferences, the cohort is divided into three groups: metro, rural, Peninsula. Metro students have access to rotations in all metro hospitals other than Peninsula, rural students have access to rotations in the rural hospitals, and Peninsula students are at Peninsula for the year. I was a metro student who had rotations at MMC, Angliss, and Casey. Each site has their ups and downs in terms of a balance between practical skills and teaching and it's probably not up to me to make a comment on this for each site, but I think I was pretty lucky in getting good rotations.

The year is divided into two 18 week semesters, followed by one week SWOTVAC and then 5 exams in 5 days (more on that hell-hole in my MED4200 review!). Each semester you do two rotations, either paediatrics and women's health, or psychiatry and GP, each of 9 weeks duration. Some people may be in multiple hospitals during a rotation (especially psychiatry at MMC, or metro paediatrics), others might be at just the one (more-so in women's health), really depends.

From the outset, I want to make it clear that this unit is bloody hard work and it's really important to study smart and keep on top of your study to make sure you don't fall behind. This sounds obvious, but this unit has a lot of assignments and Moodle tasks, and if you get caught up in them then it's very easy to lose track of your study. Personally, I made notes for my rotation before it started, and then added to them once I was in the rotation. So how my study went:
- Summer holidays: make paediatrics notes, also decided to make notes on ophthalmology, dermatology, and ENT because I knew GP was my last rotation and I wanted to ease off pressure as it was so close to exams
- Paediatrics: refine paediatrics notes, make women's health notes
- Women's health: refine women's health notes, make psychiatry notes
- Mid-year holiday: refine all notes thus far and start to revise third year material for MED4200
- Psychiatry: refine psychiatry notes, make general practice notes, continue revising third year material
- General practice: refine general practice notes, revise all notes from this and last year
- SWOTVAC: cram everything like there's no tomorrow, maybe consider revising clinically-relevant things year 1 and 2 if you have time for MED4200

To aid with the study, the Faculty provides you with a matrix, similar to the one in third year except about double in size. However, as I'll touch on later, I think that's the bare minimum to know. To enhance your knowledge, I'd strongly recommend a purchase of some sort of online MCQ/EMQ question bank. Some of the ones I have used over the years include:
- http://my.onexamination.com/Login.aspx (probably the best one)
- https://www.pastest.co.uk/product/medical-student-online?rbc=true&pnpid=915
- http://www.passmedicine.com/index.php

Here are some properties from my combined years 3 and 4 notes, the study is very much real this year:
(http://i67.tinypic.com/2rd8bvb.png)

As aforementioned, this unit has a few Moodle quizzes, these are evidence-based clinical practice quizzes and forum posts, health services management forum posts (semester 1), and health economics forum posts (semester 2). These are terrible, absolute pain in the asses to do every week. Definitely the bane of fourth year. However, as boring and tedious as these tasks are, they're hurdles and people have failed the whole year because of missing even a single quiz. Quick run-down of them:
- Evidence-based clinical practice: consists of four three-week blocks per semester. Each block consists of doing some readings (don't bother) and a video lecture (I'd recommend watching these, actually useful), answering a question in a Moodle forum about said readings (tactically pick a question that isn't about the readings, or one that is otherwise straightforward), and doing a quiz (usually about 10 questions).
- Health services management: even after making weekly Moodle posts about this, I still don't know what it is or why we did it. Basically there is a weekly topic, and you're supposed to ask a senior clinician for their thoughts and then write a Moodle forum post summarising their thoughts and your own. As for how many people ever asked a clinician, I'd say <5%. Pointless waste of an hour a week imo.
- Health economics: this was a little better than health services management, although more tedious. Basically there are weekly readings about some economic issue in health that you have to make a Moodle forum post about. Some were interesting, others very dry. Not my cup of tea.

Now I'll go through the different rotations in the order I had them, and share my experiences, give some advice, and give you a taste of fourth year med :P

Paediatrics
If you like kids, this rotation can be really fun; if you don't, too bad :P I enjoyed this rotation, spending four weeks of it at Casey and the other four at MMC. I had subrotations in general paediatrics, neonatology (ie. special care unit), rheumatology, nephrology, adolescent medicine, and emergency medicine.

The other week of this rotation, the first week, is a week of 9-5 lectures at MMC. This can be VERY overwhelming if you're not prepared, which is why I recommend pre-reading for your rotations so you can make the most out of them, especially because the quality of the lectures was very high and it'd be a shame to miss that opportunity. Furthermore, paediatrics is a rotation that has a LOT of content; it's essentially third year condensed (get it? because kids are smaller than adults hahahaha) into 9 weeks. The Faculty provides a list of conditions to know, but I honestly feel that you need to know much more than that unfortunately. The best way to fill in gaps in your knowledge is to do questions, there shouldn't ever be a case where you don't know anything about an option in an MCQ/EMQ. 

In terms of other teaching, there are biweekly tutes, one discussing content and the other a bedside tutorial (of the same vein as third year bedside tutorials). These are run by senior paediatricians and are a bit of a mixed bag depending on who you get. I was extremely fortunate to have four weeks of tutes with Dr Hinds, who is a bit of a celebrity among us medical medical students, and I found them to be very useful.

Other than the intense workload of study, this rotation also has a few assignments:
- Oral case report: fairly straightforward, the more interesting the better
- Written case report: fairly straightforward, the more interesting the better
- Contemporary issues in health group oral presentation: this is an absolute pain. You don't choose your group and hence this can cause a few issues if you're with people who aren't keen to do well (I may or may not have had this issue...). This is essentially a presentation based on a topic, eg. childhood obesity, that you deliver to all the metro students in paediatrics and women's health. Hence, you either do this assignment during paediatrics or women's health, and the mark is used for both.

Now, moving on from study and assessment and onto my experiences. This was a really cool rotation if you're keen to stay late and get involved!
- Casey: spent a lot of time in general paediatrics, neonatology, and the emergency medicine. General paediatrics was a little dull, lots of common conditions such as bronchiolitis, exacerbations of asthma, urinary tract infections, etc. Neonatology was awesome! It was pretty much my first experience with babies and I guess what I got out of this was that "babies are saaahhhhhhh cute!" Most of the babies were fairly healthy, a few had sepsis and jaundice for investigation, but it was a great experience. Emergency medicine wasn't really supposed to be a rotation for us, but I was keen and decided to do some after-hours stuff with the registrar a few times, very rewarding experience! You get the chance to clerk kids, diagnose them, and recommend some investigations to the registrar. I'd highly recommend going out of your way to do more stuff if you're keen on it, there are heaps of opportunities.
- MMC: subrotations in rheumatology and nephrology, adolescent medicine, and emergency medicine. Rheumatology and nephrology had a reputation for not having many patients and hence having the med student leave at about 10am, however I was there on a pretty busy week. Saw cases of glomerulonephritis needing renal transplant, congenital nephrotic syndrome, acute rheumatic fever, hypermobility syndrome, pyelonephritis, etc. The team was also fantastic and I had a great time. Adolescent medicine, on the other hand, wasn't so great. Essentially the patients here have eating disorders, and whilst it was great to get exposure to these patients, there wasn't much I could contribute to what was going on; the team was nice though. The best thing about paediatrics at MMC is the emergency medicine week. Here, you pick 4-hour shifts and then pretty much work as a paediatric resident! Amazing opportunity to take histories, perform physical examinations, make diagnoses, and initiate management and treatment with the guidance of a senior physician. Saw a variety of cases, and as with Casey, I went out of my way to go on weekends and after 12am, had an absolute ball!

To guide your clinical experiences, there is also a hurdle logbook. However this is only one page in length and most of it can easily be done during the emergency medicine subrotation. Not really a stress.

Overall, paediatrics was very good! Probably not as good as some of my rotations last year, but still very interesting and exciting. And babies, so darn cute!

Women's health
I was expecting to hate this rotation, but I was blown away by how interesting it was! There are really two parts to women's health: obstetrics and gynaecology. The former deals with pregnancies, births, and the postpartum period; whilst the latter deals with non-baby related conditions (endometriosis, fibroids, cancers, etc.). I got pretty good exposure to both, and similarly with paediatrics, the more time you put in to this rotation, the more you can get out of it. This rotation had a similarly bulky week of lectures to start it off, and again I can't emphasise enough how important it is to not get lost during this valuable teaching period.

Being in a small outer-suburban hospital at Angliss, I got to know all the consultants and registrars quite well, which made the atmosphere a really friendly one. The teaching, which consisted of tutes and clinics, was excellent. They were very informal and we could discuss everything and anything, which was great for focusing on tougher areas of the course and having a bit of fun at the same time.

Unlike my surgical experiences in third year, I enjoyed surgery in this rotation! There weren't many different types of procedures and there was plenty of opportunity to get involved in assisting in both gynaecological surgery and in Caesarean sections. Speaking (or writing) of which, this rotation presented a unique privilege: being present at births. Surprisingly, having a baby seems nothing like it's made out to be in movies, labour can last hours (or even days!) and honestly I don't see how men can complain about ever being in pain haha. It was amazing to see births and even deliver a baby, a room full of anxiousness and worry becomes one of complete elation, it's almost magical to witness. I was fortunate to see normal vaginal births, forceps assisted, and ventouse assisted; would highly recommend trying seeing all three as it really ties a knot in the theory. The best way to achieve this is to be nice to the midwives, as they pretty much control the show!

One of the best parts of this rotation is "mentor week". During this week we stray from Angliss and join a private obstetrician and gynaecologist in their rooms for a week. I had the privilege of joining a doctor at a private hospital who did a lot of work with IVF, and had a fantastic time learning about it and assisting in his surgeries. It was very eye-opening to see how private practice work and we had a lot of interesting conversations about medicine and life. He's probably the reason I'm choosing to do an Honours degree next year (if I pass!). I kinda wish we were allowed to do a "mentor week" for every rotation for years 3 and 4.

In terms of assessment, it's very similar to paediatrics with the written and oral case reports. The addition are the observed clinical encounters. These are very similar to the MCRs of third year, except with an obstetric and gynaecology focus. The "encounters" are an antenatal check, postnatal check, bimanual vaginal examination, speculum, and Pap smear. These were sometimes stressful to get done, but otherwise all part of good learning.

The big downsides to this rotation were the logbook and the attendance requirements. The logbook is a little insane and a big stressor, there are a lot of components to it and there can be a lot of luck in terms of getting things done. For example, during my night shifts on the birth suites, I had 5 consecutive days without any births, which was apparently a record according to a senior midwife there haha. As for attendance, you had to record morning and afternoon attendance every day. This was a little ridiculous because sometimes there was just nothing happening and you had to stay around to get a signature, bit of a waste of time.

Overall, a good rotation, much to my surprise! Being in a small hospital was a good thing for this rotation, we got to know everyone well and it was a really good environment.

Psychiatry
Probably my least favourite rotation of the year, but probably the one that I felt I most needed to have. Mental illness is something of a "hidden" burden in our society, it's an umbrella for multiple conditions that effect more people than we can imagine, and it was a very valuable and enlightening experience to see it at its extremes.

My rotation was divided into three subrotations: acute ward, aged care, and adolescent medicine, although other people had different rotations.
-  Acute ward: this is eye-opening. The patients here are acutely unwell with a variety of psychiatric illnesses such as major depressive disorder with suicidal features, acute mania as part of bipolar I disorder, psychosis as part of schizophrenia, etc. It's a confronting place to be and I honestly couldn't wish admission there to my worst enemy. There are times where you feel a little unsafe (even not in the seclusion areas, although luckily police were nearby) and times where you feel out of your depth, I was told that was to be expected and was normal. It was a good learning experience to see how psychiatrists managed patients who were acutely suicidal or manic (or whatever else), as it's something that is incredibly difficult to do. Unlike most areas in medicine, many patients in psychiatry here don't want to take their medications because they don't know that they're not well, this poses a unique challenge and it was fascinating to see how they dealt with this problem (with a variety of outcomes haha). Another issue worth mentioning here is drugs. The ward was infested with amphetamines, and it was startling to find out how they got there. For example, smuggling drugs inside of McDonalds burgers!?! The problem with drugs was very evident, with many patients suffering from addiction. This is a real issue as it prevents them from recovering from their mental illness and in fact makes things worse, which is a terrible vicious circle to get trapped into.
- Aged care: this is pretty much acute medicine but for the elderly. Given the demographics, there was less mania and more dementia-ish presentations mixed in with some depression and psychosis. I was really lucky during my rotation here because the registrar transitioned to becoming a consultant, so because we were already friendly beforehand nothing changed when she became the boss! We were able to get a bit more involved with the team here, able to talk to more patients (and by ourselves, something they don't let you do for safety reasons on the acute ward) and join them for walks and stuff. Had opportunities to see electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) here, which busted all the myths I had heard about it; it's actually a very safe method of treatment with a lot of evidence of efficacy. Overall, not as confronting, but it was valuable to experience some issues the elderly face and how to overcome or prevent them.
- Adolescent medicine: covered older people, younger adults, and now kids. These patients had similar issues to those I saw on adolescent medicine in paediatrics, except they were medically stable. Conditions encountered include borderline personality disorder, major depressive disorder, drug-induced psychosis, and various eating disorders. The frustrating thing about this part of the rotation was interacting with the patients was difficult for a bunch of legal reasons, which was completely fair enough and understandable, but puzzling as to why they sent us down there for three weeks if we weren't going to do anything. In the end we found that the best way to interact with them was by playing table tennis with them and getting to know them that way, which kinda worked out. Something important to mention in this subrotation was how eye-opening and shocking some of the stories these children had. It's absolutely horrible what some of them had been through, and there were definitely days when you left hospital feeling pretty down just from hearing about what they had to endure.

I guess the one thing I really didn't like about psychiatry, other than the limited patient interaction, was just how under-resourced it is. Despite all these feel-good R U OK? days and whatnot (which in all honesty, I feel don't help that much), there isn't enough funding for research into new drugs and we're still using medications that were made too many year ago. Furthermore, despite having acute wards, many of these patients don't get better, which is a really sad thing.

In terms of teaching, this unit was focused around intermittent lectures spaced throughout the rotation and tutes which ended up being discussions on whatever came to mind. There was little structure, but I thought that worked pretty well. Our supervising doctor was pretty amazing and had a lot of fascinating insights into the world of psychiatry.

The assessment in psychiatry is daunting, it's a massive 5000 word case report. This is a mammoth compared to the 1500 word case reports in paediatrics and women's health. It's stressful finding suitable patients and then even more stressful trying to interview them. Took me a good week to get it done (with trademark procrastination), but I'd advise people to try and get it done as early as possible in the rotation. Get it out of the way!

Overall, my least enjoyable rotation, but as mentioned, the one I needed to have. Not just as a medical student, but as a human being. Very important knowledge gained from this experience.

General practice
Honestly a great way to end the year, my favourite rotation! General practice was awesome to have at the end of the year because I was theoretically at the peak of my knowledge and could apply it to the wider community haha!

This rotation was the best for a number of reasons:
1. It was very well organised. Everything was perfected.
2. The teaching was outstanding. Teaching throughout the year was very good, but in this rotation it was just better.
3. The days at GP were fantastic.

Touching upon the teaching in a bit more detail. The rotation was divided into 9 topics (eg. emergenices, palliative care, ophthlmology, dermatology, etc.), each a week in length. The tutes were run by senior GPs and were very good, a mixture of case studies and mock patient interactions. The best tutes were in the week based upon emergency medicine, whereby we had an interaction with a mock patient (an actor) in our own room and our tute group watched us live via a video stream. It was fascinating to see how we each handled the pressure! Lectures were also very thorough, delivered by either GPs or specialists (eg. ophthalmologists, dermatologists). Lectures in this rotation were held Monday and Wednesday mornings, with tutes based on them in the afternoon. Hectic full days, but well worth it.

I'd strongly recommend attending the John Colvin Lecture Series as an adjunct to the teaching here. These are held at the start of the year at the Royal Eye and Ear Hospital in the city and are run by ophthalmologists on Saturday mornings. Fantastic teaching and all the students there are clearly keen to learn. A very good learning environment if you can be bothered going. More information here or here. There are also dermatology and ENT lectures (Brian Pyman Otolaryngology and The Victorian Faculty of Australasian College of Dermatologists Lecture Series) held on later Saturdays, but I unfortunately couldn't go to them.

On Tuesday and Friday I had my GP placements. Similar to mentor week of women's health, you're with a GP in their private rooms and seeing patients. I had a great time! One of my GPs allowed me to have my own room for parallel consulting, which was an invaluable experience. The only issue I found with this is that because I was so close to exams and in a rotation with a couple of public holidays (a holiday for an AFL match? I mean, really?), it was stressful trying to do the required 108 hours of clinic time, but I managed it in the end. The best thing about clinic is the opportunity to weave all your knowledge together, and it's rewarding when you realise how far you've come and have learnt.

In terms of assessment in this rotation, there was yet another case report. Here you choose a patient, interview them a few times and then write up ANOTHER 5000 words. Because this was my last rotation, I tried to get this done as soon as possible, just so I could focus on the study. Frustrating assignment, but my patient was lovely and she had a very interesting story to tell, so it was ok haha.

Overall, another great rotation! Felt like everything "came together" as I applied my knowledge and skills from my last 4 years, something which I enjoyed doing :)

Overall impression
Fantastic year, so many amazing memories and so much knowledge acquired. I think the year would be better if there were less assignments given the exams at the end of the year (more on that in my MED4200 review), but still a really fun year.

As with previous years, there are still med soc events, med ball this year happened to be on my birthday so that got a bit rowdy ;) Just got back from of our end of year celebration, which was another memorable night. Plenty of other social events on the calendar too, but not as many as in previous years due to study load. Important to have a balance though, as some people in my year kinda lost themselves with so much going on, and I think it's really important to remember why you're doing medicine because although the light at the end of the med school tunnel is so close, it can sometimes feel very far away.

Feel free to ask me any questions!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on November 22, 2015, 12:20:26 am
Subject Code/Name: MED4200 - Integrated clinical studies

Workload: varies as it depends on how much you want to study, I'd recommend at least 3 hours a night. This unit consists of a four examinations and occurs throughout the year. There are revision lectures run fortnightly by MUMUS.

Assessment: OSCEs (40%), written examinations (40%), written VIA (20%)

Recorded Lectures: MUMUS lectures are recorded with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes, 7 papers were released by the Faculty, although the Faculty still maintains threats to expel students from the course if they are caught compiling past questions or distributing or using unofficial past compilations. All past compilations have been removed from the MUMUS site. Many EMQ/MCQ books can adjunct exam preparation.

Textbook Recommendation: as with my previous reviews of units thus far in the degree. You'll need to combine your resources from those years and pick and choose what you need most, ideally you'll have noted from which you can study from instead.

Lecturer(s): Many, depending on the series of lecture

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 and 2, 2015

Rating: 2/5

Comments:
This unit is an absolute nightmare. It creeps up on you and is not much fun. Basically this unit consists of four exams, one OSCE which is held over two days, one written exam on paediatrics and women's health, one written exam on psychiatry and general practice, and one mammoth exam that can assess anything you learnt over the least four years (the dreaded VIA...). These exams are worth about 30% of the degree, with the VIA weighing in at 20% (more on this in a review on MED4000 where it will make more sense), and happen on consecutive days in the fabled and brutal "week of hell".

The key to this unit is preparation, you NEED to be well prepared in advance. If you're the type of person who's left things until SWOTVAC until now, that will not work given the SWOTVAC is only 1 week and the rotations may be working you hard until the last Friday of semester. Hence, you need to be studying consistently throughout the year.

How I went about things was detailed in my MED4190 review, so I'm not going to bother repeating things, but in terms of prioritising study, I think the following are useful tips:
- Year 4 is the most important year to study, then Year 3, then pre-clinical years; the VIA is 80% Years 3 and 4, so that's where the money is at
- Try and cover a year 3 topic every week, eg. cardiology; you should have enough time to cover each topic twice before directing focus to the big topics of cardiology, respiratory medicine, gastroenterology, and endocrinology towards the end of the year
- If you're going to study pre-clinical content, keep it to epidemiology and clinically relevant anatomy, those are important topics
- Make notes, you won't remember things and notes can help to jog your memory, use your bag of studying tricks for this one
- Don't neglect ECGs and radiology
- Make sure you practice OSCEs with mates, make lists about likely conditions to come up and practice to time!
- If you are feeling stressed and feel like you need a break, please take one; your mental health is the most important thing this year and you need to be at your best to survive the "week of hell"

Unfortunately I can't give specific details on the exams due to Faculty rulings, so that's basically it. I've mentioned how I went about my units that make up these exams in previous reviews, so anyone wanting to know more about it should peruse those. To anyone who has to do this unit, I wish you the best of luck, it's probably the toughest unit Monash offers to anyone from any degree. So very glad it is over :P
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on November 22, 2015, 12:28:23 am
Subject Code/Name: MED4000 - Year 3B and 4C final grade

Workload: N/A, this unit is essentially a grade for Years 3 and 4.

Assessment:
- MED3051 (6.125%)
- MED3062 (6.125%)
- MED3200 (22.75%)
- MED4190 (10.0%)
- VIA Exam (30.0%)
- MED4200 (OSCE & EMQ component, excluding VIA) (25.0%)

Recorded Lectures: N/A

Past exams available: N/A

Textbook Recommendation: N/A

Lecturer(s): N/A

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 and 2, 2014-15

Rating: 3/5

Comments:
Not sure how to feel about this unit given I didn't know about it until very recently haha. It's similar to MED2000, in that it's just a grade for your efforts in the last 2 years. As you can see, the VIA is given a huge weighting, and the internal assessment is not worth that much. Hence, my final recommendation from my three fourth year reviews, is to prioritise your study over the assignments. The study is worth wayyyy more and it's important to realise that. Sure, the assignments of MED4190 are important, but in the grand scheme of things, they're not that important. Study smart and hard ;)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rohmer on November 22, 2015, 10:11:27 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW4538 - Lawyers, Literature & Cinema

Workload:  3hrs of lectures per week

Assessment:  2 x 1000 word Reflective Essays (20% each); 3000 word Research Essay (60%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  N/A, no exam for the unit

Textbook Recommendation:  There's a reader full of extracts. Useful to buy to at least do the readings for your assignment topics, although you could save yourself the money by accessing the journals online & going to the library for the books, of course.

Lecturer(s): Eric Wilson

Year & Semester of completion: S2 2015

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:

Pretty much my favourite ever law school unit, even though it's really more of an Arts unit... which probably says something about my degree choice, but anyway:

As the name suggests, this subject is all about representations of law and lawyers in film and literature. It’s kinda part film theory, part legal philosophy, and part sociology and other cultural studies etc. The overall name is I think ‘critical legal theory’, and apparently any decent US law school has such a course(s), although they are a bit less common in Australia. I can send the Unit Guide/Reading Guide/Course materials to anyone interested, but for a quick summary of the texts used anyway: Lord of the flies, Deliverance, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, High Noon, Yojimbo, Rashomon, Twelve Angry Men, The Thin Blue Line, The Verdict, Presumed Innocent, Cape Fear (original & remake), Sophie Scholl: The Final Days, M, The Trial, The Stranger, The Fall, In Cold Blood.

Many of these are both films and novels, which is one of the reasons for their selection (watching a movie obviously being easier than reading a book or two every week). All in all I think the choices are pretty good, the only real problem was that it was very difficult to fit them all into twelve weeks, and as a result Presumed Innocent and some of Cape Fear got skipped over in the lectures. The classes themselves were very interesting though, in terms of both style and substance. In terms of the former, I would highly recommend attending or listening to one Eric Wilson class (I think he also took Torts this sem - I wish I’d been in that class instead of having done it a few years back…he also used to take the now-defunct 1st year subject ‘RAW’, and regularly refers back to such times as his years in purgatory). He does go on a lot of tangents, everything from what really happened during the OJ Simpson trial, to the true meaning of Halloween, to the actual meaning of Rashomon - and that’s probably why we skipped over Presumed Innocent, but it was worth it. The lecturers in the law faculty are generally very good, although sometimes it’s just black letter law, presented without much in the way of opinion or conviction or humour, and this is a definite change from that…Wilson is definitely a character (apparently the law library has previously complained about his noisy lectures emanating from the law basement) .

He’s one of those lecturers that doesn’t have any slides and works off a word document, although in a class where there’s no exam that’s not going to be an issue anyway. Each topic has one of these documents with notes integrating excerpts from the books/films and other sources, such as critics/film theorists, philosophers, academics in various disciplines (Rene Girard’s theory of sacrifice is used a lot; Deleuze & Guattari also get a fair workout). By themselves they are a bit disjointed, although in the lectures things become clearer…it’d probably also have helped if I regularly did the readings. The documents are all available at Week One, so you know well in advance what the content is going to be.

They also contain the questions for each week for the two reflective essays. Each week (e.g. Week 3 was the two Westerns, Week 12 was In Cold Blood…) has the essay question at the end of the document. Some are quite brief & general (‘we hate lawyers but we love stories about them’) while others are about responding to some specific contention about texts or parts of them. You can pick any two questions from the twelve weeks; the first essay was due week five, the second in week nine. This obviously means that some topics will not have been covered in class when you write about them. I think people generally gravitated towards the ones that had been covered, although some people didn’t and did very well. It’s not really that much of an advantage doing the ones that have been covered, as obviously everyone else who does that topic also has the benefit of the lectures anyway. In general I don’t think the reflective essays are too much work, as they do not require any outside research and are meant to be written purely from your reflection on the readings, texts and lectures. Then again, they will require a fair bit of thinking, and I think it can be a bit hard to tell how you’re going when you’re not doing any external research c.f. most other uni assignments.

With the three thousand word essay (was due week 12, no exam - yay), on the other hand, it’s much more about research, and you pretty much have free reign as to topic. You can simply do an expanded or modified version of one of the reflective essay questions, or you can come up with your own thing, e.g. applying some theories from the course to a novel you happen to like, or comparing some films on the reading list with others that you know in terms of their ‘law and/as literature’ value. Topics have to be approved, but I think they generally are so long as they relate to the course in some way.

Anyway, overall I would highly recommend this unit. I think it’s good to use an elective or two on some of the broader law subjects that aren’t confined to black letter law, but look beyond it (and sometimes really criticise it), and LLaC does that very well.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: BigAl on December 07, 2015, 05:34:41 pm
Subject Code/Name: MEC2407 - Electromechanics

Workload:  1x3 Lectures, 7 Tutorials and 3 Computer Labs

Assessment: 
Exam - 80%
2 Class Tests - 8% in total
3 Computer labs - 5% in total
7 tutorials 7% in total
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, recorded lectures are available.

Past exams available:  Plenty of past exams are available and no solutions are provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  You don't need a textbook. Everything is covered in lectures.

Lecturer(s): Tuck Ng

Year & Semester of completion: 2015, Semester 2

Rating: 3.8 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 68 - C

Comments:  This unit is actually fun although many of my friends didn't like it. Firstly, it covers basic electrical circuit analysis including AC theory and Thevenin circuits. I believe this stuff was already taught in first year but our faculty replaced that unit. Then the unit introduces  Laplace transformations. There is always one question in the exam that combines circuit analysis and laplace transformations so you must be very confident with them if you want to get a good grade. The actual fun part comes in week 6-7 where you look at analogue sensors such as strain gauge, thermostat, accelerometer,relays and linear variable transformer. I had so much fun with these and built a temperature sensor by myself using arduino. Finally, you'll see type of motors and their uses. See the chapter list below

1- Basic Circuits, Kirchhoff's Laws, AC Circuits and Impedance Matching
2- Laplace Transformations
3- Op Amps
4- Transfer Functions, Frequency Response, RC and RLC circuits
5- Electrical - Mechanical analogues 
6 - Sensors
7 - Motors

Lectures

Tuck uses overhead projector as well as powerpoint. His working or scribbling as he calls it is very messy. You must go to lectures in order to follow his lectures. He also shows as many as 40 videos about sensors so you'll be actually missing out on the fun part if you don't go to lectures.

 



Tutorials

In these 3 hour tutorials, you'll work on a problem. Yes, a problem. You spent the entire 3 hours doing just one problem with 2-3 sub parts. Although there are tute questions on moodle, you'll find out which problem you should solve in the tutes. So it's a bit like quiz conditions except you can get some help. At the end of these sessions, you submit your solution and get marked by next week.

Computer Labs

There was 3 computer labs using Matlab. You have 2 helpful demonstrators.
1 - Circuit analysis:
In this lab you analyse a circuit using matlab. All the equations are given you just need to analyse the circuit and plot a diagram. You have 2 weeks. It's manageable.

2 - Optic Sensor
In this lab, you'll be using one of the functions of matlab which provides the pixel location of a mouse cursor. Using this you will transfer physical motion into virtual motion. It was so much fun again.

3 - Encoder
You'll write a code to analyse the motion of a motor through encoder. This lab was tedious and most of my friends didn't finish it.
Class tests

These ones were my favourite. I've never seen such a thing before. Get your paper out and follow the questions on the powerpoint. You have 40 seconds until the next question.

Overall, this is a nice good unit with a nice touch to mechatronics.


Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rectophobia on December 19, 2015, 05:35:05 pm
Subject Code/Name: ENG2092 - Advanced Engineering Mathematics B

Workload:  3x 1 hour lectures, 1x 2 hour tute per week

Assessment:
-5x 1% fortnightly tests (held during each second tute)
-5x 5% fortnightly assignments (handed in each second tute)
-1x 3 hour 70% exam
*Note that the weeks in which tests are held and assignments are due alternate

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  2 full exams. 1 with answers.
 
Textbook Recommendation: 
-E. Kreysig, Advanced Engineering Mathematics (9th edition).
-G. James, Advanced Modern Engineering Mathematics (4th edition).

Neither of these textbooks are needed to get a good mark as the tute sheets are more than sufficient, but definitely worth looking into if you feel like you need a greater understanding of the material/need some more practice (I would recommend Kreysig over James). I would also recommend buying the STA1010 lecture notes as the stats sub-unit is completely covered in it.

Lecturer(s):
- John Head (Complex analysis)
- Jennifer Flegg (Integral transforms)
- Jonathan Keith (Statistics)

Year & Semester of completion: 2015 semester 2.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments:
Overall I enjoyed this unit. It was an engineering unit so there is an emphasis on application, however there still remains a decent amount of rigorous proof (specifically in the complex analysis section). I found this unit fairly easy in comparison to the other units I took this semester (PHS2022, ECE2072 and MTH2032) and I feel that is in no small part due to the amount of tute/textbook/exam-like questions I completed.

Complex Analysis:

The first 4 weeks consist of John Head's Complex analysis section. By far, this was the most well taught of the 3 sub-units. John goes into great detail about the proofs behind each statement he makes and goes through very helpful example questions. His written notes are also very useful and come with corresponding typed notes.

Week 1:

You first go through a basic introduction into complex numbers and functions, then learn about the mathematical definition of analyticity, continuity and limits (and you thought you were done with epsilon-delta proofs after MTH2010). You then build on this knowledge with methods of determining the analyticity of complex functions through the use of the Cauchy-Reinmann equations. 

Week 2:

This is where the real maths begins. Firstly you learn about elementary complex functions. although it may seem easy, questions relating to this section are often approached in unintuitive ways (i.e. finding the value of i^i by using polar form). While these questions aren't difficult in their complexity, their approach may be difficult to see during an exam situation so it is best to familiarise yourself with them in the off chance they show up on an exam. You then move onto Contour (Line) integrals and their properties. If you've done MTH2010, then you know that these bastards can be annoying to calculate (especially when you have shitty boundaries or an ugly complex field to integrate over. Either way, practice makes perfect with these types of questions. Do all the tute questions relating to these and you'll be fine. You then learn about Cauchy's Integral Theorem (If you are integrating over a closed loop and there is no singularity within the region bounded by the loop then the result is 0) and Green's theorem (although this was taught, I don't believe it is assessed).

Weeks 3 & 4:

Weeks 3 and 4 consist of the vast majority of material assessed in the final exam (Complex analysis section). There is usually about 40-50 marks or so in the complex analysis section and about 30-40 or so of it consists of this material. You first learn of Cauchy's integral formula (used when there is 1 or more singularity within your closed loop (only simple poles are applicable here)). You then build on the first year maths you've done with some work on series (notably Power, Taylor and Laurent Series) that will be used for week 4. In week 4 you continue your work on series as you build towards the Residue theorem. This is used when you have non-simple singularities within your bounded loop (i.e. integrating e^(1/z) around the circular loop of radius 1 about the origin. e^(1/z) has what is known as an essential pole at the origin and you need both the Laurent series and Residue theorem to find this integral).

With the assignments relating to this material, I must stress the need for meticulous working and explanations. The tutors have been known to take off up to half of the marks based solely on explanations alone (even with correct answers). You need to show every step, no matter how little it contributes to the final answer. I managed to average 95% on these assignments and I can tell you that even though I felt as though the assignments could be completed in less than 3-4 pages, I would often write in excess of 8 pages just to make sure there were as few places as possible for marks to be taken off (i.e. rigorous explanations and detailed diagrams). There is a detailed document on the Moodle page named "Guidelines for writing in mathematics" and I implore you to check it out.

Integral Transforms:

I won't go into as much detail in the next two sub-units as I didn't pay as nearly as much attention to them as I did with complex analysis.

Weeks 5-8 consist of Jennifer Flegg's Integral Transforms section. Other than the application to ODE's, I wasn't a big fan of this sub-unit. The lecture notes are pre-typed which I didn't like very much (I tend to take notes during the lecture rather than at home, so it helps when a lecturer writes at the same pace as me) and I felt as though there wasn't a great deal of proof relating to the material (other than proving the transforms themselves). A lot of it we were forced to take for granted.

You start off with Laplace transforms, in which you are transforming between a t domain to an s domain via a relatively simple integral (Worst case scenario you'll have to use integration by parts in order to prove these transforms). The most interesting part of this section is the application of Laplace transforms to ODE's. Given initial conditions, you can transform a linear ODE into the s domain, then after some simple algebraic manipulation you can use then inverse Laplace transform to get a function that solves the ODE (Hope you like Partial Fractions). You then move onto more abstract applications such as convolution in which a relatively annoying integral turns into the multiplication of functions.

You then move onto Complex Fourier series and transforms. Questions relating to this section are relatively straightforward, but silly mistakes can cost you dearly. I recommend that you practice the hell out of questions relating to Integral transforms as many of the questions rely on your ability to recognise a transform or property. Although you are given a complete list of transforms and properties, recognising them is an entirely different issue that is best honed by doing practice questions (the tute sheets are a good source for these).

Statistics:

Weeks 9-12 consist of Jonathan Keith's Statistics sub-unit. I felt that by far, this was both the easiest and worst taught section. The lectures were pretty bad and were essentially just the STA1010 lecture notes covered in bad hand writing (sorry Jonathan but it's true). Apart from the inference section, the rest of the material is built upon Maths Methods and Further Maths. You learn about box plots, averages and calculating Standard Deviations and Variances. Then work with different probability distributions (Normal, Binomial and Poisson), confidence intervals and finally inference (which is essentially just a contextualisation of confidence intervals). I urge you to look at a review for STA1010 for more info (just exclude the experimental design, conditional probability calculation and the stuff at the end like ANOVA/Chi-squared test).

Overall this is an easy unit if you do your homework. A couple of hours a week doing questions and looking through the notes should be fine for revision. The exam is relatively easy too. They tend to throw you a couple of curve balls here and there, but 80% of the exam is just applying your knowledge in a familiar way and 20% is just extended versions of it.         
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rohmer on December 19, 2015, 10:32:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW4340 - Sport and the Law

Workload:  3 hours lectures p/w

Assessment:  10% Quizzes; 30% Research Essay; 10% Oral Presentation; 50% Exam.

Recorded Lectures:  No

Past exams available:  No, but this was the first time the subject was being run. There were however some practice exam-format questions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Sports Law 2ed 2013 by Thorpe et al. Okay textbook overall - easy to read, but not that precise. Average in terms of case extracts. I think you could get by without reference to it that much, given the comprehensiveness of the slides, although you would probably want to refer to it occasionally.

Lecturer(s): Eric Windholz

Year & Semester of completion: S2 2015

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:

This unit was running for the first time this year, and I think it was a pretty good elective on the whole. At some universities it may simply be called 'Sports Law', although there is no real consensus on whether it is actually a distinct area of law, hence the name. It's an interesting policy debate in itself. On the one hand, there are frequently sporting exceptions in any number of areas of law (e.g. criminal law, tort law, competition law), plus specialised arbiters/tribunal bodies, and different evidentiary standards ('comfortable satisfaction'). On the other hand, the legal issues here mostly follow other areas of law, such as those mentioned above.

Because of this, the first assessments here are quizzes refreshing your memory of the four pre-requisites (contract, torts, crim, admin) which total 10% (4 x 2.5%). They are online, multiple choice, five questions per quiz - they run when their topics arise, mostly in the first half of semester. I think it was half an hour to finish the quiz, and really, the questions weren't too bad. The first thing you'll think looking at them is 'Oh crap, I can't remember any of this', but once you have a read over your notes, you usually have a good idea of what the answer is. It shouldn't be too hard to score a D/HD on this small area of the assessment.

The research essay: You get to pick your own area, but it has to be approved. It's a mandatory assessment - although I note here that the assessments may have changed in some regards by the time this unit runs again in 2016, esp. as this was a first time unit. Anyway, the assignment could be done in groups or individually. There were definitely more individuals than groups, but on average groups apparently do slightly better. It's a pick-your-own-group thing, which reduces some potential difficulties that can occur with group work, although you do have to fill out a little reflection (max 300 words) on how you functioned as a team, which I think counts for like 3 marks out of 30.

In terms of topics, there was a lot of variation. There were the more obvious ones (e.g. the whole ASADA thing, FIFA corruption), and an array of others - behavioural covenants in sporting contracts, regulating advertising in sports broadcasts, restraint of trade & the free agency framework, E-Sports & doping authorities... etc. This sort of assignment does require a fair bit of research and analysis, especially if you pick something which is mostly outside of the course content, although many people did do that. The advantage is that you can explore whatever area you like, so long as there is some sort of legal/regulatory issue at play that somehow pertains to sport, which can be framed to be properly answered in 2000 words. In weeks 10-11 there's then oral presentations on the research essay topics, worth 10% - 5 minutes for individuals, 10 for groups. You basically just outline the issue and explain some key/interesting areas of it. These were generally very interesting and done to a fairly high standard.

Exam: The exam covers pretty much everything, although this semester we didn't get around to covering the Sports Marketing topic as there wasn't enough time. Two and a half hours, open book, this time it was 2 problem questions (20 marks, 15 marks) and a policy question (15 marks, from which you could choose from 3 topics) = total of 50 marks. It wasn't too hard as an exam, although it raised a lot of issues - this is the kind of exam where you have a lot of issues packed into a question, but the issues themselves aren't too deep/complex. Policy questions weren't released/narrowed down beforehand, although they were I think pretty fair, and not far from what you'd predict based on the lectures.

Besides not getting to cover Sports Marketing, which I think would've been an interesting topic, I don't have many complaints about the unit. The lectures weren't recorded, but the classes themselves were interesting & had engaging discussion, and you could nevertheless get pretty much all you needed from the book + slides if you couldn't attend. The only other thing is that there's quite a bit of rehashing of core units involved in some topics - e.g. (Sporting Injuries, Sporting Contracts, Sporting Violence). That said, there's definitely new material involved (and the content in other topics - Competitive Balance, Corruption and Gambling, and Doping and Drugs) is basically all 'new', plus it's not bad having a refresher of some forgotten-about core units before finishing one's degree.

Overall, an enjoyable and interesting unit for anyone with an interest in the intersection b/w sport and law. Nice mix between black letter law and policy. Given the workload/content is fairly manageable, and there aren't really a lot of hard/technical bits in the topics, I would rate this as one of the easier law electives, too.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rohmer on December 22, 2015, 09:24:23 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW4323 - Evidence

Workload:  3hrs lectures, 1hr tutorial every 2nd week

Assessment:  100% Exam OR 60% Exam & 40% Research Assignment (2000 words)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, several

Textbook Recommendation:  Kumar M, Odgers S and Peden E, Uniform Evidence Law Commentary and Materials, 5ed
2015. Decent textbook, from memory it's quite expensive, but you're probably going to refer to it quite a lot. No need to buy any of the Acts, although some people liked to have a copy of the Evidence Act with them in the exam.

Lecturer(s): Gideon Boas; Jonathan Clough

Year & Semester of completion: S2 2015

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Comments:

One of the harder core units, Evidence has some interesting areas but is also quite legislation heavy. In that sense it's kinda like Corps, albeit maybe slightly tougher. Equity & Trusts are probably also harder, but that's about it. However, Evidence is not a substantive area of law, and like the easier Civil Procedure/Ethics units, is adjective in nature. There's a little bit of overlap between the three, particularly in Privilege topics, although I wouldn't recommend doing more than two of them at once as it would probably be too much in terms of dry procedural content.

Quick topic run through:

Relevance: This is the first hurdle for evidence to be admissible. Fairly brief topic, doesn't really come up on an exam question per se, you usually just mention it in a sentence or two at the start.

Competence and Compellability: Quite a few legislative sections here, but it's not too complicated and is mostly just a case of 'follow the Evidence Act'. There are distinct rules for criminal and civil trials, e.g. higher thresholds or special provisions in criminal cases, this being a recurring consideration in the unit. Broadly the course is civil & criminal applicable, although much of the case law is criminal due to the higher stakes & specific/higher threshold provisions (probably a good unit to try and do well in if you're an aspiring criminal lawyer).

Privilege: Long legislation heavy topic that has some overlap with Ethics/Civil. A number of different privileges here - against self-incrimination, client legal privilege, settlement negotiations, exclusions in the public interest, & confidential communications re: sexual offences. Usually a more straightforward topic, exam-wise.

Examination of Witnesses: Again, mostly Evidence Act stuff. Not that complicated, but can seem a bit abstract, it'd probably make more sense if you were in court watching it play out.

Character and Credibility: I think the complexity of this one is a bit underrated. It's not actually to apply law to facts, it's more that the law in the area is kinda intricate in terms of moving around a lot between EA provisions. Helps to make a flowchart (with links to the Examination topic), I think.

The Accused's Right to Silence: Criminal area, fairly straightforward. There used to be some complicated sections, but those have thankfully been done away with. This year they were still learned & were somewhat relevant to policy, but I'm not sure if they'll stay on in 2016+.

Tendency and Coincidence Evidence: Maybe the most interesting topic, but also a complex one that can be hard to apply to the facts. This section is basically about trying to admit evidence of similar fact based on a 'tendency' or [lack of] coincidence (e.g. trying to try a whole bunch of sexual offence cases at once, because the circumstances/MO etc. are very similar). The cases are pretty much all criminal, and are sometimes quite controversial. This is one of those areas where if you're in a criminal case, you have to satisfy an added requirement for admissibility, here - 'Does the probative value of the evidence substantially outweigh prejudicial effect?'. This is the kinda grey area thing that is hard decide on looking at the facts, but for which you can pick up some good marks with a solid discussion & analogising with case facts. Bound to come up in an exam.

Hearsay: I agree with pretty much everyone else - this is the most complicated topic. I don't think it's quite as bad as the death-trap it's made out to be, but it can be hard to get your head around, and contains exceptions to exceptions. You've got a general rule against hearsay evidence, but then you've got a number of different exceptions which actually carve out quite a bit of space for which you may be able to get your evidence admitted. Figuring out what level (1st hand, 2nd hand) of hearsay you have on the facts is probably the tougher bit, but once you've applied the wordy EA sections on that and come to a conclusion, it's just another case of 'follow the EA steps and see which category you end up in, and then apply the rules/thresholds of the category'. Bound to come up in an exam.

Admissions: Criminal area concerning statements made against interest (i.e. confessions/partial confessions), has fairly interesting cases. Not too complex, ripe for policy questions in particular.

Illegally Obtained Evidence: Overlaps a bit with the above. There's a balancing act here in terms of level of illegality VS how useful is this evidence going to be, c.f. a more hardline USA position whereby 'the court won't eat the fruit of the poisoned tree'. Can come up in a question along with admissions, not uncommon for policy either.

Opinion Evidence: Smallish topic, has pretty straightforward rules about how laypeople can't give evidence about specialised areas when they aren't experts, and how experts are limited to subjects on which they actually are experts.

Discretion to Exclude Evidence: This is not a topic per se, but the courts always have discretions to exclude evidence where its probative value is outweighed (to some specified degree which is case-dependent) by its prejudicial nature. There are also various powers to give directions and warnings in certain circumstances. For some of these more general provisions, e.g. s135, s137 of the EA, I think it's easier just to lump them together at the back of your notes, and then include references to it in the specific topics.

I generally enjoyed this unit, even though some sections of it are dry/procedural/legislation heavy. The policy areas aren't discussed much, but are topical, and the cases are usually interesting, particularly if you like criminal law. In terms of the lecturers, I didn't attend any of Gideon's classes, but I went to pretty much all of Jonathan's, and would highly recommend attending his stream if you can (for this or crim). He breaks down the complexities of the course very well, and tries to keep all it light-hearted and entertaining.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: chasej on December 23, 2015, 12:01:28 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1701 - Terrorism and Political Violence

Workload:  Two hour lecture/seminar (The first half of the semester is taught in traditional lecture format and the second is in seminar format which involves more group discussions/less lecturing). One hour optional tute (you won't be penalised for not attending these tutes and there is no minimum attendance yay)

I didn't attend the tutes as they were mundane and my tutor wasn't so helpful or attentive so it didn't benefit me in anyway. I didn't like the seminar format (just personal preference) so didn't attend those either. (These may be due to the fact I prefer individual work instead of discussions, so if you enjoy group discussions on set questions you may have a different experience but really the standard of discussion in tutes [in all units I have done] is so low I don't see how anyone could find it helpful).

Assessment:  Two options:
Option A: 500 word short essay on basic questions, 2000 word essay and exam involving two essays.
Option B (option I did): 2500 word essay, and the exam. (I think it's easier to do option B as planning and writing a 500 word essay as in Option A takes more time than just writing an extra 500 words in an existing essay).

The longer essays have rolling deadlines where the essay is due 3 weeks after the relevant lecture, so for example, if you do an essay on a question from week 5, the essay would be due at the start of week 9. The short essay in option A has a selection of a few questions all due at the same time.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No, as it was the first time this unit was run but the exam was a seen exam! That is all the questions on the exam were given to us in advance so we knew what would be on the exam and therefore could do all our research and planning in advance. The exam was not open book, you had to memorise, but you knew the questions going in.

Textbook Recommendation: Both of the textbooks were available in ebook format from the monash library and could be printed so need to purchase (yay). I didn't do the readings that much, I only did the readings for the week I did my essay on. For the rest I just used lecture slides.

Lecturer(s): Pete Lentini for most weeks, excellent lecturer and I really enjoyed hearing his thoughts, he has on interesting perspective on terrorism and political violence. Another guy whose name I cannot remember.

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2, 2015.

I recommend this unit to anyone interested in learning about terorrism/political violence. It doesn't just focus on Islamic terrorism but is more of a broader analysis of all different types of terrorism e.g. ethno-nationalist (Palestine and Ireland) and political (far-left/neo-nazism). It also analyses structures of terrorists organisations and methods for stopping terorrism. Each week brings a new perspective/topic on terrorism. There is a wide array of essay questions so you really can focus on what you want, I did an essay on the distinctions and simiarilites between ethno-nationalist and religious terrorism focusing on Hezbollah and Hamas as case studies. This is an international relations/politics unit but I also found it really relevant to Criminology so I think it would make a good elective for Criminology students (monash should look into this).

There is a lot of news sources and research in this area so you would have no trouble finding references or good ideas to use when writing.

-----
Mod Note: Fixed broken URL. ~Slothy
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Hutchoo on December 24, 2015, 05:34:14 am
Subject Code/Name: The nature and beauty of mathematics  

Workload:  1x1 hr lecture and 1x2 hr lecture a week

Assessment: 
25% - Weekly problem sets
25% - 1500 word essay
50% - Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No, but he gives you a book filled with 120 questions, which are questions he uses on the exam. They do not come with solutions (unless they are past problem set questions)

Textbook Recommendation:  No need to buy anything. Not sure if anything is prescribed.

Lecturer(s): A/Prof Burkard Polster

Year & Semester of completion: 2015 Sem 2

Rating:  3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: Please read b^3 and Treeman's guide for a proper review. I am just going to give my 2 cents:

I chose this subject because I heard it was a bludge unit, which it was. I didn't expect much from it, and I didn't get much from it. The only thing I enjoyed was the essay, which allowed you to write an essay on any mathematical/philosophical topic of your choice. My topic was on blockchain technology and the mathematics behind it. It was pretty easy to smash out in one day, because you get to write on a topic you like and it's done somewhat informally too (no weird Harvard referencing stuff etc.).

As for the lectures, I only went to one of them because I was too busy with stuff outside of uni/cbf. The one lecture I went to was somewhat boring, but that's only because we watched a video on some 2D/3D space bullshit (I wanted to kick a cactus, it was so boring). However, I hear Burkard is really awesome with lectures, so I think my experience wasn't a true representation of what he has to offer.

The tutorial questions are piss easy, and require no real mathematical knowledge. Once again, I think most people aced these questions because Burkard kind of guides you through the problems within the lecture notes. You have to do a lot of weird stuff, like taking photos of you and origami that you've made.

The reason I give this subject a 3/5 is purely because of the fact that it was an easy HD. I did not enjoy the content all that much, but I think that's my fault (I only find subjects enjoyable when they have some real life application, and this unit didn't have any real life applications... so yeah).

I'm a maths major, I love maths, but I didn't like this subject. Maybe I am weird.

Personally, I find beauty in mathematics when the mathematics has real life applications  (e.g. asset pricing, RSA encryption) and seeing as this unit is more philosophical (i.e. not really applied), I didn't like it.

tl;dr - if you want an easy HD subject, do it. If you don't spend time on this subject, you probably won't enjoy it... but if you do, you'll be able to see more of the "beauty" of mathematics.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Hutchoo on December 24, 2015, 05:48:05 am
Subject Code/Name: FIT2014 - Theory of Computation 

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lecture, 2 hour tutorial or 2 hour lab (it changes every week)

Assessment:  5x assignments (30%) and exam (70%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, 4 exams with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  m8, who buys boooks? Read "Introduction to the Theory of Computation" by Michael Sipser if you want more in depth knowledge.

Lecturer(s): Graham Farr (i think)

Year & Semester of completion: 2015 s2

Rating:  1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: meh

Comments:

Boring unit. Assignments are so freaking easy in comparison to FIT2004 (that unit was so fucking hard [IF YOU DO IT WITH ARUN!], but so much fun).

You do assignments using a programming language called Prolog. It's a logic language that is pretty easy to pick up, but kind of boring to use. I'm more of a Javascript/Python lover, so anything that's not really useful in real life (as a normal app developer, i.e. not working for NASA) is boring to me.

The most interesting thing in this unit is learning about Turing Machines and P v NP problems. This is a core unit t if you're doing a comp sci major, or are doing BCompSci. I wouldn't do this unit as an elective. I wouldn't recommend this unit to a friend. This unit was like doing first year accounting (which is shit, boring, and not that interesting). It's not hard, but you have to be meticulous with your work because every detail makes a huge impact.

As you may have noticed from my review above (MTH2132). The units I did this semester were not that fun, but you got to do what you got to do m8.

Bless up
#realTalk

(http://i.imgur.com/zOVpDZC.png)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: gabo8273 on January 01, 2016, 03:02:05 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1042: Biomedical Science and Society

Workload: 

Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Kind of. Expect old, and very unrepresentative exams.

Textbook Recommendation:  I didn't use any.

Lecturer(s):

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2015

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D - 77

Comments: I'll start of by saying that students either love or hate this unit. The previous reviewer of this unit loved the epidemiology component, and I found it boring. This could be explained by the different lecturers between this year and last year. As opposed to last year, which had a multitude of different lecturers, lectures were covered by predominantly Basia and Penny. Basia, who covers the epidemiology content, is competent. Penny, covering stats, is not able to communicate her knowledge at all. All guest lecturers were quite good.

The unit is essentially two units packed into one. There is the epidemiology content, which has a lecture and tutorial a week, and the statistics component, which also has a lecture and tutorial a week.  The epidemiology content is enjoyable, but it is very hard to study for the exam with it. The statistics is quite easy, with a bit of work. Tutorials are essential, and you should go to them, even if you have the 4pm-6pm or 8am-10am classes. Yes, I know, it's tough, but you'll regret not going.

Going through assignments:
A warning, half of these assignments come out of nowhere, at a very similar time. If I remember correctly, AT3 and AT2 were due in the same 2 weeks, and there will be BMS1052  and elective quizzes and assignments around the same time.
AT1: Two quizzes, difficult when doing them, but pretty simple when looking back. Just do them with your mates and it shouldn't be too bad.
AT2: This is a large analysis response on 1 of 5 topics. You will be provided with a journal article, and a media article corresponding with it. This was probably the hardest assignment, and took me the longest, but I'm awful with essays. In this assignment, you will follow a question sheet, which makes passing the word limit pretty easy. It will be assigned quite early, and it's tempting to leave it until later, but you will be overwhelmed if you leave it until later. Make an attempt at writing after covering the Study Design component.
AT3: Assigned after, but due a bit before AT2, this oral presentation will follow a similar format to AT2, and will be assessed as a 4 - 5 person group assignment. Students are encouraged to add a theme, like news report or argument. Depending on the tutor, there will be a post-oral questioning, where the lecturer and students will ask questions, testing your analysis of the information. As groups are assigned randomly, hope for a good group.
AT4: This is a very easy Twitter assignment, handing out 3%. It's tempting to not do it, but students just have to do 5 simple tasks, including posting a "dumb ways to die" score on twitter, posting and discussing an article on twitter, and sharing a friends post. There will be a moodle quiz which the questions are repeated into. I'm not sure, but the moodle quiz may mark answers correct by just entering characters into the question boxes. If you don't want to do the assignment, make sure you write anything in the boxes to possibly get marks.
AT5: The statistics assignment, which only tests students statistics knowledge, is a questions sheet. There are 5 different value tables, so if you have a mate with the same values, it might help to confer with them if you're having trouble.

The exam is the real challenge of this unit. Everything up until this point, including the practice exams, seems pretty easy. However, expect difficult (and in my opinion, unfair) questions on predominantly epidemiology content. There was very little focus on stats in the exam, so the last 2 weeks of stats was mostly worthless.
For revision, focus on epidemiology, as that's where the difficult questions will be. You'll feel like you know everything before the exam, but you don't.

The unit only gets 2 out of 5 because it is boring, badly executed and the exam is much more difficult than the unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Spaceman on January 11, 2016, 06:49:29 am
Subject Code/Name: ENG1001 - Engineering design: lighter, faster, stronger

Workload:  1 x 2hr workshop, 1 x 3hr practical and 30 minutes to 1 hour of pre-lecture videos per week

Assessment: Project 1 18%, Project 2 18%, Materials Tensile Report 4%, Materials Selection Report 4%, Worksheets 10%, Online quizzes 6% and final exam 40% (hurdle)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: I did this unit the first time it was running. I was provided exams from the old structures and dynamic 1st year units. The mechanical lecturer also compiled relevant questions for us to do.

Textbook Recommendation: There are some textbooks recommended but I never once looked at them as the pre-lecture videos were very good.

Lecturer(s): There were a range of different lecturers for the different areas of engineering we went through. For civil engineering we were lectured by Lizi Sironic and Bill Wong, for materials John Forsythe and for mechanical Kris Ryan.

Year & Semester of completion: S1 2015

Rating:  5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87

Comments:
This was a great unit. Worksheets were handed out at lectures and the lecturers would go through some of the worksheet in the two hours. Anything unfinished was to be completed before next week's practical and checked then. I found this to be a really great way to learn and use the 2 hours. The worksheet provided a medium for us to apply what we learnt straight away. In order to do this there were pre-lectures that went through the content of the lecture.

The group projects were fun and very practical.

The exam was quite hard to study for as half of the provided practice exams and questions were not in the course, although this might have changed as the unit has been running for more than one semester now. I found the exam to be quite challenging and a lot harder than the questions provided in the weekly worksheets.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Spaceman on January 11, 2016, 07:38:25 am
Subject Code/Name: ENG1002 - Engineering design: cleaner, safer, smarter

Workload:  1 x 2hr lecture and 1 x 3hr practical

Assessment:
Project 1 - 15%
Report on Fuel Efficiency and Sustainability

Project 2  - 15%
Build an LED lamp and a design report

Lecture Attendance - 5%
Lecture attendance was recorded by answering questions using a web app accessible with smart phones. You had to answer 80% of the questions to get the mark. Your answers do not have to be correct to get the mark.

Pre-lecture and pre-practical quizzes - 25%
You had to do 2 quizzes each week. I found some of the pre-practical quizzes quite challenging which makes sense because they were given after the lectures.

Exam - 40%
Split relatively evenly between chemical, materials and electrical engineering.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, one past exam from S1 2015 with answers but no worked solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  There might be recommended textbooks but I didn't look at them.

Lecturer(s): Meng Wei, Christopher Hutchison and Jonathan Li

Year & Semester of completion: S2 2015

Rating: 1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 86

Comments: Coming out of ENG1001 from first semester I had high expectations for ENG1002. The 2 hour "workshops" were nothing like 1001's but instead were just an ordinary lecture with the occasional clicker question. I found that because they were 2 hours it was quite hard to get through. Furthermore, the whole unit's theme is light blubs, which frankly is not something that interesting at all.

Overall, I found that the unit's content could have been potentially more interesting but was presented badly resulting in a poor experience.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Fraxyz on January 19, 2016, 09:42:39 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2520 - Probability and Statistical Inference for Business and Economics

Workload: 2hr lecture, 2hr tutorial

Assessment: 
1 x 10% test
10 x 2% weekly work
70% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available: Yes, at least one

Textbook Recommendation:  Wackerly, D.D., W. Mendenhall and R.L. Scheaffer, Mathematical statistics with applications (7th edition). The textbook is pretty great, and there were questions assigned out of it when I did the unit so it will be required.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Davide La Vecchia, Professor Don Poskitt

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 2

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:  Aside from being possibly winning the most excessively long name award, ETC2520 is a fairly thorough course on mathematical statistics. It begins fairly easily walking through venn diagrams and dice rolls to explain basic probability, but brings on some much more intense mathematics throughout the semester as it builds through distributions, the moment generation function, the central limit theorem and hypothesis testing.
I found the proofs to be fairly easy to follow and in general the course was well taught, but I admit it was a while since I did this subject. 
Easy HD if you put in some work, and is great for anyone wanting to go into honours as they may need a more rigorous basis in probability than the rest of the econometrics subjects provide.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Fraxyz on January 19, 2016, 09:52:04 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2430 - Actuarial Statistics 

Workload:  2hrs Lecture, 2hrs Tutorial

Assessment:
2x10% Test
20% Group project
60% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, without screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, at least one

Textbook Recommendation:
Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks - Not really needed, little of the course is taught out of this
Tables and Formula for Actuarial Exams - Extremely useful, formula book brought into most actuarial exams

Lecturer(s): Colin O'Hare

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 S2

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This is what I think is the first of the really hard actuarial subjects. Much of the material is very mathematically challenging, but Colin knows it very well. However, he expects that his students understand it just as well and I feel he isn't as good at explaining concepts if you fall behind at all.
Despite the difficulty in the content, the two 10% tests covered relatively basic material and much of the more advanced concepts were ignored. There's also a ~6-8 week group project to produce a research paper to look out for, it can take a lot of work and plan your time our accordingly. However, I found it manageable if you put in the time at the start to keep on top of the material from the very start.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Fraxyz on January 19, 2016, 10:01:41 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC3530 - Contingencies in Insurance and Pensions 

Workload:
2hr Lectures
2hr Tutorial

Assessment:
2x10% Quiz
20% Group Project
60% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes

Textbook Recommendation: 
Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks - Not needed at all
Tables and Formula for Actuarial Exams - Extremely useful, formula book brought into most actuarial exams

Lecturer(s):Colin O'Hare

Year & Semester of completion: 2014 S2

Rating:  3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This subject was deviously hard. At first, its just rehashing annuity formulas learnt in BFC2340 with a little probability twist, but there's tonnes of different notations and little manipulations going on with everything.
The first quiz was very basic, but the second required you to really understand what's happening as the material is presented in ways you've never seen before. Making sure you know how everything is derived, and what the links between different annuities are, not just being able to recite the formula. (The unit guide says there's no quizzes and an 80% exam, but when I did it this meant 20% quizzes, 60% exam, may have changed.)
Like Colin's second year subject, ETC2430, there's a group assignment that requires a huge amount of work to complete.
Really make sure you're on top of Debt Markets before you go in, it's the real pre-req, not just ETC2430.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: extremeftw on January 20, 2016, 11:47:52 pm
 Subject Code/Name: ATS1321 - Nations at war: The twentieth century 

Workload: 
 2 hour lecture
 1 hour tutorial

Assessment:
15% Annotated Bibliography
40% Major essay
30% Class test
15% Tutorial participation

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with recorded screen capture.

Past exams available:  None, but past exams are unnecessary as they give you the possible questions that will appear on the class test.

Textbook Recommendation:  Just buy the unit reader. No textbook was prescribed.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Reto Hofmann

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2015.

Rating:  3/5

Your Mark/Grade: 78 D.

Comments:

 So in this unit you look at the revolutions and ideologies that guided conflict in the 20th century. This involves examining a broad range of topics such as Communism, Nazism, Franco's Spain, Fascism, the Russian Revolution, the Spanish Civil War, etc.

Generally, the topics themselves were quite interesting and I feel like they are important things to comprehend for any student interested in history.

 However, this is where I arrive at the core problem with this unit. There is no incentive or reason to learn 90% of the content covered in this unit. This is because of the way the assessment is structured for this unit, which I will explain in the next few paragraphs.

 The first assessment which was worth 15% was an 'annotated bibliography' task. This basically involved picking 3 different potential sources that could be used in your major essay and explaining why those particular sources are appropriate or inappropriate for academic use. From what I can gather, pretty much everyone just YOLOd this assessment since it wasn't particularly hard. Just use common sense, know how to reference properly, and pick half-decent sources to analyse and this assignment is an easy HD.

 Then we move on to the major essay assignment, which forms the bulk of the assessment for ATS1321. You will get to choose between a few different topics (in our case a choice of 4) which relate to different areas covered in the lectures and tutorials. The essay had a word requirement of 2000 words and you had PLENTY of time to do it (due in week 9 IIRC). An example of an essay topic (which incidentally was the one I chose to do) was: To what extent can the Franco regime in Spain be considered fascist? In what ways was it different from other extreme right regimes in the twentieth century? Discuss with reference to either Nazism or Italian fascism. You will need to research extensively if you want to do well on this essay, and to be honest it really wasn't a particularly easy one to write. I would highly recommend that you visit the library if you are struggling to find relevant material to reference; there are plenty of high quality books that relate directly to all of the essay questions. Start this assignment well before the due date and make sure you know how to use Chicago referencing properly.

 Finally, the last actual assessment task was the class test. This basically involved just defining words off a list and discussing them as they relate to the content covered in this unit. This was very easy to study for because the lecturer provided a list of all the possible terms that could appear on the test. Effectively, this assignment is pure memorisation; as long as you can memorise a pre-prepared answer for each term then you can't really go wrong unless you don't prepare properly.

 So really, the only content of ATS1321 that you actually needed to 'know' was that which related to your essay (which was pretty much at most 2 weeks of material). You can easily just use google and wikipedia to become acquainted with pretty much all the terms that can appear on this class test, which makes watching any of the lectures completely redundant. In fact, I didn't attend nor watch a single lecture for this unit because it was (in my opinion) a complete waste of time and highly unnecessary. Perhaps one could argue that I might have gotten a HD if I put in the effort to watch all the lectures, but ain't nobody got time for that :).

 If you're looking for a unit that has very low contact hours and you are capable of memorising some terms for the class test, then I would recommend ATS1321 (particularly those who have an interest in this area or who perhaps did Revs in VCE).

 P.S. If you were like me and have no idea how to pronounce 'bourgeois' or 'proletariat', I would highly recommend you look up how to pronounce them before your first tutorial so you don't look like an idiot in front of your tutorial like I nearly did....
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: achre on June 04, 2016, 12:14:50 am
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: bobbyz0r on June 10, 2016, 07:26:57 pm
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.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: chabooski on June 20, 2016, 03:00:13 pm
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).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: chabooski on June 20, 2016, 06:35:30 pm
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: BigAl on June 20, 2016, 08:55:46 pm
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: chabooski on June 20, 2016, 10:39:17 pm
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: gabo8273 on June 22, 2016, 12:36:03 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS2011 - Structure of the human body: An evolutionary and functional perspective

Workload:

Assessment: 

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 1 from 2015

Textbook Recommendation:  None that I used.

Lecturer(s):

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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: AngelWings on June 22, 2016, 06:28:42 pm
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: gabo8273 on June 23, 2016, 09:32:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2031 - Body systems 

Workload:

Assessment: 
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):

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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: jyce on July 11, 2016, 01:47:04 pm
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: TrivStar on July 17, 2016, 11:09:45 pm
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!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: achre on July 18, 2016, 12:52:11 am
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: BigAl on July 18, 2016, 06:48:48 pm
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: arrybarry on July 19, 2016, 11:02:51 pm
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: gunsforhands on July 22, 2016, 10:01:22 pm
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.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: gabo8273 on December 05, 2016, 04:29:47 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2062 - Introduction to Bioinformatics

Workload: 

Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Not that I know of.

Textbook Recommendation:  The lectures were good enough to make textbooks redundant. However, Lehninger probably covers everything in the unit.

Lecturer(s):


Year & Semester of completion: 2016, Sem 2

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 - HD

Comments:

This unit was the easiest of the BMS units this semester. Despite this, some students found it incredibly boring during the lectures (me), which made it more difficult to study.

The lectures of this unit, while being well-delivered, were pretty boring. It isn't a fault of the lecturers however that the content they are teaching is try. Most of the many lecturers are able to communicate the information concisely and bring some life into the content. As there are only 2 lectures a week, there are only 23 lectures to study for the exam, which is nice.

Like most BMS and science units, your lab grades depend heavily on the TA marking your labwork. If you TA is a harsh marker, then you're in a bad spot. Despite this, it is not difficult to get high scores (90+) in the labs. The labs are weekly exercises on computers, involving completing scientific analysis of whatever you're studying that week. They will also consolidate the content covered within the lectures. The first 6 or so labs are dry, because they're covering mostly DNA sequences. The rest are enjoyable, involving the observation and interaction of protein tertiary structure, using the program Pymol.

Within the labs are the Disease Protein assignment. Students are allocated a protein randomly. Each protein has an associated disease. For example, mine was Factor IX, relating to the disease Haemophilia B. Like almost all university units, your grades on this report depend on whether the TA marking your work is a harsh marker. While my work was marked nicely, some students had issues with tough markers.

The final exam for the unit was not difficult. Studying the content should guarantee a D or HD on the exam.

Overall, despite the average content, this unit was well-organized, delivered and taught. Plus, getting a high score isn't too difficult.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ravenswood on December 07, 2016, 12:10:42 pm
Subject Code/Name:
FIT1008 - Introduction to Computer Science


Workload: 

Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Everything you need to know is in the lectures and Monash's online repository (Alexandria).

Lecturer(s):


Year & Semester of completion: 2016, Sem 2

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 75 - D

Comments:

This was an excellent but tricky unit. There is a lot of content and some of it is quite challenging so it can be easy to fall behind, but if you stay on top of everything week by week you'll have no trouble getting through it.

First week is spent revising content learnt in previous programming units (however it seems to be based mostly on what was taught in FIT1045, but don't worry if you haven't done it) After that, you spend the next 3 weeks on assembly programming using MIPS software. If you've never done assembly before it can definitely be overwhelming at first, but with enough practice anybody can get the hang of it. Both lecturers, especially Phillip are excellent resources and are quick to answer emails regarding any issues you have with the content and were especially useful when learning assembly.

Week 5 onwards is all Python, and the focus is on sorting algorithms, time complexity, recursion, data structures and hashing, none of which is too difficult if you pay attention and keep up with the tutorials and workshops. The quizzes are taken straight from the lectures (with answers) and the code review is 1% for each week over 5 weeks, basically all you need to do is attend the workshops and lectures and you're guaranteed 10% of your total mark.

The assessed pracs are challenging (especially the assembly prac) and time consuming. START EARLY. They run over two weeks, and you must reach a checkpoint by the end of the workshop in the first week in order to be assessed. I got 100% across all my assessed pracs (there are three) but it involved putting in an extensive amount of hours and many late nights. It's also essential that you understand your code, as the workshop tutor marks your prac during the second week and asks questions to ensure you did it yourself.

The mid semester test was relatively straight forward, and is primarily based on the tutorial questions from weeks 1-5. The tutorial questions are the best study resource available for both the mid semester test and the exam, and i found them more challenging than the pracs. the exam was easy, just practice the tut questions and past exams (there are a few) and you'll be fine.

If you don't fall behind and are willing to put the work in, this is an interesting and rewarding unit. It's taught in a way that emphasises why you're learning the things being taught, which makes it easy to engage in the more complex content.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ravenswood on December 08, 2016, 08:17:00 pm
Subject Code/Name:
FIT1047 - Introduction to computer systems, networks and security


Workload: 
Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Only one, with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Everything you need to know is in the lectures, but there is some useful information for MARIE assembly found on the internet..

Lecturer(s):


Year & Semester of completion: 2016, Sem 2

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83 - HD

Comments:

I found this to be a pretty dry but useful unit. There's an extensive amount of stuff taught, ranging from number representation, logical circuits, computer hardware, routing, cryptography etc (far too much to list here). due to so much being taught, none of it is in particularly great detail and you'll find yourself needing only a surface level understanding for the assignments and the exam (however extra individual study is highly encouraged by both lecturers and resources are provided). Carsten and Guido are both excellent and funny lecturers, and do a good job of making a generally boring subject matter more interesting and engaging.

Assignment 1 pretty weird, most of it is pretty basic but the difficulty level jumps significantly for the final questions, completed in MARIE assembly language. i would advise doing as much self study and extra work as you can when learning MARIE in order to prepare yourself for this assignment, otherwise you'll likely find yourself stuck on the final questions. there's an in-class interview which you must attend in order to be marked for the programming part of this assignment, and the questions can be pretty vague (as in, not necessarily directly about your own code but may be the concepts in general). understand what you're doing and why you're doing it and you'll be fine for the assignment/interview, AND COMMENT YOUR CODE. Assignment 2 is extremely easy, its a written report on a security issue you select yourself, in addition to a Wi-Fi analysis of a shopping centre. you need to conduct the analysis yourself by physically travelling to a chosen location and analysing it through software (the analysis can be done in a group, although your report must be individual). everything you need to explain about your collected data is in the lectures. The MARS questions don't need to be answered correctly for the 5%, you just need to provide an answer so go to all your lectures and you'll get full marks.

the exam was 3 hours and 150 marks comprised of both multiple choice questions and around 30-40 short answer questions. if you attend the lectures and tutorials, there's nothing they can ask you that you'll have to really think about. i barely attended the lectures or tutorials and crammed the week before for this exam and got an HD pretty easily (i wouldn't recommend this), but that should give an indication of the difficulty of the exam and the content in general.

the only struggles you're likely to have with this unit are MARIE assembly programming, the rest is pretty easy. i highly recommend getting on top of it as soon as its taught, because you don't want to be learning it one week before assignment 1 is due as some of the questions require a pretty sophisticated understanding. if you've never done any programming before you'll probably find it pretty hard initially, but attend the tutorials, consultations and you'll breeze through MARIE and the unit in general.
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Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Litigator on December 19, 2016, 02:46:26 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1314 - Human Rights 1

Workload: 2x1 hour weekly lectures + 1hour weekly tutorial

Assessment: 70% internal marks (10x1% Weekly reading quizzes, 1x10% article analysis, 1x10% essay plan, 1x40% essay) and 30% exam

Recorded Lectures: Yes

Past exams available: Not needed, since exam questions are given.

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required except for reader, highly needed.

Lecturer(s): Robbie Arrell

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2016

Rating: 3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments:

As someone who has a passion for business/numbers and objectivity, my first exposure to some form of philosophy was somewhat of a hard pill to swallow at first. Weeks are divided into topics that are rather basic yet informative, such as; Are human rights universal, womens right, cultural rights...

Arts students are described as pretty liberal and open minded and I can say that a select few are quite radical. Some students really dont give a shit while others nearly have a heart attack if they hear a 'politically incorrect' phrase or term. It's incredibly hard sometimes to have group conversations without offending someone. The week on 'Human Rights & Torture' was quite interesting. There seemed a large number of students that were oblivious to what governments do to keep their citizens safe. Some found it disturbing that terrorists were tortured for information, and one even exclaimed during group discussions that most detainees at Guantanamo Bay should be set free since they were not formally prosecuted by a court of law. However, these types of students are not the majority.


I went into arts units with the sole purpose of trying to achieve good marks. I achieved that, and I actually cant say much about the learning because i was focused on maximizing efficiency and marks.
For example:
Week 1-3 are topics for the first assigment
Week 4-8 or (4-10) are topics for essays
Week 9-12 or (11-12)  are the topics for the exam.

Which means, i only did the readings and looked at the lectures for Week 1, 6, 11, 12 and received a HD mark. The weekly online quizzes which were based on the readings were easy and you could flick through the readings looking for the key words and bang you got the answer you needed.

Honestly, you are gonna be taught a lot of topics that are all under the broad definition of Human Rights, some shit is interesting, some shit is boring. If you are planning to do an arts degree, most weekly topics convert into an entire unit in 2nd and 3rd year, and you can pick the ones you find interesting in these broad first year units.

Also, Robbie is good bloke. He engages well and provides alot of feedback for assigments.



Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on January 20, 2017, 12:21:48 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED4301 - Medical science honours research skills

Workload: completely varies depending on your project, but expect to be doing fairly full-on days for 5 days a week.

Assessment:
- Progress report (Hurdle)
- Literature review (75%) (Hurdle)
- Department oral presentation (25%)

Recorded Lectures: No. There are some intro lectures only at the start of the unit.

Past exams available: N/A.

Textbook and Website Recommendation: None needed, although some choose to peruse statistics books as well as textbooks specific to their field of research as the year progresses.

Lecturer(s): Many, but only in the first week.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2016

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
Alright, so this unit is code for "Medical Honours year"; it's an optional year available to students of the Monash MBBS(Hons), and in the new Monash MD, as part of the Bachelor of Medical Science (Honours). The degree can be completed any time after second year, provided you have an average above Credit and have a worthy application. Most people do the year after fourth year, but there are also a smattering of people who brave the year after second and third year too. Since 2016 there has been a limit on the number of students who can take a BMedSc(Hons), and the current limit is hovering at around 65 students; this includes both domestic and international students. Therefore, there is a little competition to get a place in this additional degree and people have been missing out. The exact criteria of who gets selected for the degree is not well known, but it's thought that marks from previous years of the medical course play an important role, as well as the strength of the written application.

Everyone has their own reason(s) for taking a year off med to do a degree like this, but I had several reasons that were important to me:

1) I had just finished my major exams for med school and I know that pretty much every year forward was going to be progressively more intense with more responsibility. That's something that I look forward to, but I felt a break from all of that was also in order. This seemed like the perfect time.

2) I hadn't had much opportunity to do research during med school. Often doing research in med school means being in the right place at the right time with the right people - that unfortunately didn't click for me during my first two clinical years. Oh well, that happens, so I decided to do so some more formal research and gain some much-needed experience.

3) Looking forwards, it seems a PhD could become almost mandatory in the fields I am becoming keen in, and I honestly wanted to test the waters and see if I could handle one research year before jumping into the deep end later in my career with ~3 years of research.

4) I was really interested in two different fields of medicine and wanted a bit more exposure (research AND clinical) to both, so I found a project that involved that, and now I have a better idea about what I want to do in life. Will that change in 6 months when I'm back in final year? Perhaps, but it's peace of mind right now :)

5) In the back of my mind was always getting an Intern job for 2018. In Vic we don't have random allocations for intern spots like they do in many other states (eg. NSW), so I thought having some research on my CV can't hurt ;)

I think it's worth noting, that despite having so many reasons, I was about 0% keen on doing an Hons year for probably 3.25 years of my medical degree. I was lucky to have an awesome mentor during my Obs/Gyn rotation who talked to me a lot about the importance of doing other things. He himself did a BMedSc(Hons) during his medical degree, and even though the subject of his minor thesis was as far from Obs/Gyn as could be possible, he still found it to be a very rewarding and educational experience. It was only really after his inspirational words of wisdom that I also entertained the thought of the degree. As said, there's always a bit of luck involved with opportunities presenting themselves, and I was lucky that this doctor and I had those chats.

Before launching into the content of the unit, which mainly comprises of the literature review, I think it's worth discussing a few important things one should consider before embarking on an Hons year of any sort (even relevant to the scholarly elective offered in Melbourne and Monash MD programs!). A lot of people get hung up on 'how cool is my project', or 'will I get published', or 'is this too intense' and so forth. While those are all important questions, I believe the most important thing in a successful Hons campaign will be your supervisor.

Choosing the right supervisor is more important than choosing the right project. When I was told this by a BMedSc(Hons) alumni before I embarked on my supervisor-hunt, I was skeptical, but in hind-sight I am really glad that I heeded that advice because the supervisor can really make or break the year. So here are couple of pointers that I think are really important about finding the right supervisor in the field of your interest.

1) You don't have to know someone to do a project with them. I stumbled upon my supervisor by luck. Once while I was doing my aforementioned Obs/Gyn rotation, I got to my clinic a little early and ended up googling some of the other doctors on the same floor. I managed to find a Professor, who I had never met before, but who had been involved in some really interesting work and who has supervised students in the past. I decided then and there to start drafting an email. I was perhaps a little too fastidious, maybe to the point of obsessional, with how my email looked and what type of vibe it gave off, so I probably went through 2-3 drafts! But I was lucky to get a quick response and we arranged a face-to-face meeting in his office soon afterwards. For the record, here is a copy (de-identified to name and place) of my email for anyone interested (it almost looks creditworthy as I look back on it now haha):
Quote
Dear Prof <removed>,

My name is <removed> and I am a current undergraduate fourth year Monash medical student, based primarily around <removed> and <removed> for this year, with an additional week-long stint at <removed>. So far in my studies, I haven’t done any research and hence, have become interested in completing a Bachelor of Medical Science honours year in 2016.

One of my friends, <removed>, completed a BMedSc under your supervision last year and through conversations with him, I found out about you and the very positive experience he had! Similar positive sentiments were discovered when I read about another student who featured in the '<removed>', <removed>, who also had a very enjoyable year under your supervision. Following in their footsteps, I was wondering if you would be willing to take on a medical student for an Honours year next year?

Although I realise it is “early days” for my learning and journey through medicine, I have developed a liking and an interest in neurology, especially after a rotation I did last year at <removed> under the guidance of Prof <removed>, among other consultants physicians. Given their stroke unit, I’ve been particularly fascinated by strokes, their symptomology and their management, and would be keen to learn more about and participate in the research that happens behind the clinical scenes regarding this condition. However, I am also very open to part-taking in research in other areas of neurology as well.

If you would be willing to take on a medical student and have any suggestions for potential projects that might be suitable, I would be very keen to have a chat and learn more. Unfortunately I am currently based at the <removed> (and for another 3 weeks!) so won’t available for any direct face-to-face contact until my term is finished here, due to very strict attendance regimes imposed on us. However, I am contactable via email, and if you have any free time after that 3 week period I would be very keen for a quick chat regarding any possible opportunities for research in 2016 under your supervision.

Thank-you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards,

<removed>

2) Now that you've found a few people that you think might make good supervisors, you have to think: what actually makes a good supervisor? Here some some important questions you want to be seeking answers to:
- Have they supervised Hons students before? What did those students think of their years? I found it to be really useful, as per my email, to get in contact and seek the thoughts from previous students. You may have to do a bit of 'stalking' to find these things, but they'll forgive you for being keen in their Hons year experience; people are often very keen to discuss how they went! You want to be knowing not only how they went in terms of grades (obviously H1 is ideal), but also the other things which will be covered in this list. If your prospective supervisor has never supervised before, that's not a deal-breaker imo, everyone has to have a first student to supervise, and you'll often find first-time supervisors tend to err on the side of over-supervision rather than under-supervision, which is good. They'll often also provide a senior researcher/clinician as the co-supervisor, to help them as well as you - again a good thing.
- How much time will your supervisor have for you? I was lucky to have an amazing supervisor, who I could meet virtually any day, and who I could call or text or email any time. Obviously meeting every day is over-kill, but having that level of support was something that not many of my colleagues had. The more support you have - the better. You should have meetings face-to-face at least once a week, even if it's just to touch-base over lunch or something. Ensuring that you're guaranteed at least one meeting a week is really mandatory for you, and I'd be very wary of choosing a supervisor who couldn't guarantee that.
- How busy are they? Are they supervising other Hons or PhD students? Will they be on lots of leave? These things are important. Your supervisor needs to be able to actually supervise you, and that implies that they need to be there. While in all honesty, they've got lots of more important things to do with their life than read a draft or listen to an oral presentation, they kinda should be doing that and if they don't seem like they have the time then maybe they've got enough on their plate already. I was lucky to have a supervisor and a co-supervisor who both took an interest in reading my drafts and listening to me practice my oral presentations, and again, I can't thank them enough for that level of support.
- If you're doing a lab project, what's the lab like? What will your hours be like? Best to know what you're getting yourself into before the year starts and you've signed a year away, rather than coming in Day 1 with a bunch of assumptions and getting a rude shock. Lab work, which wasn't the focus of my project (thankfully!), can be a nightmare in terms of hours and stress, and this can start well before your lit review is due! It can also be incredibly rewarding and interesting, but it's never easy work. Be warned.
- What's their publication history like? They don't have to be pumping out papers every other month in high-impact journals, but it's probably ideal to have a supervisor who has some publication experience with regular publications in decent journals. This can be checked by sussing them out in Google Scholar or their faculty bio page, rather than asking them about their professional career which can be awkward. Again, not a make or break for the Hons year itself, but might help once the year is done and you're thinking of publishing (if your project persists!).
- See what resources you'll have access to. Will you have access to a statistician? Will you have a desk and computer? Will you have stats software? I was lucky to have all three, and it made life considerably more comfortable. Again, you don't want the rude shock of coming to Day 1 with no place of your own, get these things organised before you sign the papers.
- What other things can you do during the year? Will you be able to present a poster or go to a conference? Will you be able to attend teachings? I was fortunate to not only attend clinical teachings in neuroradiology, I was also able to GIVE my own tutes to the local Monash MBBS(Hons) year 3 students and the Melbourne MD year 2 students. This was awesome because these activities really broke up my day, kept things interesting, and was amazing revision for me.

So now that you've got a supervisor in a field of your interest and filled in the paperwork, the year is starting. And I mean that literally, time to get off your backside and start preparing for this unit in the holidays. No time to slack off. Without giving too much away (for privacy), my project was in the field of neuroradiology (neurology + radiology) and involved interpretation of various brain MRI sequences in patients who had a condition that causes a type of stroke. During medical school, we learn that MRIs are a useful thing - but that's about it. So I took it upon myself to use the holidays to get familiar with all the background "assumed knowledge" so that when I was reading papers that talked about "susceptibility artifact" or "field inhomogenieties" or "time to echo", I'd know exactly what they meant. I found it really useful to do this early, before my year formally started, because once the year did formally start I could easily sift through the literature. I also found using textbooks at this point in time was also ideal, they provided good summaries and overviews, and were also fairly up-to-date without being cutting edge and confusing.

Being prepared early is important for stress. The year tends to pan out a little like this...
(http://i67.tinypic.com/111nvj5.png)
If you can do a bit to bring that graph down a little, should you? Absolutely! Be a little proactive, sacrifice some time "with the lads", and do some of this basic reading. It's not taxing, and it'll put you in really good stead for the year.

Once the year starts, start reading more in-depth about your foci of research. Start with reading Review articles from top-notch journals. These often provide amazing overviews and lots of quality references to then sift through depending on your area of interest. I used these references (and references from references!), as well as generic Google Scholar searches, to stumble upon most of the articles I read and cited in my own lit review. What you want to be doing in your readings, and ultimately in your literature review, should resemble an upside-down pyramid. You want to be starting off reading broadly (ie. textbooks to gain assumed knowledge, then Reviews) and then delve deeply into your area of research (ie. individual studies) to see what gaps your study might be able to fill or contribute to. I'll come back to this pyramid later, it's important.

Keeping up to date with the research in your field is also really important, and there are a few ways to do this:

1) Sign up to the journal mailing list. Often journals will email their table of contents to your inbox for free, and you'll then need your uni proxy to access the article free of charge. This is useful, but not every journal does this.

2) Doing regular Google Scholar (or similar) searches with a truncated time element (eg. "since 2016"), this is tedious.

3) Physically checking each journal, either online or as a hard-copy, to see what's new. Again, incredibly tedious.

4) Sign up to Twitter. Now you may be asking "has pi finally gone crazy? sign up to social media used by Donald Trump?!?" While I can neither confirm or deny that first question, Twitter is actually a modern gift to academia. Most journals have Twitter accounts and they post many updates about new articles. Not only that, but active researchers in my field also had accounts and posted regular updates. Being involved by following these journals and clinicians was the best way for me to be up-to-date with advances in the field. I also discovered so many other cool educational accounts to follow, but that's a story for another day ;)

It's useful to download the papers you're looking at, and there are several ways to organise your downloaded studies. My supervisor used a program called Papers which I would probably use if I was to do the year again, but I personally resorted to just an ordinary folder on my hard-drive and having descriptive names of the papers I downloaded. No rights and wrongs here, as long as you're organised and you know where you read something for the purposes of referencing. Papers can also do referencing for you, so it saves you having to use a program like EndNote (which is what I ended up using).

Once you're doing some reading, make some goals. My supervisor wanted me to have a page of my literature review ready by the first week for him to look over. He later told me that he did this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, he wanted to see if I could write, and luckily my writing was passable! Secondly, he wanted to see if I could meet deadlines. In retrospect, that was a really good plan! Writing bits, regularly, was the key for me. Some people liked to make semi-detailed summaries of studies in an Excel spreadsheet organsied by topic, and then spent a week or two towards the end of the semester writing the literature review, and that's also a fine strategy. I preferred to knock off little bits of the review every day or so. It really depends on your field of research and your own personal preference of how you want to structure the literature review. I was fortunate to have a plan of the review in my head which I could segmentalise really easily, but if your foci of research is a bit more obscure you may need to do a lot more reading before you can start to collect your thoughts. I'd suggest you try doing bits every now and again, and then if that's not working, to then try just reading more to collect your thoughts. Just make sure you have an overall plan before you start writing; your literature review should start off broad, and then should delve in, just like your readings it should resemble an upside-down pyramid. You'll find that this is reflected in the lit review marking sheets too, which you should always have one eye on too.

(http://i66.tinypic.com/15hirm1.png)

I'd strongly recommend you don't leave it until you're 'finished' with the lit review before showing your supervisor. Get their input early on. As said, my supervisor wanted to even see the first page that I wrote. I think showing your supervisor bite-size chunks of work and then the whole thing at the end is ideal because they may have suggestions about improvements and directions your lit review should be taking. Last thing you want is for you to produce this 7,500 word-long piece of work only for your supervisor to think you missed out on discussing some really crucial things. So ensure you keep in touch with your supervisor, regularly show them bits and ask for their general advice. Don't go overboard and get them to read every new paragraph you string together, but regular chunks are probably fine. They'll probably take a greater interest in your work if they know what you've been up to, and correcting or looking over a couple of pages of your writing isn't too onerous either. The other reason I mention this, is because your lit review will often include a summary of your project at the end. For me, this was a strict two-page summary of my aims, hypotheses, and methods. While you will have most likely started your project already at this point (especially if lab-based), you will still need some help to develop this and refine your goals for the next semester. So: show keenness, but be respectful.

As I mentioned in the previous paragraph - there is a word limit to this beast. 7,500 words, coming out of VCE or even med school, might sound like a mountain, but let me tell you that it is just never enough! Often your uni will give you a +/- 10% leeway, but even that's not enough! Some tips and tricks for getting through the word limit:

1) Supervisors are excellent at cutting the crap from your work. If you have words that need slaughtering, let them know and they'll draw red all over it! My younger sibling was also very fond of cutting down my words, for which I am very grateful.

2) Use tables to your advantage. Tables do NOT count towards word counts, so use them a lot if you can. Don't do it for the sake of it and have all these dodgy tables with two or three rows, but be tactful about it and use them when you can. I had a fair few tables in my lit review and didn't get penalised for it.

3) Use figure and table legends to your advantage. Again, these do NOT count towards word counts, and you can add a lot of detailed information into these. Personally, because I felt I was abusing the table hack, I didn't do this as well. But I know people who did both to great success - power to them!

4) You can pay for professional editors. I did not do this and I don't know anyone who did, but it was offered as an option on our handbook, so I thought it was worthy of a mention in this list.

You should aim to show a final draft of your lit review to your supervisors approximately 2 weeks before it's due. This gives them plenty of time to give some last-minute changes, and they'll thank you for not putting them under pressure given they probably have many other important things to do. This also gives you an opportunity to make sure you've ticked all the right boxes in the marking sheet, and to format your lit review into looking a bit nice. Include preface pages such as a Table of Contents (make sure this is automated with MS word!), a signed Declaration of Originality, a Declaration of Contributors, an Acknowledgements page, a List of Abbreviations, a List of Tables, and a List of Figures. These formalities are not only nice gestures to those who helped you along the way, but are also incredibly useful for an assessor who might be reading your lit review in chunks and/or is not overly familiar with the field. For your font, we had to use Arial 11 point with double spacing, although apparently fonts with serifs are inherently more readible. Don't be afraid to add a splash of colour to your subtitles too, nothing breaks up a page full of black text than a nice orange or blue subtitle!  Just regarding these subtitles, some of my colleagues liked to number all their headings, but I found that this often looked a little ridiculous when it got to "1.2.3.3.4 Pathogenesis of X", so I preferred to abandon such numbering and stagger the tier of my plethora of subtitles with font size and italics. It looked cleaner imo.

Once you're done and dusted with the lit review, the ever-tedious process of TurnItIn is back in play. This program... well no one likes it and no one really understands how it works. We were only allowed to submit once, and thankfully my submission was <15% which was fine. You'll often find TurnItIn picks up the most random nonsensical things (eg. your name, or page numbers), and my Faculty didn't bother inspecting a script for plagiarism unless the similarity index was >20%. Most Faculties would likely have similar policies. Once this is done, we have submission, and then freedom?

Not quite - there is still an oral presentation. Some Hons do this before the lit review is done, other do it afterwards. I did mine beforehand. Basically this oral presentation gives you the chance to talk about the field, what you've learnt, where the gaps are in the literature, and how your project will aid the field. In terms of slide content, the adage is 'less is more', only include the important details and keep your slides neat and tidy. If you haven't done oral presentations before, this may be a bit of a shock because not only do you have to present to a time limit, you also field some questions from an intimidating audience of senior researchers who have been making these presentations since before you were born. The questions can come from anyone and can be about anything. Many of my questions weren't even  directly relevant to my project... But this happens to everyone, and everyone is nervous and has some questions they answer well and others they answer less well. It's even ok to say "I don't know", better to be honest than ramble about like an idiot. The best thing you can do to prepare for this is to practice with your supervisors and ask them to be savage in asking questions, and to practice with fellow students who are going through the same thing. It's a daunting process, but also one I found to be useful in giving me ideas for my actual research project.

As with previous years, there are still the same old med soc events. For Monash med students, there is a society for research that looks after us (Medical Research Student Society) and we had a couple of boozey get-togethers to de-stress. Highly recommend keeping in touch with fellow students throughout the year, it's really important to not get isolated throughout the year. I was perhaps unlucky to be the only one at my hospital doing a BMedSc(Hons), so I would often either banter with the Melbourne MD (were my age) or Monash MBBS(Hons) students who were there, or travel to a nearby hospital to meet up with my research peers for brunch or something. Keep in touch with others, it's really important to not become a recluse during the year. And this becomes more important as the year goes on.

The last thing I'll recommend is to do other things during the research day. Research can be is stressful and can be is monotonous at times. We all need a break, and never feel guilty for stepping away for an hour or so to reflect on your progress and take your mind off things. For me, I took time off to attend teachings, teach others, and to just walk around nice Melbourne parks (maybe to also catch Pokemon on Pokemon Go  ::)). Also do things after-hours, but taking good and productive breaks during the day was something I found to be really awesome for my physical and mental well-being.

This is a tough unit, but is really only the taster for the next unit and the minor thesis :P
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on January 20, 2017, 02:49:57 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED4302 - Medical science honours research project

Workload: completely varies depending on your project, but expect to be doing fairly full-on days for 5 days a week.

Assessment:
- Department oral presentation (5%)
- Minor thesis (80%) (Hurdle)
- Faculty oral presentation (7.5%)
- Faculty poster presentation (7.5%)

Recorded Lectures: N/A.

Past exams available: N/A.

Textbook and Website Recommendation: None needed, although some choose to peruse statistics books as well as textbooks specific to their field of research as the year progresses.

Lecturer(s): N/A.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2016

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
This is the other unit as part of the "Medical Honours year" - and it's the big one. This unit is weighted as 75% for the whole BMedSc(Hons) year, while MED4301 was only 25%. So... It's a really big deal and can make or break your final grade. There's a bit less for me to say here, given everyone will have their own unique projects with their own unique challenges, but I'd like to echo some points from my previous post on MED4301, and give some other pointers where I can.

Being organised is so important. Force yourself to do little bits of the minor thesis every single day. Even if you're slaving away with your experiments or analyses and don't have results yet, you can always be refining your lit review for the 'Background' section of your minor thesis, refining your Aims and Hypotheses, or writing up your Methodology section. There are always bits you can be writing or doing. Doing these little bits will give each day some sort of rudimentary purpose, and will definitely reduce the stress coming towards the end of the semester.

When doing your experiments or analyses, just be aware that even with your careful and meticulous planning... Sometimes shit just happens. Maybe your results won't turn out they way you expected, maybe someone threw away something super important, maybe you get sick, maybe you find someone who has done your exact study but its better than yours, maybe your computer dies and you can't find your back-ups, etc etc. These things can just happen. Don't expect the unexpected, but keep it in the back of your mind that although it might be smooth sailing now, it might not be smooth sailing in 2 months time. This is why it's so important to do work as you go, because a big setback can really increase the work you have to do before submission, and if you've got large chunks of your minor thesis done and dusted, you'll be thanking yourself a lot.

If something happens, make sure "official" people are aware early: get your supervisor(s) and the faculty on board as soon as possible. I know people who had their projects completely fall apart, to the point where many of their analyses could not be performed and those that could be were massively under-powered - and that's ok. You can still score an H1 if you explain what happened and why in your minor thesis, and if you let the right "official" people know. The people marking your minor thesis know that this could be your first exposure to research, and they know research is always a bit of a gamble. Stay calm and seek support and you'll be right.

Jumping into the nitty-gritty of it all, the format of your minor thesis will be a fairly standard one that should be guided by your marking sheets. Mine was:
- Title page
- Table of contents
- Declaration of originality
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- List of tables
- List of figures
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Background (ie. altered lit review)
- Aims
- Hypotheses
- Methodology (including study design, ethics approval, data collection, statistical analysis)
- Results
- Discussion (including limitations, strengths, implications for future research)
- Conclusion
- Appendix (including actual ethics approval forms)
- References

Now some of that should look familiar from your lit review, especially the "Background" section ;) However, I would refrain from copy and pasting your lit review into this section. This is because as you progress through your project, you'll find that some parts just aren't that relevant, and you'll find that the assessors of your lit review provided some feedback. This feedback is important, because it's highly likely the same people will be marking your minor thesis, so not taking into account their feedback is a bit of a bold and arrogant move. Furthermore, you may want to cut back on some parts for the dreaded word limit. Lastly, you may also want to update your literature review with advances in the field that have happened since you submitted it, so make sure you're keeping on top of your Twitter feed or whatever else, to ensure you don't miss anything major.

The word limit of the minor thesis is set at 15,000 words, again it might have a +/- 10% leeway. Now, as I said in my MED4301 review, the word count is NEVER enough. You can use the same cheeky tactics as from the lit review to combat this word limit, but you can additionally cut from the Background section (it should still be about 40% of the minor thesis imo) and you can add excess info to the Appendix.

Just a few words of advice on some of the sections. The Aims and Hypotheses might also need updating from your "ideal" ones you had in your lit review. Don't feel bad about chucking some out, or adding some, that's all part of the scientific process. Ensure your Aims and Hypotheses are specific and address what you actually did or tried to do. Some of my colleagues included a "global aim" and a "global hypothesis", I didn't really think that floated my boat, but it's a fair idea if it matches your project.

Your Methodology section should be so detailed and clear, that someone could literally repeat your project. You may have read over a hundred papers at this point and each has a detailed methodology section, yours needs to be MORE detailed than that. This can take a few thousand words. Use figures and flow-charts to your advantage here to demonstrate pieces of equipment or patient selection protocols, or whatever else. Ensure it's crystal clear. Furthermore, don't forget about ethics and a section on statistics, these little things earn you those hidden marks. 

The Results section should be concise. I actually got marked down from both my assessors, fortunately not enough to keep me from that sweet H1, for having a verbose and lengthy Results section. Ideally, your tables and figures should be relevant, and there should be a matter-of-fact tone about the section where you're just stating this and that, without delving into what it means at all. Your Results should follow a logical order, and that might be dictated by your Aims and Hypotheses (*hint hint*). You may need some help with the Results section, particularly with the stats, and you should get that organised EARLY. The resident statistician isn't sitting in his/her office waiting for the lowly Hons student to come knocking - they're serving the whole Clinical School and are busy. You need to make an early appointment and be polite and patient. Their advice is very valuable and you're lucky to get it free of charge!

Your Discussion shouldn't be a surprise for your assessor, it should naturally make sense from reading the the preceding parts of the minor thesis. Having said that, that doesn't mean your Discussion should be bland and boring - this is your chance to really let the assessor know why your project was worth spending a year on. The core of your Discussion should answer "why should I care about this project?" in the assessor's mind. The only way to answer that question for the assessor, is by answering it for yourself first. For some, that might be easier than others, and writing this section is arguably the most important and hardest thing you're going to do in the year. You need to think a LOT about what you're going to write here and how you're going to do it. Remember to think broadly, and don't jump to one conclusion. There are often multiple reasons why something could be what you've found, so explore these things. Think outside the box.

(http://i65.tinypic.com/3492bk2.png)

Some suggest the rule of thumb that the Discussion should be as long as the Background - personally I disagree. I don't think it needs to be that long at all. If your project lends itself to a 3,000-4,000 word discussion naturally, then go for it, but many people I know had a more truncated discussion at around 2,000-3,000 words. The old adage of "quality over quantity" strikes again. Personally I erred on the lengthy side for my Background instead, just because I expected at least one of my assessors to know absolutely nothing about my field of study.

The Conclusion is pretty self-explanatory. It should answer the Introduction, so much so, that if someone only read those two paragraphs, they'd get the gist of your project. Having this sort of readability is really important, because it's the expected standard.

Just as with the lit review, the deadlines in this unit always appear far away, but are here before you know it. Hence, I cannot stress enough, do a bit every day. EVERY SINGLE DAY. Keep your supervisor in the loop, while you're working on the Results, maybe they can be giving your feedback on your Methodology, and so forth. Again, chunking it for them to correct is good for you and good for you. It's a win-win. Use your discussions with your supervisor to bounce ideas regarding the actual Discussion section of the thesis - they're the ones who know the overall field well and have the experience, and their thoughts are very valuable. But at the end of the day, the ideas are supposed to come from you, so you really need to be thinking often and deeply about your project during this unit. Like the lit review, you should aim to to be done with it 2 weeks before it's due with one eye on the marking sheet; the same TurnItIn crap still happens too.

Now let's take a step back. Remember that graph I had in my MED4301 review? Remember where that highest stress peak was? Yup, nearing minor thesis submission. Therefore I cannot emphasise this advice enough:
The last thing I'll recommend is to do other things during the research day. Research can be is stressful and can be is monotonous at times. We all need a break, and never feel guilty for stepping away for an hour or so to reflect on your progress and take your mind off things. For me, I took time off to attend teachings, teach others, and to just walk around nice Melbourne parks (maybe to also catch Pokemon on Pokemon Go  ::)). Also do things after-hours, but taking good and productive breaks during the day was something I found to be really awesome for my physical and mental well-being.
You need to be in top physical and mental shape to cope with everything that is happening, and that sort of fitness comes from endeavors away from the project. It's important and you'll thank yourself for it once you've hit that submission button.

Once your minor thesis is done and dusted (yay, congrats!), there are a few other bits and bobs to take care of. In light of the minor thesis, these are going to seem like child's play, but it's important to still give them your all and end on a high note. There are two more oral presentations, each being very similar to the one you did last semester. Again, you'll get some nice questions and some hard random ones, just be honest and back yourself, and you should be fine. You've done this before, and you can do it again.

The other bit that's new is the poster. Now they aren't kidding when they say 'poster', this is a big piece of paper - 120cm x 90cm. The poster should outline what you've done in the year. It needs to be concise. I almost copied my Abstract into the poster, and then added some relevant figures and illustrated a few of my points. In retrospect, this worked well, but perhaps I still had a bit too much text. Even at size 31 font, it was probably a little too much, and the assessors made a comment to that effect as well. You won't just be making the poster though, you'll be presenting it. So sacrifice some text on the poster and replace it with spoken words is probably my advice. Again, you can get some questions from the 2-3 assessors that come to see your presentation, but I found these questions to be a lot more general and fairer. This is the last time you'll have to tell someone why what you did matters, so make it count :)

With all of that said, the unit comes to a close, usually with a few Faculty drinks and a more boozey party later on. Having finished a few months ago now, I've had a good chance to reflect on my year. I've got to say - it's an incredibly rewarding year to be involved in. I was so lucky to have amazing support from my supervisor and co-supervisor, amazing company from the local Melbourne MD2s (thanks for the farewell presentation and gifts!) and Monash MBBS(Hons) Year 3s (thanks for the card and chocolates!), and amazing fun along the way! The process of delving deeply into a certain area of medicine, essentially becoming an expert about something, is a really wonderful and rewarding experience. I definitely had some doubts coming into the year, not knowing what to expect or not knowing how I'd cope, but I'm really glad I did the year because I feel like I gained an incredible amount from it. You'll find most students who complete the BMedSc(Hons) also echo my sentiments, it's quite a remarkable opportunity to have and I am very lucky to have made the cut to be part of it.

So, what's next? After completing the year, many start to think about publications and maybe future research. I'm working on all of the jazz right now, so can't speak to how difficult that may be until I'm done with it, but it's another unique learning process. I've already presented a poster outside of the course, but maybe I'll be lucky enough to present at a conference too. Some of my colleagues needed to do a few more experiments in order to have results suitable for publication, but most people will find their place in a journal somewhere if they try hard enough. This is the advantage of having a research year over a smaller scholarly elective (from the Melbourne MD or new Monash MD), there's just more time to do things which often results in more meaningful work. But hopefully before you start doing more work, you reward your efforts with a cheeky trip overseas or something, I can confirm Hawaii and South East Asia are still nice this time of the year ;)

(http://i63.tinypic.com/1zqai5x.png)

To anyone considering taking a BMedSc(Hons), I can't recommend it enough. You'll have a very different year compared to your other medical years, but it'll be an educational, enjoyable, and rewarding year in any case. Good luck! :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Coffee on June 05, 2017, 09:20:47 pm
Subject Code/name: ATS1903 - Introducing literature: Ways of reading

Workload: 1x1 hour tutorial, 1x1 hour on-campus lecture, 1x1 hour online lecture

Assessment:
- Written exercise (15%)
- Essay (30%)
- Class participation (15%)
- Exam (40%)

Recorded lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: No.

Textbook recommendation:
- Unit Reader
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Lecturer(s): Dr. Sascha Morrell, and various others.

Year and semester of completion: Semester 1, 2017

Rating: 3/5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments:
Content
ATS1903 is an introduction to Literature, and reading and analysing Literature. You study several texts from a variety of genres, and in different forms. The texts included:
- The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe
- A Birthday by Christina Rossetti
- The Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin
- Admonition by John Forbes
- Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
- Various poems; 100 from five centuries.
- Short stories by Katherine Mansfield (Bliss, The Garden Party, and The Fly)
- Hamlet by William Shakespeare
- Short stories by Jorge Louis Borges (The South and The Book of Sand)

Alongside these texts you will also read literary theory and criticism found inside the Unit Reader.

Lectures
The lectures are a bit of a hit or miss. The lectures on Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, and Borges were semi-useful, the others not so much. The important thing to keep in mind is this: The lectures, and the readings are not cohesive, or informative enough for you to do well. If you want to do well, you will need to do a lot of research in your own time.

Assessment
The previous reviews for ATS1903 mention that it was quite easy to get away with not doing all the readings. This wasn’t quite the case in 2017, however.

Written Exercise
This is the first assignment, and is worth 15%. It’s based on the introductory readings for the unit. You write on one text only, and you write a short, close-analysis essay. If you’re familiar with VCE Literature, you’re good to go. If not, I’d recommend getting in touch with your tutor to run through some things.

Research Essay
The essay is worth 30%. You write on one of Great Expectations, Hamlet, or Katherine Mansfield’s short stories. This is not a close-analysis essay, but a much more general one, like a VCE English text response essay, but with the addition of literary theory and criticism. Keep in mind, whichever text you choose for this assignment you cannot do in the exam. So, be strategic!

Exam
The exam is worth 40%, and is closed-book. The exam is 2 hours, and consists of four sections; A, B, C, and D.

Section A tests your understanding of literary techniques which have popped up in lectures. So, be sure to go over these!

Section B is a two-paragraph response to a prompt on either Mansfield, Dickens, or Shakespeare. As I mentioned before, you cannot write on the text you wrote on for your Research Essay.

Section C is a short essay response to one sonnet, which is provided in the exam paper. It’s a close-analysis, and if you’re at all familiar with the format of VCE Literature exams, it looks like that.

Section D is on Borges. You’re given three prompts, from which you choose one to write on.

Overall
This is an introductory unit. If you’ve studied VCE Literature, you will most likely breeze through it. That’s not to say you don’t need to try, you still need to put in the effort, but it certainly helps coming in with a knowledge of literary techniques, how to analyse texts, etc. If you haven’t done VCE Literature, that doesn’t mean this unit isn’t for you. A lot of the people I spoke with didn’t do VCE Literature, but they did struggle. My advice is, if you’re not familiar with VCE Literature, speak with your tutor to go over what is expected of you, and pay attention to lectures. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Read over some essays, either from VCE assessor reports, or from the VCE Literature board on ATAR Notes.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Glasses on June 17, 2017, 05:17:27 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW1111 - Foundations of Law

Workload: 2x 2 hour lectures per week.

Assessment:
- Closed-book Multiple Choice Test [assesses first four topics] (20%).
- Written Assignment/Court Report (30%).
- Library Research Quiz (5%).
- Take-home Exam (45%).

Recorded Lectures: Only chief examiners' lectures recorded (w/ screen capture).

Past exams available: Yes.

Textbook Recommendation: Realistically, you can get by without any of the prescribed textbooks; however I would recommend buying at least the custom Foundations of Law textbook if you want to do well on the multiple-choice test, and because it has some information that is 'assumed knowledge' in your other law units.

Lecturer(s): Ross Hyams (chief-examiner).

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 1.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA.

Comments: I found this unit to be relatively enjoyable (at times), but more importantly, a good introduction to studying law. You learn essential skills and information (especially legal research skills) for your other law units, and of course for future legal practice.

The first assessment you complete is the multiple choice test which you complete on your laptop, in class. If you study up on it and went to/took notes in lectures, you should be fine. The written assignment/court report is actually pretty fun, but make sure you know what you're doing is what's required; i.e. carefully read the instructions/FAQs/etc. The library research quiz is fairly/very easy - it's open-book, you have a week to complete it and can get into it and close it as many times as you want. The exam was probably the hardest assessment task for this unit. You have four days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday) to complete it at home and it's open-book - however, the word limits can be a massive pain. It's also important that you plan out your answer(s) and if everything's doesn't 'click' immediately upon reading the paper, don't stress; read it again, annotate it, think about it, look at relationships, etc. It can take some time for you to fully understand how to go about completing the exam.

I thought Ross Hyams (my lecturer) was great; he's very knowledgeable and conducts his lectures in a tutorial-like format, so they're quite interactive.

Some topics within the unit can be quite dry (e.g. legal writing conventions), however since the unit is compulsory, you've just got to push through.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on June 21, 2017, 04:35:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC1011- Physiology I

Workload: 
- 3x1 hour lectures/week (20 content lectures and the rest are revision/workshop style tutorials- lectures generally don’t run for this unit past week 10).
- 1x3 hour problem based learning workshop
- 2x3 hour pracs
- 1x3 hour oral presentation session
- 2 library tutorials/workshops 1.5-2 hours in length

Assessment:
-   Oral Presentation: 10%
-   Practicals and Problem based learning: 15% combined- 5% each
-   Essay (on the same topic as oral presentation): 10%
-   Quizzes: 10% (There’s 6 in total)
-   Active learning/Clicker questions: 5%
-   2 hour exam: 50%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, but doesn’t matter from next semester anyways ::)

Textbook Recommendation:
Recommended: Human Physiology: An integrated approach- Silverthorn; Human Physiology- Fox; Vander’s Human Physiology- Widmaier
Is it needed? Not really, although the Fox textbook got me through the first few weeks when I borrowed it (due to my lack of knowledge in the biology department).

Lecturer(s):
-   Cells, Tissues, Organs and Systems; Genes to proteins; Nervous System: Dr Jen Short
-   Membranes; Endocrinology: Dr Betty Exintaris
-   Cardiovascular System: A/Prof Paul White

Year & Semester of completion:
2017/Semester 1

Rating: 5 out of 5

Comments:
As this is a core/compulsory unit for the PharmSci degree, I really can’t say anything much. Although, this was probably one of my favourite units this semester. All three of the lecturers were extremely engaging and highly motivated and just generally made this unit fun.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on June 21, 2017, 04:59:27 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC1021- Bioorganic and medicinal chemistry I

Workload:
-   2x1 hour lectures/week
-   5x3 hour labs
-   3x3 hour computer labs
-   6x1 hour tutorials

Assessment:
-   Mid-Semester test: 10%
-   Tutorials
     o      Combined: 10%
     o      Individual: 2% each
-   Labs and computer labs: 15%
-   Active learning/clicker questions: 5%
-   3 hour exam: 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, however may no longer be available from next semester :)

Textbook Recommendation: 
Recommended, but not required: Introduction to Organic Chemistry- Brown and Poon; VTOC (Virtual Textbook of Organic Chemistry)- link provided on Moodle.

Lecturer(s):
-   Chemical Structure and Bonding: Bim Graham
-   Alkanes and Cycloalkanes; Alkenes and Alkynes; and Chirality: Phil Thompson
-   Haloalkanes; Alcohols, Ethers, Thiols; Benzene and its derivatives; Spectroscopy and Pharmaceutical analysis: Roland Chung

Year & Semester of completion:
2017/Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Comments:
Again, a core PharmSci unit, however, I found remembering all the different reaction pathways and all the reagents fairly difficult to begin with. I’d definitely recommend reading the VTOC and attempting all the tute questions, whether they are assessable or not. If Bim still takes the first topic, definitely recommend going to his lectures, just for his balloons. :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on June 21, 2017, 05:25:39 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC1031- Physical Chemistry I

Workload:
-   2x 1 hour lectures/week
-   10x 2 hour labs
-   6x 1 hour tutorials (+1 prep one every other week)
-   3x 1 hour mathematics workshops
-   1x 1.5 hour computer lab

Assessment:
-   Practical test: 10%
-   Tutorials: 15%
-   Acid-Base Equilibria test: 10%
-   Lab reports: 10% (computer lab isn’t assessed)
-   Active learning/clicker questions: 5%
-   3 hour exam: 50%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, however may no longer be available from next semester :)

Textbook Recommendation: 
Recommended, but not essential (although I did buy this one): Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight- Atkins. Brilliant for preparation and extra questions on topics.

Lecturer(s):
-   Unit Conversions; Ionic Equilibria; Thermodynamics; Phase Equilibria; Chemical Kinetics: Dr. Elizabeth Yuriev
-   Acid-Base Equilibria: Dr. Richard Prankerd

Year & Semester of completion:
2017/Semester 1

Rating: 5 out of 5


Comments:
Another core PharmSci unit, this one required the most work. Although it was hard yakka, Elizabeth was really engaging and Dr. Prankerd was really enthusiastic about his topic. The unit ran smoothly and I loved the maths workshops, they made understanding some of the concepts a lot easier. The case studies were quite interesting and made a nice little touch to the unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: K888 on June 21, 2017, 07:18:49 pm
Subject Code/Name: PTY1011 - Physiotherapy I

Workload:
- 6 x 1 hour lectures per week
- 1 x 2 hour lecture per week
- 2 x 1.5 hour CBLs (case based learning) per week - Monday mornings (part 1) & Friday afternoons (part 2)
- 2 x 2 hour physiotherapy pracs per week
- 1 x 2 hour anatomy prac per week
- 1 x 2 hour self-directed physiotherapy prac per week
- 3 x 2 hour online simulated Physiology lab (spaced out during the semester)
- 1 x 1 hour seminar per week
This was variable over the semester, but reasonably consistent.

Assessment:
Attendance hurdle - 80% at pracs & CBL, you must also be a patient for the 2nd year OSCEs during end of semester assessment
Professional attributes hurdle - you have to demonstrate professional behaviour in communication (written and verbal) with staff
You must also pass every summative assessment  to pass the unit

Formative:
- Skills Mastery checklist
- Reflective portfolio (total 1,600 words, broken up into smaller tasks)
- Online learning tasks

Summative
- Anatomy mid-semester assessment (2.5%)
- Anatomy end of semester assessment (2.5%)
- Physiology quizzes (several spread through the semester) (5%)
- Research quizzes (5%)
- IPE quizzes (5%)
- CBL learning & performance (10%)
- IPE essay - understanding diversity in beliefs about health (2000 words) (5%)
- IPE report - action to address the determinants of health (2,500 words) (10%)
- Group video assignment - team building (done with the OT students) (5%)
- End of semester OSCE (15%)
- End of semester exam - 3 hours (35%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: One, provided by faculty staff later in the semester. None available online.

Textbook Recommendation:
- Brukner & Khan's Clinical Sports Medicine *** (This is the most useful book I've ever purchased. If you only buy one book for the semester, let it be this one. They don't call it the Physio Bible for nothing ;))
- Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy (I found this useful and helpful, however I do believe there are other anatomy books that may potentially be better - it's based on personal preference)
- Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy (recommended if you like to see diagrams & pictures of stuff, and it's definitely useful for when you're studying anatomy)
- Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach (Some of the explanations can get a bit wordy, but it's very helpful when revising physiology. Not a must-buy, but worth considering)
- Musculoskeletal Assessment: Joint Motion & Muscle Testing (This one isn't so vital, but I found useful to revise techniques learnt in prac & revise for my OSCE. You could potentially, however, just watch videos online & achieve the same thing)
- Other useful texts: Levangie & Norkin's Joint Structure & Function (Readily available in the library iirc so no need to buy, but this is an ace biomechanics resource, although a little complex) and Eizenberg's General Anatomy: Principles & Applications (this one is good for understanding the principles behind anatomy, and provides a simple, short explanation of things)

Lecturer(s): Variable, depending on the content being delivered

Year & Semester of completion: 2017 - Semester 1

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Comments:
There are 5 themes in PTY1011:
Theme 1: Personal & Professional Development
Theme 2: Population, Society & Health (this is covered in a "semi-separate" unit - IPE1011, undertaken with 1st year OT students, but it is integrated with the course)
Theme 3: Fundamental Knowledge of Health Sciences (basically the theory you cover for anatomy, physiology & physio theory)
Theme 4: Applied Practice (this is essentially pracs)
Theme 5: Research

First year physiotherapy covers musculoskeletal physiotherapy. In PTY1011, the area of study is the lower limb, so all of your CBL, anatomy, physio theory & pracs relate to this.
Essentially, what you end up doing is CBL, anatomy, physio theory, physiology, research, and personal & professional development (this is the 1 hour seminar).
The teaching staff are mostly phenomenal. They're all enthusiastic about what they do and what they teach, almost every member of the teaching staff is a physiotherapist, save for some anatomy staff. This unit taught me so much and has affirmed my desire to be a physiotherapist.
The workload is quite full-on at times, and you are at uni 5 days a week, but it's definitely manageable. For the most part, the unit is interesting & engaging.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on June 21, 2017, 07:25:37 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC1041- Scientific Inquiry

Workload:
-   2x 1 hour lectures/week
-   3x 2 hour workshops (one being optional)

Assessment:
-   Scientific Method Assignment: 10%
-   Hypothesis assignment: 20%
-   Statistics assignment: 10%
-   Library Quiz: 5%
-   Active learning/clicker questions: 5%
-   2 hour exam: 50%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  One, however may no longer be available from next semester :)

Textbook Recommendation: 
None prescribed and/or recommended. :)

Lecturer(s):
-   Scientific Method and Theory: Paul White
-   Hypotheses, mathematics, and scientific integrity: Angus Johnston
-   Statistics: John Haynes
-   Several guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion:
2017/Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5


Comments:
Core unit, but had some interesting aspects to it. John Haynes is probably the funniest realist I’ve ever have had the pleasure to listen to. The unit was very thought provoking, and most assessments relied on what I thought, not someone else’s idea- a different kind of unit to the others I’ve done this semester. Definitely don’t recommend viewing the eye surgery video shown in one of the “showcase” lectures, that was a bit gross.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: K888 on June 21, 2017, 07:54:52 pm
Subject Code/Name: IPE1011 - Foundations of health in primary clinical care

Workload:
- 1 x 1 hour lecture per week
- 1 x 2 hour tutorial per week

Assessment:
Attendance hurdle - 80% attendance at tutorials is required
Essay - understanding diversity in beliefs about health (2,000 words) (25%)
Report - action to address the determinants of health (2,500 words) (35%)
Examination - for physio students, questions are incorporated into the 3 hour PTY1011 exam, for OT students it is a 2 hour exam (20%)
Tutorial preparation (quizzes) & participation (20%)
(Percentage contribution is the same for physio & OT students, however as it is integrated in the PTY1011 course and studied as a separate unit in the OT course, percentages are adjusted for PTY1011 students)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: One, made available on Moodle sometime in the last few weeks of semester

Textbook Recommendation: None

Lecturer(s): Dr Karen Richards & other guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: 2017 - Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Comments:
This unit covers some similar material to the VCE subject Health & Human Development (determinants of health, etc.). It can be dry, but the lecturer is enthusiastic & extremely nice, and the content is not too difficult or fast-paced.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on June 22, 2017, 03:32:55 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1310 - Extreme Earth! Natural Hazards and Human Vulnerability

Workload:  2x1hr lectures per week, 1x2hr practical for 9/12 weeks

Assessment:
- 10% Short Essay (500 words, due week 3)
- 40% Major Essay (2000 words, due week 8 )
- 20% Practical exercises (due in at the end of each prac session)
- 30% Exam (2 hours, closed book)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, two (2015 and 2016 exam) without answers, although from what I understand, there won't be any past exams made available next year

Textbook Recommendation:  Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk & Reducing Disaster 6ed by K Smith - probably can get away without having it; most of the necessary diagrams from it are included in the lecture slides, although it goes into greater detail and has some extra information not presented in lectures about the social science

Lecturer(s):  Dr Megan Farrelly and a number of guest lecturers from the School of EAE (Prof Nigel Tapper, A Prof David Dunkerley, Dr Vanessa Wong, Prof Michael Reeder)

Year & Semester of completion:  2017, Semester 1

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Comments: I know this subject already has a review for it, but I thought it might be good to have a more updated review, since some of the information and assessments seem to have changed a bit.

As was stated in the previous review, this is simply geography, human and physical. For the majority of weeks in the semester, the first lecture was presented by a guest lecturer from the School of Earth, Atmosphere & Environment who explained the science behind a certain natural hazard (eg. flood, hurricanes, storms, drought, extreme heat). Then, the second lecture was presented by Megan (unit co-ordinator) who discussed the social science of what made the hazard a 'disaster' - things like why certain groups of people are more vulnerable than others, how people recover from disasters and how they adapt/protect themselves for the future.

Prac classes are a mixture of group and individual work. Usually, prac classes working alone will be using ArcGIS/ArcMap on the computer and using the software to answer written questions. When you do group work, you will usually have to do a small presentation at the end of the class showing what you have researched/learned. Pracs are generally easy marks, and you don't really have to be confident with the lecture material when you have your prac class, although being up to date is never a bad idea. (Also, you don’t play Pandemic anymore, as stated in the other review)

The short essay is about one specific natural disaster you choose to research (eg. Black Saturday, Hurricane Katrina). The major essay has 10 topics to choose from, so there should be something to suit everyone. It's 2000 words and worth 40% of the overall unit mark (more than the exam!), so it's best not to leave it to the last minute and be rushing with referencing or finding extra information. The exam was two hours and closed book. It was split into two parts: the first was short-answer questions; the second had 6 questions, of which you had to choose three to write a mini-essay. It was pretty similar to the past exams (which is a shame, because I believe they aren't being made available in coming years), however you just need to have some knowledge of the case studies used in lectures and know one or two really well to use in the essays.

Overall, a great unit. Not too demanding in terms of work load, you get to learn a lot of new information about different parts of the world from case studies and some areas (extreme heat events, climate change) are quite relevant to our world right now!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on June 22, 2017, 03:41:07 pm
Subject Code/Name: EAE1011 - Earth, Atmosphere and Environment 1

Workload:  3x1hr lectures per week, 1x3hr lab per week (most times it finished 30mins-1hr early)

Assessment:
- 30% Weekly lab classes (quizzes and written work)
- 10% Fieldwork (2 1/2 day fieldtrip on a weekend in March/April or a 1 day fieldtrip in May)
- 10% Major assignment (self-run group fieldtrip to the city)
- 50% Exam (2 hours, closed book)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past or sample exams. About 30 practice multiple-choice questions online with no answers.

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required for this subject!

Lecturer(s):  Marion Anderson and a couple of guest lecturers from the School of EAE

Year & Semester of completion:  2017, Semester 1

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Comments:  This is the second year that EAE1011 had been offered as a subject. Supposedly, it combines elements from ESC1011 (keltingmeith's review), ESC1022, ATS1301 and MON1011, which aren't being run anymore.

This unit is a good introduction to the options that can be taken in second and third year. It touches on a number of topics, such as earth processes, cycles, minerals, rocks, our atmosphere, the solar system and the evolution/progress of life on Earth. There is a lot of information given in lectures, so be sure to pay extra attention to the review lectures, because the most important information is repeated in them.

Labs can be pretty fun. They usually run for 2-3 hours. Timetables have them scheduled for 3 hours, but in the 2017 handbook, it says they are 2 hours. Each one is somewhat related to the lecture content from the past few weeks. Often, there'll be actual rock/mineral/asteroid samples to look at, which is pretty awesome (especially the asteroids), and in one lab you go out into the rock garden to identify rocks. 3-4 of the labs are based solely on rocks and minerals, which I didn't really enjoy as I wasn't understanding the rock content in lectures. The demonstrators are all lovely and willing to help. Labs are assessed either by an online quiz based on questions answered during the lab, or by some kind of written work handed in then or one week later.

The fieldwork component was quite fun. You get a choice of two fieldtrips: either a weekend (Fri evening - Sun) trip to Rawson (near Moe), or a one day weekend trip to the You Yangs. I went on Rawson and had a great time. It gives you an idea of the kinds of work you may be doing in this field for a job, like recording weather observations, looking at rock outcrops and how they formed, and soil environments. The report you do is handed in before you leave, so you complete it all while you're there. With the You Yangs trip, you get about a week to finish your work and hand it in.

The major assignment is a group task (3-5 people) where you go into the city and answer questions about different environments. Easter was in the middle of April in 2017, so this assignment was handed out at a great time, because there was time to do it during the mid-semester break. There are heaps of questions, so towards the end my group was getting tired and just wanting to finish. It was cool to learn some new things about Melbourne, but just doing all the questions out there got frustrating as the day went on.

The exam is 2 hours, closed book and made up of multiple choice and short answer questions. It was frustrating to not have any full practice exams and answers for the exam, however the subject is quite new. Not too bad, just difficult to study for due to the huge amount of content learnt throughout the semester. Overall, a pretty good unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: AngelWings on June 22, 2017, 11:09:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: BIO3011 - RESEARCH METHODS IN BIOLOGY 

Workload:
2 x 1 hr lecture
1 x 3 hr lab (recorded)

Assessment:
Assignment x 3 (13.33% x 3)
Theory Exam (35%)
Practical Exam (25%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture (same with labs)

Past exams available:  Yes, theory exam has 1 sample, practical exam has 2.

Textbook Recommendation:
See this. There are about 10 more, mostly PDFs or available in that form via the library. You will probably not need to read any of them, but you will need to have a device compatible with R and R Studio.

Lecturer(s):
Dr Chris Johnstone
Associate Professor Carla Sgro
Dr Tim Connallon
Danielle Annese (not lecturer, but lab technician who runs all the admin areas of BIO3011 and deserved a good mention.)
 
Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2017

Rating: 5 out of 5

Comments:
Note: I did not take any statistics units before this one and asked for permission to join this unit. My only prior experience in statistics was in high school.
Lectures
The lectures are divided into two sections and only run on roughly nine weeks, with all other lecture slots being used for question sessions. On the first week, they'll tell you to download the statistics program, R, and R Studio. This is compulsory.
Weeks 1 - 6: Experimental Design, Data Analysis and Basic R Coding Chris and Carla take these weeks. The lectures are really tutorials. The content may seem dry, but it's a case of 'what must be done, gets done', especially because most biology majors (presumably, if you're doing this unit) aren't good with computers or math.
Weeks 8 - 11: Modelling in Biology Tim takes this section and this is the harder section of the unit, especially if you haven't seen derivatives since Methods or done any population genetics/ ecology for a while. Parts of it are calculus, but applied in biology (typically genetics). Similar to Chris and Carla, it's mostly just the utmost basics and extra interesting information on modelling.

Labs
This is where the majority of the learning goes, so if you have to choose one day a week to go to uni, go to this. The labs are recorded like 3 hr lectures and require you to use R.
Weeks 1 - 6: Experimental Design, Data Analysis and Basic R Coding Carla takes the first few weeks and Chris does the next few. Weeks 4 and 5 are the heaviest in content and run quickly, so it would be best if you read the practical manual before you attend. You are given the Week 6 lab to do Assignment 2.
Weeks 8 - 11: Modelling in Biology Tim talks through some math and examples here, but he ensures that it's never all that difficult; simple algebra is enough. In Week 8, it's on using R to generate graphs and derivatives. Weeks 9 - 11 are based mostly on understanding 4 different models and their equilibria.

Assignments
Assignment 1: Basic Statistical Analyses You write statistical analyses, results and generate some simple graphs. If you are lazy, you can wait for the code to be given, but that means you'll have more to learn come the next assignment and practical exam, so pick your poison wisely.
Assignment 2: Write a Scientific Paper Simply enough, you must complete the risk assessment, do an experiment on the prompt, do the appropriate analyses on R and submit an entire report. It's best not to leave this to the last minute and you should have a good group and sample. Don't over-complicate your experiment.
Assignment 3: Use of Modelling in Biology The brunt of it is your mathematical and writing abilities. Don't forget to explain and show your working for this, as this is where people lose marks.

Exams (both during exam period)
Theory Exam Tests all weeks, primarily on Chris and Carla's content. Closed book.
Practical Exam Tests only the first half of the semester. Open book/ can bring in USBs with whatever you like on them. Computer based, held where your practicals are held. You must sign for a session. Make a table sometime throughout semester of the different tests, codes and assumptions to avoid a lot of stress and ensure you choose a session early to avoid disappointment.

Other
Chris is super dedicated to this unit and if you ever run into any problems, he's always more than willing to help (so much so that he looked absolutely exhausted juggling the Assignment 2 consultations with his newborn child and his usual research work in Week 7 and was running on caffeine), so I appreciate his efforts. You'll notice that he types his emails and Moodle posts as if he's speaking, including the discourse particles (i.e. 'um's and 'ah's) and always answers fairly quickly. Tim, likewise, doesn't shy away from giving you detailed explanations if you ask him questions and gives pretty good hints after it seems you don't get it. The TAs are just as willing and helpful. Most of the time, it's because you have issues with your code or computer and they'll fix this with an explanation as to where you went wrong. They're also all cool people to talk to in general or if you're into research (which you probably are, since it's one of the Biological Sciences Honours prerequisites).
This is a chill, well-run and comprehensive unit and would definitely recommend this to any biological science major-intending student. My only negative comments are that the practical manual is not bookmarked and Assignment 2's hectic nature (which it always was going to be). It's probably been my favourite unit so far in my degree. Like Chris says at the start, if you have never encountered R, this is going to be a huge learning curve for you, but if you listen and ask questions, then you'll fare well.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: AngeRay on July 03, 2017, 09:19:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1325 - Contemporary Worlds 1 

Workload: One 2.5 hour lecture followed by one 1 hour tutorial. Expected that you read the textbook and reader pages at home before attending the lecture.

Assessment:  Annotated Bibliography (hurdle), 1000 word comparative document analysis worth 20%, 1500 word research essay worth 40%, tutorial participation (engaging in class) worth 10%

Recorded Lectures:  Caulfield audio only

Past exams available:  None that I could see

Textbook Recommendation:  International History of the 20th Century and Beyond, costs $65, half the readings are from here. The other half come from the Unit Reader ($19) which is necessary. The textbook can be found and copied from in the library.

Lecturer(s): Alastair Thompson, very engaging lecturer.

Year & Semester of completion: Offered first semester at Caulfield and Clayton

Rating: 2 out of 5

Comments: Tutor didn't seem to know what was going on as much as really needed. Always ran out of time to go over classwork. Assessments weren't given any explanation and they just sort of expected you to know how it worked straight out.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Sine on July 05, 2017, 09:44:43 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1011 Biomedical Chemistry

Workload: 3 x 1 hour lectures per week, 1 x 3 hour tutorial per week

Assessment:

-Small Group Sessions (19%)
-Directed Learning Activities (DLA) (4%)
-Professional Development (2%)
-Mid Semester Test (15%) 
-Exam (60%)

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: None. Although practice questions were available for both the MST and end of semester exam. We also received a list of questions that other students had created.

Textbook Recommendation:

-Prescribed Texts:
Introduction to Organic Chemistry, 5th Ed (2013) Brown & Poon. Principles of Biochemistry (Lehninger), 6th Ed, (2012) or 7th Ed (2017) Nelson & Cox.

-Recommended texts:
Introduction to Organic Chemistry & Biochemistry, 10th Ed, (2012) Bettelheim et al. Biochemistry, 7th Ed, (2011) Campbell & Farrell.
You don’t need any of these texts, I had the prescribed texts but never used them during the whole semester. The lecture notes are more than enough to complete all the assessments and do well.

Lecturer(s):
-Dr Ian Fraser (Structure of Biological Macromolecules, 11 lectures)
-Associate Professor Jackie Wilce (Proteins: Structure and Mechanism of Action, 6 lectures)
-Dr Nirma Samarawickrema (Metabolic Release of Energy/Synthesis of Macromolecules, 11 lectures)

Year & Semester of Completion: 2017, Semester 1

Rating: 5/5

Your Grade/Mark: TBA

Comments:
The unit was subdivided into 4 sections (A,B,C and D). Section A –Structure of Biological Macromolecules consisted of 10 lectures, which was basically organic chemistry, along with a revision lecture. This portion of the unit was relatively simple considering I had completed MUEP Chemistry during year 12. For others chirality was probably the toughest topic for students to understand. The revision lecture consisted of the lecturer going through practice questions for the MST which were indicative of the MST difficulty. Ian made lectures relatively interesting (compared to other lecturers) by making nice links between the content and real life. We were told that for this section was predominately application based which it was; you were able to derive each answer logically. Section B- Proteins: Structure and Mechanism of Action was 6 fairly mundane lectures consisting of basically proteins and then more specifically enzymes. Lectures were boring however usually ended early. Section C and D consisted of 11 lecturers, this was definitely the toughest portion of the unit although the most interesting section as most concepts were related to everyday life or clinical situations. Section C consisted of metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates to produce energy. Section D was about the processes utilised when there was an abundance of energy e.g. gluconeogenesis. Any marks that I lost on the exam were most likely from the last 2 sections.

Small group sessions:
Was basically tutorials which occur each week for 3 hours which included a worksheet or a class case study, although most weeks you could leave after 1 or 2 hours if you had completed the worksheet or the class had completed the case study. Each week of work is 1% other than week 11 where in which we completed an essay (outside of class) which was worth 8%. For worksheets, we could discuss answers with other students along with the tutor making it relatively easy to score well. The worksheets we had for Section A were quite good in covering the main concepts taught in lecturers. For section B the work was often too specific to be that helpful and mostly consisted of some MCQs and short answer. Section C and D often included clinical case studies which were very boring to get through. The marking scheme for this was 50% for participation and 50% for a MCQ sheet at the end (in exam conditions – although often broken). Keep in mind each case study is still only worth 1% overall. Each case study included heaps of questions and we would answer them for participation marks. These weren’t helpful for exam study.  The MCQ sheet was regurgitation of the general idea of the case study and was doable if you had paid attention and were somewhat indicative of exam style MCQ’s.

Essay:
An essay was a part of the assessment – being worth 8% and a word limit of 1500. My essay ended up being 1640-1650 (you can go 10% plus/minus). The Great Metabolic Race as they called it, was where we were required to outline the metabolic processes at rest, at 5 mins and 45 mins into a race. It was very easy to get all the details required (all can be found on the lecture slides or online), which were reactants products and the enzyme required for every reaction in the process. You weren’t exactly forced to speak about every reaction but I was able to fit it in. The hardest part was probably to decided where in your essay you wanted to mention certain processes. For me and most of my friends marking was very fair (if not lenient) with most people scoring 90%+. One of my friends got 100% so it’s possible. The essay was great to review section C of the lectures.

DLAs:
There were 6 DLA’s, these were small online quizzes which consisted of some MCQ ranging from roughly 5 to 10 or some fill in the blank style questions. We generally got a week to input our answers online however the questions were all available from day 1 in the workbook which was given during the first lecture but could also be found online. These were also quite straightforward to do well in. Most people would double/triple check (commonly known as collusion) with friends so it wasn’t uncommon for students to full mark all of them. Ironically the people who completed them early generally did worse because less information was out. For example, DLA 4 around a 1/6th of the cohort completed it before the content was covered in lecturers. The lecturers had a slight difference (NADH produces 2.5ATP not 3ATP) to what was learnt in high school so many people scored 0%. The unit coordinator was quite nice in then only counting everyone’s best 5 DLA scores, from the 6 DLA’s. As a result, each DLA ended up being worth 0.8% of the total unit grade.

Professional Development portfolio:
This was worth 2% of the unit grade and was just bullshitting a worksheet on what we could do to improve employability. I think I put down LinkedIn and some other stuff – but never created an account. From memory there was a lecture associated to this but I didn’t go – only glanced at the slides. I reckon almost everyone got 2/2 of this “assessment”. Even people who submitted late (although not recommended).

Mid Semester Test:
This was 25 MCQ’s although 2 of them had a mistake in them so ended up being out of 23. The average score was 76%. The practice questions available were indicative of the style and difficulty of the question in the actual MST so do those until you are getting them all correct. We had 45 minutes for the test and was more than enough time, I was able to do the test in around 25-30mins and then had enough time to check over.

Exam:
In a very similar style to the MST this was 75 MCQ’s in 3 hours. Most people left early after around 1.5 hours and at the end I think there were only around 20-25% of people left maybe less. Section A consisted of questions 1-14, Section B 15-37 and Section C/D 38-75. Sections A and B were quite straight forward. Section A being very alike to the MST, imo much easier and section B was fair if you had covered the specifics. Section C and D was a combination of application and memorisation of minor aspects of the unit. There were a few questions that I was 50/50 on but nothing unexpected. 

Other/Overall:
Many of the lecturers utilised the Monash Automated Student Response System (MARS). This allowed the lecturer to put up a question for the audience and we could use our devices such as phone/laptop/tablet etc to answer the question. The lecturer could then choose to show us the % of students choosing each answer similarly it could’ve been a word cloud for our answers.
This unit also included a peer wise system where other students and yourself could create questions for the rest of the cohort – you need to create a question to see everyone else’s though. For exam revision Nirma created a document with around 30 of those question and IIRC she said 1 or 2 of them would come up on the exam although I didn’t see any on the exam LOL. Definitely my favourite of the 1st year, 1st semester core biomedicine units with no real major issues in my opinion and was a very smooth transition into university.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Sine on July 09, 2017, 05:12:04 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1021 Cells, tissues and organisms

Workload: 3 x 1 hour lectures per week, 1 x 3 hour labs (during 7 of 12 weeks)

Assessment:

-Practical Class Reports (25%)
-Written Assessment (15%)
-Mid Semester Test (10%)
-Exam (50%)

Hurdle Requirement: Yes, 45% must be achieved on the exam to pass the unit

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: None, however a substantial number of practice questions were available.

Textbook Recommendation:
Campbell Biology Australian and New Zealand edition (10e). I never really used the textbook however if you haven’t done biology in high school I would recommend getting a copy.

Lecturer(s):
-Dr Chantal Hoppe (Introduction/Histology, lectures 1,12-16)
-Mr Brendan Wilding (Biochemistry, lectures 2-4)
-Professor John Beardall (Cell Biology, lectures 5-7)
-Associate Professor Craig Smith (Developmental Biology, lectures 8-11)
-Dr Christopher Johnstone (Metabolism/Physiology, lectures 17-23)
-Associate Professor Robyn Slattery (Immunology, lectures 24-26)
-Dr Paul Crellin (Microbiology I (bacteria), lectures 27-29)
-Associate Professor Jose Garcia-Bustos (Microbiology II, lectures 30-32)

Year & Semester of Completion: 2017, Semester 1

Rating:4/5

Your Grade/Mark: TBA

Comments:

Lectures:

Biochemistry: A very nice introduction into the course, not too taxing and a breeze if you have done VCE biology- if you haven’t get ready to learn a tonne of content this semester. We covered concepts on water and biomacromolecules. Being lipids, nucleic acids, amino acids & carbohydrates. There is some overlap with this topic and Biomedical Chemistry 1011 however it is more complementary than “overlap”.

Cell Biology: Also a very simple topic If you had already done VCE biology. We learnt all the components of the cell and their functions along with the components of the cytoskeleton.

Developmental Biology: Once again another topic that builds of VCE biology, so it’s a steep learning curve for those who haven’t done it. We covered Gametogenesis (spermatogenesis and oogenesis) along with fertilisation and the development of an embryo. Then as logic would dictate the development of the body plan. In the last lecture for this topic we looked at the different disorders that can crop up such as disease states and syndromes - be it a birth defect or caused by a teratogen. 

Histology: The hardest topic in my opinion and consisted of looking at a lot of histograms and determining what is shown and labelling portions of it. The problem I had with this is that you were only 100% sure if you had seen the exact same image before so this topic was pretty dodgy imo. I put the most amount of time into this and it paid off as the exam questions ended up being mostly simple.

Metabolism/Physiology: Another tough topic for me, however this time not for the content but how dry the content was. For the most part, any concept learnt in this unit isn’t too hard but for some minor portions understanding it fully can be. The metabolism sections were quite straightforward. The physiology portion covered temperature regulation, respiratory gas exchange, blood and respiratory pigments, circulation and salt/water balance. The hardest part would be determining what we needed to learn but evidently (from the exam) everything is examinable :P.
 
Immunology: Once again a simple topic if you had completed VCE biology although I found it to be a very nice refresher. This went over the innate and adaptive immune responses. The major difference would be the depth in which we learnt the adaptive mechanisms along with the understanding required of the lymphatic immune system.

Microbiology: At times, a very dry portion of the course. We first covered bacteria where we had to learn some of the specific types of bacteria and the disease they caused. The main concept I felt in the bacteria section was really gram+ vs gram- bacteria. We also covered the favourable and unfavourable places within the human body where in which bacteria may live or infect. Then we went into protists, fungi and viruses. The lecturer here was very nice in telling us what specific genus we were required to memorise and thankfully what he said ended up being on the exam.

Practicals:
This unit consisted of 6 practicals. 6 of which were worth 3.5% and 3 hours long and the microbiology practical being worth 4% however it was run over 2 weeks for 6 hours (2 x 3 hours). This totalled to 25% of the unit grade. Overall, I felt many of the pracs were boring and tedious however very simple.

Microscopy: We basically learnt or reviewed the basics on how to use a microscope along with all of its features. It’s a very important prac since this semester and later in the degree we continue to go back to stuff taught in this prac. Like most of the pracs it was long and boring, the assessment was a short test along with assessment of our actual practical skills.

Biochemistry: This prac was purely online based and was mainly ourselves altering an excel spreadsheet to change pH and see what changes occurred to the relative concentrations of a particular ionisation state of aspartic acid. The assessment was 15 MCQs which were quite accessible, from what I recall there where two questions that were quite dodgy but nothing too bad.

Developmental Biology: This practical was hands on however I’m not too sure whether it was compulsory since you could’ve skipped it and still completed the quiz online haha (no attendance was taken). We covered the stages of spermatogenesis, labelling the anatomy of a spermatozoa and we also looked at some sperm under the microscope and observing it’s motility/morphology. As I’ve said the assessment was an online quiz which wasn’t too taxing but as a lot of these practicals there was a couple of questions which weren’t explicitly covered in the pracs nor the lectures so we had to do our own research.

Histology: A very interesting prac session consisting of 2 activities which were a worksheet and a presentation. The worksheet was tough for me as histology was the hardest section for me in this unit but there was help available. The presentation included students in groups of 4 creating a model of an organ containing the 4 primary tissue types (muscle, nervous tissue, epithelium and connective tissue). HINT: Chantal apparently loves kidneys 😉 The assessment for this prac was an online quiz.

Metabolism: The procedure was relatively simple, we examined the activity of amylase in germinating barley. The assessment was quite tough and was very different to the other pracs. We had a scratchy sheet for MCQs so you had to scratch out what answer you wanted to submit and if you got it correct on the first go you got 2/2. However, if you get it wrong you have another shot (to scratch out another answer) for a potential 1/2).

Immunology: Was above all my favourite one (probably because I knew all the content going in) It was slightly tedious but was manageable since we all knew we were going to do quite well on the prac. If you have done VCE biology this will be an absolute breeze.

Microbiology: My least favourite prac, maybe because we hadn’t covered the relevant lecture content before the prac and I was never 100% sure on what to do. This was because the cohort was split into those completing the prac in week 7 & 8 or in week 11 & 12. Although this was also good since closer to exam time I had more time so it evened out. The prac included basic techniques we can use in order to differentiate different bacteria. Our context was a package had come in with a mysterious white powder and the 1021 unit coordinator had developed an respiratory tract infection and we had to determine what it was smh. Only once we started microbiology content in the lectures was when I started to understand what I did in the prac fully.

Mid Semester Test:
This was worth 10% of the total unit grad and included 45 MCQs covering lectures 2 through 17 however the amount of MCQ questions that was counted is not known since there was some disagreement if there was some dodgy questions LOL. I found the test to be very fair but of course there were a small number of questions which went into the minor details of the course. We had an hour for the test which was more than enough time so I was able to do the test twice. I scored slightly lower than I had anticipated so maybe didn’t consider some silly errors. From memory, it took around 4 weeks for the results of the MST to be released.

Simplified Literature Review:
This was worth 15% of the total unit grade, so really a massive chunk. Personally, my least favourite part of my whole first semester at university. It involved us choosing one of nine topics. I ended up choosing Protein folding and misfolding. Topic choice was on a first come first serve basis and some topics were fully ridiculously quickly, e.g. 2-3 topics were full after 1 minute and maybe 5 topics full under 10 minutes. A week’s labs were allocated to for the lit review and included a workshop where they tried to help us and tells us what we needed to do. This wasn’t that helpful since it was really early in the semester and months before the actual lit review was due. In the workshop, we worked in small groups to complete a guided worksheet .
Now for the actual writing of the lit review. We had a word limit of 1000 words and you could go the usual plus minus 10%. It was painful to go through tonnes of articles looking for anything which may have some value for our own lit review. I used one note to upload all the articles I found and annotated which parts I thought were useful. The best way I found to approach the lit review was to break your question up into 3 smaller questions then try to answer them individually. Also remember primary articles are favoured over secondary however they take so much longer to interpret since they have raw experiments and data. We received our marks around 4 and a half weeks after the due date. The actual marking of our lit reviews was extremely fair and for someone who wasn’t always sure what I was doing did relatively well on it. One of my friends ended up with 29/30 so it’s possible to get full/close to full marks since you are marked via a rubric. I would think the average mark would’ve been around 22-23/30. This is just an educated guess though since the actual value was not released.

Exam:
The exam is worth 50% of the total unit grade and consisted of 110 MCQs and ran for 3 hours. There were no time strains whatsoever and most people finished early and left. Maybe 30-35% of the students stayed until the very end. It was very similar to the MST although I felt it was slightly harder than the MST. However I felt as though the exam was extremely fair although heaps of tricky questions I felt as though went into extreme detail of the course. However, there was plenty “Free marks” for those who did enough study to do well. This exam was probably good for me in the long run since now it’s very clear that even the smallest details can be assessed.

PASS:
PASS classes were run for this unit however I stopped attending after a few weeks. Although I still received the worksheets from friends. PASS sessions were timetabled very badly for me so the main reason why I stopped going and I also felt they weren’t that great for me to out of my way to get to the class. The worksheet given is the main learning tool here as the tutor doesn’t really teach us but guide you during the session.

Other/Overall:
I found this unit to be extremely content heavy however simple at times. It was extremely run well and the only major fault I can comment on is the lit review (might be a little bias). All the assessment was very fair and how well you do will be up to how much time you invest into the subject.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ravenswood on July 09, 2017, 03:09:07 pm
Subject Code/Name: FIT2004 - Algorithms and Data Structures

Workload: 1 x 2hr lecture, 1 x 3hr lab/tut

Assessment:
-10% "active participation", there are tutorial questions you must attempt, u do not need to get them right. also includes lab attendance (you don't have to go to lectures)
- 30% assessments, split between 5 worth 6% each
- 60% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Theres one you can find online easily, and we were given one. no solutions for either

Textbook Recommendation:  N/A

Lecturer(s): Arun Konagurthu - i heard hes not teaching it anymore though

Year & Semester of completion:  2017, Semester 1

Rating:  3 out of 5

Comments:  This unit is soooo painful. If the only CS you've ever done is the first year units, it's going to be a rough ride. As far as the assignments go, in 1045 and 1008 they don't really care about your code at all, only if you get the output right. However in this unit every single line of code is scrupulously analysed, and your code must be as efficient as possible. If your code performs an operation in O(N) when it could be in O(1), you will lose marks. These small inefficiencies add up, so while your code may work perfectly fine and get the right solution, if it could have been better you will lose marks. I got 50% on an assignment that had perfect output and nice looking, well commented code because of this obsession with efficiency. ultimately you will become a better programmer in the long run because of it, but it will be frustrating while you're doing it. e.g, if you use a dictionary where you could have used a list, you'll lose 0.5 marks. that's 0.5% of your entire unit mark. however, arriving at the solution is generally not that hard, so its relatively easy to do "okay" in the assignments.

the main issue I had with this unit was that I spent too long on the assignments, so the amount of cramming for the exam I had to do was unbelievable. this is because there isn't a mid semester test or anything, so its easy to just ignore most of what is being taught and focus purely on the assignments. dont do this, you will hate yourself for it when you're preparing for the exam and realise you don't actually know anything. you will need to work very hard in this unit if you want to do well unless you've done lots of CS before, to ensure your assignments are of a high quality and that you're staying on top of the content. As far as the content goes, you delve deeper into some stuff you've already learnt but learn a truckload of other algorithms and data structures (duh). Off the top of my head, Week 1-3 is probably the hardest, theres writing formal proofs and structural induction (structural induction is SUPER easy if you practice enough, it blew my mind at first but its actually incredibly simple. i still suck at writing proofs), and proving the correctness of algorithms and showing that they terminate. Week 4 is dynamic programming, I found this the hardest. Week 5 is hashing and AVL trees, Week 6 is suffix trees/tries, Week 7 is prefix doubling, BWT transform and pattern matching. Week 8-10 is graphs, Week 11 is networks (basically graphs, we learnt ford fulkersons algorithm) and week 12 was a bit of recursion. I said "is" a lot, I'm sure it will vary a bit but not by too much considering almost everything on the 2014 exam was taught. nothing you learn is that hard except proofs, but theres just a lot of stuff. most of it is actually incredibly interesting, assuming you like CS. my only advice, practice, practice, practice. try code every algorithm and data structure taught when you learn it. start your assignments ASAP, do all your tutorial questions and lab work quickly, and don't be afraid to ask for help.




Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: apan on July 14, 2017, 10:31:08 pm
Subject Code/Name: ACC1100 - Introduction to financial accounting 

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures per week, 1 x 1.5 hour tute per week

Assessment:  assignment: 10%, midsem test: 20%, tute homework and participation: 10%, group presentation: 10%, exam: 50%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2: 2016 sem 1 and 2016 sem 2

Textbook Recommendation:  Financial Accounting - Shirley Carlon, Rosina Mladenovic-McAlpine, Chrisann Palm, Lorena Mitrione, Ngaire Kirk, Lily Wong

Buy it, you'll need it. Explanations are pretty shitty and way too complext and I never did the pre-readings but all the homework questions (compulsory) is in the textbook and I was unable to find a pdf version anywhere. Probably the only textbook I used this semester.

The handbook is recommended and I didn't buy it but I borrowed it from LTU library (all out at Monash) for the exam and it was actually pretty helpful for the exam. It saved me a lot of time of memorising definitions and instead I could refer to the handbook if I was lost regarding a definition or a standard. But it wasn't necessary for the mid sem for me, as our mid sem was mainly prac and no theory.


Lecturer(s): John Gerrad

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1 2017

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments: I would only recommend choosing this subject if you intend on majoring in accounting, otherwise choose accounting for managers. A lot of the content (week 1-7) was VCE accounting, so if you've done VCE accounting you could pretty much never attend a lecture and be fine - there was a tiny bit of new content but nothing too difficult. The mid-sem was really easy and the assignment was pretty basic too. The assignment was assigned like week 2 or 3, pretty early on, and it was completely individual. Each student got their own set of numbers, transactions etc so no way of doing the assignment with someone. It was an excel based thing and you had to submit an income statement, balance sheet and some summary thing in the excel spread sheet. The assignment took a long time so start early, especially if you've done VCE accounting, there was no new content in the assignment. The formatting was kinda weird as well, I got a bit confused. I got marks off because of my formatting in the balance sheet with regards to depreciation. Check with your tutor what the correct formatting is because I had no idea I based it off a google search of "balance sheet". The mid-sem was fairly easy too, had no theory whatsoever but study for it for sure. I didn't study much for it but thankfully it was mainly all prac and year 12 accounting.

The tutes were compulsory and I'd recommend going to them anyways, basically go through the homework. My tutor was a legend, Lily Polic. She was really nice and helpful, but she checked on homework every week. So do all the homework, and the hw is helpful. It takes ages though and there are soo many questions and tbh I barely did the hw or I would do a very small amount and I'd always get called out in tutes so def do them, especially as it goes towards your overall end mark. The "group presentation" was basically each tute we were given a q based on that topic and as a group you do the question, then a random group is chosen to read the answers out. It isn't too hard and I only went up once but it was easy marks if you contribute and speak when its your turn to go up.

Week 7-12 was all new content from VCE, and a lot more theory based. The exam was mostly week 7-12 and it was a lot harder. John Gerrad wasn't the best lecturer, he was really slow and starts on the dot (not 5 mins in). usually id watch his lectures from home on 2x speed.

The exam was a lot harder than expected but not toooo bad, as I said before mainly week 7-12 stuff.

Overall the unit was okay, I did better than I expected and I'm considering majoring in accounting but I wouldnt recommend it to someone who has no interest in majoring in it. If you haven't done VCE either you'll likely struggle a bit as they basically cram 2 years of accounting in 6 weeks. However it was an enjoyable subject and if you've done year 12 accounting you'll be fine and be able to pass pretty easily.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Sine on July 22, 2017, 01:37:53 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1031 Medical Biophysics

Workload: 3 x 1 hour lectures per week, 1 x 2 hour tutorial per week

Assessment:

-Practical Work (25%)
-4 x Online Quiz (10%)
-Question Set (5%)
-Fact Sheet (10%) 
-Exam (50%)

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes, from 2006-2015. 2016 exam was not available in 2017. Only physic section of unit had past exams.

Textbook Recommendation:
Physics for Bioscience Custom Book Monash University
Physics: Principles with Application with MasteringPhysics: International Edition (6e)
Textbooks were actually useful to learn the content well and it is alright to just use them to learn the content, without going to lectures (although not recommended)

Lecturer(s):

Prof Kristian Helmerson (Fluids and Energy)
A/Prof Chris Wright (Cardiovascular)
Dr Agnieszka Gorecka (Electricity and Radiation)
Prof Helena Parkington (Bioelectricity/Bioimaging/Physiology)
Mr Michael Ferguson  (Waves and Optics)

Year & Semester of Completion: 2017, Semester 1

Rating: 1/5

Your Grade/Mark: TBA

Comments:

Firstly I don't think anyone actually enjoyed this unit :P Definitely my least favourite unit and it will be very hard to beat in the future. The worst part was how disconnected everything seemed to be and the fact that they would try to use the last 2 minutes of the lecture trying to tie in the concepts back to medicine.

Practicals:
Practical work was tiresome and boring for the whole semester. Usually we would have some pre-lab work to complete which was never too difficult worth 1%. The actual practicals weren’t too hard but the assessment was totally inconsistent depending on whether you got a nice or harsh TA. Thankfully most of my TA’s were not too harsh. In some weeks in place of practicals we had tutorials where we would attempt some exam style questions. This was a great idea on the departments part but often the questions were too difficult to actually be useful in an exam situation. These were also worth 1% each week.

Online Quizzes:
We had 4 online quizzes worth 2.5% each and they were never too difficult. You were given two attempts at each quiz and your best attempt was scored. Often the questions were recycled so a lot of people would worth together on the quiz and help each other. However sometimes there would be a concept on the quiz that you hadn’t covered so you had a to use a quick google search.

Question Set:
This was basically just another worksheet which we had to complete. We were allowed to discuss answers with others but our own work had to be submitted. Around 80% of the set was easy and the other 20% most people needed to go to a help-desk to discuss it since it wasn’t explicitly covered during the lectures. The majority of students did very well on this and heaps full marked it.

Fact Sheet:
I wasn’t too sure on the reason for this assessment but we initially had to choose a topic through moodle. I chose COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) which I regret since when I decided to start the assignment found out didn’t have much physics concepts related to it. This “fact sheet” is basically a mini poster describing the concept at a first year biomed level. The scoring on this assessment was very inconsistent with some people doing very well and others barely passing it really depended on which topic you chose and who marked it. Pretty unfair considering that this was worth 10% of the total unit grade.

Exam:
The exam ran for 3 hours and was worth 50% of the total unit grade. This exam was split into 3 sections, physics, cardiovascular and physiology.  The final exam was out of 137 marks. Do the past exams. I don’t think most people would’ve passed the subject without past exams. I used my SWOTVAC to learn from the past exams since going through actual notes and lectures was way too time consuming. The past exams were only available for the physics portion. The actual exam was quite similar to the past exams and roughly the same difficulty. The whole “physics portion” of the exam was relatively easy and there was only one electricity question which I wasn’t too sure on. The physiology portion of the exam was a lot tougher. We were given another set of mock exams for physiology which looked alright but was nothing like the actual exam. Understanding is probably the most important thing for physiology since only about 2 out of the 25 marks were recall. We also had 10 marks on cardiovascular which wasn’t too difficult and watching the cardiovascular lectures days before the exam definitely helped me answer those questions.

Overall/Other:
The lectures were nothing special really so I won’t go into detail about them. You could’ve learnt out of the textbook and still done very well. Which is what I did sometimes. From the lecturers that I attended the Optics lectures were definitely the most engaging and fun to listen to. This is a core unit for biomed so sadly you have to take it. PASS sessions helped quite a bit for this subject since they would give out worksheets with exam style questions. I stopped attending those sessions but continued to complete the worksheets which I found quite helpful. They were basically an extra practice exam or 2.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on July 22, 2017, 03:00:47 pm
Subject Code/Name: MKC1200 - Principles of Marketing 

Workload:  Per week: 1 x 1.5 hour tutorial, 1 x online Moodle lesson

Assessment:
10 x online quizzes (10% total)
These Moodle quizzes were to be completed each week after watching the online lesson for that week. They were made up of about 5 MCQ questions, and were relatively easy to do, provided you watched the video. Most of the answers could be obtained directly from the lecture slides/online lesson.

8 x tutorial-based assessments (15% total)
These were weekly quizzes done in pre-allocated groups in the tutorials. Questions were all MCQ, and were answered on an IF-AT card (those scratchy ones) - so you could still gain some of the marks even if you didn't get the answer the first time. Tutorials were 1 week behind the online lessons, and to do well on these quizzes, it's important to do some study beforehand (since we couldn't use our notes). Tutorials weren't compulsory per se, but you could only obtain the mark for each week's tute quiz by attending and staying for the whole time. You also get 9 quizzes, but only the top 8 are counted, so you could miss one without too many problems.

The 'Look Around You' Video Project (10%)
This is a video project done in pre-allocated tutorial groups. You will have a choice of some recent events (e.g. our group chose Woolworths' decision to shut down Masters) and have to create a 2 minute video on what environmental forces led to the event, and how the company responded. A word of warning - the video has a strict 2 minute time limit, and this is not a long time at all. In the end, our group had to talk really quickly, and probably lost marks because we couldn't be understood or whatever  :P.

STP Essay (15%)
You had a choice of two products, and were required to write a 1500 word essay about the marketing strategy employed by the company with regards to this product. Another word of warning - make sure your essay is based around STP strategy (with minimal discussion of other topics you have learnt), since lots of people lost marks due to not being on topic. The Matheson library also ran optional workshops for this essay where they talked about academic essay writing and how to research journal articles.

End of Semester Exam (50%)
The examination consisted of two sections - section A consisted of 3 extended answer-style responses, while section B consisted of 5 short answer questions (but you were only required to answer 4 of them i.e. leave one out). The sample exam provided was pretty similar to the final exam, and there were no trick questions - I found they could be well answered as long as you studied the content. Be sure to remember to talk about real-life examples where asked, and apply the concept to the example.

Recorded Lectures:  N/A - pre-recorded videos uploaded to Moodle in a weekly online lesson format

Past exams available:  No. 1 sample exam provided to give an idea of the exam format only - no answers.

Textbook Recommendation: 
- Prescribed: Marketing principles (2nd ed.) by Pride et al. I don't think that this textbook is essential for the unit content, since the online lectures cover the required content. However, I found it helpful at times for clarification (since each topic has a relevant textbook section) and also useful for the STP essay (which requires you to reference at least 2 marketing textbooks anyway).

Lecturer(s):
- Dr Elizabeth Snuggs (unit coordinator) - only gives a quick 2-minute intro video at the start of the week outlining what's happening that week, as well as the end of semester revision lesson
- For the online lessons, I don't think the lecturers gave their names

Year & Semester of completion: S1, 2017

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: If you're studying Commerce, you don't really get a choice since this is a core unit  :P. I'm not the biggest fan of marketing, but the content was still somewhat interesting. Each week generally covers a different topic. As an overview - you'll learn about what marketing actually is, how companies design marketing strategies, the many decisions they have to make (e.g. how much to price an item for), and the differences between consumers and businesses. I found that many of the concepts you learn can be applied to your everyday life (especially when you look at/watch advertisements).
The contact hours for this unit were pretty relaxed, and you could generally do things at your own pace. The tutorials usually consisted of the quiz for the first 20 or so minutes, and then the tutor goes over the previous week's content (sometimes there's also group activities).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on August 04, 2017, 01:18:26 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC1000 - Business and economic statistics

Workload:  Throughout the semester: 9 x 1.5 hour computer labs, 8 x 1.5 hour live lectures, 8 x sets of online videos

The first 8 weeks of semester involved an online 'lesson' (basically pre-recorded videos) where you watch 2-4 videos to learn the content.

The computer labs consisted of an online Moodle quiz which involves you manipulating spreadsheet data in Excel to answer questions. Note: there is assigned homework to do before each lab class - do these. The questions can be quite similar to that of the actual lab, and the homework sheet will contain information which may not have been explained in great detail in the online videos. Also be careful with things such as units (e.g, $, cm) as you can lose half marks for these.  The final lab class did not involve a quiz - it was entirely dedicated to the group oral presentation.

Live lectures generally did not involve teaching new content - they were generally used to go through 'case studies' and applying the content learnt in the videos. It might be worth paying attention here, as some of it may be useful for your group project. There were also 2 lectures explaining the group project and how to present it/what to do. The week 12 lectures involved the lecturer going through a practice exam, as well as going through what you need to know for the exam.

Assessment: 
7 x submitted computer lab work (24.5% total)
You have 8 computer labs which involve a quiz, but only the best 7 results are counted. Results are usually released the week after, and you are allowed to review it afterwards. These were generally accessible, provided you watched the online videos and did the homework.

Group Project (15.5%)
My cohort was the first to do this assessment, so as expected, there were a few things that still need refining. The group project involved analysis of a large set of data about African households (from which you were required to generate your own sample) around a particular theme, which you will then present to your lab class. Your group (usually 3-4 people) had a choice of about 3 different themes (schooling and farming are the ones I can remember). There were questions to help guide your project, as well as a general structure. I think a problem for me was the lack of an assessment criteria from which we could follow. One of the lecturers/unit coordinators will be present in each computer lab to assess the (10 minute max) presentation, and gave general class feedback after everyone had finished. I found there was no detailed feedback given to the individual groups, so you couldn't really tell where you lost (or gained, for that matter) marks. Hopefully this is something that will be addressed in the future.

End of Semester Exam (60%)
2 hours, closed book. The exam comprised of short answer questions grouped into 3-4 sections. The exam generally involved analysing a set of data and answering relevant questions. Quite accessible in my opinion, provided you kept up with the content. The questions were generally 'analysis' questions, rather than using actual maths (although there were still a few of these).

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. Also uploaded to the unit YouTube channel.

Past exams available:  Yes, the exams from the most recent 8 semesters were provided. Solutions only provided to the most recent 2 though. Note that the exam structure and content has changed somewhat over the past few years.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Essentials of Business Analytics by Camm et al. Probably not essential to have (I didn't really use it myself), but I guess it could be quite useful for clarifying concepts (especially for those who are new to statistics, or have not done methods/specialist maths in VCE). Perhaps loan/have a look at a copy from the library before deciding to buy.

Lecturer(s):
Prof. Brett Inder (unit coordinator)
Dr Daniel Melser

The lecturers generally take it in turns to deliver the case studies. Brett also loves telling mid-lecture stories - there's a few very interesting ones (although you'll have to go or listen to them yourself to find out  :P)!

Year & Semester of completion: S1, 2017

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This is a Commerce core unit, and serves as a brief introduction to statistics. If you've done Specialist Maths in VCE, you'll find a lot of the content here similar to the statistics taught in spesh (p-values, confidence intervals, etc.) plus more. Like the previous reviews have said, this unit is more focused around the analysis of statistics rather than the actual mathematics side (which was probably a bit disappointing for me  :P). The unit is not difficult to keep up with week by week, but that is not to say you can leave everything to the week before exams, especially since the computer labs assess the previous weeks material anyway. There are also consultation helpdesks available throughout each week if you require any extra help.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: K888 on November 05, 2017, 07:29:58 pm
Subject Code/Name: PTY1022 - Physiotherapy 2

Workload:
Variable during the semester.
Per week:
- Lectures: 8 hours, but in the first 2 weeks there's an extra 2 hours per week (HEP lectures), and a one off 2 hour group exercise lecture in week 1
- Tutes (weeks 1-4): weeks 1&2: 1 hour, weeks 3&4: 2 hours (HEP)
- Prac: 4 hours (2 x 2 hours)
- Anatomy prac: 2 hours
- CBL: 3 hours (2 x 1.5 hours)
- Independent skills practice (1 x 1-1.5 hour(s))
- Group exercise (1 x 1 hour - weeks 2-6 inclusive)

There's also a few one-off things during semester - the first aid course, the plastering prac, etc.

Assessment:
Just about everything is a hurdle in this course.
Formative:
- Attendance - 80% at pracs and tutes, 100% expected at CBL
- Professional conduct - communicating professionally in emails, etc. and there's a professional attribute checklist you have to get signed off at the end of semester
- First aid - if you don't already have a level 2 first aid certificate, you have to attend the (free) first aid course the uni runs
- Vaccination, working with children check, police check, etc. - you have to submit documentation by the end of the semester to prove you've met these requirements
- Skills mastery checklist - submit by the end of week 12
- Skills mastery videos during the semester
- Attendance at IPE volunteer experience & 2nd year OSCE (you have to be a patient)
- Reflective Portfolio - there's about 5 or so instalments of this due in the semester, with the first few being journals for HEP, and the last few about skills mastery stuff.

Summative:
- CBL - 5% of semester grade
- Research quizzes - worth a cumulative 10% of semester grade
- Physiology assessments - there's 2 of these during the semester, worth a cumulative 5%
- Anatomy mid-semester exam - 2.5%
- Group exercise assessment - 2.5%
- IPE group video assignment - 2.5%
- Changing Client Health - written assignment - 20%
- Written exam (3 hours) - 30%
- OSCE - 20%
- End of semester anatomy image exam - 2.5%

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:
One is provided at the end of semester by faculty staff, it's not available publicly and no answers are provided.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Same as for PTY1011. Clinical Sports Medicine is easily the one I have used the most this semester and is, in my opinion, very necessary. I'd also recommend an anatomy textbook - Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy is the prescribed text, but anything like Gray's, etc. would also be good.
The rest you can borrow from the library and have on loan for ages - there's heaps of copies.

Lecturer(s):
Variable.
Physio theory lectures were mainly delivered by Jodie and Luke (unit coordinators) with Mick (PTY1011 coordinator) also lecturing, and some guest lectures from Dr Ebonie Rio (she was by far my favourite lecturer this year). Anatomy lectures were delivered by Jo (first-year coordinator), and Physiology by Dr Ash Frazer (she was new this semester, I assume she'll be lecturing next year but unsure).
All the lecturers are really approachable and knowledgeable. :)

Year & Semester of completion:
2017, Semester 2.

Rating: 
4 out of 5

Comments:
This semester (and unit), which covered upper limb musculoskeletal physiotherapy, is a lot more difficult than PTY1011, with harder content and higher expectations. Still enjoyable, but you have to be on your toes and I definitely didn't enjoy this semester as much as last semester.
A big drawback of the semester for me was HEP (Health Enhancement Program) - which was, from what I gather, about stuff like mindfulness, stress, etc. Good in theory, but you actually get assessed on it, which isn't helpful for your stress levels. The tutes were pretty boring, too, and were 2 hours long so they dragged out.
Group exercise was amusing, but I found that the lady who took it just made things way too complicated which made it a lot less enjoyable.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Uranium on November 15, 2017, 05:45:07 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2648 - Contemporary Japan

Workload (Weekly): 
1 x 1 hour Lecture
1 x 1 hour Tutorial

Assessment:
15% Participation (Throughout the semester)
3 x 5% Quizzes
1 x 30% Short Essay or Annotated Translation
1 x 40% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No, but some sample questions were provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook purchase required; all essential readings are available on Moodle

Lecturer(s): Dr Jeremy Breaden

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 1

Rating: 4/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
This unit is a cornerstone unit for the Japanese Studies major.  Overall, it was a pretty chill and laid back unit.

Lectures
The majority of the lecture content can be found in the prescribed readings, but there are cases where Dr Breaden adds some extra content into the lecture.  As this additional content may end up in the quiz, if you are unable to attend the lecture on the day of the quiz, you should at least skim the lecture slides, since he does note down his key points in them.

Tutorials & Participation Marks
The tutorials were on the same day as the lecture.  I had my tutorials right after the lecture, which made it annoying when Dr Breaden introduced new content in the lecture that we needed to know for the quizzes that took place in the tutorials.  However, the tutorials themselves were engaging and involved a lot interaction and exchange of ideas amongst peers.  It should also be noted that although attending tutorials is one of the criteria assessed for participation marks, active participation in tutorial discussions and Moodle forum will be make up the bulk of your participation marks.

Quizzes
The quizzes for the particular week assess the prescribed readings for that particular week and the lecture content prior to the tutorial.  The marking is pretty lenient and the only way for you to get no marks for any given question is for you to write something that is totally unrelated to the content assessed.

Annotated Translation & Short Essay
The annotated translation required that students used proficient level Japanese and since I was only studying Japanese Intermediate I at the time, I was left with the option of the short essay.  This essay could be based on one of the essay topics provided or if you had another topic you wanted to write about, you could e-mail Dr Breaden for approval.  The other flexible thing about this assessment task was that there was no prescribed referencing style, so as long as you referenced any one style consistently, you would be fine.

Exam
The exam was closed book and consisted of 5 extended response questions and 5 short answer questions.  Each extended response question consisted of two options and the topics related to these options were provided to us prior to the exam, so you could pretty much select which topics you wanted to cover and just study for them.  For the short-answer questions you simply had to provide a comprehensive definition for 5 of the terms listed.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on November 15, 2017, 07:15:11 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1062 - Molecular biology 

Workload: 
Per week: 3 x 1 hour lectures

Throughout semester: 10 x 3 hour laboratory sessions (weekly)
The labs are grouped into 4 distinct topics - biochemistry (3), microbiology (3), biological sciences (3) and immunology (1).

The PASS program was also available for this unit, however I was a bit late with the registration (I was in a lab at the time  ::)) and never bothered to sign up for the waiting list. However, from what I heard, the classes were quite useful, and provided some good revision questions.

Assessment: 
Practical/laboratory sessions (30% total) - biochemistry/microbiology/biological sciences each 9%, and immunology 3%
For the biochemistry, biological sciences and immunology pracs, there are worksheets which deal with the prac theory to be handed up. You will also be able to collect your marked worksheets a few weeks after you have completed the prac. For microbiology, the assessment involves a quiz about the prac theory in the last week (so make sure you understand everything!), as well as about a quarter of the marks being allocated for your TA's assessment of your participation, attendance and level of interest. Unfortunately, there was no feedback available for the microbiology lab :(

Mid-semester test (10%)
This was a computerised test done on-campus. It went for 45 minutes, and had about 34 MCQs about the content learnt thus far. The questions were also released back to us (with our corrected answers) - apparently this was the first time this was done in this unit. Revision material was made available on Moodle in the form of MCQ quizzes.

End of semester exam (60%)
The end of semester exam consisted of 130 MCQs and EMQs in 3 hours. Be sure to note that practicals are examinable as well! The exam is also a hurdle (45% to pass).

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  None. Although, revision material was made available - there were 3 revision lectures, which generally involved the lecturer giving a brief overview of their topic, as well as going through some practise questions.

Textbook Recommendation: 

Lecturer(s):
A/Prof Fasseli Coulibaly [unit co-ordinator] (Structure & Replication of DNA; Manipulation of DNA & Gene Cloning; Translation)
Dr Marina Telonis-Scott (Manipulation of DNA & Gene Cloning; DNA Recombination, Repair & Mutations)
Prof Christian Doerig (Molecular Genetics)
A/Prof Anna Roujeinikova (Gene Expression & Regulation)
Dr Terry Kwok-Schuelein (Gene Expression & Regulation)
A/Prof Robyn Slattery (DNA & the Immune System)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2017

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments:
The central theme of this unit was the Central Dogma, and can be divided up into 7 topics:

This unit provided a good introduction to the central dogma of molecular biology, and will form the basis for further units in molecular biology/biochemistry. In terms of assessment, there is not a lot of it - however, the labs do make up a significant proportion, so be sure to pay attention during the labs so you can do well on the assessments. And, once again, they are assessable (so try not to forget about them after they're done :P). In terms of unit content, there is indeed a lot to know (as with all biomed units  ::)), so make sure that you at least try to keep up with everything (especially since there is a mid sem test). However,  I did find the unit content relatively interesting - the lecturers do quite a good job at relating the concepts of molecular biology disease and medicine. In terms of practicals, as a previous review has stated - there is a lot of gel electrophoresis involved (so consider yourself warned :P). But regardless, I thought that the pracs were hands-on, interesting, and quite well organised. You even get to analyse your own DNA in one of them!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Coffee on November 15, 2017, 07:54:36 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1835 – Time, Self, and Mind (Introduction to Philosophy B) 

Workload: 2x1 hour lectures, 1x1 hour tutorial

Assessment:
- Assessment Tasks 1, 2, 3 - Short-answer questions (Worth 10% each)
- Assessment Task 4 – Essay (Worth 30%)
- Assessment Task 5 – Optional weekly quizzes (Worth .5%)
- Exam (Worth 40%)

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: No, but you’re given a sample exam.

Textbook Recommendation: The Unit Reader, which you need for readings.

Lecturer: Dr. Oisin Deery

Year & Semester of Completion: Semester 2, 2017

Rating: 3/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
The Content
This unit is broken up into four parts:
1.   Time (With a Logic interlude)
2.   Mind
3.   Self
4.   Knowledge

Time is concerned with the idea of time travel, and free will. The Mind section focuses on Descartes, and the mind-body problem, as well as Alan Turing, and computationalism. If you like AI, or even science-fiction, you will probably enjoy these two sections. I do like Descartes, so I did enjoy the Mind section, but I enjoyed Self and Knowledge much, much more. Knowledge speaks for itself, you’ll consider the question, ‘What is knowledge?’ and you’ll be reintroduced to Descartes again. In Self, you study John Locke, and the concept of personal identity.

Assessments
The assessments are similar to those in ATS1371, although you won’t struggle if you haven’t done it.

The first three assessments are short-answer questions, usually two, or three questions of 300 words each. If I remember correctly, they’re on each of the first three sections; Time, Mind, and Self.

The essay is worth 30%, and is 1250 words. So, relatively short. You’re given quite a few different prompts to choose from, and they’re from each of the four sections of the unit. I wrote mine on Descartes, Alan Turing, and John Searle’s Chinese Room thought-experiment, which I found by far the most interesting.

Like ATS1371, there are also optional weekly quizzes based on the readings. There are six questions, and if you answer at least 5 correctly, you receive a bonus mark of .5%. These run from weeks 1-11.

The exam is worth 40%, and consists of two sections:
1. Multiple-choice – 20 questions, and worth 40 marks.
2. Short essays – 4 questions, of which you must answer two. Each response should be approximately 300 words, and is worth a total of 60 marks, or 30 marks for each essay.

Before the exam, you receive a sample exam. The practise exam is designed so that if you study it well, you should do well on the exam. The practise exam consists of 14 multiple-choice questions, which are either identical to, or similar to those that you receive on the actual exam. There are also 12 essay prompts, 4 of which you will receive on the exam.

The exam was easy, and I think a lot of people would agree since a lot of people were leaving after the first hour. As long as you study the practise exam, and go over the content from each week, there shouldn’t be anything too unexpected pop up.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Uranium on November 16, 2017, 11:07:36 am
Subject Code/Name: LAW2112 - Property A

Workload (Weekly):
2 x 1.5 hour Lectures
1 x 1 hour Tutorial

Assessment:
10% Tutorial Attendance and Participation
1 x 30% Class Test
1 x 60% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  No.

Past exams available:  Yes, 3 were made available to us.

Textbook Recommendation (Prescribed Texts):
OR

Lecturer(s): Ms Elyse Schachna

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
This is a core unit for the LLB.  Overall, the unit was pretty interesting and kept me engaged.  It should be noted that this review is only really applicable to Property A in semester 2.

Lectures & Exam
Ms Schachna goes through the content at a pretty good pace.  You can pretty much understand most of the Property A principles and case precedents just by attending the lectures.  However, she doesn't go through the statutory provisions as much in class, so it is advisable that you remember to read them yourself.
There's a lot of content revision in the form of her non-assessed Kahoot! revision quizzes and sometimes through problem questions.  I found the Kahoot! quizzes fun and pretty helpful for identifying my problem areas.  In relation to exam revision lectures, it should be noted that she will not upload the revision slides for them, so I recommend you attend, as she goes through a lot of problem questions that are highly likely to be in the exam.

Tutorials
The tutorials are based on past exam papers, so I suggest doing them before attending your tutorials.

Tutorial Attendance and Participation
Tutorial attendance is worth 5 marks, so just attend them, after all, it's a free 5 marks.  The participation marks come from active engagement in general discussion (2 marks) and discussion of the tutorial question you were assigned to in week 1 (3 marks).  Moral of the story is attending and actively participating in your tutorials will earn you an easy 10% of your final score.


Class Test
The class test is in-class, online test that is open book.  As long as you have your framework for the topics ready, you should be fine.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Sine on November 16, 2017, 01:58:10 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2010 Multivariable Calculus 

Workload: Weekly 3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 2 hour computer labaratory (no computers involved just a tutorial where we would work on a problem set with others)

Assessment:

-5 quizzes (5%)
-3 Assignments (15%)
-Mid Semester Test (20%)
-Exam (60%)

Recorded Lectures  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: Yes, two exams. One with solutions and one without solutions.

Textbook Recommendation: 

Prescribed Texts: None

Recommended Texts:  Calculus : Early Transcendentals 8ed International Metric Ed
(not 100% required as a suitable amount of questions were already avaliable but if you are struggling early it might be good to get a copy for some extra practice)

Lecturer(s):
A/Prof Todd Oliynyk
Dr Yann Bernard

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating:4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
I probably should preface this with the fact i'm a biomed student who did this unit as an elective so my experience may differ from a science student.

As the subject name suggests it was all about multivariable functions (e.g. f(x,y))which may seem daunting at first but once you realise that a lot of what you are learning analogous to univariable functions (e.g. f(x)) it makes it a whole lot easier to understand and remember the content. Overall the subject content was not too difficult if you had a decent mathemtical foundation going into the unit.

The main topics we studeid were, revision of vectors from first year/specialist maths, basics of multivariable functions, partial derivitives, tangent planes, linear approximations, total differential, chain rule, implicit differentiation, directional derivitive, gradient vector, max/mins, iterated integrals, double integrals, double integrals in polar coordinates, applications of double integrals, triple integrals, triple integrals in cylindrical and spherical coordinates, vector fields, line integrals, Green's theorem, curl/divergence, paramterisation of surfaces, surface integrals, Stoke's theorem and Divergence theorem.

Whilst doing most of the questions isn't too hard the real difficulty lies in understanding the content properly which is needed to do the harder problems. Your best bet would be trying to get exposed to a lot of questions before the exam.

Tutorials: Basically a 2 hour session every week where we would work on a problem set on whiteboards with other students. A tutor was available for help if needed. These aren't compulsory but would suggest going since I found that this was the most useful part of the unit. If you can't go to your tutorial you need to complete the worksheets since they form the basis of your understanding and learning from doing is the usually the best for maths. My tutor, Simon Teague, was extremely helpful with tough questions and how to study for the MST and exam.

Quizzes: There were 5 quizzes across the semester each worth 1% for a total of 5%. These were basically less formal assignments and all 5 quizzes probably totalled to a single assignment. These were on the harder side of what you would expect to see on the MST or the exam but very useful for consolidating your understanding. It is very achievable to full mark these since you have a week to do them at home and hand them in the first 5 minutes of your tutorial during the week it was due. Which is different from past years which were done during the tutorial.

Assignments: There are 3 assignments across the semester and each worth 5% for a total of 15% of your total unit grade. They would usually be on the harder side, but you get a few weeks to complete them and usually a lot of people will work together and also ask tutors for assistance which probably justifies their difficulty. I found that the difficulty is due to us not having probably learnt and consolidated the material before doing the exam, so we were sometimes doing the assignment whilst doing the learning. These assignments were required to be handed in during the first 5 minutes of your tutorial of the week that they were due. Overall it is quite easy to do well on the assignments for the aforementioned reasons and good scores on these are a great boost to your score easily.

Mid Semester Test: It is worth 20% so a huge chunk of your total score. It was 40 marks and covered the first 4 weeks of content and was during week 6. I think the MST was harder than they had intended which resulted in a lot of people feeling that they had been cheated especially since there was many proofs on the MST. Overall, I thought the MST was on the easy side, no real tricks, but only because I had put the time in to learn the proofs for everything we learnt. There may have been a little lack of time since I wasn't able to double check my whole test.

Exam: It is worth 60% so you are really working towards this the whole semester. It was 9 extended response questions for a total of 123 marks. In contrast to the MST the exam was more about procedural working rather than proofs. There were no real surprises in the exam either but by no means was it "easy". All the questions were comparable to the exams provided albeit may be a little harder. As revision I would be doing and redoing the exams that you are provided with and any resources from any revision lectures.

Other/Overall: Overall a nice unit to do if you enjoy maths. The lecturers aren't compulsory or necessary imo I found that I learnt better by doing questions and watching videos on YouTube (khan academy, Professor Leonard, Krista King maths etc) were much more beneficial to my learning and a lot less time consuming. I also found Paul's Online Maths Notes to be very helpful to explain any topic from he unit. I would still read through the lectures and practice all the proofs since they do come up.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on November 16, 2017, 05:06:00 pm
Subject Code/ Name: FIT1051 - Programming Fundamentals in java 

Workload: Weekly  2 * 1 hr lectures, 1hr compulsory tute and 2hr lab

Assessment: 
- Best 10 out of 12 Labs each worth 10% (20%)
- Best 10 out of 12 pre-reading quizzes, each worth (10%)
- Best 10 out of 12 in-lecture quizzes for each week ( 10%)
- Exam (60%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past exams, but 2 sample exams were made by the teaching team

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required, as everything can be found online

Lecturer(s): Dr Marc Cheong

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD (80)

Comments:
Doing this as an elective with limited I.T. experience, I wasn't sure if I was going to survive the subject or not. However, although the workload was incredibly demanding, I liked the subject a lot. Marc, who carries out all the lectures, is very dedicated to the subject, so he knows his stuff and is able to help you whenever he can.

Basically what the subject is about is learning how to code small parts of things in java, like methods before building up to coding classes and covering topics such as inheritance and polymorphism. Originally, what you start off with is looking at the picture as a whole, as seeing everything come together on your screen, before diving in to the code to learn how to do it yourself.

Lectures:
I found the lectures incredibly useful, as they were able to cover all the questions which I couldn't comprehend in the pre-reading material given online. Marc has a unique way of conducting classes, so he can always make them entertaining and easy to understand. Also, they contain the in-lecture quizzes, so are important to attend up to and including week 12 which includes a revision quiz in the second lecture of week 12.

Tutorials:
For me, the tutes weren't that important, as the main goal for them was to prepare for the labs. However, as your best 10 out of 12 labs prepared before the class counts, then it is critical to go to the tutes to ensure that your lab is up to scratch. Also, tute attendance ensures that you receive your lab mark, as it is a requirement that you go to the tutes before your lab takes place.

Labs
On Wednesday afternoon's, you are given online tasks to prepare for each weeks lab in the following week. As such, you've gotta be ahead of the game to ensure your lab is up to scratch before the lab the following week. Once you walk into your lab, your lab supervisor goes over some theory, then checks your work, after which you are free to go. Therefore, preparation for the labs is critical, otherwise you are ruining a potential 2% that you can add to your grade each week. For me, this was done by a combination of consults and working on them myself to ensure that everything was up to scratch.

Pre-reading quizzes
On Wednesday at 5pm (except in week 1 as the course is only just starting), the pre-reading quiz is made available for the following week online, which must be completed by the following Monday at 3am. You have 2 attempts for each quiz with unlimited time given for each attempt and they are open-book, but can tend to be a bit tricky unless you really understand the content. Each quiz consists of 10 questions, which are normally multiple choice, but can include some questions with writing in the answer box which are case-sensitive, so take care. However, preparation for them and taking your time on them should ensure you do well, as the averages for them tended to be around 75% by the end of the semester.

Consultations:
Every week the tutors and Marc run consults on 3 days to assist you with any questions or help with lab work. I always found that the one on Tuesday immediately after the first lecture was incredibly crowded, so take that in mind if you have any questions that you need to ask. However, they are beneficial so I'd recommend to attend at least one a week if you can.

Exam:
I found the exam relatively decent, as it was the same structure as the sample exam with very similar questions. Basically, there are 5 sections on the exam.
Section A is MCQ's where you have 8 multi-choice questions that you have to answer. Section B has 12 questions where you select 9 to answer, which cover general theory about java. Sections C,D & E are all coding sections. C consisted of coding methods or small fragments of code, with 2 questions worth 5 marks each. Originally, I struggled to answer these, but after coming back to them at the end of the exam, I was able to get these parts done. D was coding a class, which starts off with coding the class shell, before dealing with methods contained within the class. All parts have to be answered separately, so take care when answering the questions as the code isn't meant to all be combined into one part.

Section E was coding a subclass that inherited directly from the class in Section D. Then you had to code some methods specific to that class to differentiate it from the class created in Section D. All in all, that was relatively straightforward, so if you're well prepared and have studied all the notes online and know them well then you should be fine.

Overall:
All in all, this subject did take up a majority of my time, but it was worth it. Getting all the work done was relatively straightforward once you knew what you were doing, and the buildup of parts in each week helps to culminate everything into one section by weeks 11 and 12. Highly recommended, either as an elective or a compulsory I.T. unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Uranium on November 16, 2017, 08:06:42 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2144 - Japanese intermediate 2

Workload (Weekly): 
1 x 1 hour Lecture
1 x 2 hour Seminar
1 x 1 hour Tutorial

Assessment:
5 x 1% Vocabulary Quizzes
3 x 4% Mini Tests
1 x 15% Mid-Semester Test
1 x 15% Project
1 x 13% Oral Assessment
1 x 40% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No, but we were provided a revision document.

Textbook Recommendation (Prescribed ):
Genki II Textbook: This textbook essentially provides the basis for the content that will be covered in your seminars, lectures and tutorials.
Genki II Workbook: The homework for this unit consists of chapters of the workbook.  75% of the chapters prescribed need to be completed to meet one of the hurdle requirements for the unit.

Lecturer(s): Dr Satoshi Nambu

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating: 3/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
This unit is a language unit for the Japanese Studies major.  If you started Japanese in university, you may find this unit a bit challenging.

Lectures
The bulk of the lecture materials can be found in the Genki II textbook, but Dr Nambu did go over a few ambiguous points in more detail in the lectures.

Tutorials & Seminars
The tutorial and seminar mostly consist of speaking exercises derived from the textbooks and revision of grammar points.  Sometimes, during the seminars, we also had some writing activities.  There was very little opportunity to practice conversational Japanese other than in the Visitor Session where, where Japanese exchange students visited us.  The only real way to get conversational practice would be to join Monash Japanese Club's Kaiwa sessions, make Japanese friends or join the Monash-Waseda English-Japanese SKYPE Partner Program.  To be honest, I found myself conversing to my partner in English during most of the exchange, so it wasn't particularly handy for me, but I attribute that to my inexperience with the Japanese language.

Vocabulary Tests & Mini Tests
The vocabulary quizzes take place in the tutorials and as in all the previous Japanese language units, the vocabulary you need to study can be found in vocabulary lists in the textbook.  The quiz itself consists of some multiple-choice, who/what am I and matching questions, but there are times where you have to write the keigo version of particular verbs.

Mini tests take place in the seminar class.  In these tests, you will be required to endure two listening activities, match kanji to english definitions, perform two way hiragana-kanji transformation and complete some grammar conjugations.  It should be noted that the kanji words needed to be learned for the kanji-related sections can be found in the Reading and Writing section near the end of the textbook.

Mid-Semester Test
The Mid-Semester focused primarily on the grammar patterns and particles relating to particular verbs, but there was a culture related question.  It should be noted that there was a writing section, where we were required to write in the appropriate keigo and I would say that the writing section was the most time-consuming section, so please do the easier stuff before touching the writing section.

Project & Oral Assessment
The project was an in-class comparison essay about one of the prescribed subtopics comparing Australian and Japanese university students to be written in class.  We were required to gather information by interviewing Japanese university students for this essay.  Since the visitor session was just a few weeks before the assessment task, I ended up just using my time during the visitor session gathering information for my piece.  As the topics are provided prior to the actual assessment, I suggest writing the piece before the D-day and actually memorising it if you want a really good mark. 

The oral assessment is similar to the general conversation and detailed study concept you encounter when you study a VCE language, except the twist is that there is also a 1 minute reading part, where according to Dr Nambu, you will be penalised for not completing the reading exercise.  It should be noted that the reading exercise will be derived from the Reading and Writing section of the textbook (Lessons 19-23), so you can actually prepare for it.

For those who don't know what I mean by the general conversation and detailed study concept, it is when you present your project topic and also have a conversation with the examiner, which takes 5 minutes.  The only advice I can give in regards to the project section is to know your essay well.  Other than that, all you can really do for the general conversation section is to find a Japanese practice/speaking buddy.

Exam
The exam consisted of grammar sections, a culture section and a reading comprehension section, which should be pretty doable as long as you have revised the semester's content.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on November 18, 2017, 11:01:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1020 - Analysis of change 

Workload:  Per week: 3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 2 hour support class

The lectures involved the lecturer teaching the content via handwriting their notes under document camera while they taught (so no actual lecture notes are available before the lecture). The notes would then be scanned and uploaded towards the end of the week.

The support classes were not compulsory (except in weeks where you had to hand in an assignment, or do the mid semester test), and involves you working through a problem set (basically a worksheet about the previous week's content), with the tutor going through certain questions on the board, and walking around to see if anyone needed help. Note that your experience might be different, since I got stuck in an 8am class, a timeslot which doesn't have the best attendance rates (my tutor said there was literally a week or two where no one turned up  ::)). Detailed solutions to selected problems from the problem sets are posted on Moodle the week after.

Assessment:
3 x assignments (10% each; total 30%)
The 3 assignments are relatively well spread out during the semester, so they fit quite well amongst my other assignments. In my opinion, the problems in the assignments (as well as some in the problem sets) are probably the hardest that you will encounter in the entire course, so if you can understand and complete them, you should be fine for the end of semester exam. You are required to hand them in at the start of your support class in the week it is due, and I found that they were generally marked before the next week's support class (marks are uploaded to Moodle). You are also able to collect your assignment and keep it.

Mid-semester Test (10%)
This is a closed book which went for around (or a bit less than) an hour, and was done in the week 6 support class. There was a practise test uploaded on Moodle a week or so beforehand - if you can do this, you'll be fine for the mid-sem test. I found these were marked before the next week's class as well (although I heard some other tutors took a bit longer).

End of Semester Exam (60%)
This is a hurdle, with a 40% mark in the exam required to pass the unit. It is non-calc and closed book, and went for 3 hours, with around 9 questions and 140 marks (from memory). The past exams were a very good indicator of what was on the actual exam (although there was some content difference between semesters, which I think is worth noting). Andy himself said that the difficulty of the exam will be harder than the mid sem test, but easier than the problem sets, so take that as what you will.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, the past exams from the 2 previous semesters were uploaded, but only one with solutions. Apparently this is the policy of the School of Mathematical Sciences, so I expect it to be the same in other maths units.

Textbook Recommendation:

Lecturer(s): Dr Andy Hammerlindl (unit coordinator)
Andy provides consultation hours a few times a week. I never went to any, but they might be useful if you're struggling with any of the content.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2017
Note that this review may only be applicable to semester 2, since there is a different coordinator for semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments: The content in this unit is pretty similar to some of the topics in VCE Specialist Maths, but with more depth, and some more content as well. The general topics are: complex numbers, vectors, functions, limits, differentiation and its applications, integration and its applications, differential equations. I found the approach to teaching the content in this unit was quite different than VCE - the lecturer (Andy) starts with a problem (such as wanting to find the square root of 1), and then introduces a way we can solve it (the imaginary number, i). Even though I did spesh in VCE, I still found this unit to be interesting and engaging. Probably the most important thing it aims to teach is your ability to set out mathematics - in VCE, I think that you can get away with starting a line of working without any justification, but in uni, they're looking for justification of essentially every step that you take. Overall, I think that this unit provides a pretty solid foundation for further units in calculus/mathematics.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Coffee on November 20, 2017, 07:26:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1904 - Reading the City: Literary Genres

Workload: 2x1 hour lectures, 1x1 tutorial

Assessment:
- Annotated Bibliography (Worth 25%)
- Research Essay or Creative Writing (Worth 40%)
- Exam (Worth 35%)

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: No. You are given a practise exam, I can’t remember if this is made up, or if its questions from last year’s exams. Either way, it’s practically useless. The questions aren’t on the texts you’re allowed to take into the exam, but on the texts studied earlier in the semester, which I didn’t study in-depth enough to be able to formulate a response that might mimic what I should be doing in the exam.

Textbook Recommendation:
- Unit Reader
- Broken Teeth by Tony Birch
- The Fall of the House and Usher and Other Writings by Edgar Allan Poe
- A Not So Perfect Crime by Teresa Solana
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The Unit Reader has most of the texts you will study inside it, along with literary theory and criticism. I’d recommend picking it up, they’re usually quite cheap anyway. Neither Broken Teeth, or Poe are examinable. If I remember correctly, we studied Broken Teeth for a week, and only two of Poe’s short stories. So, I’d recommend borrowing these instead of buying it. A Not So Perfect Crime, and Persepolis are examinable. Although you can borrow these, I’d recommend purchasing them. I found it more convenient having these with me, rather than having to worry about how many copies are available. Also, you’re allowed to annotate, highlight, etc., your texts in the exam, which you obviously cannot do if you choose to borrow your books instead.

The Unit Guide also recommends John Frow’s Genre. I think it might have been quoted a couple of times in lectures, but other than that, we didn’t use it. Unless you’re interested in it for personal interest, or further reading, you definitely don’t need it.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Ali Alizadeh, and various others.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2017

Rating: 3/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Content
Whereas ATS1903 is an introduction to the study of literature, ATS1904 is much more focused. Its focus is solely the city, and is divided into three modules:
1. Writing Melbourne
2. Walking the City
3. The Transnational City

The first module is self-explanatory, but also very fascinating. In this module, you read poetry, short stories, articles, and literary non-fiction.

Walking the City primarily focuses on London, but it also covers French writers, and Paris. In this section, you’re introduced to literary theory, and although the texts are not examinable, the literary theory is.

The Transnational City studies texts translated into English, as well as texts outside the West.

Assessments
The unit is comprised of two assessments, plus an exam. I’ll briefly explain and comment on each below:
Annotated Bibliography
The first assessment, and worth 25%. This assignment should have been relatively easy, and straightforward. However, it was poorly explained, the marking criteria wasn’t clear, and basically, everyone struggled with it. To give you an idea of how confusing it was, even the Skills Advisor told me she spent ages trying to get her head around what we had to do. I still did pretty well, but I mostly put that down to (a) starting early, and (b) seeing the Skills Advisor for advice, and getting feedback.

Major Research Essay, or Creative Writing
This is the second assessment, and is worth 40%. You have the option of either writing a Research Essay, of which you are given five, or six topics, and you choose one. The word limit is 1500 words, and you need to cite at least four sources, two of which must be from the Unit Reader. The other option is a Creative Writing piece. I chose the Major Research Essay, so I can’t commend much about it. But, you produce an original piece of work, drawing on literary techniques, themes, and styles of the texts studied in this unit. You can write in any form, e.g., poetry, fiction, or literary non-fiction, etc. The word limit is the same as the Major Research Essay, however is broken up into two components; 1250 words of prose, and a brief exegetical statement of no more than 250 words. You must cite at least two sources, of which one must be from the Unit Reader. There are three streams within the English major; English Literature, Literature in Translation, and Creative Writing. If you’re interested in the latter, I’d recommend choosing the Creative Writing piece over the Research Essay, however, it is of course optional.

Exam
The exam is worth 35%, and is 2 hours long. You’re required to write one essay, either on Virginia Woolf, A Not So Perfect Crime, or Persepolis. The exam is open book, which means you can take both examinable texts, as well as the Unit Reader. The texts can be annotated, highlighted, etc., and you can also use page-markers, or sticky notes.

The essay is not a close-analysis of the texts, but much more general, and you’re also required to cite in the exam.

The prompts are related to the text, but also incorporate literary theory, or other ideas, depending on the text. For example, I did Woolf and I wrote on the idea of the Flaneuse in Literature. All topics brought up in the prompts were covered in lectures and tutorials, so be sure to go over those in preparation for the exam.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Coffee on November 21, 2017, 12:47:22 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1321 Nations at War: The Twentieth Century

Workload: 1x2 hour lecture, 1x1 hour tutorial

Assessment:
- Online Moodle Quizzes (Worth 20%)
- Primary Source Analysis (Worth 15%)
- Major Research Essay (Worth 35%)
- Take-home exam (Worth 20%)
- Tutorial Participation (Worth 10%)

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: No.

Textbook Recommendation: The Unit Reader is all you need. It has each week’s readings, which you’ll need to refer to in assignments, and extensively in tutorials.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Johnny Bell, and various others on occasion.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2017

Rating: 3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:

Content
ATS1321 picks up where ATS1320 left off, although it requires no previous knowledge, so you won’t be at a disadvantage for not having done ATS1320.

The four main themes of the unit are:
1. Centrality of war
2. Ideological confrontation
3. Old and new empires
4. Beyond the West
And, the overarching theme of the unit is (obviously) the twentieth century.

Each week covers a new area of history, which I’ve outlined below:
1. End of the Nineteenth Century world, and Defining the Twentieth Century
2. Empires, Nations, and the First World War
3. Russian Revolution, and the Aftermath of World War I
4. Italian Fascism
5. Nazism
6. Global War
7. The Cold War
8. 1949 Revolution
9. Dissolution of Empires
10. The Iranian Revolution
11. Collapse of Communism in Europe and the USSR
12. Imperial Struggles, Nation-States, and Modernity in the Twentieth Century

This unit is really fascinating. Each week goes by a bit like rapid-fire, so you don’t really study anything too in-depth, but that is to be expected of a first-year unit. The assessments do allow you to focus on what you enjoy though, so I guess that makes up for it.

Assessments
The assessments are almost identical to those in ATS1320, with the addition of Moodle Quizzes this time around. Tutorial participation is also marked, and a take-home exam is due in the exam period. I’ll briefly comment on, and explain each below:
Online Moodle Quizzes
These are on-going throughout the semester, and are completed on Moodle. Each quiz is comprised of ten multiple-choice questions, and cover Weeks 1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, and 10-11. Each quiz is worth 4%, and collectively worth 20%.

The quiz must be completed in 60 minutes, although most people didn’t need that long. The quizzes are based on the readings, and lectures. I’d recommend doing your readings, otherwise you’re going to struggle. While some questions were quite easy, others asked you more specific questions, e.g., “In the discussion of the meaning on fascism, Robert Paxton metions recent research which suggests that the social support for fascism…,” or, “According to Hobsbawm, which two decisions did more than any others to decide the result of World War II…”.

Primary source analysis
You are required to write 1000 words, and critically analyse a primary source from either Week 2, 3, or 4. The instructions were clear, and it’s fairly straightforward.

Major Research Essay
You are given a choice of questions, one for each week. You write on one of them, I chose Nazism. It’s important to read widely, and begin early for this assignment. You need to use both primary, and secondary sources. You need a minimum of three primary sources, and a minimum of seven secondary sources. Like ATS1320, you are given a number of sources, both primary and secondary, to use in this assignment. I used some of these, but to be honest, I didn’t really look at them all that much, I preferred to research my own sources.

Take-home exam
The take-home exam is due in the exam period, but if you have an exam on the same day, you can upload it to Moodle, and submit it earlier.

You’re required to write 1500 words, in response to a question that considers the themes of the unit as a whole. You’re required to engage with at least two of the themes of the unit, and you must discuss at least three of the weekly topics. You also need to use at least three primary sources, and seven secondary sources. Unlike the Major Research Essay, you are not expected to go searching for extra readings. It’s fine to use just the Unit Reader. To quote the Unit Guide:
“Doing so would be a waste of time – you will be much better off reading material on the Moodle site, synthesising it and making an argument in response to the question.”

You also don’t need to submit a bibliography, although you did need footnotes.

Also, unlike ATS1320 which has an unseen take-home exam, the prompt for the ATS1321 take-home exam is actually given to you at the very first lecture. This is way, way less stressful; rather than having to complete it in 48 hours, you can really start whenever.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on November 23, 2017, 07:26:23 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1022 - Chemistry II

Workload: Per week: 3 x 1 hour lecture, 1 x 1 hour tutorial, 1 x 3 hour lab (most weeks)

Note in 2018 the teaching style will be changed - there will be 2 lectorials rather than 3 lectures.
The final lecture in each week is actually called a 'workshop', which typically involves the lecturer going through questions (sometimes exam style) about the week's lecture content. There are also some live experiment demonstrations some weeks.

In tutorials, a tutor will go through exam-style questions based on the previous weeks' content. They are not compulsory, except in the weeks you have an assessed tute (see under 'Assessment'). Suggested solutions are eventually uploaded onto Moodle.

There are a total of 8 weeks of lab work, split into half organic and half inorganic chem. The final experiment in each topic was an 'IDEA' (Inquire, Design, Explore, Answer) experiment which ran over two weeks. The first week would involve an introduction to the problem, and then working in teams to design an experiment and do some initial analysis that would help you to answer the question (for example, in the first IDEA experiment, we had to identify the structure of an unknown white powder). In the second week, you would carry out the experiment (for example, try to synthesise the powder).

Assessment:
4 x tutorials (10% total)
4 of your tutorials in the semester will involve an assessment - 2 for organic, and 2 for inorganic chem. One assessed tute per topic is an individual worksheet, while the other was team-based, where you would work through a worksheet with the people sitting on your table. The individual assessments are open book, while the team-based ones were closed book.

8 x online quizzes (10% total)
Each of organic and inorganic chemistry consisted of 2 pre and 2 post lecture quizzes (8 total). The pre-lecture quizzes involved you watching an introduction video about what you will learn in the next 3 weeks or so, and then answering some quiz questions on Moodle. The post-lecture quizzes were similar to the pre-lecture ones, although a bit more difficult, since they are done after you have already learnt the content in lectures. The pre-lecture quizzes totalled 2%, and post-lecture quizzes totalled 8% of your total mark. These are relatively easy marks, so be sure not to forget to do them!

Laboratory work (30% total)
Before each lab, you are required to complete a pre-lab quiz (worth a small amount of marks), so some preparation is required before you come to lab. I would advise you to read through your lab manual as well, so you have a general idea of what you're doing. The remainder of your lab marks come from a pro forma which you complete based on the experiment and your results (it is essentially a guided lab report), as well as things such as whether you were late, and if your handwriting is neat. You upload this onto Moodle, and your lab demonstrator will mark them. Some of the questions on the proforma can be easily answered if you read the introduction material for the lab carefully, so once again, be sure to read your lab manual! :P The lab component of this unit is a hurdle (need 50% to pass).

End of semester exam (50%)
This was a 2 hour, scientific calculator-allowed, short answer exam on all lecture content. You are provided a 'formula sheet' of sorts, which had the structures of amino acids, and chemical shift values for different types of environments in NMR spectra, but note that IR spec data wasn't on there! Lab content was not explicitly assessable. The exam is also a hurdle (need 30% to pass).

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. However, there was an unrecorded revision lecture during SWOTVAC.

Past exams available:  Yes - two 'mock exams' were uploaded to Moodle, both with answers. They were pretty indicative of the content in the final exam, although I would say the exam was slightly harder.

Textbook Recommendation:

Lecturer(s):
Organic Chemistry:
A/Prof David Lupton
Prof Patrick Perimutter
A/Prof Toni Patti

Inorganic Chemistry
Dr Victoria Blair
Dr David Turner
Prof Cameron Jones
Prof Stuart Batten

There were 4 lecture streams - with generally a different lecturer taking each per topic.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2017

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
The unit was relatively well-organised - the flow of lecture content was well set out. However, I think that there are some areas of improvement. For example, I found it disappointing to find that there was no detailed feedback available for the IDEA experiments or the tutorial assessments (you can't see what questions you've done wrong, you are only given your mark). I also thought there should have been some form of peer assessment for the IDEA experiments.

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments:
The lecture content in this unit was divided into organic chemistry and inorganic chemistry (6 weeks of each), and can be summarised as:
Organic: nomenclature, interconversions/reactions (addition, etc.), isomerism, spectroscopy, proteins, carbs, nucleic acids and synthetic polymers
Inorganic: d-block (transition metal) elements, transition metal complexes/compounds, ligands, isomerism, crystal field theory (colour, magnetism), and a small section on bioinorganic chemistry.

While there are some aspects of this unit that I think could be improved, I think that this unit provides a good introduction to organic and inorganic chemistry, as well as how they can be applied to our everyday lives.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on November 28, 2017, 06:51:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: SCI1300 - Climate Change: From Science to Society

Workload:  3x1hr lectures, 1x2hr support class/tutorial

Assessment:
40% Projects (two assignments worth 20% each, due in weeks 5 and 8 respectively)
Do not underestimate these projects! They will definitely take longer than you expect, and some of the questions are really difficult. Because there is no exam for this subject, the assignments and essay are worth more than probably most other science subjects, making them more important. These two assignments involve downloading a program/excel files from moodle and fiddling around with the values to help you answer questions.

20% Essay (1500 word essay due in week 10)
This essay is about comparing the impacts of climate change on two different countries and how they responded (policies, mitigation/adaptation etc.). When the essay was first explained it shocked a lot of us because Wikipedia was initially allowed to be used as a reference… but I don't think anyone actually did, thankfully. A lot of information can be found in the IPCC reports (which is recommended), the World Bank, CIA Factbook and other resources like those. The essay itself is quite straightforward because its structure is very formulaic and what information is required is made quite clear.

20% In-semester tests (two tests worth 10% each, held in the last lecture of weeks 6 and 12)
The two tests basically acted as mid-semester and end-of-semester assessments. They went for about 30 minutes and had mostly multiple-choice questions (like the tutorials) and two or three short-answer questions. The best way to revise is probably to re-do the tutorial questions or watch some of the important parts of lectures again (like how the greenhouse effect works or the ice-albedo feedback loop). Note that none of the content from the first six weeks is in the second text, so you can forget it all if you weren't really a fan of it!

20% tutorial participation and attendance
There are 11 tutorial classes in the semester (none in the first week). Each tutorial class had 2% allocated to it, so you could miss one and still get full marks for participation/attendance. 1% is attendance (being there and having your name marked off on the roll) and 1% is answering a question. It's very easy to get these marks (although I had a great tutor, apparently there were some who were harsher in giving out marks if you tried to answer a question but got it wrong, and checked attendance by collecting answer sheets at the end of class).

Three of the tutorials were used for explanations of the projects and essays, where the tutor goes through the instructions, marking criteria and any questions, and you can start the assignment during the class. The other tutorials during the first half of the semester had multiple-choice questions to answer (all of the answers are in the lecture notes). The tutorials during the second half had less multiple-choice questions and involved reviewing some climate science blogs for credibility/bias etc. The further into the semester it got, the longer the classes seemed to drag out and the more it seemed like a one hour class was more appropriate, simply because there was too little to do.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past exams, because there is no exam

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required

A lot of the information/images in lectures, at least in the first six weeks, seemed to come from a textbook called 'The Earth System', which I found the first three chapters of online (this could help if you need a different explanation of ideas/processes, and for the first assignment): http://talleylab.ucsd.edu/ltalley/esys10/text_chapters/

Lecturer(s): Prof. Christian Jakob (weeks 1-6), A/Prof. Julie Arblaster (weeks 7-12)

Year & Semester of completion:  2017, Semester 2

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Comments:
A lot of the people I talked to who chose this subject as their elective said they did it because it didn't have an exam (fair choice), but many did not expect the assignments to be so difficult. So, while initially this was expected to be a cruisy elective unit, it turned out to be quite time-consuming and stressful when the projects were due.

The unit is split into two parts. The first six weeks focus on the science of climate change (reasons behind it, energy, the greenhouse effect, climate drivers, atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns, climate variability). A lot of this stuff is covered briefly in EAE1011 which is great if you've done that subject. The second half looks at projections of climate change (using the IPCC reports), impacts on the world, ways to prevent and adapt to climate change, different organisations involved in this process, economic and ethics. I definitely found the first half more interesting and engaging. Like with the tutorials throughout the semester, I felt that the lectures seemed to become more boring and it was difficult to focus during the last few weeks. This is no fault of Julie's - she is very kind and helpful, I think it was just the content that was a bit dry, especially the week about international and Australian organisations.

So, this unit is not bad, but could be improved, especially in the later weeks of the course. Take it as an elective if you are interested in climate change or climate in general and want to know more about how processes/cycles in the ocean, air and ice work. I really enjoyed learning about the climate, but the complexity of the assignments (and lack of clarity/differences between tutor instructions) and the dragging out of some aspects of the course made me enjoy it less than I otherwise would have.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on November 28, 2017, 06:57:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1309 - The Global Challenge

Workload:  1x2hr lecture every week (except for the field trip day), 1x2hr tutorial in weeks 2, 4, 8 and 10

Assessment: 
20% Essay (1500 word essay due in week 9)
An essay with three topics to choose from - one about population, one about urbanisation and one about consumption (the first three topics of the unit). I struggled with this task as I lacked motivation and left it to the last minute. However, the three topics were interesting and there was a lot of information to be found for all of them.

15% Tutorials
There are four tutorials run throughout the semester, in weeks 2, 4, 8 and 10. Each tutorial had a different kind of activity - one was about answering questions on a sheet, one involved group work and a mini presentation, one used ArcMap and the other involved a group discussion and answering questions. Not having tutorials every week made it difficult to get to know people, but a lot of people also enjoyed having few classes because their contact hours were reduced. The tutorials are usually quite enjoyable, and my tutor was really helpful in her explanations. Marks are received by handing in the tutorial sheet at the end of each class.

20% Field trip
There was a full-day field trip done on the Tuesday in week 5 to Port Melbourne. The field trip was related to the urbanisation section of the course and involved firstly walking around the streets of Port Melbourne, looking for signs of redevelopment, gentrification and similar processes. Then, there were questions about land use in Collins Street and sketching a block of the street. The field trip went for almost the entire day (9:30am-4:30pm) and it was very tiring because there was a lot of walking.

A really important thing to remember is that you give in the sheet with all your answers at the end of the day. Yep, you don't get a chance to go home and neaten up your handwriting or have time to research anything afterwards. This can be good, because it means once it's done, it's done and you don't have to worry about it anymore; it can also be bad, because it's worth 20%. Having some basic background knowledge of the areas would help in this aspect.

40% Exam
Ten short-answer questions and two (short) essays in two-hours. Most questions are pretty accessible, it's just difficult to study due to the large amount of content and no real clarity as to what is most important to know (eg. there were a number of different frameworks/models/perspectives presented for certain processes, such as city growth and resource consumption, that were confusing/complex and had very few questions focussed on them).

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  None (because the past exam database was taken down). The final lecture included 2-3 sample questions for both short-answer and essays, with no answers.

Textbook Recommendation:  An Introduction to Human Geography 4th edn (2012) or 5th edn (2016) by Daniels et al.

Not really necessary because a lot of the lecture material comes from this textbook, just presented in a different way. I did have it and use it for consumption/economics because I had never studied topics like those before and wanted a bit more information about some things. However, I had difficulty reading the textbook, because at times it seemed like it was giving really long-winded explanations of things that could've been explained just as well in a simple sentence.

There were lists of suggested texts to read in the unit guide/library reading list for each section of the unit, from both this textbook and chapters in other textbooks. I only read the recommended textbook so unfortunately I cannot comment on what those extra readings were like.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Michele Lobo

Year & Semester of completion:  2017, Semester 2

Rating:  3 out of 5

Comments:
This subject is broken up into four 'blocks' that run for three weeks each - population, urbanisation, consumption, economics.

Population included a lot of things studied in VCE geography, such as birth/death rates, migration and population distribution, and introduced challenges involved (eg. refugees, spread of HIV/AIDS and development). Urbanisation looked at how we understand cities, how they grow, re-urbanisation and gentrification, how to classify cities, and challenges such as homelessness. Urbanisation also included the field trip to Port Melbourne, which was fun but tiring. I definitely preferred the first half of the course because I found the topics much more interesting. The second half of the course was a bit dry. Consumption looked at what resources are, the types of resources, peak oil, renewable energy, food, consumerism and waste. Economic geography included what the economy is, growth vs progress, the informal economy, production chains and globalisation of companies and production.

Being more science-oriented, I much preferred ATS1310 and only really liked population and urbanisation because I was a bit more familiar with them and had studied parts of them before. The number of different complex theories/frameworks in the second half of the course, and my previous lack of knowledge about the topics, is what caused my lower rating of this subject.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on November 30, 2017, 11:41:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: MED5091 - Advanced clinical practice 1 and MED5092 - Advanced clinical practice 2

Workload:
Varies between rotations and sites, but expect to be at your site the same hours as your intern or junior doctor. That generally means 8am - 5+pm for medical rotations, 7am - 5+pm for surgical rotations, and 8-10 hour shift rotations if in the emergency department.

Assessment:
- Pre-Intern Appraisals (PIA) (hurdle): there are five of these that need to be filled out by a supervising consultant doctor, one for each rotation (none for the elective rotation) and each worth 18% of Year 5
- Clinical Knowledge Test (CKT): the only exam for the year, is MCQ/EMQ format and is done at the end of the year, not a hurdle to pass but a hurdle to attend (which is unusual), worth 10% of Year 5
- Modules: a variety of paper, online, and in-person module tasks aimed to supplement clinical learning, many of which are hurdles, for each rotation; the sites and supervisors choose how exactly they want these done (more on this later), none of these count towards the final Year 5 score
- Attendance: a very strict expectation of 100% attendance, although technically the lower bound is 80%

Recorded Lectures: Yes.

Past exams available: Yes there is a practice CKT available from the Faculty.

Textbook and Website Recommendation:
This is a year where textbooks should be utilised only if you really need to, as most of the learning should be occurring during working hours and not at the desk (unlike Year 4!). Personally, I'd strongly recommend at least having a look at the Australian version of "Marshall & Ruedy's On Call: Principles & Protocols", as it is a relatively succinct text on everything practical than an intern will be doing for patients on the ward (minus the paperwork!). As for other resources, as per my reviews of previous units and years, I'd also recommend utilising UpToDate, eTG, and http://radiopaedia.org/ as much as possible.

Lecturer(s): Many, depending on the series of lecture

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 and 2, 2017

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
These units are code for a "pre-internship" year. In my opinion, I found this to be the best year of medicine, but undoubtedly, it comes with many challenges. I'll try to order my comments here in a logical fashion.

Structure of the year
So Year 5, of which these units account for the vast majority of (so I'll use them synonymously with 'Year 5' for my ease), is divided into 6 rotations, each 6 weeks long, with a week of lectures (and the CKT) at the end of the year. There is a three week gap after the first three rotations, for reasons that will become apparent later in this review, I wouldn't call these a holidays. There is only the weekend in between each of the other rotations.

The six rotations are:
1. Medicine
2. Surgery
3. Emergency
4. Aged care
5. Specialty
6. Elective

Obviously, these rotations are not necessarily in this order. Speaking of which, it's worth touching upon how you get to choose your rotations and what my tips and tricks are. The Faculty sends out an email with your rotation allocations towards the middle of Year 4, this will be a generic email saying that you got your Medicine rotation (for example) at Rotation 5 and so forth. These rotations are not set in stone, and you can swap them. My tip is to NOT have your elective in the first two rotations of the year, and ideally not in the first half of the year. This is because, internships, which I'll touch upon towards the end of my review, need referees and these need to be from Australia (preferably: Victoria) so best to have some Victorian rotations before those intern applications are due.

After this initial allocation you are allowed to preference for individual rotations, which occurs towards the end of Year 4. The exact process has escaped my memory, but I think you get to preference 10 rotations for each allocation, but only a maximum of two rotations from the one site. So for example, you can only preference The Alfred twice for a medical rotation. As with any preference system, the highest one should be the one you want the most. The specialty rotation I'll talk about later, but it's essentially a mix of the more obscure medical specialties, surgical specialties, and other specialties (including the weird and wonderful such as a rotation at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine). The Elective rotation is left for later,and can essentially be done anywhere that offers a 6 week rotation with a single supervisor.

The only caveat with rotations for domestic students to be aware of, is that if you haven't done a rural year in Years 3 or 4, then you have to do a least one 6 week rotation in a rural area. What I'd advise is, choose which of the 5 rotations you would want to do in a rural area, and for preferencing in that rotation, ONLY list rural sites. For the other 4 rotations, list NO rural sites unless you want to do more time rurally. The rule of thumb is: if you preference it rural anywhere in your list, you'll get it, so be aware of this. Personally, I chose to do my Surgical rotation in rural Mildura to escape early wake-ups and Melbourne winter, and I also did my Aged care rotation in Bendigo in the brand new hospital - I loved both rotations and would therefore recommend rural rotations to everyone.

As for what preferences most people got, I think I got four first preferences, and one that was somewhere else on my list. Most people probably aren't so lucky, but generally do get at least one top preference in their final allocation. These final allocations are revealed to you via email in late September.

Before starting each individual rotation, it's worth checking the handover sheet. This is a Google spreadsheet that students are encouraged to fill out once they have completed a rotation, and provides tips and tricks about the rotation. Ideally, every student would fill this out, but in reality it's probably less than 25% per rotation, which is a real shame. Regardless, hopefully you find that some decent soul has filled in something for your upcoming rotation, so you know what you're heading into.


Medical rotation
Medical rotations are my love, so I thoroughly enjoyed my rotation. I was fortunate enough to do a rotation at one of the large tertiary networks in an area that I am super interested in, and I tried to make the most of it. Obviously detailing my rotation would be of very limited use to most of the people in the degree, so here is my general advice:
- This is a rotation where you can really hone in on your intern skills. There will be plenty of opportunities to make the intern's life easier by doing procedures on the ward, doing discharge summaries, writing the ward notes, making referrals, etc. Try and do as much of this as possible as you'll inevitably have to do a Gen Med rotation next year where all of this is bread and butter. Should be noted, that anything you do should be run by your intern and should be checked by your intern, especially official hospital documentation. Technically, you should not be writing on drug charts or writing scripts, but definitely try and get some exposure to them.
- Just to reinforce this: for all the above, it's unlikely you'll have an intern who will hand you these opportunities on a platter. You have to seek them out, you have to be keen. I promise you that it will pay dividends for not only your transition into next year, but also how the consultants are registrars will view you. You want to be viewed as a member of the team, not another medical student. This is the key. I tended to stay doing jobs until 7pm some days, and as a result I had an amazing rapport with the team and was always invited to join out-of-hours rounds on interesting cases, Friday evening beers, extra clinics, and so forth. Be keen and helpful, and you'll learn way more.
- With that said... you are still a student. So don't be a slave. You're there to learn, not do all the boring work while your intern deals with the fun stuff. It's a fine balance between pulling your weight and learning. One way to make sure you get enough of the latter is to do what med students do: see patients. Try and be at the admissions (or do them yourself!), report back cases to your registrars when they have time, and ask questions. This is the last time you have to ask questions without feeling too stupid, so make the most of it!
- Do your pre-readings. It should be obvious, but if you're entering a rotation on Lung Transplants, and you haven't got a clue what they're about, you should really smash out some readings on the weekend before. UpToDate is my personal fav for seeking out information in a rush, so that's what I'll recommend. But seriously, you'll look like an idiot if you can't answer the basic questions you may be asked, and you'll also be lost for a good chunk of the rotation which negatively impacts on your learning opportunities.
- Onto something particular: discharge summaries. These are something that I wasn't taught how to approach, and it really took me reading a lot of summaries and doing heaps myself until I developed a format which I found to be reproducible across simple and complex patients in multiple medical and surgical specialties. Here's how I like to go about tackling these pesky beasts:
Quote
Mr/Ms <name> is a <age> year-old male/female, from <home situation>, who presented to <hospital> emergency department on <date> with <presenting complaint>, this is in the setting of <anything recent>, and on an active background of <relevant past medical history>.

Presenting
- In dot points, briefly describe the presentation
- Include a dot point of pertinent negative findings (eg. clinically ruling out sepsis, or APO, or an ischaemic limb, etc.)
- In dot points, describe what was done in emergency, including summarising relevant examination (including vitals) and investigations
- Sample line 1: "Although previously well, developed sudden-onset weakness of L) hand and arm while driving at 12.14 pm"
- Sample line 2: "Immediately pulled car on side of road, and called for an ambulance, which arrived at 12.35pm and brought him to hospital"
- Sample line 3: "He reported no infective symptoms (cough/dysuria/neck stiffness/fevers/rigours), no pain, no headache, no loss of consciousness, no visual symptoms, no recent surgery or trauma"
- Sample line 4: "Notably, he had not been taking his aspirin or antihypertensive medications for the last week"
- Sample line 5: "At presentation, he was haemodynamically stable with a regular pulse and manual blood pressure of 150/85 mmHg, he was afebrile and emergency doctors only noted 4/5 weakness in his L) upper limb with an otherwise unremarkable examination"

Admission
- In dot points again, just describing what happened when your team met the patient, I don't always include this section but do if it's a complex case
- Include any new findings on the physical examination (relevant only) and what management took place from your team
- Sample line 1: "On examination, Mr Smith was haemodynamically stable with a regular pulse, and afebrile with a GCS of 15; as noted earlier, he had reduced 4/5 power in his L) upper limb across all movements when compared to the contralateral side, accompanied with brisk reflexes and a subtle increase of tone, notably his cranial nerve and lower limb neurological examinations were unremarkable, as were his chest/heart/abdominal examinations"
- Sample line 2: "Given his presentation suggested an acute stroke, a CT brain was performed which was unremarkable, followed by a CTA whcih demonstrated an occlusion of the R) M2, and a CTP which demonstrated a perfusion mismatch in the R) hemisphere with a large penumbra, features which all suggest an acute ischaemic stroke"
- Sample line 3: "After consultant discussion, it was decided that alteplase be given as per protocol, and this infusion was started at 1.06 pm when Mr Smith's blood pressure was 140/80 mmHg, he tolerated the infusion well in the emergency department" 
- Last line of this section should be "Admitted under <home team> on <date> after discussion with consultant Dr <name>"

Progress
# Issue 1
- Dot points again, just detail what happened for each individual issue, give the issue the best medical name possible (eg. Hypertension is better than "Increased blood pressure")
- Include clinical improvements, deteriorations (eg. MET calls, code blues), trends in investigations, impressions by allied health staff
- Sample line 1: "He/She progressed well on the ward, tolerating the increased dose of frusemide well, with a clear chest noted by 29/11 and a clear CXR noted by 30/11."
- Sample line 2: "Allied health input was sought, and Ms Smith began hand exercises and rehabilitation with the physiotherapists on the ward, her strength in that R) hand improved to 4+/5, which was close to her reported baseline"

# Issue 2
- Same deal, for as many issues as is required

Discharge
- Brief, stating discharge rationale, destination, and plan for patient and the GP
- Sample line 1: "With good progress from Neurology and Allied Health points of view, Mr Smith was discharged home"
- Sample line 2: "Several changes were made to Mr Smith's medication regimen, including the addition of <medications and doses and frequency>, and these were explained to Mr Smith by our pharmacist on the ward"
- Sample line 3: "Mr Smith is to follow-up in our Stroke clinic in 4 weeks time and is to have a brain MRI beforehand, and is advised to follow-up with his GP in one week to reassess his hypertension"

There are often other sections of the discharge summary form, depending on where you are, but at some point (after all the above if there isn't a specific area for this), you should mention:
- All the medications to take upon discharge: name, dose, frequency and why
- Which medications have been ceased and why
- Past medical history - often this can be copied from a previous summary, but obviously read and update this
- Actual results, I personally liked to attach scan results verbatim, the latest bloods, and any other important investigations (eg. nerve conduction tests, EEGs, HbA1c, etc.)
- Smoking and alcohol status
- Relevant social history
- Your name and role, your registrars' and consultants' names and roles
- A final note about the modules for this rotation: it depends on your team. There are NO hurdle modules for medicine, so do whatever your supervising consultant wants you to do. Keep in mind, that if you do need to do some, they're quite time-intensive so don't leave them until the last day because you'll struggle.


Surgical rotation
An area of medicine I appreciate, but not one I enjoy at all. As aforementioned, I did this rotation in a rural setting, and for someone who doesn't love surgery, I think this was ideal for seeing a good variety of things, and to nail some of the basics. Obviously again, detailing my rotation would be of very limited use to most of the people in the degree, so here is my general advice:
- Again, be keen. This is how you get things done, this is how you learn heaps, this is how you score well on your PIA. In surgery, the best way to show you're keen is to make it into theatre. I probably scrubbed up more in this single rotation than in the entirety of my previous medical schooling! On some days I was in theatre helping out with cases until 9.30pm. Even though I'm not a fan of surgery, this was enjoyable and the surgeon could see that I wanted to learn and as a result, got me involved in whatever she was doing. Because I was so keen, I even got to present at the Grand Round with my ward partner which was a great experience. Awesome.
- Again, this is another perfect rotation to nail down those basic intern skills. Get the procedures in, get the ward notes in, get the discharge sumamries done. I was a bit of a discharge summary fiend in this rotation and probably did around 35. Amazing practice for the next year, I feel really comfortable about efficiently doing them now. Oh, and the intern was super thankful because it was a very busy unit.
- I feel like I'm repeating myself here a bit, but do your pre-readings! The first and foremost in surgery is the anatomy. Look at the list of cases the day before they happen and read up on the procedures that will happen, and read up about the relevant anatomy. Don't be that guy that walks into a lap cholecystectomy and doesn't know what Calot's triangle is... Never be that guy. As with my advice in third year, worst that happens is that you don't know and say "Honestly not too sure, how about I read up on it tonight and briefly tell you the answer tomorrow?". A response like that shows initiative and shows a certain desire to improve and learn.
- A final note about the modules for this rotation: they are all hurdles. This means you HAVE to do ALL of them. They are actually quite time-intensive so don't leave them until the last day because you'll struggle.


Emergency rotation
- This rotation is the traditional favourite for medical students. Wasn't my favourite, but that's not because it wasn't amazing (it was!), but just because I felt I had so many great rotations that this one didn't manage to top the list. Students love it because you get freedom to actually practice medicine. Generally, shifts are 8-10 hours long, and 3-4 shifts per week, although if you're keen you can do more shifts as long as it doesn't impede on the learning of others.
- Just a note on the format of EDs, each is different (of course), but generally there are different streams, some more acute than others. Get a good taste of each stream as you do your rotation. Personally, I found the acute streams (but not the super acute/trauma) streams really good for learning as I did a lot there.
- That leads me what you do in the ED. I think what you do exactly depends on where you are. If you're at a fancy big tertiary centre, you'll be doing a bit of ED work and a bit of shadowing work. If you're at a smaller centre, you'll be doing way more ED work.
- The other factor that alters how much freedom you have is what your consultant thinks of you. If your consultant rates you highly, you'll have free reign, if they think you're a bit of a battler, you'll be reeled in a bit. I think that judgement is made over the first few shifts, and is generally a fair assessment. Nothing wrong with more supervision so don't take it the wrong way.
- Personally, I was fortunate to be treated like a resident. I would pick up my own patients (letting the in-charge consultant know of course!), clerk them, examine them, and report back to the in-charge consultant with my management plan. This is not dissimilar to what any junior doctor would be doing, and is a really good chance to learn. Again, a great chance to refine your procedural, history, and examination skills; you should be busy doing something all the time in the shift!
- As part of your management plan, you may be required to make referrals or ask specialties for advice. I always volunteered to take this job on, because again, it's great learning and experience. There are ways to handover patients, and ways to handover patients, and we're all pretty pathetic at it when we start off (and perhaps I'm still not great!), but what is essential is that you're prepared and have a format. By prepared, I mean have the patients' details and results in front of you and ready to go, know the case, know what you're asking of the person you're talking to, and realise that their time is valuable. By having a format, I mean something like ISBAR. This is great, and I use it often. However, there are variations, and I'll attach a couple of useful slides below to guide you. Practice makes better when it comes to referrals.
(http://i67.tinypic.com/faxz54.jpg) (https://dqzrr9k4bjpzk.cloudfront.net/images/370046/387566160.jpg)
- A final note about the modules for this rotation: they are all hurdles. This means you HAVE to do ALL of them. They are actually quite time-intensive so don't leave them until the last day because you'll struggle (see the pattern yet?).


Aged care rotation
- Not going to post much advice for this rotation, because it's essentially just a medical rotation with elderly patients. The same rules apply.
- Where this rotation differs is in some of the extra-hospital placements you have to do. This includes a visit to the Alzheimer's Association, attending a VCAT hearing, an Aged Care Services visit, and a visit to an aged care facility. Each of these has a worksheet to complete, and these are all hurdle tasks.
- In addition to these extra-hospital visits, there is also the "Interprofessional Learning Day" which is a full day where you learn some aged care bread and butter alongside nursing students. I actually found this day to be pretty useful, despite the doubts I had about it beforehand. So keep an open mind and be kind to each other. It's a good initiative from the Faculty and also a hurdle task.
- The modules in this rotation are also all hurdles, and require you to seek out patients and present them to a consultant. So naturally, these need to be planned in advance with your supervisor. Worth getting on top of finding cases early, especially if your rotation is at a specialised service.


Specialty rotation
- Specialty rotations can be anything from a medical rotation, to a surgical rotation, to psychiatry, to paediatrics, to radiology, to pathology, to the weird and wonderful like the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. Hopefully you're allocated something that you enjoy. :)
- No specific advice for this, it all comes together with the advice from the previous rotations.
- The modules for this rotation are odd. Regardless of whatever you do, there is a Women's Health quiz that needs to be passed on Moodle; this isn't an easy quiz and there are pre-recorded lectures you should watch before attempting it. There is also an essay on HIV that needs to be written, this can be an opinionated piece or a creative piece (I chose the latter) and is quite an interesting task if truth be told. Both of those tasks are hurdle requirements. There are other non-hurdle modules that you may be asked to do by your supervising consultant, such as dermatology and so forth. Fortunately, I wasn't required to do any of that.


Elective rotation
- Hopefully you've left this towards the back half of the year as per my earlier advice! Why will become apparent in the next section.
- This is a rotation with a lot of freedom, you can go virtually anywhere in the world that offers a 6 week rotation with a single supervisor. If you're not keen to travel, that's more than fine, Monash offers many rotations that students can choose from in order to do their elective in Victoria.
- If you're going overseas, plan it early. Many places, especially the UK, have very early deadlines for applications, often before the year has even started. So get organised early to avoid disappointment.
- If you're choosing a Monash elective, a list of available rotations will be emailed to you and you then choose which one you want. Time is key here as these are offered on a first-come-first-serve basis.
- No modules for this rotation and no PIA for this rotation, but there is an "Elective Report" that needs to be submitted as a hurdle. This can literally be be on anything as long as it's relevant to your experience. Furthermore, instead of the PIA, there is a "Supervisor's Report", which needs to also be submitted before a deadline date.


Back-to-base and the CKT
- 'Back-to-base' describes the phenomenon of coming back to Monash Clayton for some lectures that contain useful knowledge for any junior doctor. In general, I found them to be worthwhile and high-yield.
- These happen on the last Friday of every rotation for a half-day. If you can't make them, they're recorded, however the expectation is that you will be there.
- These lectures also occur at the end of the year for one week, known as the 'Back-to-base week'. This is a jam-packed week, with lectures from a variety of senior and junior doctors on core topics. Excellent revision, lunch included, and note that the roll was taken one day so be sure to turn up!
- During the back-to-base week, there is the CKT. This is really just like the Year 3 exam, but includes more pre-intern knowledge. It's a hurdle to attend, but not to pass (which is strange!). I didn't do any particular study for it, and I think I did fine. Wouldn't lose sleep over it.


That three week gap and internship applications
- I've left this to last because technically this isn't part of the units, but it's part of the year, and is arguably the most important part of the year.
- Three weeks off between semesters sounds like a great time to jet of to Europe to discover yourself, right? Wrong.
- This three weeks isn't for holidays, it is when intern interviews occur.
- Now let me back-track a little to explain how this process works. The whole process is mediated by an organisation called the Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria (PMCV). Consider this the VTAC of medicine. PMCV provides a medium where you can upload your CV and order up to 15 hospitals in a list of preferences. But this is not all you have to do, as each hospital network ALSO requires you to apply to them as well. So it's like VTAC and if you had to apply to each uni as well. It's annoying, I know, but it's what it is.

PMCV
- So firstly, what does PMCV require. They need: a standardised CV, your InternZ score, your two referees, and your list of preferences.
- 'Standardised CV' refers to a CV that follows a template created by PMCV. It has fixed sections that need to be filled in and no part of it can be deleted. It can become pretty long (mine was 7 pages I think) if you fill it in correctly. My advice: fill this in at the start of the year, well before any of the internship applications actually open. Refine it as the year progresses. One tip I have is to add subsections to each of their templated tables, for example under the "Leadership roles and extracurricular achievements" section I divided that into the four sections of Leadership, Professional development, Professional memberships, and Extra-curricular; which I felt helped a reader to understand everything that I had done. You can do this, but do not delete anything. The CV also requires a photo (god knows why...), so get this sorted too, it should look professional.
- The 'InternZ score' is hopefully something you're already familiar with. In short, it's calculated using your MED2000 and MED4000 marks such that you're fit along a normal distribution curve that has a median of 3.5. Hopefully, for your sake, you're above 3.5! You get your score towards Rotation 3 time, which is when all the applications start to open up for each hospital.
- The two referees are a source of much stress. PMCV recommends that these be consultants (and indeed some health services will not accept them if they are 'just' Fellows or Registrars!) who have supervised you CLINICALLY in the last 18 months. So basically, from the start of Year 4 until applications are due. Most people get their referees from Year 5, and from Rotations 1-3. This is why I strongly suggest having your exotic elective AFTER these rotations, so you can maximise your chances of having great referees. How to choose a referee is tricky, but generally your consultant supervisor is the best bet. My approach was to ask them towards the end of the rotation if they'd be willing to be your referee (they invariably say 'yes' if you did well on the rotation), and ask for their contact details and ask if they don't mind you sending them a reminder email closer to when applications are due (again, they say 'yes'). I'd then email them a couple of weeks after the rotation is over to thank them profusely and to also attach a mock-PMCV referee template. This template is essentially the assessment that they'll fill out about you once you nominate them as your referee in the PMCV system. The assessment has boxes to tick but also has a comments section, strongly recommend them to write in the comments as health services love the comments. Sending them this early allows them to know what to expect, indeed some keen beans actually printed out the mock template and asked prospective supervisors to fill it out in front of them to see how well they'd give them. Personally, that latter approach is too far, but the email is a nice courtesy. Following this, email them again just before you officially nominate them in the PMCV system, telling them that they'll receive an email from PMCV shortly with a link to a similar form, if they could fill it out promptly AND fill in the comments that would be much appreciated (or something along those lines!). Once they've completed the official form from the PMCV link, you will be notified via email. You do not get to see what scores or comments they gave you, and that's probably for the best. You cannot un-nominate a referee, so choose wisely! To repeat, you need two such referees.
- Finally, the list of preferences. This is straightforward. Essentially just list up to 15 health networks (I did 12) that you'd like to work in. No tricks here, preference the one you want most as #1, the next at #2, and so forth. Victoria has a merit-based system so there's no way to give yourself an advantage of getting a job anywhere through your preferences. The individual hospitals do NOT know where you have preferenced them, and they don't ask either. I wouldn't volunteer the information to them as well.

Health services
- Ok that's the PMCV side of it. Now let's talk about the hospital side of it. Each hospital network will have their own online application. You must submit an application for each hospital you preference in PMCV (otherwise... why bother?). The applications vary considerably; some require cover letters, some require you to answer questions, some have extensive forms, etc. You need to actually take some time with each application, and especially take time with the cover letter. Ensure your cover letters are addressed to the right people from each hospital, and ensure that they actually address what the hospital is looking for in an intern. What they're looking for is generally obvious - look at the position descriptions and look at the values of the health service. This all takes a LOT of time, so get onto it when it opens. Worth noting that once you have submitted an application to a health service, you can edit and change it until the deadline, so don't worry too much about getting it perfect the first time, just make sure it's perfect by the deadline.
- One thing to note for the hospitals is that they each run an information session and/or have a stall at the AMA Careers Expo. Worth going to these if you can, you'll have a chance to talk to current staff (senior and junior), learn about the health service, and get tips about applications from them. Some of these require booking in advance (and do sell out!), so be on top of things.
- This whole application process take a LOT of time, and is quite stressful. The best tips I have is to be organised, understand the process, and do things earlier rather than later. When you think you're done with an application, double-check it, and then triple-check it, and then finally check that you've actually submitted it (hint: you'll get an email saying you have).
- Once all of this is due, which is usually towards the end of Rotation 3, you have a peaceful few weeks until interviews are offered. Those few weeks are not a fun time.

Interviews
- Onto the interviews. Not all hospitals have them, those that do all do them differently, and they each have mysterious selection criteria. Here are a few hospitals that do them (with style of interview in brackets): Alfred Health (panel interview with HR and consultant doctor, followed by SJT), Austin Health (MMI-style interview with two one-on-one stations, one with a consultant doctor and one with HR), Melbourne Health (group interview), St Vincents Health (panel interview with HR and consultant doctor), Monash Health (video interview, 1 min per question with 2 mins reading). These are generally announced in the first week of the three week break, and depending on the health service, you may get to allocate an interview time slot or it may be auto-allocated. For the interviews, dress formally (more formal than med school interviews in any case), know the health service, know why you want to work there, and have an armamentarium of personal anecdotes that you can slide into answers (eg. about leadership, teamwork, working with difficult staff/patients, etc.).
- Job offers come out towards the end of July, and the wait is generally an unpleasant one!


Overall impression
What a year it is. What a fantastic year. You really do feel like you're practicing medicine and making a difference. Yes there are the stresses associated with intern applications and interviews, but I really do think I learnt a great deal from that experience. I think I was fortunate to have a stellar year in terms of rotations, not a rotation I didn't love (even Surgery!), so no complaints from me. That was coupled with me getting decent grades throughout the year, getting the internship spot I wanted at a competitive health service, and even winning an award at graduation. What a damn good year to be part of. It's been an absolute privelege to end my time at Monash Uni on such a high note. Hopefully you have a similarly amazing year too :)

Feel free to ask me any questions!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on December 01, 2017, 12:39:25 am
Subject Code/Name: MED5102 - Contemporary developments in clinical practice: Patient safety

Workload: Not much at all; just simulation sessions, three half-day lectures, and some time dedicated to online tasks.

Assessment:
- Simulation sessions: these are a hurdle to attend, not worth any part of Year 5
- Eight Moodle posts: four posts per semester, hurdle to complete to a satisfactory level, but not worth any part of Year 5
- Four lectures: a half-day each and a hurdle to attend, not worth any part of Year 5
- Attendance: a very strict expectation of 100% attendance for all the sessions and lectures

Recorded Lectures: No.

Past exams available: N/A.

Textbook and Website Recommendation:
None needed (what a change!), all readings are provided via Moodle.

Lecturer(s): Several, as described.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 and 2, 2017

Rating: 5/5

Comments:
This unit is a bit of an odd-ball. A mix of bits and pieces that the Faculty thinks are useful for internship that don't fit into the nice rotations of MED5091 and MED5092. Given it's not a major player in Year 5, I'll keep this short.

Simulation sessions
These are amazing sessions. There are a minimum of two full days of simulation sessions, although depending on where you are allocated to do them you may get more time (especially in rural centres). In these sessions you work as teams in a variety of acute scenarios, using a fancy dummy as a mock patient. This dummy has signs on examination, can speak, has an ECG trace, can take intravenous therapy, and so forth. It's got all the bangs and whistles, which is pretty awesome for learning. The scenarios themselves are supervised by consultant emergency and ICU physicians, who provide detailed constructive feedback. The sessions are honestly one of the best parts of Year 5 without a doubt, I wish we had more of them!
(https://www.healthinnovation.org.au/assets/Uploads/_resampled/ResizedImage621414-IMG-0169.JPG)

Moodle posts
What can I say about Moodle posts that hasn't been covered in my previous views? I'm not a fan. The Faculty means well by making us do these tasks, but honestly as per the ones in Year 4, I found them to be a bit mind-numbing and dull. Thankfully, there are only a handful to make per semester so it's not too demanding. In all honestly, some of the readings are actually quite interesting, so that's one positive.

Lectures
The lectures I found to be of mixed value. The lecture I enjoyed the most was regarding Prescribing, and was run by consultant doctors as well as hospital pharmacists. That day was particularly memorable because it was filled with lots of really good advice about how to be a safe and efficient prescribed - traits that are obviously valuable as a junior doctor. Another memorable lecture series was the Palliative Care lecture day, again filled with very practical information and delivered by superb presenters.

Overall impression
A nice unit to supplement the workhorse units MED5091 and MED5092. Definitely gained some key pearls of wisdom while completing this unit, and particularly enjoyed the simulation sessions which turned out to be one of the (many) highlights of the year for me.

Feel free to ask me any questions!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: pi on December 01, 2017, 12:46:24 am
Subject Code/Name: MED5100 - Final MBBS grade

Workload: N/A, this unit is essentially a grade for the entire degree.

Assessment:
- MED2000 (30%)
- MED4000 (60%)
- Year 5 (10%)

Recorded Lectures: N/A

Past exams available: N/A

Textbook Recommendation: N/A

Lecturer(s): N/A

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 and 2, 2012-15, 2017

Rating: 3/5

Comments:
Similar to my memorable MED4000 review, not sure how to feel about this unit given it's just a grade. Like your ATAR, this is one number that signifies how you did in the degree. The caveat: you've already got your jobs so no one really cares too much! As you can see, the bulk of the grade is in the work you've put into MED4000, which further highlights the importance of Years 3 and 4, however Year 5 is still important to do well in. Indeed, the vast majority of awards presented at graduation involve Year 5 in some way or another, so doing well should be your focus :)

From me, it's been a pleasure writing these reviews for ATAR Notes :) If you're reading this, hopefully this means you're towards the end of the degree, so best of luck with it and hopefully we run into each other one day on the wards :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Sine on December 01, 2017, 03:22:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1062 - Molecular Biology

Workload: Weekly 3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 3 hour lab session (labs weeks 2-11)

Assessment:
-Practical course (labs) (30%)
-Mid Semester Test (10%)
-Exam (60%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: None, some practice quizzes available.

Textbook Recommendation: 

Prescribed Texts: Molecular Biology of the Cell 6ed

Recommended Texts: None
Textbook is definitely not needed to do well I only had pdf copy of it and never thought of buying a hardcopy since I rarely(never) used it.

Lecturer(s):
A/Prof Fasseli Coulibaly [unit co-ordinator] (Structure & Replication of DNA; Manipulation of DNA & Gene Cloning; Translation)
Dr Marina Telonis-Scott (Manipulation of DNA & Gene Cloning; DNA Recombination, Repair & Mutations)
Prof Christian Doerig (Molecular Genetics)
A/Prof Anna Roujeinikova (Gene Expression & Regulation)
Dr Terry Kwok-Schuelein (Gene Expression & Regulation)
A/Prof Robyn Slattery (DNA and the Immune System)

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating:5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Arguably the best first year biomedicine core unit at Monash. Although I didn’t find the content that engaging **cough**DNA lab techniques and lab sessions**cough**. The unit is the best run unit and you can really see the staff is trying their best for it to run smoothly and for all the students to have an enjoyable experience in their learning.

I generally didn’t find the lectures that useful they are okay for a introduction to the topic (although you can get this from reading the lecture slides) you really need to be putting in your own time and effort in to do well.

The beginning of the unit is quite familiar if you had done 3/4 biology in VCE or the equivalent in highschool. A lot of the content here was just an extension of VCE. The topics that were "new" were the ones where I would put more time into in order to properly understand the content.

Make sure to be continually revising throughout the semester (something I didn't do well) and don’t slack in the first few weeks even though the content may seem easy because even the easy things form part of your assessment and they tend to be very specific on the easy portions of the course to make it not too easy for us. Also proper management during the first few weeks helps you when multiple MSTs occur in a small time frame (common if you do straight biomed). Thi is so that you don't have to revise/learn half the course in a couple of days. For my year this unit was a relatively early exam so you won't get a whole deal of time to study for it.

Laboratory Course: Labs are worth 30% of your total unit grade. There are 4 pracs run across 10 weeks of labs and each week is generally “worth” 3% for most labs except for microbiology which is a test. So basically, just another MST. This test was not too difficult as long as you revised the right things, but given the breadth of this lab it was difficult to study for since a lot of content could be assessed and  a lot of people were not quite sure what the focus of the lab was. The labs were very boring usually pipetting/gel electrophoresis/PCR for a couple hours and it felt like we did the same prac multiple times through the semester. Be very grateful if you ever finish early and get to leave. The best practical in my opinion is the immunology prac, this one is only a single week worth 3% but was taught very well and the questions associated were quite difficult and required a very high level of understanding of the whole course. Usually some lab questions can be done at home but sometimes you need to specifically use your lab results. Your tutors will generally send you in the right direction but won't give you the answer. Sometimes I would ask my tutors to "check" my work when I finish in order to make sure I got the marks. The large grade associated with labs (30%) can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what type of tutors you get. Some of my friends got very lenient ones whilst others got very harsh ones which was reflected in the marks we all received. This can really bump up or drag down your score plus/minus 2-3 overall in my opinion.

Mid Semester Test: The MST is worth 10% and consists of 34 MCQs. The MCQs were on lectures 1 through 18 which is weeks 1 -6. This test was done online either on campus or at home. To avoid “cheaters”, we had to use a lockdown browser and those who didn’t do the test under supervision was required to use a webcam. Overall the test was very fair and not overly difficult. As all biomed tests are you needed to know a high level of detail of the content. For example one MST question was on a small specific part of the diagram on the lysogenic and lytic virus cycles on one of the lecture slides which was generally skimmed over in the lecture lucky for me I vaguely remembered seeing the diagram.

Exam: It is worth 60% so a large chunk of your overall grade. The exam consisted of 130 marks which consisted of a variety of MCQs and EMQs. EMQs are basically just MCQs but 1 general scenario with multiple questions this was used a few times for laboratory questions. Sometimes the EMQs involved 5 questions and something like 5 "answers" which you can choose from but each answer can be used 0,1 or multiple times. Remember to revise all your lab content it can be quite tedious and boring but made up ~40% of the exam. Again there is a high level of detail required and also a lot of content so you generally need to be somewhat organised during the semester. However, there was no real trick questions (except a few dodgy questions) which made the exam relatively manageable. If you know all your content you should be very confident going into your exam.

Other/Overall:It is quite a difficult unit with respect to the amount of content covered although a relatively standard difficulty for a  first year biomed unit. One of the best ones I have done to date, at university and it was extremely well run by the faculty. You will definitely get a score that is a reflection of the work that you have put in throughout the semester.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: extremeftw on December 03, 2017, 05:47:59 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECC3690 - International economics 

Workload:  Weekly:
2 hour lecture (I didn't go to a single one and they were not recorded!)
1 hour tutorial

Assessment: 
10%: 2 homework tasks worth 5% each
25%: Mid-semester test
5%: Tute participation
60%: Final exam

Recorded Lectures:  No.

Past exams available:  One mock exam is provided although IMO it was not indicative of the actual difficulty in the final.

Textbook Recommendation:  Textbook completely unnecessary. Don't bother with it (library has copies if you really need it).

Lecturer(s): Christis Tombazos

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2017

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 80 HD.

Comments:

The meat of this subject is in the first ~6-7 weeks, where you will be introduced to three distinct models of trade: the Ricardian model (which anybody who has microeconomics will already be familiar with), the Specific Factors model, and the Heckscher-Olin model. Understanding the ins and outs of these models is central towards succeeding in this unit. The rest of the unit is mostly extensions of these models (e.g. what happens if you relax the assumption that labour is immobile across countries, welfare analysis, the effects of tariffs and quotas in these models, etc) and tacked on during the final 2 weeks is a discussion of exchange rates and capital flows.

 Lectures: As I said above, the lectures weren't recorded and I didn't attend any of them. The slides were quite detailed and the lecturer made great efforts to link the material to the content covered by the powerpoint. The lecturer was quite good (I had him as my tutor as well).

 Tutorials: Discussion of the assigned questions for the week. Tutes were very valuable; I would highly recommend you attend them.

 Homework tasks: Pretty straightforward, very similar to the tutorial questions. They gave you a few questions and marked one of them at random. You should definitely try to get 100% on both of these because it's a free 10% up for grabs.

 Mid-sem: Multiple choice, about 30 questions. Not too bad in terms of difficulty, just make sure you have a really good grasp of everything on the slides. The lecturer directly referred to content from the lectures for nearly every single question.

 Exam: This was really, really difficult this year. I kind of expected it to be similar to tutorial/homework questions, but it was much more detailed than that. Luckily, it seems that the exam was scaled up a lot because I really didn't think I got more than 50% on it but somehow ended up with a HD. My advice on the exam would be this: don't skip over some topics just because they haven't been assessed in other tasks. You need to have a strong intuitive grasp on the content to succeed on the exam; do not rote learn the formulas or the models!

 Overall, this was a worthwhile unit. The material covered in this unit has a lot of real world application, particularly in the current political climate where protectionism seems to be making something of a comeback in the United States! The unit is pretty chilled out in terms of workload, just make sure you don't fall too far behind because it can be difficult to catch up.

 Also, some people might be concerned about how much maths the unit uses. This unit has easier maths requirements than intermediate micro and other 3rd year economics units like monetary economics. Pretty much just algebra, so you should be fine.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on December 04, 2017, 10:58:09 am
Subject Code/Name: BFC1001 - Foundations of Finance 

Workload: 
1hr lecture (pre-load) per week - compulsory for attendance marks
2hr workshop (compulsory) per week

Assessment: 
6%: Out-of-class learning tasks
6%: In-class learning tasks   
5%: Team Business Presentation
18%: Mid-Semester test   
15%: Team Assignment   
50%: Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2016 Sem 2 and 2017 Sem 1 exams provided

Textbook Recommendation:  Foundations of Finance 9th edition Global Edition (Keown, Martin & Petty) - Booklist says it is compulsory but since it is an American version that is used in an Australian finance topic, I would not buy it unless you need some consolidation of your work that is covered in the pre-load.

Lecturer(s): Dr Jason Choo

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2017

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 HD

Comments:

Course Structure:
Topic 1 - What is finance - gives a brief introduction to finance as well as calculating the most important ratio, the Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC)
Topic 2 - Financial markets and regulation - gives an introduction to the RBA, APRA and ASIC
Topic 3 - Value, time and money - a calculation topic that shows that money today is worth more than money in the future, via discounting. Also shows how to calculate present and future values and EAR
Topic 4 - Wealth, time and money - Gives an intro about annuities that are either ordinary or annuity due, as well as how to find the present value and future value of each. Further, provides background to an equivalent annual annuity (EAA), which is a lump sum that is broken down into an annuity with equal payments or receipts for a finite time, which can then be compared to a regular annuity by looking at payments received or paid per time period.
Topic 5 - Financial choices and decisions (Capital budgeting) - Key topic as it looks at how to calculate Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR), which are the extra cash flow you would earn if all cash flows are discounted back to time period 0, as well as the discount rate that would lead to your NPV being 0. Seemed to be understood well by most students, as it was the first question on the short answer on the exam, reflected by an average mark of 16.5/20 on that question.
Topic 6 - Applications of finance - Applies annuities to mortgages and superannuation, as well as provided a discussion into managed funds.
Topic 7 - Financial Institutions - A theory based topic that expands on topic 2 especially in the are of the Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR), which is the minimum amount of capital that the banks must hold in reserves to cover for unexpected situations
Topic 8 - Debt and markets (Debt securities) - Highlighted differences between money and bond markets, what securities to use for each and relevant formulas for calculating both. Was covered on the exam through calculating bonds with 6 month coupon rates.
Topic 9 - Stock and markets (Equity securities) - talks about differences between ordinary and preference shares, what formulas to use to calculate present value (PV) for each as well as using the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) as a relevant discount tool for calculating share prices. Was reinforced in the exam through calculating CAPM and PV of shares
Topic 10 - Risk & financial protection - Explains differences between option, future and forward contracts. Mainly provides background knowledge for BFC2751 (Derivatives) as to how to calculate preferred contract choices. I found this to be the toughest topic of the course, as with it being the last question on the exam, it was difficult to cover and understand all the information being provided from it. This was reflected by the average mark of 7.6/15 on that question on the exam. Mainly compared between if you hedged or speculated or did not.
Topic 11 - Finance & Globalisation - Focused on foreign exchange and whether or not to use the buy/sell rate in calculating exchanges. Originally I found this to be a difficult topic, however after repetition made it seem far more simple. Helps when doing BFC3240 - International Finance.

I found this subject to be a really good introduction for BFC2140 - Corporate Finance, as it provided a background knowledge of finance which was compulsory for my finance major.

Overall, this subject was structured incredibly well. Basically it utilised a flipped learning approach, where you attend a lecture, learn content for half of it and for the remaining half answer multiple choice or short answer questions that appear from the projector to your device - via the learning catalytics website. Then you head home and take part in self-study quizzes which form part of your out-of-class learning tasks, which were normally very simple and offering unlimited attempts, so it was easy to do well in the first place in regards to those quizzes. Then you went to your workshop the following week, (as lectures were held on the Thursday and Friday of the week before, so workshops the following week covered that week's topic). That then consolidated the information learnt in the pre-loads from the week before, as it enabled me to correct all my information learnt in the previous pre-load.

Team Business Presentation: Groups (of max size 4 but not less than 3) were formed outside of class, or by posting on Moodle requesting team members. There were no restrictions on groups coming from the same workshop, so you could have formed a group with anyone in the unit. Once your team had registered, you were given a topic which you had a couple of weeks to prepare for, and then presented this in front of a tutor from the BFC1001 staff panel, which a group representative booked your team into. Since this was a finance faculty unit, you had to dress in full business attire when presenting, which was kind of a pain but no issue in the first place to deal with. This was a nice way to get an introduction into working with a team and my topic worked out well, so a great introduction into a first assignment.

Mid-semester test: The mid-sem mimicked the final exam, by having the same structure with 10MCQ's and 6 short answer questions, but only covered topics 1-7. I found myself to be a bit rushed for this, as I barely finished in time, which was reflected by my overall mark. However, it was a great way to get into calculation questions and ensure that we were well prepared for the final exam.

Team Assignment: Using the same groups as the team business presentation, we had to record a 5 minute video and post on YouTube or other online sharing websites, as well as write a 2000 word report as to whether or not the RBA would change the cash rate, by providing 3 factors which influence the RBA's decision to change the cash rate. Doing this in the mid-sem break, I also found there to be not be enough time to prepare for this, which led to a rushed video and report, also contributing to my lower mark than predicted. Additionally, I found very little relevance with this assignment compared to the topics being taught, however it was an interesting way to take an outside look at how finance can impact the Australian economy.

Exam: As said previously, same structure as the mid-sem with 10MCQ's and 6 short answer questions. I found the 2hr timeframe to be just enough time to get all the questions done, however I managed to do really well in this which contributed to my higher than expected unit result. Therefore, I would say that it was a fair exam as it was able to piece together all the knowledge taught throughout the semester, especially with Topics 8-12, and bring them all together into a well-structured exam.

Overall, I would recommend this subject if anyone is looking to do a finance major or just wants a brief intro to finance, as it provides a good breadth of knowledge into what most of the units in the finance faculty would cover, such as BFC2340 or BFC3241 (Debt markets and securities & equities and investment analysis).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on December 04, 2017, 04:49:26 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC1012 Physiology II

Workload:
2x 1 hr lectures weekly
4x 3 hour labs
6x ½ hour quizzes

Assessment:
Participation/Active learning- 5%
Labs- 20%
Online quizzes- 15%
Debate- 10%
Exam- 50% (Hurdle)


Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture


Past exams available:
Yes, 1 available on Moodle, multiple practice questions were also available.

Textbook Recommendation:
Human Physiology- Fox, mostly useful for Male & Female Reproductive systems and kidneys

Lecturer(s):
Dr Betty Exintaris
Dr John Haynes
Dr Jen Short (Unit Coordinator)
A/Prof Paul White


Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 69 C (bombed the exam, but happy I passed :) )

Comments:
Some of the lectures weren’t worth watching/attending as I could have learnt better from the textbook.
The debate was fun- my team got the negative side, and one of us got really salty, ended up doing really well for that assessment.
Also the exam was harder than expected (general consensus).
Next year, this unit is called BPS1012 - Human Physiology II: Body systems .
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on December 04, 2017, 04:52:08 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC1022 Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry II

Workload:
2x 1 hr lectures weekly
6x 1 hr tutes
5x 3 hour labs
3x 3 hour computer labs

Assessment:
Participation/Active learning- 5%
Labs (labs + comps)- 20%
Mid-Semester Test- 15%
Tutes- 10% (the 6th one wasn’t assessed)
Exam- 50% (Hurdle)


Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture


Past exams available:
Yes, 2 available on Moodle, multiple practice questions were also provided on the lecture slides.

Textbook Recommendation:
Introduction to Organic Chemistry- Brown and Poon (5th Edition)

Lecturer(s):
Dr David Manallack (Unit Coordinator)
A/Prof Philip Thompson
Dr Elizabeth Yuriev

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 77 D

Comments:
This unit was a bit of a mess, the tutesheets ended up preceeding the content in a couple of instances, and Phil rushed through most of his content (he took us for 8 topics out of 11). Was pretty sad that they didn’t include nucleic acids much on the exam. Elizabeth’s lectures were the highlight of the unit- by far the most interesting topic (coordination compounds).
Next year, this unit is called BPS1022- Medicinal chemistry II: Reactivity and biomolecules.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on December 04, 2017, 04:52:54 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC1032 Physical Chemistry II

Workload:
2x 1 hr lectures weekly
6x 3 hour workshops
3x 3 hour labs

Assessment:
Participation/Active learning- 10%
Labs- 10%
Written Assignment- 15%
Workshops- 15% (one wasn’t assessed)
Exam- 50% (Hurdle)


Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture


Past exams available:
Yes, 3 available on Moodle, multiple practice questions were also provided on the lecture slides.

Textbook Recommendation:
Atkin’s Physical Chemistry- 7th Edition, Atkins
Martin’s Physical Pharmacy- 4th & 7th Editions, Sinko
Physicochemical Principles of Pharmacy- Florence

Lecturer(s):
Dr Ben Boyd
Dr Ian Larson
Dr Elizabeth Yuriev (Unit Coordinator)

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 78 D

Comments:
By far one of the most enjoyable units- I don’t have any other comments to say (except that Elizabeth is probably my alltime fave lecturer).
Next year, this unit is called BPS1032 - Physical chemistry II: Solutions, surfaces and solids .
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on December 04, 2017, 04:55:47 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC1042 Multi-disciplinary Pharmaceutical Science

Workload:
3x 1 hr lectures weekly
6x 4 hour presentation sessions
3x 3 hour lab tours

Assessment:
3x 30% Group Oral Presentations
1x 10% Individual Press Release


Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture


Past exams available:
No exams for this unit.

Textbook Recommendation:
None recommended

Lecturer(s):
Dr Ben Capuano (Unit coordinator)
A/Prof Michelle McIntosh (Course Director)
Dr Laurence Orlando
Dr Sab Ventura

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 72 D

Comments:
This was a highly enjoyable unit, especially as we got really creative for the last group assessment, which lead to me spraying whipped cream on my arm.
I also 10/10 recommend going to the lab tours- plenty of FREE food was provided!
Next year, this unit is called Pharmaceutical Science in context.


Mod edit - fixed broken link
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Glasses on December 04, 2017, 05:41:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW1114 - Criminal Law 1

Workload:
Weeks 4-12: 2x 2 hour lectures each week.
Weeks 8-12: 1x 1 hour tutorial/workshop each week (not compulsory, but you need to go (at least to some), as this is where you get assigned and complete your oral presentation).
NOTE: The unit does not begin until week 4, because students need the prerequisite knowledge from the first 4 weeks of Foundations of Law.

Assessment:
Case analysis and report (Case Note) - 30%. This will be the first Case Note for most law students, and therefore, many students find it difficult. The assignment has two parts, and all students complete the Case Note on the same case. For part one, you analyse the material facts of the case and the reasons for the decisions of the judge(s). For part two (which is worth more marks), you write an essay (of sorts) evaluating the decisions of the judges in light of a number of factors. It's very important (if not essential) to make use of the resources on the Library webpage; and specifically, the information on how to write a case note on the 'Research and Learning Online' page. It might also be worth going to the Law Library and seeking assistance if required.
Oral presentation/plea making exercise - 10%. Students receive a mock case in their workshops and are allocated into groups of 2 or 3. One student will be the prosecutor for the case, and the other(s) will be counsel for the defendant(s). Within your group, you partake in sentence/plea negotiations (outside of class). You then individually conduct a plea presentation to the 'Magistrate/Judge' in one of your workshops, arguing why the court should give your client a certain sentence (based on sentencing principles). Your presentation should not go over 5 minutes.
Written report on plea making exercise - 10%. This is basically a reflective report on your plea negotiation and what you learned from the exercise.
Exam - 50%. The exam is open book and students are given 2 hours writing time and 30 minutes reading/noting time. The exam is divided into three main topics/types of offences - offences against the person, sexual offences and homicide. Therefore, only topics 5-8 are directly examined (although the other topics, except for sentencing, are assumed knowledge).

Recorded Lectures:
Yes and No. Lectures are recorded (with screen capture, I believe), however, they can only be accessed by some students (e.g. those who have a long-term medical condition which requires that they have access to recorded lectures).

Past exams available:
Yes. There are a couple available, and you go through one in your week 12 lectures. Additionally, your workshop booklet contains a number of practice problems which are similar to those in the exam.

Textbook Recommendation: I purchased the prescribed textbook. If you're really strapped for cash, you can probably get by without it - however, it is definitely helpful and your weekly readings are drawn from it.

Lecturer(s): My lecturer was Heli Askola, the chief examiner. I can't say much about the other lecturers, however I can say that Heli is absolutely fantastic. So far, she is easily my favourite lecturer. She is extremely knowledgeable and is simply fucking hilarious. I genuinely enjoyed her lectures and found them very engaging.

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 1.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Comments: I thoroughly enjoyed this subject. I liked the fact that the assessments were spread out across a number of different tasks, and I found the subject content really interesting. From what I've heard, all of the lecturers were really good and knowledgeable. Some students might feel thrown into the deep end with the Case Note, however, that's simply what uni is like, and it's a really good learning experience. Perhaps the only downside of this unit is that lectures aren't recorded and accessible for all students.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Glasses on December 05, 2017, 05:46:31 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1281 – Understanding Crime: An Introduction

Workload:
1x 1 hour lecture each week.
1x 1 hour tutorial each week (compulsory).

Assessment:
Online Quizzes - 10%. Students complete Moodle quizzes throughout the semester. These are based on the weekly readings and the Academic Skills Development videos. Each quiz is worth 1% or 2%, and you usually have at least 10 days to complete each quiz in your own time. Students also had more than one attempt on these quizzes, meaning you could basically each quiz once, see the correct answers and do it again to get 100%. Therefore, these quizzes are easy marks.
Essay Plan - 5%. Students are given a template for their essay plan, and outline their contention, arguments (and how these link to their contention) and evidence. As long as you follow the essay plan template and your essay seems to be on-track and relevant, you should receive 5/5 marks.
Major Essay - 45%. The essay is worth 45% of your overall mark and should be around 1,500 words (+/- 10%). The essay question, marking rubric and other information are supplied early in the semester on Moodle, as well as a heap of information on how to write the essay.
Exam - 40%. The exam is closed book and students are given 2 hours writing time and 10 minutes reading time. Our exam was divided into two parts – one part an essay, and the second part a series of short-answer questions. For both parts, students got to choose which questions to answer out of the available options (e.g. 1 out of 4 essay questions, and 2 out of 4 short-answer questions).

Recorded Lectures:
Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:
No – however, students were given a fair bit of information on what the exam questions would be, so you can prepare for the exam based on this information.

Textbook Recommendation: I purchased the prescribed textbook, however it isn’t really essential. Whilst the online quizzes are based on the textbook readings, you can probably get by and still get 100% on each quiz without it.

Lecturer(s): The lecturers changed, depending on the topic. I can’t actually remember their names, except for the unit coordinator, Jarrett Blaustein. In my opinion, Jarrett was the best lecturer and was the most engaging. However, the other lecturers were pretty good too – except for one, whose lectures were very disengaging and dry.

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 1.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Comments: All in all, this unit was pretty good (especially for a first year unit which usually aren’t very in-depth). The subject content was interesting most of the time, and the unit was structured (and the content assessed) pretty well. Lectures covered the following topics: Crime and Criminology in general, Classical Criminology, Positivist Criminology, the Ecology of Crime, Strain Theory, Social Learning Theory, Labelling and Control Theory, Gender and Crime, Crimes of the Powerful and ‘Doing’ Criminology. I will note, however, that at times the content did seem quite dry, and the tutorials weren’t very beneficial. That being said, I probably would recommend the unit – especially if you’re after a relatively interesting unit with a lighter workload and few contact hours.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Glasses on December 05, 2017, 08:14:06 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSY1011 - Psychology 1A

Workload:
1x 2 hour lectorial (basically a lecture) each week.
1x 2 hour consultation (basically a tutorial) each week (non-compulsory).

Assessment:
Weekly online quizzes - 15%. There is a multiple choice quiz each week, which assesses your understanding of the readings. These quizzes are completed using ‘LockDown Browser’, which prevents you from accessing anything other than the quiz during the 20 minutes you have to complete it. The quizzes are therefore supposed to be completed closed-book, however obviously, there would be students who complete these quizzes open-book by using their textbook, phone, etc. Whilst you complete 10 online quizzes, only the scores from your best 5 are used.
Oral report and written summary - 20%. This assessment is divided into two parts. For the first part, students research and summarise the key aspects three articles, which relate to one of four topic areas. For the second part, students create an audio and visual presentation (e.g. using PowerPoint and the recording feature) where they describe the three articles in more detail, and discuss why they are relevant to their chosen topic area.
Critical thinking exercise (literature review) - 15%. This is a 1000 word analysis of the similarities, differences, strengths and weaknesses of at least 7 articles relating to one of the four topics provided in the oral report and written summary. Again, students have to research the articles themselves, and ensure that they are relevant to the topic area.
Exam - 50%. The exam is closed book and students are given 2 hours writing time and 10 minutes reading time. The exam features around 100 multiple choice questions, and assesses your knowledge of the reading and lectorial material. The exam is also a hurdle, so you need 45%+ on the exam to pass. I personally found the exam questions a bit easier than the weekly quiz questions, however the exam did feature a couple of curveball questions that I assume most students simply guessed.

Recorded Lectures:
Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:
No, however students are given access to a revision quiz on Moodle (although I personally didn’t find it very useful or similar to the actual exam).

Textbook Recommendation: The prescribed textbook is a custom textbook for this unit (and PSY1022), and it is pretty important. Since the weekly quizzes are based on the textbook (as well as the exam, to quite a large extent), it is pretty essential if you’re aiming for a 75+ score (in my opinion); however, you should still definitely be able to pass without it.

Lecturer(s): There were a number of different lecturers who taught different topics throughout the semester. All in all, the lecturers were okay – some were good, some were bad.   

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 1.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Comments: Like many past students, I was disappointed with this unit. Whilst the subject area was relatively interesting (although very, very similar to VCE Psychology), the unit and assessments were poorly organised. Firstly, far too much content (most of which was unrelated) was squeezed into 12 weeks – making it virtually impossible to learn everything you needed to know. Secondly, the assessments in the unit were a mess. The assignment instructions were very ambiguous, unclear, and at times contradicting with what tutors were saying, as well as the assessment criteria. There were also cases of different tutors telling students different things regarding what was actually required in the assessments. In turn, this resulted in assignments being marked very strangely and inconsistently. Lastly, many students (including myself) found the consultations very pointless and unhelpful; and found that they were better off learning primarily from the textbook, rather than the lectorials.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Glasses on December 05, 2017, 09:11:12 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW1112 – Public Law and Statutory Interpretation

Workload:
2x 1.5 hour lectures in weeks 1-8 and week 12.
1x 1.5 hour workshop in weeks 9-11.
3x 1 hour library workshops over the semester.

Assessment:
Test – 30%. This is a one hour, open-book Moodle test which students complete in week 4 (in their own time). There are three questions, each worth 10 marks, and the test assesses the content taught in topic 1 (introduction to Australian Government), topic 2 (Parliament) and topic 3 (Executive). For each question, you basically write an extended response, and are required to use cases, legislation, etc. as evidence. The test isn’t excessively difficult; however, you need to type, think critically and evaluate whatever you’re discussing very quickly – which is probably the hardest part of the test.
Library research quiz - 10%. This is a multiple-choice, untimed quiz completed in Week 10. It assesses your ability to research legislation and case law, and write effectively – so basically the skills and content covered in the library workshops. You shouldn’t find the quiz very hard, and if you attended the library workshops, you should be able to get 100%.
Exam - 60%. The exam is open book and students are given 2 hours writing time and 30 minutes reading/noting time. Before the exam, students are given a piece of legislation which the statutory interpretation part of the exam will be based on. For this part of the exam, you are required to present arguments for how various parts of the legislation should be interpreted (for both sides), in light of the problem provided in the exam. This part of the exam is worth the most marks, so you should dedicate the majority of your time to it. The other part of the exam assesses your understanding of topic 4 (the Judiciary) and topic 5 (the interrelationship of the three branches in the context of human rights). Students are given two questions (one assessing each topic) and are required to provide extended responses to the questions (like the Moodle Test in week 4).

Recorded Lectures:
Yes and no. Lectures are recorded (with screen capture, I believe), however, they can only be accessed by some students (e.g. those who have a long-term medical condition which requires that they have access to recorded lectures). Additionally, because the lectures are interactive and involve student discussion, the recorded lectures may not be very useful.

Past exams available:
I don’t think so – however, the practice problems looked at in the statutory interpretation workshops in weeks 9-11 are similar to the problem provided in the exam.

Textbook Recommendation: I purchase the prescribed textbook ‘Australian Public Law’ and found it quite useful for topics 1-5. However, I wouldn’t say the textbook is essential, because a fair bit of information on the topics is provided on Moodle. Although that being said, I would still recommend students try and get a copy of the textbook because it definitely is helpful.

Lecturer(s): My lecturer was Oyiela Litaba who I thought was quite good. I found her lectures pretty engaging and she was very approachable, friendly, and was happy to meet up with students before assessment tasks. I did hear negative things about the other lecturers, however, especially one who notoriously concluded a lecture because the students weren’t answering (or couldn’t answer) her questions.

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Comments: Overall, I thought PLSI was pretty good. It is the sister subject of FoL, so there is a bit of crossover between the subjects. However, PLSI focuses more on evaluating and critical thinking, and teaches statutory interpretation in much greater depth. The library workshops, whilst a bit dry, were quite useful – especially those which covered legal research. However, the statutory interpretation workshops in weeks 9-11 weren’t my favourite, and were too long in my opinion. Not many students enjoy PLSI, and whilst some of the content is dry, a lot of it is pretty important (especially the statutory interpretation stuff).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Glasses on December 06, 2017, 03:53:32 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW1113 – Torts

Workload:
2x 1.5 hour lectures each week.
1x 1 hour tutorial in weeks 6-12 (non-compulsory).

Assessment:
Research assignment (case note) – 30%. Similar to Criminal Law 1, students are required to complete a case note worth 30% of their final mark. The assignment has two parts, and all students complete the case note on the same case. For part one, you analyse the material facts of the case and the reasons for the decisions of the judge(s). For part two (which is worth more marks), you write an essay (of sorts) evaluating the decisions of the judges in light of a number of factors.
Exam - 70%. The exam is open book and students are given 2 hours writing time and 30 minutes reading/noting time. Students are given a single problem scenario and are required to discuss the different torts that may be present. In your answer, you need to follow the ‘IRAC’ formula (or something similar), and talk about the various elements of each tort, salient features, counterarguments, defences, etc. In my opinion, the hardest part of the exam was the time constraints. It is virtually impossible to discuss everything there is to discuss in the 2 hours you’re given, so you need to write succinctly and fast – but know that literally no one will be able to talk about everything.

Recorded Lectures:
Lectures are recorded (with screen capture, I believe), however, they can only be accessed by some students (e.g. those who have a long-term medical condition which requires that they have access to recorded lectures).

Past exams available:
Yes, and you go through one in your week 12 lectures. Additionally, your workshop booklet contains a number of practice problems which are similar to those in the exam.

Textbook Recommendation: I purchased the prescribed textbook, but didn’t use it very much. It definitely has a lot of useful information in it, however, I was able to get by with lecture slides and the Monash LSS Sketchnotes. If you have the money, I’d purchase it – but if not, you should be okay.

Lecturer(s): My lecturer was Gerry, who was great. His lectures were very engaging and informative, and his lecture slides were quite detailed (which I liked). I also heard good things about the other lecturers; although some negative things about the chief examiner.

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Comments: Overall, I really enjoyed Torts. I found the content very interesting and the lectures and tutorials very useful. The unit started off with an introduction to torts and alternative compensation schemes (e.g. TAC and WorkCover). We then learnt about the different types of trespass – including false imprisonment and trespass to land. We also looked at private nuisance, before covering negligence for several weeks. Lastly, we looked at pure mental harm and vicarious liability. However, whilst I did find the content interesting and the lectures and tutorials helpful, there were a couple of issues with the unit. Firstly, I didn’t like the fact that the exam was worth 70% of your overall mark. Rather than having the exam worth such a significant portion of your mark, I would have liked if the case note was worth more than 30%, or an additional assessment task. Secondly, the case note instructions we received were a bit dodgy – i.e. they were the exact same instructions we received in semester 1 for the criminal law case note. The main issue with this was that the instructions said things like “prosecution”, which was rather confusing since there is no prosecution in civil law. Nevertheless, I did quite enjoy Torts, and it was probably my favourite unit for the semester.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Glasses on December 06, 2017, 03:56:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1282 – Criminal Justice: An Introduction

Workload:
1x 1 hour lecture each week.
1x 1 hour tutorial each week (compulsory).

Assessment:
Online Quizzes - 15%. Students complete Moodle quizzes throughout the semester. These are based on the weekly readings. Each quiz is worth 2% or 3%, and you usually have at least 7 days to complete each quiz in your own time. The main difference between these quizzes and those in ATS1281 however is that students only had one attempt on these quizzes, as opposed to having unlimited attempts.
Essay Plan - 5%. Students are given a template for their essay plan, and state which essay question they’ve chosen, and outline their contention, arguments (and how these link to their contention) and evidence. As long as you follow the essay plan template and your essay seems to be on-track and relevant, you should receive 4-5/5 marks.
Research Essay - 40%. The essay is worth 40% of your overall mark and should be around 2,000 words (+/- 10%) – 500 words more than the ATS1281 essay. The essay question, marking rubric and other information are supplied early in the semester on Moodle, so you should try and get started on the essay early in the semester.
Exam - 40%. The exam is closed book and students are given 2 hours writing time and 10 minutes reading time. In the exam, students had to write two essays. For the first essay, all students were given the same question; however, the question was rather broad so there were different approaches students could take in their essays. For the second essay, you got to choose from four different essay questions.

Recorded Lectures:
Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:
No – however, students were given a little bit of information on what the exam questions would be (although not as much as was provided in ATS1281), so you can prepare for the exam based on this information.

Textbook Recommendation: I purchased the prescribed textbook, however it wasn’t really necessary. However, I believe the textbook is changing next year, so the new textbook might be more helpful and important than the one used this semester.

Lecturer(s): The lecturers changed, depending on the topic – however all of the lecturers were quite good in my opinion. All of the lecturers were very knowledgeable, and were generally quite engaging.

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Comments: From an objective standpoint, ATS1282 is pretty good. The unit is organised quite well, and covers a range of different topics. Over the semester, we covered the following topics – policing (roles and styles), policing and the community, courts (trial and evidence), courts (determining guilt), sentencing and punishments, social inequality and access to justice, victims and victimology, punishment, penalty and prisons, crime prevention and juvenile justice. Clearly, the unit had quite a lot of breadth – but unfortunately, did not have enough depth. Instead of cramming a heap of different topics into the unit, I personally would have preferred to cover a couple of topics in greater detail; however, in the unit’s defence, it is an introductory unit. The other important thing to note with this unit is that it covers a lot of the content
taught in VCE Legal Studies and first year law. Now, this can either be a good or a bad thing. On the plus side, it means you enter the subject with a lot of background knowledge and therefore, do not have to put as much effort into remembering and learning the content. However, on the downside, it can make the unit very disengaging and boring. Personally, I found the unit very repetitive and a bit boring. However that being said, the unit does introduce students to a number of new topics, which are quite enjoyable. Therefore, if you’re thinking about taking ATS1282, know that it is an introductory unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Glasses on December 06, 2017, 03:57:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSY1022 - Psychology 1B

Workload:
1x 2 hour lectorial (basically a lecture) each week.
1x 2 hour consultation (basically a tutorial) each week for 8 weeks (non-compulsory).

Assessment:
Weekly online quizzes - 15%. There is a multiple choice quiz each week, which assesses your understanding of the readings. These quizzes are completed using ‘LockDown Browser’ which prevents you from accessing anything other than the quiz during the 20 minutes you have to complete it. However, I will mention that some quizzes were completed without LockDown, because of technical issues. Of the 12 quizzes you complete, the scores from your best 10 contribute to your final mark.
Research proposal plan - 10%. Despite the name (and some of the instructions provided), this assignment isn’t actually a research proposal plan. Instead, the assignment requires students to research one of three topics (social psych, abnormal psych or cognitive psych) and find at least 3 articles relating to the (pretty specific) topic. You then discuss the similarities and differences between these articles, and the limitations and knowledge gaps in the area of research.
Research proposal - 25%. For this assignment, you are required to design a study and write a research proposal (as the name suggests). You have a 1,500 word limit, and your research proposal needs to have the following: A title, abstract, introduction (including an aim and hypothesis), method section, results section, discussion and reference list.
Exam - 50%. The exam is closed book and students are given 2 hours writing time and 10 minutes reading time. The exam has 96 multiple choice questions, with 48 on psychological discovery, 16 on cognitive psych, 16 on social psych and 16 on abnormal psych. The exam is also a hurdle, so you need 45%+ on the exam to pass. A lot of the exam questions were poorly written, and some featured content which wasn’t directly covered in the lectorials (which was a bit annoying).

Recorded Lectures:
Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:
No, however students are given access to a revision quiz on Moodle (although I personally didn’t find it very useful or similar to the actual exam).

Textbook Recommendation: The prescribed textbook is a custom textbook for this unit (and PSY1011), and it is pretty important. The other prescribed textbook is a psychological discovery textbook – however I didn’t purchase it, so I can’t comment on how useful it is.

Lecturer(s): There were a number of different lecturers who taught different topics throughout the semester. The main lecturer who taught psychological discovery was Joshua Wiley. He was pretty good, and his lecture slides were very detailed – however I found what he was teaching quite boring, so I found his lectures quite disengaging at times.

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Comments: Unfortunately, a lot of the issues present in PSY1011 were also present in PSY1022. Whilst the actual unit schedule felt a bit more organised that PSY1011, the assignments were still very poorly organised. The assignment instructions for the research proposal plan were very unclear and contradicting. In the unit guide, different Moodle forums and consultations, it was suggested that students were required to outline the various parts of their research proposal (e.g. hypothesis, aim, etc.); however, the actual assignment instructions required students to research articles and look at gaps in research. Understandably, this caused a great deal of confusion, and many students had no idea how to go about writing the research proposal plan. Another key issue was with the actual teaching of the unit – with consultations feeling quite pointless and going far too long. Nevertheless, I did like the fact that this unit felt less ‘crammed’ than PSY1011; i.e. there were less unrelated topics crammed into one single semester. That being said, I found the psychological discovery part of this unit very dry – and unfortunately, psychological discovery made up half of the unit. The other half of the unit involved cognitive social and abnormal psychology, which were all very interesting (although very similar to VCE Psychology).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: neemo on December 17, 2017, 12:26:14 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2410 - Introductory Econometrics

Workload: 2x1 Hour Lectures, 1.5 Hour Comp Lab

Assessment:  10% Assignment 1, 10% Assignment 2, 10% Weekly Homework Submission, 10% Mid-Sem Test, 60% Exam
Up to 5% bonus final marks for helping your peers in the moodle forum!

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, they provided the previous 3 semester's actual exam, all of which included a rough marking guide

Textbook Recommendation: "Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach 5th edition." Apparently the 6th edition introduced errors so they recommend the 5th. It is prescribed where they say you're disadvantaging yourself by not having it. Personally, I rarely used it. It did help clarify a few things but overall, not that necessary as long as you utilise your other resources well.

Lecturer(s): Farshid Vahid and Natalia Bailey. Farshid lectures for the first 5 weeks then Natalia takes over for the remaining 7 weeks

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2 - 2017

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments:
Assignment 1/2: I hated them so much. They were group assignments where you work with the same group for both assignments. My problem with them was that the task was very vague in that you are given data about a topic (we did race and gender inequality in pay and the housing market) and you had to write a report where you outline information about the data, justification and process of developing a suitable regression model, and inference and conclusion. My tutor encouraged us to work with other groups. I was constantly asking other groups for help because I had no idea how to progress. However, as long as you put some effort it, it seemed to be fairly easy to get some decent marks as average mark for Assignment 1 and 2 was 82 and 75 respectively.

Tutorial/Comp Lab: Every week, you're given tutorial work based on last week's content to do to show your tutor in next week's tutorial. As long as you have done it or attempted it, you get the mark. Each week's work gets you 1 mark so it's basically an easy 10 marks. As there are 11 weeks, you can miss 1 and still get full marks. Each week there is assigned tutorial work to complete. Tutor will guide you through the questions as you follow along using the program 'EViews'. Occasionally, tutors will comment on some of the content and discuss things that students often get wrong. This really helps with the assignments and exam. Stuff my tutor has mentioned has allowed me to score marks I wouldn't have known otherwise.

Mid-Sem Test: 25 MCQ in week 5. Sometimes they'll have subtle wording which can easily throw you off the right answer. Average mark was around 16/25

Content: The first few weeks were awful for me. I found it to be very confusing and difficult to wrap my head around content. Unit begins by teaching regression and introduces you to the 'OLS Estimator'. There are some maths involved which makes it even more confusing. 2nd half of the content involves time series data and forecasting, still using OLS. I feel that I only really got a good understanding of the first few weeks of content at like week 10! Definitely found content easier to understand near the end of the unit which felt rewarding, however, it does take a lot of effort.

Lectures: Because of inconveniences, I mostly skipped the 1st lecture and watched it online but attended the 2nd lecture. Not the most entertaining but was very helpful in developing my understanding of the content. If you can't attend, just watch them online.

Exam: 4 sections worth 15 marks each (60 total, worth 60% of final mark). 1st section is MCQ and each section focuses on a particular topic. e.g.
Section 2 tends to focus on cross-sectional data, section 3 and 4 focus on time series, forecasting, etc., basically the 2nd half of the unit. The past exams give a strong indicator of the format and types of questions asked so definitely do them.

Overall, fairly difficult subject which is unfortunately a core for all commerce specialist students and is quite a big step up from ETC1000. In the end I did find it mildly interesting, but for the average person who won't, I recommend avoiding it if you can.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: neemo on December 17, 2017, 01:44:52 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECC2000 - Intermediate Microeconomics

Workload: Weekly 1x2 Hour Lecture, 1 Hour Tutorial

Assessment: 25% Mid-Sem Test, 10% Weekly Assignments, 5% Tutorial Attendance/Participation, 60% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  None

Textbook Recommendation: Prescribed Textbook is "Microeconomics 8th ed, Pearson/Prentice Hall, by Robert Pindyck and Daniel Rubinfeld" but was explicitly mentioned that it is not necessary. Lecture notes are sufficient.

Lecturer(s): Xiaodong Fan

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2 - 2017

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 96 (HD)

Comments:
Mid-Sem Test: Okay, so this is the strangest test I've ever completed. 4 Questions worth a total 100 Marks. Before I took the test, I was confused as to how it could possibly be 100 marks worth of questions. Turns out the mark allocation was crazy, like really messed up. "Calculate the Elasticity of Demand for marijuana when P=x" - 10 marks. I'm not even exaggerating, the question was actually about the marijuana market and we were given 10% to calculate the price elasticity of demand. This crazy mark allocation actually made me so uncertain about my answers as I'd often have 1-3 lines of working out for a 5-10 mark question. In the end I managed to score full marks, median was 83. Majority got D/HD. Note: no practice mid-sems were given

Weekly Assignments: I don't know how I feel about this system. Every week there is an 'assignment' to complete which is a set of a few questions. You are to hand them in during next week's lecture or upload on moodle. Now, you might suspect that it's a typical 1% per week system since it's worth 10%. Nope, they stated that they'd only mark 2-3 of the assignments in which they don't tell you which ones they'll mark. It gets marked like a test and that grade then contributes to your final mark as opposed to a 'participation' system. For us, they ended up only marking 2. I heard that people messed up by thinking that it's statistically unlikely that they'd choose to mark that particular week's assignment, so they half-assed it only for it to be marked :( Play it safe guys

Tutorial: Simple 1 hour tutorial. Your tutor will go through a set of questions with the class and occasionally get students to participate. My tutor was Michelle who I found was pretty good. She was engaging and helpful with explaining the work. There are 5% of final marks allocated to tutorials. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing that 4% was attendance and 1% was participation. I think all you had to do was answer 1 question and you became eligible for the last mark.

Lectures: There was only 1 lecture stream to go to. I only attended the 1st and skipped the rest (besides the mid-sem test where you had to be present) to watch them online. While Xiaodong is, without a doubt, a nice lecturer, his accent and continuous pauses does unfortunately make the lecture very difficult to watch/listen to. To be fair, I think this was his first semester lecturing. Hopefully he improves for next time :)

Content: This is a maths focused unit. You'll need to be decent at calculus and algebra skills to solve, for example, the profit-maximising quantity and price given some information. Most skills you would have picked up from 3/4 Methods anyway. From a purely biased view, as maths is my strong point, I found the unit very easy as once you understand the process of solving a particular type of question, you can apply it to any variation of the question. The part I did find most confusing though was the last section on asymmetric information. Unfortunately, I could barely find any resources to help me understand it more clearly. Maybe the textbook would have came in handy here but it wasn't in the exam anyway :P
Also, I feel that there's actually not too much content in the unit. Most of it is just maths application. Although lecture notes were sometimes quite long, many of the pages were filled with various examples and descriptions which if you removed, there wasn't actually a significant amount to learn.

Exam: This time I think it was 6 questions worth 100 marks. Although I expected the mark allocation to be fixed, it ended up being similar to the mid-sem... 5 marks for stating the budget constraint without a coffee club membership, another 5 marks for stating the budget constraint with a coffee club membership. 6% of my final mark came from 2 equations. Exam was definitely more difficult than the mid-sem but I wouldn't say that it was particularly difficult, except perhaps the last question. The first question was copied exactly from one of the weekly assignments which we were actually notified would happen. Note: Similarly to the mid-sem test, no practice exams were given.

Honestly, this unit felt very strange to do. Although I enjoyed some of the maths, everything about it was weird: the lectures, assignments, mid-sem test and exam. I felt that it was too easy to be a 2nd year intermediate unit as the amount of content we covered was quite low compared to my other units. An issue I had with this unit was the lack of resources given. No practice mid-sem or exam papers were given. I ended up redoing the tutorial work and weekly assignments 3-4 times each. Ignoring the strangeness, I did find it interesting since it's maths and micro combined! Assuming the unit remains like this, ECC2000 will likely be a WAM booster for many as 35.78% of the cohort received a final mark of HD with 30.73% further receiving a D. I think that might even be higher than ECC1000 marks lol
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: www on January 17, 2018, 09:36:37 pm
Subject Code/Name: EDF1303 – Understanding learning and learners

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

Assessment:
2x Online Quizzes (10% ea., 20% total)
1x Academic Poster (20%)
1x Reflective Essay on Learning (60%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: n/a

Textbook Recommendation: Gindidis, M, Phillipson, S, Pruyn, M, & Pham, T. (Compilers). (2017). Understanding Learning and Learners. (Monash 2nd. Custom Edition) Pearson (ISBN: 9781488617973)

That was the prescribed textbook and was a new introduction to 2017. If you want to do well, it’s best to try and get a copy of the book somehow or borrow it when you need it. Quiz questions are based on the textbook, and it is quite helpful to use it as part of your references for the assignments.

Lecturer(s): Dr Maria Gindidis and Dr Melissa Barnes are the main lecturers, but there are sometimes guest lecturers.

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 1

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
If you want me to add something to this that I haven’t mentioned or what me to expand on something, pm me and I’ll try to edit it in.

Lectures
The lecturers are somewhat entertaining and try to keep the energy up with some interactive activities, however, it was a little annoying that not all the content would be sufficiently talked about simply because there was not enough time due to too much of it, or the lecturer taking up time with something else (e.g. anecdotes). Go to the first lecture or two, then decide if you’ll just watch the rest. The unit ‘ends’ at the end of week 10, so no lectures in week 11 or 12.

Tutorials
Tutorials are non-compulsory, but it’s good to go to them to meet others and get to know your tutor a little. Tutors use a slideshow that has various activities on them that relate to the week’s content. The unit runs on a flipped classroom model, which means students are doing the majority of the work, whilst the tutor facilitates it and keeps everything moving. Same as the lectures, no tutorials in week 11 or 12.

Readings
The readings start out short, but suddenly get very long. A majority of people didn’t really do the longer readings, including myself. I recommend just running over the lecture slides and noting down some of the main headings in the reading in your head, so that if you do go to the tutorials, you aren’t sitting there clueless.

Assessments
2x Online Quizzes (10% ea., 20% total): 20 questions each quiz, all multiple choice. These are fairly straightforward and easy marks if you have the textbook. They are done through Moodle and have a set time on when they open and close. The tutorial leading up to and during the week of when the quiz closes often goes through practice questions with answers (some which come from the question bank itself). The first quiz has no time limit and can be attempted multiple times (but you will not be told your mark until the closing time). The second quiz has a time limit of 45 minutes and only 1 attempt (again, you won’t be told your mark until the closing time). The coordinators themselves encourage you to open your textbook if you don’t know the answer to a question, so don’t be afraid to do so with these quizzes.

1x Academic Poster (20%): This assignment requires a poster to made that explores and demonstrates a learning theory, and how it can be used to analyse learning. I can’t find anything explicitly stating this, but I believe the word count was set at 800 words or equivalent (equivalent because images and diagrams can ‘count’ as more words than what they have). They said a physical poster is fine to make, but I highly recommend making it electronically with a program (I made mine in an A3 PowerPoint slide and exported it as a pdf); you have to submit it electronically anyway. The main feedback people had was that their poster looked more like an essay rather than a poster (because it was filled with walls of text). Personally, it was very hard to not make the poster look like walls of text (and I had about 550 words plus visuals), it really comes down to how well you can condense your information or utilise visuals. There is one tutorial near the due date that gives all students in that tutorial a chance to share ideas and understand the task in groups that were based on how far you’ve gone through it (not started, to finished), which proved helpful. I recommend starting this early, or at least gathering and writing up all your research early so you can turn it into a poster later on.

1x Reflective Essay on Learning (60%): This is the major assignment, and has a word count of 2400 (give or take 10%). It can seem daunting in the early stages when the lecturers/tutors are introducing you to the assignment (the way it was described seemed weird to me), but just structure the essay based on the rubric and check in early with your tutor rather than later. The idea of the essay is to reflect on a ‘learning episode/experience’ you had in a formal setting, and analyse what occurred in terms of a chosen topic. The topic can be any topic from the textbook. I recommend looking at the topics, and trying to think of an experience to fit them, then pick the experience that a topic easily and explicitly links to (in turn, allowing you to write a lot about it). For example, my experience was about group work and peer-to-peer teaching, and I linked it to a topic that focused on the social facilitation of learning in a classroom. Biggest tip I can give is to start this one early!. During the week of the last lecture, all tutorials are turned into support sessions, where you only come in if you need assistance on the essay or require your tutor to check over a draft/ideas.

I, personally, didn’t really enjoy the unit, but I didn’t absolutely hate it. It was boring, no doubt about that. It’s all very theory and reflection based, but think of it as a gateway to helping you notice some things teachers or students do while you’re on professional placement or fieldwork. If you have a real passion for teaching, no unit should stop you. :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: www on January 17, 2018, 09:38:39 pm
Subject Code/Name: EDF1304 – Understanding teaching for learning

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

Assessment:
1x Exploring and interpreting curriculum essay (40%)
1x Critiquing teaching and learning group presentation (20%)
1x Critiquing teaching and learning essay (40%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: n/a

Textbook Recommendation: Gindidis, M., Phillipson, S., Pham, T., & Pruyn, M. (Comp.). (2016). Understanding Teaching for Learning. (Custom) (2nd Ed.). Pearson Australia (ISBN: 9781488616495).

That was the prescribed textbook. If you want to do well, it’s best to try and get a copy of the book somehow or borrow it when you need it. It’s quite helpful to use it as part of your references for the assignments.

Lecturer(s): Dr Maria Gindidis and Dr Melissa Barnes are the main lecturers, but there are sometimes guest lecturers. There is 1 week where NEiTA teachers come in to give a QnA and demonstrations of their teaching style in tutorials.

Year & Semester of completion: 2017, Semester 2

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
If you want me to add something to this that I haven’t mentioned or what me to expand on something, pm me and I’ll try to edit it in or reply to you.

Lectures
Repeated from EDF1303 review
The lecturers are somewhat entertaining and try to keep the energy up with some interactive activities, however, it was a little annoying that not all the content would be sufficiently talked about simply because there was not enough time due to too much of it, or the lecturer taking up time with something else (e.g. anecdotes). Go to the first lecture or two, then decide if you’ll just watch the rest.

Tutorials
Tutorials are non-compulsory, but there is a group assignment which is presented in one of the tutorials. The groups are also made during one of the tutorials. As with EDF1303, tutors use a slideshow that has various activities on them that relate to the week’s content. The unit runs on a flipped classroom model, which means students are doing the majority of the work, whilst the tutor facilitates it and keeps everything moving.

Readings
Repeated from EDF1303 review
The readings start out short, but suddenly get very long. A majority of people didn’t really do the longer readings, including myself. I recommend just running over the lecture slides and noting down some of the main headings in the reading in your head, so that if you do go to the tutorials, you aren’t sitting there clueless.

Assessments
1x Exploring and interpreting curriculum essay (40%): Word count was 1600 words (give or take 10%). This essay involves exploring the definition of curriculum, and discussing a chosen curriculum/curricula (preferably relevant to your specialisation), summarising a chosen school’s philosophy, then linking the philosophy to the curriculum. This was a very odd task. A lot of people misunderstood the part where you had to pick a certain curriculum/curricula (it’s best to consult your tutor when you get up to this to really make it clear), and some struggled to find school philosophies that were dense enough to discuss and make links to. It’s generally a very straightforward essay in terms of content once you have an appropriate school philosophy. During one of the tutorials, there is time to get help depending on how far you are into the essay (similar to EDF1303).

1x Critiquing teaching and learning group presentation (20%): I believe the time limit was 7 minutes, however, this seemed to be very dependent on who your tutor was, as some of my friends in other tutorial groups got 10 minutes maximum and 7 minutes minimum. There were 3 or 4 case studies in the form of videos that are posted onto Moodle, and each group picks one to analyse and critique the teaching methods used and how effective it was for learning based on a set of guiding questions. Minus having to organise time to meet with your group members, this is an easy assignment, and it was marked very leniently (a LOT of HDs were given out). I recommend creating a Google document as soon as possible for all the group members to edit and access, so all the information and research is in one place (this becomes relevant for the next assignment). The presentations happen during tutorials, so despite the tutorials having no attendance requirement, you should at least show up to all tutorials until the presentation due week is over.

1x Critiquing teaching and learning essay (40%): Word count was 1600 words (give or take 10%). This is the same as the group presentation, however, it’s an essay and you’re required to be more in-depth with your critique and analysis. The Google doc from the group presentation comes in handy here, but do not copy word for word or chunks of anything you said or had on your slides. This is an individual essay, despite having done research and analysis as groups already, so plagiarism and collusion rules still apply. Again, a very straightforward essay, and very easy if you have solid notes from the group assignment.

My overall feelings about this unit are in line with my feelings about EDF1303.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on February 03, 2018, 12:58:31 pm
Subject Code/Name: EAE1022 - Earth, Atmosphere and Environment II

Workload:  3x1hr lectures, 1x3hr lab/practical, 1x1hr non-compulsory seminar

Assessment: 
30% Lab classes
Lab classes were run similarly to last semester, running for 2-3 hours. They usually involved using a laptop and online software to answer questions and find information. This was usually assessed by handing in the sheets with your answered questions or writing up a short report/introduction on what you did in the class to hand in during next week's lab. There was only one online quiz (very different to last semester), so in a sense there was more work to do, as instead of spending 10 minutes on a quiz, you spend an hour or so writing up an introduction.

10% Self-run field trip (1000 word report due in week 11)
In this field trip, you go to Elwood with a group of people and walk around the beach, near the canal and some residential streets, listening to a podcast created by some of the lecturers. You are essentially gaining field observations to prepare a 1000 word report about the impacts of sea-level rise on low-lying coastal suburbs (such as Elwood). Nothing you write down during the field trip is actually assessed, which is frustrating given that it takes 3-4 hours, but you need to have some observations that you include in the report (things that can't be cited). In the report, you find sources to cite that suggest a mitigation/adaptation strategy that could work for Elwood and how practical it would be.

10% Major assignment (group poster project due in week 12)
This assignment involved preparing a PowerPoint poster to be put up on a projector in the lab rooms. Your group is given a random topic, and some are definitely more complex than others (eg. my group had a topic about changes in extreme temperatures during the future (relatively simple, easy to find information on) while another group on our lab table had a topic about vicariance patterns over geologic time periods (what)). As long as your group can work together and share knowledge, you will be fine. Just remember to read what your other group members add to the poster (if you divide the work up) because when you present, demonstrators can ask anyone about anything on the poster.

50% Exam
Similar format to the EAE1011 exam, with multiple-choice and short-answer questions, however there were less multiple-choice and more short-answer questions. It was two hours and closed book. I felt as though it was of similar difficulty to EAE1011.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past exam. 30 sample multiple-choice and 10 sample short-answer questions put on moodle with no answers.

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required

Lecturer(s): Ms. Marion Anderson, Dr. Vanessa Wong, Dr. Hamish Ramsay, Dr. Julie Boyce, Dr. Leslie Almberg, Dr. Ruth Reef, Dr. James Driscoll

Year & Semester of completion:  2017, Semester 2

Rating:  4 out of 5

Comments:
I enjoyed EAE1022 much more than EAE1011, partly because I began to get the hang of how uni life/studying worked, and also because I preferred the information we learnt this semester. The subject started with a focus on some natural disasters (fire, water hazards, storms, extreme heat, geohazards) much like ATS1310. Then it moved on to resources, pollution, water/food security, soil, biogeography, climate change, sustainability and adaptation/mitigation. I enjoyed the focus on how humans affect the environment and how we can change our behaviour/design new technology to mitigate/adapt to these dangers (this was also talked about in ATS1310, which is great if you did that subject!).

The non-compulsory seminar was essentially a presentation every week from someone in the industry or an academic. These included some of our lecturers who talked about their journey from student to academic, people who work for companies and how they got there, people who recently moved from working to study, and students talking about their experiences on study tours. If you're able to make it, there were some great tips and ideas from the people who spoke about how to stand out as an academic, how to get into the industry etc. As they weren't compulsory, attendance was very low and decreased each week. There was a calendar on moodle about who was speaking when, which helped me to work out which seminars I thought were worth attending/which ones pertained to me.

There was quite a lot of content in this subject as there are so many sub-topics in the lectures. This can make studying difficult as there's a lot to learn and you might not enjoy every topic that was covered. However, EAE1022 is a pre-requisite for a number of second-year subjects so it makes sense that the content is broad and covers a lot of areas.

Overall, an enjoyable unit!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: cooldude123 on February 03, 2018, 02:06:34 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2840 – Philosophy of Mind 

Workload:  1x lecture per week (off-campus learning)

Assessment:  Expository 1 15% Expository 2 15% Essay 40% Exam 30%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, sample exam available

Textbook Recommendation:  Unit Reader and Study guide are indispensable (provided as PDFs for summer off-campus learning)

Lecturer(s): Dr Jennifer Windt

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 3, 2017 (Summer semester 2017-2018)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:
Philosophy of Mind is an extension of some of the concepts in ATS1835 Time Self and Mind, and introduces some quite interesting content as well. The unit explores two primary questions – the metaphysical nature of the mind (such as the mind-body problem), and how the mind works (think consciousness as well as AI) using the perspective of seminal papers from Descartes to relatively contemporary philosophers (such as Daniel Dennett). I found the material rather intellectually stimulating (eg. panpsychism’s arguments that consciousness is a fundamental part of the universe was pretty cool).

Much of the material is quite accessible after lectures and the unit reader (though I do know of several people who did quite well without watching a single lecture), though some of the papers are very dense (such as Descartes or Smart's identity theory arguments) and require several readings to understand – having done another philosophy unit previously would be handy but I wouldn’t say necessary. Online resources such as the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy website are useful to keep on hand, but note that it does also cover a lot of material outside of the course.

Completing this unit off-campus means that there are no tutorials (note that I’ve only ever done philosophy units by off-campus learning, so I’m not too sure how the comparative is), but gives you the option to resubmit. I didn’t find the reduced interaction to be particularly onerous. Feedback on assessment tasks is very comprehensive and constructive, and tutors are happy to be emailed for questions. The expository assignments (and the essay to an extent) can be almost exclusively completed from the given readings, but it’s handy to do a bit of research and try and understand differing perspectives. I found the expository assignments quite straightforward – the focus of those seem to be refining your writing style and being able to understand philosophical arguments rather than making novel contributions. The essay was a bit more challenging and vague in its requirements, but if you have a good grasp of the readings, and have a general overview of other perspectives from independent research, you should be able to do quite well on this (again would recommend Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as a supplementary resource). 

The format of the exam is around 20 multiple choice questions with 2 essay questions – we were provided with a sample exam with 8 MC questions (most of these did appear on the exam as stated) and around 6 extended response questions (two of these appeared on these exam word-for-word as stated). The multiple choice questions are very conceptually based (so you won’t have to do much more than keep up with readings), but do cover the entirety of the unit so you can’t really get away with skipping readings and the extended response questions, given that you have access to them beforehand, are reasonably straightforward.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on June 14, 2018, 03:10:31 pm
Subject Code/Name: BTC1110 - Commercial Law 

Workload: 
1.5hr lecture per week
1.5hr tute per week

Assessment:
10% MCQ test
30% Mid semester test
60% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  None provided, however sample questions were provided that were taken from past exams

Textbook Recommendation: 
Concise Australian Commercial Law (4th edition) - 100% necessity. Includes all the cases and relevant legislation for the subject, so it's definitely needed otherwise you'll struggle to keep up with what's being discussed.

Lecturer(s): Roger Gamble - one of the most genuine lecturers I've ever had in a subject at Monash. He knows his stuff inside out and is a great explainer of the intricacies of the course. If you are to pick which semester to do this subject, I'd strongly recommend doing it when he's taking the unit, so that you can understand the course in more detail than any other semester.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
Firstly, I'd have a look at d3stiny's review here, as the subject hasn't changed that much in 4 years, but things have moved around slightly so I thought it wise to write up a new review of the subject.

This was a great subject for me, and a nice way to introduce the law that's relevant to a business person in the real-world. Basically you cover 5 topics, which are an Introduction to the Legal System, Law of Contract, Consumer Protection, Negligence and Business Organisations. These topics tend to be quite broad and lengthy in terms of content, so Roger condenses this quite significantly to what is on the lecture slides. It's important to note that the slides are often a better guide to refer to than the textbook, however using both in tandem makes this relatively straightforward to understand what is being taught.

The key focus in this subject is to learn how to write a structured response to any law problem that you will face in life. The IRAC method - Issue,rule, application and conclusion, is stressed upon somewhat, however I found that I did not have to rely on that method as much to understand what the question was trying to ask. Therefore, it's key that you focus on what format your tutor is looking for you to write out, and ensure that you focus on nailing that format as much as possible.

In tutorials you basically go over the content from the previous week's lectures, of which are set questions from the back of the chapter. These aren't compulsory to do, but I strongly recommend that you attempt them to some extent, as they stress upon your writing skills and are great to get some practise for the exam, which has a similar format. My tutor was Les, who was excellent, and someone who I'd recommend for you to have as a tutor for this subject.

Furthermore, PASS sessions were introduced this semester for the subject, which I found improved my thought process towards how to approach this subject. Therefore, I'd suggest to enrol in them as well if possible to strengthen your knowledge of the content.

Additionally, videos are posted on Moodle at the end of the week for the content covered in lectures the following week. These involve Roger summarising the content and occasionally going over the suggested answer structure for particular parts of the course, such as exclusion clauses. I'd recommend to watch them when you can, to ensure that you're well prepared for the lectures the following week.

In terms of assessments, there are 2 in-semester tasks, both of which are attempted in your regular tutorial.

MCQ Test - Consists of a standard multiple choice test, consisting of 10 MCQ's with each one worth 1% of your grade for a total of up to 10%. These covered offer and acceptance of a contract and the intro to the Australian legal system. I found these to be particularly tricky, but if you prepare well you should be fine. This is done in your week 4 tutorial - with a time limit of around 15-20 mins depending on your tutor.

Mid-semester test - The mid-sem completely focused on the Law of Contract. You are allocated the whole of your week 7 tutorial to complete it.It consisted of some MCQ's and 2 short answer questions, targeting particular areas of contract including exclusion clauses, termination & remedies. There are some tricks in the questions, however it's important to note here to carefully look at every word in the case (here in particular due to this being a law subject), so that every detail in the question is ironed out. I didn't find this to be too difficult, so as long as you carefully read each question rather than skimming through the content then you'll be fine. Also, this was the last time contract was looked at as it is not examinable.

Exam - Solely focused upon short-answer questions. There were 3 questions for the 3 main topics looked at in the second half of the semester - one on consumer protection, one on the law of negligence and one on business organisations (partnerships and corporations). I found myself to be quite pressed for time in completing this, so it's key that you allocate your time to each question as much as you can, so that you're able to structure your answers in a proper, concise and detailed way.

Overall, I have to say that although the impression is that this subject is the hardest compulsory commerce subject, if you do your work, put in the effort to learn the cases, learn the legislation and understand the flow of each question, then you'll be fine. The main goal here is to keep up with the workload around you, and ensure that you don't fall behind in what topic is being covered each week. It was a great way to understand the law for a business-person, and a subject that I'd look forward to, rather than being fearful of having to do in the first place.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on June 15, 2018, 08:15:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1030 - Techniques for modelling 

Workload: 
Per week: 3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 2 hour support class (tutorial)

We were already given the full set of lecture notes for all topics at the start of the semester. Lectures simply complement what's written in the notes - lectures don't cover everything, just a most important points. It's always best to read the complete notes as well.

Like other mathematics units at Monash, the weekly support classes involved working in small groups on problem sets about the last week's topic on the whiteboards in the presence of a tutor. Attendance was marked (more on this later).

Assessment: 
Support class participation (5%)
You get 3% by turning up to at least 8 of the 12 support classes during semester. The other 2% comes from 'participation', but I don't think the tutors were too strict on this, so as long as you attended class regularly, you should get the whole 5%.

Mid-semester test (8.75%)
This was a 1-hour test completed during the week 7 support class. 5 questions, 50 marks. A mock test was provided on Moodle, and the format of the actual test was the same, with minor variations in the questions.

3 x assignments (8.75% each, 26.25% total)
Assignments were typically released 2 weeks prior to their due date. It was recommended that the Mathematica program be used for completing these assignments, as the calculations involved were often complicated (e.g. had numbers to many decimal places). Some people gave on learning Mathematica though, and opted for pen and paper instead :P. The assignments involved more extended response-type questions, rather than simple calculations. Submission was hardcopy via a dropbox in the math building. Typically returned to you in your support class 2 weeks after submission.

End of semester exam (60%)
The end of semester exam consisted of 12 questions (120 marks) in 2 hours. Hurdle requirement of 40% (on the exam) to pass the unit. Burkard also ran a revision lecture two days before the exam. The recording was for 3 hours, but the actual lecture ran for even longer.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  None, but a mock exam (with answers) was made available on Moodle. The difficulty of the actual exam was probably a bit harder than the mock.

Textbook Recommendation: 
I never actually looked at these textbooks, these are simply the ones listed in the unit guide. The problem sets and lectures notes provide plenty questions/examples to work off of, but if you're looking for extra practise/detail, you might find these textbooks helpful.

Lecturer(s):
A/Prof Burkard Polster [unit co-ordinator] - A highly enthuisiastic and engaging lecturer, who always had some math-related gimmick/toy/video clip to show us every lecture. Always willing to stick around after a lecture to answer questions.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018.
Note: the structure of the unit may vary depending on who the coordinator is that semester. Check the most current unit guide for specifics if you're intending on doing this unit in the future.

Rating:  4 out of 5. A well-run unit, with fair assessment.

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments:
A continuation of MTH1020, or for those who completed VCE Specialist Math, you can also choose to jump into math at Monash via this unit (as a side note: if you do MTH1030, you can't subsequently complete MTH1020 :P). This is a prerequisite for MTH2010, which in itself is a prerequisite for all (Science) math majors at Monash. The unit starts off gently into a revision and extension of vectors, and then moves further into linear algebra (planes, lines, elementary operations, linear transformations, eigenvectors/values). Linear algebra takes up the first and last 3 weeks (6 weeks total) of the lecture content, while the middle 6 weeks were taken up by calculus. The topics in calculus included: series/sequences and their applications, integration by parts, first and second order linear differential equations. As always, try your best to keep up to date with content in this unit, you'll thank yourself for it later  :) Also definitely attend the support classes, they're very useful (and also marked!) in allowing collaboration with peers (especially if you're unsure about a topic), and you can also seek help from a tutor if necessary. The Maths Learning Centre in the maths building is also there to help you throughout semester.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on June 18, 2018, 03:47:43 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1011 - Chemistry 1 

Workload: 
Per week: 2 x 1 hour lectorials, 1 x 1 hour tutorial, 1 x 3 hour laboratory class

Prior to each week's lectorial, we were required to complete some pre-reading, and complete a short, assessed quiz. The lectorials themselves usually involved the lecturer talking and/or performing a demonstration for about half the time, and allowing the other half for students to work on questions in groups.

The tutorial structure varied depending on the tutor. Some tutors liked to summarised the week's content, while others preferred to jump straight into the set of questions for that week. Answers to the questions were available on Moodle the week after. There were also assessments every second week or so during tutorials (see below).

The laboratory classes are exactly what they sound like - they involved you doing experiments (either in groups or individually) which were somewhat related to the content taught in lectures, under the instruction of a demonstrator. For these, you must supply your own safety glasses and lab coat (the chemistry department usually sells them relatively cheap during O-week, or the Monash bookshop also has them). If you forget to bring either, you can rent one (at a cost) from reception.

Assessment: 
10 x online quizzes (10% total)
Before the start of each week, we were required to do some pre-reading in preparations for the week's lectorials. The pre-readings also each had an associated quiz (which was assessed for weeks 2-11). These were relatively straightforward, and you can do relatively well on them provided you take the time to read through the relevant notes.  Each quiz was worth 1%. Post-lectorial quizzes were also available at the end of each week, but these were not assessed.

5 x tutorial assessment (5% total)
Assessed tutorials typically ran every second week, and involved a 20-minute worksheet, completed in table groups. Afterwards, our tutor would then go through the answers to the questions. Each assessed tute was worth 1% each.

8 x laboratory assessment (30% total)
There were 8 laboratory exercises throughout semester. The first 7 were mostly experiment-based, and required some assessed pre-lab work before you came in to class. Be sure to read your lab manual and do the pre-lab before you come in, so you know what you'll be doing (also you won't be let in if you don't do the pre-lab :P). The actual lab time involved conducting the experiment, and collecting data/results. After each lab, a templated lab report was to be submitted via Moodle before the next lab class. The final lab assessment was a bit different, and involved us presenting a poster (as a group) about one of many short experiments which was performed by the demonstrator the week before.
Lab assessment was a hurdle, with a minimum overall mark of 50% for the lab work to pass the unit.

End of semester exam (55%)
The exam ran for 2 hours, and covered all weeks equally. You are allowed a scientific calculator, which must have an approval sticker. The exam was also a hurdle requirement, with a 30% mark required to pass.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  None, but three mock exams (with answers) was made available on Moodle.

Textbook Recommendation: 

Lecturer(s):
There were four different lecture streams, with each lecturer teaching for four weeks each. Some lecturers were also tutors.

Weeks 1-4: Structure of the Atom | The Periodic Table | VSEPR Theory | Valence Bond Theory
- Dr Christopher Thompson
- Dr Toby Bell

Weeks 5-8: Molecular Orbital Theory | Gases & Intermolecular Bonding | Chemical Thermodynamics (2 weeks)
- Dr Kellie Vanderkruk
- Prof Philip Marriott

Weeks 9-12: Chemical Equilibria (2 weeks) | Chemical Kinetics (2 weeks)
- Prof Alan Chaffee
- A/Prof Bayden Wood [unit co-ordinator]

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018.
This unit is only available in Semester 1.

Rating:  3.5 out of 5. A few kinks which needed to be fixed, but overall a good level 1 Science unit.

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments:
This is probably one of the most popular first year science units at Monash, with a massive cohort. It is a prerequisite for higher level chemistry units at Monash, but surprisingly, it is not a prerequisite for CHM1022 (Chemistry 2) in semester 2.

This year was also the trial of a newly structured first year chemistry course, so you might notice a few differences if you read past reviews (e.g. my CHM1022 review from last semester, and others). In terms of assessment, there is now less weighting on tutorials, only pre-lectorial work is assessed, and lab work submission is via a Moodle quiz (rather than you having to print, fill out, and scan a proforma). In terms of classes, the lectorials have adopted a more blended learning approach, with group activities embedded into the lectures (all the lectorials were held in one of the new blended learning lecture theatres in the new LTB). The teaching staff have definitely tried to make this unit more engaging, and I noticed lecture attendance was much higher this semester (even towards the end of semester) :P.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on July 04, 2018, 09:01:02 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2021 - Human molecular cell biology 

Workload: 
Per week: 1 x 2 hour lecture, 1 x 2 hour workshop

The lecture content was divided into 6 topics (A-F), with a different lecturer taking each topic. Some lectures had associated pre- and post-class activities (which were assessable).

The workshops this year were all held in the 'Learning in the Round' learning space in the new LTB. We were allocated into table groups of 6, with 3 of these groups assigned to a tutor. One of the unit coordinators would facilitate each lesson. There were whiteboards available for each table group to use, and these were often used for brainstorming ideas, and as a visual aid for oral presentations.

Assessment: 
5 x Moodle quizzes (2% each; 10% total)
After the lectures blocks for topics A-E were complete, a Moodle quiz consisting of 7-12 MCQs (with 1.5 mins per question) about that topic was available for about a week. They were not overly difficult, but required that you stayed up to date with lecture content. There was no quiz for topic F.

Workshop assessment (35%)
Workshop material covered topics A-E, and was closely aligned with the lecture material of the previous weeks. Depending on the lecturer teaching the topic, workshops took on a variety of formats, including case studies, team oral poster presentations, and worksheets. Assessment for the workshops included pre-class Moodle quizzes, team MCQs, individual SAQs, team reports, and team oral presentations. Workshops were held each week, with weeks 2-11 being assessed. Each week's assessment was worth approximately 3% of the total unit grade, although two of the oral presentations stretched over two weeks (one week of preparation, with the presentation held in the second week), in which case they were worth 7% (7*3% + 2*7% = 35% total). Workshop material was not assessed in the exam.

End of semester exam (55%)
The end of semester exam was 3 hours long, and consisted of 40 MCQs (40 marks) and some short answer questions (80 marks) on all lecture material. Hurdle requirement of 45% (on the exam) to pass the unit.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. Livestreaming was also available.

Past exams available: None. Some practise SAQs (with answers) were provided for each topic on Moodle.

Textbook Recommendation: 
These textbooks were not essential, but may be useful for some of the workshop assessments, or if you would like to do further reading.
Prescribed:

Lecturer(s):
- Prof. Janet Macaulay [unit co-ordinator] - Topic A
- Dr Jessica Gibbons [assistant unit co-ordinator] - Topic B
- Dr Richard  Loiacono - Topic C
- Prof. Mike Ryan - Topic D
- A/Prof. Craig Smith - Topic E
- Dr Caroline Speed - Topic F

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018.
This unit is only available in Semester 1.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5. The unit overall was relatively well run and structured, although there were a few hiccups with some of the assessment.

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments:
This unit serves as somewhat of a continuation of BMS1011 (Biomedical chemistry) and BMS1062 (Molecular biology). The lecture content was divided into Topics A-F (described briefly below), with each topic covering a different field of biomedical science. Note that the focus of the unit is on the molecular aspects of each topic, with relevance to disease discussed throughout.

Overall, I found the content relatively interesting (although there is a lot to know).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Sine on July 04, 2018, 10:03:08 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2011: Structure of the Human Body: An evolutionary and functional perspective 

Workload: 1 x 2 hour lectures, 1 x 2 hour Practicals

Assessment: Practical Tests (25%), Group Project (10%), Mid Semester Test (25%) and End of Semester Exam (40%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: None.

Textbook Recommendation: Clinically Oriented Anatomy 8ed (Moore)

Lecturer(s):
- Dr Luca Fiorenza
- Prof Paul McMenamin
- A/Prof Anne Peters
- Dr GC Stephens
- Dr Michelle Lazarus
- Dr Julia Young
- Dr Olga Panagiotopoulou

Year & Semester of completion: 2018, Semester 1

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:

Firstly, I think it’s important for me to say that this is one of my favourite units I’ve taken at uni and I feel it’s going to be hard to beat. I talk a little about the difficulty of the unit, but content wise it has been one of the best I’ve taken. Overall, this is a really interesting unit with very worthwhile practicals which are neatly linked to concepts taught during the lectures. A lot of the practical content includes things that you won’t be able to see elsewhere (e.g. internet or a textbook) so it’s important to pay attention there. As any biomedicine unit it is extremely content heavy and historically this unit is thought to be one of the hardest BMS core units due to an excessive overload of this content where even the most minute details were assessed. Also 90% of your ultimate score is tests/exam and not much free marks as some other units would have. With that being said unlike some other biomed core units most of the content connects back to previously learnt concepts in the semester so helps a little when you have to learn it all. Furthermore, one of the main places where students lose marks is during the Mid Semester Test I think this is due to it being quite early (week 6) for something worth so much (25%) and many students are caught off guard by how much detail they require us to know. In terms of difficulty I personally found the MST harder than End of Semester Exam, but others thought the other way around, I believe my stance is due to the MST helping me know what sort of concepts to focus on and which ones aren’t too important for the assessment.

Lectures:

They are quite standard although a bit high paced, so you might have to rewatch parts to make sure you understand it all and know exactly what you need to learn because everything is basically impossible. There are some online lectures which I found much more content heavy as the lecturer which just be continuously be stating information with no pauses for ~50 mins.

Masterclass:

This is basically 2 more lectures in the final week of uni which were dealt out via a flipped classroom model. There were a few readings required before the masterclass but wasn’t that crucial for your understanding. The masterclass is not recorded since it was mainly interactive. So, this is the one time nearly everyone actually comes to the lectures. I found it to be quite interesting since the contents integrated anatomy with the possible evolutionary causes for those particular anatomical features. There were 3 activities which included a lot of group discussion but I wouldn’t be too worried if you have to miss the masterclass as everything you need to know is posted on moodle, although working out exactly what they want is probably the hard part of it.

Practicals:

Practicals for BMS2011 were compulsory, although you might getaway with missing 1, in past years you didn’t have to go to any of the practicals. These practicals were 2 hours long and usually consisted of 4-6 different activities which were 15 minutes long. These activities were pretty diverse and ranged from working with cadavers, prosections, SECTRA tables or anatomical models. Make sure to bring your student ID since they scan it for attendance.  Although there was no assessment during the practicals we were assessed on the content outside of the practical lab. This included 3 online tests which were conducted on campus along pre-practical Moodle quizzes based on the readings. In a normal practical we would go in and grab a worksheet and then split off into around 6 groups into each activity. At each activity a demonstrator would either quiz us on the stuff on the worksheet or helps us through it (depending on how nice or mean the demonstrator was ahaha). Usually it is pretty tough to get everything the demonstrator says down so it’s useful to collaborate with others before the online test to make sure you got everything accurately down. Conversely you could also check out the textbook or the internet – although the internet wasn’t always accurate. 

There were 8 pre-practical quizzes which were worth 1% each and needed to be submitted before the start of the first practical class of the week. The quizzes were very short (8mins) which was kinda weird but after the first quiz you realise that you really only need 3-4mins to finish it if you know the content. All the questions are based from the  readings that are given from the textbook and any additional readings supplied on Moodle. 

The three online tests were worth 5%, 6% and 6% each. They were each based on the teachings from roughly 3 practical classes along with all the pre-practical readings and labelling activities. The labelling activities are basically a booklet of anatomy which you would need to label in your own time. To save time I would just go on google images for that part of anatomy and it wasn’t too hard to find the completed version. You can either do the test at a Monash computer with invigilators or at home on a lockdown browser + webcam to ensure there is no cheating. You would’ve used this system for BMS1052 (if you have completed it) and doing an online test ensures that students are able to receive results quickly. The turnover for results was roughly 4 days.

Group Assignment (Poster):

This project was worth 10% and didn’t take too long to complete as long as you had capable and willing group members. You get to choose half of your group members. This worked by you being able to pair up with someone else from the same practical class and submit that to Moodle. The unit coordinators would then randomise and pair two groups up to give 4 group members. Don’t worry if you have no one to pair up with since they will randomly allocate you to a group even if you don’t have a partner. Each group would then be given a topic from a list of 5 topics. The topic you got wasn’t too important because the purpose of this project was not answering questions or getting information but being able to present scientifically and appropriately. From memory 70% of the marks were based on sticking to protocol, grammar, formatting and design. Whilst only around 30% was based on the actual content of the poster.

Mid Semester Test:

As I’ve outlined earlier this is probably one of the hardest pieces of in semester assessment you’ll have in biomed up to this point and also the weighting of this assessment which is 25% for a 1 hour test. The difficulty lies in the unknown of exactly what possible questions could be asked on this test and the staff don’t exactly try to guide you in this unit. I personally found the actually lectures pretty good in terms of knowing what parts are important however there are numerous amounts of online videos which count as lectures in this units. Those lecturers basically use a script so it’s difficult to discern which parts are just context and what is examinable. I personally thought the MST was quite fair, but the average score was quite low for a biomed unit.

End of Semester Exam:

The exam is worth 40% of your final grade and covers all the lecture content, online lecture content and masterclass with a larger emphasis on the content taught post the mid semester test. The exam is 2 hours in length and was very fair as long as you had gone through the lectures thoroughly.

Final Remarks:

Ultimately, if you are doing biomed you will have to take this unit in the first semester of 2nd year (or 3rd year if you are double degree student). It is generally regarded as the hardest unit you do in the first half of biomed but it's definitely possible to do well as long as you try your best to stay up to date and leave enough time to study for all the assessments.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on July 05, 2018, 03:42:35 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2548 - Environmental Policy and Management

Workload:  1x1hr lecture, 1x1hr tutorial

Assessment: 
10% Attendance and participation:
Tutes are compulsory and there is a sign-in sheet to prove you attended. Most tutes were enjoyable and involved working together in small groups (these small tasks weren't assessed). These small tasks often were slightly related to the lecture content for that week, or were an extension of something mentioned in the lecture (eg. using a specific environmental assessment framework/method to analyse an environmental problem we are familiar with).

30% Reading diary:
Each week had a key reading related to the lecture content. The idea of this task was that you read the article/book chapter, write a 3-4 dot point summary and then critically analyse the article, using other resources/articles/reviews to discuss why you enjoyed/agreed/disagreed with the key reading. Some weeks also had recommended readings that might help in critically analysing the main article, or you could find your own (eg. a review of the article/book could be helpful). Each week (summary and analysis) required around 400 words. Weeks 1-4 and 5-8 were submitted together, hence each one is worth 15%.

30% Tutorial presentation:
In groups of 3-4, you pick an environmental policy problem (eg. air pollution in a city, overfishing in a specific location). You need to look at how it came about, the policy response to the issue and whether it has been effective or not. This is all put into a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation to be presented in one of the tutorial sessions (weeks 9-12). I would recommend trying to present in one of the first few weeks, because after that, in tutes all you have to do is sit and listen to the other groups. You may also want to present early to have a head-start on writing the policy proposal (discussed below). I really enjoyed this task as I had a great group that regularly met and worked together well.

30% Brief environmental policy proposal:
This task was the final assessment of the unit, due on the first day of the exam period. It is a 2000 word essay/report in which you choose an environmental policy problem, discuss its causes, evaluate the current policy response and suggest improvements to better manage it. This is essentially the same task as the tutorial presentation, except in an essay format as opposed to a presentation. You are even allowed to do the same topic as your group did for the presentation, however most people I knew wanted to do a different topic that was of more interest to them. I found this task to be relatively okay, however trying to study for exams and write this essay at the same time was quite stressful, so I would recommend trying to start writing as soon as you can.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No exam for this unit (the 2000 word policy proposal serves as the final assessment)

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required. The articles required for the reading diary are on the reading list, which can be found on the moodle page.

Lecturer(s):  Dr. Bruce Missingham

Year & Semester of completion:  2018, Semester 1

Rating:  4 out of 5

Comments:
This subject has changed a little bit since ShortBlackChick's review in 2014 so I thought I'd provide an update!

Overall, I found this unit to be quite enjoyable. It involved a lot more reading than I had done in previous units which I found difficult to adjust to, and I didn't really enjoy the reading diary task. However, the content in the lectures was interesting. Bruce was also a fantastic lecturer and tutor. He was really engaged and enjoyed what he was teaching, which I think helped keep lecture attendance relatively high. Lectures usually ran for 30-40mins and introduced key frameworks and examples that could be used in the assessment tasks. The four main assessment tasks (two reading diary submissions, tutorial presentation, policy proposal) were well spread out throughout the semester and allowed for a better understanding of the main ideas presented in the unit.

So in general, a fun unit with very few contact hours and a lot of relevant knowledge for someone interested in environmental management.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on July 05, 2018, 03:44:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2951 - Environmental Chemistry: Water

Workload:  2x1hr lectures, 1x4hr lab

Assessment:
25% Laboratory reports
Hurdle requirement - you need an overall grade of 50% in lab reports to pass the unit. There were six lab sessions throughout the semester. There are 12 possible experiments, and at the start of the semester you are allocated a lab partner, a group of four (two pairs combined) and what experiments you'll be doing. I had a wonderful partner and group, which made the labs more entertaining! The labs consist of a pre-lab activity (usually a few questions to prepare you for what you'll be doing in the lab), doing the experiment in class and writing up the report afterwards. These reports were often quite long (1000+ words) and sometimes had questions not really discussed/explicitly related to the lab that had to be researched and referenced. The reports took up a lot of my time each week and most involved a bit of excel work/data analysis that also was time-consuming. Each report is due one week after your lab starting time.

15% Field trip reports
There were two field trips during semester that occurred during your lab time (instead of a lab experiment, you go on a field trip), so each report is worth 7.5%. The first trip was to the Yarra River, and the second was to Dandenong Creek. At each location, water quality and light measurements were taken, sediment and water samples were collected and site descriptions were written. I found that being able to take samples and do tasks that an environmental scientist/chemist/manager would do when looking at the health of a waterway was extremely beneficial and enjoyable. The following week, a 1-2hr tutorial takes place during the lab session where you go through the data and questions with your lab co-ordinator to help you know what to do when you start writing the report. You get two weeks to complete these reports and I would recommend trying to start as soon as you finish the tutorial session, because there is a lot to get done.

10% Weekly online quizzes
There were 10 quizzes throughout the semester, worth 1% each. They are based on the lecture content of that week and aim to reinforce ideas/concepts taught in lectures. Because this year there were only two lectures each week (as opposed to three), some weeks have online videos with content that is examinable and appears in the quizzes. You get two attempts in the 'assessment mode' and unlimited attempts in the 'tutorial mode' which isn't assessed, so you're able to practice before taking the assessed quiz.

50% Exam
Hurdle requirement - you need 30% on the exam to pass the unit. A two-hour exam with a calculator and double-sided A4 notes sheet in the exam period. The first half of the exam focuses on weeks 1-6, and the second half on weeks 7-12 (so there is equal weighting on all parts of the course). I found the exam to be not too bad, with a mixture of simple and difficult questions. I would recommend doing the sample exams and re-doing some of the quizzes. New this year was the ability to bring in a double-sided A4 cheat sheet/notes page to the exam. Because of this, they removed the formula sheet, so any formulas needed had to be on your cheat sheet. I only found the cheat sheet to be helpful in a few circumstances, however as there was quite a bit of content in this subject, it was nice to have something in the exam with information on it to help in answering questions.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past exams, but two sample exams. One had no answers, and one had answers given in a revision session during swotvac (that wasn't recorded).

Textbook Recommendation:  Environmental Chemistry - A Global Perspective, 4th edition by vanLoon & Duffy. To be honest, I didn't actually use the textbook at all. In some weeks of lectures, chapters in the textbook were referenced and they were said to have good explanations in them, however I didn't really have enough time to read them, as most of my time spend on this subject each week was on the lab and field trip reports. I found that the lectures were sufficient in teaching me the required information.

Lecturer(s): A/Prof Mike Grace (weeks 1-6), A/Prof Perran Cook (weeks 7-12)

Year & Semester of completion:  2018, Semester 1

Rating:  4 out of 5

Comments:
This subject hasn't really changed since DisaFear's review in 2013, however I thought I'd just give a little update to a few things. The main changes are dropping down from three to two lectures (with the missing lecture made up in online content/videos) and bringing in a cheat sheet to the exam.

Despite its high workload, I did enjoy this subject. I found the content we learnt was interesting and relevant to my potential career, especially the lab sessions and field trips. However, you are writing lab reports almost every week, which do require quite a bit of time and can be frustrating at times. Both lecturers were passionate about what they were teaching, and the lab TA's were very helpful and kind!

So in summary, an enjoyable unit that looks at important aspects of chemistry in the environment, with a high workload and field trips.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on July 05, 2018, 03:46:21 pm
Subject Code/Name: EAE2011 - Environmental Problem Solving and Visualisation

Workload:  2x1hr lectures, 1x1hr tutorial, 1x2hr computer lab

Assessment:
40% Assignments
The computer labs each week involved using R Studio (a coding program) to solve problems/answer questions related to the environment (eg. pollution inflow vs water outflow of a lake, how the populations of two species that rely on each other coexist). Computer labs run for all 12 weeks, and 8 of these involve an assignment (so each assignment is worth 5% of the final mark). You start the assignment in the comp lab, and it is due on the Monday of the following week. The assignments usually involve being given a bit of starting code, and then having to finish/fill in/copy and paste parts of it to solve questions. Assignments 1-3 are done alone and relatively simple if you have background knowledge of statistics, hypothesis testing and linear regression. Assignments 4-8 are done in small groups (2-3 people) and look at much more complex topics (eg. derivatives and integrations). Computer lab work was a struggle for most people, as the majority of us has not done a programming/coding subject before and a fair few had also not done a maths or statistics unit either.

10% Mid-semester test
This test was run in the first lecture of week 5 and was based on the lecture content of weeks 1-4. There was a practice/sample test online with answers that could be completed for revision, and it was very similar to the actual test. It was quite short and most people finished before the lecture ended. The questions themselves were relatively simple, with only one or two curveball/outside the box questions.

50% Exam
The exam was two hours and a calculator was allowed. There was a sample exam with answers for revision which was similar to the exam. There were also the tutorial sheets with answers that could be completed for revision. Like the midsem test, the exam was quite short, and most people left the exam before finishing time. Questions were made up of multiple parts worth 1 or 2 marks and involved either analysing data, looking at computer code, performing a simple hypothesis test or doing short calculations.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past exams, but one sample exam with answers.

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required.

Lecturer(s):  Dr. Dietmar Dommenget, Dr. Ruth Reef

Year & Semester of completion:  2018, Semester 1

Rating:  3 out of 5

Comments:
This unit is fairly new and was initially designed to be a stepping stone for the atmospheric science major (it can be used as a prerequisite for EAE2122 - intro to atmospheric physics and dynamics), however now that there are a lot of people using it as an elective or minor subject for environmental science, earth science or geography, it may be changed a little bit to reflect that.

There were good and bad parts of this unit. The first few weeks included fairly simple content, including statistics, hypothesis testing, regression, correlation and time series analysis. Halfway through the unit, the difficulty suddenly increased and the topics taught included rate of change/derivatives, integrations, vectors and principal component analysis. Having taken methods in VCE, I was familiar with differentiation and integration, however some people had done very little maths prior to taking this unit, making the difficult stuff even more challenging. The speed at which the content was taught made it difficult to find time to review these harder aspects. Many people agreed that the jump in difficulty in this unit between the different sections was hard to manage.

In general, lectures were very poorly attended and not super interesting, sometimes dragging on or dwelling on unimportant aspects, but they taught the content sufficiently. Tutorials did not have marked attendance, so attendance also slipped throughout semester, especially because no work done in the tutorials were assessed and the questions and answers were available on moodle. Tutorials essentially aimed to reinforce the lecture content by presenting problems and questions that needed to be solved using either a hypothesis test (eg. chi-square test), determining the rotation and divergence of a vector field or developing a model/equation to describe a environmental relationship. As mentioned, the computer labs used R Studio to model and solve environmental problems.

In summary, this was an okay unit that may need a bit of changing to help support students more, with an average workload.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on July 05, 2018, 03:48:37 pm
Subject Code/Name: EAE2111 - Introduction to Climate Science

Workload:  3x1hr lectures, 1x2hr practical/computer lab

Assessment:
16% Practical reports
There were 5 practicals run throughout the semester. Pracs 1, 3 and 4 were run over two weeks, and pracs 2 and 5 were run over one week. Each week was worth 2% of the total grade. The pracs usually involved using excel or a website to analyse climate data or look at future climate possibilities. Only prac 5 had compulsory attendance and the others only had recommended attendance, however around half the class tended to turn up anyway to get assistance with questions. The pracs are handed in by completing a quiz online where you enter in your answers to the questions.

10% Practical field report
One Saturday towards the start of the semester was the 'Climate Science Field Day', where we went out to the baseball field and used equipment to measure/note down the state of the atmosphere (eg. wind speed/direction, temperature, humidity). It was raining quite heavily on the day we were supposed to have the field day, so unfortunately we only got through 1.5 rotations of the equipment before we had to stop and cancel the rest of the day. Then, the next two practical sessions and your own time is spend on using the data collected to answer questions about the state of the atmosphere at that time. 4% of the grade is made up of your attendance on the day and 6% is for the report itself, which I thought was a pretty good deal.

20% Major assignment (essay)
This is a 2000 word essay, written about one of four topic choices. It was explained that this essay was strictly about climate science, hence no discussion about the impacts/effects of the topic were necessary. The four choices we had related to land-surface interactions and drought, how the land surface can influence local circulations, the Southern Annular Mode, and causes of the Millennium drought. I chose the last topic and enjoyed learning about the possible causes, however there were a lot of journal articles to read, which took a long time.

4% Topic quizzes
The unit was broken up into four topics. After the end of each topic, an online quiz was available, made up of 25 multiple-choice questions to answer about the lecture content. Each quiz was only worth 1%, and it was emphasised that very little time should be spent on these quizzes, and that they were instead a good way for Shayne to work out which areas he should include in the revision lecture. Almost all the answers were directly from the lecture notes.

50% Exam
A two-hour exam with no calculator or notes. There were three sections in the exam. In section A, you had to answer 8 of 13 short-answer questions. In section B, you had to answer 1 of 4 long-answer questions, based on topics 1 and 2. Section C was the same, based on topics 3 and 4. In general, I found the exam to be quite accessible, as there was quite a bit of choice in what you could choose to write about.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past exams available. :(

Textbook Recommendation:  The 'recommended' textbook is Weather and Climate of Australia and New Zealand, 1ed or 2ed by Sturman and Tapper. For each lecture, specific pages in the textbook were identified to read, and some weeks included an online link to an article related to the week's content. I did not buy/use that textbook at all and found that the lecture content was sufficient.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Shayne McGregor

Year & Semester of completion:  2018, Semester 1

Rating:  4 out of 5

Comments:
Overall, I found this unit to be quite enjoyable. The unit was divided up into four topics:
   1. Energy in the climate system (simple climate models, surface energy budget, energy in the climate system)
   2. General circulation of the climate system (wind, oceans, climate zones)
   3. Climate variability and modelling (climate modes, aerosols, palaeoclimatology)
   4. Climate change detection and attribution (projections, modelling of climate change, response to climate change)

Each topic ran for about 2-3 weeks each. Lectures were mostly pretty interesting but had heaps of content. Given that there were 3 hours of lectures each week, there was a lot of content taught in this unit, meaning that revising for the exam was difficult at times. Computer labs were also pretty fun.

An interesting part of this unit were the bonus questions. At the start of each week, Shayne would put up a bonus question about something related to climate science that we'd be learning about that week in lectures. It was a chance to do a bit of research before learning the content. The best answers to the bonus question posted on the forum would get a bonus 3, 2 or 1 marks added on to their final result of the unit. Some easier questions were quite heavily contested and had 7-8 people answering.

So in summary, this unit was pretty good with a moderate workload and interesting content.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: K888 on July 07, 2018, 06:40:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: PTY2031 - Physiotherapy 3

Workload:
- 2 x 1.5hr CBL sessions
- 7 x 1hr lectures
- 2 x 2hr physio pracs
- 1 x 2hr anatomy prac
+ weekly online lectures (varying between 1-3)

Assessment:
Formative/hurdles:
- Attendance at 80% of pracs and tutes
- Attendance as a patient for first year OSCEs
- Participation in group exercise rehab class during prac
- Professional conduct

Summative:
- 2 x 2hr written exams - 30%
- OSCE - 25%
- Written assignment (2,000 words) - 15%
- Research quizzes - 15%
- Physiology quizzes - 5%
- Anatomy assessments (mid sem & end of sem) - 5%
- CBL performance - 5%

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:
One practice exam & practice OSCE scenarios are made available on Moodle by teaching staff later in the semester

Textbook Recommendation:
Cardiorespiratory Physiotherapy: Adults and Paediatrics - Main & Denehy (2016)

Anatomy textbook as per first year physio is Moore's Clinically Oriented Anatomy, physiology textbook is the same as first year also (Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach).

I also recommend investing in the Physiotherapist's Pocketbook (Kenyon & Kenyon), it's a really handy book to have to refer to in CBL and such because you'll encounter a lot of unfamiliar terms and things that you want to check on. It also nicely summarises some of the principles and essentials of cardiorespiratory physiotherapy

Lecturer(s):
Dr Annemarie Lee (physio theory)
Jo-Anne Corbett (anatomy)

Year & Semester of completion:
2018 - Semester 1

Rating: 
3.5 out of 5

Comments:
This unit is quite different to what you cover in first year, and developing good clinical reasoning skills is critical if you want to do well in the unit. The content gets a bit dry and can get complex, it's pretty medical and there's lots of new terms to learn, but overall it's not too bad. Wasn't my favourite unit as I found it poorly organised at times (and cuts to the budget resulted in less tutor contact time), but overall it's not the worst. It can be hard to stay engaged if it's not an area of physio that you want to go into, so it's important to make sure you stay disciplined during the semester.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: bearableguy123 on July 08, 2018, 06:11:12 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECC3810 - Public Finance

Workload:
-1 hour tutorial and a 2 hour lecture

Assessment:
Project (2500 word essay) - 40 %
Examination (2 hours) – 60 %
The assessment of the project will be split up as follows:
(a) Abstract (5 %) which is due at the end of week 3, i.e. COB, Friday, week 3, namely, 16
March, 2018.
The Abstract will include Title, question, data source and availability. The Abstract will not
exceed 200 words.
(b) Research Proposal (15 %) which is due at the end of week 6, namely, 13 April, 2018. It
should include explanation of why the topic is important and relevant for this unit, the
hypothesis or hypotheses that will be tested, the methodology and some summary
features of the data, and the policy implications.
(c) Final Project (80 %), which is due at the end of week 11, i.e. 5 pm of
Friday, 18 May, 2018. A penalty of 10 % per day will be imposed on all projects that miss
the deadline

Recorded Lectures: No Lectures are recorded :(

Past Exams Available: yes, Ranjann gave out 1, but no solutions are provided.

Textbook Recommendation: Not necessary, the main text is online (Hendricks and Myles). However, I'd highly recommend using this as your main source of study, Ranjaans lecture notes can be overly dense and confusing.

Lecturer:  Ranjaan Ray

Semester/Year: Semester 1 2018

Rating/5: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 84 HD

Comments: This unit is one of the harder econ subjects. You need to be able to understand the basic graphical/intuitive approaches to public finance, as well as the mathematical approaches, and be able to distinguish the strengths and weaknesses of the different models . If you're not comfortable deriving mathematical proofs, I do not recommend you taking it.
The unit has the following topics: Economic Efficiency, Public Goods, Poverty and Equality, Commodity Taxation, Externalities, The Role of the Public Sector, Income Taxation and Tax Evasion. 

Economic Efficiency  : You're introduced to the main 2 theorems of welfare economics. This will expose you to some concepts like pareto efficiency,  competitive efficiency and you'll also be introduced to the edgeworth  box that depicts the two theorems in a two person economy. There's a little bit of calculus in regards to proving the competitive equilibrium.

The role of the public sector: You're pretty much taught the role of the government, how they have to balance equity and efficiency but arn't able to do this in a world with an invisible hand.

Externalities: Pretty Much exposed to a few simple examples of externalities

Public goods: This topic is pretty big, and I'd highly recommend you understand the calculus behind the Samuelson condition, this pretty much shows the efficiency condition behind the two main ways of allocating the private provision of public goods between two people.

Poverty and Equality: This topic isn't a major focus as ranjaan teaches a lot of people taking his development economics unit. However you'll learn about the gini coefficient, some conditions that are described as the optimal equality measures. You'll also learn about some different measures, most notabley RGT, SEN. The major distinction was understanding the decomposable component of an inequality measure.

Commodity Taxation: This is the big bad boy of this unit. You need to understand the inverse elasticity rule, the ramsey rule as well as the equity consideration to commodity taxation ( the many person situation).

Income taxation: you learn about the income and substitution effects behind income taxes (slutsky rule), as well as why taxes must be below 100% and above 0% at the marginal rate. You also learn that the optimal income tax is 0 for the highest earning person in an economy.

Tax Evasion: not a big topic but teaches you that theirs a payoff for the government to target tax evaders.

Overall I absolutely loved this unit. Not the teaching , but I thoroughly enjoyed learning the content. To be absolutely honest, the  essay is not super relevant to the exam, but it was enjoyable. Ranjaan doesn't record his lectures and his lectures can be dense and boring. I definitely fell asleep in a few classes. The tutorial work you get is super mathematical, and can be very confusing, but the exam is nothing like the mathematical problems you get in your tutorials each week. The major focus areas  on the exam are on public goods, the theories of the public sector and commodity taxation and his "additional slides" mostly relating to public expenditure of the past 150 years or so as well as climate change and taxation within Australia. He can be a bit cheeky with some of the questions in the exam with these additional slides with questions like. "Derive public expenditure for the past 50 years with evidence and statistics", for 30 marks. So definitely know your stats inside and out. In preparation for the exam you should definitely do the practice exam and know what kind of questions are examinable. usually they'll come with different wording, so get a good grasp of the main topics.


Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on July 08, 2018, 07:41:33 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC2140 - Corporate Finance 1 

Workload: 
1x 2hr lecture
1x 1hr tute

Assessment: 
5% tutorial participation
20% online exercises
25% Mid-semester test
50% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past exams provided, only one sample paper. However past exams can be obtained from past students or by looking online

Textbook Recommendation: 
Fundamentals of Corporate Finance 3rd edition by Berk is the only prescribed textbook for this unit. Previously, the Parrino textbook was prescribed however an error with the bookstore on my.monash lead to this being displayed as the prescribed textbook when in fact a newer model had been introduced. Despite this, I found the textbook to not be that valuable of a resource, as I only used it for the weekly tutorial questions. The lecture slides are a far more reliable tool as to what is going to appear in the exam.

Lecturer(s):
Dr Emma Zhang - Wks 1-6, also Chief Examiner
Dr Ying Dou - Wks 7-12

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Comments:

Despite there being past reviews on this subject, the assessment structure has changed over the past few years warranting me to write a new review for it.

Firstly, I'd have a look at my review for BFC1001 here, as a lot of the content in this subject builds upon the basics discussed in BFC1001, despite it not being a pre-req for this subject. Mostly this subject focuses upon capital budgeting and capital structure, with some lectures covering things like dividend policy and net-working capital management.

The lecture outlines were:

Week 1 - Introduction to business finance and financial mathematics - reviews discounting and PV and FV discussed in BFC1001
Week 2 - Corporate Financial Mathematics - looks at annuities & perpetuities and how to value them
Week 3 - Valuation of bonds and equities - looks at pricing bonds and shares both ordinary and preference, which helps in later topics
Week 4 - Capital Budgeting 1 - NPV method discussed
Week 5 - Capital Budgeting 2 - discussed alternative methods of valuation such as matching cycle method and equivalent annual annuity
Week 6 - Mid-semester test held in your allocated lecture
Week 7 - Working capital management
Week 8 - Capital Budgeting 3 - looked at sensitivity analysis, was hardly examinable
Week 9 - Risk and return - Looked at means and standard deviations of returns, as well as covariance and correlation
Week 10 - Cost of capital - Showed how to calculate weighted average cost of capital (WACC) applying previous knowledge
Week 11 - Capital structure - Looked at Modigliani & Miller (M&M) assumptions and how they change for values of levered firms (firms that consist partially or fully of debt) and unlevered firms (firms with no debt in the value of their company)
Week 12 - Payout policy - Looked at market efficiency as will as the dividend payout policy

Emma lectured for all the lectures up to the mid-semester test, whilst Ying conducted the last 6 lectures. Both lecturers were decent, although personally I preferred Ying due to his humour and knowledge in the topics taught, particularly as he also lectures Corporate Finance 2.

In terms of the assessments:

Tute participation - Every week there are allocated questions uploaded to Moodle to be completed before each tutorial. The tutes run a week behind the lecture content, which is a good way to revise the content covered in the past lectures. Then in the tutes you go over the answers to these questions, as well as additional questions posted online. I had Yash as my tutor who was excellent as he's taught the subject previously and knows the content inside-out. However, it's a shame that he's heading off to America, so I'd recommend Sarah as well as a tutor as she's taught me in the past in Foundations of Finance and knows the content relatively well. As long as you complete the work beforehand and attend all your tutes, then you should have no trouble scoring the full 5%.

Online exercises - These consisted of a bunch of short-answer and multiple choice questions delivered on the Pearson website via a link from the Moodle page. After the last lecture of the week, which was on 5-7pm Friday, then the quiz would open at 9pm to cover the content taught from that lecture's week. You then had from 9pm of that Friday until 9pm the following Friday to complete the work. That way, week 2's quiz would cover week 1's content for example. However, I found these to be quite tedious as often they didn't correlate to what was taught in the lectures or what was being asked to be done in the tutes. Therefore, the questions often took a while to complete, even though there was unlimited time to complete them online. Sometimes they took me up to 4hrs to complete, which I found to be quite an annoyance to carry out in the first place.

Mid-semester test - This was held in your allocated lecture slot in week 6. However, due to there being over 900 people enrolled in the subject, some people based on surnames had to complete the test in the M2 lecture theatre, which isn't that far from South 1 where both lecture streams were held. This consisted of some true/false questions, multiple choice questions and short answer questions. There were tricks here and there, however most people that I know did well and the average was close to 70%, with 34% of people scoring a HD in this assessment. Personally, I found it relatively straightforward with just enough time to finish everything, although some careless errors did deprive me from receiving a higher mark.

Exam - The exam was 2hrs closed book, consisting of short-answer questions mainly focusing on stuff taught in the second half of the unit. However, I found this exam to be quite difficult as some of the terminology used in the exam, such as soft rationing limit was barely explained upon in the lectures. Therefore, if you had prepared heavily for the exam, then you'd be fine, however it was much harder than I was expecting, probably due to the 34% high distinction rate in the mid-semester test telling of the unit being made too easy up until that point. Despite this, with good revision habits and reading over the lecture slides and memorising as much as you can then you would be fine in the exam.

Overall, I found this unit to be a great introduction to a finance major, as for most students this is the first finance unit they are taking at Clayton, with BFC1001 not being offered this year. However, it could use a number of improvements, in particular more past exams to be provided that accurately highlight the structure of the final exam, rather than just a sample exam which pieced together parts of the course, some of which was not examinable at all.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on July 09, 2018, 02:08:57 am
Subject Code/Name: BFF1001- Foundations of Finance 

Workload:
1 hr lecture, attendance recorded through in class quizzes that check you're there (doesn't matter if u get the answer wrong)
2 hr workshop, attendance required (but you can get someone to tick off your name as the sheet gets handed around from my experience)

Assessment:
8%: Out-of-class learning tasks
4%: In-class learning tasks   
7%: Team Business Presentation
18%: Mid-Semester test   
13%: Team Assignment: rba interest rate prediction and analysis
50%: Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yeah 2 with worked answers for both theory and math. released near the end of sem

Textbook Recommendation:  i didn't use one. workshop and lecture readings sometimes told you to refer to a book but you can just google the information instead or wait till the workshop cause they'll cover it there anyways

Lecturer(s): Jason Choo

Year & Semester of completion: 2018 Sem 1

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 86

Comments:
This subject was taught fairly well. as someone who is scared of math i was able to tackle the math portion of this unit head on. what was difficult for me was the last topic which was relating to global currency exchange and really trying to get my head around it.

the first assignment which is worth 5 per cent is an oral presentation with a group where you have to wear a formal attire and perform to an audience of a random tutor that is assigned to you. it is better to quickly form a group with people you know via your workshops or randomly through the forums so that you get your desired time slot when booking when to do the oral since you have a choice to do it before or after the mid semester holidays (did it after).

the second group assignment which was the rba prediction and analysis was quite difficult to do. i was surprised with my mark because we received no guidance on how to create a business report and we were heavily marked down because our format was incorrect.

to do well in this unit, you need to listen to jason's lectures and understand his content during that lecture, then make notes about the lecture, go to your workshop, combine notes from your workshop and then lecture which will provide you with everything you need to know about the topic.
the workshop is very much worthwhile going to because it teaches you how to do the math in a step by step process that even a fool like me can do it.

there are many online tests to do and i recommend you set a time to do 2 each week so that you do not miss them because i sadly missed two :(. but they take 8/10 of your best marks that contribute to your final score.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on July 09, 2018, 12:20:47 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECF1100 - Microeconomics 

Workload: 
2 hr lecture - really long and drags on often. lecturer takes a while to explain concepts.
1 hr tutorial (compulsory) - my tute, we didn't really do anything except talk in groups about tutorial questions which tbh was a waste of time but i was there because each tutorial equals 1 per cent of each grade. but some of my friends in other tutes said you had to present a tutorial question each to the rest of the class so it really depends on your tute.

Assessment: 

weekly tutorial participation - 10%
so i went to all 10 tutorials but they only gave me 9/10. so apparently you have to talk a considerable amount within your group (which i thought i did lol but i guess not). in other tutorials this may be how you present your answer to the class.

preclass quiz through aplia - 10%
this quiz you have to do before the lecture. its basically a quiz on the lecture material that the lecturer will present to you on the week. i think its so stupid because it means you have to self learn and forces you to do the readings before the lecture which means you know all the content because its self taught and there's really no point in attending the lectures. i found myself the lectures to be quite useless as i basically self taught myself the content through aplia. it is important you do the quizzes 3 times if you got the first time wrong so your aplia grade will go up - this can add up to a considerable amount of time (2-3 hrs per aplia quiz per week).

mid sem - 20%
this mid sem was very easy.  i think average was a D. it only covers weeks 1-6 which you'll well in if you nail and understand the aplia quizzes.

assignment 1 - 5%
relates to the early weeks which was easy. i used paint to make demand and supply curves and still got full marks for it. just make sure you explain everything you put down because people had marks taken off for supplying a graph but with no explanation as to why their graph was the way it was.

assignment 2 - 5%
a lot harder than assignment 1. my friend found the answers to this assignment on google, in which some of it was wrong lmao. i know different groups of people who followed the answers that was found on google and got the same mark so make sure you know what your writing down before you mindlessly copy from google

exam - 50%
only testing weeks 7-12 which is arguably harder than testing weeks 1-12 because 7-12 is muchhhhhhhhh harder than weeks 1-6. if you did vce economics, weeks 1-6 you will breeze through but 7-12 you will start to struggle if you do not focus. it is important you really understand what is happening because weeks 7 content builds off the rest of the semesters.
during the exam, it was quite easy but the way they worded things was a bit difficult and unnecessary.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes with screen capture

Past exams available:  1 sample exam with answers (much easier than what was on the exam lol)

Textbook Recommendation:  principles of micro economics 7th edition by joshua gans. this is a very important book because its what you use for the aplia quiz since you dont know any content and are already tested on it. it is also important for tutorial questions because previous editions will have different questions than this specific edition. i know in clayton they cater to both 7th edition and 6th, but in caulfield they do not.

Lecturer(s): he ling shi

Year & Semester of completion: sem 1 2018

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83

Comments:
ok so i really hate how this unit was structured because im not sure why they would test you before the lecture. i know its to promote the fact that u have to do your readings but whats the point of the lecture further in the week when  you already know the content through the aplia quizzes you have to do before hand? i think thats the most stupid thing ever.

i found myself not going to the lectures because of the lecturer's thick accent as well as the fact that i already knew the content. i guess if you wanted to consolidate your learning you would go but i felt that i did not need to and i did fine without it. 2 hours for a lecture is also very draining and if i were you, i would just watch parts at home on stuff you dont really understand.

content is ok i guess but gets difficult towards the end as mentioned before. you can do well in this unit if you dedicate time. if you don't then i dont think this unit is for you as you cannot bludge the later weeks.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on July 09, 2018, 12:47:59 pm
Subject Code/Name: MGF1010 - Introduction to Management 

Workload: 
2 hr compulsory tutorial
i absolutely DREAD this tutorial because they make you present tutorial questions that you answer during the tutorial like its an oral presentation where you aren't allowed to just read off what you've written. im not sure why they make you do this because it really does not make you better at presenting as you just wrote your script literally like 5 minutes before it so you gotta improvise on the spot. my group was scolded for just reading off the script as well and the internationals had a hard time during this part of the tutorial especially as they are not as fluent with english.
basically, this tutorial is useless but made fun if you have good friends to just complain about how useless this tutorial is lmao.
you also do mindmaps which if the tutor sees you write a lot of all the time, they will give you full marks for tutorial attendance.

1 hr worth of online lectures
the lecturer presenting these lectures is so boring that its more worthwhile reading off the lecture slides, making notes yourself and then if the slides are ambiguous (25% they are and make no sense), just watch that part of the lecture. the lecturer also tends to dragggggggggggggg on topics which is very annoying especially when he's already said the important parts.

Assessment: 
weekly multiple choice quiz 15% (1.25% per quiz)
ez, just have your notes open while you do it and the readings as well as they test you on those

individual essay part 1 (10%)
10% of your grade for just a plan that you're gonna develop into an essay a month later? yes please. idk why they gave such a high percentage in just writing a plan but please do make sure you follow they layout on how they want you to do it. you must only write on 1 page (typed) and must adhere to their font size and spacing options so make sure what you write is clear and concise. they also want you to reference your plan lmao but the reference list is not included in the 1 page limit. they are very strict with apa referencing so make sure you get that down pat (i just use microsoft words referencing and it automatically does that for you).
as for the topic in this essay, it was quite broad and open but they love it when you write a rebuttal paragraph so make sure you do that.

individual essay part 2 (20%)
this is the full essay that u've already developed a month before hand and so is not that hard to write on so its pretty easy to do well in if u did well in ur first part.

reflections (15%, 5% each)
this is so stupid lmao. its basically writing how the content you've learnt so far relates to your future career. in order to do well u must make that link of whether or not it can relate to ur future career. if ur not sure what ur future career is, fake it till you make it because this is make or break in ur reflection. imo, my friend wrote a really concise piece but made no reference to their future career and only got a credit :(
if u did well if ur first one,  u can just copy that layout and u'll be fine.

completion of workshop activities (10%)
this is tutorial participation. u cant just be there and expect to get 1% for the week, u actually have to do something, whether that is participate in debtates, present questions, write questions or write mindmaps.

exam (30%)
i found this exam to be extremely hard. 2 essays in 2 hrs, sounds like vce english to me. questions are very ambiguous and u have to link 4 weeks worth of topics per question which can be quite difficult

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  yeah 1 with no answers :(

Textbook Recommendation:  they link u pdfs of books they want u 2 read. u can i guess but i only started reading it near the end cause they want u to provide examples for your exams and this is how u get them other than google

Lecturer(s): lakmal abeysekera

Year & Semester of completion: sem 1 2018

Rating:  1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83

Comments:
the topics taught in this unit are hella boooooooooring. theres 1 whole week where u learn about emotional intelligence and what it means which is kinda like common sense anyways and also another week to tell you about that people actually change careers :O! crazy stuff.
the only thing that i took out of this unit was that i do not want to do anything to do with management because it made me realise my fears of oral presentation so i guess there's that
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on July 09, 2018, 01:35:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC2011: Biochemical Pharmacology

Workload:
2 x 1 hour lectures weekly + additional pre-recordings/readings/YouTube videos to go through (Weeks 1-10, plus an intro to unit lecture in week 1, and a single lecture in week 12)
3 x 3 hour unassessed computer labs
3 x 3 hour inquiry prac ‘wet’ labs
2 x 1 hour introductory tutorials (one for inquiry prac, one for abstract writing)
2 x 3 hour abstract writing sessions

Assessment:
Inquiry prac: 15% (the only assessed prac in this unit)
Quizzes: 10% (5 quizzes in total, each worth 2%. Quizzes 1 and 2 focused on topics 1- 3, whereas quizzes 3-5 covered signal transduction)
Mid-Semester test: 10% covered topics 1-3, average score was 19.5/30 from memory.
Clicker participation marks: 5%
Abstract writing tasks: 10% (2x 5% tasks. Not at all fun.)
Exam: 50%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture- although some had missing visuals/audio.

Past exams available:  Yes, past exams from 2011-2016 were provided, no answers. Some of the exams came from the equivalent pharmacy unit (which was recently phased out due to the new pharmacy degree), and some from the older version of the unit.

Textbook Recommendation:
Molecular Cell Biology – Lodish et al 7Ed
Rang and Dale’s Pharmacology -  Rang 7Ed
I never looked at any of these, but I probably could have done better if I actually consulted the first one, I guess. I’ve heard that the latter is used in second semester- PSC2012: Molecular Pharmacology.

Lecturer(s):
Roland Chung- Topic 1: Proteins and Enzymes
Daniel Malone- Topic 2: Lipids and Membranes
Sab Ventura- Topic 3: Ion channels, Receptors and Transporters
Lubna Freihat- Topic 4, lectures 1-5: Signal Transduction
Megan Waldhuber- Topic 4, lectures 6-10: Signal Transduction
Betty Exintaris: Chief examiner and Unit Coordinator

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 71D

Comments:
I felt like this core unit was a shambles, as the previous unit coordinator for this unit left Monash at the end of last year, so the UC inherited a mess and obviously didn’t have time to fix it up. A lot of the assessment information on Moodle was incorrect, and the UC wasn’t very responsive to emails when things went wrong with this unit. However, Megan Waldhuber was pretty great, and went out of the way to help us out. Some of Lubna’s content confused the heck out of me for a long time, but other than that, this was an okay unit.
This is the last time this unit will run as PSC2011: Biochemical Pharmacology. As of next year, a similar unit, BPS2011: Pharmacology I: Biochemical signalling will run, as a core unit under the new pharmsci degree. Hopefully they will have fixed this unit up for the new degree!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on July 09, 2018, 01:53:06 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC2021: Structural Organic Chemistry

Workload:
2 x 1 hour lectures, weeks 1-12
5 x 4 hour pracs
1 x 4 hour prac exam
6 x 1 hour tutorials

Assessment:
20% Mid-Semester test (I felt this was harsh, weighting-wise, but oh well)
20% Pracs (each worth 4%)
5% Prac exam
5% Assessable tutorial questions
50% Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  None given, however “90% of tute questions are from past exams”. However, I was able to obtain some off a third year. ;D

Textbook Recommendation: 
Organic Chemistry- Bruice 7/8Ed
I bought it, however it was seldom useful in my opinion, as most of the content in the lecture slides came straight from the book anyways.

Lecturer(s):
Peter Scammells

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating:  1.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 57P (THANK GOD I PASSED- I DON’T HAVE TO SEE THIS HEINOUS SUBJECT EVER AGAIN <3 )

Comments:
Notoriously the hardest unit in second year pharmsci (or so I've heard), and has made me cry several times during the semester. The assessments were extremely challenging, and I heard that the midsem test had a higher than usual fail rate. (The midsem was held on a really challenging week for me,  I had to have a nice greasy souvlaki after this particular test due to it being that traumatising.) Checking results for the semester was extremely hard as well, as I honestly thought that I would have failed the exam, considering this was how I felt the whole semester (and sums my feelings up about this unit in general):
(https://i.imgur.com/TH8vrRr.png)

As this is the final year of running PSC units, the equivalent from 2019 on is BPS2021: Synthetic Chemistry I.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on July 09, 2018, 02:10:47 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC2031: Analytical Methods

Workload: 
2 x 1 hour lectures, weeks 1-12
6 x 4 hour wet lab pracs
2 x 3 hour HPLC pracs
1 x 4 hour prac exam
7 x 1 hour tutorials (5 chemical equilibria, 2 spectroscopy)

Assessment:
5% quizzes (4 x 1.25%, 2 on topic 1, 1 each on topics 2 and 3)
10% prac exam
20% pracs
60% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  2 given, one with complete answers, other with multi-choice. 10/10 would recommend doing the tute questions over these tbh.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Fundamentals of Analytical Chemistry – Douglas and Skoog 8Ed (Not 9th, as Ben is a bit of a cheapskate and didn’t want to buy the new edition lol). Very handy for helping you to decipher Ben’s lecture notes.

Lecturer(s):
Ben Capuano- Topic 1: Chemical Equilibria and Classical Methods of Analysis
Roland Chung- Topic 2: Spectrochemical Methods of Analysis
Darren Creek- Topic 3 (HPLC): Chromatography
Paul Wynne- Topic 4 (GC, LCMS and MS): Chromatography

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 70D

Comments:
I honestly should have done better, however I’m not surprised in the least, considering the effort that I didn’t put into spectroscopy or chromatography. Ben’s lecture slides were hard to understand as it was just information crammed onto slides every which way possible. The only reason this unit doesn’t get a 4/5 is that Ben didn’t crack any of his marriage jokes, like he did last semester. :(

Next year, this unit will likely be equivalent to BPS2031: Analytical Methods I: Principles and Applications
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on July 09, 2018, 03:08:01 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1031 - Medical biophysics 

Workload: 
Per week: 2 x 1-hour lectorial, 1 x 2-hour practical

The lectures were listed as 'lectorials' in the timetable, but were really just standard lecture-format classes. There were 3 different streams, which I felt somewhat compromised the information given in each stream (for example, different lecturers may have taken different streams for the same topic).

The practical classes were held in the PACE studios, where you would be allocated to table groups of ~10 students. The practical activity varied by week, and I have described these in the assessment section.

PASS was also available for this unit (1 x 1-hour class per week), although I did not register for these.

Assessment: 
Note: Some of the assessment information below may not match the information given in the 2018 unit guide, as there were some last minute changes made.

4 x Moodle quizzes (2% each; 8% total)
The quizzes involved 8 multiple-choice and short answer questions in 55 minutes (with immediate feedback). You don't really need the 55 minutes, but they can be useful to recheck your answers or look through your notes to help you find the answer. Each quiz allowed 2 attempts, with your best score taken as your mark for that quiz. The quizzes were based on the topics of: fluids & energy (2); electrcity/bioelectricity; waves & optics). Non-assessed practise quizzes (which were similar in format to the actual quizzes) were also available for revision.

Practical work (25%)
There were various practical activities throughout semester. Physics lab work was worth 19% of the overall unit grade, while the physiology component was worth 6%.

There were two types of physics activities: experiments (13%), which involved experimental work, collecting data, and analysing the data; and tutorials (6%), which involved the completion of pre-lab exam style questions, which were then discussed and peer corrected in the first 10 minutes of class. Experimental work was assessed through the completion of a logbook, which contained all experimental data and analysis, which was handed in a week or so after the lab. Tutorials were assessed based on effort put into the questions and correction based on peer discussion. During the actual tutorials themselves, we were given the opportunity to complete a Moodle quiz of bonus questions, which were MCQs were either exam-level difficulty or above. Correct answering of these bonus questions contributed overall to a bonus 2% added to your overall grade.

There were three practical classes for physiology (1 cardiovascular, and 2 MEMPOT). The classes themselves generally involved working through a simulation of some sort and answering questions based on that. Assessment for these labs were in quiz format (either MCQ or short answer).

Question set (5%)
This was a take home problem set of about 4 questions on the fluids & energy topic. The questions were of exam difficulty, and gave a taste of the type of questions to be expected in the exam.

Fact sheet (10%)
This was a one-sided A4, scientific-style fact sheet on a topic related to one of the unit topics, where we were required to describe the physics and/or physiology principles related to that topic. I personally felt the rubric criteria was somewhat unforgiving, but maybe it was just me :P

BMS professional development module (2%)
This was a last minute addition to the assessment for BMS1031 . This is the first module (of five) in the BMS PDP program, and was moved from BMS1011 (for which I assume to simplify the sequence of modules for both double and single degree students). The assessment essentially involves the selection and description of two career-related experiences which you can complete by semester 2.

End of semester exam (50%)
The end of semester exam was 3 hours long, and examined all lecture material. The exam contained mostly short answer questions (minimal MCQs- 1 or 2), and was weighted approximately ~80% physics and ~20% physiology, which was consistent with the number of lectures given for each topic. A formula sheet containing several formulas from the physics topics was provided. Approved scientific calculators were permitted. Hurdle requirement of 50% (on the exam) to pass the unit.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:
For the physics component, past exams from 2006 - 2016 (with answers) were made available. I highly recommend attempting as many of these as possible, as you will notice that past questions are often reused.

As per BMS policy, no practise exams for the physiology component were provided, although some practise questions for each physiology topic (without answers) were made available via Moodle. In my opinion, these practise questions were not that similar to the actual exam questions, but still provided an opportunity to practise your application skills, which are important in physiology.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Relevant chapters and review questions for both textbooks were provided for each physics lecture.

Lecturer(s):
There were 3 streams for each lecture. The topic lecturer for each stream was either the same or varied.
- Prof. Kristian Helmerson [unit co-ordinator - physics] - Fluids & Energy
- Michael Ferguson - Fluids & Energy; Waves & Optics
- A/Prof. Chris Wright - Cardiovascular Physics
- Prof. German Valencia - Electricity
- Dr Agnieszka Gorecka - Electricity; Radiation
- Prof. Helena Parkington [unit co-ordinator - physiology] - Bioelectricity; Bioimaging

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018.
This unit is only available in Semester 1.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5. This unit was structured quite well, with the practical classes aligning closely with lecture content, and assessments relatively well-paced throughout semester. However, I felt that there could have been more feedback for some assessments.

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
This unit contains two parts: physics and physiology. The physics portion covers 1st year level physics, while the physiology portion essentially provides a grounding for later BMS units. I didn't do year 12 physics, but I heard that the physics content in this unit definitely goes above and beyond that of VCE physics. Given that, I think this unit provides a good introduction to physics, even for those who have had minimal previous physics exposure. The lectures were split into well-defined topics, with an effort made to apply biomedical principles to each topic:

This unit provided a relatively detailed introduction to university physics. Probably one of the harder first year first semester BMS units, although personally I still found most of the lecture content to be somewhat interesting.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on July 09, 2018, 03:51:47 pm
Subject Code/Name: MKF1120 - Marketing theory and practice

Workload: 
1hr30 workshop (compulsory)
1hr worth of online lectures

Assessment: 
"one" assignment (5%)
ez but pointless assignment that basically guarantees you an hd if u do it as quickly as possible with a group who is willing to do the work. do not leave this late because it is due pretty quickly in the semester which i was not expecting tbh. your written piece during this assignment is the bulk of your mark. they say not to do generic videos as that won't get you a hd but we did and our written piece carried us to a hd anyways.

online quizzes (10%)
this is pretty easy again,  nothing much to say. 15mins per quiz, open book so whatever

immediate feedback activities (15%)
group test with your assigned marketing group in your workshops, every workshop session. iirc, they take 8 out of the best 10. if you're late to your workshop by like 3 minutes, they won't let you do the test with your group and you won't get marks for it because this is done at the start of your workshop so dont be late.

essay (20%)
vague af essay topic but kinda esay to get an hd with? i think 30% of cohort got a hd so its not that bad i guess.

examination (50%)
split into two sections, long answer and short answer. long answers are worth 20 marks each and short are worth 10 marks each.
there is one question per topic but u can avoid question because they allow you to pick like 2 from 3 available so if you aren't comfortable with a topic, just don't study it and study the others very hard.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes no answers. people asked in forums for guidance in the questions presented but they were very hesitant to answer them and would never give the real answer, instead to look at lecture slides.

Textbook Recommendation:  nah, they gave u readings and pdfs for it but like lectures will carry u through i reckon

Lecturer(s): angela cruz, peter wags, tiffany winchester

Year & Semester of completion: sem 1 2018

Rating:  3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87

Comments:
overall, a solid unit. all assessments are due early on the semester and you don't have anything due after mid sem break which is a relief because all other units have tons of assignments due after the break.

tbh im not sure if its just marketing in general or this unit but some of the concepts are just pointless and annoying to try to remember because of how unnecessarily complex they are
but study well and you'll get a nice score
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on July 09, 2018, 05:45:51 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2410 - Introductory Econometrics

Workload: 

1x 2hr lecture - this is where the majority of the course content is covered. Natalia delivers all of the lectures except for the first half of the first lecture which Farshid conducted. Originally I found it a bit difficult to understand her and what was going on, but eventually this made more sense as everything was able to clarified with extra revision.

1x 1.5hr computer lab - These are basically the tutorials where you go over the tutorial exercises provided on Moodle each week. Part A of the tute exercises has to be done at home and is not covered in the tutes as it counts towards your participation marks for each week. Part B is explained in the tutes, and normally delves into deeper concepts that are either mathematical proofs or explanations carried out in EViews which is the statistical software used in this unit only. Therefore, the tutes are a must to attend unlike the lectures where listening to the recordings as sufficient, as to obtain your participation marks you must attend the computer lab each week.

Assessment: 

10% tutorial participation - as long as you complete Part A of the tutorial exercises uploaded onto Moodle each week, then you'll receive 1% of your grade each week. These marks run from weeks 2 to 12, meaning that you can miss 1 tute and still receive full marks

10% mid-semester test - This consisted of 20 MCQ's to be done in 1hr on a Thursday night. For me, despite feeling that I'd done well on this, I got caught out by a lot of careless errors leading to a much lower mark than expected. Therefore, the key here is to read every question carefully and ensure that you revise as much as possible for this.

2x 10% group assignments - Groups were randomly allocated based on the computer lab that you were enrolled into. For each assignment you had to write up a report incorporating statistical information such as graphs, hypothesis testing and other factors taught throughout the course. Assignment 1 had a far more formal structure compared to assignment 2, where you were given free reign to write whatever you wanted and no word limit as long as you kept everything statistically relevant to the goal of the assignments. Assignment 1 was more content related, whilst assignment 2 was application based in the finance world by looking at asset pricing techniques and seasonality in relation to stocks. Both assignments were marked leniently, as most groups that I know did well on both assignments.

60% exam - This consisted of some MCQs and short answer questions. The short answer questions included some derivations, which were explained in-depth in the lectures themselves. Some of the phrasing in the exam itself was a bit difficult to comprehend, however I found that with careful reading and proper revision before the exam date, as well as attempting past exams that I was able to do quite well in it, contributing to my good result at the end.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  The past 4 exams from 2016 & 2017 were provided, which helped to understand the content, but not the structure of the final exam due to the course changing quite significantly this year

Textbook Recommendation: 
Introductory Econometrics: A modern approach (5th edition) - there is also the 6th edition, but due to a typesetting error it's not recommended to purchase. Therefore, this is the only prescribed textbook for the unit, but I didn't find it necessary as I only used it a couple of times. Also, the pdf to the textbook is freely available here, so even if you feel like you need the textbook the PDF is always around.

Lecturer(s):
Professor Farshid Vahid - also the Chief Examiner of the unit. Really nice and approachable guy, who clarified content whenever necessary and helped out as much as he could
Dr Natalia Bailey - only lecturer for the unit in terms of content. Knew her stuff well but explanations weren't always succinct, so it helped to listen to the lecture recordings to clarify as much information as possible.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 80 HD

Comments: .

This was quite a step-up from ETC1000, so for anyone doing this subject, in particular as it is compulsory for any commerce specialist degree, finance major or econometrics major, then a good background in statistics will help you to do well in this unit. For me, I had 2 things that kept me going throughout the unit outside of lecture notes to do the best in the unit that I could.

1. Setup a group study chat on FB messenger. Originally someone posted on Moodle asking for people's facebook names, and the group was only at 4 people. However, that eventually reached 100 people, which was great as you had a network of people willing to answer questions for everything econometrics related, whether it was tedious or not. This is something that I will be using in all of my econometrics related units in the future hopefully.

2. Ben Lambert's youtube videos saved me quite often in the course. Whenever I zoned out due to my lecture slot being a Wednesday 8am, I referred to the videos here to ensure that I thoroughly knew what the course was speaking about. Also, each of his videos are short and succinct which is great as they summarise parts of the course away from a 2hr lecture. Be mindful though that not all the proofs are given in these videos, so be sure to watch the lecture recordings to memorise those proofs and write them on your cheat sheet to bring into the exam.

Also, a double-sided A4 handwritten cheat sheet was allowed into the exam. This saved me quite a bit, as I was able to write-out all the necessary derivations (except for one, which I missed  :'() that were covered on the exam. The cheat-sheet also means that less memorisation is required, as you can refer to the cheat-sheet to help you as you go in the exam.

Overall, despite struggling with some of the explanations at the start of this unit, I loved the unit even though it took away a lot of my time to study for other subjects. It introduced the OLS framework and is a great background unit to do before continuing with further econometrics units in the future, if that is your preferred pathway.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: neemo on July 10, 2018, 09:07:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECC2010

Workload:
x1 2 Hour Lecture
x1 1 Hour Tutorial

Assessment:
10% Weekly MyEconLab Questions
30% Mid-Sem Test
60% Exam

Recorded Lectures:
Yes, with screen capture (Lecturer didn’t want to record but had to because unit was over-enrolled :P)

Past exams available:
No. Instead he pointed to specific questions from the textbook and gave us the answers to them.

Textbook Recommendation:
“Macroeconomics” by Abel, Bernanke, Croushore 8th or 9th Edition
Personally, I’d recommend it. The textbook gives the details that the lecture and lecture slides don’t give. MyEconLab is also directly tied to the textbook content (Note: you don’t need to buy access, it’s given to you).

Lecturer(s):
Qingyuan Du

Year & Semester of completion:
Sem 1, 2018

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 92 HD

Comments:
LECTURE:
The lecturer is quite slow. Nearly every week we didn’t cover all the content. It got to the point where he had to take a topic out of the mid-sem because we didn’t manage to cover it at all. It was honestly quite difficult to sit through the entire lecture. A huge issue I have with the lecture was that there was pretty much 0 explanation for how to complete calculation questions. A lot of how I learnt to answer them was from getting questions wrong on MyEconLab which then provides an explanation.

TUTORIAL:
Tutorial is 1 hour. In normal cases, I value tutorials a lot. I find them great to strengthen my understanding of the content. However, this was the first tutorial that I felt I got nothing out of, so it’s the 1st I’ve ever felt better off skipping. I attended maybe 3-4 tutorials (I wanted to give it another chance). All you discuss in the tutorial are the weekly assignment questions from MyEconLab and sometimes a few additional questions. I personally found 0 value in it but if you’re struggling, I can see it helping as the answers are discussed to help you understand it. At the very least, I recommend attending a few of the tutorials to see if it helps you or not.

ASSESSMENTS:
Weekly MyEconLab ‘Assignment’ (10%):
This was… interesting. Basically a free 10%. Every week we were given an ‘assignment’ which was just a set of questions based on that week’s content. The questions are done on MyEconLab and you have unlimited attempts. It’ll also give feedback or point to where you went wrong which I found very helpful. The ‘interesting’ part is that he mentioned something on the lines of you only needing to do 4 of the assignments? He wasn’t entirely clear on it so I’m not too sure but regardless, I’d advise to do them all anyway.

Mid-sem Test (30%):
Initially it was meant to be, I think, 2 hours long with 4(?) questions but it was then cut to 1 hour and 3 questions due to seating issues or fitting everyone in the lecture hall. Structure involved the first question being true or false questions and the other 2 being predominantly calculation questions (with possibility of theory questions). For the true or false questions, you have to explain why it’s true or false to get credit. Merely stating ‘true’ or ‘false’ gets 0 credit. For the calculation questions, this is where the textbook and MyEconLab comes in. I don’t think the lecture explains at all how to answer the calculation questions. MyEconLab has a bunch of questions outside of the assignment that you can do to practice. I found this incredibly helpful as you can see guides of how to answer the questions. The questions from MyEconLab are taken from the textbook, sometimes with changes in numbers, but MyEconLab has answers.
The lecturer specifically stated that some questions will be questions you’ve ‘never seen before’, and he mentioned that sometimes he takes questions from postgraduate textbooks and dumbs it down to our level. This was true. My initial reaction to some of the questions was ‘wtf is this’, but if you know the content you’ll become aware of what he’s trying to ask and it’ll become like a normal question. For example, he gave us this random growth model that we’ve never seen before but after substituting the variables given, it’s clear he’s talking about the endogenous growth theory which we learnt.
Average and median score for the mid-sem was around 19.5/30. My advice is to read the textbook and do MyEconLab questions until you understand the models/theories and why x might affect y, and are able to do the calculation questions well because as mentioned, lectures don't explain how to do them!
Also, a sample test was given which I'd say replicated the actual one decently.

EXAM (60%)
2 hours long with 5 questions. Structure is the same as the mid-sem so again, the first question is true or false and the rest are calculation questions with some theory questions. At least in this semester’s exam, there were more ‘policy’ questions than I anticipated, that is, here’s some info, how would you advice the policy maker in implementing monetary policy? The last question was bizarre though. I’m not sure if I was missing something but it didn’t seem to test any of the content we learnt. He gave us these random new Keynesian Philips curve equations (we didn’t even cover the regular Philips curve!) and asked us to analyse these equations in certain situations. The last question infuriated me, since it basically asked us to recommend policy action based on this never before seen model. We didn’t really learn how to recommend policy action. Ignoring this question though, the calculation questions aren’t particularly hard. If you do some practice, it basically becomes routine since you’ll generally just have to do the same thing but with different numbers. The calculation questions are also mostly what you find in MyEconLab or the textbook.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on July 19, 2018, 05:54:02 pm
Subject Code/Name: DEV2011 - Early human development from cells to tissues 

Workload: 
Per week: 2 x 1-hour face-to-face lectures, 1 x online lecture, 1 x 2-hour practical

The lectures were standard lecture-type classes. Each week, there was also an online lecture, with embedded MCQs to test our knowledge.

The practical classes each week were split into two parts: a tutorial, and practical. We were divided into smaller groups and assigned a demonstrator and cell type (for the cell profile report - more info later). The tutorials were essentially a weekly lecture content review using a set of short answer questions uploaded onto Moodle about the previous week's lecture content. We were expected to complete the questions before class, and then discuss the answers as a group. These questions tested the basic theory, and I think that it's important that you at least understand these concepts before doing any of the assessed tests/exams. The other half of the practical classes involved either an imaging session (for the cell profile report - more info below), or an assessed practical (around every second week).

Assessment: 
2 x Moodle quizzes (5% each; 10% total)
There were two timed Moodle MCQ quizzes in week 3 and 10 which were available for around 4 days. These consisted of 20 questions in 30 minutes on all lecture and practical content up until the week of the test. The questions for these tests were not released back to students (only a numerical grade). These quizzes were quite straightforward, provided you were somewhat up to date with lecture content.

Practical reports (8%)
There were four assessed practicals during semester. There was only one wet-lab, which was a buccal smear of our own cheek cells. The other labs involved our demonstrators giving poster presentations, and/or showing us anatomical specimens (the final assess prac on developmental disorders is definitely the most interesting of them all!). The assessment for the practicals consisted of 4 reports each worth 2% (8% total). These reports were made up of a few short answer questions relating to the previous week's practical activity, and were completed via a Moodle quiz. The questions themselves generally did not involve reciting of facts, but rather they required application of knowledge.

Cell profile report (2% draft + 20% final report)
This was the big project for this unit. The cell profile report was essentially a ~10 page report on a cell type assigned to your practical group, and involved three sections: an introduction to the cell type, a results section, and a discussion section. There were about 10 possible cell types (including neurons, myocytes, erythrocytes, etc.) The introduction section of the report was essentially a brief description of the function of the cell type and its development. The results section was probably the most enjoyable part for me - each student was assigned a histology slide containing a histological sample of a foetal mouse. Throughout semester, we were given time (imaging sessions) to take magnified images of these specimens, which would then go into our report. The task was then to describe what can be seen in the image, how the different components function, and how our given cell type ties in with this. The final section was the discussion - we were allowed to pick any topic to discuss, provided it was somehow linked to our cell type (which would have been much more enjoyable for me to research, had I left myself more time to do the report :P).

The instructions for the report were released early in semester, and the final report was due in week 12. Definitely try to start this one early (I, along with many other students, regretted not doing this) - there is a lot of work to do, and the report is worth a large part of your grade. In week 8, we were also required to submit a draft of our final report (worth 2%), which was essentially a short dot-point plan of what we were going to discuss in the report. Our demonstrators then provided feedback based on the draft.

Mid-semester exam (10%)
This was a paper MCQ exam held in week 6 during the normal practical timeslot. It consisted of 30 questions in 60 minutes on all lecture and practical content up until the week of the exam. The questions for this exam were also not released back to students.

End of semester exam (50%)
The end of semester exam was 2 hours long, and consisted of 80 MCQs on all lecture and practical content. The questions were fair, although some questions tested some quite specific detail, while others tested application of concepts, rather than memorisation. Hurdle requirement of 45% (on the exam) to pass the unit.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available: None. The only MCQ revision was two revision lectures at the end of semester.

Textbook Recommendation: 

Lecturer(s):
Julia, Sonja (neuro-development) and Helen (research in developmental biology) took most of the lectures, and there were also multiple guest lecturers.
- Dr Julia Young [unit co-ordinator]
- A/Prof. Craig Smith
- Dr Ellen Menkhorst
- Danielle Rhodes
- A/Prof. Edwina McGlinn
- A/Prof. Helen Abud
- Dr Sonja McKeown [deputy unit co-ordinator]
- Dr Megan Wallace
- Prof. John Bertram
- Dr Justin Adams
- Krishan Singh

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018.
This unit is only available in Semester 1.

Rating: 4 out of 5. A well-organised, interesting unit, with close links between the lecture and practical content. One of the downsides was the lack of adequate feedback for the online and mid semester exams (apparently it's faculty policy that the questions from tests couldn't be released back to students, but anyway).

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
This unit essentially discusses human developmental biology - starting from fertilisation, how cells in our body arise, and how these cells come together to form tissues.

Contrary to the rumours, I wouldn't say that this unit is an "easy" WAM boost - I personally found the unit content to be intellectually challenging (there is definitely a large amount of content), and the assessment to be fair (but definitely not a bludge :P). This was also quite a popular biomed unit, and ties in quite well with some parts of BMS2011 and the developmental biology component of BMS2021.


Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on October 29, 2018, 01:41:09 pm
I usually don’t do these so early, but this is one review that I needed to do asap. :D
Subject Code/Name: PSC2232- Colloid Chemistry

Workload:
* 3 x 2 hour (tbh less than 2 hour) Practicals. (One of which didn’t count for us lmao)
* 6 x 1 hour presentation blocks (we only had 4 of these due to time constraints)
* 3 x 1 hour quiz blocks
* 1 x 3 hour presentation block
An odd smattering of “workshops”

Assessment:
* 3 x 30 min individual quizzes (2.5% each)
* 3 x 30 min group quizzes (2.5% each)
(Note that we weren’t given content, so it really beats me why we had these quizzes lmao)
* 4 x 10% group reports – counted as 40% towards the “final exam grade”
* 1 x 20% individual newspaper report – counted as 20% towards the “final exam grade”
* 3 x practicals (20%) (More like 2 x 10% practicals because we all failed the first one. See below.)
* 1 x 5% group oral presentation

Recorded Lectures:  Lmao not even a single lecture in this unit, so nope nothing recorded. (A lecture or 5 would’ve been nice!)

Past exams available: None. Last exam held for this subject would have been in like 2010, going by the ONLY set of slides we were given at the first workshop.

Textbook Recommendation:
Anything that is to do with Colloids. Other than that, you’re on your own.

Lecturer(s):
Dr. Ian Larson. Director of Learning and Teaching. Hmm.
 
Year & Semester of completion:
2018/Sem 2

Rating: 
0 out of 5
Nearly considered a move to the medicinal chemistry major because of this unit.

Your Mark/Grade: 78D. Better than I thought I'd get :D

Comments:
What I felt going into this semester:
(https://78.media.tumblr.com/00da1a1aaef9f44b936e904d1e6c7ba4/tumblr_otiuf7lP7x1ra8x1ao1_250.gif)

What I actually felt:
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSt729MgTl8Mb45BJXPeGJdEjIRUlnIyU7BbHi1Xgfd_DVwA4H5)
(https://media.giphy.com/media/yr7n0u3qzO9nG/giphy.gif)
(https://i.gifer.com/5OV.gif)
This class was quite frankly put: shit. Ian was uncontactable for several weeks during the semester, and when he replied to our emails, he’d just parrot back the questions we were asking. He also gave us misleading information about practicals (causing a massive furore and quite a few angry emails when 90% of the cohort failed the lab report) and what he wanted from the report assessments. Ian also put out an announcement mere hours before the final group report was due basically changing the requirements of that report, which he had 2 WEEKS. TWO WHOLE WEEKS. to tell us. He was always putting the emphasis on clarity and precision, however to be clear: he wasn’t clear, nor precise. I’m just glad I’m done with this unit. Due to the new course structure, this unit (luckily) won’t run ever again.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on November 10, 2018, 12:36:58 am
Subject Code/Name: ETC2520 – Probability and Statistical Inference for Economics and Business 

Workload:  2x 1 hour lectures, 1x 1.5 hour tutorials
Assessment:  5x 4% fortnightly online quizzes, 1x 20% online mid-semester test, 1x 60% final exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  1 sample exams with no solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Wackerly, Mendenhall, Scheaffer, Mathematical Statistics with Applications (7ed).
Hogg, Tanis, Zimmerman, Probability and Statistical Inference (9ed).
Both textbooks are not required but are highly recommended if you wish to do well in this unit as their examples and explanation of the theory is much clearer than the lecture content, albeit having less information.

Lecturer(s): Professor Don Poskitt

Year & Semester of completion: 2018 Semester 2

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 HD

Comments: I have so many things to say about this unit that I don’t even know where to start, so I’ll talk about the good things first before moving on to the bad. If you are a commerce student and really like mathematics, this unit is quite bearable and interesting to study on your own, as it is a fairly thorough run-through of probability and statistical theory from its basics to the more rigorous mathematical content. You start from basic probability and set theory, defining what probability, sample spaces and random variables mean with some examples from card taking and dice throwing. You are then introduced to some common discrete and continuous probability distributions (not an exhaustive list) such as the Poisson distribution, normal distribution, the Gamma function and distribution, Chi-squared etc etc. This unit is fairly simple and intuitive up to here, as many would have learned some of the content from high school. You then go through moment-generating functions and their applications, relationships between different distributions, and joint (bivariate) probability, and this is where the unit kind of gets its infamous impression of being difficult, as the lecturer runs through the content fairly quickly from here. The unit ends with rigorous statistical techniques such as method of moments/maximum likelihood estimation, confidence intervals, unbiasedness and efficiency, and some hypothesis testing, which is mathematically the most demanding, and builds on prior content taught in the unit itself.

Now for the negative aspects of this unit, I know that there’s another review posted here ages ago, but there are quite some changes after they changed the CE for this unit. For starters, there ARE assumed knowledge in this unit which might be completely foreign to some students (like first-years). This includes taking expectations/variances, solving integrals by substitution or by parts and some other techniques (some of it is taught in VCE spesh but not everyone took spesh), basic knowledge of infinite series and approximations(such as the Taylor’s series approx) and the supremum. It is highly recommended that you take a mathematics unit (ETC2440 or MTH1030 are both good) before this to reinforce your knowledge so you don’t get as lost as how I was as a first-year student in this unit. The lectures are extremely poorly delivered with basically incoherent lecture slides for less technical students in BComm, but if you can pick out the content and understand it through online videos you should be fine. Tutorials are in particular VERY important to attend as most applications of the theory taught in the lectures are shown in detail here (no detailed solutions are provided btw). The in-semester assessments are fairly easy, so try to maximise your marks before entering the exam as it has become almost impossible to complete/comprehend since 2016 (when they changed the CE).

This unit is fairly dense and thorough, which might appeal to you as it has appealed to me, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you are not too interested in mathematics. If you are enrolled in BSc then you may consider MTH2222 and MTH2232 (ETC2520 is a condensed version of both), which are taught at a slower pace with greater detail. Nevertheless, not a bad unit if you want to learn, but expect great headaches trying to learn it yourself. 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on November 10, 2018, 12:40:15 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2410 = Introductory Econometrics 

Workload:  1x 2 hour lecture, 1x 1.5 hour tutorial

Assessment:  1x 10% mid-semester test, 2x 10% group assignments, 1x 10% tutorial participation, 1x 60% final exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  5 past exams with solutions, though the nature of the unit has changed a bit the exams are still quite relevant.

Textbook Recommendation: Jeffrey Wooldridge, Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach (5ed or 6ed are used, but 5ed is recommended by the lecturer as 6ed has some errors within it). Great textbook, also relevant for ETC3410: Applied econometrics, but the lecture slides and study material are sufficient for this unit. 

Lecturer(s): Professor Farshid Vahid-Araghi, nice guy and very approachable, was quite thorough with the content from week 1-7, but can be quite hard to follow sometimes.

Year & Semester of completion: 2018 Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 97 HD

Comments: Really satisfactory unit. I haven’t been to or seen most of his lectures so I couldn’t comment on the lecturer’s teaching quality, but some say that he can be very hard to follow especially during the last few weeks of content. Most finance/economics/econometrics/actuarial majors would start this unit straight after ETC1000 or their first semester, and it has quite a steep learning curve compared to the first-year equivalent of this unit.

You basically look at linear regression once more (the same kind you do in ETC1000), but you look at more on the mathematics behind it. Farshid starts off with describing the different types of data and why econometrics is needed in the social sciences and business/finance, and then runs through a “rehash” on basic concepts of statistics and matrix algebra, so you know what knowledge you should expect before jumping into the unit itself. Personally, I thought watching YouTube videos and reading the appendix of the textbook gave me quite an edge so I’d recommend doing it as well. The rest of the content focuses on regression, in particular the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimator. You’d learn about their assumptions to achieve the estimator’s unbiasedness, efficiency and ability to do inferencing (Gauss Markov/Classical linear model is introduced here). There is quite a bit of proofs that you ought to follow so it can be confusing. You’ll then run through coefficients and their interpretation (like ETC1000), goodness-to-fit, models involving log and quadratic terms, and model selection criteria (choosing a model with the least BS), which gets very interesting once you get the hang of it. After this comes the harder parts of the unit. Farshid starts talking about violations of the OLS assumptions that make the OLS less “adequate” in inferencing from data, including heteroskedasticity and serial correlation, their diagnosis and amendments to make a model reliable for inference. This is where he starts talking about time-series data as well, and unfortunately, the lecture slides can be quite confusing here (since he doesn’t dwell into time series data and its differences with cross-sectional data, which is what we’ve seen earlier). He then goes through some dynamic modelling (using past data to predict future data), some problems that may arise from this and finally the asymptotic properties of having large sample sizes (CLT, and weak law of large numbers are introduced here). 

This unit can be quite mathematically demanding for the common student, though it is quite simple relative to other ETC units that you might come across, so it’s essential for you to brush-up on your mathematics (basic summation and matrix algebra should be sufficient, you can learn this in two weeks). You need to hand-in your tutorial questions uploaded during the week to get your participation marks, but these won’t be marked. The mid-semester test is 20 MCQs which can be quite tricky, so study up before this! There are also 2 10% group assignments that take up quite some time, but the assignment marks are fairly easy to obtain if you get the right tutor, and the final exam (which was done yesterday) is tending to be less mathematical and more about inference and testing, which is fairly straightforward compared to past exams.

The tutorials are scored so it’s definitely worth it to attend, and you do quite a bit of work on EViews, a data analysis tool that you have to use in your assignments, and you are allowed to bring a cheat sheet (2-sided A4 with hand-written notes) into the exam so you're not required to memorise the wide variety of formulas used in this unit. I really liked this unit overall. 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on November 15, 2018, 03:49:24 pm
Subject Code/Name: BIO1042 – Environmental Biology, called "Life in the environment" in the 2019 handbook

Workload:  2x1hr lectures, 1x3hr lab class (8/12 weeks)
Looks like this is changing in 2019!

Assessment:
10% MasteringBio assignments
These “assignments” were 40 minute quizzes that assessed your knowledge of the weekly readings, which usually involved pages from the textbook and occasionally some other links or other textbooks. Because these questions are mostly based on the Campbell Biology textbook, a lot of them can be searched up and found in Quizlet sets that other people have made 😉 (except for week 7, where the questions are based on Biology of Australia and New Zealand by Augee et al, which is linked to on Moodle).

12% ClimateWatch project (practical 1)
This is a semester-long group project based on the ClimateWatch app, which encourages citizen scientists to record sightings of flora and fauna. In your group, you’re given a plant or animal to monitor over the semester. The aim of the project is to determine whether you believe their behaviour/phenology is being altered by climate change, eg. warmer temperatures meaning plants are flowering earlier. The biggest challenge for many groups, including mine, was actually making sightings of the bird we had been given. Others with bird species also had lots of trouble finding nests. Three times over the semester, you write up a 300 word reflection piece about your species-identifying skills, teamwork and data analysis. In week 12, you have 10 minutes to present your methods, findings, limitations and if you believe the species’ behaviour has changed. This project was frustrating for many groups, mainly regarding spending time looking for the species you had been given.

10% Wetland project (practical 2)
This project was also semester-long, but work was only done at the start and towards the end of semester. In the same group as your ClimateWatch project, you submerge some leaves of different species in the lake in Jock Marshall Reserve, retrieve them 9 weeks later and work out how much of their mass has decomposed in that time. The aim of it is to determine whether the leaves decompose at different rates, and whether this changes in open water or shoreline environments. You individually write up a 900 word report on the results, which is due in week 11. I felt this was a relatively simple assignment, as a lot of help is given during prac classes and the marking rubric was very detailed.

15% Laboratory practicals 3, 4 and 5
These three pracs were each run during one 3 hour lab session. Each prac had a reading associated with it, including some textbook questions and the lab manual, which was tested with a pre-practical quiz (worth 1%). The prac write-up was done in the lab manual and ripped out and handed in at the end of the session (worth 4%). Prac 3 looked at aquatic food webs, prac 4 looked at biogeochemical cycling and prac 5 was about plant adaptations. These were pretty fun, and the TAs were all very nice and helpful. Also, the actual questions that are marked in these pracs are available in the unit guide before the pracs occur, if you have time to have a look beforehand.

3% Prac 6 (online)
This practical was run online, so you could do it in your own time. You use an online software through Internet Explorer to “sample” an area of a beach with a drain outlet on it and determine whether the concentration of worms changes depending on where the stormwater flows. It is assessed through a 15 minute quiz, with questions mainly relating to the statistics involved in this type of sampling. If you have done any statistics unit before, this should be pretty straightforward.

50% Exam
2hr 10min closed book e-exam. Yes, on a laptop! The exam consisted of 120 multiple choice questions (= 5 questions per lecture). Doing this exam on a laptop was pretty straightforward, because all you had to do was click the answer, as opposed to filling in the bubbles on paper. It was all very well organised, and the exam staff were quick to help with issues. I felt that the exam itself was quite fair and most people finished and left early.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture & livestreaming available as well

Past exams available:  No past exams. However, a revision quiz was available on Moodle, with a huge bank of questions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Campbell Biology 11ed – Aus/NZ edition. Definitely recommended, as the majority of questions in the weekly MasteringBio assignments were based on readings from this textbook. I was able to buy an eBook version and saved lots of money that way.

Lecturer(s): Dr Rowan Brookes, A/Prof Alistair Evans, Dr Akane Uesugi, A/Prof Damian Dowling, Dr Rohan Clarke, Dr Joslin Moore, Prof Dustin Marshall

Year & Semester of completion:  2018, Semester 2

Rating:  4 out of 5

Comments: Disclaimer – this review is coming from someone who had not done any VCE biology or university biology units prior to completing this unit.

I really enjoyed this unit. I felt that the assignments were all fair and weighted well, and the content was quite broad and really interesting. Weekly topics included: the tree of life, biophysical constraints on life, food webs and trophic cascades, biogeochemical cycling, evolutionary genetics, plant adaptations, biogeography of Australian flora, animal adaptations, biogeography of Australian fauna, pollution and climate change, human impacts on ecosystems, the biosphere. Because the topics were far less technical/specific than other biology subjects, I didn’t find that I was behind much by not having done much biology before. It also links quite well to a number of EAE subjects!

For me, the majority of time I spent on this unit was doing the weekly readings and completing the MasteringBio quizzes. I also did spend quite a bit of time trying to find my ClimateWatch species and make at least one sighting a week, but I did less and less of that as time went on after I realised it was probably going to be impossible for me to find a welcome swallow nest. The practicals were all quite chill and not too stressful, and because you handed them in as you left, there was no extra work to do after class.

Overall, a fun unit, even if you haven’t done any other biology!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on November 15, 2018, 03:56:37 pm
Subject Code/Name: SCI2010 - Scientific Practice and Communication

Workload:  2x1hr lectures, 1x2hr workshop

Assessment:
Hurdle requirement – you need 30% of total marks on all in-semester assignments to pass the unit.

10% Participation
This includes attendance at workshops, participation in specific activities at some workshops (you’ll be told which workshops and which activities), completing 9 weekly quizzes, and completing online activities in weeks 4 and 8, in which there are no lectures or workshops. Pretty easy marks – just attend workshops, say something in the activities that are assessed, do the quizzes (which are only 5 questions each, and you’ll get full marks for attempting them, even if you don’t answer every question correctly) and do the online stuff during the online weeks.

5% Popular media article (due week 3)
This is the first part of a semester-long project. You’ll be presented with 12 broad topics to choose from. You pick one and with each assessment you do based on the topic, you’ll narrow down your topic until it is specific enough to write a literature review on. The first part of the project is writing a popular media article, by finding one journal article on your topic and “translating” it so that a non-science person would understand (like the articles in ABC Science and similar websites). This part doesn’t take too much time and is relatively simple, hence why it is only worth 5%. Most people tended to do well, because the marking criteria was pretty straightforward.

10% Annotated bibliography (due week 7)
This is the next part of the project. In this part, you read five journal articles and write a short summary and rating of them, based on how well they suit your research/writing needs for your more specific topic. In this part, I mainly struggled with actually finding articles, as I hadn’t really narrowed my topic down much and wasn’t really sure what I wanted to write about, so I was just scrolling through journal databases hoping for something related to my topic. However, overall it was an ok assessment. Some people seemed to struggle, based on our tutor’s comments, and forgot to do parts of the work (eg. forgetting a list of key words).

25% Literature review (due week 12)
This is the culmination of all the research that we had done over the semester – a 2000 word literature review on a specific topic, due in week 12. There is a formative (work 0% of marks) draft review due in week 10 that I would recommend trying to do a bit of, as you’re able to get comments from others in your workshop group and advice from your tutor. This is a pretty tough assignment, especially for those of us who hadn’t done a literature review before.

10% Oral presentation (week 5)
A group presentation in your workshop, where you find a popular media article, trace it back to the original journal article and discuss how well the media article accurately portrayed the science. It was sort of like the opposite of the written popular media article assignment. Expect the usual group project difficulties with this presentation – no one has a break at the same time, people haven’t done their share of the work etc... 2.5/10 marks are based only on your own communication/presentation skills, so group members can end up with different marks.

40% Exam
Hurdle requirement – you need 30% on the exam to pass the unit. 2 hour closed book exam. 40 multiple choice questions worth 60 marks in total, and 5 short/long answer questions, also worth 60 total marks. Pretty straightforward, standard exam. Some multiple choice questions came straight from the past exam, so I’d recommend completing that for revision if you can. Knowing a few of the examples (eg. one paradigm shift and one instance of a scientist being unethical) from the lectures in detail will be quite handy as well, as they often come up in the written questions.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture & livestreaming available as well

Past exams available:  Yes, one. No answers  :'(.

Textbook Recommendation:  There’s nothing you need to buy. There’s a mini textbook on Moodle (“Moodle Book”) that goes through the topics in a more detailed fashion.

Lecturer(s): Dr Bronwyn Isaac, Prof Roslyn Gleadow, Dr Rowan Brookes + a few others/guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: 2018, Semester 2

Rating:  3.5 out of 5

Comments: Just giving a little update on DisaFear’s review, because some of the assessment weightings and details have changed a little bit!

The unit is divided up into three themes:
1.   Science & science communication
2.   Scientific principles & philosophy
3.   Ethical & professional practice of science

As previously mentioned in other reviews of SCI2010 and SCI2015, some of the content is common sense knowledge or things that you might have picked up from other units. The lecture topics included scientific thinking, how to communicate science to others, the history of science, scientific revolutions/paradigm shifts, pseudoscience, the ethics of human and animal experimentation and careers. Overall, I felt it was well run, and Bronwyn was very responsive to Moodle messages and emails, especially around assignment due dates. All I can recommend is to not leave assignments to the last minute, especially as there are specific guidelines for uploading them to Moodle and you don’t want to lose marks for not uploading everything in its right place!

So in summary, most lecture content was straightforward and simple but dry at times, but the assignments were quite difficult and time-consuming.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: epicviolinsolo on November 15, 2018, 04:58:47 pm
Subject Code/Name: EAE2322 – Environmental Earth Science

Workload:  3x1hr lectures, 1x3hr practical

Assessment:
30% Practical class reports/questions
5% for each report for 6 of the practicals throughout semester. These were usually due at the beginning of the next practical class. As with everything throughout semester, it was equally balanced between soils, water and vegetation – two pracs were about soils, two were about water and two were about vegetation. There were some pracs throughout semester that weren’t assessed, but they helped with the final report. They were generally pretty enjoyable and some finished a little early, however some were quite complex, especially the water pracs, as they involved some difficult chemistry concepts and equations that not everyone was familiar with. Being up to date with lectures would be useful, in order to properly understand everything that’s going on. Note that the first prac class was actually a mini field trip to the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens in a group – this was a good way to get to know others, however it was quite a way to go and seemed like a lot of work for just 5%, especially as we had barely learnt anything yet.

5% Field trip report
This subject has a two-day field trip (Sat/Sun) over the weekend after week 5. The price was quite steep ($120), however this included 1x dinner, 1x breakfast, 1x lunch, accommodation and transport to Camp Rumbug, in South Gippsland near Leongatha. It involved making some field notes/site descriptions and collecting many samples to analyse during subsequent prac classes in a group. The field notes you take on the day, and a few questions and drawings, make up a mini report/handout worth 5% that’s due two Mondays after the field trip. If you’ve written enough during the field trip, you don’t need to spend much extra time on this.

5% Poster presentation
During the prac classes in weeks 6, 7 and 8, you spend time in your groups analysing the samples you took. For soils, this includes sifting the samples and making solutions to determine conductivity, pH and preparing samples for cation concentration analyses. For water, this includes preparing collected sediment, soil and leaf samples to be analysed. For vegetation, this involves counting tree rings of a tree core and correlating it to climate data. All this data is then used for the final field trip report and the poster presentation.

The poster presentation involves presenting either the soil, water or vegetation results as a group. This is pretty straightforward, however because there is such little room to work with, you need to be selective about what data you choose to present and organise the layout carefully to make sure everything fits and is formatted properly.

10% Final field trip report
This is an individual field trip report of 1500 words. It included an introduction, site description, description of methods, results, discussion and conclusion. There is a lot of information to work with, and the advice given was to present all the data they explicitly asked for and discuss only some things in greater detail. It was quite difficult to keep within the word limit, however the marking rubric was quite detailed and we had some guidelines for each section and were told what data we had to present, which helped.

50% Exam
2 hour closed book exam. Two parts – short answer and extended response. Weighted equally between soils, water and vegetation questions. The main issue a lot of people had was that we had no practice questions or past exams to study with, however I felt that the exam was pretty fair. For almost all questions, you had some sort of choice on what you could answer. For example, in the soils short answer section, there were two questions listed under each question and you only had to answer one. In the water short answer section, you only had to answer three out of the four questions listed. This gave us a bit of choice in what we had to answer, which was quite helpful!

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No exams provided.  :(

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook for this subject. Any readings were listed at the end of each lecture’s slides or posted on Moodle.

Lecturer(s):  Dr Vanessa Wong, Dr Ruth Reef, Dr Adam Kessler

Year & Semester of completion:  2018, Semester 2

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Comments:  This subject was quite enjoyable! It sort of sets you up for three third-year EAE subjects – Vanessa (EAE3321), Ruth (EAE3311) and Adam (EAE3342) each contribute to/lecture in/run one of them. It can also be a prerequisite for many other third-year EAE units and some third-year arts units as well, so it’s quite popular.

I think the best part about this subject was the field trip, which is usually the case for most EAE units! It’s just for a weekend in South Gippsland, learning about the interactions between soils, water and vegetation. You get to take samples and use equipment such as augers and drones, and it feels like you are analysing real data when you get the results.

The workload is pretty standard for EAE units. The back half of the unit had many more assessments due than the first half, so the workload tends to ramp up a bit then (as with many other units!). The fact that the poster presentation and final report are both due in week 12 is a bit tough, however some of the results/data you analyse for the poster can also be used in the report, so it’s sort of like you’re working on two things at once.

In summary, this unit is a pretty popular one and a good overview of many different topics in earth sciences. It gives a ‘preview’ of some of the higher-level EAE subjects. There’s a big focus on the field trip, and rightfully so. 😊
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on November 18, 2018, 10:37:11 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2010 - Multivariable calculus 

Workload: 
Per week: 3 x 1-hour lectures, 1 x 2-hour support class

The lectures consisted of the lecturer going through skeletal notes posted on Moodle, and filling in the gaps. The gaps included proofs, examples, and questions. Completed notes were uploaded after each lecture. Most lectures involved an active learning component, whereby we would be given time to attempt a question and then submit their response online (see assessments below).

The support classes are your stock standard mathematics tutorial. We would work in groups on problems related to the previous week's content, in the presence of a tutor to assist if required.

Assessment: 
Lecture participation (4%)
Most lectures contained an active learning component, where students would be given time to complete a question relating to the topic being taught. We would then submit submit our answers via an MCQ on an online Google survey form, which recorded our answer and also our student IDs. The lecturer would then go through the question. Marks were only required for participation (not necessarily a correct answer, leading to many students randomly selecting answers just for the marks). The Google forms were typically left open for 24 hours, after which they were closed and you would no longer be able to complete them to obtain the associated marks. The contribution of each question to the overall mark, or the number of questions needed to obtain the full 4% was unknown, and there was also no way for us to track our progress on this assessment (which was slightly annoying). Still, it was an interesting concept and I felt it was useful in engaging students in the learning process.

5 x quizzes (1% each; 5% total)
The quizzes were small assessments, containing 2-3 basic questions regarding recently learnt content. These were take-home, and submitted to your tutor, either in your support class, or via their submission box. The quizzes were due in weeks where there was no assignment due, and were spaced evenly throughout semester. The marked quizzes were generally returned within 2 weeks.

4 x assignments (4% each; 16% total)
The assignments consisted of short answer questions related to recently learnt content. Considerably more work was required for these compared to the quizzes, and many students went to the Maths Learning Centre for assistance with some questions which were particularly difficult. However, the information from the lecture notes were sufficient to be able to complete all the questions. There was also a significant focus on communication in these assignments - we were expected to (briefly) justify the use of any new concepts or formulas. My tutor was especially strict in this respect when it came to marking. The assignments were due in weeks where quizzes were not, and were spaced evenly throughout semester. They were submitted in the same manner as quizzes, although required an additional cover sheet. Marked assignments were generally returned to us within 2 weeks.

Mid-semester test (15%)
This was a paper short answer test, consisting of 6 questions (50 marks) in 50 minutes. It was held in week 7, and covered the first 4 weeks of content. The questions were fair - they were all modified versions of questions we came across in lectures, assignments, problem sets, or quizzes. I personally found that I was pressed for time in this test, so it is wise to use your reading time efficiently to allocate your time between questions. The marked tests were returned to us within 2 weeks.

End of semester exam (60%)
The end of semester exam was 3 hours long, and consisted of 10 short-answer questions (90 marks). Like the mid-semester test, I found that most of the questions were modified versions of questions which were encountered at some point in semester, so my advice would be (optimally) to re-complete all questions from the lectures, tutorials, and assessments, as well as complete and study the questions from the past exams. There were also a few questions which required deeper thinking, so it's important to actually understand the concepts, and seek help where required. Beyond the lectures notes and textbook, there are a multitude of resources online to assist you, including Paul's math notes, and Khan Academy. Yann, Todd, and Simon all held consultation hours leading up to the exam period, and Yann was also very responsive to Moodle posts. Hurdle requirement of 40% (on the exam) to pass the unit.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. Live-streaming available via Panopto and Echo360.

Past exams available: Yes - semester 2, 2017 (with answers), and semester 1, 2018 (without answers). I highly recommend that you work through both of these, and compare/discuss your answers with other students.

Textbook Recommendation: 
- Recommended: Calculus, Metric Version (8e) by Stewart, Thomson. The lecture notes follow the topics of this textbook, so it is a great first resource to use if you require extra clarification or detail. The problems from the support classes are also taken from here, and so the remaining questions can serve as good extra practise. This text was also recommended in MTH1030 and MTH1020.

Lecturer(s)
Yann and Todd had slightly different approaches to teaching. In particular, Todd liked to dicuss the n-dimensional generalisations of the concepts, while Yann tended to only briefly mention these, and focused on the core concepts (which were more relevant to the assessments).
- Dr Yann Bernard (Weeks 1-7) - also unit coordinator for weeks 1-6. The mid-semester test and final exam were written by Yann.
- A/Prof Todd Oliynyk (Weeks 8-12)
- Simon Teague - unit coordinator for weeks 7-12. While he did not actually give any lectures, Simon was a support class tutor, ran an exam consultation session, and also wrote some of the quizzes and assignments.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2018.

Rating: 4 out of 5. Assessments were fair in terms of weighting, and well-spaced out throughout semester.

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments:
This unit is hard. It takes calculus to the next dimension (literally) and beyond. All the concepts which were taught in high school and in previous units (MTH1030 and MTH1020) are extended and expanded on into the third and higher dimensions. What I encourage you to try to realise and understand that much of what you learn in this unit is an extension of what you already know (for example, instead of a single integral, you will learn to evaluate double and triple integrals).

In terms of assessment, there was something due basically every week, so it is very important that you keep up to date with the content - there is a lot of know, and can quickly become overwhelming as assessments build up. However, it is possible to do well in this unit. Don't be afraid to seek help - from your peers, tutors, or the math learning centre. In particular, I recommend attending the support classes, where you get to apply the knowledge, and discuss the concepts with peers.

The concepts learnt in MTH2010 can be grouped into 3 overarching themes:
1) Partial Derivatives - multivariable functions, limits and continuity, partial differentiation, the multivariable chain rule, directional derivatives and gradients, tangent planes, finding maxima and minima
2) Multiple Integrals - change of variables, double integrals (including in polar coordinates), triple integrals (including in spherical and cylindrical coordinates), finding areas and volumes using integrals
3) Vector Calculus (the pointy end of semester, which is what most of the previous topics lead up to) - vector fields, line integrals, Green's Theorem, curl and divergence, parametric surfaces, surface integrals, Stokes' Theorem, Divergence Theorem
It may all sound daunting for those who are considering completing this unit, but it's definitely achievable to learn all of this in a semester!  ;)

This unit is also the gateway to all higher mathematics. What you learn here is important, and many of these concepts will be built on further in later units (if that's your thing :P).



Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on November 19, 2018, 01:04:49 pm
Subject Code/Name: DEV2022 - Human anatomy and development: Tissues and body systems 

Workload: 
Per week: 2 x 1-hour lectures, 1 x 2-hour wet practical class or online practical

This unit had fortnightly wet pracs, with every other week having an online practical (via Moodle). The first half of most wet pracs consisted of an animal tissue dissection relating to recently learnt content (including limb, heart/lung, and eye), with the second half involving the class splitting into groups and moving around between stations where demonstrators would guide us through a worksheet. The online pracs involved us going through videos and readings, and filling out a related quiz online.

Students were also given access to the Human Anatomical Sciences Learning Centre, where we would be able to view all the specimens used in practical classes and more for our revision and interest. We were also provided with opportunities to partake in weekly, voluntary dissection room tours, where a demonstrator would take us through the anatomy of a cadaveric specimen related to the content we were covering in class. These were especially interesting, as we were able to get a first hand look at human anatomy, and relate this back to what we learning in class.

Assessment: 
10 x practical assessment (2.5% each; 25% total)
8 of the 10 assessments were related to the wet and online pracs, and came in the form of Moodle quizzes. What I really liked about the organisation of these quizzes were that the wet and online pracs were paired based on topics (introduction to anatomy, musculoskeletal, heart/lung, neuroanatomy/special senses), and each pair of associated Moodle quizzes were opened for a 2 week block. Therefore, we were able to view the questions before we came to class, and also given plenty of time to complete the assessments. The quizzes themselves were either MCQ/dropdown or short answer. Some questions required that you do some reading or watch a video first. Some questions were also quite specific, so be sure to read your lecture and practical notes carefully, and look through other resources where needed. The wet practical assessments would only be marked if you got your attendance marked off by your demonstrator at the associated practical class. For wet pracs, the quiz questions were mostly based off the answers to worksheets we filled out during class, and the answers to these worksheets were uploaded after the quizzes had closed. The answers and marks for the online practical were released immediately once the quizzes had closed, and the answers and marks for the wet practical assessment was usually returned within a week.

The other assessments were a case study, and an anatomical flag race, each worth 2.5%. The case study involved breaking the class up into smaller tutorial groups, and we would then work in smaller groups of 2-4 to read through the case study of a patient, answer related questions, and present our findings and answers back to the class in the form of an 8-minute oral presentation. My main annoyance with this assessment was that while we were given the (blank) assessment rubric, the only feedback received was in the form of a numerical mark, with no feedback. The final assessment for the semester was an anatomical flag race. Students were assigned to stations around the practical room (in groups of 1-2), and each station would have an anatomical specimen or model, with 1-3 associated MCQs. We were given 1 minute at each station to answer the questions, after which a buzzer sounded, and we were required to move to the next station. This repeated for around 40 minutes (with a total of 67 MCQs), and was quite stressful, since once you moved onto a different station, you couldn't return and reconsider your previous answers. To help us, we were also allowed a double-sided, handwritten A4 cheat sheet - be sure to take advantage to this! A numerical grade was provided for this assessment.

Mid-semester test (25%)
This was a 75 minute short-answer test based on lecture and practical content from weeks 1-7. This assessment is big - not much so in terms of the actual test itself, but more the 25% weighting on the test, so it's very important that you don't let this sneak up on you, and try your best to keep up to date with content. The test itself was relatively accessible and fair, and almost all students left early. The types of questions included extended multiple choice, one-word answer, true/false, and short response. Practise questions with answers were provided on Moodle for revision. A numerical mark was returned to us after around 4 weeks. Chantal also dicussed some of the commonly incorrect questions during the end of semester revision lecture, but we were not provided any specific feedback on our individual performance.

End of semester exam (50%)
The end of semester exam was 2 hours long, and consisted of 104 MCQs on all lecture and practical content. I also thought that the questions here were relatively fair and accessible, although there is a lot of content to know. It's also important to remember that all practical content is assessable, so I would recommend reviewing all of the practical quizzes from semester, as as well as review the practical notes. Around 50 practice questions were provided via a Moodle quiz. Hurdle of 45% (on the exam) to pass the unit.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. Live-streaming available via Panopto and Echo360.

Past exams available: No (as per faculty policy)

Textbook Recommendation: 
- Recommended: General Anatomy: Principles & Applications by Eizenberg et al. This was supposedly the core textbook for this unit, although I personally did not use it. However, it was also complemented by an online resource called anatomedia (free access via Monash), which I did use, and was useful for me in completing the practical assessments.
- Human Embryology & Developmental Biology (5e) by Carlson. You might have this from DEV2011, and may be useful to you in this unit, as there is a significant amount of developmental content. I probably used this a handful of times throughout semester, and this text is also set as readings in some of the online pracs.
- Functional Histology (2e) by Kerr. Also from DEV2011. This unit also has a relatively significant amount of histology, so this text may also be useful to you. I don't think I used this for this unit.

Lecturer(s)
- Dr Chantal Hoppe (unit-coordinator) - musculoskeletal and exam revision
- Dr Justin Adams - body plan and body wall
- Dr Julia Phillips - guest lecture on paediatric medicine and paediatric developmental disorders
- Prof John Bertram - bone development
- Emeritus Prof Richard Harding - lung anatomy and development
- Prof Jane Black - cardiovascular anatomy and development
- A/Prof Ian Smyth - integumentary system
- A/Prof Helen Abud - limb patterning and regeneration
- Dr Sonja McKeown - neuroanatomy and development
- Prof Paul McMenamin - special senses
- Dr Olga Panagiotopoulou - skull anatomy and ontogeny

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2018.
This unit is only available in Semester 2.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5. Assessments straightforward and fair, and the unit was generally well organised. I also really appreciated the access to the vast array of resources, including the Human Anatomical Sciences Learning Resources Centre, and dissection room tours.

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments:
This unit is the next step up from DEV2011, and focuses on the organogenesis of organ systems in the body. For each organ system studied in this unit, the lectures covered developmental, anatomical, and developmental pathological context. For example, with respect to the lungs, we learnt about how they develop, their anatomical features, and also how problems during foetal development can impact on lung development. These concepts were reinforced in practical classes.

The topics covered were:
1) Body Plan & Musculoskeletal - anatomical terminology, body plan, the limb, bone development and histology, paediatric developmental disorders (clinical), body wall
2) Trunk - Thorax & Skin - lung anatomy, histology, and development; cardiac anatomy, histology, and development; anatomical imaging; integumentary system (skin) development and histology; limb patterning and regrowth
3) Skull, Special Senses, & Neuroanatomy - nervous system anatomy, histology, and development; special senses (eye, ear, taste) and their development; skull anatomy and ontogeny

I personally found the content to be interesting. Consider this unit if you took (and liked) DEV2011 and are interested in human anatomy - particularly, how development can give rise to different organ systems.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on November 21, 2018, 11:39:49 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1052 - Human neurobiology 

Workload: 
Per week: 3 x 1-hour lectures
Throughout semester: 5 x 3-hour practicals

The practicals were spread throughout semester (generally every fortnight). The first 3 practicals covered the themes of action potentials, sensation, and muscle movement, while the final 2 practicals dedicated towards preparation and presentation of a journal club-style oral presentation. In all practicals, table groups were not assigned, and so you could work with whoever you wanted.

Assessment: 
BMS professional development module 2 (2%)
This was the second part of the BMS professional development program. This involved a careers-oriented lecture, with the assessment involving us reflecting our career-related experiences from module 1, and also forming a map of our careers network.

Practical assessments (3 x 2% + 10% + 10% + 12% = 38% total)
Each of the first 3 practicals began with a pre-practical, group MCQ quiz (3 x 2%) of around 10 questions, based on pre-class material on Moodle. These were done on IF-AT cards, so you were given feedback immediately. The questions were fairly accessible, so most students did quite well on this.

Practical 1 (action potentials) was assessed via a group practical report (10%), where we were required to interpret and (statistically!) analyse provided data. Groups consisted of 2-6 students, and we were allowed to choose our own groups. Feedback and marks (via a rubric) were returned within a few weeks.

Practical 2 (sensation) involved a variety of experiments relating to audition, vision, and somatosensation. The assessment was an open-book (but individual) MCQ Moodle quiz (10%) relating to the practical content, which was completed in our own time, and was open for around 1-2 weeks. Only a numerical mark was returned for this quiz.

Practical 3 (movement) involved a experiments relating to muscle movement. This prac was assessed as part of mid-sem test 2.

Practicals 4 and 5 were dedicated towards the preparation and presentation of a journal club presentation, which is essentially an overview presentation of a research article. Practical 4 involved the formation of groups (of 4-6), selection of a journal article, and planning. Marks (2%) were given for attendance at this session, and also briefly discussing your article with a demonstrator. We were then required to research and prepare our presentation outside of class, with practical 5 (week 11/12) dedicated to the presentations (10%). Each presentation was to be 6-8 minutes (strict maximum - many groups were required to stop as they went overtime), and the practical class was split up such that we were presenting to around 10 other groups. Only a numerical mark was returned for this assessment - which was somewhat annoying, as we weren't given any group-specific feedback regarding our performance.

2 x mid-semester test (10% each; 20% total)
Two (yes - two!) MSTs for this unit. Both tests were 45-minutes long, with around 30 MCQs. They were held online (but closed-book), with the option of completing the test on campus (in a computer lab), or on your own laptop (via Respondus lockdown browser + webcam monitoring). Results, along with the questions and answers, were released within a few weeks. Some revision content was provided on Moodle.

MST 1 was held in week 6, and covered content from the first 11 lectures (on foundations and some sensation lectures). MST 2 was held in week 9, and covered content from the movement lectures and practical (prac 3).

End of semester exam (40%)
The end of semester exam was 2 hours long, and consisted of 96 MCQs on all lecture content (only). Most questions were relatively fair, although some focused on specific detail. Some revision content was provided on Moodle (depending on the lecturer). Must pass the exam (hurdle requirement) to pass the unit.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. Live-streaming available via Panopto and Echo360.

Past exams available: No (as per faculty policy).

Textbook Recommendation: 
- Highly Recommended: Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain  by Bear, Connors & Paradiso. We were told that any lecture content (for Nic's section) which was extended on within this text was assessable, so I would recommend having a copy of this if you want to do well in this unit.

Lecturer(s)
- Dr Nicholas Price (unit coordinator) - foundations, sensation, movement, neuroprosthetics, and animal ethics
- Mr Ari Pinar (co-coordinator) - foundations
- Prof Helena Parkington - autonomic nervous system
- Prof Brian Oldfield - hypothalamus and hormonal control of body function
- A/Prof Siew Chai - neuroregeneration, learning and memory
- A/Prof Elizabeth Davis - pharmacology (peripheral targets)
- Dr Sonja McKeown - developmental neurobiology

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2018.
This unit is only available in Semester 2.

Rating: 4 out of 5. Marks were mostly fairly distributed across assessments, and unit was generally well-structured.

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments:
This unit provides a very good introduction to neurobiology. It expands on the membrane potential content from BMS1031, and provides a gateway to BMS2031 (physiology). The lecture content is interesting, and you are exposed to a wide variety of concepts across neurobiology. However, as has been stated in past reviews, this unit is arguably the most difficult of first year BMS units, and you are warned of this by Nic himself at the beginning of semester. Each assessment is worth a significant amount of your overall grade, and these are spread throughout the semester, so it's important that you try to keep on top of everything so that you don't get lost.

The lecture topics covered in this unit can be generally divided into:
1) Foundations - basics of neurobiology, including action potentials and signalling
2) Sensation - covers the senses of vision, hearing, somatosensation (touch), and hearing
3) Motor control - how we use our nervous system to coordinate muscle movements
4) Control - autonomic nervous system, hypothalamus and hormonal control
5) Vignettes - covered different miscellaneous topics (1-2 lectures each) related to neurobiology, including neurodevelopment, pharmacology, animal ethics, neuroprosthetics, neuroregeneration and repair, learning and memory

While this unit can be difficult, it also covers interesting concepts, and provides a good foundation for second year units (especially in first semester).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on November 28, 2018, 03:17:33 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2440 - Mathematics for economics and business

Workload: 
2x 1hr lectures per week
1 x 1.5hr tute per week

Assessment: 
Group Assignment 1 - 11%
Group Assignment 2 - 12%
Group Assignment 3 -  12%
Tute participation - 5%
Exam - 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  1 Practice Exam provided - however past exams were available from the Monash library database (which no longer exists), but are still very relevant to the current course

Textbook Recommendation: 
Fundamental Methods of Mathematical Economics 4th edition is recommended, but not necessary as the lecture slides were detailed and covered everything you needed to know.

Lecturer(s):

Dan Zhu - Covered the first part of the course on Matrix Algebra. She could be a bit difficult to understand, and also seemed a little lost with the content as she didn't write the slides herself, and looked like the first time she looked at them was in the lecture itself.

John Stapleton - Covered the remainder of the course from week 4 onwards. Very easy to understand, and even though he provided some weird analogies in the lectures they still helped explain the content reasonably well. Likes to interact with the audience, so normally kept me awake as the content is a bit dry. He's also the chief examiner for the unit, and this is his unit that he's run for the past couple of years, so if you're stuck on a question or unsure of what to revise for the exam, then head to his consults if you need.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:

Firstly, have a look at Reckoner's review here, as the content hasn't changed that much since then
Whilst this unit did seem a bit rushed, I still found it reasonable. Although this is the first maths unit that needs to be done by a student in the econometrics/actuarial science faculty, it still covered all the concepts reasonably well. My main gripe was that the proofs weren't taught that well, such that when it came to writing them down in the exam I had only half a clue of what to write, and ended up with 0/20 for that particular question.

Topics covered include matrix algebra, set theory, differentiation, limits and limit proofs, optimisation theory and integration (not examinable)

Tutorials: The tutes were pretty standard, you just go over the tutorial exercises which are posted at the end of the previous week for the following week. Tbh, sometimes it did seem that a lot of content was provided though, such that 1.5hrs was not enough time to go through all the questions posted. Practice questions were also included in the tutorial exercises, which were not covered in the tutes, but I'd advise for you to do them so you thoroughly understand what each part of the course is looking for. I had Kanchana as my tutor, who was great as she understood the content extremely well and tried to get the class involved as much as possible.

Lectures:  Lectures were just going through the notes that John posted on Moodle roughly a day or two before he starts covering the topic in the lecture, or when Dan was covering the matrix algebra content. These are a bit dry though, so I'd recommend watching them at home (as long as the lecture recording works, as last sem due to it being in E3 the lecture recording broke down once and there was no alternative, so attend if you can). That being said, the content is still relatively straightforward to understand, but I'd recommend doing MTH1020/1030 if possible before this unit so that you can revise content learnt before high school, as a lot of knowledge is assumed which is critical to doing well in this course.

Group Assignments: These are relatively straightforward, as they're just going through questions that are very similar to the tutorial exercises. Groups are randomly allocated based on the tutorial session that you are in, so hope that you get a good group to maximise your marks. My group got 100%, 95% and 85% on the 3 assignments, indicating that they are pretty decent, such that as long as you have a decent grip on the coursework then you'll be fine. I'd recommend to start them as early as possible though, as some of the questions have tons of tricks in them that I had to rewrite them out a number of times. These can be either handwritten or typed, however handwritten is probably easier due to the number of notations that have to be written out. Assignments are dropped off in the submission box on the 7th floor of the Menzies building, and do not need to be submitted online, so handwriting them is definitely a good idea to clearly understand what the question is asking.

Exam: I thought the exam was reasonably straightforward, but there were some tricky parts here and there that undid me.

The exam consisted of 4 questions that were 20 marks each.

First question was matrix algebra, second optimisation theory, third on limits/ set algebra and last was called a "mystery question" that eventually turned out to be 4 proofs. I found myself to be a bit rushed with time, mainly due to it being a 9:30am exam and my brain not being fully switched on. Due to that, I may have done a bit worse than I expected, but the questions were very similar to the assignments/ tutorial exercises, so going through them and memorising proofs particularly in relation to the limit of a square root function is pretty key as these will help you immensely in the exam. Also, memorisation of things like De Morgan's law is critical, as if you know that then you should be set in the exam. There was a hurdle requirement originally of 50%, but this was revised to 40% where if you got in the range of 40-49 on the exam then the highest mark you could receive was 10% above that exam mark.

Tbh, this unit may seem a bit rushed, but John has revised it a lot over the years such that it is a pretty concise and succinct maths course to get your head around. I'd recommend going to Kanchana's consults though whenever you get stuck on something, as tutor help is critical to ensure that you do well in this unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Sine on November 28, 2018, 08:49:44 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2042 – Human Genetics 

Workload: 3 x 1 hr lectures per week, 1 x 3 hr practical for the first 7 weeks. 1 x 3hr session for Oral Presentations in the final week.

Assessment:
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: None, some sample questions (but it was stressed that those same questions won’t appear on the exam)

Textbook Recommendation:
Prescribed: Concepts of Genetics 11ed Global Editions (Klug W & Palladino M Spencer C & Cummings M)

Recommended: Developmental Biology 11ed (Gilbert S) and Thompson & Thompson Genetics in Medicine 8ed (Nussbaum R & McInnes R et al)
   
Lecturer(s):
Dr Saw-Hoon Lim (Unit coordinator)
Dr Richard Burke
A/Prof Robert Bryson-Richardson
A/Prof Craig Smith
Dr Michelle Dustone
Professor Colby Zalph
Dr Mike McDonald

Year & Semester of completion: 2018, Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBA

Comments:

General Thoughts:
Overall I thought this was one of the better biomedicine units this semester (compared to BMS2052 and BMS2062) but maybe not as interesting as your 2nd year semester 1 units (BMS2011, BMS2021 and BMS2031). This is definitely a very fair unit and you will get out the effort you put in. However, I do believe it was a heap of content to learn (basically every biomed unit though) so it’s really important to try to stay on top of things throughout the semester. There is no real MST so it is quite easy to fall behind on lectures and revising them. You definitely don’t want to leave too much for SWOTVAC.

Lectures aren’t too important to go to (as long as you watch the recordings). Some lecturers go through the content quite quickly so towards the end of the semester not many students really went to lectures. I think I went to 1-2 lectures a week for the first few weeks but didn’t go to any after week 4. Also, Week 12 doesn’t have lectures, but this is offset by the fact that you have an Oral Presentation to given which takes a bit of time to prepare for (5 minutes speaking time each) in a group of 3 (maybe a few people had to do groups of 2).

My biggest problem with this unit would probably be that there was a heap of minor assessment tasks that aren’t worth too much. For example each problem set was worth 0.5%, each prelab quiz is worth 1/7th of 1% and the practical reports are worth 2%. We had all three of this every week for the first 7 weeks and it gets quite tedious to do it and check over your answers.

I didn’t find the weekly labs (for the first 7 weeks) that great. Often, it would seem that we are doing the same practical each week. You will feel like you are scoring Drosophila every week. Usually, some of the practical questions are possible to complete before the prac class. If this is the case I would highly encourage students to do as much as they can at home and then go in to check stuff with your TA.

The topics of the practical classes are as follows:

Week 1: Patterns of Inheritance – If you have done VCE Biology this will be mostly revision for you with a small addition of learning the chi-square test; so for those that have done VCE Biology it is a great opportunity to use your time to help others who may be struggling in your practical class.

Week 2: Extensions to Mendelian Inheritance – this relates to two lectures in the first and second weeks of semester. You will go over different dominant relationships of genes and gene epistasis something that isn't covered in VCE.

Week 3: Gene Linkage Mapping – Probably one of the more important practical classes since it’s quite important to understand the concepts for your mapping project worth 10%.

Week 4: Genetic Linkage Analysis In Humans Using DNA Markers – similar to the previous week but this time we are focussing on DNA markers e.g. SNPs rather than whole genes.

Week 5: Human aneuploidy – Here we deal with whole chromosomes and possible abnormalities such as down syndrome.

Week 6: Chromosome rearrangements – These practical focuses on how chromosomes may break and rearrange and the possible results in terms of fertility and viable offspring.

Week 7: Population Genetics; Genetic Risk Analysis – This practical focuses on Bayes analysis and population genetics. This is probably the most interesting and easiest practical.

Lectures:
Lectures 1-5: Introduction, Autosomal Inheritance, Sex Linked Inheritance, Extensions to Mendelian Inheritance and mutatiosn (Dr Saw-Hoon Lim)
Lectures 6-15: Linkage, DNA markers, Sex Chromosomes and Sex determination, Chromosomal Aberrations ( Dr Richard Burke)
Lectures 16-18: Population Genetics, Multifactorial Disorders and Risk analysis ( A/Prof Robert Bryson-Richardson)
Lectures 19: Diagnostic Testing ( Dr Saw-Hoon Lim)
Lectures 20-21: Non-Mendelian inheritance and Mitochondrial Disorders ( Dr Saw-Hoon Lim)
Lectures 22-24: Developmental Genetics( A/Prof Craig Smith)
Lectures 25-26: Model Organisms and The Human Genome Project( Dr Michelle Dustone)
Lectures 27-28: Genetic Engineering(Professor Colby Zalph)
Lectures 29-31: Human Evolutionary Genetics(Dr Mike McDonald)

Pre-Labs:
This assessment was worth a total of 1% (yes this is not a typo) – it consisted of 7 different pre-lab quizzes across 7 weeks. The questions were quite easy, the only problem would be students forgetting to complete the quiz.

Problem Sets:
The problem sets were worth a total of 3% for 6 problem sets. Technically we were supposed to be completing them during the practical session but most people would finish them in the previous week so most weeks we were able to leave early. The questions are good exam and practical test preparation but in my opinion were a little more difficult that the other assessments. However, difficulty was not really a problem for the problem sets since if you completed them you would receive the marks since it was all participation. During the practical session your TA would ask “who has finished the problem set?” and then go over and check. They will go through your answers so make sure you do them.

Official answers to the problem sets would be posted on Moodle the following week. It would be good to go over these since it cements how they would want you to answer questions in the bigger assessments tasks (e.g. exam, practical test). This is especially important for knowing how to present answers for the "draw a diagram" questions.

Mapping Project:
So, the mapping project is probably the toughest piece of assessment in this unit. It is worth 10% of your total unit grade and generally students didn’t do too well. Even really some good HD average students struggled with it and scored in the P and C range. That is why it’s important to get started on it early so that you have formatted everything well and shown absolutely everything (e.g. crosses, phenotypic ratios, genotypic ratios). Also this is another one of those biomedicine assessments which is heavily impacted by who marks your work. The average mark for this would probably be somewhere in the 60’s. Nearly 60% of students got less than 70.

In this assessment you get assigned a particular trait of the drosophila (I got sepia eye colour) and you need to map it to a chromosome in relation to the two genes that are closet to it. The overall essence of the assessment isn’t too bad but most students loses marks on the small details. E.g. Your abstract must be short and concise. Your introduction needs to properly review the concepts of linkage in genetics – some aspects of this will go beyond the lecture content. The results section is quite a large but, in my opinion, the easiest section to do since if you are able to do one of your crosses correctly you should be able to use that as a template for all your other genetic crosses. It is important that you explain your results too – not just doing the maths. I used excel in order to quickly to the calculations for all the crosses and I would thoroughly recommend this approach as I saw too many students waste time on calculators and double checking their working out.

Practical Reports:
This assessment was one of two main assessment tasks for the practicals. We had 7 practical reports due each week across the first 8 weeks of the semester and each one was worth 2%. Don’t’ be fooled by the relatively small % worth of this assessments as sometimes it does take a while to complete the practical report. The actual questions aren’t too hard but there is just a lot of questions to do. The questions were usually MCQs, short answer, drop downs or drawing a diagram.

Practical Test:
There was a practical test in week 10 of the semester, as the weighting of this assessment was 15% of the total grade. I don’t think it is a coincidence that this exam condition test is worth more (just by 1 %)than the total of your practical reports. In reality the reason for this assessment is to make sure that students have actually learnt the content of the practicals since some people just got others help for the practical reports. These reports are quite useful in studying for the practical test and I would strongly advise that you complete all of these questions again in preparation of the practical test. The test was all short answer and consisted for 50 marks to do completed in 1 hr with 10 minutes reading time. The test really isn’t too bad, and most people tend to do very well on it.

Developmental Biology Quiz:
This was an online practical that really wasn’t a practical. It was just a quiz based on the 3 Developmental biology lectures in week 8. This quiz was worth 5% of the total unit grade and consisted of 25 MCQs, 16 definition questions (drop down) and 4 additional drop down questions relating to a diagram. The Online Quiz was 90 minutes in length. This was a somewhat difficult piece of assessment since there was a lot of working out to do for the MCQs, you couldn’t just look through the slides but you needed to understand the content well. That is why I think students should study the lectures in detail before they attempt the quiz. As for the definition questions some of them were tricky and there was something like 15 options from the drop down tab. Since you could only pick each answer once it was important to select the most correct answer to save up other answers for the more suitable question. The additional 4 drop down questions which were labelling a diagram were quite simple in contrast to the other questions. When we got the results to this quiz there was some glitch that meant that some peoples quiz were not marker and marked wrong for the 16 drop down questions so they decided to remove all those 16 marks from the quiz which was kinda annoying. Some people were quite happy with this since it boosted their scores whilst others obviously quite annoyed (hopefully this doesn’t happen in the following years).

Oral Presentation:
During your practical sessions you will be told to form groups of 3 and choose a model organism by writing your name on a sheet at the front of the room. Usually, there is a bit of a fight to get the “best” model organism, so it could be useful to have already formed groups before this, so whilst everyone else is creating groups you can get the topic you want. I worked well with a few others in my practical group, so we were able to form groups quickly and get the mouse model organism. The mouse has heaps you can talk since it is probably the most useful model organism as it is the one that is most closely related to humans. However, even stuff like yeast which may seem random has been vital to learn more about cellular processes. The model organisms available for my year was; the mouse, zebrafish, drosophila (fruit fly), C. elegans (worm) and yeast. The unit coordinator did say it may be important to take notes for the exam. Whilst what you need to know for the exam is in the lectures and lecture slides getting a presentation was quite a nice way of revising and learning for the exam. A couple of questions that were in the exam I was able to recall answers from other students presentations.

As for the actual assessment, in your groups of three one person will focus on the history and Nobel Prizes for this model organism and the other two will comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the organism. Your presentation should total to 15 minutes with each student talking for about 5 minutes. To maximise marks, you shouldn't  just stand in front of your slides and talk, you need to be a little creative and have some audience interaction such as asking questions, a small quiz or just be funny in general. Also, most assessors liked it when you had a diagram in your slides and if you explained it to the audience.

Also 20% of your mark for your oral will be asking other groups about their oral presentation and answering questions from the audience. Just make sure you have a decent holistic understanding of your organism, so you aren’t blindsided by any questions. In general students were quite nice in the scope of their questioning. As for asking questions, I would take a few notes during the other groups presentation and see what interested me and tried to get them to expand on one of those concepts.

Unlike other group assignments the Oral Presentation involves some group work but you are marked on your own work so don’t worry if you get put into a bad group since it is your slides and presentation that determines 100% of your mark.

Exam:
The end of semester examination is worth 45% of your final grade. This exam is a total of 120 marks which consisted for 62 MCQs (worth 60 marks) and 20 Short answer questions (and parts within these SAQs worth a total of 60 marks). This exam was 2 hours in length and you get 10 minutes reading time.

The short answer questions were quite varied in how they were assessed – there were some fill in the blank questions which needed really specific terms, drawing diagrams and also some “normal” short answer questions.

I thought the exam was a decent difficulty and didn’t test anything outside of the scope of the course. The difficulty arises due to the volume of content we needed to know in detail. We had 31 lectures which at times were quite dense, however a lot of lectures had some “questions you should be able to answer” at the end and a few of them came up on the exams. I would definitely recommend students to have set answers for those questions since those really are the main concepts of the course.

As for the spread of assessed content I would say it was about right for the most part. Talking to other students their was a similar sentiment that the exam was of fair difficulty so you will definitely be rewarded if you put in effort through the semester.

Final Thoughts:
This is definitely one of my favorite units so far at university. Although, it is extremely content heavy and some assessments may seem tedious the concepts you learn can be quite interesting - especially stuff like multi factorial genetic disorders but to get to this stage you need a solid understanding fo the basics. The unit is run extremely well run and the lectures are a lot better than most units in terms of engaging the students.[/list]
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 02, 2018, 06:52:27 pm
Subject Code/Name: ACF1200 - Accounting for managers

Workload: 
x1 online lecture every week (can vary in length per week) ~1 hr
x1 3hr compulsory workshop every week

Assessment: 
8% test 1
this is in week 3 and is so sudden. i did ok in this test. it was quite difficult especially if you have never been tried accounting ever in high school because the teachers lack the ability to teach basic accounting principals so you're just gonna have to rely on repeating the questions that they give you and understanding it.

7% test 2
im not sure when this test was taken but it is a much easier, much more reasonable test. the questions are sometimes common sense. but my friends marks dropped from the first test so im not sure if i just thought it was easier but it really did feel like it.

10% group assignment
we had to write a business plan about a business we would start up that was realistic. they don't really advertise this, but just base your plan off the rubric that they give you and make sure you answer everything they expect and you're guaranteed hd.

5% reflective note
like 300 words or something that was a reflection of your journey with accounting for managers. ez hd

10% 3 minute moodle reviews
so freaking stupid. these reviews are held at the start of every workshop to test that you consumed the online lecture for the week. at the start, they test accounting concepts in the online lectures but in like weeks 7+ they start to test the irrelevant information in the online lectures like "what did sally sell in the example of capital budgeting?". nothing that relates to actual accounting but basically testing your comprehension of the video which is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo stupid. also, make sure you read their article that they give you because they test irrelevant information from that too......

10% moodle quiz
easy quizzes that you take after your online lecture

50% exam
exam is so ridiculously stupid and unfair. compared to previous exams given, they tested once again: information that was irrelevant. the first question in the exam was asking about week 1's workshop about a video we watched. HELLO?! how do you remember that. the concept wasn't even about accounting but like the company who was involved and information about them.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  2 from previous semesters

Textbook Recommendation:  the prescribed textbook was alright and i used it quite often because the lecture slides were full of nothing. im pretty sure u can find a free pdf floating out there somewhere.

Lecturer(s): elli allen

Year & Semester of completion: sem 2 2018

Rating:  1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 77D

Comments:
horribly taught unit with passionate teachers. very questionable examinable material. i would personally try the other accounting even if math isn't your forte because at least the content taught there isnt boring. the content in this unit honestly is the worst. for example: a whole week on budgeting? the only thing you get out of it is cash budgets which is once again self explanatory.

this unit is also take in conjunction with accounting for managers in clayton. we share the same moodle site and thus, we take the same exam, tests and moodle quizzes.

i would schedule my workshop to be near the end of the week so maybe your friends could tell you what's on the reviews for the workshop because they dont change it up for both campuses lol.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 02, 2018, 07:51:06 pm
Subject Code/Name: BTF2223 - Corporate Crime

Workload:
x1 3hr lecture thats kind of a tute?

Assessment: 
40% essay
60% open book exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes but it took the lecturer till the 5th week to figure out how to record it lol and sometimes she wouldn't record it to punish those who didn't go to the lecture (she would complain about the lack of people coming)

Past exams available:  Yes, just 1 thats a mock exam (some of the mc in the practice exam was actually in the real exam  ;D)

Textbook Recommendation: the prescribed textbook can be taken from the library. u can download each chapter per account. so if u have friends, get them to download an extract and u can have the book for free lol. the downside is that u can't bring it into the exam

Lecturer(s): shanthy rachagan

Year & Semester of completion: sem 2 2018

Rating:  3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83hd

Comments:
the essay was okay to deal with. make sure you find someone good to work with because this is a partnered assignment and that you're on the same page. this is a very wordy essay and requires you to basically copy information from the lecture slides and look at academic sources to cite them to make it look legit lol.
40% for the essay was quite scary though but make sure you follow the rubric sheet and always do recommendations at the end of your essay even though that isn't on the rubric sheet because she expects it but won't tell you (i got 34/40 but lost marks cuz i didnt do one and that was her only comment).

the lecture/tutorial thing is where she expects to engage with you. so she'll casually read off the lecture slides but then she'll call up people to answer questions which is quite daunting if u have anxiety problems (lol me irl). sometimes she won't call up names and she'll just go down the seating which means u cant avoid. yikes!
she would often threaten to start a roll because of dropping attendance numbers in the lectures.

exam is very fair. u get like 20 minutes noting time and u can basically write dot points in the question page about how ur gonna answer ur questions and write page numbers to ur open books so u'll be constantly writing in the exam and wont have to flick through ur book mindlessly

i think she said this semester she's changing up the assessments for 2019+ and getting u to do an oral (thank god i dont have to do go through that)

the content however, is very well presented and very interesting. learning about white collar crime and corporate crime was a very good experience and something i can carry with me outside of uni.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 03, 2018, 10:22:59 am
Subject Code/Name: ECF1200 - Macroeconomics

Workload:
x1 2hr lecture
x1 1hr compulsory tutorial

Assessment: 
10% tutorial participation
this is homework that is checked in class. if you don't have it done, then you don't get the participation for that week. also i heard in some other tutes, if you don't speak, they take away marks from this. i had the head lecturer as my tute though but it was mainly only homework as tute participation.

5% test 1
fairly easy, simple test. it tests broadly from weeks 1-3(?)

5% test 2
a bit more difficult this time. tests more narrowly (can't remember the weeks)

10% assignment
basically comprehension assignment. easily can score the full 10%

10% weekly quiz
can take really long if you want to do practice before you do the test. was very draining to do online as it took hours to do all the time.

60% exam
i dont really remember the exam lol but i think it was fair and balanced. not too overly difficult and not too easy as well.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  mock one made by lecturer but....basically useless lol except for multiple choice

Textbook Recommendation:  i had one but didnt really use it

Lecturer(s): kris ivanovski

Year & Semester of completion: sem 2 2018

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 hd

Comments:
overall, compared to micro this was easier (by a bit lol). it started to get hard-ish near the end (especially week 11s topic) where the concepts explained were quite complex imo. other than that, you just need to put pen to paper and try drawing and understanding the many graphs that come with this unit and you'll be able to easily answer any question.

i heard kris wanted to try to make lectures compulsory next semester by doing quizzes during the lecture so that counts as participation unfortunately
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Bri MT on December 03, 2018, 07:35:07 pm
Subject Code/Name: BIO1042 -Environmental Biology 

Workload:  (specify how many lectures, pracs, tutes etc. and their duration)
 1 3hr lab each week (compulsory)
sometimes this would be replaced by "do your assignment" or "do a virtual lab". You could sometimes leave early by getting your work done quickly
 2 1hr tutorials each week (non-compulsory, recorded, online livestream available)
Assessment:  (Outline the various assessments which make up the subject and how much each counts for)
10% mastering biology quizzes. Best 10 out of 12 quizzes count 1% each towards your grade. These aren't in a locked down browser so you can access Google etc. but they are timed.  Don't do what I did and forget the one due in midsem break or the one due after week 12

12% climatewatch prac
every week you obtain sightings and photos of your target species (mine was the magpie-lark, some people had trees, shrubs etc.)
this is a group assignment where the vast majority of your marks come from a creative presentation of your data, conclusions you've drawn etc at the end. You work in your assigned lab group.

10% leaf breakdown prac
you work in your assigned lab group a little bit but your marks come from the write up which you do individually. They make it very clear what they want you to focus on and how to analyse the data.

3% preprac quizzes.
individual, using clickers. If you read the lab manual before class you should be fine

Food webs, biogeochemical cycling, & plant adaptations pracs
4% each. individual. Read the information available and class and write detailed responses (using science conventions and paying attention to key words) to the questions which you'll submit at the end of the lab. If you're efficient, you can leave the lab early. You can answer the questions before you enter the lab if you want, but it was rare that someone did that.

Measuring and sampling online prac
3% pay attention to the provided information in the virtual lab that you work through before hand & follow the instructions - not very hard to get close to 100% on this

Exam
50%, all multiple choice, eassessment. This was my first time completing an exam on a laptop & I was glad to see that you could click "not sure" and quickly go back to your "not sure" questions. There were a few questions where the specificity of what they wanted us to remember was unexpected, but overall it was a very reasonable exam.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture  & online livestreaming available
Past exams available:
No. They did the same thing as BIO1011 where you can do about 100 mastering biology questions at a time as "practice". problem is, the mastering biology questions are based on the textbook rather than the lectures (the exam is based on the lectures).
I would recommend revising the lecture content rather than repeatedly completing the superquiz.

Textbook Recommendation:  What must you buy?  What is "recommended"?  Do you need it?
You're supposed to use the textbook for readings but I didn't and found that the quizzes (which is where this is assessed) were fine anyway.

Lecturer(s):
Can't remember all of their names etc. but in general they were friendly, approachable & knowledgeable.
Year & Semester of completion:  Sem 2 2018
 
Rating:  3.75 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: Give your overall opinion of the subject, lecturers, assessment etc. and a recommendation, plus anything else which you feel is relevant.

I liked being able to get outdoors but didn't feel like I was learning much. If you know how to use excel, draw scientific diagrams, how food webs & trophic levels work, about nutrient cycling & basics of pollution don't expect this subject to really extend you. This might be less so for students who haven't done outdoor ed or the old (2016) bio study design.  Lots of overlap with EAE too.

I found the most difficult part memorising info about evolutionary history, geological history (gondwana, pangea etc) and common plant families.
Not much conceptual difficulty here, but if you're good at memorising things you should be all set.

Suitable for students without much scientific background imo - very much an entry level unit
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on December 03, 2018, 11:19:08 pm
Never actually did this one from sem 1 oops
Subject Code/Name: PSC2041- Biopharmaceutics

Workload:
2x1 hour lectures (weekly) (some were cancelled under Joe Nicolazzo though aha)
4x 2 hour workshops throughout the semester
1x 3 hour workshop
2x 45min quizzes

Assessment: 
Exam: 60%
MCQ tests: 2x15%
Panel discussion 10%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: 
Yes, 2 were provided with no answers

Textbook Recommendation: 
Don't recall any textbooks actually mentioned or used. Lecture notes were sufficient.

Lecturer(s):
Joe Nicolazzo
Cornelia (Connie) Landersdorfer (Unit Coordinator)
Michelle McIntosh
Natalie Trevakis
Colin Pouton
Ben Boyd

Year & Semester of completion:
Semester 1, 2018

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 72D

Comments:
Joe's quizzes were weighted heavily on content from his pre-recorded lectures and screwed me over, which was annoying, but my fault anyways. Otherwise I actually really enjoyed this unit, Connie was really helpful as well as Ben, Joe and Michelle being engaging presenters.

This unit no longer exists as PSC2041- Biopharmaceutics, and is likely to be continued on as BPS2041- Drug Delivery: absorption pathways from 2019+.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on December 03, 2018, 11:53:02 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECC2000 – Intermediate microeconomics 

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

Assessment:  1x mid-semester test (22.5%), 5% tutorial attendance (there are only 10 tutorials, so if you want the full score don’t miss any of them), 3x marked assignments, a few questions they give out every week, 2-3 will be randomly selected (10% in total), 1x final exam (60%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past/sample exams available as the tutorial/assignment questions are essentially practice questions.

Textbook Recommendation:   Microeconomics, by Goolsbee, Levitt, Syverson. 2nd edition. and Microeconomics, by Pindyck and Rubenfeld, Edition 8. Both aren't required as the lecturer provides really detailed lecture notes at the start of the semester.

Lecturer(s): Dr Xiaodong Fan, can’t vouch for his teachings but according to my friends he is quite good.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2 2018

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 95 HD

Comments: Quite an interesting unit, but fairly theoretical for non-economics students, but not mathematical enough to prepare a student for honours/PhD in economics (just a personal opinion, but Monash teaches micro again in honours/PhD as coursework units). Still required for econs major students though, but I wouldn’t recommend it for non-econonomics/econometrics students.

Xiaodong starts of with supply/demand analysis, the kind you do in first-year micro but with a mathematical twist to it. He then introduces consumer and producer theory (which is not introduced in prior units) and analysis of markets (the stuff with the price curves you learn in first-year micro). Partial differentiation is required knowledge here, but they are quite simple actually, and resources are provided before the semester actually starts (you also have to learn a new handy technique called the Lagrangian Multiplier, which is not too hard to learn as well). All of these topics are assessed in the mid-semester test, which runs for 2 hours and I’ll be honest, it wasn’t the easiest thing (scraped a 90% because I completely blanked out on the last question) and it had crazy mark allocations, be sure to study hard for this one.

After this comes the more complicated part of the course, as the lecturer dives into purer economic concepts such as general equilibrium (think transactions, but what satisfies both people + mathematics), game theory (deeper and more mathematical than first-year, the 2nd year focuses more on mathematical theory, and you get all sorts of fun games like randomising your choices, game theory with continuous strategies, and sequential game theory, my favourite part of the unit tbh), market failure due to externalities and asymmetric information, all quintessential topics within microeconomics.
The unit is quite well run, imo. They provided enough resources and guidance, I’d say. But I still wouldn’t recommend it if you are looking to learn something practical as this unit is quite theoretical than say macroeconomics, where you’ll learn more (debatable) about the world as a non-econs student. Nevertheless, quite an easy unit, 35% of the students obtained a HD this time.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on December 04, 2018, 12:09:09 am
Subject Code/Name: PSC2012- Molecular Pharmacology

Workload: 
2x 1hr lectures (weekly)
4x 4hr labs
1x 2hr tutorial

Assessment: 
Clickers/Attendance: 5% (There was about 5 lectures that had this in it so I didn't see the point? Also my clicker died shortly after he stopped using the clickers.)
Midsem test: 15%
Pracs: 20%
Exam: 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture, some were lacking sound/visuals though.

Past exams available:  Yes, how many?  3. Oldest was not relevant. The other two weren't great either. No answers.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Rang and Dale's Pharmacology (any edition). Several times better than John Haynes' notes.

Lecturer(s):
John Haynes

Year & Semester of completion:
Sem 2, 2018

Rating: 1.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 65C, pretty reflective of how difficult I found the subject. Happy I passed though. (It took me nearly a whole day to have a captain's hook at my results. I didn't think I passed this unit and knowing my results were out triggered my anxiety but yay I don't have to do pharmacology again :D )

Comments:
John Haynes had a tricky way of making questions. He had several questions in his assessment material that had sooooo many ways that it could have been answered, and only one was right. His notes were also rather useless, ended up trying to teach myself from Rang and Dale's days before the exam because I was lost. :')

This unit will not run again as PSC2012, however all of the content will be moved to the new BPS2012: Pharmacology II: Drug Action (and potentially some in BPS2011) unit for 2019+
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on December 04, 2018, 12:23:52 am
Subject Code/Name: PSC2142- Computational Chemistry

Workload: 
3x 1hr lectures (weekly)
8x 3hr complabs

Assessment: 
Midsem: 20%. Pretty standard for a MedChem unit- was tough, did worse than I should have.
Complabs 1-7: 10%
Complab 8: 10%
Exam: 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, how many?  2. No answers.

Textbook Recommendation: 
No recommendation, lecture notes were sufficient.

Lecturer(s):
David Chalmers (Unit Coordinator)
David Manallack

Year & Semester of completion:
Sem 2, 2018

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 74D. A bit lower than expected, but I'll take it and run with it- given that it's a medchem unit. :D

Comments:
I really enjoyed this unit, bar it's often dry content. David M was quite entertaining, whereas David C tried to be relatable to us younguns. The last few complabs were really fun, and the lab demonstrators were quite helpful. +100 points to Gryfindor for the beautiful lecture notes from David C and funny tangents from David M. :D

This unit will not run ever again, however I believe it'll be merged with PSC3142 to form a new computational drug design unit for the new degree format (2019+)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on December 04, 2018, 12:35:56 am
Subject Code/Name: PSC2222- Formulation Chemistry

Workload: 
3x 1hr lectures (weekly)
4x 3hr labs (took less time than that tbh)
an odd smattering of lectorials

Assessment: 
Exam: 60%
Lab report: 20% (split into 5% prelim, 15% final)
Excipients assignment: 5%
Acid-Base equilibria test: 5%
Assorted in-sem quizzes: 10%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  None. UC doesn't like rubrics or giving past papers. Made study and completing assessments hard.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Lecture notes and supplementary notes were more than sufficient.

Lecturer(s):
Richard Prankerd
Angus Johnston (Unit Coordinator)
John Quinn

Year & Semester of completion:
Sem 2, 2018

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 85HD

Comments:
This subject was my jam. My only let-down was that I was sick on exam day, so I'm pretty pleased with the result. As mentioned earlier, Angus didn't give any rubrics or past papers. I enjoyed sitting in these lectures, and as an added bonus Angus let us have a sample of his massive bag of Ruby couverture chocolate. Was truly a highlight of the semester and I'm really happy that my hard work wasn't wasted here!

This unit will not run in 2019+, however aspects of the course are likely to be integrated into other future units.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on December 04, 2018, 12:17:34 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2420: Statistical Thinking 
Workload: 
1x 1.5hr tutorial per week
1 x 2hr workshop per week
Assessment: 

Computer Lab Exercises 20% - each week you submit a computer lab task in groups of 3-4 by Tuesday 4pm that is carried out in R. These tasks varied in difficulty, to being very easy and straightforward to quite complicated, especially in the Bayesian inference section. However, having some coding experience previously, I found these reasonable to work through, especially because the R interface is setup very well. The best 10 out of 11 of your computer labs contribute to your final mark. Overall, most groups did reasonably well in this, particularly due to the vast amount of information available online to help complete the labs.

In-workshop exercises 10% - In the workshops, there was always a task to do in the middle of learning content. Sometimes it was just a MARS poll, so participation was all that was needed to get the mark for the week. However, there were also quizzes and Rmarkdown files to download and complete tasks in, that required a bit more effort and time to get the marks. These all had to be completed within a set time limit, so it was always difficult to get the tasks done in time. Also, one of the R files had issues that were not noticed before the task was attempted, leading myself and one of the tutors assisting in the task to have to solve the code in lecture, which was quite annoying. That being said, as long as you've acquired some basic knowledge of R by week 2/3, then these tasks aren't too hard and it is relatively easy to get 10/10 for this part. Similar to the labs, the best 10/12 workshop scores count towards your final grade.

In-tutorial exercises 10% - Similar to the workshops, there are also quizzes/Rmarkdown files to complete in the tutorials themselves. These can be quite repetitive, but they are usually out to trick you so they are not too difficult to do. You work through these in groups, usually with the people that you are sitting with on your table, but class interaction is encouraged, so you can generally check with others around the room to make sure you are solving these tasks correctly. Like the workshop quizzes, they didn't seem to be too daunting, but they still have some tricks here and there, so it is crucial that you check through your answers before you submit them onto Moodle, as there are often tiny tricks or mistakes in everything. Like the workshops, the best 10/12 marks in your tutorials contribute to your final grade.

Exam - 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: One sample exam provided with solutions, but past exams are available online

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required as all resources are provided in Moodle including necessary textbooks for free.

Lecturer(s):
Catherine Forbes - Also chief examiner and unit coordinator. This semester was her first time taking the subject, so she did seem to struggle a little bit with teaching the content. That being said, I found the workshops she taught reasonably engaging due to all of the interactive activities that took place in them

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2018

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
To be honest, coming out of this subject I don't feel like I learnt that much new information. The course starts off with basic randomisation & simulation tasks, which are very similar to those done in VCE Methods/ some parts of ETC1000. Thus, if you have a good knowledge of these, then this part isn't that difficult, as it even goes to as basic as tossing a coin and working out what is a random throw of a coin and what isn't. The next part of the course is regression modelling, which covers model selection and interpretation, much of which is basically repeating what is covered in ETC2410, particularly with AIC/BIC/adjusted R² model selection. There are some new parts to the course, but these are relatively straightforward and easy to get your head around, as like the parts above, they are just model selection areas, so they shouldn't be too difficult to do, even if you've only done ETC1000 before doing this unit.

After this, the unit delves into Bayesian Inference, which to be honest should've had much more time allocated to it than just the 3 weeks that it was taught in. You start off with Bayes Rule and basic application of that, but then this evolves into prior/posterior models, Bayes estimators and loss functions. All of these are taught relatively quickly and not that concisely, so reading through the lecture slides and asking questions in the tutorials about these parts is paramount to understanding a full knowledge of these parts of the course. I had Lachlan and Frank as my tutors, and they were both very well learned with these parts of the course, so I'd recommend for sure to have them as your tutors if you're doing the course next year. From what I know though, the course is undergoing a bit of a revamp due to this being the first semester that Catherine has ever taught the subject.

Also, the unit heavily uses R in semester, although there is no R coding in the final exam. For most of the people studying the course, this is their first time using R (or even coding in general) , so it does seem to be quite a learning curve to understanding how to properly code in R. However, I had done some coding in the past using Java, so I found the learning curve to be not as steep, even though the R coding was basically taught via a "Google it" approach if you didn't know how to code something  :-\. Despite this, even though probably 70% of the workload I did in this unit was in R, if you constantly try and attempt the lab exercises to the best of your ability then you should be able to get through them reasonably smoothly.

Tutorials - The tutorials are done in the large rooms of the first floor of the LTB. They heavily focus on group interaction, which is great as I felt that I learnt a lot more in them than the workshops due to their collaborative setup. After doing the tutorial exercises that are explained above, the rest of the tutes are mainly dedicated to working on the computer lab exercises for the following week (if there's any time left in the tutes to do them). Therefore, they helped out a lot in understanding what the computer lab exercises were asking, as well as asking your tutors for any questions that you had about the content in general. Due to the tutorials consisting of about 40 students per tutorial (leading to there being only 5 tutorial options as a whole), then there are 2 tutors who are able to assist you if you have issues with coding the lab exercises for the following week or completing the in-tutorial exercises. I found these very engaging, as you had more personal interaction with the tutors to understand what was going on as a whole.

Exam - The exam consisted of 2 sections. The first section was 10 multiple choice questions, which were very similar to the sample exam questions, and were mainly designed to trick you as much as possible. The second section consisted of 4 questions, which ETC2420 students only had to choose 3, whilst if you are doing the masters unit ETC5242, then all questions needed to be completed. I found the exam very straightforward, as it was very similar to the sample exam, such that I felt like I was repeating my sample exam answers over and over again. Since only 3 out of 4 questions in section B had to be completed, I decided to skip the last question on Bayesian inference, despite having invested so much effort into studying for that section in-semester, as I found working on the CDF/PDF relationship much easier due to doing this unit at the same time as ETC2520. Due to this, I guess that the exam was designed in a poor fashion, as it made it very easy to score high marks due to the relative simplicity of the questions being asked. This may have resulted in the marking being done in a very harsh manner though, which led to my result being a bit lower than I expected. I expect that the exam may change in the future though, as from what I know most students came out of the exam feeling that it was way too simple.

Overall, this is not a difficult unit, so it is quite easy to do decently. The only reason I deducted marks from my rating was due to the way the course was taught, so if you are planning to take this next year (as it is compulsory for a data analytics/ actuarial science student for exemptions), then I'd recommend trying to practice some R coding before you start the unit, as once you realise that you have a 3-4hr lab to complete each week, then it is quite difficult to code unless you have a general understanding of R functions as a whole, even though they do teach you from scratch how to code. Also, from what I know, as said before the course is undergoing a revamp, such that some topics will be removed and a greater focus on Bayesian inference will be added. This will hopefully mean that it should be much more straightforward in the future to understand the coursework. That being said, this was my favourite unit of the semester, due to the relative ease at understanding the content, and my level of engagement in the R coding tasks.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on December 04, 2018, 07:14:04 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC3241 - Equities and Investment Analysis 

Workload: 
1x 2hr lecture per week
1 x 1hr tutorial per week

Assessment: 
10% mid-semester test
25% group assignment
5% tutorial participation
60% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture and live streamed

Past exams available:  One practice exam provided with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:

This unit uses parts from two textbooks to support itself, which made it a bit confusing to follow what needed to be read. The first book
Bodie, Z., M. E. Drew, A. Basu, A. Kane, and A. J. Marcus. 2013. Principles of Investments is not necessary, as the lecture slides in detail explain all that you need to know for when it is used.

The second book, which is used from weeks 4-7 only is Business Analysis & Valuation by Palepu et al. I found it to be very useful for the assignment, which is based on content learnt in weeks 4-7, as it gave in-depth steps for accounting & financial analysis in particular, which made it easy to follow the steps by reading through the textbook's explanation. Paul posted a PDF link on Moodle for the book at a reduced rate for the chapters covered, however Monash library also has access through ProQuest, which enables you to download certain chapters at a time. Doing this repetitively enabled me to obtain all the necessary chapters for the book, which helped to save costs throughout the unit. You can download this book at the link here.

Lecturer(s):
Paul Docherty - Also unit coordinator and chief examiner. Delivered lectures 1, 8-12. Very engaging teaching style and easy to understand. Loved how in the last lecture, he was in a moon boot and still able to deliver the lectures at a very high standard, regardless of any pain that he was in.

Viet Cao - Ran lectures from weeks 2-7. A bit tricky to understand, and also she frequently used the document scanner to explain details of the course (particularly the different security lines and their graphical interpretations), but that was still done in a slightly confusing manner. However, I still understood most of what she delivered, even if the content was a bit dry.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2018

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:

I found this unit to be a perfect introduction to the third year finance units at Monash. Having only done Foundations of Finance and Corporate Finance 1, I was worried that I would struggle to understand the advanced content that may have relied on other finance units (such as derivatives). Despite this, although there were some references to the Black-Scholes-Merton model (which is covered extensively in Derivatives 1), I found that doing this unit without that prior knowledge was enough to understand what the explanation was trying to tell me about the application of the model.

Also, Paul is an excellent lecturer, and made the course very easy to understand for the parts that he lectured. I'd definitely recommend to do this unit in your second year like I did, if you're interested in a finance elective, as the course was not that challenging to understand and has a lot of real-life applications in the future, particularly with writing an Investment Analysis Report.

Tutorials - The tutes were pretty standard, you just went through the exercises that were all posted on Moodle at the start of the semester. They run one week behind lectures, such that wk 5 content is covered in your week 6 tute for example. One week was dedicated to group presentations, where each group presented a 5 minute pitch for the stock and its 2 competitors that they were writing an investment analysis report on. To earn your 5% tutorial participation mark, all you needed to do was try to assist your tutor once in a while to answer the questions being covered in the tutes, which is pretty straightforward as if you've prepared the questions beforehand, then you should easily be able to score 5/5 for this assessment task.

Mid-semester test - This was done on Moodle, with 1.5 hrs to complete it with one attempt only allowed. This covered knowledge from lectures 1-5. I found this to be pretty straightforward, although all of the questions were multiple choice which made it a pain to put in so much effort for just one mark to click in on your computer. However, there were a couple of tricky questions here and there, so I'd recommend putting some effort into studying before doing this test, as I didn't do any study before it but still did alright.

Group assignment - This was where I really found the workload of the unit to be 3rd year standard. Groups of 3-4 students formed in your tutorial session had to write up a 3000 word equity analysis report on a stock from the Healthcare sector, as well as compare it to 2 other peers that had a similar market capitalisation or PE ratio and were in a similar market to your main stock. The choosing of the stocks were a bit tricky, as I was unsure which peers perfectly matched my main stock. This proved to be a partial detriment, as I scored less than I anticipated on the assignment due to stock selection. Also, the workload for this assignment is immense. I had 2 days at the end of the week before the submission date on the Friday, where I stayed up until 2am finalising financial statements and working out calculations for items that had to end up in the final report. Therefore, I would strongly recommend to start as early as possible on this, like around week 3 or 4 of the semester, such that you have enough time to put everything together and not have to rush too much to complete it. That being said, the assignment was also ordered to be marked harshly to reflect the standard of an investment analysis report that someone in the industry would produce. Due to this, marks were normally around the 60-75% range for groups, reflecting a tough 3rd year assignment.

Exam - The exam consisted of 6 questions, 4 of which came from the second half of the course from weeks 7-12, with 1 question for weeks 1-3 and 1 question for weeks 4-7. I found this to be reasonably straightforward, although there were some tricks here and there. 2 hrs time was allocated for the exam, which I found to be just enough time to finish all my questions and have a quick skim over my answers. That being said, focusing on Paul's lectures from week 7-12 is crucial to ensuring you do well in the exam, as 2/3 of the exam is dedicated to his content, meaning that if you understand the majority of his content then you should be set for the exam.

Overall, this was a really well-taught unit, and for sure the one that I found to have the best lectures for the semester. The course was not that difficult, although the group assignment took me 3x longer than I had for any other group assignment in the past. That being said, this is a really nice finance elective, and if you started your finance major in 2017 or earlier, I'd definitely recommend it, as the content is not that tricky to get your head around. Although it was only the second time that the unit was taught under the 3rd year standard, it is relatively well-written and prepared such that most students should be able to do relatively well in it. From 2018 onwards it is compulsory for a finance major though in commerce, so be sure to do it straight after BFC2140 (Corporate Finance 1) and BFC2751 (Derivatives 1), to understand its linkage to corp fi and derivatives as much as possible.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on January 06, 2019, 03:49:04 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC2340 - Debt markets and fixed income securities 

Workload: 
1 x 2hr lecture per week
1 x 1hr tute

Assessment: 
10% tute participation
30% mid-semester test
60% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: None provided, and sample exam that was given on Moodle is irrelevant as it's from an old course that does not follow the same structure as the current one

Textbook Recommendation:

Fixed Income Analysis, Third Edition - This is the prescribed textbook, and something that you have to get, either in PDF or hard copy, as the lecture slides do not allow you to get a full grasp of the content for each week. Additionally, there are set readings from the textbook each week, so this is a necessity as you cannot rely on just the lecture slides themselves.

Lecturer(s):

Zhongyan Zhu - Also the chief examiner and unit coordinator of the unit. It was his first time taking the subject, and you could see that in terms of the content delivered in the lectures. All of the lecture slides were taken off online sources, and from what I could tell were not his, so they were often riddled with errors that had to be corrected. In addition, there were a number of times that explanations provided in the lectures were not succinct and made it even more difficult to understand the content. In the future, I hope the slides change as this unit was immensely difficult to understand due to the lecturer delivering slides that weren't his.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2018

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: Give your overall opinion of the subject, lecturers, assessment etc. and a recommendation, plus anything else which you feel is relevant.

Although the content of this subject is relatively straightforward, the way it was taught made it very difficult to comprehend. Due to this being a complete revamp of the previous semester's content, the course was immensely difficult to understand at first. But once I started reading the textbook more, and attempted the questions provided, then it was far easier to make sense of. However, the amount of material provided to study is not enough, so in the future I hope a sample exam is provided which reflects the content taught in this semester's work.

Tutorials - The tutorials were pretty standard, you just go over the questions set for the week before's content (i.e. content from week 1 is covered in week 2 tutes and so on). There wasn't much room for discussion though, as the 1hr timeframe isn't enough to comprehend all the coursework. Despite this, I would strongly recommend attending every tute, as there is a 10% tute participation mark, which is relatively simple to get as long as you participate to your best efforts in the tutes by answering questions and providing insights when you can.

Mid-semester test - This was held in your week 6 lecture slot, and consisted of 30 MCQ's and 6 short-answer questions to be completed in 75 minutes. I found this reasonably straightforward, as the first-half of the course mainly revised a lot of things from corporate finance before adding on some extra parts such as calculating the full price and clean price of a bond, and some additional theory. I wasn't really pressed for time, however do be advised that most of the questions for the test come from the tute questions covered in previous weeks (lectures from weeks 1-4 and tutorials from weeks 1-5), so if you study and memorise them then you should be fine in terms of answering questions on the mid-semester test. Most people did well on this, with the average being 70% and median being 72%, so if you revise all the lecture content from weeks 1-4 then you should be fine.

Exam - This is what has left a bitter taste in my mouth, and is the reason why I delayed writing this review for some time. The exam consisted of 21 short answer questions, which comprised 180 marks to be set in 2hrs. Originally the content was supposed to be from lectures 5-12 (not including week 6, as this is when the mid-semester test was held), but Zhongyan was kind enough to remove any content covered in week 12 from the exam as it was mainly on portfolio management of bonds, which is higher-level content that he thought was a bit challenging for most students to comprehend. Tbh, I thought I did alright for this, but in the end my mark was far lower than I expected due to marking issues. However, if most students study well for this, then they should be fine, as most of the questions were taken out of the textbook or were similar to ones in the lecture slides. The main difficulty with this was this is the first unit I've ever taken where not one proper practice/past exam was provided to revise from. Due to this, there was a large fear of the unknown, as you didn't know what parts of the course would be asked on the exam, and in particular how the questions would be phrased. The mark allocations were also a bit weird as well, as there was a 32 mark question on the exam for example, which I reckon could've been compressed into a 15-20 mark question. As a result, for the exam I'd just suggest for you to pace out your answers and try and answer the questions as best as possible. The other trouble was that for me in particular, the exam booklet itself (where you were supposed to write the answers), contained no lines so it was difficult to write out everything in an acceptable standard considering the stress I was under in completing the questions.

Due to this, I'd suggest that if you're taking this unit, then try and get the textbook as early as possible to comprehend what the course is about. Additionally, due to this course following all of the CFA exam sections on Fixed Income (in particular levels 1 & 2), then additional material from those areas is key and helps to comprehend the subject in a far easier way. If you can get access to CFA questions or CFA past exams, then that will help a ton, as even though the majority of those are multiple-choice questions, they provide far more detail on the topics covered in the course than just what the textbook provides.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sonnyangel on February 24, 2019, 01:28:25 pm
Subject Code/Name: ACC1200 - Accounting for managers 

Workload:  One 3hr seminar every week
- Work through a provided workbook with discussion
- Organised into groups from the first seminar

Assessment: 
50% internal
10% weekly quizzes
- Need to watch a series of videos to be able to access the quizzes
- It’s assumed that you’ve watched these before the seminar but you can usually still follow in the seminar if you don’t
- 5 multiple choice questions which are relatively easy

10% 3 reflective notes
- Required to respond to three questions that vary for each reflective note
- Not too difficult but answering the questions in depth in the 200 word limit is a bit challenging

10% group assignment
- Done in the organised groups
- Required to come up with a business proposal and create a series of financial statements
- Overall, it doesn’t take too long but start early as it can take a while to balance all the financial statements

20% Two tests
- First one was a combination of short answer and application questions
- Second one included MC, short answer, and application questions
- Not difficult if you understand and remember the content

50% exam
- Similar to workbook questions, same difficulty
- More focus on the weeks that are not covered on the tests (last few weeks)

Recorded Lectures:  Seminars are not recorded.

Past exams available:  Practice questions were provided but no practice exams.

Textbook Recommendation:  Accounting for Managers, 2nd Ed. Can’t remember if it was optional but the online SCORM videos refer to it. Found it helpful (think it was specifically written for this unit) although it goes into more detail than required.

Lecturer(s): TK and Bob Cornick

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating:  3/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This is one of the two options for the core accounting unit for commerce and I think it’s the slightly easier one (especially if you haven’t done VCE accounting) as there is less focus on the technical aspects of the financial statements. You learn briefly on how to write all of them, interpret them, and their uses. The content can be a bit dry at times and the last few weeks were harder than usual but it’s not too difficult if you stay up to date.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sonnyangel on February 24, 2019, 01:32:08 pm
Subject Code/Name: ECC1000 - Principles of microeconomics 

Workload:  One 2hr lecture every week and one 1hr tutorial every week

Assessment: 
40% internal
10% weekly online APLIA quizzes
- Due after you learn the content
- Can be a bit tricky sometimes, especially in the last few weeks, but mostly okay

10% tutorial participation
- 50% of this is attendance, 30% tutorial questions, and 20% participation
- Questions are from the Principles of Microeconomics textbook and you can use either the 6th or 7th ed
- Tutes may be before the lecture but you get full marks for the tutorial questions as long as you’ve shown that you’ve attempted them all

20% mid-semester test
- 20 MC questions
- Kind of hard but easier than the exam imo
- There are a few questions where you need to interpret the graphs

60% exam
- Found it very hard
- MC and 3 application questions
- Application questions were about the different market structures, I found these difficult
- Required to draw and interpret graphs

Recorded Lectures: Lectures are recorded with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Previous year’s sample exam was provided but the chief examiner has changed since then.

Textbook Recommendation:  Principles of Microeconomics. Can’t remember if it was compulsory but the tutorial questions are in the textbook and you can use either the 6th or 7th edition. Found it helpful but did not show how to calculate things in depth so maybe refer to the lecture slides for these.

Lecturer(s): James Bugden

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating:  4/5

Your Mark/Grade: C

Comments: Overall, it was a pretty interesting unit to take and we learnt about how buyers and sellers respond to certain factors in a market and the effect of this. The content gets significantly harder in the last few weeks when you’re learning about the different market structures but if you understand the theory and the graphs then you should be okay. I skipped most of the lectures for this unit and I think you can manage without them up until the topic of the market structures. I had Abby Zhang for my tutes and she was very good at explaining the content each week.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sonnyangel on February 24, 2019, 01:58:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: FIT1047 - Introduction to computer systems, networks and security 

Workload:  Two 1hr lectures every week and one 2hr lab every week
- In the lab you work through a set of questions related to the content from that week and they're usually pretty helpful

Assessment: 
50% internal
5% weekly online quizzes
- 5-10 MC questions
- Answers can be found in online textbook or lecture slides, not too hard

22.5% assignment 1
- First part is based on logic circuits
    - If you know how to build a circuit on Logisim, you’ll be fine
- Second part is based on MARIE assembly language
    - Pretty difficult and initially confusing
    - The coding tasks are a lot harder than anything they teach you in lab, they basically make you code a mini search directory
    - You can get help in PASS classes
    - Make sure you comment most of your code
    - There are actually no marks for part 2.6.4 so don't worry if you don't do it
    - Try and start this assignment as early as you can to give yourself time to learn MARIE

22.5% assignment 2
- A lot easier than the first assignment
- The first part is the survey
    - You basically test three or more access points (sources of Wifi) at eight different locations in one building
        - E.g. I tested my home Wifi, neighbour’s Wifi, and a phone hotspot in different rooms in my house
    - The report is 600 words and if you don’t know the unit content, you can learn what you need to know for the report as you go pretty easily
- Part two involves analysing an article and answering a few questions
- Basically all writing and no coding

50% exam
- There is so much content on the exam, it really does go through all the topics from Week 1-12 but more briefly
- Very very similar to the sample exam (layout and question style)
- Can cram all the content in SWOTVAC if you have to but try not to
- Includes a few small MARIE coding questions

Recorded Lectures: Lectures are recorded with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Sample exam provided

Textbook Recommendation:  Digital textbook provided, pretty helpful but can go into more depth than required. For the most part, I found it more helpful than the lecture notes.

Lecturer(s): Carsten Rudolph and Guido Tack

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2018

Rating:  3/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This is a core unit for all IT students and most people find it kind of hard. There is so much information provided that it can be pretty difficult figuring out what is important and what is not (e.g. most history related info). My advice is just to learn the main terms and their definition/main purpose as the exam mostly covers theory and anything that isn't theory, you would have done in the first assignment. The first assignment is probably the hardest thing you'll do in this unit so be as prepared as you can for that!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: erinations on May 19, 2019, 09:47:01 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1011 - Chemistry 1

Workload: 
1x 3hr Lab (compulsory every week)
2x 1hr Workshop (must have 80% attendance)
1x 1hr Tutorial (optional)
The compulsory pre-workshop study turns your 6hr week into a 12hr dedication to chemistry.

Assessment: 
Examination (2 hours): 55% (must achieve 30% to pass the unit)
Laboratory Work: 30% (must achieve 50% in this to pass the unit) There is 1 lab per week, about 7 regular labs and 1 TEKE Experiment.
Pre-workshop Quizzes: 10% (each quiz is worth 1% and they are graded)
Reflective Quizzes: 5% (Yes, they grade your reflection.)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, apparently it is university policy to not hand out past exams. Instead, they have mock exams available from Week 10.

Textbook Recommendation:  Chemistry 4th Edition by Allan Blackman is the prescribed text. I touched it like once and may use it for revision. It came free in PDF form, so no need to buy it.

Lecturer(s):
Dr Toby Bell
Dr Christopher Thompson
Dr Kellie Vanderkruk
Professor Philip Marriott
Professor Alan Chaffee
A/Professor Bayden Wood

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: TBD

Comments: Coming from a non-chemistry background, however having studied VCE Physics, I found this Unit to be particularly challenging in the beginning. If a small bridging course had been provided prior to the beginning of the Unit, I feel as if I'd be more inclined to say that I enjoyed the unit. The content is quite interesting. If you are particularly motivated to do science, please hold on to that motivation as this unit will destroy it for you if you don't. I found that Labs and the Workshops did not align content-wise which made it extremely difficult to sufficiently type up a Lab report without knowing or understanding the background Chemistry behind it. It became extremely annoying having to learn two completely different things from different ends of the course, although in the end some of the knowledge from the Labs helped when working through the content to prepare for the Workshop/Lecture.

What is interesting is the pre-workshop quiz is due on the Monday the week of your workshop. (i.e. Pre-workshop Quiz for Week 3 must be completed by Monday 9 am in Week 3) and this would be great and all if your workshops started on Monday and finished at another time. But considering they have Monday/Friday workshop pairings, or Tuesday/Friday workshop pairings, you spend your entire weekend working on next week's content whilst also trying to revise last week's content. The lab reports and pre-lab quizzes (not graded, but must be completed to gain access to the lab) must be completed about 30 minutes before your next lab.

The coordinators of this Unit are (supposedly) quite keen to better the Unit. It appears this is the first year they are teaching the content in this order, however the second year they are teaching in this style and though I quite like the amount of contact hours there are, it gets tiresome having to constantly teach yourself content that was supposed to be taught to you during Workshop hours. In a sense, you learn the entire week's content before appearing in a workshop, to which (depending on the lecturer) they may expand, or it may be a complete waste of your time.

The tutorials are not compulsory, but worth going to since they are your only source of knowledge of what may or may not be on the exam as they provide exam-like questions and some lecturers do spill on how the exam is structured. They put the question sheets onto Moodle so perhaps it isn't quite as necessary to attend. You remain clueless to what could possibly be on the exam until Week 10, when they put up 1 Mock Exam. I'm sure in Weeks 11&12 They will try to put up more.

I've heard content wise it is similar to VCE Chemistry excluding Valence Bond Theory & Molecular Orbital Theory. I feel as if they could convey the information in a much better way than they have, but for now I put in extra hours of study and attend free PASS tutorials (run by students who got a HD in the unit) in hopes of getting a sufficient grade.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Srd2000 on June 04, 2019, 03:07:00 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH1035 - Techniques for modelling (advanced)

Workload: 
3x 1 hour lectures for MTH1030 content (optional with online streaming)
1x 1 hour lecture for MTH1035 content
1x 2 hour applied class
Fairly high hours dedicated to study will be needed around the assignments

Assessment:
Exam: 60%, 2hr, 40% minimum
Lecture participation: 5%, must get over 75% of the lecture poll questions correct to get full marks
Applied class participation: 5%, must attend 8/12 classes during semester to get full marks
Assignments x2: 10% each

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, one. But Burkard supplied a lot of practice, exam questions

Textbook Recommendation: 
Anton and Rorres,
 Elementary Linear Algebra (Didn't buy)
Stewart, Calculus: Early Transcendentals (I bought, used twice for extra homework questions)

Burkard supplies his own notes, two PDFs of the complete course. Andy for MTH1035 uploads all his content to Moodle.

Lecturer(s):
Burkard Polster - MTH1030
Andy Hammerlindl - MTH1035

Year & Semester of completion:
2019, Sem 1

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: ~~~

Comments:
Honestly my favourite subject that I have done at uni. Burkard has such energy and passion in his teaching that he'll regularly has the lecture hall filled with laughter. His explanations of the content is unrivalled. Having said this, the unit is quite fast paced and hard to catch up in if you fall behind. Nevertheless, Burkard will try everything he can to ensure you pass. Even "hinting" at what will be on the exam.

Andy's additional 1035 content is also super engaging, some of it is dry but the majority is rich with interesting maths. From looking at super-rabbit populations to how Netflix recommends movies. Highly recommend if you enjoy maths and want to know how things work mathematically.

The difference between MTH1030 and MTH1035 is merely the content that Andy goes through and that there'll be two MTH1035 style questions on the exam. All other assessment is the same.

Overall, I'd suggest go into this if you did specialist maths in high school otherwise you'll most likely struggle coming from straight methods. But if you're a massive maths nerd and love it, you can do it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: vceme on June 19, 2019, 05:25:58 pm
Subject Code/Name: MKC1200- Principles of MARKETING
Workload:
1x Tutorial (1 and 1/2 hr)
Not very high. If you just read the textbook before your tute, you'll be able to complete the group quiz each week with flying colours (it takes the form of a scratchie FYI).

Assessment:  

Online Quizzes every week 10%
Tutorial-based assessments 15%
Video Project 10%
STP Essay 15%
Exam 50%

Recorded Lectures:   No formal lectures. Unit coordinator creates videos and uploads on Moodle but definitely not compulsory/necessary to watch.
Past exams available:  1 Practice Exam with no answers :)

Textbook Recommendation There's an assigned textbook and you need it for the tutorial assessments. However, do not buy it. It is available on the Reading List Link on Moodle for free!!!

Lecturer(s)  Maureen Griffiths

Year & Semester of completion:   2019 Semester 1

Rating:  3/5

Comments:
The video assessment was totally durable! Make sure you get a good group or the project would be harder than necessary. The essay was bit of a pain to write especially as instructions were not very specific. Ended up getting feedback on things that I didn't know I had to include and weren't on the instruction sheet lol. The weekly group activities can be pretty interesting at times, but one person in each group has to present (in their seat) to the class about their findings. The weekly group quizzes are very doable, and at times is just using common sense.

Get ready to just memorise a horrendous load of information for the exam though....but the exam itself is quite easy if you manage to know your content. Make sure you to not skimp over Week 12 stuff even though there wasn't any tute or the weekly quiz for that (I think) as it ended up on the exam  :-[
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rom_Dog on June 23, 2019, 12:09:15 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1011 - Biomedical Chemistry  

Workload: 
2 x 1-hour lectures per week
1 x 3-hour workshop/small group sessions (Sometimes you’ll be let out 30-60 mins early)
1 x 1-hour of pre-class activities (although you really don’t have to do anything, this is just recommended)

Assessment: 
Mid semester test (15%)
Small group sessions (15%) These are assessed half through participation (you'll get full marks if you're not just on your phone the whole time) and half through SAQ (end of session short answer question)
Metabolism essay (10%)
End of semester exam (60%)

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture. Live streaming also available.

Past exams available: No specific past exams were made available, however a range of worksheets and exam style questions were provided.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Prescribed
•   Introduction to Organic Chemistry, 6th Ed (2015) Brown & Poon.
•   Principles of Biochemistry (Lehninger), 7th Ed, (2017) Nelson & Cox.
Recommended
•   Introduction to Organic Chemistry & Biochemistry, 10th Ed, (2012) Bettelheim et al.
•   Biochemistry, 9th Ed, (2017) Campbell, Farrell & McDougal

Nothing from textbooks that wasn’t covered in lectures was examinable. Most students didn’t bother buying them.

Lecturer(s): 
Section A, Prof Tanja Junkers - School of Chemistry
Section B, A/Prof Jackie Wilce - Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Section C & D, Dr Nirma Samarawickrema - Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Semester 1

Rating: 4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
Lectures - The lectures were broken down into 4 streams. Stream A was Biological Chemistry, B was Enzymes: Structure and Mechanism, C was Metabolic release of energy and D was synthesis of macromolecules. All the streams were quite content heavy, but the lectures taught them extremely well. I also studied first year chemistry, CHM1011, which was extremely helpful as there was a large overlap of content with stream A. The lecturers were all extremely helpful as they had extensive knowledge in their specialised area and were all enthusiastic to teach us jaffies. An online forum was present where we could post questions to be answered by the lecturers, they responded fast and provided extensive information which was extremely helpful.

Midsem Test - The midsemester test was originally out of 25 multichoice questions but was reduced to 24 after evaluation and only content from stream A was tested. Getting a good mark on the test was achievable with adequate study.

Essay - The metabolism essay was difficult however guidance from the small group session tutor was extremely helpful. We were required to talk about the metabolic production of energy at various times within a race. In previous years students had 1500 words for the essay but due to updated university policy, it was changed to 600 words and you’ll soon find out that describing lipid and carbohydrate metabolism is extremely difficult to do when you have only 600 words +/- 10%, and believe me, I went right up to 660.

Small Group Sessions - These were each based on a case study involving content from last week's lectures. The small group sessions consisted of an ungraded multichoice activity at the beginning, then a case study as a group which involved creating an infographic and we finished with an assessed short answer question (SAQ). The multiple-choice questions at the start of the lesson were mostly application based and helped with our study for the end of semester exam. The infographics we made were just drawings on the whiteboard walls but it’s always fun to flex your artistic talent and add a lil flare even though these weren’t assessed. I believe the SAQ activities were fair but rather than writing a paragraph response for one question, more questions with shorter answers would have better tested our understanding of key concepts. The three-hour length is extensive, and 2 hours would have been enough, but you can eat and it’s an awesome opportunity to socialise.

Exam - This year the exam was an e-exam, so every student completed their exam on a provided laptop in an exam hall. We were given a booklet that outlined about half of the metabolic pathways that we covered in lectures from streams C and D. Some questions involved straight recall however many were application based where you were required to use the metabolic pathways booklet to work out the biochemical cause of symptoms in an unhealthy individual. Although these questions weren’t straight recall, a solid understanding of biochemistry was needed to answer them. Questions were sourced from content presented to us in both the lectures and the small group sessions.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rom_Dog on June 23, 2019, 04:15:55 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS1021 - Cells, tissues and organisms  

Workload: 
3 x 1-hour lectures per week
1 x 3-hour practical or equivalent per week (Some weeks labs don’t run and sometimes you get out early)

Assessment: 
Group written assessment (1,000 words) and video (3 mins) (15%)
Practical class reports (25%)
Mid-semester summative test (10%)
End of semester exam (50%) (hurdle, must achieve 45% or greater to pass unit)

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture. Live streaming also available.

Past exams available: No specific past exams were made available, however a 32 question formative exam was provided along with summary slides for histology and metabolism. 2 extensive multichoice worksheets were provided early in the year but only covered questions on content taught before the midsemester test. Multichoice questions from PASS (peer assisted study sessions) were also provided.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Prescribed
•   Campbell Biology: Australian and New Zealand edition (11e)

Nothing from the textbooks that wasn’t covered in lectures was examinable. Most students didn’t bother buying it.

Lecturer(s): 
Histology - Dr Chantal Hoppe
Biochemistry - Mark Prescott
Developmental Biology - Associate Professor Craig Smith
Cell Biology and Metabolism - Dr Christopher Johnstone
Immunology - Professor Robyn Slattery
Microbiology Part 1 - Mr Mohamed Mohideen
Microbiology Part 2 - Professor Julian Rood

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Semester 1

Rating: 4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
Lectures - The lectures covered a wide range of topics including histology, biochemistry, developmental biology, cell biology, metabolism, immunology and microbiology. Many of the 2nd and 3rd year electives are based on the areas we covered in this unit, the wide range of areas presented to us prepares us well for choosing electives later down the track. This was an extremely content heavy unit with 3 lectures per week, some lectures were over 50 slides. Most of the unit assessments involved straight recall however the lecturers made it clear to us what content was assessable. There was some content overlap with BMS1011, Biomedical Chemistry, which helped us to understand some of the more difficult biochemical processes. There was a prohibition of BIO1011 as well so none of the biomed students were able to undertake biology from the science faculty as their elective. The lecturers were all extremely helpful as they had extensive knowledge in their specialised area and were all enthusiastic to teach us jaffies. An online forum was present where we could post questions to be answered by the lecturers, they responded fast and provided extensive information which was extremely helpful.   

Midsem Test - The midsemester test was out of 40 multichoice questions. Content from biochemistry, developmental biology, cell biology, histology and metabolism were assessed. Getting a good mark on the test was achievable, most of the questions involved straight recall from the lecture slides. Personally, histology proved to be the most difficult area.

Group Assessment - The group assessment required us to collectively create a 1000-word document and a 3-minute video on an assigned topic relating to lecture content. The written document required each of us to write a summary of a scientific article. As the 1000 words was split between 4 of us it wasn’t much of a hassle at all, only referencing was slightly difficult. The video aspect of the assessment involved us creativity presenting our research and drawing a conclusion from it. It was advised that we have group meetings once a week and that we organised our work on a google drive, with motivated team members and proper organisation the assignment wasn’t difficult at all.

Practicals - In all practical classes we were required to wear our own lab coats and in most of our classes we were required to wear gloves and lab goggles. Generally, we had a practical class for each of the main topics we covered in lectures. Some of the practicals we conducted were extremely interesting, most of the tools and facilities we used were much more sophisticated to those used throughout high school and the procedures were much more intricate. Most practicals were assessed through in class tests however some had quizzes that we completed online at home. In some weeks practical classes were replaced with workshops, one of them being a careers development one which had insightful guest speakers. These were also assessed through online quizzes.

Exam - The exam consisted of 107 multiple choice questions over 2 hours and all areas we were lectured on were examined. There was a large stress on microbiology, the topic of our last two and a half weeks of lectures. There were also 2-3 questions on each practical class we did, some of the content from practical classes wasn’t covered in our lectures so it was important to study our lab manuals. Almost every question was straight recall, with minimal application-based questions. These questions often referred to extremely specific information and without extensive study it would have been difficult to answer correctly or even make an educated guess.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: MegSha on June 28, 2019, 07:05:11 pm
Subject code/Name:  MTH2222 - Mathematics of Uncertainty
Workload: 3 lectures per week. 11 tutorials.

Recorded lectures The recording failed quite sometimes during the semester. 

Past Exam Available Two exams were provided with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation Dimitri P. Bertsekas and John N. Tsitsiklis, Introduction to Probability, Athena Scientific, 2002.

Lecturer Dr Andrea Collevecchio. He had two office hours every week and was always happy to help even outside of office hours. His explanations can be hard to understand sometimes but he would try his best to help you if you ask him to explain them again.

Year and semester of completion 2019, semester 1

Rating 3.5/5

Grade 83

Comments This was one of the hardest units I have done so far. The professor provides notes on Moodle but you fill them during the lecture or later. The problem sets were extremely hard. Andrea is really helpful. I went to his office nearly every day in SVOTVAC as I was quite unsure about several problems in problem sets. I found https://www.probabilitycourse.com quite useful for this unit.

Applied classes The tutor would only go over one or two problems but I felt like a lot of them required an explanation as solutions provided were not detailed enough for quite some problems. Homework was due at the start of every applied class. Best 8 out of 10 homework were considered and overall it was worth 12%. Participation in applied class was worth 4%.

Assignments The second assignment was extremely hard. The other two were alright. Each assignment was worth 5%.

Exam The final exam was fine if you had done the problem sets and understood the lecture notes properly. Revision problems on the problem sets were useful for practice. Two questions on the exam were the same as the sample papers provided.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Rom_Dog on June 29, 2019, 11:37:17 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1031 - Medical Biophysics  

Workload: 
1 x 1-hour lectures per week
1 x 2-hour laboratory session per week
1 x 2-hour workshop (lecture that includes sample questions)

Assessment: 
2 x 1-hour midsemester tests (10% each)
4 x Online quizzes (2.5% each)
Practical work (15%) (assessed through participation, pre-prac questions and quizzes)
End of semester exam (40%)

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture. Live streaming also available.

Past exams available: 3 past exams were made available however some content wasn’t relevant as there were changes in the curriculum. The format of the exam was also changed but most of these questions were still very helpful. Worksheets for bioelectricity and a range of optional online quizzes were also provided which also helped with study for the exam and mid semester tests.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Recommended
•   College Physics (open access e-textbook available at openstax.org)
Recommended reference
•   Physics in Biology and Medicine by Paul Davidovits, 4th Edition (Academic Press). (e-book available though Monash library)

Nothing from textbooks that wasn’t covered in lectures was examinable. Most students didn’t bother downloading these.

Lecturer(s): 
Fluids & Energy, Professor Kristian Helmerson
Cardiovascular Physiology, Associate Professor Christopher Wright
Electricity, Professor German Valencia
Bioelectricity, Dr Michael Leung
Waves & Optics, Dr Karen Siu

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Semester 1

Rating: 4/5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:
Lectures - The lectures were broken down into a range of interesting topics which were taught by different lecturers. Most of the students in biomed hadn’t done physics before so many of the concepts were difficult to grasp at first however additional assistance from the recommended textbook College Physics was helpful. Most of our assessments were calculation based while the lectures were theory based so it was important that we were able to apply key concepts in a range of scenarios. The lecturers were all extremely helpful as they had extensive knowledge in their specialised area and most had industry experience. An online forum was present where we could post questions to be answered by the lecturers, they responded fast and provided extensive information which was extremely helpful.

Workshops - Generally workshops consisted of an hour of lecture content and then an hour of example questions but sometimes the workshops were only question based. We were given time to work on example questions and then the answers were quickly gone through on the screens, lots of the time the questions were quite difficult and if you and those around you got stuck you’d just be waiting for the answers. I found that going through the lecture slides at home at my own pace was much more efficient and better helped my learning.

Midsem Tests & Quizzes - The first midsemester test was on fluids and energy and the second was on electricity. We were not provided with a formula sheet but rather we were required to bring in our own cheat sheet which could include anything on it. Both tests were relatively simple and if you had a good understanding of the key concepts taught in the lectures it was possible to achieve a high mark. For test 1, having done year 12 physics or specialist math would have been advantageous as some questions were based on forces. The online tests were relatively easy as we were given 40 minutes to do 8 questions and we could do these at home, additional non-assessed quizzes were also provided which helped us to study for these online tests and the exam.

Practicals - The practicals were difficult, and they could have been organised much better. In the final weeks our pracs were done before being taught the content in lectures so they were quite confusing. The marking of the pracs wasn’t consistent with some weeks having post lab quizzes and others have peer-assessed pre-lab questions, having just post lab quizzes would have been much better. Most of us depended on the teaching assistants for help.

Exam -The exam format changed this year, it was now multichoice but working out was still required. Some questions were very difficult. A formula sheet was provided, and we could also bring in a page of notes. Almost the entire exam was calculation based rather than recall like in the other biomed core subjects. Studying the workshop questions and understanding all the formulas was the best revision.


Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: brynstar on July 14, 2019, 08:09:39 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW1114 - Criminal Law 1

Workload:  One two hour workshop per week, one one hour tutorial per week in weeks 7 or 8-12

Assessment: 
Oral Plea Presentation (20%)
Case Note (30%)
Exam (50%)
 
Past exams available:  Faculty provided one practice E-exam but  it's also fairly easy to source others from Facebook pages etc.

Textbook Recommendation:  Waller and Williams Criminal Law (13th ed). You could probably get away without buying this if you were struggling for money because we didn't use it in class that much, however I would recommend buying it for making exam notes.

Lecturer(s):  I had Liz Campbell for workshops and Jennifer Paneth for tutes.

Year & Semester of completion:  Semester 1, 2019.

Rating:  3.5 out of 5.

Your Mark/Grade: 80 (HD).

Comments:  The content in this unit was really interesting and I would have given it a better rating if all the assignments hadn't been so vague. The plea presentation was particularly weird in that regard - there was no indication of the criteria, how to structure it or what was expected. I did well but the marking didn't seem very consistent. We also had to write a case note on "miscarriages of justice" despite this topic never even having been mentioned in class. In general, I found that the lecturers and tutors were very knowledgeable about the content and keen to have interesting discussions in class. My advice would be to try and go to the library's extra sessions on "How to write a case note" and the LSS exam revision lectures.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: brynstar on July 14, 2019, 08:25:44 pm
Subject Code/Name: LAW1111 - Foundations of Law

Workload: 
2 x 2 hour workshops per week

Assessment:  
Library Research Quiz (5%)
Multiple Choice Quiz (20%)
Court Report (30%)
Take Home Exam (45%)


Recorded Lectures:  Workshops are recorded but there’s a lot of class discussion so I’m not sure how helpful recordings would be.

Past exams available:  Yes, two were provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  We used the custom FoL textbook in class a lot.

Lecturer(s):  I had Ross Hyams (Chief Examiner), he’s an absolute legend.

Year & Semester of completion:  Semester 1 2019.

Rating:  3/5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments:  
This is one of those compulsory Law units you just sort of have to get through. The content is fairly dry, although with a good lecturer it becomes much more enjoyable. The court report assessment task was pretty interesting but I think I got lucky with the cases I saw. I definitely recommend going to court at the first opportunity as you may need to go multiple times. The multiple choice quiz is pretty straightforward but occasionally they’ll throw in some really odd curveball question that you haven’t studied. The take home exam takes up a whole weekend if you want to proofread but it’s before the actual exam period starts which is nice. The marking seemed quite strict on it though.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on July 15, 2019, 04:51:17 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC2751 - Derivatives 1 

Workload: 

1x 2hr lecture per week
1 x 1hr tutorial per week

Assessment: 

30% Mid-semester test
10% Participation
10% Assignment

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past/sample exams provided. Practice questions provided which are very similar to the final exam questions.

Textbook Recommendation: 

Options, futures and other derivatives (9th edition, global edition) - Very valuable to have this book for this subject, either in hard or soft copy. It goes over the content in a far more stripped down form, plus all the tutorial questions are taken from this book each week. It also has extra questions to do for the exam as practice to go over everything again, so highly beneficial to get this.

Lecturer(s): Zhe (Andrew) An - Also the CE. Was his first time taking the subject, so seemed a bit distant from the content, and it was tough to understand him in the lectures as a result. He was also coughing for the majority of the lectures that I went to (on Fridays) so made it a little tricky to understand him as a result. But in consultations he seemed like a very decent guy who wanted to help out his students as much as possible.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments: Give your overall opinion of the subject, lecturers, assessment etc. and a recommendation, plus anything else which you feel is relevant.

Really interesting subject for anyone doing a finance major. It is incredibly real-world, as it goes through products (derivatives) which are actively traded on the financial markets today. The course starts off with an overview of derivatives, before looking at futures and forwards and how they are priced. Then basic options are covered + crucial concepts such as put-call parity, which form a key part of the exam.

After the mid-semester test, trading strategies in options are covered, followed by binomial trees. Then the Black-Scholes-Merton model and Greek letters are covered.

What is key to know is that this subject has changed from previous years, and is now taught in a traditional approach of lectures/tutorials, in a purely theoretical way. All excel coding has been removed from this subject, with the exception of implied volatility, but this is not examinable in that format. So, to do well in this subject, focus should be paid on understanding the content in a theoretical way, by going through tutorial questions themselves + lecture notes.

Participation - This consisted of 8% coming from work done in tutorials, with the remaining 2% being via posting a question and answer on the Moodle discussion forum with an exam relevant question. This question had to be original, with feedback provided on common mistakes. However, this was an easy 2% to receive, as if you posted on Moodle then you got the marks. The remaining 8% consisted of 2% for presentations in tutorials and 6% for just showing up to your tutorial and answering questions. My tutor scrapped the presentation marks due to time constraints and knowledge that students didn't want to present which was very kind of him. This enabled all 10% of marks for this section to be very easy to gain.

Mid-semester test
This was held at the Caulfield Racecourse on a Monday night when one of the lecture streams usually took place. It consisted of 4 questions with a total of 30 marks. The first question was about differences between forwards/futures, second was margin calls, third calculating prices of forwards and futures and 4th on put call parity. In general most students did not do that well on this, with the average mark being around 60%. This is probably because of time constraints, as there was only 1hr to answer everything and time was perfectly calculated to answer all questions. I did not do that well on this, mainly because of being flustered and confused with some of the wording of the questions, but it was not worded in that confusing of a manner overall.

Assignment
This was where students were to write 1000 words on what can we learn from financial disasters? Two topics were provided, either the London Whale case from JP Morgan Chase, or the collapse of Baring Bank.
Students’ last names starting with A to M were told to write on Baring bank, whilst last names starting with N to Z were told to write on JP Morgan Chase. This was quite straightforward to do, as it was the kind of essay you'd write in a marketing or management context, not finance which is usually more practical. That being said, the average mark for this was 7.1/10 as students normally skimmed over stuff and missed the finer details.

Exam
Worth 50%, this consisted of 5 questions. The first question was 10 short answer questions covering all topics of the course. Question 2 was on option trading strategies, and asked how to design a short strangle strategy based on the options given to trade in. Question 3 was on binomial trees. Question 4 was on the Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) model with interpretation, and question 5 was related to Greek letters. It seemed as though this exam had little difficulty to it, resulting in nearly 60% of the cohort scoring 80% or higher on the final exam. The median of the exam was 41/50 which again seems too high to how an exam distribution would usually be structured. This seems to be a once-off thing, as in the future the exam should be much harder in order to gain a far-more streamlined curve.

Overall, this was a highly enjoyable unit for me. Although I did not do that well in the in-semester assessments, I was extremely lucky with the exam and scored highly in it. To succeed in this unit, get the textbook, do the questions over and over again, and try and get some old past exams (if they're still available), as practice is perfect to do well here.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Eucalypt on July 15, 2019, 06:57:16 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2132 - The Nature and Beauty of Mathematics

Workload:  One 1-hour lecture and one 2-hour lecture every week

Assessment:
10 x weekly problem sets (30%)
These were engaging and enjoyable, and very easy to get good marks on with a reasonable understanding of mathematics
Lecture polls in every lecture (10%)
This was a new assessment, replacing an essay. It was very easy to get these right as the lecturer would go through the answer and allow you to change your answer if it was wrong. They are only open during the lecture and there is no way to answer them without actually being in the lecture. The question wasn't on the poll, only a spot for the answer, with the question being displayed on the slides.
Exam (60%)
*40% hurdle for exam and 40% hurdle for in-semester assessment*

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. I would note however that whilst the lecturer uses the document camera for the many practical demonstrations, this cannot replace actually attending the lecture.

Past exams available:  There were no past exams. We did, however, receive a document of 120 practice questions, and 80% of the exam was made up with questions directly from the document.

Textbook Recommendation: There are no 'recommended' textbooks, however much of the content is similar to the content of 'The Heart of Mathematics: An invitation to effective thinking'. This book was in no way necessary, but I found it useful to refer to sometimes (and is available at the library). Another resource to make use of is Burkard's 'Mathologer' YouTube channel.

Lecturer(s): Prof. Burkard Polster (also Unit Coordinator)

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1, 2019

Rating:  5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 94 HD

Comments:
I really loved this unit. It made many difficult, high-level maths concepts accessible to anyone with a year 12 level of maths. We did heaps of practical demonstrations (at least one every lecture) such as magic tricks, bubbles, and juggling. There was usually a small practical task in the weekly assignment that we had to take a picture of for bonus marks. I'm not studying education but I would highly recommend this unit to anyone who is, as you not only increase your understanding but also learn many activities that you can run in your classes. Burkard is clearly incredibly passionate about what he does, and runs an organised unit. After each week, he sends out lecture notes which are really detailed and include great diagrams.

Weekly assignments:
These are out of 10. They are due before the Friday lecture and get handed back in the following Friday lecture. Not every question was marked on these, but you have no way of knowing which will be marked beforehand, so you have to do them all. I spent ages formatting mine and making meticulous diagrams, but my friend did them by hand somewhat roughly and got the same marks, so it's the work that's really important. I would recommend checking answers with someone before handing them in as it was easy to make mistakes.

Lecture polls:
These are easy marks, you really need to attend the lectures to get them though. This was a new assessment so I'm not sure if it will be included again. They added up to 10% and you got half of that automatically for doing 70% of the polls, and one extra percent for every 10% correct you got above 50%. Eg. Answering 70% polls, and getting 80% of them correct would get you 5+3=8%.

Exam:
The exam format was 80 marks, 10 questions worth 8 marks each, and 4 sub-questions for each question, worth 2 marks each. Although they were all worth 2 marks each, they varied from simple answers to full-blown proofs. Something I didn't realise before going into the exam was that we were given a list of questions and a script book, and we just answered the questions in the script book (by far the strangest way I've done a maths exam). I'm still not sure if we were meant to do them in order, although I didn't and still did well, so as long as the questions were clearly labelled I assume it would be ok. The best way to do well on the exam is to do all 120 questions (this takes longer than you think so start early), and to attend the revision lecture. During the revision lecture, he often hints at questions that might be on the exam, and questions that you definitely don't need to bother with.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on July 17, 2019, 11:13:17 am
Subject Code/Name: ETC3460 - Financial Econometrics

Workload: 

2 x 1hr lectures per week
1 x 1.5hr tutorial per week - Attend these each week, as the content is gone over in far more detail + no solutions are given for tutorial questions except in the tutes themselves.

Assessment: 

Assignment 1 & 2 - 15% each (30%) - These were done in groups that were allocated randomly based on your tutorial, with 4-5 students in each group. Both assignments consisted of short-answer questions related to the material that had been taught. Assignment 1 was mainly focused on theory behind the CAPM + some interpretation work from EViews, whilst assignment 2 was solely interpretation and graph plotting in EViews. As long as you've done ETC2410 recently, then you should be fine with the EViews work as all steps to carry out analysis in EViews is covered in the course, with the exceptions of news impact curve plotting, which could be done in whatever program you wanted. Most students did well in these assignments as the questions weren't too tricky, with only the odd curveball question here and there.

Group Project (10%)

This was the most tricky task to do for the semester. In the same groups as the assignments, you were to pick up to 10 stocks from the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), and track your performance in their returns over the semester. Then, starting from mid-way through the semester, you were to forecast tomorrow's returns, using past returns and the methods taught in class. Gradually over the semester the forecasting power got better and better, as there were more models available to help predict your returns. These returns + forecasting methods were then to be written into an investment report, which was to be marketed as a tool for potential investors to invest in the stocks that you had chosen. This was quite tricky for me and my group to plan and write, as it was the first time that we had ever written something in this domain. After the report was submitted, the top 20 groups (out of 64 for the cohort) were chosen and had to present a 5 min report to the class in the week 12 lectures, summarising their report. The top 5 groups out of those 20 received full marks, with the remainder receiving 90%. I found the marking to be very generous for this, resulting in high marks overall, which justified the effort put into the work at hand. My tip for this would be to start as early as possible with forecasting methods, and ideas on how to write up your report, as this will take a ton of time to put together, and will subtract time from everything else that you would like to do on the side.

Exam (60%)

The exam consisted of 4 questions in the following form.

Q1 GARCH Modeling: 20 points
Q2 CAPM Analysis: 30 points
Q3 Time Series Analysis: 20 points
Q4 Volatility Analysis: 30 points

70% of the exam was very similar to the 2018 exam so was not that tricky. The remainder though comprised unseen material, particularly question 4 in relation to using the normal distribution and proving its probabilities. This tripped up a lot of people, including myself, as this was something that had never been fully explained in class as a potential exam question. Despite this, the exam was not overly difficult and was a fair exam that was able to be completed within the 2hr duration. This was reflected by the mean of the exam marks being around 64%, such that it was very fairly written overall. To prepare for this, go through all the tutorial questions again and again, particularly the two revision tutes in weeks 11 and 12, and then attempt the 2018 exam to the best of your ability. The trouble was, I seemed to find the 2018 exam easier than the 2019 exam, as the degree of difficulty seems to have been increased in the 2019 exam to compensate for high in-semester marks.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, the 2018 exam was given along with indicative solutions provided in SWOTVAC.

Textbook Recommendation: 

No textbooks are needed for this subject, as the slides + Kevin Sheppard's notes provided on Moodle are sufficient to understand the content

Lecturer(s):

David Frazier - Also CE & unit coordinator for the subject. David is incredibly passionate about financial econometrics, so his lectures were very engaging and worthwhile to attend. He knew the content extremely well, only referring to the slides to provide tips on the key material via his laser pointer, or indicating at graphs on the slides. What is key to know is that David does use a laser pointer each lecture to provide further emphasis on the material, and this does not appear in the recordings, so try and get to the lectures otherwise you miss that additional detail.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments:

Thoroughly enjoyed this subject. David is a gun at explaining financial econometrics, and has done a great job of piecing this unit together into one build-up of knowledge. The lecture slides are of outstanding quality, so definitely use those as a revision tool for the exam, even with the odd typo here and there.

The only issue I found was with EViews work. Some commands had to be manually written in the command window in EViews, which was a bit clunky as I was learning code on the go whilst trying to get the graph that I desired. For example, the recode function for EViews was only taught in the week 10 tute, and was necessary for assignment 2 to plot news impact curves in EViews. This is being fixed in the future though as the unit is switching to R and RStudio from next year to do all graphical outputs, due to the majority of students having the background in R and RStudio to be able to use it confidently in the subject.

The content started with a review of statistics needed in the unit, particularly the law of iterated expectations and law of total variance which are examined upon heavily in the exam. Then basic financial modelling such as the CAPM, AR, MA and ARMA process are examined as well as the theory behind finance, returns and financial products. After this, volatility modelling is covered through ARCH, GARCH, T-GARCH & EGARCH processes. Then multivariate volatility is touched upon, in the form of the BEKK and DCC models but this was not covered in the exam.

Tutorials were pretty standard, but were done in the Learning and Teaching Building (LTB) using EViews via MoVE on your personal computer, instead of the computer labs in the Menzies building due to booking constraints. This made the work a little annoying to do due to computers constantly rebooting or being unable to connect to EViews via MoVE and Citrix Receiver. The tutorial class sizes were also large, with around 50 students in each of the 5 tutorial sessions. I had Nathaniel and Shuofan as my tutors, both of whom knew the content extremely well and provided great explanations to each tutorial question. Make sure you go to each tute as stated above, due to detailed tutorial solutions not being provided unless you attend the tutorial or a consultation session for either David or one of the tutors.

Overall, highly enjoyed this unit, as it combined my financial and econometric approaches together. I would strongly recommend this unit for anyone with an econometric / stats / mathematical background if you did ETC2410 and enjoyed it, as it goes deeper into modelling financial products and is a really enjoyable subject due to David providing such a succinct course structure.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on July 17, 2019, 08:08:32 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC2430 - Actuarial Statistics

Workload: 
1 x 2hr lecture per week
1 x 1.5hr tutorial per week

Assessment:  (Outline the various assessments which make up the subject and how much each counts for)

Mid-semester test (20%) - Was taken from the first half of the course. No calculators were allowed, so the questions included excel screenshots and relatively straightforward mathematical calculations, as well as some derivations and theory questions. 90 mins was allocated to complete the 8 questions of the test. This did not prove to be enough time to finish the test, as there was too much material to cover in such a short time-frame. This was compensated by generous marking, however the average was only 59%, even though the top mark was 98%.

Assignment (20%) - This was a very time-consuming and tedious assignment to complete. It involved creating a spreadsheet in Excel for a reverse mortgage annuity product, accompanied by a report to produce to potential clients in your product. Very limited instructions were provided as to how to design the spreadsheet, such as application of Goal Seek, so consultations with tutors were required immensely to produce a reliable spreadsheet that could be easily interpreted, along with explanations of your calculations in the report. This was compensated by relatively generous marking again, such that the average mark for this task was 15/20.

Exam (60%) - This covered the remainder of the course from weeks 8-11 + 1 question on the exam from lectures 1-5. Of this, around 60% of the exam was taken from weeks 8-10 content, with 20% from weeks 1-5 and 20% from week 11. The exam was also calculator free, so involved a majority of theory based questions + some simple calculations that did not require a calculator. Unlike the mid-semester test, there was only 1 derivation type question which was relatively straightforward to achieve full marks in. Time was less of an issue here as well, as the exam was designed to be of similar difficulty to the mid-semester test, only shorter.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past or sample exams provided. Limited amount of practice questions provided

Textbook Recommendation: 

No textbooks are recommended or prescribed, as all content is taken from the CM1 core readings.
However, buying the CT1 or CM1 combined materials pack from Actuarial Education (ActEd), will help you immensely as this goes into far more detail than what is given in the slides.

Lecturer(s):

Brett Inder - Took the first 5 lectures + half of the revision lecture in week 12. Brett continues on his merry way from ETC1000, as he shows the same level of enthusiasm in delivering his lectures. However, he is learning the content on the go with his students, so can sometimes slip up when explaining derivations. Despite this, Brett was the best of the 3 lecturers, as he always kept his audience engaged so that they can understand the content as best as they can.

Heather Anderson - Takes lectures 8-11, as lecture 6 was the mid-semester test, and lecture 7 was on Good Friday so did not run. Heather took the more mathematical areas of loan schedules, equations of value, project appraisal & equity and bond valuation techniques. Sometimes she became a bit lost in the derivations, such that the lecture theatre had no clue of what was going on. Her lectures also tended to be a bit drier than Brett's, as she would usually read off the slides more, so made it hard to comprehend what was going on completely. Despite this, the material was still relatively straightforward to understand under her guidance.

Maziar Nikpour - Took the guest lecture at the end of week 5 and the lecture in week 11 on term structure of interest rates. Maz delivered lectures in a very detailed way, and often skipped over important details if he could see that he was running out of time. He also struggled to show some Excel calculations such as using Goal Seek to explain a problem, as in practice is different to what is taught in the classroom. Despite this, Maz still showed a great deal of enthusiasm in explaining the content and still made it relatively straightforward to comprehend.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 80 HD

Comments: Give your overall opinion of the subject, lecturers, assessment etc. and a recommendation, plus anything else which you feel is relevant.

For those of you who have read previous reviews of this subject, scrap whatever way it was taught in the past. 2019 marked a change in the way the content was taught, with Brett taking on the role as Acting Head of Actuarial Studies, and together with Julie designing a new approach to this course. This resulted in most complex formulae scrapped from the course, as they are not relevant in day-to-day work, along with the removal of calculators to switch to using Excel in tutorials, lectures, assignments and exams, due to this being more widely used in day-to-day practice.

Tutorials

The tutorials are still standard 90 minute tutes where you went over the tutorial questions provided. However, each tute had a question to do in Excel, like designing a loan schedule or calculating the price of an annuity using Excel commands. I had Melvern as a tutor, and he was one of the best tutors I've ever had in my whole degree. Having taught the course in the past, Melvern had a great in-depth knowledge of all the concepts in the course, + the Excel applications due to him tutoring ETC1000 as well as ETC2430. This helped make the material far more comprehensible than if I were to be in any other tute. Melvern also provided tons of tips about the mid-sem, exam and the actuarial science degree, making it far more interesting to sit in his tutes and ask him any random question about the course than any other tutor. If Melvern tutors the course next year, I would 100% have him as a tutor again due to his wide understanding of every detail in the course, as he was a key influencer in the way it was designed.

Despite this, the course overall felt like a work in progress. Lecture slides varied quite significantly per lecture, and often difficult questions tripped the lecturers up as they did not have an in-depth knowledge of the material being asked, having only learnt about it a few months before the course was started to be taught. That being said, the ability of the entire teaching staff to explain the content was valued significantly, as they were able to comprehend the material in a very short window and explain it to the students in a far more detailed way than expected. As a result, ETC2430, although being rebuilt from the ground up, is in a very strong shape, as only content from the past CT1 is examined, and all complex material has been removed and incorporated into ETC3430/ETC3530 instead.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on July 18, 2019, 02:02:26 am
Subject Code/Name: ETC3410 – Applied Econometrics

Workload:  2x 1 hour lectures, 1x 1.5 hour comp labs.
Assessment: 
Assignment 1 (20%): 1 individual component, 1 group component with STATA, 1 project proposal for a research project. The individual and group components comprise of questions on the theoretical and practical part of the lectures and comp labs, and these are pretty standard actually albeit its length. The research project is designed to test students’ ability to design projects and use econometric techniques taught in the lectures to analyse data. Students can opt to choose 1 of 2 topics provided by the lecturer, or make up their own project topic, which was pretty cool. Our group did an entire project on global HIV/AIDS data. Marking was pretty harsh though.
Assignment 2 (20%): 1 individual component, 1 group component with STATA, 1 project report for a research project. Again, a similar structure, but the project report with the results section is handed in instead. Marking was quite harsh for this as well.
Final exam (60%): 3 long questions. The questions were fair, and there were definitely a few challenging bits here and there. Marking was quite harsh apparently, and students don’t do as well compared to other ETC units despite being an “applied” and “easy” unit. If one were to focus in the comp labs and do the assignments well it is quite easy to do well in the finals.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  1 sample exam with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach by Jeffrey M. Wooldridge. Textbooks are not required as lecture slides are more than sufficient.

Lecturer(s): Jun Sung Kim. Great guy, super funny and approachable, gives really good advice for the research project.

Year & Semester of completion: S1 2019.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 94 HD

Comments: Thoroughly enjoyed the unit (partly biased as an econometrics enthusiast). This unit is divided into 5 topics:
1)   A review of econometric topics (statistics and linear algebra, OLS from ETC2410, GLS and an array of hypothesis tests)
2)   Binary choice models (logit, probit)
3)   Instrumental variable estimation
4)   Panel data estimation (fixed effects, random effects, etc.)
5)   Project evaluation (not examined)
Even though this is technically an ‘applied’ unit, Jun does spend a great deal of time on developing the theoretical foundations of the models and econometrics techniques taught, while the applied side of the unit is mainly taught in the tutorials. STATA is used as the main software for this unit, and basic commands need to be recalled for exam purposes, which isn’t a very steep learning curve compared to R.
The only gripe I have with the unit is how econometric methods are used in a ‘black box’ manner without any form of confirmation through mathematical reasoning (i.e. serial correlation and what-not). Otherwise, it is a really good unit.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: strawberry7898 on July 25, 2019, 01:07:45 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS1264 - Bioethics, justice and the law 

Workload:  1 x 1-hour lecture & 1 x 1-hour tutorial

Assessment: 
Short Critical Analysis- 15%- when they say short they really do mean it- only 650 words, nothing too tricky, you get to choose a topic so that makes it easier. Treat this as a practice run for the bigger argumentative essay. The gist is- present an author's view, present counter arguments, make your opinion based on the strength of the objection.
Argumentative Essay- 45% (was 35% for me)- this is the big one! 45% is a lot but this essay is not that intimidating in the end. The rubric provided is extensive so use it. Again, you get a choice of 5 Qs to pick one. I felt that the lecturer and tutors made their expectations clear in the assignment description and it's not particularly taxing. I think the main thing you should do for high marks on this is to defend your own original points well and show understanding of the unit in general. Doing some research on your topic will help too. Try to start early, it can take some time to come up with your own arguments if it's not something you've done in advance or aren't used to. Discussion with family and friends can help here.
Tutorial Performance- 5%- don't know what my mark for this was, but my tutor did say he was pretty chill about giving people marks for trying. I think that the unit guide has a detailed schema in place for it- so ask your tutor what their expectations are maybe?
Examination- 35%- highly recommend taking notes on your readings throughout the semester to make this easier. You also get to choose the topic etc for some Qs, which was great. Details are provided Week 11-12. You need to have done your readings, memorised the notes you've made on these readings to an extent and have an opinion formed on the issues. You can get away with no reading for your assignments but the exam is designed to catch you out for skimping in your reading- if you have done your reading though, nothing unexpected will pop out and you'll be fine. The exam is pressed for time though, so get ready for the epic hand cramp!! Definitely the hardest part of the unit, but reading, even if last minute, will pay off
Bioethics Beyond the Classroom- no longer in this year's (2019) unit guide but it was a really small assignment where you could make art or discuss a movie or news segment which covers a chosen bioethics issue, really simple stuff, I didn't do anything too creative unfortunately, I just wrote. Other people did brilliant things like sculptures/drawings etc. Sad they got rid of it!

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. But they give you some idea about the exam structure and style of Qs beforehand so that makes it much easier to prepare for

Textbook Recommendation:  In my year, nothing to buy, any texts you had to read (and you DEFINITELY do have to read them!) were available online through library- they were all articles written by bioethicists and I believe there was a website. If you want to have a read of these you can do that through "Reading Lists" under the library tab under my.monash, just gotta search the unit code

Lecturer(s): Ryan Tonkens-  at least that's who I had, I believe this has since changed

Year & Semester of completion: S2 2017- unit may have changed since!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
General advice for all your assessments in this unit- DO YOUR READINGS AND THINK CRITICALLY- so form opinions and argue those opinions out. Your tutes (and lecture for that matter) give you the opportunity to discuss these opinions and see what people say to counter them- these conversations tend to give you ideas for your essays, so pay attention. As for the readings, you don't have to read the entire thing but have an idea of what each author is arguing for and some points that they use to support their argument. The lectures aren't particularly helpful if you're relying on watching lectures to smash the unit- they only give you a gist of the different opinions on an issue but I found you had to do the readings to get the exam marks

I highly recommend this unit if you enjoy writing. For those of you who have a background in debating or just like to discuss, you'll really enjoy the tutes because they're very interactive. I think this element also depends on who you have as a tutor but mine was very encouraging and he pushed me to contribute as I tend to be the person who sits at the back quietly and listens the whole time. This is important too because tute participation counts for marks, so they really try to incentivise communication! If someone makes a point in a tute that you like (or if you think of one yourself), I reckon write it down- it'll probably come in handy in some assessment at some point, arguments form a big part of this unit (see assessment description)

I think the assessments were spread out well and were easy to score in, they weren't too demanding in terms of workload. Many people do this unit as a "bludge" and I think it is sort of bludgy because of the fewer assessments but don't take that exam for granted if you are the student who has been taking other assignments for granted because it can pile up- especially if you haven't been keeping up with your readings.

This subject has a lot of relevance in real life too and you are encouraged to discuss the topics you encounter in your tutes with people, so discuss with family for example. I personally enjoyed the unit, it had application for me as a biomed* student looking to do med in the future, because it discussed public health issues that are highly relevant and you got to hear the opinions of those who had backgrounds in other fields like arts or commerce because the cohort for the unit is very diverse. My only regret is not having done ATS1263 too!
*word of warning: some biomed students in my cohort did not like this unit, it was more because they realised they don't like arts units because they said they didn't like all the reading and writing and subjectivity etc or that they didn't like having to talk in tutes- so I guess do this unit if you're like me and loves this kind of essay writing and wants a break from all the sciencey biomed stuff?
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on November 18, 2019, 02:56:31 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC3420 - Applied Insurance Methods

Workload: 

1x 2hr lecture per week
1x 1.5hr tutorial week

Assessment: 

11x Weekly Moodle Quizzes - 20%: Every Monday at 8am starting from week 2 to week 12 a quiz was available on Moodle. This quiz consisted of anywhere between 2-4 questions, which could be multiple choice or short answer, with no time limit and normally only 1 attempt allowed. These only covered the basics of each topics, and rarely strayed into difficult areas. Due to this, by researching answers and collaborating with others, it was relatively okay to get close to 20/20 for this section.

Group Project - 20%. If there was one part of this unit that was particularly flawed, it would have to be the project. Although groups could be chosen by yourself, what actually had to be completed for the assignment was a mystery for everyone. The goal of the assignment was to analyse a randomly generated portfolio of claim holders and price reasonable premiums for each policyholder. This was then supposed to be written as an executive summary in a report style format. However, no indication was specified that it had to be a report written, so it was quite unfair that tutors penalised so harshly on those who did not write in a report standard. People who's numbers were all wrong but wrote it out in a report format received higher marks compared to those who did not write the project out in a report format. This really punished those who put so much effort into the subject, which is quite unfair as we all worked incredibly hard to comprehend what needed to be done and to just be punished for presentation is extremely flawed.

Additionally, tutors focused on marking in a subjective rather than an objective way. Marking was done on personal preference, rather than the content actually presented in the report. Due to this, the marks that were given were usually too low of an indicator of how much grit and determination had been written, reflecting tutors relying on their own ideals to make a decision. In the future, having something like a marking rubric available (which was not provided) would be far more relevant, otherwise being left in the dark for so long is an absolute nightmare for a project carrying so much weight.

Exam - 60%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2016 exam was provided without solutions

Textbook Recommendation: 

Dan (the lecturer and CE) recommends a bunch of books, but they aren't excessively relevant. However what is relevant are CT6, CM2 (2 topics only) and CS2 notes of the Actuarial Education Company (ActEd). These are way more detailed and formatted correctly compared to the lecture slides. So, they will provide far more intuition on the topics covered rather than relying on just the lecture slides. The CT6 notes are freely available online, but since the actuarial program changed to a new model this year, the CS2 and CM2 notes are harder to obtain, but if you ask around you may be able to obtain them.

Lecturer(s):

Dan Zhu - Took all 12 lectures. In the past, I have not been a strong fan of Dan, just because she struggles to explain concepts in a plausible way in lectures that makes sense for any student to understand. However, this semester is her 4th year of taking this subject at Monash, and she has improved lecture delivery quite significantly. This has meant that I was able to comprehend most topics effectively, with the exception of Copulas and Extreme Value Theory (EVT) as these were taught for the first time this semester.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2019

Rating: 1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: NA

Comments:

Firstly, this is probably one of the 2 trickiest actuarial units, along with ETC3530. So if you do not fully get what's going on with the content at first, then don't worry as many others are probably in the same boat as you. However, if you put in a lot of effort, mainly prioritising understanding this and any other 3rd year actuarial units, then you should be okay, as long as you use the additional readings to help reinforce your knowledge.

The best way to study for this subject would be:

1. Read the CS2/CM2/CT6 notes of each topic before attending the lecture.
2. Attend the lecture and see what parts of the CS2/CM2/CT6 notes are relevant to the course, and add on any additional material covered in the lectures to that knowledge bank
3. Have a go at the tutorial questions
4. Go to the tutorials to have it reinforced. This semester only 2 tutors took the subject, that being Jin and Jonathan who were both teaching it for the first time. I attended 1 of Jin's tutorials and for the rest I went to Jonathan's. Jin only read off the tutorial solutions on the screen and was difficult to ask for clarification in tutorials, as he would usually minimise deriving anything on the whiteboard rather relying on the solutions. Jonathan on the other hand was great even if it was a little difficult at first to understand him. He never relied on the tutorial solutions and instead wrote out each question from scratch on the whiteboard. If he is taking this unit again next year, I would strongly recommend attending his tutes, as only he understands the right way to teach the content.

Exam - The exam was not as bad I was expecting to be honest. There were 6 questions, covering the main topics taught. 1 was on Poisson Processes, 1 was on Run-off Triangles, 1 was on Ruin Theory, 1 was on Collective Risk Model, 1 was on Extreme Value Theory & 1 was on Copulas. In particular, the Copula and EVT questions were tricky as they had not been taught properly and with no revision material provided to cover the topics, we had no idea what to expect for the exam.

Overall, this unit had solid foundations in the past, but this blew up quite significantly this semester. In the future, a project should be designed with far more relevant instructions, rather than leaving students in the dark on what is expected from them. Additionally, new topics must have material revised, otherwise this unit should not be done by anyone other than actuarial students.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on November 18, 2019, 06:58:08 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC3140 - Corporate Finance 2

Workload:  (specify how many lectures, pracs, tutes etc. and their duration)

1 x 2hr lecture per week
1x 1hr tutorial per week

Assessment:

Mid-semester test - 20%. Held at the Caulfield Racecourse during the lecture slot time, this consisted of multiple choice questions and short answers. It was designed to be a little bit harder than previous MSTs, which showed as the marks were usually lower than in previous years. The average mark was 30.79/40 or a little over 75%, so most of the cohort still did very well. My advice for this would be to just go over the tutorial questions with solutions, as they cover all the key points and similar questions did show up in the test + memorise & understand everything in the lecture slides.

Online Post Lecture Exercises - 10%. Very similar to online tasks covered in BFC2140: Corporate Finance 1. Each exercise was available every Sunday at 6pm and then closed the following Sunday at 10pm. Unlike corp fi 1, there is only 1 hour allowed for your 1 attempt and results are available instantly after you submit. If you follow the examples though you'll get close to or exactly 10/10 for this. The best 9/10 quizzes are counted towards your final marks, so you are allowed 1 missed attempt/ bad quiz result to not count.

Tutorial preparation and participation - 10%. This is very standard, every week you have a 1hr tutorial that goes through the tutorial questions posted on Moodle. As long as you attempt the questions and show some effort to participate, you should get at least 8/10 for this. All tutorials run 1 week behind the lectures, so tutorials in week 2 cover the week 1 lecture. However, tutorials do run in week 1 to revise concepts covered in corp fi 1, so it's imperative to attend all tutes to maximise your understanding of the content.

Exam - 60%. Was very reasonable, with 6 questions totalling 100 marks. 1 was on leases, 1 was on capital structure, 1 was on real options, 1 was on international corporate finance and the other 2 were theory based questions covering corporate governance and mergers & acquisitions (M&As). I was not excessively pressed for time, so you should be able to get through these reasonably well. The questions did have some tricks though, which did throw me  off, particularly in 1 question. Despite this, with solid study and revision of all concepts and attempting the sample exam and understanding it fully will be sufficient to get a good grade in this unit.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  1 sample exam provided with solutions

Textbook Recommendation: 

The prescribed textbook is Corporate Finance, Global Edition, 4th Edition by Berk & DeMarzo. This should be replaced by the 5th edition next year, which is not as easily obtainable online as the 4th edition. However, this semester the lecture slides were sufficient as I hardly used the textbook, only as an additional reference. But all tutorial questions do come from the textbook, so it's good to have as an extra resource if you can get it.

Lecturer(s):

Ying Dou - Also chief examiner. Ying is an absolute legend, who is extremely passionate about talking about corporate finance. This made the unit very straightforward to understand. I watched all the lectures and attended 1 of them, and for the 1 I attended I found it to be very captivating. It's a shame that next year Ying will not be taking the subject, but I'd still recommend to do it if possible as part of a finance major/ finance degree/ finance elective.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2019

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade:  81 HD

Comments:
Really really loved this unit. Found it much more straightforward compared to corporate finance 1, so definitely recommended as a unit to add to your finance major or even as an elective for a BCom student who did not find corp fi 1 too difficult. The topics covered are not as strenuous as corp fi 1 so you'll really enjoy it. Also, because the internal assessments are very similar to corp fi 1 in terms of structure, it should be easy to maximise your in-semester marks to not have to stress too much about the final exam. All in all, I am very glad I did this unit and would love for anyone to do it even as an elective to rest from having 3 other difficult units around you.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on November 19, 2019, 12:23:36 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC3240 - International Finance

Workload: 

1x 2hr lecture per week
1x 1hr tutorial per week

Assessment:  (Outline the various assessments which make up the subject and how much each counts for)

In-tute online quiz - 5% (Sum of 10 Quizzes) - Every tutorial usually at the start a quiz is unhidden on Moodle and must be completed in the tutorial once it is unhidden. Each quiz consisted of 2-3 multiple choice questions. These were usually not too difficult, and answers were readily available online but were not always correct. Each quiz was worth 0.5%, to get to the total of 5%. Most people got close to 5/5% so this should not be too tricky

Post-tute excel submission - 5%. Something new this semester. After the last tutorial of the week, on Friday at 1pm a spreadsheet was released on Excel for students to complete. The spreadsheet had to be completed by the following Wednesday at 11:55pm and was then submitted on Moodle. This tested the previous tutorial's content, usually following the problem sets released to be completed in the tutorial after the quiz. These as well were not too difficult, and you do have the opportunity to collaborate with friends to check over your spreadsheet, so most certainly take this on board to maximise your marks.

Mid-semester test - 20%. This semester the mid-semester test was trialled as a multiple choice test only. There were 30 questions covering material from lectures 1-4 and parts of lecture 5 that were not really specified correctly. However, the 100 mins allocated for this were plentiful, such that there would be no problem for most students to complete the test in the given timeframe. As per all finance mid-semester tests, the test was held at Caulfield Racecourse during the allocated lecture time slot (6-8pm Thursday). If you go over all the lecture slides then you should be fine for this, as the questions were usually taken straight from material in the lecture slides, sometimes on obscure information which was not to be expected.

Group Assignment - 10%. This was an 1000 word essay on the currency system in either India or Turkey and how risks could be mitigated by having operations in these countries. Groups were formed by yourselves, so this did not make the task too difficult as we had group members willing to help wherever they could. The average mark for this was 7.81/10 so most students understood what needed to be done to do well. Unlike the project posted 2 reviews earlier for ETC3420, a marking rubric was provided, so if you stick to that and ensure you follow all points listed in that then you will be able to maximise your marks.

Exam - 60%. The exam consisted of 9 short answer questions covering the lectures, tutorials and additional readings covered over the semester. I found it to be not too bad, as I understood what the additional readings were asking, so was able to maximise my marks in that form. It also touched upon the All-in-cost-of-funds (AIC) also known as the internal rate of return (IRR), so remember to bring your HP 10bII+ calculator to the exam as this is the only way you can get full marks for that question. Other than that, the exam was relatively straightforward, and was very similar to the past exam questions with solutions provided on Moodle. If you just go over those, the problem sets and the questions for each topic provided on Moodle then you'll be fine.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No past/sample exams provided. Only a small selection of practice questions with solutions were provided

Textbook Recommendation: 

Multinational Business Finance 14th edition by Eiteman Stonehill and Moffett is the prescribed textbook for this unit. It isn't excessively necessary, as the lecture slides do cover everything quite well. However, most examples from the lecture slides are taken from the textbook, so if you can get an online copy it will help immensely. The 15th edition of this book is due to be released this month, so from next year onwards the 14th edition will be outdated, so try and get the 15th edition online if you are taking this subject from next year onwards.

Lecturer(s):
Ali Sheikhbahaei - Also CE & unit co-ordinator. I found Ali to be very approachable and knowledgeable in the content, even though this was not his area of research or education. He understood the content very well and was able to explain it decently in the lectures. Due to this, although the lectures are a bit dry, by watching over them you are able to get a far deeper understanding of what the subject is about.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2019

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:

Coming from a more statistical/applied background, I thoroughly enjoyed this subject. It was able to look beyond the theory of finance and apply it into practice. There is also a large economics background employed, particularly in the field of balance of payments and demand and supply graphs as covered in ECC1000 & ECC1100 in particular. Therefore, doing this unit as close to as completing those 2 units is recommended, such that your knowledge on macroeconomic concepts is fresh to make the understanding far easier.

Tutorials were pretty standard, you just went over the questions posted on Moodle + excel spreadsheet after completing the tutorial quiz in the first 10-15 minutes of the tutorial. I had Ibrahim as my tutor, who was excellent, as he understood the content very well and was incredibly approachable to help clarify any questions about the material that I had.

Also, the exam covered concepts well beyond the last few weeks. Everything in international finance builds up knowledge, so it is good to have a strong understanding of the fundamental concepts covered in the first few lectures before learning the later concepts. Due to this, although limited material was provided for the exam and the assignment marking was a bit weird, I still really enjoyed this unit as most of the concepts made sense to me and were extremely relevant in the inter-connected world that we live in today. Would definitely recommend this unit to a finance major / finance degree student as an elective, or as a unit to add on to your core list of units for your finance major
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: K888 on November 20, 2019, 03:08:39 pm
Subject Code/Name: PTY2042 - Physiotherapy 4

Workload:
I imagine the structure will have changed a bit since last year, but it's basically 4 days a week with one day off (a Tuesday, from memory). CBL on Mondays and Fridays like usual. Anatomy lectures and prac, physio theory lectures and pracs and physiology lectures. Probably ~16 contact hours, sometimes maybe more?

Assessment:
Attendance at 80% of tutorials and practicals.
Professional conduct: Students are required to demonstrate professional behaviour in communication (written or verbal) with department staff and clinical educators in order to pass the unit.
Health Promotion assignment (1,500 words + 10 minute presentation) (15%)
Anatomy assessment (5%)
Physiology assessment (5%)
2 x Written examination (2 hours each) (30%)
OSCE (30%)
Research assignment - group work (4,500 words) (10%)
Research activities folder (5%)

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:
Don't think there was any full practice exams but there definitely was some practice questions.

Textbook Recommendation:
Neurological Rehabilitation - Carr & Shepherd
Clinical Outcome Measurement in Adult Neurological Physiotherapy - Hill et al
Definitely recommend buying these two. They will be super useful during the semester but also when you're on placement in future years - especially the outcome measures book.

Lecturer(s):
Prue Morgan - physio theory
Narelle Dalwood - physio theory
Jo - anatomy
Ash - physiology

Year & Semester of completion:
2018, Semester 2

Rating: 
5 out of 5

Comments:
Best run unit in the entire physio course by far. Prue & Narelle are so lovely and caring, it kinda feels like they become your uni mums haha. They're absolute geniuses when it comes to neuro physio but treat you like a colleague and equal and are such great teachers. Their passion for neuro is also infectious - I didn't think I'd really like neuro before I started the unit and it's now become a field I'm interested in working in when I graduate!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: K888 on November 20, 2019, 03:24:34 pm
Subject Code/Name: PTY3051 - Physiotherapy 5

Workload:
Usually:
Monday - a few online lectures and some prep for lectures and pracs but nothing on campus
Tuesday - 2 lectures & prac
Wednesday - 2 lectures & prac
Thursday - clinical simulation
Friday - day off
The unit guide says ~20 contact hours but it was definitely less than that, especially given the fact that they ditched CBL. It's a nice change from the much higher contact hours of first and second year

Assessment:
80% Attendance in tutes/practical classes
Written examination (30%) (3 hours)
Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) (35%)
Clinical Scenario Assignment (2,500 words including video creation of simulated patient interactions) (20%)
Anatomy image exam (30 minutes) (10%)
Research Folio (5%)

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:
Nope, but some practice OSCE scenarios were given to us in prac

Textbook Recommendation:
Nothing new, you'll just be using bits of textbooks from previous years - Clinical Sports Medicine, Neurological Rehabilitation, etc. and for anything extra they provide the readings.

Lecturer(s):
Steve Maloney - most of the physio theory lectures
Liana Cope - some physio theory lectures
Jo Corbett - anatomy
Narelle Dalwood & Shane Pritchard - they run the Thursday clinical simulation
Various guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion:
2019, Semester 1

Rating:
3 out of 5

Comments:
Not a particularly well run or organised unit. They've obviously made some changes to the unit structure over the past few years and still haven't perfected it, but I really did enjoy that they removed CBL. Simulation was pretty good, Narelle and Shane have put a lot of effort into creating the program and do a good job running it. The unit as a whole does a decent job given it's not centred around one area of physio (rather it covers random bits and pieces that aren't covered in the first two years of the course) but I didn't particularly enjoy it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: kez1234 on December 05, 2019, 11:03:56 am
Subject code/name: ATS1904- Reading the City

Workload:
1 x one hour lecture weekly (on-campus or online).
1 x one hour tutorial weekly (on-campus).

Assessment:
Annotated Bibliography (20%). Although I had never done one of these before, it was quite a pleasant task to undertake.
Research Essay or Creative Writing (40%). Make sure you use sufficient evidence to back your points up. Although I used evidence from around 7 different resources, it was commented that there were certain points where more evidence could have been incorporated.
Exam (35%). I disliked the fact that the 3 definitions were worth 15 marks (almost 50% of the exam).

Past exams available:
Yes. We were provided with exams from 2014-2018.

Textbook Recommendation:
No textbooks were required. Just your usual unit guide, ‘The Children’s Bach’, ‘The City and the City’, and Persepolis.

Lecturer(s):
There were various lecturers. Lynda Chapple did all of the lectures for ‘The City and the City’ and Persepolis, and then the rest were done by lecturers who were passionate or experienced in that certain authors work for a given week.

Year & Semester of completion:
2019, Semester 2.

Final mark:
Pending.

Rating:
3.5 out of 5.

Comments:
Compared to ATS1903, I quite enjoyed various weeks in this unit. However, I wished that there was less of a focus on crime fiction and hardboiled fiction, and more of an emphasis on other elements of the city that were changing at the time. I felt as though this unit was run more efficiently than the first gateway unit, but it would have been great if certain lecturers were relying more on their own independent thought about a topic, as opposed to reading their slides word-for-word. If you didn’t thoroughly enjoy ATS1903, my point would be that you won’t be disappointed with ATS1904. It provides a point of interest for everyone.



Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: kez1234 on December 05, 2019, 11:16:14 am
Subject code/name: ATS1262- Understanding Social Behaviour

Workload:
1 x one hour lecture weekly (on-campus or online).
1 x one hour tutorial weekly (on-campus).

Assessment:
Quiz 1 (10%). Quite manageable, if you completed all of your readings beforehand.
Essay plan (10%).
Major essay (40%). I felt like the marking was harsh. I improved my writing and points significantly from the essay plan, but still ended up with the same mark as the plan.
Quiz 2 (10%). Common sense questions, really.
Final test (30%). Quite manageable, if you completed all of your readings beforehand.

Textbook recommendation:
What I love about the first year units for Behavioural Studies is that you are provided with all of the weekly readings. Keep up to date with Moodle!

Lecturer(s):
Ayoub taught most of the lectures each week. He was always so passionate about what he was discussing/pulling apart.

Year & Semester of completion:
2019, Semester 2.

Final grade:
Pending.

Rating:
4 out of 5.

Comments:
ATS1262 was such an AMAZING unit! The main criticisms I have are: myself and others found the weekly tutorials to unfortunately not be beneficial to our learning. We could have been using that hour in a more effective manner. Furthermore, while there were some weeks where the readings were manageable, there were weeks where around 10 readings were uploaded. I’m sure that others were also overwhelmed with the amount of readings given. For weeks 9 and 10, we were told what pages to focus on for the final test, but this would have been great if we have been given this guide for the entirety of the unit. If you are thinking about studying Behavioural Studies as a minor, take my word on the fact that you won’t regret it!!!


Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: kez1234 on December 05, 2019, 11:30:51 am
Subject code/name: ATS1423- Punishment, courts and corrections

Workload:
1 x 2 hour seminar weekly (on-campus or online).

Assessment:
Quiz (10%). Quite basic.
Essay 1 (30%). Drawn from ‘You be the Judge’.
Essay 2 (30%). Drawn from ‘You be the Judge’.
Exam (30%). Consisted of 10 short answer questions, for which we had to answer 8 (5 marks each).

Textbook recommendations:
Crime, criminality and criminal justice (3rd ed.).
MAJOR TIP: This textbook has kindly been uploaded onto the Monash library as an accessible e-book. I was stoked this semester when I saved over $100 on buying a physical textbook. Access it online for FREE. What I did was go through the reading list for the entire semester, and when through the e-book while I had loaned it and saved all of those chapters. A life saver!

Lecturer(s):
There was a vast range of lecturers that I cannot remember all of their names! Both of the unit coordinators taught several of the seminars, leaving the rest up to people who kindly came in from different industries. For instance, prison staff came in and spoke to us, a researcher that looks into the role of a father in prison and masculinity came in, etc. They were very diverse.

Year & Semester of completion:
2019, Semester 2.

Final grade:
Pending.

Rating:
4.5 out of 5.

Comments:
By far, this was my favourite unit during my first year at Monash. I communicated mostly with Anna via email, and she was always prompt in her response to my concerns or queries. It was run so efficiently, which made me appreciate the subject matter so much more. Moreover, the 2 essays we completed actually related to four weeks of content at a time (but you also had the ability to connect it to any of the 12 weeks of content). The essays were very flexible in the way that you approached them, and the marking seemed fair. Unlike other units, I actually enjoyed EVERY week of this unit. We looked at an intriguing topic every week, which in the end they all overlapped and were interconnected. This unit has broadened my mind extensively, and I am so appreciative that units like this exist. FINAL TIP: If you can, DO THIS UNIT!!!!!!  :) :D








Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on December 06, 2019, 12:08:08 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC3430 - Financial mathematics under uncertainty 

Workload: 
1 x 2hr lecture per week
1 x 1.5hr tutorial per week

Assessment:

2 x Class tests - 20% each (40%) - Being someone who prefers doing assignments to class tests, I wasn't a fan of this format. The tests were held in weeks 5 and 12, and each took 1hr.  Both tests consisted of 6 multiple choice questions that were each worth 2 marks and either 2 or 3 short-answer questions for the remaining 8 marks to total 20 marks. The tests were not excessively difficult, as they were taken straight from the tutorial questions usually with a few minor adjustments to throw people off a little. However, because they were held so close to the prior tutorial which was the day before, that covered a lot of concepts, it was really difficult to be properly prepared for them. The average for test 1 was around 15/20 and for test 2 was around 14/20, which highlighted that most students did find it reasonably challenging, despite the averages being in the 70 range. Overall, if you prepare heavily for these, by going over the lectures and tutorial slides, then you should be alright I guess

Exam - 60%. I found the exam to be a bit too long to complete in the 2hr timeframe. It covered all material covered in the remaining 9 lectures (as 1 was lost due to the Grand Final Eve Holiday), but heavily emphasised on a lot of proofs that were not taught fully. Therefore, to do well on this you had to excessively rote-learn the proofs from the slides. As the exam was on the first day of the exam period, this was not that easy to do. Consequently, this was reflected in my mark, due to questions being left blank or just answered weirdly due to me not being able to memorise enough proofs in an early enough timeframe.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2018 Semester 2 Exam was provided with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:

Actuarial Mathematics for Life contingent Risks is recommended but barely covers any of the content in the course. Don't get it.

Instead, try and get either the CT4 or CS2 notes from the Actuarial Education Company (ActEd). These are where all of the content is taken for the subject, so to have the CS2 notes on hand in particular is incredibly valuable, as you will be able to unpack and understand in a far deeper way what is being taught. That being said, the CS2 notes can only be bought from ActEd directly (costing around $250) or from someone who already has them, so  they are not that easy to obtain. Due to this, the CT4 notes as a backup are still very valuable, as they are readily available online, and are basically just the content before 2019's updates.

As a result, please try and get the CS2 or CT4 notes if you are doing this subject. They are incredibly valuable and will help you immensely to figure out what is going on every week, as the explanations from the lecturers may not be up to point.

Lecturer(s):

Athanasios (Thanasi) Pantelous - Really great guy. Thanasi is incredibly friendly and passionate about actuarial science, particularly in the area of quantitative finance, so loves to teach students about the course. Despite this, Thanasi is still a little lost on the content, which is why I guess from 2020 onwards he isn't taking the subject. Despite this, I found his lectures very captivating and far more straightforward to understand due to his ability to be really engaging in conversations that were/weren't related to the course itself.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2019

Rating: 3 out of 5

Comments:

Not too bad of a subject I guess. Thanasi and Pengjie (the only tutor for the subject this semester) were both incredibly friendly and willing to help explain difficult concepts in the tutorials. However, the exam was quite long and most students would have been pressed for time to finish it.

Tutorials - The tutorials were 1.5 hrs long and held in the LTB tutorial rooms as is standard these days. Since only 35 students took the course right through this semester, there were only 2 tutes allocated for the subject. Due to this, there was far more opportunity to interact with Pengjie and understand the content as much as possible. Tutorials were very standard, just going over the tutorial questions posted on Moodle after every lecture + giving insights into what the tests would be like.

Overall, despite not doing as well as I would've liked in this subject, I enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanasi and Pengjie were a great teaching combo and were very well-versed in the material having taught it the year before. It's a shame that from 2020 onwards, ETC3430 will only be offered in semester 1, and I expect that a different lecturer will be taking the subject with a completely different assessment structure and content structure.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on December 08, 2019, 03:19:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC3520 – Foundations of Quantitative Finance

Workload:  1x 2 hour lecture, 1x 1.5 hour tutorial

Assessment: 
2 class tests worth 20% each. The class tests were pretty straightforward if you know the content relatively well, and a lot of the questions kind of mirror the tutorial questions. There will be some unexpected questions in there but if you prepare for the class tests well they will be fairly easy to tackle, the median grade for the class tests were HDs.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No sample and past exams available, but that might change as this is the first time the unit is run.

Textbook Recommendation:  Would definitely recommend the CT8/CM2 study guide from iFoA as they run through the content in compliance with the study guides, even though the notation used in the lecture slides differ from CT8/CM2 (and the tutorials what even). The mistake I made was not looking at the questions provided in these study guides so it is imperative that you look through them in your own time.

Lecturer(s): Athanasios Pantelous. Not a very clear lecturer on what he expects from you in terms of applicability or mathematical ability but I’d say expect to study on your own (with other sources than his lecture slides) a lot more.

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 S2

Rating: 2.6 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
This unit covers to some detail the basic concepts that underlie financial engineering and finance in a more theoretical and mathematical sense. You skim through the surface on a wide variety of topics. The unit starts off with utility theory, the axioms for the expected utility theory to work and its violations, which brings you to the more realistic prospect theory. You are then given an introduction to measures of investment risk (think variance, tail value-at-risk, that sort of stuff).
The unit then gets more technical to have a run through of how we model stochastic processes, introductions to Brownian motion, martingales, stochastic calculus and Ito processes are taught before the 1st class test. This is where it gets quite complicated and some self-study is required to understand the underlying mathematics of these concepts, because Thanasi won’t teach you that.
The second half of this unit mainly concerns introducing derivatives and a brief introduction to term structures, what they are and how one would price it (in a discrete/continuous case) under given assumptions. Some would be familiar with the Black-Scholes Option Pricing technique and the Greeks from BFC2751 or other units, but in this unit it’s treated in a theoretical fashion.
I would say this unit is interesting in a lot of aspects, but only do it if you need your actuarial exemptions since it is kinda badly taught and you do most of your own learning anyways. If you’re interested in applicability of the knowledge you’ve learnt I would suggest doing BFC2751/3340 and if you want to learn the maths do ETC3510/MTH3251.
The exam was pretty hard and there were a lot of curveballs so be sure to be prepared for that, but I would say the concepts themselves, at least taught in this context is not too complicated.   

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 09, 2019, 08:15:51 am
Subject Code/Name: BFC2140 - Corporate Finance 1 

Workload:
1x 2 hr lecture
1x 1 hr tutorial

Assessment:
5% tut participation - my tutor didnt care about your real participation in class, just as long as you came, that was enough for her. although i did hear some other tutors in other classes who marked quite harshly depending on your engagement within the class (which is stupid because 20 of you cant engage equally)
20% online post lecture exercises - ok ill be honest, im writing this two semesters after and i really dont remember this LMAO
25% mid sem test - was quite hard. harder than the final exam in my opinion
50% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes

Textbook Recommendation:  big no

Lecturer(s): emma zhang

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1 2019

Rating:  5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:
Overall a nice foundation finance unit that teaches finance broadly. the math isnt complex where you want to die and is quite understandable (coming from someone who did poorly in methods <30 ss). there really is no hard part about this unit from what i remember. this is a nice easy unit to do as a wam booster for those outside the finance department. i have no gripe with this unit
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 09, 2019, 08:26:29 am
Subject Code/Name: ECC2000 - Intermediate microeconomics 

Workload:
1x 2 hr lecture
1x 1 hr tute

Assessment: 
10% assignments - these assignments are like the tutorial questions but they give the answers away after release. only like 2-3 of them are marked in the end but all of them need to be submitted (or not, at  your own risk of it not being graded). for us, it was only the later weeks that were graded. they are the same level difficulty as the tutorial questions in my opinion.
5% tut participation - rock up and get that 5% easy
25% mid sem test - mc choice quiz that is 95% theory. dont be fooled by the amount of math they do in the lectures because if you dont understand the economic concepts that come with the math, then youre screwed in this quiz (i.e. the mistake i made). heavy heavy heavy emphasis on theory.
60% final exam - again, with the amount of math in the tutorial questions and assignments and in lectures, you'd assume there was a lot of math in the exam, nope. 70% exam was theory.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes no worked solutions, just sketch answers. the practice exam was so difficult compared the real exam mostly because the math was so intense that people were just askign about the math in consultations and not about the actual economic concepts which is a big problem in itself.

Textbook Recommendation:  nah

Lecturer(s): nicholas feltovich - idk i would avoid this lecturer if i were you. brushed through difficult math concepts because it was AsSuMeD knowledge. this is the only lecturer thats ever done this in my 3 years of uni.

Year & Semester of completion: sem 1 2019

Rating:  1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: C

Comments: I hated this unit so much because of the lecturer and I would do your best to avoid encountering him. he just made me hate it so much because of how bad he is at teaching. he is a academic first before he is a teacher. he can't teach and goes quickly through economic concepts sooo quickly. this fools been doing this for 30 years and we've been doing it for 1 or 2 years so of course we cant keep up. in order to do well in this unit, please focus on the theory even if the math is quite daunting because thats where they will test you the most.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 09, 2019, 08:39:27 am
Subject Code/Name: ECC2800 - Prosperity, poverty and sustainability in a globalised world 

Workload: 
1x 2 hr lectorial - its a workshop and a lecture combined. you can go if you want, or not but the activities they do in the workshop i dont think are as quite as compulsory to participate in to achieve a high mark

Assessment: 
15% online discussion log - a forum where youre put into a group with other people and you just summarise an article each and give questions to your group members for them to answer each week. overall, if your group sucks, just carry yourself and do the article summaries yourself. basically, just talk to yourself most of the time and they'll see it. easy 15% if you can put the effort in
10% argument task - basically a skeleton essay of your essay
25% essay task - you get to pick between 3 different essay topics on a fcfs basis so make sure you get in quick because the easiest ones will get picked first and you'll screw yourself talking about complex malthus problems otherwise. this is also peer reviewed which might be bad or good depending on your peers. 
50% exam - mcq

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  no

Textbook Recommendation:  no

Lecturer(s): simon angus - very passionate lecturer, enjoyed him and babied my learning which is always nice

Year & Semester of completion: sem 1 2019

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D only because i bombed the exam lmao (i.e. didnt study one topic because thought it was minor but there was like 10 questions on it, big L to me)

Comments: Overall, this is a fun engaging unit. i made good friends in the workshops so it was worth for me to come. make sure you study everything in the lectures no matter how tiny or how quick he goes through it because it'll come bite you if you don't. i think what i didnt study was about taxing pollutants and the tariffs that came with it or something, not sure. but we only spent like 30 minutes of 1 lecture on it and i dindt understand and it wasnt on the practice quizzes so i assumed it wasnt going to be on the exam, but it was, oops! simon basically lit my passion for developmental economics and id like to be doing something around that area in the near future. this is a good unit to do before ecc2010 or maybe even during because the concepts are somewhat similar
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 09, 2019, 09:59:40 am
Subject Code/Name: ETC2410- INTRODUCTORY ECONOMETRICS  

Workload: 
1x 1 hr 30 tutorial - most of the time doesnt even reach the 1hr 30 mark.
1x 2 hr lecture

Assessment:
10% mid sem test - mcq on laptops in a cramped room so quite easy to cheat. questions were fairish in difficulty. no cheat sheet
10% group assignment 1 - hard
10% group assignment 2 - hard
10% tut participation - 5% for submitting tutorial questions which are marked so you as long as you put or look like you put some effort in, you can get the 5%. and the other 5% is for coming in.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes 2 previous exams with answers

Textbook Recommendation:  no

Lecturer(s): farshid vahid-araghi. quite difficult to follow but not enough to warrant avoiding the unit because hes teaching. i heard someone called jun is one of the best lecturers for this unit so maybe worth waiting for him?

Year & Semester of completion: sem 1 2019

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: to be honest, im not deserving of my mark because i still have no idea to this day what i've learned. all the assignments were super hard, the content in this unit was super hard and is a huge step up from bus stats. the math is quite complex and i really dont understand anything in this unit. the theory is abstract (to me anyways) and to finance students, good luck lmao! i had Le as my tutor and he was amazing. if you can, try to get him. he is very good at explaining concepts (dare i say better than farshid) and is very responsive to emails (will reply at 1am). his notes are also very good.

if you have a weak background in math you will struggle in this unit but if you have a strong background, this should be a walk in the park for you. dont do this unit unless you have to
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 09, 2019, 10:17:17 am
Subject Code/Name: BFC2751 - Derivatives 1 

Workload:
1x 2hr lecture
1x tutorial

Assessment:
30% mst - fair test
12% assignment - every question was googable. they sent an email out giving people zeros for those who copied word for word smh. if they wanted to avoid this, dont reuse questions
8% class participation - so i wasnt aware that participation actually meant participation smh.  my tutor actually recorded everyones particpation but never asked any questions to specific people and only kept asking questions to her favourites so wtf was up with that? i wasnt aware participation actually meant participation. anyways 5% was given to those who participated heavily and another 3% was available for posting a practice exam question on the forums
50% final exam - fair exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 1

Textbook Recommendation:  no

Lecturer(s): ali sheikhbahaei and li ge

Year & Semester of completion: sem 2 2019

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: hd

Comments: i struggled with this unit at the start as i do admit it was quite difficult to grasp my head around some of the concepts but as soon as you do get the things they teach you, everything else comes naturally. for example, option strategies was such a difficult and exhausting part of the unit but come to think of it, it was quite easy once you remember the basics. it might be overwhelming but if you break it down, you can do well. this basically applies to all other parts of the unit.
this is one of the well taught finance units. what left a bitter taste in my mouth was the participation marks but thats another story.
ali was a worse lecturer than li but maybe thats because he had harder content to teach? arbitrage opportunities is quite daunting at first but it does get better. he made me want to drop the unit but i couldnt anyways lmao so i was just being dramatic.
advice for those wanting to do well: make sure you do all your tutorial questions before hand (google solutions if you must) so that you can ask questions during the tutorial as they only have 1 hr to fit in all the questions so they do rush. make sure you stay on top of the unit and just ask ask ask questions! btw stay away from alison the tutor smh
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 09, 2019, 10:30:42 am
Subject Code/Name: BFC3241 - Equities and investment analysis 

Workload: 
1x 1hr tutorial
1x 2hr lecture

Assessment: 
10% mst - some questions googable. lots of topics werent even covered in the lectures so i have no idea what the fk he was doing with these questions. it pissed a lot of people off.
25% group assignment - very exhausting very long group assignment. its just a lot to do. first 5/6 lectures is basically for the group assignment.
60% exam - fairish? a bit daunting though

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes with sketch answers and some topics in it that werent relevant to this present unit now (sometimes he wouldnt tell us)

Textbook Recommendation:  no

Lecturer(s): jean-paul rabanal

Year & Semester of completion: sem 2 2019

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: d

Comments: ill be honest, for the first half of the unit, i questioned what i actually have learned despite being somewhat engaged in the unit. i felt lacking in knowledge seeing as most of the earlier lecturers were basically how to do your assignment.
in sem 1 2019, the exam was apparently hell and there was a petition with like 200 signatures about the exam. look in stalkerspace for proof. he put in topics that werent covered in the lectures but were on the practice exam. so glad i dodged that bullet as i think he was a bit more lenient this time. there was a question on the practice exam this time round that was exactly the same as the one on the final exam which was perfect because it was math heavy and you could rote learn how to do it. we were also barely exposed to that topic so that saved my ass as it was worth a lot of marks.
this unit is poorly run imo and i wonder when jean paul is going to get switched after his poor performance last semester and the stress he put on students. he has seem to have redeemed himself this time round with 43.3% of students getting distinction and higher.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 09, 2019, 10:43:15 am
Subject Code/Name: BTC3150 - Taxation law 

Workload:
1x 1 hr 30 lecture
1x 1 hr 30 tutorial

Assessment: 
10% mcq test - 10 mc questions for 15 minutes. can bring double sided cheat sheet. very easy i think.
30% assignment - a few short answer questions that are similar to exam style question. was very doable
60% exam - fair

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  no practice exam but a lot of practice exam questions. no answers (to get answers, you must email shafi your attempt and he will correct it).

Textbook Recommendation:  nah

Lecturer(s): shafi khan

Year & Semester of completion: sem 2 2019

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: hd

Comments: this was an elective of mine because i am interested in law units centering around commerce. this was very much a bludge (i put minimum effort in this unit and it was my highest mark) but a lot of accounting students struggled in this unit from what i gathered. here is the final grade distrubution:

MARKS   GRADE   % OF STUDENTS
Below 50   N   6%
50-59   P   17%
60-69   C   29%
70-79   D   23%
80-100   HD   20%
Def   DEF   5%
TOTAL      100%

there are much easier law units to do in commerce so i would avoid this one as it is a bit complex and gets into the really nitty gritty of tax law and trying to work around its intricacies is quite difficult.
i loved shafis engaging personality as well as melchor's teaching style. they helped me get thorugh this unit even though i was falling half asleep in the tutes that werent even compulsory. i only went to tutes because they refused to give out answers to tutorial questions which you pretty much needed for the final exam as they were similar to exam questions.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: clockerrs11 on December 09, 2019, 10:53:15 am
Subject Code/Name: ECC2010 - intermediate macreconomics 

Workload:
1x 1 hr tut
1x 2hr lecture

Assessment: 
27% mst - 27 mcq. focus on theory.
8% online assignments - easy 8%. lecturer just needs to see that you've tried and you get the 8%
5% tut attendance - abebe makes it clear when you need to participate and when you dont which is great!
60% exam - hard af. very different from practice exams

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2 w/ answers

Textbook Recommendation:  no

Lecturer(s): siew ling yew

Year & Semester of completion: sem 2 2019

Rating:  3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: p

Comments: good unit, well run. my mark doesnt reflect how much i thought this unit was well run. i prioritised other things during crunch time for this unit and this is the result. make sure you understand each topic as they intertwine with each other in the end. siew does a good job explaining macroeconomic topics. the is/lm model may seem very abstract but it gets easier the more you dig into it. this unit is very much all application on the exam so make sure you know your theory down pat or else the exam is going to get you. math is less important here than ecc2000. its mostly conceptual based.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: luneax on December 13, 2019, 11:08:02 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS2057 - Genocide

Workload:
1x 1 hr tute
1x 2hr lecture

Assessment: 
10% unit participation: this is the hardest participation i've ever had to work for. Attending tutes means nothing if you don't contribute, and even if you contribute to every class there's no guarantee of getting full marks. There's a very detailed rubric that accompanies it.
10% in class quiz: they pick your top 7 quizzes out of ten. Five quiz questions that are usually a mix of true or false and multiple choice. Based off the readings (which are very long)
20% Short writing assignment (750 words): Based off readings, no external references needed
30% Long writing assignment (1750 words): Based off one of the Genocides covered in the unit and linking to key theory covered.
30% Take-Home Test (1500 words): Based off readings and lecture, no external references required

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: No (the take home test is an essay)

Textbook Recommendation: No, all readings provided via PDF

Lecturer(s): Noah Shenker

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2019

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 84 HD

Comments: I really enjoyed this unit, each genocide is covered in a two week lecture plan (first lecture is historical background and then the second is political implications). We spent the first two weeks covering the definition of genocide and briefly introducing us to the unit and then we covered the Holocaust, Armenia, Australia, Cambodia and Rwanda. Noah is very knowledgeable and stimulates really interesting and thought provoking discussion throughout the unit. As with most history units, you need to do the readings or you won't be able to discuss things in the tute. Noah is pretty strict on passive voice so be really careful of it when writing.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: luneax on December 13, 2019, 11:34:53 am
Subject Code/Name: BTF1010 - Business Law

Workload:
1x 1.5 hr workshop
1x 2hr lecture

Assessment: 
20% quiz: in week 4 covering weeks 1-3, 10 marks MCQ and 10 marks short answer. OPEN BOOK
20% quiz: in week 7 covering weeks 4-6, 10 marks MCQ and 10 marks short answer. OPEN BOOK.
60% exam: 2hrs, e-exam, covering weeks 7-12. 60 marks, no multiple choice. Ours was a stacked exam, there were about 7 questions and some had multiple parts. OPEN BOOK.

They do not reassess any of the content in the unit so once you've done your quiz, you don't need to remember that content for the next test/exam.

Recorded Lectures: Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available: Yes, several tests with sample answers for each task. 

Textbook Recommendation: Yes. Concise Australian Commercial Law 5th ed. You need the text book if you want to do well, particularly given that the exam is open book. Highly recommend you do the readings each week (your open book is no good to you in an exam if you don't know what is in there).

Lecturer(s): Andrew Moshirnia

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2019

Rating:  5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 98 HD

Comments: I honestly loved this unit. Easiest HD I've ever received in my life. Cases were interesting. Each workshop we worked through the questions outlined in the unit guide, and the tutors talk you through the important points. I noticed many students in my workshops did not really engage, which was frustrating. Our tutor worked through step by step guides to answering the questions for the quizzes with points to discuss. I would recommend doing both the readings and the practice cases that you are given each week, as most likely you will be referring to them for your test. It also makes it easier to wrap your head around the concepts if you read first and then can apply the readings in class. The exam is on a tight timeline (with the coordinator commenting that many people did not finish the exam) so it's helpful if you complete the practice e-exam before you do your actual exam to get an idea of how quickly you will need to work. I also found it helpful to flip through the questions really quickly and leave the questions you know you can answer easily until the end. Having solid notes and summaries will also help you know exactly how to answer your questions for the exam and will save you wasting time flipping throguh your textbook.I had tabs for my textbook for quick reference also. This unit is very much based on learning how to apply the knowledge so if your tutor is good and you practice answering quetions, you'll be fine!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 15, 2019, 02:12:26 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1011 – BIOMEDICAL CHEMISTRY

Workload:
2 x 1 hour lectures
1 x 3 hour Small Group Session

Assessment:
15% small group sessions (7.5% from participation and 7.5% from SAQ)
10% Great Metabolic Race essay
15% mid-sem
60% end of semester exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, loose exam style questions documents provided for each series of lectures

Textbook Recommendation:  Many, didn’t really need to use anything

Lecturer(s):
Tanja Junkers
Jacqueline Wilce
Nirma Samarawickrema

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Sem 1

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: The unit was really well run divided into 4 subtopics; organic chem, enzyme function, catabolism and anabolism. The organic section was basically VCE chem with some CHM1011 content thrown in, I found the overlap a nice surprise. Still surprised that BMS1011 doesn’t prohibit the level-1 chem units. The enzyme function lectures were short and pretty mundane, but Jackie was a quality lecturer. Catabolism and anabolism was by far my favourite block, Nirma knew her stuff inside out and was really approachable to the students. Unlike most lecturers, she bothered to tell you if a concept was examinable or not, even putting prominent yellow “Do not memorise” labels in her slides. Her teaching style was rather slow paced, preferring to check if everyone understands a concept before moving on. Her emphasis on understanding is what really made this unit stand out from the mostly memorisation-based biomed core subjects. It’s where we can truly develop transferable skills (logic reasoning) in a course whose employment opportunities are slim if one fail to get into med.

Small group sessions:  They were all pretty chill, so expect full marks for participation (TA even gave out free lollies in the Friday morning session). However, your SAQ mark depends entirely on the TA you have. I had a really harsh marker as my TA (averaged 7.5-8/10), but I’m really grateful for him because this strictness helped me do well in the exam where all the choices were very similar and they were looking for a specific answer. He was really nice to talk to as a person and always gave out constructive criticism so that I’m averaging 9/10 for those SAQs by the end of semester. However, the subjectivity of this biochem course has turned me off doing 2nd and 3rd year units with the biochem department, because catering to the examiner’s specific wording requirements isn’t my thing (attested by my mediocre VCE bio score).

Essay:  At the start of the year, the essay was supposed to be 1000 words ± 10%. It was later reduced to 600 words ± 10% for some reason. The whole cohort had trouble with fitting all the information from the catabolism lectures into the essay, where you’re required to identify and describe the metabolic pathways dominant at each stage of intensive exercise. I was able to do so by selectively including information and used the graphics we’re supposed to include to cram as much info in as possible. Be careful, the assessors are really strict on your spelling and punctuation. The only marks I lost were from failing to capitalise “NADH”, random typos here and there as well as too many subheadings. Many people did really well in this essay, despite the initial difficulties. If you have a question, you can ask on the Moodle forums and Nirma is happy to help to a certain degree, without giving away the answer. There’s a dedicated small group session where you can ask for help from your TA, even get them to look over it to check for accuracy (but they’re not allowed to give you any indicative marks). Due to my training from hell with the harshly-marked SAQs, my TA thought I wrote really well and he couldn’t find theoretical errors anywhere no matter how hard he tried.

Mid-sem: The mid-sem was exclusively on organic, nothing special about it except that it has 2 epic typos (eg carbon has 8 e-s when there’s no other correct option). These were removed in the final marking. Dumb mistakes really killed me on the mid-sem, since it’s only out of 23 after the typos were removed.

Exam: 3 hours for 75 multis. The exam was a curveball, I really like the application-based aspect of it as opposed to recall questions and it made the small group sessions relevant to the lecture content. Many questions were based on a case study of a metabolic disorder, while the organic and enzyme function questions were pretty stock standard. The provided data book of metabolic pathways was so useful for picking up easy marks, make sure you know how to use it effectively. There are also recall questions testing understanding on the specifics of several metabolic pathways, but nothing came from  the slides marked “do not memorise”.  I also witnessed some biomed toxicity when 5 minutes before we walked into the exam room, some kid was telling us that Nirma emailed him to tell him that the small group sessions weren’t examinable. I took it with a grain of salt. Since Nirma said earlier that everything is by default examinable unless otherwise stated, I studied the small group sessions and wasn’t affect by this, but some others walked out of the exam disappointed and mad at that guy.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 15, 2019, 02:13:25 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1021 – CELLS, TISSUES AND ORGANISMS  

Workload:
3 x 1 hour lectures
1 x 3 hour lab (most weeks finish early)

Assessment:
15% group project video literature review
10% mid-sem
25% from all labs
50% end of semester exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, practice quiz was made available in the last lecture

Textbook Recommendation:  Campbell Biology, didn’t use much

Lecturer(s):
Chantal Hoppe
Mark Prescott
Brenton Marshall
Craig Smith
Christopher Johnstone
Robyn Slattery
Julian Rood
Mohamed Mohideen

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Sem 1

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 93 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: Although BMS1021 is a general biology unit that’s more or less used to advertise 2nd and 3rd year electives in biomedical areas of study, it was structured really well. Biochem overlapped with CHM1011 and BMS1011, but wasn’t worth much on any exam. Dev bio and histology were heavily memorisation based, but Chantal was an epic lecturer who made these a breeze (protip: I wrote “I love kidneys” on exams for extra marks and DO NOT leave early during her lectures, unless you want to be publicly humiliated by her “see ya”). Julian the microbiology lecturer was epic with his “defending a castle” analogy, while Robyn was really clear on assessed and not assessed content in immunology, dropping clues as what’s going to be on the exam. Mohamed’s lectures on bacteriology were pretty dry. Chris’ physiology lectures were my least favourite. Metabolism overlaps with BMS1011 and gas exchange overlaps with BMS1031. He went over some basics of systems physiology, especially on the cardiovascular system, but his slides were pretty wordy and I felt he kind of read off them. His lectures on cell biology were decent, since those were early on in the semester, it was “the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell” all over again.

Lab: All the labs were awesome and well ran, the TAs were really patient with my dumb questions and were experts in their field. It’s a good idea to be up to date with lectures before labs, but if you’re not 100% confident, then by the time you walk out of your lab you will be an expert. Shout out goes to the dev bio (inspecting pig semen with a microscope), histology (making organ models with play dough) and microbio (staining bacteria) labs, they were the most fun and engaging labs for the unit.

Mid-sem: The BMS1021 mid-sem may have been the assessment task to save my degree and chances to get into med. It’s the test that taught me how biomed units can examine you on the tiniest and most obscure details and sadly, memorisation sometimes is the key to success (that’s why I marked this unit 0.5 less than a perfect 5, I prefer application to memorisation). I used to just understand the lectures and take broad notes about the concepts, but I got caught out by some really detailed tricky questions. I was unsure about so many questions, cuz the options were so similar, but somehow still pulled an 89%. Now, I assume every tiny detail will be examined and take everything down in my notes.

Group project: As a person who always hated group projects in high school (many lazy people leeched off the Asian nerd that was me), BMS1021 restored my faith in people. We were meant to write a 750 word ± 10% essay on a given topic (ours was a histology one on the effects of skin cream on delaying skin aging) and film a 3 minute ± 10 sec video on the topic. My group met quite irregularly, but we coordinated really well and ended up handing in the assignment 3 days early, everyone went above and beyond to do well. The written report was a mini literature review of 4 articles. It was marked leniently on the theory but strictly on the referencing technique, the only marks we lost were on a single typo. My group members all gave each other full marks on the peer evaluation and I did too.

Exam: 2 hours for 107 multis. As I said about the mid-sems, BMS1021 was very memorisation based. I used the practice quiz as well as some PASS revision questions that Chantal gave to us to full advantage and of course I went through the lectures a billion times to pick up little details I missed in my notes. In the end the exam did test the nitty gritty details again, and I left about 90 minutes in. I did get stumped by 2 odd questions, but there’s nothing you can do about that other than take an educated guess and walk out. Fun anecdote: During reading time I noticed that question 69 out of all questions had a typo on it. The choices were labelled EFGH rather than ABCD. When I called over an invigilator and he asked me to clarify which question it was, I was pulling my best poker face and trying to not lose it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 15, 2019, 02:14:06 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1031- MEDICAL BIOPHYSICS

Workload:
1 x 2 hour lab
1 x 2 hour workshop/lectorial (highly recommended)
1 x 1 hour lecture

Assessment:
30% from all labs
4 x 2.5% Moodle quizzes
2 x 10% mid-sems
40% end of semester exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 2015-2017 were provided, no past exams available for the physiology (cardiovascular + neurobio) sections

Textbook Recommendation:  College Physics by Openstax

Lecturer(s):
Kristian Helmerson
Chris Wright
German Valencia
Michael Leung
Karen Siu

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Sem 1

Rating:  1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: The only good thing I have to say about this unit is that it’s great for GAMSAT preparation and that the lecturers did their best to make the unit tolerable. Other than that, everything felt really disorganised and not catered to someone who didn’t do physics in high school. The cardiovascular lecturer who’s an MD doctor assumed that no one took physics and taught us really well. A PhD student had us for neurophysiology, but I had some trouble figuring out how the Nernst equation and action potentials work so I mainly relied on Khanacademy for that section. Kris was pretty helpful on the forums, but the same can’t be said of the electricity lecturer. The lectures were mostly clear, but to really apply your understanding of the concepts, do some problems from the Openstax textbook, which are harder than exam difficulty.

Labs: Hands down the worst part of the unit. They were ran in the PACE labs and we were put into permanent groups for the semester. Some TAs were scary and harsh, but luckily we got the curly hair dude aka Michael Ferguson. He saved my group’s collective a*ses countless times. Ari Pinar (who had me for BMS1052) was a god who saved us in the MEMPOT virtual lab. The post lab quizzes were quite unreasonable most of the time and after a particularly bad lab on optics, they decided to cancel it after a student complaint. There was an 8 question worksheet that we had to complete in 1 hour that was supposedly exam difficulty, but looking back now they were still twice as hard as the actual exam. Many people failed it and I barely scraped a pass, while a rather unhelpful relief TA roasted us for being sh*t. Sometimes we have to cross mark the prelab of a person in another group, possibly to save costs. I was told by the TAs that I mark too generously, while some people marked too harshly, nothing is standardised and I felt this was unfair on those who were marked harshly. Luckily the students who marked mine were easygoing too.

Quizzes: 30 minutes for 8 multis. There are 4 of these in the semester and are quite well spread out. Pretty easy to do well in.

Mid-sems: Due to my limited physical background, I found the first mid-sem on weeks 1-5 really challenging, but I scraped an 82% on it by showing my working out. The marking initially showed 69%, but I disputed it when the marking scheme came out. The 2nd mid-sem covered content from 5-9 and was all multi choice with different number of marks allocated for each question. It’s advised to put down working out for methods marks if you get it wrong. If you guessed a question correctly without showing any working out, you’ll receive full marks for that question. This test was more manageable maybe due to my increasing familiarity with physics, and was of the same difficulty as mid-sem 1. A double sided A4 cheat sheet was allowed.

Exam: The format apparently changed for 2019. It used to be 3 hours and all SAQ, but now it’s 2 hours for all multis worth varying amounts of marks, similar to mid-sem 2. Only neurophysiology was short answer. The overall difficulty was similar to that of the mid-sems. You are allowed a double sided A4 cheat sheet and I would recommend putting equations with labelled variables (so you don’t drown in the alphabet soup of the provided formula sheet). A solid understanding of cardiovascular and neurobiological physiology was also required to do well in the physiology section, which make up 19 marks out of a total of 83. The optional 2 hour workshops/lectorials were so much help since they went over higher-order/difficulty questions. They were new this year but I’m dissatisfied since they’re structured like Dora the Explorer episodes. The TA put up a question for us to have a go at and only show us how to do it step by step long after everyone’s finished or given up.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 15, 2019, 02:15:10 am
Subject Code/Name:  CHM1011 – CHEMISTRY 1

Workload: 
2 x 1 hour workshops/lectorials
1 x 3-hour lab
1 x 1 hour tutorial (optional)

Assessment: 
10 x 1% pre-workshop quizzes
2 x 2.5% reflective self evaluation quizzes
30% from all labs
55% end of semester exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, 3 sample exams provided

Textbook Recommendation:  Blackman Chem, digital copy was given to us for free

Lecturer(s):
Toby Bell
Chris Thompson
Kellie Vanderkruk
Philip Marriott
Alan Chaffee
Bayden Wood

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Sem 1

Rating:  5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 96 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: As a biomed student, I initially picked this physical chem unit as a form of complimentary GAMSAT tutoring and as a bludge unit (no 4-hour CHM1051 labs and super similar to year 12 lol). I must say that this unit really blew me away because it’s taught nothing like high school. Chris was literally Morpheus from The Matrix, proving almost everything we learned about atoms in high school as inaccurate generalised models. His teaching style was really innovative with a bunch of interactive analogies and thought experiments. Under him, the Chinese puzzle that was atomic physics/quantum mechanics suddenly became a breeze. It was because of his teaching that I decided to major in chem with my electives to become a high school chem teacher should I fail to get into med. I later found out that he’s heavily in education research, so I’m planning on doing CHM3990 with his research group as a part of my major. I stopped going to workshops after his section finished in week 4, because the subsequent workshops were not so interesting, however still solidly taught with relevant example problems.

Pre-workshop quizzes: Really easy to full mark, some exact solutions can be found on Google but make sure you understand the concept yourself first.

Self evaluation: I have no idea why this is an assessment. Basically it lists all the learning objectives in the course so far and asks you to honestly say how confident you are in that topic from a scale of 1-5. You won’t be penalised if you say you’re feeling unconfident in something, but they do ask “choose 2 so that we know you’re reading everything”. I ain’t complaining about free marks though, easiest 5% of a unit grade I’ll ever get.

Labs: The first few weeks were pretty mundane with a Lewis drawing dry lab and a chemical techniques circuit. It was my TA’s (Alex) first year as a demonstrator and he was pretty lenient on the lab marking. He was really supportive of the kids in my group who didn’t do chem in VCE, while also catering to my preferred pace, so I’m definitely taking cues from him for a potential MTeach. There were IDEA experiments in 2 labs where we had to design our own experiment, I usually came up with a pretty comprehensive plan before the lab. Our self designed calorimetry and iodine clock experiment both failed epically, but we didn’t get penalised in terms of marks since we did a good job explaining the unexpected results. I must also mention that some labs like the iodine clock use concepts not yet covered in lectures, but it really trained my independent learning skills and I encountered no issues in understanding the theory. The last week was a TEKE (thermodynamics, equilibrium, kinetics, electrochem) experiment where we have to observe a bunch of weird reactions and get assigned randomly to do a presentation on each one. Luckily my group worked relatively well and we pulled the highest mark in my group with 43/50, while many groups failed. Our reaction was the coloured cobalt complexes one and unfortunately for us, the relief TA who was assessing us did his honors in cobalt chemistry, so we couldn’t get away with any BS at all.

Exam: 2 hours for 120 marks SAQ. The sample exams were really indicative of the content on the actual exam. I’d even say that the real exam was easier than the practice ones because it didn’t have any of the harder questions that the lecturer had to explain in detail in the revision lectures. The lecturers also drop big hints on what’s going to be on the exam in the SWOTVAC revision lecture, so make sure you get all the intel you can.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 15, 2019, 02:16:54 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1042 – PUBLIC HEALTH AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE

Workload:
1 x 2 hour lecture
1 x 2 hour biostats workshop (optional)
1 x 2 hour epidemiology tutorial (optional most weeks)

Assessment:
20% stats assignment
5% Twitter assignment
2 x 5% timed Moodle quizzes
7.5% media critical review oral (group)
7.5% media critical review written report (group)
50% end of semester exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, 2 Moodle trial exams provided

Textbook Recommendation:  Essential Medical Statistics, Essential Epidemiology (about as “essential” as North Korea is a “democratic republic”)

Lecturer(s):
Tess Tsindos (Epidemiology)
Penny Robinson (Biostats)

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Sem 2

Rating:  1 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 96 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: I don’t really get the point of this unit, maybe it’s supposed to be a introductory research methods/stats unit analogous to SCI1020 for the BSc people. However, we already get taught Graphpad Prism and basic stats in BMS1052 so it’s pretty redundant IMO. Although many activities in this unit are optional, the amount of effort needed to do well can be quite frustrating. To go to every tutorial and workshop, watch every lecture AND read all the ebooks would take a whopping 10 hours, discounting assignment hours. This is even more than my chem electives, which are already infamous for their 7 contact hours. The lectures weren’t ordered in series and I fail to see logical progression from one week to the next.

Tutorial: Done in small groups of 30 people, with 1 epidemiology TA teaching you like a high school class. They were pretty enjoyable and Cat’s awesome at teaching us. We got to conduct self designed RCTs on the relationship between speed of band-aid removal and reported pain levels. Tutorials were more helpful than the lectures TBH cuz they provide more detailed examples and the TA takes you through the concept step by step at a decent pace.

Workshop: The intention is that this is a PASS session of sorts for BMS1042 (they even kick each session off with a kahoot), but in practice, the crowdedness of the room (90+ people) spoiled the whole experience for me. Similar to the physics workshops, the TAs run these like Dora the Explorer too, taking a billion years to go over the solutions and sometimes not finishing in time. Many people including me were working on our other subjects during these sessions and I stopped going after week 5 or so.

Ebooks: For every tutorial and workshop there’s a corresponding ebook on Alexandra Repo. Anything from the ebooks is examinable. Honestly they were more useful than the tutorials and workshops per se, because they clearly modelled these after Khanacademy articles with the interactive check your understanding quizzes.

Stats assignment: Very easy to get a really high score, I got 99% by following the lecture slides steps and interpreting the confidence intervals etc with the stock explanations provided in the lectures. There’s ample time since you’re given nearly a month to do it, including the mid-sem break.

Group project: My least favourite part of the unit. We had to do an oral and a written report comparing the accuracy of a media article and a journal article on a given health issue (we were given impact circadian rhythm on diet choice). I had 4 people in my group and only myself and a Bachelor of Psychology kid were useful. One of my teammates tried to start arguments with me all the time. He was deleting what I’ve thoughtfully written for hours (luckily I backed it up), saying my grammar was trash when he’s saying stuff like “you is right”. The other was a double degree student with engineering, she kept saying how she’s busy all the time with her eng assignments and doesn’t have much time. In the end I had to write almost the whole script for the oral and beg everyone to memorise it. Luckily, the psych girl decided to write her own part that was actually really good, so we carried the group and got 49/50 on the oral. Since we knew the other 2 weren’t useful, we worked on the 2000-word report together and managed to get 64/70. Turnitin gave us a heart attack at 17% match, but Penny reassured us that they’ll check it manually for plagiarism too. Worst part of the group project, CATME got removed so I can’t even complain about those who were being lazy af.

Twitter assignment: Easy 5% of your overall grade, you just post random things like playing dumb ways to die and media/journal articles on a public health issue. I took a photo of my CHM1022 lab manual risk assessment and it still got the marks as a public health initiative. Half of the marks came from an infographic poster on a health issue, I did a mediocre one on smoking and still got full marks.

Moodle quizzes: Tested knowledge from weeks 1-3 and 4-6 IIRC. 20 questions in 30 minutes is not a lot of time, so be sure to have all your lecture notes with you when you start. Apparently these questions were taken from past exams. Easy to do well on if you avoid dumb mistakes and manage your time effectively.

Exam: 2 hours for 60 multis. The practice quizzes were definitely harder than the actual exam. I was expecting tons of complicated epidemiology theory on the exam, but I overestimated it. Better safe than sorry I guess. The stats section was exactly how you would expect it to look like. There were also some questions that were both stats and epi, possibly to illustrate how these studies are heavily intertwined. Nice bonus that the unit name was spelt wrong on the eExam, as “Public health and PREVENTATIVE medicine”.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 15, 2019, 02:17:36 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1052 – HUMAN NEUROBIOLOGY

Workload:
3 x 1 hour lecture
1 x 3 hour lab every second week

Assessment:
40% from all labs
2 x 10% mid-sems
40% end of semester exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, only some revision questions in SAQ format while the exam is multi-choice

Textbook Recommendation:  Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain, really good textbook, helped me understand lecture content and saved my GPA.

Lecturer(s):
Nic Price
Ari Pinar
Helena Parkington
Brian Oldfield
Siew Chai
Elizabeth Davis
Sonja McKeown

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Sem 2

Rating:  2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 86 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: The unit was structured well until week 10, the vignettes block of lectures which were extremely disorganised. I felt this is because it’s meant to be an odd-sock drawer for content that don’t fit in any other module. Anyways BMS1052 is by far the most intellectually stimulating unit of 1st year biomed, and I enjoyed learning new stuff everyday about how the brain creates the world around us. However, I rate this unit poorly because of the main lecturer, Nic Price’s attitude towards the students. Although he appears normal IRL, he can be quite rude and abrasive on the Moodle forums. Once, I asked him if we could do a role play for creativity marks in our journal club presentation.  He told me that it’s a bad idea and that we would look like idiots. Another time a girl asked him something while typing in a hurry, he told her to pay attention to her spelling, punctuation and grammar on a freakin public forum. Apart from that, the sheer volume of content also made memorisation a necessity, which I don’t like at all. Ari made the foundation lectures mainly taught by Nic more bearable because he’s epic at teaching us instruments in neuroscience research. Helena was an absolute legend at teaching us the ANS, everyone enjoyed her saucy jokes and wicked sense of humour. The dev bio lecturer was clear on what’s assessed and what’s not and was rather motherly, while the learning+memory lecturer just read off her wordy slides. Pharmacology was my favourite of the vignettes lectures, cuz it’s essentially application of our ANS knowledge in a biochemical context.

Mid sems: Nic deliberately provided us with practice quizzes but didn’t give us any answers at all. Everyone complained about this on the forum but Nic debated against it. I respect his decision, but am appalled at how some a*sekissers were labelling us as spoonfed and telling us it’s time to grow up. My mates have a theory that they were being so obsequious to gain favours with the lecturers to maximise their chances of getting into med. I partially agreed with Nic’s decision after he cited his reasoning with relevant education research, but that sort of condescension from some of my peers is absolutely unacceptable: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B_H7Fj2GgsFyQslO8N5HZPg8KH1FRrYm/view?usp=drivesdk. Sometimes, toxic people like these are the reason why I felt biomed has been so detrimental to my mental health and I thought about transferring to BSc many times. Anyways, I proposed a compromise system on the forum where we’re only showed the right answer if we got it right, but it was rejected.  In order to do well in the actual mid-sems, you’ll need to do the practice quizzes and find the right answer for each one, no matter how much effort it takes. The answers are in your lecture slides 90% of the time, but if they’re not, the prescribed textbook has the rest of the answers.

Labs: Similar to our previous physiology unit (1031), the labs were trainwrecks, but nowhere as bad as physics. The scratchie pre-lab quizzes were particularly bad (only scored 7.5-8.5/10) because I’m usually stuck with bad tables. The best labs were the “electrostimulation of dismembered cockroach legs” and “giving yourself an electric shock” ones, they were very enjoyable. The same can’t be said of the sensation lab which was organised very poorly, we had to swap stations way too frequently due to the amount of content and we had incomplete data. Luckily, the post prac quiz wasn’t overly difficult. The worst lab is the journal club group project. So much drama happened in that. I had to carry the group along with a hard working awesome group member. I wrote the script for everyone to memorise but one of my trash members kept telling me that the part I wrote for myself was too boring during a rehearsal. When I asked him why and how I may improve it, he just repeated that my section was crap. I tolerated this for 5 minutes, then I had enough, broke down and yelled at him for his destructive criticism and for him to write his own damned script if you think you’re so smart. He ended up memorising the script I wrote for him. The TAs were pretty unpredictable in their assessment of the oral. When we finished, they told us that we did really really well. However when we got the results back, it was a miserly 80.3%. Nic said we have no chances to appeal our grades since we should’ve asked for detailed feedback on the day.

Exam: Was very similar to the mid-sems in terms of difficulty, 95 multis in 2 hours so you have to work pretty fast and accurately. To prepare for it, I’d highly recommend looking at the mid-sems’ solutions once they’re released to figure out what questions you’ve gotten wrong and will likely get wrong again. Many of the ethics questions were curveballs NGL. In the end, I walked out thinking I aced it, but when the results got released, it implied that I only got 78/95 on the exam, oh well, c’est la vie, at least it’s still an HD.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 15, 2019, 02:18:09 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS1062 – MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Workload:
3 x 1 hour lectures
1 x 3 hour lab

Assessment:
30% from all labs
10% mid-sem
60% end of semester exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, Moodle trial exam provided

Textbook Recommendation:  Molecular Biology and the Cell 6th edition (not absolutely necessary but was really helpful with the DNA repair series of lectures)

Lecturer(s):
Fasseli Coulibaly
Terry Kwok
Anna Roujeinikova
Jessica Gibbons
Robyn Slattery + her mentor, the legendary Jacques Miller, discoverer of T and B cells and the thymus’ role in immunology

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Sem 2

Rating: 10 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 94 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: BMS1062 has got to be the hands-down best 1st year BMS unit. All the lecturers were extremely knowledgeable and friendly, especially Fasseli, Terry and Robyn who held prof in the park sessions to help students with additional lecture content queries. I found that all lectures were filled with interesting content and we felt supported all the way. The unit was pretty similar to VCE biology, with the exception of DNA repair which is one of the harder modules for me. What brings an already perfect unit to 10/5 would the time when Robyn brought in her mentor Jacques Miller to deliver half a lecture on immunology. He’s famous for discovering the function of the thymus and T/B lymphocytes and we just listened in awe of his presence.

Labs: All of the TAs were really nice, helpful and knowledgeable. My TA (Tanvir) was nice enough to check our work before we submit it to ensure that we will get a mark we’re happy about, but I heard other groups had harsh and rude TAs too. You’ll be doing a lot of gel electrophoresis in the labs, so as many others have noted it gets a bit repetitive. In a gel lab we even got to test our own DNA for the ACE gene to see if we’re genetically athletic or not. Needless to say, given I’m the only person who failed year 7 PE, I got the least athletic genotype. Like in BMS1021, the microbiology labs were my favourite cuz they improved my logical reasoning skills a lot eg figuring out which resistance gene was transferred on the plasmid based on culture growth on antibiotic growth media. One thing of note is that lab coats are still required for computer based dry labs and I didn’t bring mine on the day so I had to get a single-use one. I’d imagine they take getting infected by computer viruses pretty seriously cuz it’s crossing the species barrier /s.

Mid-sem: About what you would expect for a biochem unit, pay attention to the little details delivered in lectures and develop advanced skills in problem solving and logic reasoning. Not overly difficult, tests content from modules 1-3.

Exam: The exam was really long, originally 3 hours for 130 marks but there were numerous typos and questions involving content not taught in lectures. As a result, the final total is out of 127. It extensively tests your problem solving skills as well as detailed understanding of the lecture content. As Fasseli stated in a revision lecture, 75% of the exam was on modules 4-6 and only 25% was on modules 1-3 since they were already tested in the mid-sem. The labs were disproportionately examined, more questions than average focused on them.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 15, 2019, 02:19:02 am
Subject Code/Name: CHM1022 – CHEMISTRY 2

Workload:
2 x 1 hour workshops/lectorials
1 x 3-hour lab
1 x 1 hour tutorial (optional)

Assessment:
30% from all labs
2 x 2.5% timed Moodle quizzes (organic and inorganic)
10 x 1% pre-workshop quizzes
55% end of semester exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No, 2 (highly irrelevant) sample exams provided

Textbook Recommendation:  Blackman Chem, digital copy given to us for free

Lecturer(s):
Stuart Batten
Victoria Blair
Philip Chan
Tanja Junkers
David Lupton
Brett Paterson
Kei Saito
Drasko Vidovic

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Sem 2

Rating:  2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 92 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: After the dosage of pure awesomeness that was CHM1011, TBH this unit was pretty underwhelming, none of the lecturers stood out as much as Chris even though from the recorded lectures they certainly knew and taught their content well. Maybe if I had taken the time to go to the workshops in person, it would be more awesome, but the only non-clashing session available was in the early mornings and I’m a night owl. This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really liked learning about the different reaction mechanisms, Tanja (who also taught BMS1011) did a great job at explaining them, especially given that CHM1022 caters to beginning chem students. I survived by understanding the features of mechanisms eg nucleophile to electrophile. The inorganic section wasn’t ran so well, an entire workshop was a medical case study on how Cr6+ causes cancer, probably advertising for CHM3930 (medical chem). However, the lecture slides were all pretty clear so I could get all the info I need from there as I follow along the recorded lectures. Understanding the key trends of high spin/low spin complexes, transitioning wavelengths, splitting energy etc rather than memorisation is crucial to success in the inorganic section.

Timed quizzes: 1 hour for 10 multis, pretty manageable, just avoid dumb mistakes.

Pre-workshop quizzes: Easy to full mark similar to the CHM1011 ones, except Google is less reliable.

Labs: Well ran but severely flawed. However, Connor (my TA) helped me so much to navigate the sometimes confusing instructions of the online proforma report. There were 2 x 2 week experiments worth double the marks as a typical 1-week lab. They were IDEA experiments and were conducted in groups assigned by your TA. I ended up with a bad group both times and one of the reports were due on the same day as my BMS1062 mid-sem. I had to do a report on an esterification synthesis all by myself (it was a chemical very similar to aspirin), but got full marks on it. I wasn’t so lucky the next time. In both experiments, I had to clean up after Chinese international students who had bad attitudes. Even though I spoke their language and tried to help as much as I can, they still hated me and didn’t listen to my instructions. That’s why for an alloy composition analysis our calibration curve was messed up because they measured one of the samples with a BEAKER, not a burette as I wrote in the instructions. Then in the oral examination, none of my teammates knew the answers to the TA’s questions and since the TA isn’t our usual TA, he was pretty harsh and gave each member a limit of 1 question to answer, which means I couldn’t even help them by discussing the right answer with them. I was happy and not happy at the same time when the TA told us we got 74/95 for the lab, Schroedinger’s sad I know. Karma got to the lazy guys though, when entering their marks, the TA found out that they didn’t do the pre-lab quiz, which means they got big fat 0s and failed the lab. Still pissed that they dragged me down though but I guess sh*t happens. I did have the pleasure of working with a hard working group member who passed with me for both labs, even though his section of theory can have many technical errors in them. At least he’s trying, unlike the other guys, I respect that.

Exam: *incoming rant*. 2 hours for 120 marks SAQ, with 60 in organic and 60 in inorganic, The exam for CHM1022 was an absolute trainwreck, it was nothing like the practice exams given to us at the end of week 12. I was told by the lunchtime tutors that in the past few years, although mechanisms feature frequently on exams and were even once out of the course, it would be worth 5 marks at most. Most of the required mechanisms were very complicated and might actually belong to higher year levels from what I have heard. They brought the pass mark really low and scaled up the exam by a ton, because when we walked out, everyone was complaining that they failed. Luckily, the inorganic section was easier than the practice exams, but I ran out of time for a chelating ligand question as well as the NMR question in organic due to drawing those mechanisms. The good news is that the unit coordinators are pretty eager to improve things since they seem to have recognised the problems this year. They have invited students to a focus group interview just before O-week to survey us individually on how the unit can be specifically improved, our career aspirations as well as why we chose to study chem. I’ll be sure to voice my constructive criticism to improve this unit for future students, as a potential chem teacher in the future I want to play a part personally in the improvement of chem education in such a crucial unit as CHM1022 that serves as a prereq to many other majors.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: AngelWings on January 04, 2020, 04:51:13 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2922 - Spectroscopy and Analytical Chemistry 
Important Note
Important Note: This review was written in January 2020, after a subject review was requested, but I completed this unit back in Semester 2 2017, well and truly after my uni chemistry days were over. Unfortunately, a series of misfortunes have happened between completing this unit and writing this review (most of my Semester 2 2017 digital notes were unrecoverable), so this entire review is based on whatever paper notes I have remaining (of which there are very few) and whatever memories I have of this specific unit. As a result, this entire review will seem quite vague and may be inaccurate. To add to the list of tragedies, I recall this unit was about to change its teaching structure from 3 lectures to fewer lectures and more self-learning in 2018 onwards, so things may have changed a lot since. If you want a more accurate review, I would recommend DisaFear's 2013 one or Nerdgasm's 2013 one.

Workload:
- 3 x lectures (pretty sure this got cut down signficantly after 2017, as there was talk of this and it appears to have happened, because in 2020, there are no lectures and instead there's 2 x workshops)
- 1 x tutorial
- 1 x 3- 4 hr lab

Assessment:
- Mid-semester test: 20% (hurdle requirement)
- Practicals: 30%
- Assessments: 10% (pretty sure this was in tutorials and Moodle quizzes)
- Exam: 40% (hurdle requirement)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture (may not be available post-2017 due to changes in the unit)

Past exams available:  Yes, from memory, there were 1 or 2 practise exams provided. Can't quite remember if answers were provided or not. (Refer to Important Note above.) 

Textbook Recommendation: Principles of Instrumental Analysis by Skoog et al. (7th ed.) - If I recall, I personally borrowed this a few times from the library, simply to reconsolidate some information taught or get a bit more in-depth at times, when I could. Not really necessary, but was recommended if you were going to do 3rd year from memory.   

Lecturer(s):
- Associate Professor Mike Grace
- Dr. Toby Bell
- Dr. Jie Zhang

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2017

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: It was pretty average, but I felt it was good given my circumstances at the time.

Comments:
Overall
The subject overall was a challenging, but doable unit given the effort and time (both of which eluded me as a third year genetics student juggling this unit on top of two third year GEN units, two jobs and GEN3990 [research project unit] simultaneously, trying to get into genetics Honours) and might be made easier if you have any background in physics for some aspects (e.g. Raman spectroscopy), which I personally lack. It was a leg up from CHM2911, but also felt like a lot of different topics and content were crammed into a semester, making CHM2922 a terrible choice if you’re after a bludge unit and this unit is certainly not a unit you want to fall behind in. The reason I gave it a 3/5 was because I have mixed memories of this unit (refer to Important Note) and, due to the situation I was in at the time, having very little time to dedicate to this unit, so it was purely a personal rating. However, even without the personal factors, I still think my rating wouldn't have changed much, as it was a very dense and compact unit that it was pretty easy to fall behind and struggle with very quickly. (Basically, I'd highly recommend that you revise regularly.)     

A lot of the topics were about things that you probably haven't covered 100% well in previous units. If you did CHM2911 before this unit, you'll find that this unit might be more of a 'switch of gears', in that this unit is all about analytical techniques, not chemicals, their properties and theory like previous CHM units. As previous reviews have mentioned, the emphasis of this unit was of analytical techniques used in a forensic setting and how these machines work.

Lectures (Note: From 2018 onwards, I think they removed the lectures.)
Lectures got split up into three main sections, each with their own lecturers. I don't have much recollection of these lectures now, so I won't really review these, but Nerdgasm does a good job of it in their review (minus a few of the equations here and there). Lectures, however, may not even be applicable post-2017 due to changes in the unit.

Tutorials
CHM2922 tutorials were quite helpful in understanding some of the calculations needed for the exams, as well as being a good time to ask questions, if you have the time to do so, and a good time to consolidate some of the theory.

Laboratories and Practicals
The analytical techniques were primarily dealing with the 'cooler' machines you got introduced to very briefly in previous units and then some newer machines that were mostly self-explanatory or somewhat guided if you asked a TA (if they ever got to you). Techniques and machines like UV-Vis, GC and HPLC will seem rather familiar, but others were new, such as the Raman spectroscopy machine.

I don’t think that IDEA experiments returned, so if you enjoyed those in first year, bad luck. However, since some of the steps were sometimes omitted from the lab manual and most of the machines didn’t come with instructions (apart from asking a TA), CHM2922 labs felt quite independent regardless and it all makes sense when you get to the moot court in Week 12 anyway (more on this later). (You had to use the same procedure and analytical technique, because that's how they standardise it so that you can talk about the same case for the moot court.) Also, you got a different TA each time you did a new technique in CHM2922, so sometimes it was a bit of luck how helpful they were. 

I remember having to make a video on an analytical technique at one point for a 'practical' and that many practicals were 1 – 2 week projects. Again, lots of the pracs were dedicated to various forensic cases e.g. was this olive oil adulterated with coconut oil? As Nerdgasm discusses, there's a lot more involvement in the practical reports and I remember spending quite a bit of time on them. One thing that did change between Nerdgasm's time and Sem 2 2017 was that practical reports had to be typed, including your graphs, and all pages of your lab notes had to be signed by your TA and scanned into the same file and sent via Moodle. When you finished the proforma, it was already most of the report filled out for you anyway, so you'd just have to add in the final few aspects yourself, type, graph, scan everything and, finally, hand in electronically before the due date.

The final lab session was the infamous 'moot court exercise' most chem minor/ major students remember when they talk about this unit and located at the practise law court in the Law Library. The moot court was effectively a giant scientific debate about a TA-allocated court case from one of 6 cases that you'd have completed using one of the various techniques you would've learnt and done as a practical across the semester. You were also allocated a specific side (for or against) and wouldn't know what the case was truly about until assigned your groups, court case and side in Week 10/ 11 (I think it was the latter), to be presented in Week 12. This is always noted to be a bit of fun. 

Mid-semester, end of semester exam and other assessments
The mid-semester I can't remember much at all either, unfortunately, but it only assessed the first 5 weeks of content, which was a lot of the stuff you'd probably discussed in VCE Chemistry, if not in first year Chem. My recommendation is to take the mid-semester test seriously, as it is a hurdle requirement.

The end of semester exam, as like many of the other chem units, is a lot more difficult than the practise exam. The practise exam was reasonable at getting the basics down pat for the exam, but not quite the same difficulty as the real exam turned out to be. From memory, the end of semester exam only covered topics after a certain point (if I recall correctly, for my cohort, it was the content taught in week 5 onwards as somehow we got ahead of time).

As for the 10% online assessments/ assessed tutorials listed above, I can't remember anything about them. I have a vague memory of the online assessment not having a tutorial mode, unlike what Nerdgasm had back in 2013, but I could also have simply forgotten about it.       
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on January 05, 2020, 10:40:41 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC3041- Applied Analytical Methods (NOTE: This unit was moved to year 2 of BPharmSc as of semester 2, 2019, and renamed BPS2032)

Workload:  3 hours of “active learning lectures” per week (split into 1h + 2h), 6x 4 hour HPLC labs, and 1x brief LCMS lab

Assessment:  60% in-semester (a combination of labs and quizzes. Everything appeared to be assessed by v long quizzes lol. Apparently from 2020 even the exam will be one of those v long quizzes (due to moving to e-exam) that I never really understood, so I’m lucky I did this unit before that :P ))
30% final exam
5% flowchart for final exam
5% concept map for final exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. Although Laurence sometimes covers her mic if she’s telling something important.

Past exams available:  No actual exams available, but your exam is literally a bunch of HPLC chromatographs, and Laurence gives you the virtual lab chromatograms… so I guess also yes?

Textbook Recommendation:  None needed. Laurence and virtual lab were sufficient for this unit haha 😊

Lecturer(s): Dr Laurence Orlando (Unit Coordinator), Dr Darren Creek

Year & Semester of completion: 2019/1

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 72D

Comments: Concepts in this unit were easy enough to grapple, but those quizzes were really long (in some cases 3 hours) and they were written in a way that doesn’t gel well with how I study and remember things :(
However, I enjoyed learning how to use the HPLC machines and was lucky enough during the following winter break to work on the HPLC machines and the virtual lab as one of the project managers. 😊
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on January 06, 2020, 10:59:12 am
Subject Code/Name: PSC3211- Industrial Formulation

Workload:  A handful of workshops to make sure you understand your project, 1 presentation block for industry to present their projects, 2x 4 hour labs/week (from after midsem break), a couple of presentation blocks to present to industry.

Assessment:  5% preliminary presentation and 15% preliminary report, 5% for professional emails to mentor, 50% final report, 5% good lab practices, 20% final oral

Recorded Lectures:  No lectures for this unit

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  Aulton’s Pharmaceutics helped heapsssssss when writing that final report!

Lecturer(s): Dr Ian Larson

Year & Semester of completion: 2019/1

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83HD

Comments: It was an enjoyable unit in the sense of having a hands-on project to research and make stuff for, but my group was absolute trash, barely making any deadlines and me pleading for stuff to be done and made things really hard when it came to crunch time. There was many a breakdown and late night for this subject, and it made me absolutely hate group projects. Thank God for CATME for saving my grade for this one!

Note: this subject is still relevant to the new degree- its new code is BPS3311 from semester 1, 2020!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on January 07, 2020, 11:02:04 am
Subject Code/Name: PSC3221- Biomolecule Formulation and Modified Release Technologies

Workload:  2 lectures/week, a couple of (semi-useful but non-compulsory) tutes

Assessment:  10% pharmatopia module, 20% midsemester test, 20% individual report, 50% final group report

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  I don’t think I used a textbook for this unit!

Lecturer(s): Professor Colin Pouton (unit coordinator), Dr Angus Johnston, Dr Ian Larson

Year & Semester of completion: 2019/1

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90HD

Comments: It was an enjoyable unit, and I really loved the content covered- so much so, that I chose to do my honours based on a topic in this unit.
After midsem test, I really didn’t have any incentive to go to the lectures, but I still went anyways- sipping tea and listening to Colin :D
Out of all the units I did for this degree- this one’s my favourite!

Note: this subject is still relevant to the new degree- its new code is BPS3321 from semester 1, 2020!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on January 08, 2020, 10:28:06 am
Subject Code/Name: PSC3231- Pharmaceutical Product Manufacture

Workload:  2 x 2h lectures/week, 1 x 3h lab/week

Assessment:
25% final report (on Creams)
16% final DoE excel sheet
6% tablets report (group)
16% DoE quizzes (4x 4% and then a hurdle basic DoE sheet with peer feedback)
4% tablet quiz
2% Tablet batch record
6% Written SOP on equipment
10% Video SOP
5% Creams designed batch record
10% Creams protocol design

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  Aulton’s Pharmaceutics and Handbook of Pharmaceutical Excipients were useful for making protocols

Lecturer(s): Dr Laurence Orlando

Year & Semester of completion: 2019/1

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 72D

Comments: A really full-on unit, which needed to be worked on nearly every day to finish the tasks on time. A program we used for the two reports, Design Expert (a DoE software) was a pain in my butt, but I survived nonetheless. As with the other units I had in semester 1, 2019, this unit was pretty much filled with groupwork, with only a small smattering of individual work.
The DoE template that is your final one takes forever to make- I recommend working on it at least every day or two from when you start making it!

Note: this subject is still relevant to the new degree- its new code is BPS3331 from semester 1, 2020!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on January 09, 2020, 11:10:06 am
Subject Code/Name: PSC3142- Computational Drug Design

Workload:  2 x 1h lectures/week (weeks 1-5,6-10), 6 x 3h computer labs, 3 x 2h workshops.
There was a couple of Moodle lessons to go through before the two SBDD workshops.

Assessment:
8% Structure Based Drug Design lab report (score moderated by workshop mark)
8% Pharmacophore lab report
8% Experimental Design report
8% Bioinformatics report
8% Molecular Dynamics report (this was completed over 2 labs)
60% 2 hour exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  2 were provided, from the previous two years. It was handy to focus my attention on stuff that was difficult. (MedChem units are tough. People kept asking me how I coped with this unit. It was honestly not that bad imo)

Textbook Recommendation:  In Silico Drug Design was prescribed for Structure Based Drug Design. It helped clarify a lot of ideas discussed in lectures, the lab, and workshop.

Lecturer(s): Dr Elizabeth Yuriev (Unit coordinator and absolute gem), Dr David Manallack (who’s now gone on long-service leave and said is unlikely to return to faculty), and Dr David Chalmers.

Year & Semester of completion: 2019/2

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 75D

Comments: This unit built upon the foundations taught in PSC3142, computational chemistry. There was a lot of work to be done in the first section, SBDD, as Elizabeth moved the majority of the teaching to moodle lessons. Everything else was pretty breezy and I did pretty okay on the labs (my average was between 76 and 80), but I crashed a bit in the exam, but then again, at the time, I focused too much on the fluffy snake unit oops!
As this is a medicinal chemistry unit, the labs were marked harshly, with ambiguous rubrics, however, I managed to do pretty alright (as I said above haha), despite everyone calling me nuts for doing this unit!
This unit also only ran over 8 weeks due to placement being in the middle of the semester!

Note: this subject is still mildly relevant to the new degree, as from 2020, it is smooshed into a single unit that combines concepts from both PSC2142 and this one. I think it may still be called computational drug design though, but check the current course map to be sure!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on January 11, 2020, 01:27:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC3212- Product Commercialisation

Workload:  2 x 2h lectures/week (weeks 1-5,6-10), some of these lectures were actually workshops for Connie’s topic though.

Assessment:
20% Mid-semester test (based on in-vitro, in-vivo correlations and bioavailability and bioequivalence studies)
40% Fluffy snake timeline assignment
20% Design-a-GMP Plant group assignment
16% fluffy snake related quizzes (careers in pharmaceutical development timeline (avatars) (6%), FDA and EMA guidelines (6%), drug discovery process (4%))
4% GMP Quiz

Recorded Lectures:  Yes for Laurence and Connie’s lectures, not for the workshops

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  Drugs: From Discovery to Approval, which Laurence linked in the moodle site as she wanted us to read it haha

Lecturer(s): Dr Laurence Orlando (Unit coordinator), Dr Cornelia Landersdorfer

Year & Semester of completion: 2019/2

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 77D

Comments: This unit was delivered in random segments imo. We started by going through the drug development process in week 1 (which is topic 1), and then jumped into topic 3- pharmacokinetics (In-vitro in-vivo correlations, bioavailability and bioequivalence studies). The latter built up on what was taught in PSC2041, and I found it really enjoyable. Topic 1 (drug development) was a pain as it formed the basis of the fluffy snake assignment that literally consumed all my free time this semester- it was truly a lot of work for 40%, and I feel like that it could’ve been worth a lot more imo. Topic 2- GMP was rather dry, but designing the GMP with my friends was pretty fun, so we got over the dryness of that content pretty quickly haha.
This unit also only ran over 8 weeks due to placement being in the middle of the semester!

Note: this subject is still mildly relevant to the new degree, as from 2019 sem 2, it was smooshed into BPS2042 with other content. No more fluffy snake though.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on January 11, 2020, 01:39:25 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSC3222- Advanced Formulation and Nanotechnology

Workload:  3 x 1h lectures/week (weeks 1-5,6-10), 7 x 3h labs (2 of these were lab olympics)

Assessment:
10% Mid-semester test
60% final exam
20% lab reports (8% for labs 1 and 2, 4% for lab 3; labs 1 & 2 ran over 2 weeks each)
10% lab olympics

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No, but Angus gave ridiculously unanswerable practice questions that I tried to answer and couldn’t aha.

Textbook Recommendation:  Don’t recall looking at any for this unit. I did read a lot of research papers to write my labs though!

Lecturer(s): Dr Angus Johnston, guest lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: 2019/2

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 73D

Comments: I was so keen for this unit, but I really started to get demotivated from it because the marking was ridiculously harsh in this unit, and then lab Olympics came along and I had to go eat sad ramen with friends afterwards because yeah, we all weren’t happy with the outcome of how we went in that oops.
Angus’s content however, was nice and clear and concise, and I understood the concepts pretty well, and that really helped in exam study- and actually saved my score!
There was this one lecturer who works for a company that sells biosensors and told us that his lecture was not an ad. Believe me when I say that it was LOL.
This unit also only ran over 8 weeks due to placement being in the middle of the semester!

Note: this subject is still relevant to the new degree, and is coded BPS3322 from semester 2, 2020!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: sweetiepi on January 12, 2020, 09:44:07 am
Subject Code/Name: PSC3232- Professional Placement in Formulation Science

Workload:  20 x 8h/day placement (weeks 5-9), 1x 1h workshop weeks 1-5, placement interviews in semester 1.

Assessment:
60% report
20% lab work
20% oral presentation
Reflections (unscored but hurdle)

Recorded Lectures:  N/A

Past exams available:  N/A

Textbook Recommendation:  N/A

Lecturer(s): Dr Laurence Orlando (unit coordinator), Dr Michelle McIntosh (chief examiner)

Year & Semester of completion: 2019/2

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83HD

Comments:
I found it really fun at my placement place, but found that traditional quality control just wasn’t my thing, which was helpful in determining what I’m doing next- going into the research side- which I’ve been interested in diving in more. The people at placement were extremely friendly and helpful, and I learnt a lot that went behind the scenes at a pharmaceutical plant!
I found this to potentially be the least stressful unit, aside from the oral presentation (infront of everyone) of the semester.
Note: this subject is still relevant to the new degree, and is coded BPS3332 from semester 2, 2020!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on March 03, 2020, 09:12:46 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFX3871 - International study program in banking and finance 

Workload:
1 all day learning session in November at Caulfield campus in November

Remainder was overseas in Europe from January 7 - January 24 2020 as this is an International Study Tour

Assessment: 

Individual Assignment 1 - 20%. This involved you going on to the Financial Times website, selecting 2 articles, reading them and then writing comments about them similar to the comments you see on the bottom of a newspaper article online like The Age or The Herald Sun. The instructions were very vague on this, leaving a lot of us confused as there were no formal requirements even with regards to word count. However, marking was very fair on this and as long as you choose articles relevant to the tour then you'll be fine. The key thing here though was to relate the articles to the organisations visited on the trip, otherwise you were deducted marks.

Group - 40% (Group presentation 20% and wiki 20%). After being enrolled in the study tour and having the Moodle page appear, you were randomly allocated into groups of 3. There were 10 groups overall, due to their being 30 students allowed to go on this tour with the 2 lecturers. In these groups, you were randomly allocated to an organisation that we were visiting on the trip. Before we left for Europe on January 7, we had around 2 weeks to prepare 10 PowerPoint slides to present at Caulfield campus at a learning session on November 25. These 10 slides were designed to explain the organisation, with the last slide listing 5 questions to ask the presenters of the organisation. To maximise your marks, make your presentation as engaging as possible and really do your research, as JP is looking for well-researched and difficult questions that representatives of the organisations will struggle to answer. Unfortunately, the organisation my group was assigned to declined, and the replacement was not announced until later, so the work we did was sort of in vain. The remaining 20% of the marks here went to preparing a Wiki report similar to something you see on a Wikipedia page, but using the guide depicted here. Again little instructions were given on how to structure the wiki, but I developed a way to maximise the design of the wiki, such that it was very easy to navigate. Marking was very reasonable for both of these parts.

Participation - 15%. This consisted of 5% punctuality, 5% attire and how you present yourself at the program, and 5% ability to work as a group and being considerate to others. This was by far the easiest way to obtain marks on the trip, as if you engaged really well then you would be fine. I went a bit beyond this and setup a WhatsApp group where I was the administrator along with the 2 lecturers (1 accounting, 1 banking & finance as we went on the same trip with same assessments) but if you put in the effort you'll receive close to 15/15.

Individual Assignment 2 - 25%. After the study tour was over, each participant needed to write up a report of no more than 2000 words reflecting on the experience. The main thing I learnt from this was keeping it formal and relatable helps to maximise your marks. The weighting was 10% to how this program has changed your perspective about business and 15% to what is the most that you learnt from this program and how this can help you plan and enhance your career. As long as you followed this structure you'd be fine and should receive 80%+ for your mark for this. Just really taking notes all over the program is key to maximising your marks in the report.

Recorded Lectures:  No as all class attendance is compulsory, however if you're overseas then you can send in recordings to the learning session in November.

Past exams available:  N/A as no exam for this subject

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook needed, as all material is covered via the FT website

Lecturer(s): Jean-Pierre Fenech - Also CE for the unit. This was JP's second time taking the study tour, and it showed as his passion and dedication was paramount. It was very easy for me to communicate with him, before, during and after the study tour, and he is a very well-learned lecturer on topics relating to both finance and general life. JP's contacts ensured that we had a really successful study tour. I really appreciate the opportunity for him to be the leader of the banking and finance study tour, and know that he will do a great job managing it in the future.

Year & Semester of completion: Summer Semester A, 2019

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
This is by far the best unit I have ever done at Monash. I was able to meet such a diverse group, and be with them for 17 days, that I have caught up with 5 of the group around 4 times since we came back to Australia. I absolutely loved this tour. The assessments may have been a little dodgy in terms of instructions, but once you got the message they were straightforward.

To get into the program, all participants must fill out a Google form for the program. You must have completed either Corporate Finance 1 for the finance program (BFX3871/BFX5860) or Financial Accounting (ACC2100/ACF2100) as a pre-requisite for ACX3500/ACX5951 before you are able to do this program. However the pre-requisite knowledge isn't that crucial, what is more to get in would have to be your marks in subjects in the past and your personal statement as to why you would like to do the study tour.

30 students are allowed to do the tour, which should theoretically be 15 accounting and 15 banking and finance.
However, this year the makeup was 14 undergraduate finance, 4 masters finance students, 1 accounting masters student and 11 accounting undergraduate students. So 18:12 ratio for finance vs accounting. Despite this, we all blended together as one unified group, and were always inviting each other out on free days / free nights to enjoy Europe.

The study tour consisted of visiting 5 different countries in 17 days. Over this time period, 11 visits to business organisations were conducted. These were both finance and accounting based, and students from both accounting and banking and finance programs went to all organisations regardless of their discipline. At each organisation, a presenter gave an overview of the organisation, and then the allocated group asked questions as they could unless anyone else had questions to ask. These were straightforward, so as long as you came up with valid questions you weren't penalised.

Even with all the business visits, I was still able to appreciate how lucky it was to go on a Monash study tour and get to so many countries in such a short period of time. Switzerland is out of reach for most university students, so even to be there for 1 day was amazing, as I was able to see such a beautiful country even for such a short timeframe. Despite the hectic nature of the program, I was the only person to get sick out of all 32 participants including lecturers, and even that was a minor ear infection which did not prevent me from still going to all business visits. This was credit to the large amount of walking that we did between visits, so be prepared for lots of walking if you go on the program.

Regardless, as a capstone unit this was an excellent way to experience the practical nature of both banking & finance and accounting. The world around us is far different to what we are taught at uni, so if you can do this unit apply for it and try and get in, as otherwise you're missing out. Yes, the organisation may be a little basic at times, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so seize it with both hands and think of applying for it already if you can.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: DoctorTwo on June 24, 2020, 12:41:04 am
Subject Code/Name: ATS2699 - Parties and Power 

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

Assessment: 
10% Quiz
50% Major Essay
40% Final exam
Note that the original assessments included a class test in place of the quiz, and, for me, this unit was delivered online due to COVID-19, so mileage may vary.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  No, and no sample exam.

Textbook Recommendation: 
The textbook requirement is Narelle Miragliotta, Anika Gauja and Rodney Smith (eds) Contemporary Australian Political Party Organisations Monash University Publishing, Melbourne 2015.

I did buy it, but it is also completely available online via the Monash Library, so you shouldn't need to. A chapter from the textbook will usually feature in each week's required reading, and the rest of the readings will be provided online.

Lecturer(s):
Nick Economou

Year & Semester of completion:
2020 Sem 1

Rating: 
4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 75 D

Comments: This unit is a good continuation of the content learned in ATS1945 Australian government and politics. The content is more advanced, but you should be fine if you do all of the readings. The lecturer is clearly very knowledgeable, and he had many stories to tell during each lecture. This was probably the only class where I actually looked forward to each lecture. Although the actual slides are plain and dull, Economou does a great job of making everything exciting, even online. I haven't completed it yet, but my understanding is that the exam will be 10 prompts, each one based on the content of each week, and essays need to be written for 3 of them. This was the same format as the ATS1945 exam. Also, the prompts for the major essay (50%) are available on the unit guide, so I would pick one before the semester begins, and make sure that you focus when the relevant week rolls around. I believe the unit is required for the politics major, and an elective for the minor. If you had the choice, I'd choose this unit if you were interested in party politics and electoral politics. The content really gets into the weeds on the structures of some of the major political parties, and the theory behind electoral politics. Overall a very good unit (although I wish it was face-to-face for me!).
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: dutyfree on July 09, 2020, 11:42:54 pm
Subject Code/Name: BIO1011 - Biology I

Workload:
1 x 1 hr workshop weekly
1 x 1 hr review seminar weekly
1 x 3 hr practical every fortnight
Approx 1.5-2hr online activities

Assessment:
15% Weekly Moodle quizzes
5% Post-workshop quizzes
30% Lab assessments
50% Examination

DISCLAIMER: Everything was online, including the labs due to Covid-19.
Recorded Lectures: Workshops and review seminars were recorded on top of being streamed on zoom and echo, Labs were only through zoom and not recorded

Past Exams Available: No, Revision super quiz provided – approx. 500 questions
Textbook recommendation: How life works, 2nd Edition – an online copy is provided

Lecturers:
Dr Thomas Hiscox (Unit Coordinator)
Dr Mike McDonald
Prof Craig White
Dr Richard Burke
(s/o to) Dr Callum Vidor (absolute legend <3)
Dr Kelly Merrin
Dr Ben Seyer

Year and semester of completion: 2020, Semester 1
Rating: 5/5
Your mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments:
Overall impression: I absolutely loved this unit, despite everything being online with zero physical interactions. All assignments were well organised and every change to the structure of the unit as well as weekly summaries were clearly communicated via email. The content is very similar to VCE biology but don’t worry if you haven’t done it, reach out to the coordinator early. I highly recommend attending the weekly drop-in sessions, even if you know the content pretty well, as you can learn a lot from the questions from other students. PASS is also an excellent weekly revision/catching up tool. The teaching staff and the tutors are super nice and highly knowledgeable and if you are having trouble with content, drop some anonymous qs in the forums or book a one on one zoom session with Tom.

Weekly quizzes (15%): Multiple choice, 20qs, 25 minutes, 1 attempt
Weekly quizzes are based on the videos and/or readings given each week. They are open book, and most are relatively straight forward, with some quizzes including application questions. The tricky thing was the time limit and preventing second guessing which, I guess, can only be improved by being confident with your knowledge.

Tip 1: Stay on top of the weekly content. It’s definitely easier to do this at the start of the semester, with your motivation at its peak but you have to keep going! This is where those drop-in sessions come in clutch, usually the same group of people attend, and you can make friends and form a little supportive community.
Tip 2: I hand-wrote all my summary notes weekly (twas two empty pens worth) but experiment with your note taking style, to figure out what works best for you. I tend to copy directly if typing but handwriting forces me to find only the key information and also incorporate mind maps and diagrams into the notes.
Tip 2: Don’t stress about knowing everything in the textbook readings, it tends to go out of scope or a bit too into detail. But make sure, you know all the bullet points listed in the consolidation sheets or the contents in the PASS sheets.

Post-workshop quizzes (5%): approx. 4-6 multiple choice qs but sometimes some had a few short answer questions, unlimited time
These can be a little tough at first glance, well at least for me, due to excessive research on the case studies. But the key to acing these, is watching the workshop, applying the knowledge from the content and once again attending those excellent drop-in sessions to ask about anything you find confusing.

Labs (30%): various activities including worksheets, a test and a lab report
You are allocated to a lab session and a tutor at the start of the semester. Make sure you attend these fortnightly as they are essential to get to know the practical and also to ask the tutor all the confusing questions. I was very lazy with these but prep before each lab is key; read the introduction in the manual and watch the pre-lab seminar to write down any qs you have for the tutors. In terms of the actual lab assessment, they are application style worksheets, usually based on a continuation of the workshop case study. Understanding the given criteria, making sure to fill each box and giving exactly and only what they ask for, will get you that sweet hundred percent.

Exam (50%): 120 multiple choice qs, 2 hrs and 10mins, open book and non-invigilated
The questions were similar to the weekly quizzes, in my opinion, although some were very simple, some were sneaky trick questions. The super quiz (mock exam) should be used to identify which areas, you need to focus your revision study on and not as a memorisation tool. The revision lectures and zooms were invaluable, they went through all the areas students found hard, multiple times. My revision consisted of making mind maps, annotating diagrams/ flowcharts as well as going through the bullet points in the consolidation sheets.

Extra tips:
Join the Facebook group chat if possible.
If you don’t do chem and haven’t done it prior, reach out to the lecturers as there’s a very smol part at the start of the semester.
Check out the unit guide, to plot out an estimate of how the semester will look like in terms of topics and assessments.
Goodluck! :)

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: dutyfree on July 09, 2020, 11:54:48 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1011 - Chemistry I

Workload:
2 x 1hr workshops weekly
1 x 3hr lab
1 x 1hr tutorial weekly
Approx 1-1.5hr online activities

Assessment:
10% Weekly pre-workshop quizzes
5% Tutorial assessments 
30% Lab assessments
55% Examination

DISCLAIMER: Everything was online, including the labs due to Covid-19.
Recorded Lectures: Workshops and complementary videos (including a demonstration) for labs were recorded, tutorials and lab discussions with TAs were only through zoom and not recorded

Past exams available: No, 2 mock exams provided
Textbook Recommendation:  Chemistry Blackman et al, 4th Edition – an online copy (2nd ed) is provided

Lecturer(s):
Dr Sara Kyne (Unit Coordinator)
Assoc. Professor Chris Thompson
Dr Toby Bell
Professor Alan Chaffee
Assoc. Professor Katya Pass
Professor Bayden Wood
Assoc. Professor Jie Zhang

Year and semester of completion: 2020, Semester 1
Rating: 3.5/5
Your mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
Overall impression: Personally, I found this unit to be average in enjoyment, perhaps it was due to all the labs being reduced to a short video demonstration or the lack of face to face interaction with the teaching of content. Thinking that doing well in VCE chemistry and my overall chemistry knowledge would suffice for this unit and consequently failing to summarise content each week was a huge shortcoming on my part. Although, the final few topics were very much tied to VCE chemistry, the initial weeks, especially quantum numbers felt intimidating at first glance, though during revision, I found my apprehension to be misplaced. I highly recommend posting on the forums and maximally using the available resources such as attending PASS and perhaps if understanding the topics is still difficult, going to Khan academy and Crash course. 

Pre-workshop quizzes (10%): Multiple choice, 10qs, unlimited time, 2 attempts
I found these relatively easy to full mark, especially given that there are two attempts and if I remember correctly, the second attempt contained the exact same questions. However, they definitely were a pain, some weeks had a ton of pre-workshop content, that you’re likely unfamiliar with. The concepts took me a while to understand, let alone grasping which particular equation applies to which question. Some questions were directly from the internet, so it definitely didn’t hurt to search each qs up, given there’s no time limit. These quizzes were essentially testing condensed pre-readings for the workshops, but I found it so annoying that the recorded workshops simply went over the same concepts with an added few questions and rarely some added content. Though I found these to be boring (the 2x button helped), they are useful in solidifying and applying your knowledge to the problems given. Make sure you don’t fall into the trap of never watching the weekly workshops due to the lack of content testing after the pre-workshop quiz.

Labs (30%): includes Pre-lab quizzes (2%): MCQ + SA, out of 5 marks, unlimited time, 2 attempts
Lab reports (3.15-5%): MCQ + SA + discussion and conclusion (350 words), out of 45 marks, unlimited time
Each lab was presented with a video demonstration, discussion slides, a Q&A video and its corresponding pre-lab quiz. The pre-lab quiz tested some key concepts as well as identifying the aim of the experiment and these were relatively easy to full mark, if you understood the concepts and read the corresponding experiment background and outline from the lab manual. The lab reports consisted of two main sections, the first being MCQs and SAs of the overarching concept as well as calculations and excel graphs related to the given results and the second section being a discussion (300words) and a conclusion (50words). Beware! These are due at midday on Monday and as a result of having a HD in the art of procrastination, I used to stay up the entire night, trying to rush these while also wanting solid results.

Tip 1: Try to allocate your lab session with the TA closer to the middle or the end of the week or whenever you are likely to have already completed your pre-reading and pre-lab quiz for that week’s lab. This will give you some time, to check out the qs in the lab report and find out what you need more help with and ask the TA about the difficult areas.
Tip 2: The art of writing perfect discussions and conclusions, is to give exactly what they want (listed above the discussion in bullet points, in the lab assessment. There’s no need to summarise the entire concept or be too wordy, I tend to start with:
1.   If the aim was reached – yes or no – why – link to possible errors (written later) 
2.   The results gained and if possible, the margin of error compared to the literature value in the lab manual
3.   The answers to the dot points, they “recommend writing about” (my TA used to mark us based on these – maybe ask them what their marking structure is during the zoom session)
4.   Errors and improvement – not necessary unless they had a high chance of affecting the results
-   Be direct with your writing as the word limit is sometimes tight and for the conclusion, simply state the aim and if it was accomplished and the accompanied results.

Tutorial assessments (5%): MCQ + SA, 40 minutes, 15-23qs, 1 attempt
These were the typical numerical questions requiring application of the equations and tests the concepts of the previous week (only 3 tutes for 3 corresponding weeks for this semester). I recommend attending the tutorial zoom session each week, they go through the tute sheets and explain the working out for each qs, I got lazy halfway and had to complete all the tutorial sheets during revision. I also encourage attending the PASS sessions and attempting their qs as well, to make sure your knowledge is solidified, during these you can also form separate study groups with peers in the breakout rooms. The PASS website also has a lot of links to videos and additional practice qs if you need it.

Exam (55%): 50% multiple choice and 50% long answer qs, 2 hrs and 10mins, open book and non-invigilated
My revision for this exam consisted of redoing the tutorial and PASS sheets, attending the SWOTVAC zoom sessions by the unit and the one by PASS. The mock exams were relatively representative of the exam, but the time limit does creep up on you especially when you’re nervous and some of my peers didn’t complete the exam. There were a couple of qs based on some random workshop video which sort of surprised me in a bad way and I had to reserve some precious time at the end to find (as it was open book), watch and answer the qs based on the video.
Tip 1: kind of a seemingly obvious yet important tip, have a periodic table and a formula sheet printed out and taped in front of your computer during the exam and assessments.
Tip 2: Ask for help! Seek out peers, FB group chats, PASS leaders, tutors, forums and lecturers; a variety of knowledgeable people that usually get paid to help you. I didn’t do this as much and I really should’ve reached out, especially when certain topics took me multiple YouTube videos to understand.
Goodluck!  :)


Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: dutyfree on July 10, 2020, 12:03:06 am
Subject Code/Name: SCI1020 – Introduction to Statistical Reasoning

Workload:
3 x 1hr lectures weekly
1 x 2hr applied class weekly

Assessment:
10% Weekly quizzes
10% Weekly workshop sheets
20% Assessments (1: 7.5%, 2: 5%, 3: 7.5%)
60% Examination

DISCLAIMER: Everything was online, due to Covid-19.
Recorded Lectures: All lectures were live streamed as well as recorded, the applied classes were streamed via zoom but not recorded

Past exams available: No, 2 mock exams provided
Textbook Recommendation: The Basic Practice of Statistics, Moore 8th Edition (personally, didn’t really use this)

Lecturer(s):
Dr Soojin Roh (unit coordinator)
Dr Daniel McInnes
And a plethora of TAs
 
Year & Semester of completion: 2020, semester 1.

Rating: 4/5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
Overall comments: I found this unit easy but dry. The high rating is due to it being highly structured and the topics being clearly set out with the corresponding lectures (as they’re being uploaded) and worksheets from the very start of the semester. The drawbacks of this unit include not receiving the ideal answers to the worksheets (as they are reused every year), not receiving the ideal answers to the assessments until the revision period and once again, how hard it was to watch the lectures and stay motivated. I only picked this unit as this was to be my mandatory maths unit in my science degree and secondly, as I’m self-diagnosed as being bad at maths (compared to my siblings) and due to reading many reviews, SCI1020 is supposedly the comparatively easiest maths unit (to which, now I agree). I recommend this unit, if you don’t like numbers, like me or if you’re comfortable with statistics/ further and are looking for a WAM booster.

Weekly quizzes (10%): Multiple choice, 10qs, 1 hour, 1 attempt
These were medium in difficulty but definitely possible to full mark especially given the excessive time limit. Most of the questions were directly copied from other American stat exams and since these quizzes were open book, I utilised my research skills well, albeit, I would make sure I understood the topic well, just to make sure I wasn’t too misled by a good mark and terrible understanding. Make sure, you read the stems well and sometimes, for some spice, they change the numbers up compared to the qs available online, so be a bit careful with the calculations.

Weekly worksheet (10%): Short answer mini weekly tests, due approx. two days from the applied class
I got really lucky with my selection of the time slot for the applied class (thank you allocate), getting the Friday applied class meant that as the weekend wasn’t included, my two days was extended to four days, to complete the worksheet. Even this didn’t prevent my ever-anxious brain from procrastinating though, although my tutor was super nice and gave one day extensions. I highly recommend, attending the weekly applied classes as sometimes you can practically finish the entire worksheet just from the tutor explaining each qs and they usually drop heavy hints about the qs they want you to attempt. Overall, the applied classes are a massive tool as although they are sometimes considerably hard to stay awake in, during the second hour, where you are left to your own devices to complete the worksheet, you can ask all your qs to the tutor. Furthermore, if you feel as if you are quite behind, you can email you tutor and/or ask if you can meet before or after the class to understand a concept or why certain answers were marked wrong.

Assessments (20%): Short/long answer, due approx. two weeks after released
These test approx. 4 weeks at once, as there’s usually one stem with several questions following it, corresponding to each week. This is when the lectures come in handy, as sometimes they do the exact same qs from future assignments along with a clear step by step working out, so make sure not to miss out on these lucky eggs. Its relatively easy to do well in these, if you have been consistent with your lectures and worksheets but if you haven’t, there are plenty of online resources such as the supplementary videos and online basic stats courses, that give you a step by step for common qs.

Exam (60%): Multiple choice, 60qs, 3 hrs, closed book and invigilated (eek)
This MCQ exam was unnecessarily given 3 hours but I’m not complaining as I believe, usually its short answer. It’s quite easy to be ready for the exam but only if you had done adequate preparation. A key tip is to make sure; you have completed the mocks as they are relatively representative of the difficulty of the real thing. Ngl, the fact that this was an invigilated exam made me more nervous than the actual exam content itself, as despite not cheating, I was scared they were tracking my eye movements and if somehow, I perhaps looked suspicious. But regardless, my tips would be to keep up with the weekly content and attend the applied class, watch the lectures live if possible and if not, making sure to watch the recordings. I suggest creating a one note page of a timeline of sort and compiling all the assessment and quiz dates and highlighting whenever a major assessment is due. Emailing my tutor regularly about my work and worksheets as well as consistently contributing in a mostly mute class, helped me create a good relationship with her (s/o to Vladka) and it can definitely be very helpful in tough times with regards to extra help or extensions.
Overall, this unit is neatly presented and despite sometimes being boring, you can perhaps seek motivation from the fact that you can do really well with little effort.
Goodluck!  :)

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: dutyfree on July 11, 2020, 04:34:19 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1338 – Language and Communication: sounds and words

Workload: 
2-3 x 1hr Weekly lectures
1 x 1hr Weekly tutorial

Assessment: 
20% Short answer exercise A
20% Critical review
30% Short answer exercise B
30% Examination

DISCLAIMER: Everything was online, due to Covid-19.
Recorded Lectures: All lectures were recorded, the tutorials were streamed via zoom but not recorded

Past exams available:  No, 1 mock exam provided
Textbook Recommendation: For the love of Language, Burridge and Stebbins, 2nd Edition – an online copy is provided

Lecturer(s):
Dr Kathryn Burridge (unit coordinator)
(<3 super kind & understanding + knowledgeable ofc)

Year & Semester of completion: 2020, semester 1.
Rating: 3/5
Your Mark/Grade: 83 HD

Comments:
Overall comments: The rating is a reflection of the unit being interpreted by a person who tried to get away with minimal to a medium level of effort, however, in terms of content, I found this unit super interesting and the lectures really enjoyable to listen to, even if they were watched very last minute, (albeit highly not recommended). Even though I don’t really remember much from VCE, this unit is quite similar to English language and it touches on most sects of linguistics and tries to give you examples of where its applicable in various fields. All the topics were really interesting, I especially enjoyed ‘Language Change’ and ‘Writing Systems & Literacy’. The different lecturers were highly knowledgeable in their specialised topic; however, I wish there were forums to ask them qs regarding their lectures.

Short answer exercise A (20%): 20 marks, 5 short answer qs, given approx. 3-4 weeks
Even though, I didn’t quite perform as well as I could’ve, this assessment can be full marked, if adequate effort and preparation is consistently done. The exercise approximately covers each week with 1-2 qs testing a key topic that was taught. I highly recommend attending the tutorial sessions weekly, however beware, depending on your tutor, be prepared to be put on the spot to answer qs.
Tip 1: Have a look at the provided textbook chapters as they usually have the same questions, just with different examples. Regularly do the textbook readings as well as their corresponding activities as they are actually quite interesting and very helpful with the final exam and the short answer worksheets.

Critical review (20%): 20 marks, given approx. 3-4 weeks
You’re given four articles, each of a different style and topics: Forensic linguistics, Sound symbolism, Australian English and Language & Culture. I selected Australian English, as that was the topic which I had the most exposure to (in VCE Englang). This assessed how you can most accurately and succinctly summarise the key contents of the article (which was essentially a research paper with findings) and then analyse the conclusions of the paper while adding your own interpretation into it. I found this quite difficult, especially given the word limit was approx. 900 and the article had 25+ pages, though I guess they were testing how we can really condense the information to be as direct and informative as possible. The key to doing well in this task, is to:
1.   Select the topic in which you are most proficient at and/or once you have had a skim down, that you think you are interested, to further analyse the topic
2.   Dot down the main ideas or concepts/ hypotheses that the article is discussing
3.   Then branch off these, to summarise how the article gives examples and studies to show the evidence of such concepts – however, keep the summarising to a minimal condensed version, as the tutors really want to see your own interpretation and analysis and not the article’s
4.   Analysis: broadly, what you think of the text and its writing style – one para for positives – perhaps explain they contextualise the concept in each study (by testing on young people/ only males/ only native speakers) and one for negatives: criticisms of their studies eg: participants – were only native speakers/ age/ gender/ ethnicity - and thus why the conclusions cannot be blanketed
5.   Check out the ideal review they provide and make sure you tick all the boxes labelled in that commentary

Short answer exercise B (30%): 20 marks, 5 short answer qs, given approx. 3-4 weeks
The is usually 20%, but due to Corona, it was 30% for my cohort to minimise the percentage for the exam. This task was very similar to the previous short answer task, just a bit more extensive and covered more topics though most were within the branch of Phonetics and Phonology. The lecture material is sufficient to answer all the questions but reading the textbook and going through its activities can give you a better idea of how to approach the final questions with language acquisition and sociolinguistics. If you’re finding any of these assessments difficult, you can book a one on one meeting with your tutor or Kathryn herself, they are super kind and are patient and these drop-ins are very useful, before submitting, just to make sure you are in the right track.

Exam (30%): 30 marks, short answer, multiple choice and long answer, 2 hours, open book
This exam would most likely comprise of all short answer qs, closed book, written test if not for Corona, so disclaimer! (for future readers). I found this exam to be quite difficult but doable. The time limit was a bit constraining on me as I tend to write too much and overcompensate (just in case), but overall it tests nearly all the key topics touched during the semester whether it’s through a single MCQ or a whole paragraph answer. In terms of preparation, make sure you keep highly organised notes under the weekly topics and dot down and are aware of key terms – their definitions but most importantly, how to apply and identify processes such as the various word formations: compounding, blending etc., all the ‘-nyms’: synonymy, hyponymy etc. and phonological processes: epenthesis, assimilation etc.
Tip: Print out the IPA sheet and ensure, you know how to read it and identify sounds by their articulation, initiation and phonation (vibrating chords/or not)
This is a very enjoyable subject, regardless of if you have or haven’t done English language; it shows a really good look at linguistics and shows how it can be applicable in nearly every field.
Goodluck!  :)

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on July 26, 2020, 04:53:11 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC3540 - Modelling in finance

Workload: 
1 x 2hr computer lab each week
1 x 1hr pre-recorded lecture per week (Not necesary but does help to explain the theory better)

Assessment:
Note that this has changed from Winter Semester 2020 onwards, so please only use this as a rough guide.

Weekly Excel Spreadsheet Assignments - 20%. These were relatively straightforward, as videos were provided on how to do these. They were just using basic Excel functions, so you were guaranteed to get near perfect marks for these. 5 spreadsheets were completed, and the best 4 out of 5 were taken into your marks worth 5% each.

Weekly VBA Spreadsheet Assignment - 20% . Again similar structure to above, but this time implemented using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). These were much harder than the Excel spreadsheets, but were far more relevant as the final assessment was only completed using VBA. Again, the best 4 out of 5 VBA spreadsheets were taken into your overall mark

Laboratory Exercise - 10%. In weeks 4,6,8 & 10, when you attended your tutorial you spent the first 45 minutes to an hour working on a tutorial exercise. The first half usually started in a Zoom breakout room in groups where you planned the task whilst being given a rough guide of what the task will be. The second half was the individual component where you worked on your own to try and finish the task. You could only get help from those in your Zoom breakout room, but you could not share your screen or anything to get help. These were not too bad, but the first laboratory exercise was implemented poorly, as it was done all on your own in a very tight time window. This is unlikely to be offered again, so if laboratory exercises are offered they will probably be following the structure above.

Laboratory Participation/Attendance - 10%. As long as you turned up to your tutorial, you were guaranteed this 10%. I had Josh as my tutor for the first half of classes, before he went to London to complete his PhD. He was replaced by Michael or Trav who is an absolute legend. Out of all the tutors in the banking & finance faculty these days, Trav has to be the most helpful, friendly and concise explainer of the content at hand. Definitely get him as a tutor, he will make your life much easier in any of the subjects he takes, particularly this, BFX3355 (Property Investment) & BFC3340 (Derivatives 2).

Final Assessment Task - 40%. This was the first time a final assessment task was implemented in this unit. Paul who is also the Chief Examiner has been trying to get rid of a final exam, and that was achieved this semester. It was hoped to replace the final exam with just more in-semester work and no final assessment. But due to COVID, the final assessment task was implemented as a quick fix to an exam. This consisted of two parts. The first part was you turned up to your tutorial in week 11 & were placed in your own individual Zoom breakout room. Whilst in that breakout room, you were working on the other 30% that being a spreadsheet using VBA only. Then your tutor would pop in and visit each student in the class individually, and ask a bunch of questions related to the VBA content. If you knew what you were doing, then you would get close to full marks.
The other 30% as said above was a combined spreadsheet taking into account all parts of the unit. This was tricky to do at first, but you were given 1.5 weeks to complete it which was heaps of time if you knew what you were doing.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No exam from S1 2020 onwards

Textbook Recommendation: 

Financial Modeling by Simon Benninga is recommended, but is only useful as extra reading. Not really necessary.

Lecturer(s): Paul Lajbcygier - Unfortunately due to COVID, I only met Paul once in person. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, but was mostly distant for the semester as all lectures became pre-recorded after week 2. In week 1, 3-12, only lecture recordings from S2 2019 for the master's equivalent unit were provided, which weren't really that necessary. Basically just try and go to as many computer labs as you can, as lectures are no longer important.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2020

Rating: 4 out of 5

Comments:
Firstly have a look at bobbyz0r's review here as not much has changed in terms of structure since 2016 and now.
This is probably the most practical subject offered in the finance department at Clayton campus. VBA is a really nice way to piece together all of the knowledge covered in the past in finance.
Unfortunately, because of COVID the assessment structure was a bit of a mess this semester. This led to the final marks being scaled down, which is the first time I have ever encountered that in my entire degree.
However, despite that it is a really valuable subject. Even if you do not have any programming knowledge, I would still recommend taking this as an elective for a finance major as part of a commerce degree. It is a great way to wrap up a finance major, as it blends together all the knowledge covered in subjects such as corporate finance & derivatives.
That being said, the learning curve is quite steep to start off with. Make sure you look at some VBA videos before doing this subject, as the VBA coding is a bit in-depth. But once you get the hang of things, it is not the hardest subject at all. I am pretty confident that a large proportion of the cohort scored a high distinction, so if you can do this definitely take it.

Computer Labs - Each week there was a 2hr computer lab covering revision of concepts from the pre-recorded lectures. Please try and attend as many computer labs as possible, they'll make you think about whether your code is correct and how you can improve it. In weeks that you are not doing a tutorial exercise however, they are pretty chill, so don't stress if you get bored in them as the tutors try and go at a slower pace to some people's background knowledge to ensure that everyone understands what's going on at the same level.

Overall, the difficulty of this is equivalent to some of my level 2 finance units. This is the most relevant and practical level 3 finance unit, so do take it whilst you can. Although the assessment structure will probably be harder in semester 2, I would recommend this for anyone looking to go into a quantitative financial background, as the VBA knowledge will help you get a leg-up on the rest of your peers.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on July 26, 2020, 07:09:14 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC3510 - Modelling In Finance and Insurance 

Workload:
3 x 1hr lectures per week
1 x 2hr applied class per week

Assessment: 

10 x 1% Homework Tasks - Each week from weeks 3 to 12, you completed a short homework task before uploading them on to Moodle. These were not too difficult, and were mainly just rehashing the lecture notes. There were some weird questions though, but fair marking meant that the penalties for not understanding the content fully was quite lenient.

2 x 15% Assignments - The 2 assignments comprised short-answer questions designed to extend your knowledge of the content. The first assignment made more sense than the second, but both did have quite a few curveballs in place. Try and start these as early as possible, as you only have around 2 weeks to complete them from when they are first released on Moodle. These are then uploaded to Moodle and submitted as a PDF or JPG file, compared to the past when they were placed in a submission box on campus, due to everyone being online. Again, the marking was very lenient, so you should be alright if you can understand most of the content.

Final Exam - 60% This was an invigilated exam done from your home using the eassessment platform and Monash eVigiliation. It consisted of 20 multiple choice questions over 3hrs. That may seem like a lot of time for 20 multiple choice, but a lot of them were very confusing at first sight, so it helped having so much time to go over each of the questions. That being said, I was still able to check over most of them a number of times before submitting. These mainly examined variations of definitions from the lecture slides, so were not excessively difficult. Like in the past, you are allowed to bring in 1 A4 double-sided sheet of handwritten notes, so try and make those notes as detailed as possible, and have as many of the key definitions from the lecture slides on them. For this semester, you were only allowed to write out solved problems from the lecture slides, not from assignments or homework solutions, so there aren't many problems to work with that can go on your cheat sheet. That being said, there was still plenty of relevant things that were able to be put on, so referring to them really helped as it enabled me to maximise my mark on the exam due to having so many formulae to be able to refer to. The exam was closed book as in the past, so again there are not too many complex calculations, you just to remember basic log laws such as log(1) = 0 and you should be good to go.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  3 sample exams were available with solutions on Moodle. However, this semester the exam switched to 20 multiple choice questions, instead of in the past being just short answer questions. Therefore, the exams provided are only useful for extra revision material, and are not the type of questions you'd expect to see on the exam

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbooks are needed, the lecture notes are concise and relying on them should be enough.

Lecturer(s):

Professor Fima Klebaner (Chief Examiner & Unit Coordinator) - Covered the first 6 weeks of content covering Brownian Motion, Martingales & Random Walks. Fima is a brilliant lecturer. Even in the online format, he still managed to make the lectures engaging, and was always willing to explain tricky problems in consultation afterwards. I really appreciated the lectures with Fima, he is the main expert in the field of stochastic calculus, so definitely try and take this unit when he's lecturing it (semester 1 usually).
Dr Ivan Guo - Covered the second half of the course on change of measure, binomial model & Black-Scholes. Ivan was always on point with his explanations, and made the maths far simpler by listening to him. He also wrote the majority of the exam, so if you were to listen to 1 lecturer for the whole of semester, it would be Ivan as he has designed the entire course structure to follow.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2020

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Comments:

Firstly, this does not apply anymore. ETC3510 and MTH3251 are now taught as one unit, with the same lecturers, same content and same assessments. The only reason you would normally take ETC3510 would be for actuarial exemptions or for an econometrics major as part of a commerce degree.

Would I recommend this unit for someone with an actuarial background? Yes because although there is a steep learning curve, it is still a maths unit at its core so it is taught far better than some of the other level 3 ETC math units. Ivan and Fima have taught this course for over 10 years, so they are very well-versed in the content. Fima has written a number of books on it, which are the industry standard for anyone in the stochastic calculus field, so it is worth the opportunity to take this unit if you can, even as MTH3251.

Applied Classes - The applied classes were pretty standard. There was tutorial classes posted on Moodle, and each week your tutor would go through the solutions to those classes. The questions were much trickier than both the assignments and the exam, so do not be stressed if you get lost halfway through a derivation. Also, the tutorial classes this semester were recorded due to them being on Zoom, so you can always rewatch them later if you're stuck on something. I had Jeremy as my tutor, and he was excellent in his explanations. I appreciated having someone who could clearly show his derivations step by step through each problem. Both Jeremy and Kaustav are amazing tutors, and both are taking the subject next semester, so if you do take this or MTH3251 (Financial Mathematics) next semester do try and get one of them as your tutor.

That being said, the transition to online format was a bit rough. There was only 1 consultation hour per week with lecturers, and no consultation hours with tutors. There is the Mathematics Learning Centre, which if you do not know is extra help for any math subject. However, I went once and the tutor on hand had not taken this subject in a while, so was a bit lost on the content. Therefore, putting in extra hours to really understand the content is critical to doing well. There are only around 30 students who take the ETC version of this subject, and 95% of them are for actuarial exemptions. But if you're a maths student looking for something in the financial realm of mathematics to take, do take this.
The content is not extremely difficult, but does take a while to wrap your head around if you are from a non-mathematics background. Once that is done though, you can expect a relatively decent mark, as the assessments are only designed to push you to a pretty standard math level.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on July 26, 2020, 11:19:20 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC3170 - Management of financial intermediaries

Workload:
1x 2hr lecture per week
1 x 1hr tutorial per week

Assessment:

Note that this is only relevant to 2020. In normal years there is a 15% group assignment, which was replaced with quizzes this semester

Mid-semester test: 25% Delivered as a Moodle quiz, the mid-sem consisted of 15 multiple choice questions and 4 short answer questions. Most of these were similar to the quiz questions delivered in the semester, and the short-answer questions were only theory based. Given that, the MST was not excessively difficult, and due to it being open book was also able to be relatively easily completed in the timeframe given (1hr 10 mins including reading time). This made it preferable compared to doing it in-person, so having the opportunity to do it online took a lot of stress away

Online Test 1 & 2 - 15%. These were two online quizzes run on Moodle. They were each open on a Thursday, one in week 5 the other in week 10. Between 7am and 7pm you had 1 attempt to take each of these quizzes on Moodle. Both quizzes were fully multiple choice. This made them easy and difficult, as although multiple choice does give you the answer, the questions were phrased in a way that tricked me quite a number of times. This led to most of the cohort being tricked in Online Quiz 1, which was revised for quiz 2, meaning most of the cohort did far better in quiz 2. That being said, this is special to the 2020 calendar, so for next year I expect these quizzes to be replaced with a group assignment, as only that would be a far more demanding assessment compared to the quizzes.

Exam - 60%. Again run as a Moodle quiz, the exam consisted of 40 multiple choice questions and 4 short answer questions. It mainly covered topics from the second half of the semester. Due to it being a Moodle quiz, like the mid-semester test, I did not feel pressed for time, as being in an online format made the timeframe far more manageable for me. The short-answer questions did stray a bit beyond lecture content, but as long as you have the textbook accessible in some form you'll do fine.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No exams provided at all. Not as relevant anyways this semester as the exam was a Moodle quiz, but very difficult to obtain exams for this subject usually.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Financial Institutions Management, A Risk Management Approach 4th edition by Lange et al. is the prescribed textbook for the subject. You definitely need to have the textbook in some shape or form, as it is where tutorial questions for each week are assigned from. No copies of these questions are provided on Moodle, so if you want to keep up with coursework, you need to have access to the book. It also helps with understanding the content, as the explanations in the textbook are far more detailed and well-versed compared to the lecture slides. A PDF copy is available through ProQuest here, which is enough to follow the material on a regular basis.

Lecturer(s):

Hassan Naqvi - Also chief examiner and unit coordinator. Hassan took all 12 lectures, and although he was late to every one of them he more than made up for it in the delivery of the content. Despite speaking to an empty lecture room each week, his explanations were on point and made sense considering the content taught. He also frequently ran overtime, and always recorded extra supplements which were uploaded to Moodle within 1 week of the lecture running. Hassan has plenty of experience in terms of lecturing the content, and it showed, as he always went beyond the lecture slides to provide comprehensive explanations for students.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2020

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Comments:

When you hear the word management of financial intermediaries I guess you think that this is a very content driven subject. It is, which can get a bit dry, but I appreciated how relevant the content is to working in a bank or large financial institution. Some of the regulations, such as Basel capital regulations are pertinent in today's economy, so it is a good idea to take this unit if you imagine yourself working in a big bank, insurance fund or superannuation fund, as all of these firms need to adhere to requirements taught in this unit.

That being said, the content can be a bit dry due to all the regulation being taught. However, it is not excessively difficult, so is a good subject to take in semester 1, especially if you are looking for a finance related job in the future. Topics covered included liquidity & liability management, capital adequacy requirements, interest rate risk, off balance sheet risk, loan risks & securitisation risks. All of these are critical for any large financial institution, so to have this in your notebook will help significantly in working in the finance field in the future.

Tutorials - These were standard finance tutorials, running for 1 hr each week. The tutor would just go over tutorial questions posted on Moodle. The questions were that short that they usually ran for less than 1 hour. However, they were useful in going over tricky concepts that were covered in the lectures in minimal detail.

Hassan is also very generous and helpful, so it was great to have him teaching the content, as he set a course structure that was very fair and relevant to bank regulation today. Due to this, I would recommend this subject if you are looking for something that will help lead to a career in bank management. Having knowledge of bank risks under your sleeve will ensure that you can find strategies to help mitigate these risks, as you have already been taught about them in the past.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on July 26, 2020, 11:55:49 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC3550 - Applied forecasting 

Workload: 
2 x 1hr lectures per week
1 x 1.5 hr computer laboratory per week

Assessment: 

Weekly assignments - 20%. Each week you are given a short assignment to do. Normally there would be 10 short assignments, each worth 2%. But this semester was a little different, with there being 8 assignments, 2 being worth 4% and the remainder worth 2%. Usually, these did not take too long to complete, but occasionally they could be slightly confusing. Particularly when it came to mathematical derivations, make sure you know all the content being taught and can apply it to ensure you get full marks in the in-semester assignments.

Retail Forecasting Project - 20%. This was mainly just taking everything you learnt in the unit and applying it to a real dataset. Each student was given a random dataset based on their student ID. This was taken from the ABS data on retail trade. From there you applied methods in class to forecast future sales, and then wrote that up in a neat report in R. This was not too hard to complete, but there are many tiny details that you can miss if you do not fully the rubric properly, such as graph labelling and selecting parameters for various tests. Make sure you check over every part of your project before you submit, as there are intricate details that you could be caught out on.

Exam - 60%. This was delivered as a Moodle Quiz for the first time. It followed the same structure as previous exams, but included some coding in R, with students being required to paste output into Moodle. Due to this, 3.5hrs + 10 mins reading time was allocated to ensure that everyone had enough time to write down answers and upload them, or copy code in R into Moodle. This was difficult to fully implement, and tough marking also meant that grades were lower than expected overall. Despite this, the exam was relatively achievable, due to it being open-book, but it did still present some challenges such as minor technical difficulties.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, past 5 years of exams provided with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Forecasting: Principles and Practice - 3rd edition is the prescribed textbook and is a must for the unit. Luckily, it is available fully online here, but make sure you have access to it before the start of each class.

Lecturer(s):
Professor Rob Hyndman - Rob is amazing. Please try and do this unit if you can. The amount of resources he has for this unit is astonishing. Rob has been teaching forecasting at Monash for over 15 years, and it shows. He has developed nearly all of the forecasting methods used, and they make understanding the content far easier when you are taught by someone who wrote everything being used in the subject.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2020

Rating: 5 out of 5

Comments:

This has got to be the most well-run subject at Monash. Rob has so many resources at hand that you are unlikely to be lost for help when you are undertaking this subject.
The main advice I would give is have some background in R and RStudio before you take this subject. The subject uses R and RStudio regularly to replicate methods taught in the lectures. So, having some background in that will come in handy, as you will be comfortable with working in R on a regular basis.

Computer Laboratories - These were standard except that they were run on Zoom due to 2020 circumstances. You mainly worked on problems assigned each work, most often in Zoom breakout rooms to maximise discussion between students. The problems ranged from being relatively straightforward to somewhat difficult, particularly in the mathematical components. That being said, detailed solutions were provided to the problems, so they did make sense after going through the solutions. Make sure you go through them before the exam, as it will help with getting a deeper understanding of R coding and interpretation of real-life datasets. I had Sayani as my tutor who was excellent, but Rob has such a vast calibre of PhD students that all of them are amazing in their own right.

Other than that, this is a really fun and interesting unit to take. Rob has developed a perfect university course based on his own research, that when learning the unit you really feel like you are experiencing the brains behind all forecasting methods used at Monash. Plus the unit is that well recognised that there is an award here that awards a US$100 prize, a Certificate of Achievement, and one year’s free membership of the International Institute of Forecasters (IIF) to the highest scoring student in the subject. So, if you do well enough, you become an automatic member of the IIF, which is amazing as it translates work done in university into practice.
Do not miss out on the opportunity to take this unit if you can, you will not regret taking it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Owlbird83 on December 04, 2020, 10:40:14 am
Subject Code/Name: BIO1022 - Life on Earth 

** @peoplefromthefuture This year is the covid/online learning year

Workload: 
One 1h workshop per week (zoom)
One 1h revision seminar per week (zoom)
Five labs throughout semester (1.5h lab seminar + 2h lab zoom in smaller group)

Assessment: 
20% weekly quizzes on content and workshop (2% each quiz)
30% Lab assessments (8% + 5% + 7% + 5% + 5%) ->Mostly multiple choice quizzes on lab content, also one included a scientific drawing and one group zoom power point presentation.
50% multiple choice exam (120 questions in 130mins)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available: Sample exam you could do a number of times and get different practice questions

Textbook Recommendation:  They provide the textbook online in the prelearning content

Lecturer(s):
Dr. Thomas Hiscox
A/Prof. Alistair Evans
A/Prof. Anne Peters
Dr. Matt Piper
Prof. Craig White
Prof. Ros Gleadow
Dr. Kelly Merrin
Dr. Callum Vidor
Dr. Ben Seyer

Year & Semester of completion: 2020 -all completely online using zoom (live workshops/seminars), panopto (to watch recorded lectures), moodle (the website that has all learning content and everything else for your unit)

Rating: 5 out of 5!!! Best unit seriously. Although I already loved bio, I think anyone who felt meh about bio would also love this unit because of the staff and organisation. The first year bio team stand out a lot compared to the other units. This unit adapted extremely well to online-learning and very quick to adjust things that weren't working or in response to feedback (also talking about BIO1011).

Your Mark/Grade: 92

Comments:
-The lecturers and TAs were all awesome. I was very motivated to attend live zoom workshops because not only is learning good, but all the staff were so relaxed and banter-y, I can honestly say I have laughed out loud (maybe I laugh easily though) while watching majority of bio zooms because of the comments in the chat from other students or the lecturers. Even though I didn't contribute to the chat much, there was definitely a sense of community in this unit, and I found the content all very engaging. (Big difference to the units where the lecturers pre-recorded themselves talking with a powerpoint). The bio workshops had 100+ people so no one really turned on cameras or spoke, just commented in chat. (Idk if any of this is too relevant if everything is back in person from now on).
- In terms of the group lab, I (and others I spoke to) found their groups worked well together.
- The weekly quizzes due each following Wednesday were so helpful because this was the only unit I didn't fall behind in because I knew I had to learn the weekly content before the quiz was due.
-If you didn't do year 12 bio you might find the week of immunity difficult, because I felt like they covered the same amount of content but in a much shorter time frame than VCE. So maybe learn a few basic VCE bio immunity things before that week so it's not as overwhelming. If you did do VCE bio I feel like maybe half of the weeks you'll feel pretty comfortable with the content that is similar and just adding some extra depth, other weeks are completely new though like that week on worms.
-Unit was very well organised
not directly related to unit content
-ALSO, one of the best things was this extra zoom each week they did that was optional called 'bevvies with bio' where they got guest speakers who is working in the field of bio to come and talk about stuff!! They were so inspiring and valuable!! Many were doing research but also they got others who were working in other random bio jobs. Not only was it cool to hear about their jobs/research, but I really liked hearing about their pathways to get where they were, especially because none of them had 'linear' paths. Although I'm not considering a career in bio the also just gave a window into what life and jobs are like. After each session I felt like doing a PhD/travelling to Antarctica/learning to fly a plane/etc hehe.

how the unit was set up
-'discovery' (reading textbook pages + watching short videos from lecturers) This is where you write notes on everything and pretty much learn and get a good idea of everything
-'apply' (workshop) The lecturer focuses on one aspect of the content and relates it to the world a bit more, and they aim for people to participate a little more through chat, eg cutting up fruit to identify different parts, looking at skulls ad identifying differences etc
-'discuss' (discussion forums to ask questions) i didn't do this or use them much
-'reflect' (revision seminar) they have a poll at end of each week where people indicate the parts they struggled most with and using this data they create a presentation to cover these points again and people can ask questions and for things to be clarified. (I occasionally skipped this/had it on while doing something else if I felt confident with the content because it doesn't introduce anything new
-then the quiz! 20 (questions)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Owlbird83 on December 06, 2020, 07:48:05 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSY1022 - Psychology 1B

Workload: 8 x  2h tutorials throughout the semester (optional, but they were useful to attend because they aren't recorded and you don't get access to power points, and that is where they explain the assingments).
Basically each week you had to do:
-Textbook reading (around ~30pages per week)
-Read eworkbook (basically includes important parts of readings and occasionally new concepts not in readings + some videos and short online activities)
-watch lecture videos (these weren't examinable, and pretty much went over the readings again, so I didn't bother watching after the first few weeks) Roughly 2h.
-10 question weekly multiple choice quiz (assessed)

Assessment:  10% weekly quizzes. (You do 12 quizzes throughout semester, but they only take the marks of your best 10 so it's okay if you flunk 2!, [each quiz is 1%])
20% Research proposal plan. 950 words summarising 3 different past research journal articles on one of the topics you choose from.
40% Research Proposal. 2000 words. You can use the parts of your plan^ in your intro. (Continuously check the guide to make sure you've included everything they specify)
30% Exam. 60 multiple choice questions in 90mins. 'Closed book' but non-invigilated  ::)  (might be different in a non-covid situation)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, lectures recorded, but tutorials are not.

Past exams available:  They gave us a 20 question sample exam.

Textbook Recommendation:  You need to buy/find 'Psychology Research Methods' and also 'Psychology PSY1011PSY1022 a custom edition'
The latter is definitely necessary, it's pretty much your main method of learning for the psych content. For the research content I think it's possible to get away without reading, I preferred using the eworkbook mainly for these weeks because the reading was less fun and long/drawn out with words.

Lecturer(s):bold of you to assume i watched the lectures
i hope i didn't miss any
Dr Christopher Siva - Unit Coordinator
Dr Swati Mujumdar -Chief examiner
Dr Tony Mowbray
Dr Andrew Phillips
Dr Filia Garivaldis
Dr Melinda Jackson
Dr Joshua Wiley
Associate Professor Matthew Mundy
Dr James Coxon

Year & Semester of completion: 2020 =completely online

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 80

Comments:
-DON'T LET THE QUIZZES PILE UP!! Stay up to date as long as possible, because you will (probably) fall behind on weekly content coming up to assignment deadlines, and if you have already fallen behind before that you find it harder to catch up on the weeks of quizzes. Also try do the quizzes the same day as you've written your notes when it's fresh in your mind.
-There are 6 weeks on psych content, and 6 weeks on research methods (and some basic stats at end too)
-I don't think it's necessary to watch lectures (unless you have time and want to consolidate readings)
-I found it easiest to take notes from textbook, then skim eworkbook after and add anything to notes [psych content weeks]
-I reckon it's easier to base notes from eworkbook for research methods weeks
-there are a lot of complaints about marking in the psych faculty as they mark to a 6.3ish average. It's pretty hard to get above an 8/10 on an assignment that I've heard. Some tutors apparently give bad feedback on assignments or no comments on how things could be improved, whereas others give awesomely comprehensive feedback (I had a really good tutor luckily!).
-I recommend attending tutes! The (zoom) tutorials were most helpful for the assignment info. Towards the end there were only around 10+ ish people coming (out of 30+ish), I wouldn't say it's crucial to go but I did gain some better understanding of the weekly content that was gone over by the tutor, also really nice to talk to people in short 'activities'.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on December 10, 2020, 04:06:12 pm
Major: Actuarial Science

First Year Subjects:
ACC1100 – Introduction to financial accounting
ECC1000 – Principles of microeconomics
ECC1100 – Principles of macroeconomics
ETC1000 – Business and economic statistics
(Optional depending on double degrees)
ENG1005 – Engineering mathematics
MTH1030 – Techniques for modelling

Second Year Subjects:
BFC2140 – Corporate finance 1
ETC2410 – Introductory econometrics
ETC2420 – Statistical thinking
ETC2430 – Actuarial “statistics”
ETC2440 – Mathematics for economics and business
ETC2520 – Probability and statistical inference for economics and business

Third Year Subjects:
ETC3420 – Applied insurance methods
ETC3430 – Financial mathematics under uncertainty
ETC3460 – Financial econometrics
ETC3520 – Foundations of quantitative finance
ETC3530 – Contingencies in insurance and pensions (capstone)
ETC3550 – Applied forecasting for business and economics
ETC3580 – Advanced statistical modelling

Year of completion: 2020

Rating: 4 out of 5

Comments:

Background of the major:
Definitely a pretty elusive major in any business/economics faculty, or some would coin as one of the “hardest” majors to undertake in university, I think actuarial science gets a lot of clout and hate especially for the mathematically inclined even among those who don’t know what this major entails at all, so this guide might serve some benefit here.
To explain the actuarial sciences thoroughly one needs to know how an insurance company functions (since most actuaries work in this field). In a nutshell, people pay insurance companies regular premiums, so that insurance companies have this large pool of money they can do whatever they want with to pay for a small amount of their customers when they do get into gnarly situations like a car crash or death. This form of service is known as risk pooling, so that with a small price, you are transferring your own risks to be handled by a company that also handles the risk of other customers.
For the insurance company, this means that if you want to ensure that your company is profitable and not insolvent, you need to assess these risks, and see when or how they occur moderately well, and as an actuarial science student your focus is pretty much on these sets of problems.
In your first year you will be exposed to principles of accounting, finance, economics and basic statistics to get a feel of what the corporate world seeks in terms of general knowledge.
In your second year you will build a deeper set of skills specific to quantitative roles, theoretical and practical concepts of mathematics, probability and statistics will be taught in your second year, and in Monash it will be largely handled by the econometrics department, so you will learn a fair bit of contextual knowledge in econometrics as well.
Your third year is generally where actuarial studies gets hard/boring or even interesting for some people. In your third year, you build upon the theoretical concepts learnt in second year to focus on more theory, or more contextual problems in insurance or other fields. Namely, your focus will now be on the following areas:
1)   Life insurance (ETC3530)
2)   General insurance (ETC3420)
3)   Investments and quantitative finance (ETC3460, ETC3520)
4)   Statistical modelling and forecasting (ETC3550, ETC3580)
5)   Theory on stochastic (random) processes (ETC3430)
Doing well in your units in undergrad allows you to undertake exemptions for some professional papers with the Actuaries Institute (IAA) which of course is some form of a career boost, but people would really get that if they continue with their actuarial studies in an honours year, where they get to do the following units:
1)   Actuarial practice (ETC4110, ETC4120)
2)   Introduction to machine learning (ETC5250)
While ETC5250 is a unit on data analysis, the crux of actuarial management, or being a good employee/actuary is conveyed in the actuarial practice units. Note that there are many other remote options to do the above units from other universities.

Personal experiences:
I really liked this major/specialisation, but I entered actuarial science with a keen interest on healthcare policy and demography, so I felt that I bode well with actuarial compared to many, many people.
Generally, people enter this degree because they are simply mathematically inclined or interested in the “high remuneration” and job stability actuaries get (which is sort of a myth), then get disillusioned by the degree itself. So be warned that this degree is not for everyone. It’s hard not because the mathematical concepts taught are difficult or tedious, but because the contextual applications can be boring to a lot of people.
Teaching in Monash is really not that good, same could be said for many other degrees or majors I suppose, but I reckon with drive and self-motivation this major is doable for people with good aptitude in mathematics and statistics.
This major is definitely more useful and a big boost for double degree folk in econometrics/business analytics, data science, mathematics/statistics or even ECS/software engineering, as the skills built within these majors would definitely hone your technical capabilities to strive in many different quantitative situations.

Where I hope it would take me/where it has taken me:
Again, opportunities really do depend on what you’re looking for, and your own aptitude as an individual. I thought this major has really helped me both in expected and unexpected ways. For example, I have used a lot of the knowledge within the theoretical and practical units in my internship at an actuarial department in a Big 4 firm (which of course, is expected). I’m gearing more towards academic research now, for which the skills and knowledge I’ve been taught in the theoretical units provide a big boost, even in completely unrelated fields. Then again, your degree will not guarantee you a spot in these fields, really depends on your interview performances, soft skills, and all that.
I really hoped that the degree would have opened more doors now that I have gained more interest in tech advisory and developer roles. But I suppose you need a CS/SE degree for that so not really an inherent problem with the degree itself.

Edit:

Well I suppose it would also be useful for people to kind of understand the job opportunities for actuarial students (I haven't really touched on that yet sorry). Of course, the actuarial degree (and subsequent honours or masters courses) would be the main and sometimes only gateway to the actuarial profession. Actuaries assist institutions, mainly insurance and banking services understand and assess risk inherent within whatever market the institutions are in. Most actuaries either work in insurance or consulting firms that do insurance-related work as well, but there are an increasing number of "non-traditional roles" open for actuaries as well. I don't really like the word, since it's basically code for "another profession" in my opinion.
Actuarial jobs are quite competitive and hard to come by in Melbourne especially, but people transfer their skills to data science/analytics/finance a lot, plenty of job opportunities there. Salary increments are usually hiked based on the number of professional papers you've done, usually assessed by the Actuaries Institute (of Australia), but similar bodies exist in the UK, US and many other countries as well.
The final point in your actuarial accreditation is called a "Fellowship", that's when you finish all your exams and become an actual actuary. This point is also where all the actuarial clout on job stability, remuneration and all that stuff really become a thing, but it does take a while to get there. So yeah.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on December 10, 2020, 11:43:52 pm
Major: Mathematical foundations of econometrics
This major used to be referred to as the econometrics major, but there will be a change to that next year to accommodate for a more specialised version of the major that does not have significant overlap with actuarial science and business analytics, both under Monash’s Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics.
There has been quite a bit of change compared to the past, namely the inclusion of ECC3840, MTH3051 and MTH3140 which would certainly benefit individuals who seriously want to pursue academic work.

First Year Subjects:
ETC1010 – Introduction to data analysis (elective)

Second Year Subjects:
ETC2410 – Introductory econometrics
ETC2440 – Mathematics for economics and business
ETC2520 – Probability and statistical inference for economics and business
ECC2000 – Intermediate microeconomics (elective)
ECC2010 – Intermediate macroeconomics (elective)

 Third Year Subjects:
ETC3400 – Principles of econometrics
ETC3410 – Applied econometrics
ETC3450 – Applied time series econometrics
ECC3430 – Financial mathematics under uncertainty (elective)
MTH3251 – Financial mathematics (elective)
ECC3840 – Mathematical economics (elective)
ETC3460 – Financial econometrics (elective)
ETC3580 – Advanced statistical modelling (elective)
MTH3051 – Computational mathematics (elective)
MTH3140 – Real analysis (elective)

Year of completion: 2020 (under the econometrics major)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Comments:

Background of the major:
A lot of people don’t know what econometrics is, or might think of it as a mere subset of economics as a discipline. Well, that’s half true. Econometrics, I’d argue is a separate discipline, and deals with statistical methods for inference in non-experimental data.
There are 2 main reasons as to why we apply statistical methods differently compared to other fields (such as the natural sciences):
1)   The data within economics/finance requires our own judgement to identify cause and effects of certain variables (e.g. does high GDP growth result in high employment? Or the other way around? Who knows. Maybe they affect each other like a cycle).
2)   We want to test economic/financial theory and that often comes with very structurally complex systems, more so than applied research in the natural sciences. For example, how would one quantitatively analyse entire tax structures on the economy?
So there you have it, in a nutshell, it’s just a set of statistical tools (that overlap with the broader field of statistics, a lot) used to analyse non-experimental data. With this, we hope to verify, or quantify the effects of different variables or systems for economic/financial theory.
In your second year, you will build upon essential skills required in research in econometric theory or applied econometrics, and that includes an introduction to the discipline + some other prerequisites (theoretical mathematics, probability and statistics, and some knowledge on microeconomics and macroeconomics if you do choose the economics units).
As with the actuarial program, the third year in the econometrics major will provide you with more specific theoretical and practical underpinnings of econometrics. One would argue that the major itself is mostly theory. Broadly, you will encounter topics in:
1)   Econometric and economic theory (ETC3400, ECC3840)
2)   More underlying mathematical skills (MTH3051, MTH3140)
3)   Financial mathematics and stochastic (random) processes (ETC3430, MTH3251, ETC3460)
4)   Time series (ETC3450, ETC3460)
5)   Applied econometrics and modelling (ETC3410, ETC3580, ETC1010)

Personal experiences:
I enjoyed this major a lot, way more so than actuarial science. I guess it really fit my personality a lot, since I really liked reading and writing about economics and economic policy, particularly in healthcare when I started my undergraduate degree (obviously my interests have diversified since then). I was also always interested in venturing into academia as well, and I really think that this major only suits very specific people (those who want to get into academic research!). Most people who major in this are better off or would be happier doing something else. 
If you really liked mathematics then you should try the mathematics majors at the science faculty, and if you really want to make it in corporate/data science, well you should undertake business analytics/data science and work on problem solving and soft skills.
Teaching is really a hit at miss in this major, there are a few units that definitely hit the sweet spot in teaching quality, and others, not so much. I would prefer the current structure, and would encourage people to do the more mathsy units if possible (MTH3251, MTH3140 are a must, MTH3051 less so because of bad teaching I guess). Definitely the units that involve R (ETC1010, ETC3410, ETC3580) for good grounding in programming. In many cases you will need to self-study some pre-requisite knowledge such as linear algebra or differential equations, but people get by I guess. 

Where I hope it would take me/where it has taken me:
With the exception of actuarial science I guess this is the most mathematical option you are going to get within the commerce faculties of all universities (including UniMelb) since Monash is the only Australian university with a dedicated econometrics department, and is highly ranked as well. Definitely super underrated in terms of research quality and output, which, only insiders in academia would know.
If your end goal is to be an academic in any business/economics domain, this major is definitely the place to start. Not only does it drill hard concepts specific to econometrics within you early, the Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics at Monash is on par with many top universities to publish material on good journals in the econometrics, operations research and social sciences field.
Monash is very well-connected with a diverse range of groups and institutes (SSA, ACEMS, QFRA, IIF, etc.) so you will definitely reap the benefits of doing academic research here. One field that’s pretty hot at the moment would be developing R tools and statistical programming in R, for which Monash also has very famous supervisors (Dianne Cook, Rob Hyndman).
From this major you can progress to an honours year/masters in econometrics, or even QTEM, which is like a pretty reputable applied masters course that spans a few countries. Pair this up with a business analytics/CS/data science major/degree, and you will definitely have a good place in academia should you do well in your studies.
I’m only beginning more academic research in and out of Monash and I have already noticed considerable benefits and advantages that econometrics at Monash provide already, so I’d give this a recommend if you’re interested in academic work.
With that being said though this major definitely falls short when it comes to good industry exposure (I think Monash is pretty weak on that in general), compared to the data science major, or even business analytics at other universities like Swinburne/Deakin. Do think twice if your goal is to go for industry positions, as this major will not prepare you for that too well.
Based on my own experience, I have never really used the econometrics part of my degree in industry, well aside from R. You’ll be qualified for most positions that are open for the economics major as well, or even quantitative roles outside of university, but do bear in mind that you will notice a lot of gaps in knowledge (e.g. financial knowledge or programming) that you will need to make up for compared to other students. Some companies (e.g. Frontier and Deloitte) have econometrics departments as well but that’s a minority.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: VanillaRice on December 13, 2020, 10:04:59 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3241 - Random processes in the sciences and engineering 

**This unit was taken in online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic**

Workload: 
Per week: 3 x 1-hour lectures, 1 x 2-hour support class

The lectures were based around a set of skeletal notes, and the notes were formatted very similarly to MTH2222 (I think Kais wrote the notes for both units). The lectures were livestreamed from one of the maths lecture theatres on campus, and Kais tried his best to engage with those watching via the live chat.

There was a single support class with 4 tutors (including the lecturer, Kais). We were split into random breakout rooms of 3-5 students each week to work on the weekly problem set. Each tutor would be assigned to 1-2 breakout rooms. Understandably, there were times during the breakout rooms where I felt like it was just me and one other student participating, but I guess this experience is ubiquitous across online learning. The weekly problem difficulty was variable, and often there were questions where there was a lot of tedious algebra or the solution was quite difficult. Don't be too worried if you found these difficult - the assignment, MST and exam questions are for the most part quite doable.

Assessment:
8 x homework (12% total)
Each week, we were required to submit worked solutions to a problem relating to the recent lectures. There were a total of 10 homeworks, with the best 8 taken to form your homework mark. These generally weren't too difficult.

3 x assignments (6% each; 18% total
The assignments were as expected of a typical maths unit. Most of the questions were reasonable, with 1-2 tricky ones on each assignment. However, Kais was always open to helping us out by giving us hints to complete the tricky questions (as well as responding to our questions on Moodle or via email).

Mid-semester test (10%)
This year, the MST was run online and was not invigilated (but we were encouraged to do the test closed book with only a single A4 reference sheet). The questions were all multiple choice or very brief short answer (automatically marked but manually checked), with an uneven mark distribution between the questions. This meant that marks were mostly focused on the answer rather than the working out, although some questions did relate to the working out for a question. I personally would have preferred a traditional written paper, but I guess this was the best compromise given the circumstances.

End of semester exam (60%)
The end of semester exam was 3 hours long, and consisted of around 30-40 MCQs for a total of 72 marks. The format was very similar to the mid-semester test, although the exam was closed book and supervised. We were allowed one double-sided A4 sheet of notes and some blank paper for working out. The questions were similar in difficulty to the MST, although I found them to be a bit different to the past exams, as the MCQ format meant that different types of questions were asked.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture. Live-streaming available via and Echo360.

Past exams available: Yes - 2 past exams and 1 mock exam, all with solutions. Kais also held a revision lecture to go through the mock exam solutions.

Textbook Recommendation: None - the lecture notes cover everything you need (although they did reference certain textbooks in case you wanted to go into more depth or wanted more practise questions).

Lecturer(s) A/Prof Kais Hamza

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2020.

Rating: 5 out of 5. Well-taught unit where teaching staff did their best to adapt to an online format under very short notice.

Your Mark/Grade: Not yet available

Comments:
Firstly, it's worth noting that my experience could be very different to that of futures students because of the online format. However, I think the teaching staff did very well to adapt this unit to an online format under very short notice.

In terms of content and teaching, I would say that this is the best third-year probability/stats unit (out of MTH3241, MTH3251, MTH3230 and MTH3260 - I personally did not do MTH3260, but I heard from others that it was very difficult). Whilst most of the content was new to me, it was presented in an easy to follow manner and at a reasonable pace. Kais was also very open to answering questions on Moodle and via email. The assignments definitely helped me to consolidate my understanding of these new concepts. I also found that looking up YouTube videos was quite helpful, although do take caution as these videos often cover higher-level concepts or cover the content in a different way.

keltingmeith's review from a few years ago summarises the topics covered well - they have not changed since then.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on December 16, 2020, 05:47:36 pm
Subject Code/Name: BTF3601 - Banking law 

Workload: 

1 x 2hr lecture per week (pre-recorded due to COVID-19, normally in person)
1 x 1.5 hr tutorial per week (on Zoom due to COVID-19 pandemic)

Assessment: 

40% mid-semester test - The mid-sem covered weeks 1 to 4, comprising an introduction to banking law & the GFC. It consisted of 7 MCQ + 2 short answer questions. I found it to be really straightforward, but there were a few tricks which could have tripped you up if you were not careful in reading the questions. As always in any law unit, read the question very carefully, otherwise you could miss things that you did not recognise.
Overall, most students did very well in the MST. As long as you have solid notes covering the first 4 weeks of the course, then you will definitely do well in it.

60% exam - The exam covered the remainder of the content, and was run using the eassessment platform. It consisted of 3 short answer questions. 2 were problem based while one was more factual. I really enjoyed the exam, and found it to be a great asset in this subject. There was some time pressure, but other than that it was an amazing exam!

Recorded Lectures:  Yes but pre-recorded

Past exams available:  Sample exam provided via eExam platform which was a good guide for the final exam

Textbook Recommendation: 
Unlike other law units, there is no prescribed textbook, which Han-Wei the lecturer and CE emphasises due to banking law textbooks being far outdated from current content taught today. All readings are provided via Moodle for student's benefits. Try and do all the prescribed readings, as they are crucial to understanding the content, particularly legal topics which most students may not have covered before.

Lecturer(s):

Han-Wei Liu - Also Chief Examiner. Han-Wei took the lectures from weeks 1-5 & week 12. He was also my tutor. I found him to be very knowledgable in the content, and enjoyed having him as both a lecturer and tutor. The knowledge given was not that difficult, so loved having the opportunity to take this subject.

Minu Scaria - Took the lectures from weeks 6-11. Minu knew the legal concepts exceptionally well, and always reinforced that via using diagrams. Her part of the course was quite technical, especially in regards to property law and personal property law, so really try and re-watch her lectures to get a better understanding of the content at hand.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2020

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:

What a unit! I really enjoyed this unit! Having the opportunity to take this unit as an elective at Caulfield campus (virtually due to COVID-19) was a great experience. The content was a little dry, but it is still a really interesting unit if you are legally inclined.

There are no pre-requisites for this unit due to it being a compulsory unit for a Bachelor of Banking and Finance. If you are in the position of having to take this as a compulsory unit for your degree, particularly the one above, then approach it slowly. Be careful and prepare beforehand. Legal writing is something that you cannot pick up instantly. But with repetition, you will be able to master the content.

Topics covered included the GFC, FinTech (Sandbox approach and Robo Advisory), consumer lending (NCCPA & responsible lending), property law, personal property law & payment systems. What I loved most about this unit is that it was very topical. When we spoke about consumer lending, there were calls for the system to be abolished. But having the legal knowledge really provided an insightful argument as to why it should not be abolished. That really strengthened the value of the unit for me, as having the opportunity to realise that the unit was used in practice provided insightful opportunities and more and more reasons to take it in the first place.

For those of you who are doing a commerce degree and want to do this, but are like it's at Caulfield surely I can't? Well think again! Its sister unit BTC3200: Finance Law is offered at Clayton in Semester 1, 2021 and every 2 years afterwards. The only difference is that instead of lectures and tutorials there is a 3 hour seminar which covers both lectures and tutes. Course content is the same, assessments are the same. Definitely do it, you will not regret it!

Overall, this was a really solid unit for an introduction into banking law. Please take it if you have the chance, you will not regret it!

Also, what is even better is COVID-19 or not, the assessments will not change. So please consider this if you have space in your finance major at Clayton, or are looking for an elective at either Caulfield or Clayton that is law related!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on December 17, 2020, 09:05:39 pm
Subject Code/Name: BFC3340 - Derivatives 2

Note - this was taken in COVID-19 Online, but may be replicated in a similar fashion in the future

Workload: 
1 x 2hr lecture per week
1 x 1hr tutorial per week

Assessment: 

10% quizzes - each week there was a quiz to do related to the lecture content of the week. The quiz was available from Monday to Friday, and due 11am Friday (24 hrs after the lecture ended which was on Thursdays from 9-11am). The quiz related to the content of the current lecture that week, so it is key that you understand the lecture content of the week before attempting the quiz. I got caught out a number of times due to the quiz covering concepts that I was not that confident of. So make sure you understand and work out the knowledge required before attempting the quiz. That being said, the questions were not extremely difficult and most students did quite well, so try and maximise your marks here as much as possible.

20% Individual Assignment - The assignment consisted of 3 questions and covered weeks 1-7 content. To ensure that students could do it online, it was converted from a handwritten assignment to one that used Math written on a computer + Excel / MATLAB files. That being said, it mostly followed tutorials, so was not extremely difficult and relatively straightforward to understand if you knew the concepts well.

10% Trading Game - Ah the trading game. The make it or break it. After you do this unit, you might think why did we have to do a trading game when the unit is entirely theoretical? Because it helps quantify and teach you important lessons about risk. For the assignment, you have to at a minimum make 5 opening orders (i.e. buying/shorting) and 5 closing orders (i.e. selling / covering) options and futures. It is important that you do close out your orders otherwise marks are deducted. What is the goal here? Of course the goal is who can make the most money, but risk is a huge issue here. Be careful with what you trade. I emphasise this heavily, because you might find yourself losing a lot of money if you take too many risks. Follow the steps outlined in the first 2 tutorials. Attend them and follow their strategies. Otherwise you might find yourself losing a ton of marks. 3 marks are given for performance, 3 for diversification (such as trading gold/ oil / Google / Tesla / foreign exchange), with the last 4 marks being on why you traded. Why is writing why you traded key? Expressing yourself is key to understanding your strategy. If you do not follow the pro-former not only do you risk losing marks, but you risk explaining yourself poorly to your boss in the future and possibly losing your job if you trade erratically. So explaining yourself is really the key here. That being said it is only worth 10%, so do not be stressed if you do worse than expected, you can make it up in the assignment and quizzes.

60% Exam - The exam consisted of a few short answer questions, some mathematical derivations which you could write into a Word document, and some computational questions which you could complete in either Excel or MATLAB. I found the exam to be relatively straightforward, but strict marking meant that marks were far different to predicted. I emphasised this in my review before, but really really read the question. There may be details missing if you do not go over it carefully enough. That being said, most people did relatively well in the exam, and either all made mistakes on the same question or did very well overall.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, S2 2019 exam provided with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Options, Futures and Other Derivatives 9th Global or 10th edition by John Hull is the prescribed textbook for the subject. It is not that necessary though, but if you have a PDF copy it'll help a bit. It did help to clarify what is being taught, and mathematical proofs given in the textbook are far more concise and on point than the lecture slides, so will help to raise any issues you have understanding the content.

Lecturer(s):

Binh Do - Also chief examiner. Binh took all the lectures whilst talking to an empty room in both Caulfield & Clayton, and I appreciate him for still trying to get students involved despite all the difficulties when this unit was taken. Binh was very knowledgable and easy to understand, but does go through a lot of content in the lectures, so try and pickup on key details otherwise you might forget things and be in trouble for assessments. My advice would be to rewatch the lecture after attending it live, so that you can catchup and see what you have forgotten before.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2020

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments:

Firstly, this subject is quite new, as it has only been taught in its current format since around 2017. Don't let that scare you though. It is a superb unit! Superb, superb, superb! It has to be easily the best finance unit I have taken at Monash, due to Michael Ciaravolo (or Trav) being in charge of the whole unit. Trav's explanations are by far the best bit of the unit. If you have had Trav as a tutor in the past, wait until you take derivatives 2! His teaching is far above anything that has been taught in any other subjects.

Tutorials - The 1 hr tutorials were all run via Zoom this semester due to COVID-19. However, they were still excellent. In fact I preferred them compared to in-person tutorials, as I found myself to be far more focused due to Trav's teaching style. I had Trav as my tutor, and he did definitely not disappoint! He was always prepared and open to answering questions. Also unlike other tutors, Trav ran consults even in mid-semester break, which really helped to clarify assignment content and set me on the right track!

Topics covered included:

Black-Scholes-Merton Revisited, Futures Options (not examinable this year but may change in the future), exotic options, numerical methods, Value-at-Risk, interest rate forwards futures and swaps, interest rate options and credit default swaps.

To be honest, I did not find the content to be excessively useful for my future career. However, there is still an advantage to taking this unit. Do you reckon that you will be a financial trader in the future? Or do you have a goal to work at an investment bank? Then take this unit. The products taught (such as swaps and options) are quite heavily traded in financial markets, so knowing what they are and how to price them will be useful. But Trav's teaching experience makes it useful for everyone. Definitely give this a shot if you are looking for a spare finance unit to do in semester 2. Be mindful that derivatives 1 (BFC2751) is a pre-requisite, and is heavily relied upon, but the skills you learn in this unit will be incredibly valuable to you in the future!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Springyboy on December 18, 2020, 11:53:37 am
Subject Code/Name: ETC3530 - Contingencies in insurance and pensions

Workload:

1 x 2hr lecture per week (via Zoom)

1 x 1.5 hr tutorial per week (reduced to 1 hr this semester due to teaching constraints, should be increased to 1.5 hrs from next year)

Assessment: 

10% quizzes - each week from weeks 2-11 a quiz was done in tutorials. As long as you attempt the quiz, you get 1% regardless of your mark, so it is an easy 10%. I found the quizzes to be quite basic however, so it should be reasonably simple to obtain the full 10% even without only attempting it once.

10% Individual Assignment - The individual assignment was designed to get you up to scratch with using R, a programming language used in this subject. It mainly involved working with some data in R to create functions that can calculate values of actuarial products, before plotting those on a graph and comparing their shape. This was an excellent assignment, and not too labour intensive. Most students did quite well, so it was not extremely difficult.

20% Group Assignment - Now this was an assignment. Using R Shiny, each student had to create in groups from sizes 3-4 a Shiny dashboard that outputted the values of actuarial reserves. In order to get full marks, you needed to write code from scratch in R and stress test it to ensure that it was perfect. This was extremely labour intensive. In order to do well, you needed to put in a ton of effort so that you could maximise your marks. I found myself working on this very heavily throughout semester, so I am glad that I had the time available to work on it. Most groups did do reasonably well, but try and put in as much effort as possible, as it is worth the reward. I was lucky I had a strong team available to help, so maximised my marks in this regard.

60% Exam - The exam covered all topics, but was heavily geared towards week 9 onwards (as that made up around half the exam). It consisted of 4 short answer questions, which you did online and handwrote before uploading your answers to your computer using either a QR code scanner or emailing your answers through to the exam team due to COVID-19. I found the exam to be very long, as was pressed for time throughout. However, the questions were not excessively difficult, just very long-winded, so if you are taking the exam next year onwards, then be aware that the exam is quite long and you need to try and prepare as much as possible to do questions in the shortest amount of time you can take.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No exams available, though would have been handy if one was provided.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Actuarial Mathematics for Life Contingent Risks - 3rd edition by David Dickson is recommended, but not necessary. What I would recommend though is the CM1 Course Notes from the Actuarial Education Company (ActEd). They will make learning this subject far easier to understand. ActEd knows the syllabus excessively well, and writes it in a way that can be easily understood. The lectures and course content, particularly from week 3 onwards follow the ActEd syllabus, so try and obtain it if you can!

Lecturer(s):

Dan Zhu - Took lectures from weeks 1-2 as well as providing revision material to get you up to date with the subject. Dan covered a lot of mathematical proofs in her lectures that were not examinable, so can be quite dry and intensive watching her lectures. That being said, they were still useful in starting off the course.

Hamza Hanbali - Took the lectures from weeks 3-9 as well as being chief examiner. What a legend! Hamza was recently hired by Monash as a permanent replacement to teach the core actuarial subjects in life insurance. He is amazing! His lectures always had a 'meme of the week' and had lots of timelines to explain actuarial products, which I preferred to long mathematical proofs as it was far more conceptual. I hope that in the future Hamza can lecture all lectures for this subject.

Maziar Nikpour - Took the lectures from weeks 10-12. Maz was great in terms of his industry experience, as he currently works in the industry so can provide more background knowledge as to how profit is calculated and how contracts taught in his 3 lectures are used. That being said, his lectures were a little dry so try rewatch them if you can.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2, 2020

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Comments:

Firstly, I'd have a look at Fraxyz review here to provide some context for the subject. Unfortunately Colin no longer teaches this subject, so it has been hard since then to find a replacement. But this year Hamza Hanbali took the subject for the first time, and what a change it was! Hamza sets difficult assessments, but what I like about them is that they are really practical and relatable to what you would encounter at work. The second assignment in particular, although being incredibly labour-intensive (my longest assignment ever tbh) was very very valuable, as it gave an insight into how to apply theoretical knowledge into practice.

Topics covered included life assurance contracts, life annuity contracts, evaluation of those, premiums, reserves, joint lives and contingent benefits, mortality profit, competing risks, unit linked and accumulating with profit contracts, profit testing and reserving aspects of profit testing. All of which are in CM1 from chapters 14-27 (14 is needed as an intro to the subject). Therefore, it’s really imperative that you have access to CM1 in some form, as it reinforces what you’ve taught, which can be quite intensive.

Tutorials - The tutorials were standard going through tutorial questions, plus having a break in the middle to go through quizzes. I had Julie and Farheena as my tutors, and they were both experts and knowledgable in what they taught. I appreciated that they went through each question from scratch - so students could comprehend what was going on in front of them. That being said, the tutes were quite rushed due to time constraints - as because of COVID all 4 tutorials were run back-to-back, so they were only 1 hr duration such that tutors could fit them all in and have a break in between. This was annoying, as more time would've been welcome to go through more questions to understand the concepts. Despite that, they were still near the top level of all my tutorials taken at university, so I really appreciated having the time to understand the concepts being taught, no matter how short they were.

Overall though, now is the time to take this subject. It has been improved so much so that it is by far the best actuarial unit I have taken at university. Would I recommend this as an elective though? Probably not, because it is still quite mathematical and intensive, so I would say only do this if you have to, or want to for actuarial accreditation. But this unit has been redesigned from last year, so does not resemble the unit taught in the past.

But as Hamza has said, the goal for this unit is to make it as job-ready for you as possible. And that is exactly what has happened! Hamza knows his stuff incredibly well, and is the perfect fit for this unit. It is challenging but very rewarding. So try take it when you can, preferably in 2021 or 2022, as it has improved significantly compared to previous years!
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on December 20, 2020, 02:31:46 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC3580 – Advanced Statistical Modelling

Workload:  2x 1-hour lectures, 1x 1.5-hour tutorials

Assessment: 
4x 10% assignments
They were RMarkDown projects on some form of statistical analysis and modelling tasks, which were useful in developing some useful data analysis and R skills.

1x 60% final exam
This was examined using an eExam quiz this year, with a few multiple choice, typed and written questions (of which, you will need to take a picture and upload it on the platform). This year, the exam was reasonable, with quite a few tricky bits.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  1x past exam with solutions

Textbook Recommendation: Faraway’s Extending the Linear Model, this textbook is also provided by the lecturer, and is sometimes a good read to reinforce concepts taught more deeply.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Didier Nibbering. Nice guy.

Year & Semester of completion: 2020 S2

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments:

This unit’s content is divided into 4 sections:
1)   Linear models and diagnostics
2)   Generalised linear models (GLM) and diagnostics
3)   Mixed effects models (and their generalised equivalent)
4)   Non-parametric regression models (and their generalised equivalent)

The unit serves as an extension for the linear model framework (which you should learn in ETC2410 or ETC2420) and goes through many different models that are designed to tackle certain issues, particularly for economic, cross-sectional data. However, this is not a typical econometrics unit, as it was designed to mimic the Faraway textbook for general purposes in statistics. As such, there are some terminologies that might confuse the average, observant econometrics student (random effects, robust estimation, etc.).

Content wise, this unit is not too hard, though some might find the theoretical derivations difficult, which to me was definitely reinforced by doing other units (ETC3400, MTH3260). It is quite applicable for most cases, and definitely a good place to reinforce some foundational skills for graduate programs in quantitative roles, and honours as well. However, I felt that most of the content taught in this unit might be a bit outdated and the learning curve is still high for students who want to explore these concepts further. GLMs are important in the quantitative world, but it’s swiftly being replaced by better techniques (CNNs, boosting algorithms, etc.).

The tutorials were definitely a plus for this unit even when it’s done online. The tutor I had (Joan Tan) was very good and detailed in her explanations of the tutorial questions and solutions, and even added her own opinions to what was being presented to us as solutions, which I thought was very good in helping me understand crucial concepts of the unit.

Enjoyable unit, though it’s not particularly striking in any way.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Owlbird83 on January 23, 2021, 06:46:43 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1052- Chemistry 2 advanced

Workload:
~2h lecture per week
1h workshop per week
1h zoom lab (When irl 4h lab) ev 2nd week

Assessment: 
35% - x6 labs
10% - x10 preworkshop quizzes (1% each)
55% - exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes, two

Textbook Recommendation:  They provide you with pdf/online textbook 'Chemistry: Atoms first 2e' and 'Chemistry, 4e'

Lecturer(s):
Dr Sarah Kyne (unit coord.)
Dr Joel Hooper
Dr David Turner
Dr Drasko Vidovic
Dr Victoria Blair
Prof Stuart Batten
Dr Brett Paterson

Year & Semester of completion: 2020

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 84 HD

Comments:
-Preworkshop quiz due each Sunday night before you start that week. Helps you keep up to date with content.
-textbook prescribed reading is unnecessary to read imo, I only read for the first week, they cover everything thoroughly in preworkshop material/lectures
-Each week: >read preworkshop material and write notes
     >do preworkshop quiz
     >watch lectures and add extra bits to notes if needed
     >skim (or if you have time try) workshop worksheet
     >workshop (ask questions, try to participate)
     +try finishing lab work soon after lab so it's fresh in your mind
-preworkhop quiz is easy marks, you get two attempts at each.
-labs (-2020 online learning-) were a lot of mc questions/drag and drop/select from drop down, however there were discussions and conclusions that had to be written by yourself. I'm assuming it's harder when it's irl?
-try your hardest on in-sem assessments so you have more room for error in exam. (I found the exam much harder than the in-semester assessments).
-Difference between chm1022 and 1052 is not significant
     >Longer labs (4h compared to 3h) -(not applicable this year labs were identical)
     >1052 has same content as 1022 plus some extra info that's slightly more in depth/challenging (I don't think it's that much more maybe 15/20mins of extra lecture videos and then a couple of extension questions to discuss in workshop)
     >In 1052 you cannot access PASS (peer assisted study sessions) (1h per week of extra revision in smaller groups taught by past students)
     >1052 doesn't have 1h tutorials each week
     >exam is meant to be a tad harder? (can't really compare)
     >I don't think there's any benefit to doing 1052 over 1022 except when people ask 'which chem are you doing?' and you get to say 'advanced 8) ' that's literally it (or also getting intimidated in workshops when everyone seems so confident and knowledgeable and you barely understand what's going on but that's probably all units anyway)

     
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: dutyfree on January 30, 2021, 03:01:07 pm
Subject Code/Name: BIO1022 - Life on earth

Workload:
1 x 1 hr workshop weekly
1 x 1 hr review seminar weekly
1 x 2 hr practical every fortnight
Approx 1.5-2hr online activities

Assessment:
20% Weekly Moodle quizzes
30% Lab assessments
50% Examination

DISCLAIMER: Everything was online, including the labs due to Covid-19.
Recorded Lectures: Workshops and review seminars were recorded on top of being streamed on zoom and echo, Labs were only through zoom and not recorded

Past Exams Available:  Revision super quiz – approx. 500 questions
Textbook recommendation: How life works, 2nd Edition – an online copy is provided

Lecturers:
Dr Thomas Hiscox (Unit Coordinator)
A/Prof. Alistair Evans
A/Prof. Anne Peters
Dr. Matt Piper
Prof. Craig White
Prof. Ros Gleadow
Dr Kelly Merrin
Dr Callum Vidor
Dr Ben Seyer

Year and semester of completion: 2020, Semester 2
Rating: 3/5
Your mark/Grade: 93 HD

Comments:
Overall impression: I generally enjoyed the content in this unit, especially the immunity and evolution weeks, as I was exposed to them earlier in VCE bio. I personally hated the plant section and found it so confusing, when I was first learning it. But towards the end of the semester, the topic became easier, after watching a bunch of YouTube vids on plant reproduction (Khan academy + crash course). I guess the point is to keep an open mind and try different learning approaches to difficult topics. The setup is pretty much identical to BIO1011, with a very structured timeline given to you early in the semester – so make sure you jot down all the key dates for quizzes and lab assessments. As with the 1st semester, if you have an hour to spare, I highly recommend attending drop-in sessions early on, even just to stay and listen to other peers’ questions and their explanations. PASS is invaluable and all the tutors are amazing at simplifying hard topics into engaging activities. Make sure, to ask for help from the lecturers – book a meeting/ email, PASS, and lab tutors, they are usually more than happy to help you out with studies, tips about not burning out, difficulty with the unit, or about future pathways.

Weekly quizzes (20%): Multiple choice, 20 marks, 25 minutes, 1 attempt
Weekly quizzes are based on the videos and/or readings given each week. They are open book, and most are relatively straightforward, with some quizzes including application questions. Make sure to stay on top of the weekly content – this semester, I switched it up and typed all my notes. This definitely saved paper (duh), time and effort. To prevent directly copying, I would copy a slab from the textbook, reword the key information, then from that condensed information -> answer the dot points on the consolidation sheets. Applying feedback from last semester, they decided to add the workshop qs to the weekly quiz and reduced the number of questions. In my opinion, this reduced the stress of having to do two quizzes but made it easier to lose in-semester %, as one incorrect mark was worth more. The time limit is usually only constraining with the workshop questions – I recommend attending the workshop live (it's actually pretty engaging) and completing the activity, as it's nearly always presented as a question on the quiz. With understanding the topics, I relied heavily on flowcharts and diagrams, especially with the different types of plants, timelines in evolution, and respiratory systems. Don’t get caught up with only learning off the textbook, it tends to go out of scope – read through the consolidation sheets and limit yourself to focusing on the dot points, to avoid learning unnecessary details.

Labs (30%): various activities including worksheets, a test, a lab report, and a presentation
You are allocated to a lab session and a tutor at the start of the semester. Make sure you attend these fortnightly as they are essential to get to know the practical and also to ask the tutor all the confusing questions. Prep before each lab!! They usually provide a prep worksheet, so I made sure to complete this and research the questions, they planned to address in the session. Some labs assessed content from multiple weeks, so it helps if you take weekly notes, to refer back to. Unlike some of my friends, I actually really enjoyed working on a group presentation, having a like-minded group definitely helped. Since the allocation is random, I can only recommend that you select a topic that you’re genuinely interested in or is easier to understand. My group had a clear plan and timeline with enough time to submit early – a solid plan agreed by everyone should hold people accountable. In terms of the actual lab assessment, from memory (eek), there’s an application style worksheet, a quiz, a scientific diagram, a lab report, and a presentation.

Exam (50%): 120 multiple choice qs, 2 hrs, and 10mins, open book and non-invigilated
The questions were much easier than weekly quizzes, in my opinion. Few questions were slightly difficult but that’s probably due to my own lack of knowledge on plants. There’s plenty of time to double-check with notes as you can pretty much guess and flag every difficult question and go back to them. The mock quiz was slightly more out of scope and confusing than the actual exam, so use it to only identify which areas you need to focus on during exam prep. I recommend doing the quiz once, before starting exam revision, to set your baseline of retained knowledge and figure out the weak topics, to avoid wasting time restudying topics you are pretty solid at.

Extra tips:
Tip 1: attend the live revision lectures – don’t freak out about your lack of knowledge, just listen to the lecturers skim the topics and try to recall things you’ve learned + write down key weak areas under each week. Ask questions!! – you can even ask them to simplify their explanations for eg: the respiratory system of birds.
Tip 2: go back to the weekly quizzes – especially your worst ones and learn why you got the qs wrong or ask for an explanation during the drop-in sessions.
Tip 3: depending on your learning style – I recommend making mind maps, annotating printed diagrams/ flowcharts and go through the activities on PASS sheets.
Goodluck!  :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: dutyfree on January 30, 2021, 06:34:25 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM1022 - Chemistry II

Workload:
2 x 1hr workshops weekly
1 x 3hr lab
1 x 1hr tutorial weekly
Approx 1-1.5hr online activities

Assessment:
10% Weekly pre-workshop quizzes
5% Tutorial assessments 
30% Lab assessments
55% Examination

DISCLAIMER: Everything was online, including the labs due to Covid-19.
Recorded Lectures: Workshops and complementary videos (including a demonstration) for labs were recorded, tutorials and lab discussions with TAs were only through zoom and not recorded

Past exams available: Yes, 2 mock exams provided
Textbook Recommendation:  Chemistry Blackman et al, 4th Edition – an online copy (2nd ed) is provided

Lecturer(s):
Dr Sara Kyne (Unit Coordinator)
Prof. Philip Chan
Prof. Andrea Robinson
Prof. David Lupton
Dr Drasko Vidovic
Dr Victoria Blair
Prof Stuart Batten
Dr Brett Paterson

Year and semester of completion: 2020, Semester 2
Rating: 4/5
Your mark/Grade: 88 HD

Comments:
Overall impression: I enjoyed this unit far better than semester 1 but, I’m biased as I love organic chemistry. In the 1st half of the unit; organic chem only extends a little more than VCE chem, but it can be easily picked up by anyone, by memorization/ exposure to the different mechanisms and practicing nomenclature. I personally found stereochemistry difficult to understand, especially finding enantiomers and naming R/S configurations. The videos recommended on the PASS website were immensely helpful to simplify and visualize the isomers. The 2nd half; inorganic chemistry, primarily focused on ligands, which was a new topic for me (a topic I still haven’t fully understood). Every following week after W9 builds on the previously taught knowledge, so make sure to stay on top of the content. With notes, I would summarise the given pre-workshop info. and add to it after the lectures.

Pre-workshop quizzes (10%): Multiple choice, 10qs, unlimited time, 2 attempts
Similar setup to CHM1011 and were also relatively easy to full mark, given the 2 attempts with identical questions. This semester, it was a bit harder to directly search up questions as most were dependent on a specific diagram/ was calculation based, but they were doable since it's open book with unlimited time. I would skim through or make concise notes with the pre-workshop info, depending on my prior exposure to the topic, before trying the quiz. Something I regret is not keeping up with the lectures weekly as they weren’t tested, but later realized they would’ve been super helpful with the tutorial assessments + pre-workshop quizzes.

Labs (30%): includes a Pre-lab quiz (hurdle): MCQ + SA, out of 5 marks, unlimited time, 2 attempts
Lab reports (3.15-5%): MCQ + SA + discussion and conclusion (350 words), out of 45 marks, unlimited time
Each lab was presented with a video demonstration, discussion slides, a Q&A video, and its corresponding pre-lab quiz. The pre-lab quiz is easy to full mark and most of its answers can be found in the lab manual and discussion slides (aim, safety mechanisms, background).

This semester, the lab reports had a notes section on top of the MCQs, short answer qs, and graphs/ tables.
MCQs usually test theoretical knowledge behind the experiment – can directly be searched up or weekly content must be applied. Short answer qs are ‘fill in the blanks’ in the Method – use the lab manual, observations from the lab videos – I was extra detailed, but I believe its automatically marked as correct, so just write succinctly with keywords (eg: colour, transparency etc.), calculation section in the results – pretty difficult as you must be accurate with sig figs, attend the live lab session to discuss with peers/ tutor and use the given values in the lab video + discussion slides. Lab notes consisted of detailed observations/ results table or a ‘identify x’, providing evidence. My tutor stressed how she wanted a specific structure to our lab notes, so attend the live sessions, to clarify what they are looking for.

The second section consisted of the usual discussion (300+/-10% words) and conclusion (50+/-10% words).
Attend the allocated lab session after completing the pre-lab quiz, so you have access to the lab report section. Dot down the specifics of how your tutor marks the discussion – if they want you to answer the given dot points if you can use condensed formulas instead of words if you need to address errors/ ways to improve etc.
My structure to discussions:
1.   Aim – successful/ or not – link to errors/ changes for improvement
2.   Succinctly state-observed results – possible margin of error
3.   Underlying mechanism of the experiment – usually answers the dot points
4.   Errors/ improvement – DO NOT state human errors (if you’re stuck – search up the experiment on quora)
Tips: be clear and direct, use simple language, and include at least a small statement for each dot point

Tutorial assessments (5%): MCQ + SA, 40 minutes, 15-20qs, 1 attempt
These were the typical numerical questions requiring application of the equations and tests the concepts of the previous week. I recommend attending the tutorial zoom session each week/ watching the recording as you watch the lectures - they go through the tute sheets and explain the working out for each qs, I got lazy halfway and had to complete all the tutorial sheets during revision. I also encourage attending the PASS sessions and attempting their qs as well, to make sure your knowledge is solidified, during these you can also form separate study groups with peers in the breakout rooms. The PASS website also has a lot of links to videos and additional practice qs if you need it.

Exam (55%): 50% multiple choice and 50% long answer qs, 2 hrs and 10mins, open book and non-invigilated
My revision for this exam consisted of redoing the tutorial and PASS sheets, attending the SWOTVAC zoom sessions by the unit and the one by PASS. The mock exams were relatively representative of the exam, but the time limit does creep up on you especially when you’re nervous and some of my peers didn’t complete the exam. Read the question thoroughly, especially for the long answer questions and learn the different types of isomers and how to identify them (focus a bit more on enantiomers).
Goodluck!  :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: dutyfree on January 31, 2021, 09:10:55 pm
Subject Code/Name: STA1010 – Statistical methods for science 

Workload:
3 x 1hr lectures weekly
1 x 2hr applied class weekly

Assessment:
10% Weekly quizzes
5% Pre-liminary exercises
15% Assessments (1: 7.5%, 2: 7.5%)
10% Group project
60% Examination

DISCLAIMER: Everything was online, due to Covid-19.
Recorded Lectures: All lectures were live-streamed as well as recorded, the applied classes were streamed via zoom and recorded

Past exams available: Yes, 2 mock exams provided
Textbook Recommendation: um, I don’t think there was a textbook – instead, they had a book with all the course material – lectures, lab worksheets, prelim. exercises

Lecturer(s):
Dr Daniel McInnes (unit coordinator)
And a bunch of Tas
 
Year & Semester of completion: 2020, semester 2.
Rating: 3/5
Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments:
Overall comments: I found this unit pretty doable after SCI1020 (which gives an intro to most of the content of STA1010 sans probability and non-parametric tests). Personally, I found it similar to SCI1020 - dry and boring but everything is very structured with topics and their corresponding lectures, worksheets, set out from the start. I recommend this unit, if you don’t like numbers, like me or if you’re comfortable with statistics/ further and are looking for a WAM booster.

Weekly quizzes (10%): Multiple choice, 10qs, 1 hour, 1 attempt
These were medium in difficulty but definitely possible to full mark especially given the excessive time limit. Most of the questions were partially copied from other American stat exams and since these quizzes were open book, I utilised my research skills well. Make sure, you read the stems well, and sometimes for some spice, they change the numbers up compared to the qs available online, so be a bit careful with the calculations. Overall, I would say you can easily get the 10% if you’ve understood the lecture content/ have the notes right in front of you.

Weekly worksheet (10%): Short answer mini prep tests, due Monday night the week after its corresponding applied class 
These are meant to be preparatory worksheets before attending the applied class but due to the online setup – changed them to be submitted after the classes. I would recommend, attending the weekly applied classes as sometimes you can practically finish the entire worksheet just from the tutor explaining each qs and they usually drop heavy hints about the qs they want you to attempt. But you can definitely get away with not attending them if you’ve read and understood the lecture notes. Overall, the applied classes are a massive tool for early exam prep as although they are sometimes considerably hard to stay awake in, during the second hour, where you are left to your own devices to complete the worksheet, you can ask all your qs to the tutor.

Assessments (20%): Short/long answer, due approx. two weeks after released
These test approx. 4 weeks at once, as there’s usually one stem with several questions following it, corresponding to each week. This is when the lectures come in handy, as sometimes they do the exact same qs from future assignments along with a clear step by step working out, so make sure not to miss out on these lucky eggs. It's relatively easy to do well in these, if you have been consistent with your lectures and worksheets but if you haven’t (I found these pretty difficult without attending the applied classes– so make sure you start attempting the questions, a week before its due), there are plenty of online resources such as the supplementary videos and online basic stats courses, that give you a step by step for common qs.

Project (10%): 3 parts each with its own due date, spread throughout the semester
Essentially, you have to find a real-life example (such as coins/ the no. of chocolates in a pack) and create an experiment with a hypothesis (eg: fantasy books are rated higher than sci-fi novels), where you can apply a specific hypothesis test. This is an easy 10%, even if you have a bad group, just find accurate data and the descriptive stats on Excel, then perform confidence intervals + hypothesis tests (usually t-test) -> reach a conclusion which does/doesn’t (provide errors if it didn’t) support the hypothesis.

Exam (60%): Multiple choice, 100qs, 3 hrs, closed book and invigilated (eek)
This MCQ exam was unnecessarily given 3 hours but I’m not complaining as I believe, usually its short answer. It’s quite easy to be ready for the exam but only if you had done adequate preparation. A key tip is to make sure; you have completed the mocks as they are relatively representative of the difficulty of the real thing. My tips would be to keep up with the weekly content and attend the applied class, watch the lectures live if possible, and if not, making sure to watch the recordings. In terms of content: attend the very last lecture for exam tips, they list the specific topics that are examined in the exam (mostly the different types of tests, probability).
Tip: I suggest creating a one-note page of a timeline of sort and compiling all the assessment and quiz dates and highlighting whenever a major assessment is due.
Overall, this unit is neatly presented and despite sometimes being boring, you can perhaps seek motivation from the fact that you can do really well with little effort.
Goodluck!  :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: dutyfree on February 01, 2021, 05:54:31 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1298 – Professional writing

Workload:
1 x 1hr lecture weekly
1 x 1hr tutorial weekly

Assessment:
30% Assessment 1: Magazine writing
30% Assessment 2: Social media writing
40% Assessments 3: Essay/ Position paper

DISCLAIMER: Everything was online, due to Covid-19.
Recorded Lectures: All lectures were recorded, the tutorial was streamed via zoom but not recorded

Past exams available: N/A
Textbook Recommendation: Professional writing S. Marson 2019 (can access it online via Monash lib)

Lecturer(s):
Paul Atkinson + TAs
 
Year & Semester of completion: 2020, semester 2.
Rating: 4/5
Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments:
Overall comments: Damn, this is a unit that you can exert medium-ish effort to get a 90+, but I discounted how much time a good essay takes to write, realistically. I really enjoyed this unit’s content; it's practical and the learned writing skills are applicable in jobs/ marketing or advertising positions. The small tutorials weren’t intimidating, and you can casually speak to your tutor. Mm, this unit is advertised as a bludge/ WAM booster, but I would say, it’s very easy to get a pass, easy to get a credit to distinction/ low HD but above 87-ish requires effort and communicating with the tutors to understand exactly what they want – in terms of the criteria. But yes, I would recommend this as an easy unit to anyone who enjoys creative/ engaging writing (specialist style writing – simple language, caters to the intended audience), conversely, doing VCE English language helped a ton with the analysis part of the assessments (using metalanguage).

Assessment 1 – Magazine writing: 900 word article + 600 word analysis
You have to write an article about a given academic topic, for your chosen magazine (eg: Time, NatGeo, New Yorker). During this sem (pretty sure topic changes every year), I wrote about the consequences of excessive usage of mobile phones as an article for National Geographic. To start off, I read and highlighted the key info in the research paper. Then, I summarised the important findings and selected a few stats I want to add to the article. I researched and read some NatGeo articles to figure out their writing style (this is part of the marking criteria – catering to the audience). You have leeway to be as creative as you’d like, depending on your chosen magazine (eg: narrative, persuasive), as long as you don’t summarise the research paper and make sure to include key findings.

Assessment 2 – Social media writing: 2x400 word EDMs + 600 word explanatory statement
An EDM is one of those promotional emails you subscribe to, from your favourite store. You have to write a marketing campaign for one store (eg: Women’s jewellery store) and an appeal for another (eg: Oxfam). Once again, your tone can be as creative as you like and add any features that specifically cater to the purpose and audience of the email, but you have to explain your reasoning behind each feature and link it to rhetoric (eg: use of slang/ netspeak/ neologisms appeal to the young subscribers). My EDMs were sort of risky, as they didn’t follow the typical promotional structure, but the creativity was awarded, so yes, as long as you can explain and connect it to pathos/ ethos/ logos, your writing style doesn’t have to conform to the structure of usual spam emails (eg: I personified the store’s products and gave names and pronouns to the bucket hats = 92/100 :}.

Assessment 3 – Essay/ position paper: 1600 word position paper or essay
You are given the choice of either writing style and their corresponding topic and have to center the piece on a discussion of a particular issue (eg: student accommodation in Melbourne or inclusivity in writing). You are free to take ideas/ examples from recent research papers and the unit readings and write a cohesive piece with a contention. Unfortunately, I nearly failed this assessment (eek), so I cannot offer much advice other than: start this paper (at least a couple of sentences) more than a week before its due, as it was assigned during when assessments piled up from other units.
Goodluck!
 :)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: undefined on February 06, 2021, 07:37:43 am
Subject Code/Name: ENG1060 - Computing for engineers

Workload: 1h pre-workshop videos
2h workshop
3h lab

Assessment: Weekly 2.5% labs
Weekly 0.5% preworkshop
10% (?) assignment
2x 2.5% consolidation quizzes after week 6 and 12
5% lecture participation (answers don't need to be right, just answered during the workshop)
Probably something else but I've already forgotten

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, recorded zoom workshop with students asking questions

Past exams available:  Yes, there were around 4 past exams but they were when exams were on campus without the aid of MATLAB so the actual exam was very different.

Textbook Recommendation:  Don't recall a textbook being recommended

Lecturer(s): Dr Tony Vo

Year & Semester of completion: 2020 Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This was probably by far the best first year engineering unit. Having done ENG1003 in the same semester, the stark difference in lecturer engagement and tute one on one interaction is crazy. The tutors are all (suspiciously) recruited from the mechanical/aerospace/mechatronics faculty and are usually 4th/5th/PhD students and mine at least was really interactive and good. We were split in groups of 3 to 4 people every lab to work on the lab questions after doing team tasks. During the lab we would be asked individually a question from the team task to get marks for that lab and then would usually either go silent or talk to other people in our breakout room about that week's questions.

Dr Tony Vo is an excellent lecturer and has great interaction with his students. The TAs which assist in teaching in the workshops also explain things very well and connect with their students, making the unit so much less dry (the TA that kept mentioning his love for KFC was great).

As for the content, it starts off with the basics of MATLAB in weeks 1 - 6  and develops those skills in weeks 7 - 12 with root finding etc. It's not particularly difficult and definitely has a lower learning curve than ENG1003. The tutors also help spot errors in your code and break down problems which you don't understand.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: undefined on February 06, 2021, 07:51:38 am
Subject Code/Name: ENG1005 - Engineering mathematics

Workload: 3x 1h lectures

Assessment:  5x 6% Assignments fortnightly
10x 1% quizzes

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, a lot

Textbook Recommendation:  Engineering Mathematics book recommended. Noticed a lot of people doing the questions at the start of the semester but none by the end. You don't need to do it but it may be useful in finding a similar question to the assignments.

Lecturer(s): Associate Professor Todd Oliynyk

Year & Semester of completion: 2020 Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: HD

Comments: This unit is definitely fast-paced with a bunch of content being crammed each week. The assignments are quite difficult and the number of youtube videos I looked at for help only to find they're in Hindi broke me. I heard that in 2020 S2 they changed assignments to be group-based which sounds even more terrible. Regardless, I believe they did this due to the amount of collusion going on between students. My tutor at least, despite never talking to or seeing ever, was a good marker but I've heard that there were very bad markers from other students. I think I dropped like 2 marks in total in the semester despite not knowing half of what I was writing most of the time in the assignments. I recommend learning LaTeX, a maths typescript that makes your assignments look professional even if you don't know what you're saying.

Prof Oliynyk is a very dry lecturer but he's good at explaining what he has to and leaving you confused since there was absolutely no interaction with tutors/lecturers etc. when I did the unit other than the forums. I believe there is also Applied PASS which is like a zoom where you can ask questions though but I never went.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ThunderDragon on June 11, 2021, 03:45:22 pm
Subject Code/Name: EAE1011- Earth, Atmosphere and Environment 1 

Workload:  3x1 Hr Lectures per week and a 2 Hr Practical Session

Assessment: 

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No as there is no final exam

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required

Lecturer(s): Marion Anderson and too many others to name from the School of EAE

Year & Semester of completion: 2021, Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments: Overall, this unit is pretty chill as there is no final exam to worry about and Marion is amazing. That being said, you need to make sure that you attend each Practical Class as the Practical quizzes are based on what we cover in the practical classes, and since they are worth quite a lot, it's worth going to them. In terms of the content of the unit itself, it is pretty interesting and covers a range of topics with the first half of the Semester mainly devoted to Geology before moving onto Atmospheric Science and then Evolution/Fossils/Climate Change in the last few weeks although I personally found the Atmospheric Science content to be quite boring although that's my personal opinion.

The difficult part of this unit is making sure you spend enough time on your Poster and Infographic since I did leave it to the last minute and paid the price for that. At the end of the day, if you watch the lectures and take notes down, attend Practical classes, and try not to procrastinate with the assignments, this unit should be pretty enjoyable and manageable. [/list]
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Owlbird83 on June 18, 2021, 04:55:30 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSY2071 - Developmental Psychology

Workload:  One 2h lecture per week (recording not livestream).
One 2h tutorial per fortnight.
Three 2h recorded seminars (stats) throughout the sem.

Assessment:
- Developmental Report [20%] - 1000 words. Watch videos of a made up scenario where a person is talking to a psychologist about their childhood/relationships/family and write structured report about their history + attachment style. (Mostly simple because there are clear guidelines about what to write in each section)
- Laboratory Report [25%] - 1500 words. Write concisely because it's difficult to get all the important info in within the word limit.
- Data Analysis Exercises x3 [30%] - Last 3 tutorials go through how to do these on JASP very clearly, so I recommend attending. All MCQ and drag&drop, so aim for as high as possible because they are a lot easier to get high scores on than the assignments.
- Exam [25%] - 6h take home open book exam. 20 MCQ, 4SAQ (100w each), 3 Extended Response (400w each).

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, all pre-recorded videos

Past exams available:  Given around 8 practice questions (SA /extended response).
Textbook Recommendation:  "Human Development: A Cultural Approach". I didn't really use this until the exam, I think you can get away with using only the lectures to learn everything, but still useful to have. I regret not using it sooner, it's written very simply, easy to read and interesting.

Lecturer(s):
Miss Carrie Ewin, James Coxon, Dr Beth Johnson, Matt Staois, Prof Peter Anderson, Dr Ian Harding, Dr Megan Spencer-Smith

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 sem 1

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: might update

Comments:
-Corequisite-> must be taken with PSY2061 Biological Psychology
-The content is pretty light and easy to understand. Weekly content doesn't really require a big time commitment, assignments take up some time (more so lab report).
-I recommend focusing on the bigger ideas, rather than small details due the how the exam is structured (if they keep it the same), because you have open book so need to write responses that demonstrate deeper thinking/insightfulness.
-the textbook is actually really interesting, but lectures do seem to cover most of the important info.
-the tutes are really helpful for preparing for assignments and DAEs.
-they ran weekly non-compulsory "flipped lectures" on zoom where there was more application of the content and class discussions. I regret not going to them, please go if you have time. These lectures would be the most helpful for preparing for the application style exam questions. Also it's useful how they relate/apply the theories to real life examples and get everyone to think & discuss.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Owlbird83 on June 18, 2021, 06:07:13 pm
Subject Code/Name: PSY3051 - Perception and Cognitive Psychology

Workload: One 2h lecture per week. One 2h tutorial per fortnight.

Assessment:
-Oral presentation [10%] - In partners. Present findings of a study related to an area covered in lectures (most people did one of the cognition topics), goal was to mold how you present to the specific audience you get. These occur from weeks 5, 7, 9, 11. Definitely recommend trying to pick an early week to get it out of the way before assessments build up.
-Perception article [20%] - 2000 words in the style of an article for a science magazine. Try to get the info to flow like a narrative, tie your conclusion back to your intro (and maybe title too).
-Cognition Proposal [20%] - 1500 words. Recommend going to tutorials (4 & 5) as it is thoroughly explained. Keep writing simple and concise as you are writing to convince someone to use your memory or attention intervention (limit jargon). Be persuasive and use evidence.
-Mid sem exam [25%] - Perception content. Lockdown browser, non invigilated. 30MCQs, 6SAQs (1 or 2 words), 2 extended response.
-End of sem exam [25%] - Cognition content (wks 7-12). Lockdown browser, non invigilated. 28MCQs, 6SAQs (couple of words), 5 extended response.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, pre-recorded videos.

Past exams available:  1 "mock exam", but only a limited amount of questions just for practicing the format. Weekly "check your knowledge" quizzes with ~15 questions similar to exam questions.

Textbook Recommendation:  "Perception and Cognition" - I didn't use it. The exams are very closely related to the lectures, specifically the lecture slides, they are the most important. HOWEVER, weeks 9 & 10 (knowledge & attention) lectures are more based on the research rather than key concepts, so just using the lectures for these weeks will not make you very prepared for the exam, the textbook should (needs to) be used for these weeks.

Lecturer(s): A. Prof Matt Mundy, Dr Trevor Chong, Prof Mark Bellgrove, Méadhbh Brosnan, Dr James Coxon, Dr Joshua Hendrikse

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 sem 1

Rating: 3.75 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: might add

Comments:
-having the midsem exam is helpful as you only need to revise 6wks each time. The exams are easier to get higher marks in than the assignments.
-perception (wks 1-6) is very biology-y which some people might find more tedious. The content from biological psych (PSY2061) is useful for these weeks.
-as I said further above, (with the exception of weeks 9&10), exam is closely based off lectures, so I recommend basing your notes off the lecture slides.
-Perception article might take longer than expected so try starting early! Having a mediocre title can loose you marks. Adding in a made up interview can be a helpful way to get to the word count, and present more info in a different way.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: hairs9 on June 25, 2021, 11:20:58 am
Subject Code/Name: CHM1051 - Chemistry 1 advanced 

Workload:  1x 1 hour workshop per week, 1x 3.5 hour lab every two weeks, and roughly 1-2 hours of recorded lecture content every week

Assessment: 
10 x preworkshop quizzes worth 1% each
Lab worth 35% altogether consisting of:
6 x lab reports worth 15% of lab grade each
6 x prelab quizzes worth 1.67% of lab grade each
Exam worth 55%

Recorded Lectures: 
Lectures were only available recorded. Workshops were also recorded with screen capture

Past exams available:
There were 2 practice exams available, being written to match the format of the final exam

Textbook Recommendation: 
Chemistry: Atoms First (2019) and Blackman et al., Chemistry (2019)
Both textbooks are available for free online via the links the chem faculty provide. Atoms First is referred to frequently, while I think I may have only opened the other book once.

Lecturers:
A/Prof Chris Thompson, Dr Alison Funston, A/Prof Rico Tabor

Year & Semester of completion:
2021 semester 1

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
I liked this subject a lot. There is a lot of prework assigned. You are expected to read the preworkshop material, do a pre-workshop quiz, and watch the prerecorded lectures. The pre-workshop quiz has two attempts, so is very easy to do well on.
The workshop is a cross between a lecture and a tutorial, with the first 10ish minutes being spent on giving an overview of the material, and the rest being spent on going through questions. The great thing about the prework is that by the time you get to the workshop, you should have a pretty idea of the material, and what things you might need more help with, so that you can ask the lecturers, who float around during the workshop.
The material is split into three sections, taken by different professors for each 4 week block.
The first 4 weeks are taken by Chris Thompson, who teaches about the periodic table and structures of atoms and molecules. A lot of this content is similar to unit 1 VCE chemistry, with a bit of physics added in. Chris is brilliant. He puts a lot of care into making sure we understand the content and his lectures are always engaging.
The second 4 weeks are taken by Alison Funston, who teaches molecular bonding, thermodynamics, and gases. Content builds upon unit 3 AOS 1 VCE chemistry. Alison's lectures are quite long but generally good for understanding.
The last 4 weeks are taken by Rico Tabor, who teaches equilibrium and kinetics. Content builds upon unit 3 VCE chemistry rate and yield, as well as adding some acid/base and redox. I found Rico to be especially helpful in answering questions.
All 3 lecturers are very knowledgeable in their field and their explanations were easily followed

There were 6 labs, although one was online. Lab content generally reflects the content of the lectures/workshops, although is done before you actually learn the content. I found that although labs sometimes enhanced understanding, the main purpose was to develop general lab skills, like how to use all the different pipettes. You get a lot more independence than in high school, with you being expected to develop your own standard solutions. Two experiments are IDEA pracs, which means you design your own experiment, although you get a lot of hints and get a basic method. Labs rarely ran for the full 3 and a half hours and we were sometimes finished before the CHM1011 lab groups, just because we could work more independently and often had an understanding of the basics of the experiment that wasn't expected from the other groups.
Before each lab, you have to do a prelab quiz and a bit of work to understand what the experiment is. The quiz goes towards your grade but you can repeat as many times as you like.
After every experiment, you complete an online lab report. There isn't a lot of actual writing, and the majority of the report is either filling in tables, answering questions, or uploading lab notes. You do have to write a discussion and a conclusion. The discussion is the biggest challenge, as you have to fit everything you need to say in 300 words.
All in-semester assessments are marked on Moodle, with only your discussion/conclusion of your lab report being marked by a human. My biggest advice is to not be afraid to dispute a mark because sometimes people or computers may make mistakes and sometimes the person marking your work may be harsher than standard.

The exam was online, non-invigilated and open book. It was definitely a challenge, with questions on the hardest parts of each section but overall, that's to be expected with an open book exam.

Like with a lot of advanced subjects, there really isn't a huge difference between the regular and advanced version. The biggest difference on paper is that we have 5% extra allocated to our labs and the 1011 cohort has two tests in semester. I do think that having no test in 1051 throughout the semester does negatively impact learning, as you don't ever really review the content until exam revision.
Like I've mentioned, the 1051 labs generally involve less hand holding than the 1011 ones do. Most of our labs are similar except the first in-person one. There is also some extra content but not a lot

Ultimately, if you've done high school chemistry and got the mark needed, then you will be capable of doing this subject and doing quite well at it, especially because the in-semester assessment is pretty easy to do well at
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: hairs9 on June 25, 2021, 12:38:52 pm
Subject Code/Name: FIT1045 - Algorithms and programming fundamentals in python

Workload: 
2 x 1 hour lectures
1 x 2 hour tutorial
1 x 2 hour lab

Assessment: 
Tutorial prep questions-8%
Laboratory work-19%
Test 1(weeks 1-3): 3%
Test 2(weeks 1-8): 8%
Assignment part 1: 10%
Assignment part 2: 12%
Exam: 40%

Recorded Lectures:
Yes with screen capture

Past exams available:
Yes, 1 practice exam based on the 2020 exam.

Textbook Recommendation: 
The following textbooks are recommended:
Introduction to the Design & Analysis of Algorithms 3ed UK edition by Levitin A
Introduction to Computing Using Python: An Application Development Focus 2ed by Perkovic L

Both are used as "recommended reading" at the end of lectures but I personally never used it and you can get by without them

Lecturer(s): Mario Boley and Buser Say

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Semester 1

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 96 HD

Comments:
This subject frames itself as an introductory coding and algorithm analysis unit. I think it does semi-well on the algorithm analysis part but the actual coding introduction is not great. Best advice is to go onto a free coding website and try to teach yourself something beforehand, so you at least have a small understanding of Python or the general basis of code.
The content consists of basic Python, data types, analysis, computational problems, algorithms to solve certain problems, and strategies used in creating new algorithms. I found the content mostly interesting but definitely challenging at times.
The two lecturers take 6 weeks each, with Mario taking the first 3 and last 3 weeks, and Buser taking the middle 6 weeks.
Mario taught most of the coding and some of the more complex strategies to create algorithms. I found that he talked really fast and his content was pretty hard to understand
Buser focused more on an understanding behind how Python works, teaching algorithms to solve computational problems and the analysis of them. He recorded lectures in advance, as well as doing live ones. Because of this, his lectures were less rushed as if he didn't get through the content, he'd just link the rest of the recorded lecture. I found Buser a lot easier to understand and much preferred his teaching style.
Although you are not required to attend tutorials or labs, you should attend tutorials. The tutors generally give a much better explanation than the lecturers do and I often found myself confused by a concept until a tutor explained it. Although you can ask questions in lectures, tutorials are where you can actually get a proper answer because there's a lot more time to properly explain it. The tutors are also a lot more experienced on what students struggle with and so are able to spend more time on difficult concepts.
You don't need to go to most of the labs. You spend two hours working on code and many leave early once they are finished with the work. The only reason to go is to be able to ask questions if you are stuck. However, there are two labs that form part of your assessment and so are mandatory to go to.

In terms of the assessment, they try to give a lot of easy marks. 8% is for tutorial prep questions. Every week, there is a question to be answered before your tutorial and you get a mark for giving a reasonable attempt to answer the question. There are 11 questions to be answered and only 8 possible marks, so there's a bit of a buffer.
19% of the mark is for lab work. The work you do in your lab is submitted the following week to be marked, with most being worth a total of 2.5 marks. Some weeks were marked by a tester, which they provide you with so you can maximise your marks. There are a total of 24.5 marks available so there is a buffer.
The two tests are probably the hardest in-semester assessment. The questions are very similar to exam-style questions and they are good opportunities for revision. Ensure you do what you can properly and learn from anything you get wrong
The assignments were quite a challenge to understand and took a long time to figure out but it isn't excessively hard. The staff did provide support to assist in understanding what the assignment was. It's basically a bunch of code that works together to solve a larger problem. You also have to do an interview to explain your code, which isn't too hard. Ultimately, if your code works and you can explain it, you will probably score quite well.
The exam was an invigilated online exam. It is split into three sections: basic understanding, analysis, and using algorithms to solve problems. I personally found the analysis the most difficult, but many students struggled with the last section. They provide you with a coding workbook, which contains many practice questions similar to exam questions and is a really helpful resource that I'd recommend using to prepare.

This unit was not run very well. It took us 6 weeks to receive any marks after basically begging the teaching team to upload them, even though they told us it would be uploaded earlier in batches. Many students new to coding really struggled with this unit, especially with the fast pace. They also weren't going to give us any practice exam answers until we begged them to do an explanation video of the practice exam. However, the tutors really go above and beyond. One created a whole website to help us with an assignment. Another wrote extra practice questions for the entire unit to discuss, just for the fun of it.
So, the biggest advice is to work with your cohort to peer pressure the faculty and to use the tutors to your advantage.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: hairs9 on June 25, 2021, 01:20:59 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2010 - Multivariable calculus 

Workload:
3 x 1 hour lectures
1 x 1.5 hour applied class

Assessment: 
5 quizzes worth 1% each
4 assignments worth 5% each
1 midsemester test worth 10%
Lecture poll participation and applied class participation worth 5%
Exam worth 60%

Recorded Lectures:
Yes, lectures were done over Zoom so the Zoom recording with screensharing was uploaded.

Past exams available: 
2 sample exams, one from 2020 and one written for 2021.

Textbook Recommendation: 
Calculus, Metric Version (8th edition) by James Stewart
Not really necessary. The lecturer uploads weekly extra problems without answers, but the answers can be found in the textbook. That's really the only use for it, unless you have a specific interest in looking up proofs.

Lecturer(s): Norm Do

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Semester 1

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 97 HD

Comments:
This subject was really great. It explores calculus in 3 or more dimensions, looking at vector functions, multivariable functions, and vector fields. It's a natural extension of the calculus already learned. This subject uses some more complex integration strategies (mainly substitutions, trigonometric identities, and a little integration by parts) but complex strategies are either shown in the lectures first or hinted at. The lecturer would often encourage us to "integrate like a champion", thinking of u substitutions as a backwards chain rule.
The lecturer is excellent. Norm is very engaging and focuses on an intuitive understanding behind the mathematics. It was his first time teaching the subject and so he would be writing the notes while he taught us the content. This helped the lectures to be well-paced. Unlike past lecturers, Norm did not focus on proving any of the theorems, making the unit more accessible to people with all sorts of mathematical backgrounds.
The applied class involves working with a group to solve problems on a whiteboard, and is usually pretty helpful in understanding some of the more difficult concepts.

The quizzes were done on paper and usually were pretty easy to do, often taking a similar style to questions done in the applied class.
The assignments were more challenging, sometimes extending the questions beyond what was on the applied class material, but many were similar and used similar strategies.
5% of the mark was split between answering lecture polls and participating in applied classes. You had to correctly answer 75% of the flux poll questions asked on the lectures, with there being a 48 hour time period after each lecture to answer it. I thought this was mostly pretty reasonable. You had to attend and participate in 8 of the 11 applied classes to get the marks.
The midsemester test was pretty easy. A practice test was given and the actual test was very similar, just with a few numbers changed around.
The exam was also not too hard, also being very similar to the sample exam. Basically, to do well on the test and exam, ensure you can do the practice test really well and understand everything.

Overall it was a really well run unit and very enjoyable. Some of the integration towards the end was more challenging but it ultimately was all accessible.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: hairs9 on June 25, 2021, 03:13:23 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2021 - Linear algebra with applications


Workload:
3 x 1 hour lecture
1 x 1.5 hour applied class

Assessment: 
2 assignments worth 6% each
12 moodle quizzes worth 0.5% each
A midsemester test worth 16%
Applied class participation worth 3%
Lecture poll participation worth 3%
Exam worth 60%

Recorded Lectures: Lectures were done over zoom, with their recording, including screen sharing, uploaded.

Past exams available: There was 1 sample exam with solutions

Textbook Recommendation: 
Course notes, which were provided online but also available at the bookstore for a small price if you prefer to handwrite notes
Elementary Linear Algebra with Applications 11ed was recommended but completely unnecessary. The course notes cover everything needed.

Lecturer(s): Tim Garoni

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Semester 1

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 96 HD

Comments:
I didn't really enjoy this subject. It is very much a pure subject, with some applications tied in. The basic structure of the course notes is to provide a definition and then provide theorems/lemmas/corollaries about the definition, with some examples tied in. Which would be fine, if the subject wasn't a key part of other areas of maths. I enjoyed the content any time proofs weren't involved, especially the applications.
Areas of study included:

Tim was a pretty good lecturer but the content was pretty dry and I often found myself lost in all the mathisms of the proofs and pretty confused.
The applied classes involved doing questions together in a group on a whiteboard. My tutor was pretty helpful in getting us to understand the proofs on the problem set.

The assignments were quite difficult but I did appreciate that there was only 2. Tim also gave a lot of hints for the more difficult questions, which definitely helped
The moodle quiz was a 5 question mostly multiple choice quiz at the end of each week, reviewing everything. It wasn't too difficult and forced you to stay up to date.
The midsemester test was a 16 question moodle quiz, similar in format to both the weekly quizzes and parts of the exam. It was pretty nice, all things considered
If you went to and participated in 8/11 of the applied classes, you go the applied class participation marks
To get the lecture poll participation marks, you had to correctly answer 75% of the lecture flux polls within 24 hours of each lecture. 24 hours was a bit rough and I often found myself flicking through the lecture to the flux quiz instead of watching it regularly.
The exam was online and invigilated. The sample exam was quite similar in format and content to it, which was helpful. There were a few 'rigourous proof' questions, which I found quite challenging.
All in all, there weren't many assessments, which made this subject a bit less stressful than some of my others

Don't do this subject as an elective(unless you are a fan of pure maths). Wherever your passions lie, this subject will help you improve your resilience and problem solving skills(if it doesn't break you first)
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ThunderDragon on June 25, 2021, 05:07:51 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS1310 - Extreme Earth! Natural hazards and human vulnerability

Workload:  1- 2 Hours of Lectures per week and a 2 Hr Tutorial per Week

Assessment:
10 Tutorial Worksheets worth 2% each = 20% in Total
Short Essay worth 15%
Major Research Essay worth 40%
Briefing Paper worth 25%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with a screen capture

Past exams available:  No as there was no exam. The briefing paper ''acted'' as the final exam even though it was basically another essay.

Textbook Recommendation:  Environmental Hazards: Assessing Risk and Reducing Disaster
Keith Smith although this textbook wasn't too helpful

Lecturer(s): Megan Farrelly

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments: This unit was pretty fun and a good break from all my other Science units. It is a mixture of science and social science so it isn't devoid of Science. Megan was a pretty good lecturer and the lectures were decent however I started to get a bit lazy in the second half of the semester and skipped watching the lectures. The weekly tutorials are compulsory as the Weekly quiz is only open during your specific tutorial time so make sure you show up as these Tutorial worksheets are pretty much free marks since your lecturer will essentially feed you most of the answers. The prescribed readings in my opinion weren't too necessary unless you are planning to major in Human Geography as I still did well on my Weekly tutorial quizzes.

In terms of what's hard about this unit, the assignments are what makes this unit (and arguably most Arts units I think) more annoying than the Science units. The short essay has a really small word limit of 500 words(+/- 10%) so it was really hard to get everything into the word limit. Since this is the first essay, they do mark it slightly more leniently. The Major research essay on the other hand is 2000 words (+/- 10%) and was certainly a pain especially with the amount of research journal references we needed to use. Make sure you spend a lot of time on the Major research essay and don't leave it to the last few days like I did as my grade for this essay wasn't too great. The last assignment is the Briefing Paper which is basically an essay where you write about the effects a disaster (they give u a few options to choose from) have on the people and the science behind it. This has a 1500 word (+/- 10%) limit. This assignment is marked fairly harshly though as I spent over 14 hours on this essay and barely got above an HD for the briefing paper.

Overall, this unit is run fairly well, and as long as you put in the effort into your assignments, getting a Distinction should be fairly easy. However, wouldn't call this a WAM booster as like a lot of Arts units, getting High Distinctions for essay-heavy units is pretty hard. However, I would still recommend this as a good elective.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on July 06, 2021, 10:03:40 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2021 - Human molecular cell biology

Workload: 
2 hr recorded lectures
2 hr workshop

Assessment:
55% workshops (including a 20% protein trafficking group oral + poster presentation)
15% from 5 fortnightly MCQ quizzes on each of lecture topics A-E
30% final exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. However, Jess gave us access to a massive question bank of practice questions if we added a multi and a short answer question to the bank (with a correct marking scheme). Some questions were made by the staff, but I think most were student generated. Each lecture topic had 2 practice quizzes, one for the multis and one short answer question. Every time you start a new attempt at these practice quizzes, the questions will be randomised, so you may or may not end up with the same questions you've completed before. The practice questions were harder in general than the actual exam. There were also 2 moodle quizzes that are full length mock exams, both were slightly harder than the actual exam.

Textbook Recommendation:
Molecular Biology of the Cell (6th edition), saved me big time during my group project

Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry (7th edition), didn't use as lecture slides were based on the other textbook

Lecturer(s):
Jessica Gibbons
Richard Loiacono
Mike Ryan
Craig Smith
Caroline Speed

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Sem 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: I have mixed feelings about this biochem/molecular bio unit. On one hand, all of the lecturers were phenomenal and extremely supportive on the forums, as were the TAs (I heard some groups had really bad TAs but my TA, Rachel, was super chill). The amount of overlap with my elective chem units as well as the other 2 biomed core units in 2nd year sem 1 was certainly another pleasant surprise. Most individual assessments were very reasonable as well, including the final exam. I would've rated it a 4.5/5 if it were not for the huge emphasis on group projects (29% of your overall grade came from group assessments), which I'll rant about when commenting about the workshops.

Jess from the gene repair lectures in BMS1062 (who's also the unit coordinator) had us for topics A and B which were metabolism and cell signalling respectively. You can pretty much understand topic A by Le Chateliers Principle, if you have too much of something then you probably don't want more of it, if you don't have enough of something you'll want to make more of it.

Topic B was on how signalling molecules produce a cellular effect when they bind to receptors, it goes into details on the different receptor classes, transduction cascades, what protein classes are involved in the cascades, how do different second messengers function as well as a few different pathways involved in growth. Due to the focus on growth associated cellular signalling pathways, the lectures also discuss cancers and how we can target proteins in the various transduction cascades to treat them. I can't stress enough that this is THE most important topic of the unit, a lot of the pathways you cover here (ESPECIALLY the cAMP pathway) come in very handy in BMS2031, your physiology unit. The various cell signalling pathways will also pop up again and again in topics C, E, D and F in some form.

Richard had us for 3 lectures in topic C which was on pharmacology. It overlaps heavily with the pharmacology you did in BMS1052 ie types of receptors, the ANS (only the sympathetic nervous system covered in this unit), receptor agonists/antagonists etc except you're introduced to pharmokinetics ie what your body does to the drugs as opposed to what the drug does to your body (pharmodynamics). In terms of new content we learned about the 2 stages of drug metabolism, the cytochrome P450 enzymes that are involved in Panadol metabolism and the effects of inhibiting these enzymes with grapefruit juice (which may result in overdoses as they can't break down the drugs, or excess breakdown intermediates are channeled towards production of a toxic compound).

Mike's topic D lectures were on the cell cycle, various protein trafficking pathways and apoptosis. His slides are heavily image based so you really need to take good notes (I personally liked it because it forces you to actively word the presented info in your own words for a better understanding). ln his lectures he says "actually" a lot, but I personally find his section of lectures was explained the most clearly out of all lecture topics.

Craig from BMS1021 in 1st year takes the dev bio lectures which was topic E. In terms of new content we looked at some signalling pathways in dev bio and their roles. We also revised our knowledge of embryonic development, molecular biology techniques (from BMS1062) and stem cells. There is a substantial amount of overlap with the reproductive and embryology lectures in BMS2011, our anatomy unit.

The lectures in topic F were on the molecular biology and pathology of cancer and these were delivered by Caroline. A lot of the content is pretty much common sense as in you already have a pretty good idea of how cancers are caused solely based on your knowledge of the topic B and D lectures. Any multis on topic F were very Googleable, but expect more genetics and pedigrees than you're comfortable with in short answer assessments.

Workshops (individual assessments): Workshops 2, 4, 5, 10 and 11 were assessed individually. Each one of these is worth 5% of your overall grade. They generally (with 2 exceptions discussed below) consist of a 1% pre quiz (unlimited attempts so free marks) and a 4% post quiz due within 24 hours of your workshop session's finishing time. The post quizzes weren't easy, they're usually 5 multis + 2 short answer questions worth a total of 10 marks, so the whole quiz is out of a grand total of 15 marks and the Moodle time limit is 20 minutes which means you'll be very pushed for time. The short answers really test how well you can apply the knowledge learnt during the workshop case study to similar but slightly different scenarios and they usually required essay-style responses. These were marked pretty leniently though.

In workshops 10 and 11, there wasn't a post quiz, there was a worksheet instead due 24 hours after the end of your allocated workshop just like the other post quizzes. It's pretty easy to full mark those as you don't have to contend with time pressure. Workshop 1 wasn't assessed as it was a warm up session to familiarise us with how the workshops were run in the unit.

Workshops (group assessments): The lowlight of the unit. In workshop 3, we had metabolic case studies on people in fasting, starvation and diabetic states. Our task was to do an oral presentation on our assigned state (ours was a 24hr fast) accompanied by a figure illustrating the pathway to be drawn on the whiteboard behind us. This was a total disaster because although I looked up the theory and made a head start on each of the 3 possible assigned metabolic states, none of my group members knew anything because they didn't catch up with lectures so I had to waste 1 hour teaching them the concept (if I ended up presenting everything by myself the rubric would've given me a 0). Then our TA, Rachel, came over to my table and said that I had misinterpreted the topic and a lot of concepts I've already included in the figure weren't relevant and didn't address the topic very well so I had to fix that as well. In the end the presentation was so bad, everyone stuttered so much and our figure was basically a giant wall of text without any visual element at all (it was worth 80% of the presentation marks and honestly ours deserved a 0). My team members even erased the figure I scribbled on the whiteboard (with MD quality handwriting) before they were supposed to ie before Rachel took a photo of it for assessment purposes. Rachel must've taken pity on us and marked us very leniently with a 7/10. Thankfully there was a 1% pre quiz for this workshop which carried my mark.

The 2nd group oral was on the actions of the controversial drug clenbuterol. We were assigned to produce an oral presentation on the side effects of clenbuterol over Zoom, and the post assessment was a 500-word summary of our oral along with our accompanying poster style slide during the presentation, both of which were due 24 hours after the workshop finished. In terms of content, our presentation was extremely heavy on the physiology side (I like using overlaps in biomed subjects to help with understanding). Our group was lucky enough to have this workshop straight after the midsem break, which means we had the whole break to prepare for it instead of having other classes to worry about (for those of you who don't know, due to rona restrictions we had 2 workshop cohorts, while we start workshops in week 1, the other cohort start in week 2 so they were always a week behind us and had to prepare for the oral during week 6 where there were other classes). We were supposed to do the oral on camera and without a script, but I thought I could get away with writing the script and getting everyone to read it from the same device as the Zoom meeting so it looks like we've memorised it well and can confidently present it in front of the camera. As you can see with my unit review delays, I put the "pro" in procrastination, so I didn't really spend that much time preparing for the oral during the midsem break (I also had to study for the BMS2011 midsem which was right after the break finished and I was super behind in that unit). Most of my group members weren't that motivated as well, but I took the initiative along with another girl in my group to carry the group. During the oral, one of my team members had really bad wifi connection, and one of the most important parts of the oral got lost because of internet lag and I was freaking out about that. Luckily the marking was also pretty lenient, we scored 17/20 for the whole workshop (oral + summary combined), although we did get caught by Rachel for reading off a script (it was only -0.5 marks so I guess it's worth it when the alternative is forgetting our lines).

The big one is the group protein trafficking poster presentation worth a whopping 20% of your overall grade, spanning workshops 7-9. All your group orals leading up to this point were in preparation for this poster presentation, they're like trial runs of sorts in hindsight to get us used to working in our teams. The task assigned to us was to create a conference-style, A0-sized scientific poster on how beta-hexosaminidase is trafficked from the rough ER to the lysosome, its physiological function in healthy individuals, how mutations in the HEXA gene encoding it cause errors in trafficking and how does the consequent partial or complete beta-hexosaminidase deficiency cause Tay-Sachs Disease. Workshop 7 was basically the project briefing where we assign roles, set deadlines and sign a teamwork agreement. We had workshop 8 to work on our scripts, and workshop 9 was the actual presentation. Unlike the last 2 times, this time my group really pulled our sh*t together. Initially I wanted to do the whole thing myself because I seriously didn't trust my group, but the other girl who helped me carry the group in the clenbuterol presentation got extremely offended and offered me constructive criticism about how I shouldn't steal other people's parts, it's pretty condescending to do so and it's not fair that I have to spend all that extra effort doing the project which may affect my performance in other units. I had a thought about what she said and decided she was right. Surprisingly, we were able to meet ALL mini deadlines we set for ourselves, even the team members who did no work in the previous projects. We created an amazing poster and the oral went smoothly without any incidents as well (one of my group members forgot to refer to the figures during the presentation so I had to point for him for a while before he got the cue). When I got my personal score back, I was happy to find that I scored 33/34 on the presentation (I lost 1 mark cuz I got carried away pointing at the figure which I designed that I forgot to make eye contact with the audience). The peer evaluation was worth 15% of the project, consisting of 6 marks out of 40 while the poster + oral made up 34 marks out of the 40. Hence, the poster + presentation were worth 17% of our overall grade and the peer evaluation was worth 3%. I got some poor reviews for trying to do the whole project by myself, but at least my groupmates were honest, they wanted me to improve as opposed to wanting me to look bad in front of the TAs and lecturers by playing mind games in the evaluations unlike my BMS2011 project (which I'm definitely ranting about in my upcoming review). The peer evaluation platform is brand new (we say goodbye to the 90s style CATME website) it's called Feedback Fruits and half the marks came from rating your team members, viewing your reviews and writing a self reflection, whereas the other half came from your group members' evaluation of you. All feedback were anonymous.

Note that the workshops were divided such that 1-3 were on topic A, 4-5 eye on topic B, 6 was on topic C, 7-9 were on topic D (group poster presentation), 10 was on topic E and 11 was on topic F.

Topic quizzes: There were 5 MCQ quizzes for topics A-E with 8-16 questions depending on the amount of lecture content in each topic. You are given an average of 1.25 minutes per question so the duration ranges from 10 minutes to 20 minutes. They were spread out so that you had one every 2nd week, they open on Thursday mornings and close at 11:59PM on Friday night. Although this component of the course is quite stressful since the quizzes usually coincide with my CHM2911 lab reports due on Thursday nights or my BMS2011 lab tests which I do on Friday nights, I really appreciate this component of the course as it forces you to be up to date with your lecture content. When it comes to SWOTVAC, you'll be thanking Jess that you don't have a billion lectures you've missed and have to do 2x speed marathons. Out of these quizzes, the topic A and topic E quizzes were the hardest because their questions test your understanding ie they're not as "Googleable" like the others (only scored 9/12 and 10/12 respectively for those ones). The rest were pretty easy to full mark. Just a warning, in Jess' and Mike's slides in particular, a lot of content won't show up in your search function as they're part of the slides' images, so make sure you know where to find things beforehand for those lecture topics.

End of semester exam: Open book, 130 minutes for 20 multis + 60 marks from short answer for a grand total of 80 marks. The short answer section consisted of 6 questions worth 10 marks each, these are subdivided into very reasonable subquestions ie you didn't have to write massive essays unlike your workshop post quizzes. However, the application style questions were very reminiscent of the post quizzes in your workshops, it's just that the answering format is easier for you because you no longer have to worry about where each mark comes from in your essays when the subquestiond require only a few words to answer. The exam was overall very fair and you're not rushed on time, but still you can't afford to consult your lecture notes on every single question. It was also stressful to avoid plagiarism as Jess made it clear we can't copy our lecture slides, so I copied my own lecture notes which were already reworded, maybe at the cost of a few marks lost for missing detail. However there were 2 dodgy questions. One was on topic B and asked us something Jess didn't explain to us (but I think I still BSed a convincing answer using prior knowledge) and the other was a subpart of the topic F question that examined something that was only covered in the workshop but not in the lectures (only lecture content were examinable according to Jess' exam format announcement).

The multis section consisted of 8 questions on topic F since it didn't have a dedicated topic quiz. The rest were evenly distributed over the other 5 topics. All multis were easier than those in the topic quizzes as well as the MCQ practice quizzes, so full marking those is pretty achievable.

Edit: Results came out this afternoon, after back calculating my exam score, they must’ve marked short answer quite leniently, but I don’t think they were scaled up by a lot because the cohort apparently did pretty well.

Edit: Jess just released some detailed feedback on the exam. After seeing how the short answers mostly had averages in the 70s (with the exception of a few topics) and with quite a lot of people getting 80-100% on them, I can safely say that there was little to no scaling, but there was a lot of lenient marking. The average exam mark was 67%.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on July 08, 2021, 04:08:14 am
Subject Code/Name: CHM2911 - Inorganic and organic chemistry

Workload: 
2 hr recorded lectures
3.5 hr labs
1 hr workshop/tutorial

Assessment:
30% labs (8 x lab reports worth 3.75% each)
5% NMR dry lab worksheet
10 x 0.5% weekly prelecture quizzes (only weeks 2-11 were assessed)
4 x 2.5% assessed tutorial worksheets
50% final exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. However, 2 mock exams provided which were slightly harder than the actual exam.

Textbook Recommendation:

Inorganic:
Weller Inorganic Chemistry (7th edition), didn’t use.

Cameron also recommended a free website called the “Organometallic Hypertextbook” for his section of lectures which was pretty helpful despite looking like it was made in the 90s: http://www.ilpi.com/organomet/index.html

Organic:
Clayden Organic Chemistry (2nd edition), the lecture slides were derived from here, but since we will be using this as well in CHM3922 (advanced organic), a lot of the content is harder than what we're expected to know in 2nd year. Didn't really use much but can be useful to clarify things I didn't understand eg ring inversions.

None of the textbooks were prescribed ie compulsory.

Lecturer(s):
Lisa Martin (coordination chemistry)
Cameron Jones (organometallic chemistry)
Kellie Tuck (general organic chemistry)
Phil Chan (carbonyl organic chemistry)

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2021

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 96 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: I loved the lecture content of this unit despite the difficulty, especially the organic sections taught by Kellie and Phil since I want to do advanced organic (CHM3922) next year as part of a 6-unit minor necessary to qualify myself to deal drugs teach chem in high school should I fail to make it into med school. This unit was organised really well into 4 discrete topics with a healthy amount of overlap within the respective inorganic (1 + 2) and organic (3 + 4) topics. I’d highly recommend going through the tutorial worksheets (both assessed and unassessed ones) carefully as they were apparently all taken from past exams. At the beginning of the unit, I noticed that there were no discussion forums on the Moodle page and I asked if there will be any because in biomed we’re prohibited from emailing lecturers directly for content questions as other students can’t benefit from the lecturer’s answer. They immediately added them so the teaching team definitely caters to student demands very well.

Topic 1 was taught by Lisa and is basically revision of inorganic chem from 1st year, except we were taught how to explain the spectrochemical series with ligand field theory (similar to molecular orbital theory we see in 1st year but applied to metals and ligands). We also had a look at how we can use Nernst's equation to determine which oxidation state is more stable when a particular ligand binds, and we were introduced to Jahn Teller distortion and what e- configurations are associated with elongation or compression. I might be biased because I don't plan on taking inorganic next year, but I found this section to be my least favourite because it overlaps too much with first year and I wasn't initially comfortable with the physical chemistry covered here ie Nernst equation. In the recorded lectures, certain parts of Lisa's explanations on the new content ie ligand field theory and Nernst equation were slightly unclear, but she's more than happy to help on the topic forums and by the time you watch the lectures a 2nd time (after completing the tute worksheets), you’ll know what you’re doing with those. The ligand field theory stuff was a really good segue into the next topic that is organometallics. On a more negative note, the solutions to the topic 1 sections on both mock exams were plagued with typos and theoretical errors, but Lisa was able to clarify everything timely on the discussion forums.

Cameron, our unit coordinator, had us for topic 2 which was on organometallics. Organometallics is similar to coordination chemistry except the complexes must contain at least one metal-carbon bond. In the lectures, Cameron takes us through a lot of theory (including some organometallic IR spectroscopy stuff on bond strengths that none of us really understood) and organometallic reactions which was very intimidating for a completely new topic. However, he did a great job at explaining everything and it turns out that a lot of the equations on his slides are just there for context and aren’t actually assessable eg formation of cyclopentadienyl anion. You’ll only be expected to draw a structure, determine the valence e- configuration of a metal in a complex from its oxidation state, find the e- count around the metal centre and from this state whether or not a given complex is stable ie does the e- count follow the 18 e- rule you covered briefly in topic 1. You may also be asked to predict the product of a given organometallic reaction, but most are pretty straightforward eg if you see an alkali metal and a halogen bound to another metal, it’s likely a salt elimination. If you did the tute sheets, you’ll be set to ace this section. My favourite part of this lecture block is applying the different organometallic reactions you learned to catalytic cycles. On a side note, I even came up with my own formula for determining how many e-s a ligand contribute to the e- count, it’s given by #(e-)= hapticity (the number after the eta denoting how many atoms on the ligand are simultaneously bound to the metal centre) - charge, note that it doesn’t work on neutral monodentate ligands which contribute 2 e-s to the e- count. Also if you get something you can’t answer in topic 2, just say pi* back donation and synergetic sigma forward donation and you’ll be right 99% of the time :P.

Kellie takes us for topic 3 which is more or less a refresher of 1st year organic in its first week with resonance structures, orbital hybridisation in valence bond theory, carbocation stability and electrophile vs nucleophile etc. However, the new content starts at the 2nd week with SN1, SN2, E1 and E1 reactions, how to identify them and how to draw their respective mechanisms. Zaitsev’s rule of elimination reactions (reverse of Markovnikov’s rule where the poor get poorer ie carbons with less hydrogens already attached are more likely to be deprotonated in elimination reactions) was covered in weeks 8-9. Week 9 went crazy on electrophilic additions, rearrangements and ring strain, with triangular intermediates in bromination and oxymercuration looking as satanic as the Illuminati. I was initially very lost when watching Kellie go through some exceptions in carbocation rearrangement stability rules in bicyclic molecules with ring strain, but watching the lectures a 2nd time and asking Kellie to explain some parts of her slides in text on the forums cleared everything up. Half of topic 3 weren’t exactly new content for me as I studied these when preparing for the GAMSAT, but given that the GAMSAT fried my brain so much, I forgot 99% of my O chem after my test day so I kinda have to relearn them with everyone else. Kellie did an epic job at taking us through these crazy mechanisms, she was especially good at showing us how to do exam style questions and answering our queries on the lecture content in the tutorials which were live as opposed to recorded.

Topic 4 was ostensibly dedicated to carbonyl chemistry, however in reality it covers many different organic reaction types including oxidation, reduction (ugh memorising all the reducing agents and what functional groups they’re strong enough to reduce), pericyclic reactions, electrophilic aromatic substitutions, nucleophilic acyl substitution + addition (revision of Grignard and esterification mechanisms from 1st year) and enol/enolate reactions. Phil is also a legendary lecturer because in his recorded lectures, his teaching style (heck, even his speaking style) was exactly like Eddie Woo who saved me big time in high school maths. He’s somehow able to make all the scary mechanisms sound so much less intimidating by getting us to recognise recurring patterns in the mechanisms. Phil got us to focus on applications over memorising, which actually helps your muscle memory in mechanisms, if you listen to his explanations a few times very carefully and do some practice, drawing mechanisms will actually become second nature. To do well in this section, you need to memorise a simple pKa table (lower pKa of conjugate acid= better leaving group= increased reactivity in nucleophilic acyl substitutions) and trends in electrophilicity (more electrophilic functional group= more reactive in nucleophilic additions, you need to memorise a list of functional groups in order of their electrophilicity given to you on the lecture slides to do that). You also had to memorise a bunch of reagents (including conditions) used in organic synthesis, what they do to different chemicals and their relative strengths. In some way, this topic was reminiscent of the fill in the box/organic reaction pathways questions in year 12 VCAA chem exams, but it was souped up and taken up to 11.

Labs: Consists of proformas (worksheets asking you to answer theoretical questions on your lab) as well as full writeups. Due to rona restrictions, 2 wet labs in the past have been replaced by 1-hour Zoom sessions where the TA helps you interpret data provided to you for the writeup. In addition, the restrictions mean that we're no longer able to take our own NMR and UV-Vis spectra, which means for proformas or reports, we get provided model results on Moodle to copy into them. Everyone's happy about this change since we can no longer be penalised for having dodgy results which happened a lot in first year for me which was on-campus. Note in the short lab descriptions below, unless otherwise stated, assume the lab is on-campus and the report is a proforma.

Lab 1: We had to make a coloured cobalt complex. Nothing too special here.

Lab 2: We had to elucidate the structure of a vanadium complex through redox titration. However we did not obtain our own data in 80% of the lab (Guoy balance not available due to rona). We messed up our titration, but I was able to impress my TA by correctly determining why I the titre was of a wrong ratio.

Lab 3: We were making acetylferrocene from ferrocene through Friedel-Crafts acylation. This was a commercial based lab so they want you to be aware of how much each reactant costs and the industrial applications of organometallic compounds.

Lab 4: Online lab with full lab report writeup, we were supposed to generate an organonickel catalyst and use that to catalyse alkene isomerisation, then use gas chromatography to determine the catalyst’s effectiveness at isomerising hexene and heptene. Instead, we just looked at model result gas chromatograms.

Lab 5: A really confusing lab that shows you how to separate aqueous and organic phases, I looked like a total idiot in that lab as I had no idea what I was doing even after the prelab quiz and video. I understand they designed this lab to make it more independently directed so that we learn the theory after doing the lab, but I can’t be independent if I don’t have the theory explained to me beforehand.

Lab 6: Online lab with proforma. This lab was originally on the pinacolone rearrangement and testing its presence with the DNP test. The proforma was basically mechanism hell, but teaches you a lot about the rules of mechanisms that come VERY handy on the exam (Tracy who is the online lab TA is a f*cking legend, she’s always very helpful during the session and outside the session).

Lab 7: Friedel-Crafts alkylation of 1,4 dimethoxybenzene. The carbocation was generated by 2 different alcohols, but there was only one product in the end due to carbocation rearrangement. I lost marks for some pretty dumb stuff, as in, I copied the mechanism in the lab manual and got a mark off because it didn’t show the activating group in action. I lost another few marks for failing to link to the scenario you’re given in the lab manual where you’re asked to determine the product as the literature on the reaction is outdated (spoiler alert, I was able to find that exact reaction in a chem education journal in 10 seconds flat with a quick Google search so I kinda ignored the lab manual and thought they were capping).

Lab 8: We had to make a yellow goo through a Claisen-Schmidt condensation that is apparently the active ingredient in sunscreen. This is another full lab report writeup, for me (who had the lab in week 12), it was due during SWOTVAC. I half-a*sed it because I was studying hard for the BMS2011 final, so this was my worst performing lab.


Online learning assignments (ie NMR dry lab and prelecture quizzes): The NMR dry lab consisted of a proforma worth 20 marks like our other lab reports. However, it's weighed 5% of our overall grade instead of 3.75% like the others. The prelab video was more or less a refresher of year 12 NMR stuff, so make sure you watch it before your Zoom class, but in the dry lab Kellie goes insane with coupling, showing you how fluorine can split hydrogens in H NMR, how aromatic protons can detect and hence be split by protons in the environment adjacent to the adjacent proton environment (this is called 4J coupling, as opposed to the 3J coupling you’ve encountered in high school and 1st year chem) and how phosphorus and fluorine can split each other when you barely refreshed your year 12 knowledge. You're GUARANTEED to leave the workshop confused like hell as there is nowhere near enough time in the allocated 1 hour to cover all the content and clarify any questions. I had to spend a grand total of 20 hours on this assignment, looking through various Youtube tutorials to no avail. Out of desperation, I compiled a megalist of dumb questions on the assignment for Kellie to answer (me posting a megalist on the relevant lab forum has become a weekly ritual from then on). Luckily, Kellie was extremely patient with me on the forums with and effectively clarified everything without giving too many details away, I was able to use that info to quickly finish the assignment AND help others struggling with the report on the forums, so don’t be afraid to ask for assistance.

The prelecture quizzes were very easy to full mark (they're usually out of 5) if you paid attention to the prelecture material on Moodle and checked your work. Only prelecture quizzes from weeks 2-11 were assessed.

Assessed tutorials: There were 4 of these assigned on Thursday mornings of weeks 4, 7, 10 and 12 and due at 10AM the Monday after that (with the exception of the week 12 assessed tute which was due the next day at 5PM). These were based on topics 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively and are worth 2.5% of your CHM2911 grade each. They're all very easy to full mark as they're open book and all the answers are in your lecture slides. To get us accustomed to the eExams, the assessed tutes in weeks 9 and 12 were conducted as Moodle quizzes and some of the questions asked you to sketch mechanisms, then upload them as a photo for assessment, which was pretty similar to the 10 hybrid questions on the actual exam. These quizzes were open time as well, so the only time limit after you click the start button is the due time of the assessment.

Final exam: Closed book, 130 minutes for 120 marks from 32 questions (I’d say 80%+ of the marks came from short answer but there were 15-16 multis as well IIRC). The exam was divided into 4 equal sections of 30 marks each, 1 for each lecture topic. 2 mock exams were made available to us around 1 month before our actual exam which were slightly above the actual exam in terms of difficulty. I’d really suggest watching the revision lectures held during SWOTVAC, as the lecturers also go through higher difficulty problems and even drop hints on what may pop up on the exam. If you can follow the lecturer’s logic during those, you won’t have any problems at all acing your final exam. There were 2 surprises though, in topic 1 I think they asked us to calculate something that we weren’t taught to. In topic 2 they surprised us with a question that required a very deep understanding of the theoretical side of the lectures (as opposed to the usual more application based organometallics questions), I had a mind blank so I just put down whatever BS I could come up with at the time. The questions on topics 3 and 4 were surprisingly easy, the mechanism questions were especially nice in that they didn’t ask you to draw a mechanism AND predict the products, they gave you the final product as a sort of “show that” questions for us to flex our QEDs.

Edit: Results came out and I think the exam was scaled up by quite a lot. I thought I only got 96-100/120 (because I know for sure I had mistakes in the many mechanism questions and there were some odd theory questions here and there I forgot the answer to on the day), but apparently got 114/120.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on July 10, 2021, 02:01:02 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS2011 - Structure of the human body: An evolutionary and functional perspective

Workload: 
2 x 1 hour recorded lectures
1 x 1 hour livestream lab
1 x 1.5 hour in person lab every 2nd week

Assessment:
30% total from 3 lab tests (divided into 8% test 1, 12% test 2 and 10% test 3)
20% poster group project on the anatomy of human evolution
20% midsem
30% final exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. Practice questions from past final exams provided, but some weren’t relevant to the current course content

Textbook Recommendation:
Gray’s Anatomy for Students (4th edition)

However, I also used Sobotta’s Atlas of Anatomy (15th edition) and Anatomy- a Photographic Atlas (8th edition) to help me prepare for schematic and prosection labelling questions

Lecturer(s):
Luca Fiorenza
Olga Panagiotopoulou
Julia Young
Sonja McKeown
Kim Catania
Anne Peters
Craig Smith

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Sem 1

Rating: 0 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: This unit was the worst unit I have taken in biomed so far (even making BMS2031 ie biophysics look like it’s well run in comparison). There was so much content to memorise (luckily they decided that we only need to know half the unit for the final exam), but apart from the difficulty, its organisation was EXTREMELY poor (you’ll see why as I roast this unit piece by piece below). To be fair, maybe it’s just that the unit coordinators haven’t adjusted the unit to the rona age very well, but to put it nicely, there’s a ton of improvements that could be made. In terms of lectures, I'll briefly give my impression of the lecturers here.

Luca (unit coordinator) takes lectures on the muscular system, the axial musculoskeletal system, hominin evolution, skin pigmentation, appendicular (ie lower and upper limb anatomy), cranial evolution, dental anatomy and origins of bipedalism. His lecture slides have almost zero information on them (you have no idea what point he’s trying to make with his slides alone) and you’ll have to listen for the information he wants to deliver very carefully (even so, it’s barely comprehensible because he doesn’t explain things in the most intuitive way and Youtube had to save me when I had trouble understanding his content). In Luca’s defence, he did offer us a lot of really useful online resources on the evolution stuff that he did not explain very well, so you’d be fine if you went through those. My social skills aren’t the sharpest after 1 year of quarantine isolation, but I’m getting the vibe that he might be annoyed at the questions we ask him on the forums and only answer them begrudgingly (again, I’m stressing it’s just my suspicions, speculations and general impression).

Olga (2nd unit coordinator) lectures you for the skeletal system, head and neck anatomy, respiratory system, cardiovascular system, digestive system and urinary system. Her lectures were the best in the unit, her slides have a healthy mix of text and images, and force you to listen to them by not giving everything away. She stands out from all other lecturers because she’s very clear on what’s assessable and what’s not, so it takes a lot of guesswork out of studying for the final exam when it comes to SWOTVAC, freeing up time to study for some other difficult BMS2011 concepts or other units. Her explanations were always great when you tune in to listen, her lectures were the only ones I didn’t require Khan Academy or Crash Course to help me consolidate. She has this quirk where she starts every lecture AND Moodle announcement post with “Dear students…” so it comes as no surprise she cares about our progress and understanding of her lecture content and she’s on the forums all the time answering people’s questions very quickly and in a lot of detail.

Anne only has 1 lecture on animal diversity and taxonomy, this is pretty much revision of high school bio and helps you understand how to read a phylogenetic tree (which will come in handy in Luca’s lectures).

Sonja has 2 neuroanatomy lectures in week 7. These examine embryonic brain development as well as the anatomy of the adult nervous system (both CNS and PNS). You’re introduced to the cranial nerves and their functions so make up (or look up) your most inappropriate mnemonics to memorise them (one is listed in the spoiled section under the heading Labs: in-person), they’re very important to know for this unit’s assessments. Sonja was really nice on the forums as well, being very quick to answer student questions especially during SWOTVAC.

Kim’s only lecture is on the anatomy and physiology of the special senses except for touch (ie sight, smell, taste and hearing). A lot of it will overlap with the neurobio you covered in Sonja’s lectures, as well as the sensation lectures in BMS1052. Like Sonja, Kim is very approachable on the forums for questions on her lecture content.

Julia takes 2 reproduction lectures in week 11 covering the developmental origins of the gonads to anatomical adaptations for effective reproduction, as well as the anatomy of the mature male and female reproductive organs. Her lectures were witty, humorous and very easily understood. There was quite a lot of overlap between her lectures and the BMS2031 reproductive lectures, so you can kind of kill 2 birds with one stone if you run out of study time.

Craig takes you only for 1 embryology lecture in week 12, which is a revision of BMS1021 dev bio and overlaps heavily with his lectures from BMS2021.

Lab quizzes: These were VERY difficult (except for lab test 1) despite being open book. You’re given 30 minutes for 20 marks and some questions involved labelling multiple parts of a dead body (prosections). Every single muscle looks the same when you’re under this immense time pressure, however I would much prefer these to be open book than closed book which they were in previous years apparently. Especially in tests 2 and 3, you won’t have much time to Google the answers or look them up in your lecture notes, from my poor results in those, I think a lesson would be “never fall behind on BMS2011 lectures”, because the lecture content, while not explicitly assessed in these tests, helps you understand the labs tremendously.

As I just alluded to, the lab tests only assessed the content covered in the labs. Test 1 was on the general and axial musculoskeletal systems. Test 2 was on the appendicular musculoskeletal system, cranio-dental anatomy, neuroanatomy and special senses. Test 3 was on thoracic viscera (ie cardiovascular + respiratory systems), abdominal viscera (ie digestive system) and the urogenital systems. When I was in one of my BMS2031 labs (I haven’t taken lab test 2 at that point but have completed test 1 and the midsem), Julia (who is also the chief examiner of BMS2011) told me that since the cohort average grades for test 1 and the midsem were so high, Luca and Olga decided to make subsequent assessments insanely difficult. Indeed, my scores reflect this pretty accurately, I scored 92.5%, 80.4% and 78.4% on the 3 lab tests respectively (the cohort average for these were 84%, 73% and 66% respectively). It really didn’t help that everything else in my other units were due on the last day of the semester which was the same day as test 3.

Labs (livestream): We have an 1-hour Zoom session with an anatomy TA every week (except week 6 which was midsem week and week 12) where we go through certain pages of our lab manual, label those schematics (ie cartoon depictions of human anatomy), answer relevant questions in the lab manual and play around with a computer anatomy model called Biodigital Human. I felt so lost during these sessions because to understand these livestream labs, they presume that you have watched and throughly understood that week’s lectures. Of course, I’m always at least 2 weeks behind in anatomy lectures, so a lot of things didn’t make sense to me and I couldn’t answer a lot of the questions our TA, Hyab, threw at us. Luckily she’s very supportive, taught us many useful mnemonics and even went above and beyond to help us nail labelling questions when the orientation of the prosection or schematic isn’t what you’re used to ie anatomical position.

Labs (in-person): Every 2nd week or so (there were only 4 in-person labs due to rona restrictions), we go into the basement of the biomed LTB and examine some actual dead bodies. They were on axial MSK, appendicular MSK, neuroanatomy and thoracic + abdominal viscera (combined in 1 lab). One of the in-person labs (neuroanatomy) got moved to a Zoom session because both Luca and Olga were sick at that time (one of the unit coordinators must be present to conduct in-person labs), so it really disadvantaged the stream that had their labs on that week. Before the lab, it’s highly recommended that you complete a prelab Moodle quiz, while it’s optional and not assessed, it really helps you understand the concepts covered in the labs. A major drawback is that the lab sessions were only 90 minutes, you only spend 20 minutes at each station which was nowhere near enough time to go through everything on your lab manual. Given that all lab content is assessable on the lab tests, incomplete lab manuals often translated to poor marks, so make sure you Google the answers if you didn’t have time to go through everything in the lab. We had a really nice TA (Rohan) who looked like the Green brothers from Crash Course on Youtube (complete with the glasses) who taught us some wicked mnemonics, I don’t know what’s wrong with us, but we all seem to learn best with questionable mnemonics:

Spoiler
Some lovers try positions that they can’t handle (scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, pisiform, trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate which were the 8 carpal bones)


Spoiler
On occasions Oliver tries to a*ally finger various guys, v*gi*as are history (olfactory, optic, oculomotor, trochlear, trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear, glossopharyngeal, vagus, accessory, hypoglossal which was the order of the 12 cranial nerves)

Olga was super helpful as well despite my lack of knowledge being painfully obvious from all those missed lectures. Once when Olga asked me something in the lab and I was like “I’m sorry I don’t know, but could it be X?” with my best educated guess, she was like “Not quite [insert explanation], BTW you don’t need to apologise because you’re here to learn. You wouldn’t need to be here if you knew everything so it’s perfectly OK to not know what you’re doing”. This is the teaching style that separates average teachers from great teachers, I aim to be equally encouraging as Olga to my students if I ever become a teacher (my dream career at the moment is getting into medicine, practice medicine for 5-10 years after graduating med school, then go back and teach med school, but if that doesn’t work out, being a high school teacher will require much of the same qualities as well).

Midsem: Tests knowledge of the week 1-5 lectures (ie no lab content). It was open book like the lab tests, but it was super easy in comparison (no dead body labelling). You can literally look up everything on Google. Some answers to questions (especially from Luca’s lectures) can’t be found on the lecture slides, so you may need to spend extra time Googling or searching through your notes. However, you’re given 70 minutes for 40 multis which is more than enough time to finish, check your answers and find answers to any difficult questions. I had a very unpleasant experience with the teaching team on the midsem. A few days before the midsem, I’ve found a practice midsem for the 2012 version of BMS2011 on the internet. Given that I’m aware of the BMS2011 midsem’s notoriety from this thread on ATAR Notes, I wasn’t about to let a practice exam go to waste. I went through the 50 questions, found some that were pretty challenging and asked them on the forums. I got told off by the unit coordinators who informed me that posting past exams on forums isn’t allowed, that I shouldn’t do that again and as such they won’t help me with those questions. There was another priceless expression of this units’ poor organisation, when the midsem marks were released, it turned out that I somehow scored 101.32% on it (probably keeping even the strictest Asian parents happy) because while they entered our marks correctly (I got 19.25), they accidentally made the denominator out of 19 instead of 20. They eventually changed it back but everyone who got above 19/20 (and hence “got” >100%) had a good laugh about it. The cohort average was 87%.

Group project: We were assigned a topic about human anatomy in the week 3 online lab and this was due on Friday of week 10 at 5PM. Our topic was to create an A1-sized poster (you can’t change the canvas size) evaluating the identity of the hominin Homo floresiensis aka the Hobbit which was discovered on Flores, Indonesia in 2004, comparing and contrasting various models in scientific literature that attempt to explain its origin. In essence, this was a literature review but in poster form, we ended up using 10 different references. Hands down this is the worst part of this already terrible unit. We received no guidance from the teaching team on this poster whatsoever and the rubric was extremely subjective and poorly written. To add insult to injury, all the fonts had to be bigger than a certain size and we’re given almost no freedom on the poster as we’re not allowed to change the template which was horribly designed. However, I found a hack that allowed us to fit everything onto the page (by decreasing line spacing, the unit coordinators never prohibited this even though they didn’t allow small fonts). The worst part comes from the backstabbing group members (only 1 backstabber for this project luckily). Similar to the BMS2021 group project, the team evaluation was worth 15% of the group project, ie 3% of your overall unit grade and the poster component was worth 85%. I only received 76% on the Feedback Fruits review because of one backstabber. Thankfully, we scored 76/85 for the poster section, giving me an 87.4% overall on the group project which I guess is still acceptable. They said (and even gave me a 2/5 in the fostering teamwork criterion when I don’t think anyone else in the group gave someone else less than a 3/5):

Spoiler
“Some decisions seemed to be made based on own thought which drove the poster's direction into what was envisioned by a single member rather than the whole team. Please seek to work with the team and ask for suggestions or feedback on ideas rather than implement them.”

“The lack of a 'team' feeling was very present. It would benefit greatly if you could work to identify what everyone does best and go off that rather than complete most tasks on your own. There is more at stake here than just marks and I am sure it would benefit you if you learn of the humanity behind working with a team on any set task.”

The above 2 passive aggressive reviews were written by the same person for me in the anonymous review system Feedback Fruits. Yes, there ARE some things in life more important grades, perhaps not being a backstabber is one of them. And being one means you have ABSOLUTELY NO moral high ground over me to lecture me, judge me and labelling me as lacking humanity or empathy. I mean, bruh, I never saw you complaining about a lack of team spirit or how the project was done by one person when I was busy pulling all those all nighters finishing the project, rectifying some cases of plagiarism that could’ve gotten us all of us kicked out of uni if not corrected (had put a lot of copied pasted stuff into my own words and referencing them properly) when you’re doing God knows what. You’re probably just trashing me on the review platform with such a pretentious lecture so that my grades go down and I look like I’m a sociopath just so you get into med more easily (sorry for the rant, back on topic). Edit: I do get where you're coming from and my rant may have been interpreted as an inability to receive constructive criticism, but I had teammates who gave me all 3s (which was lower than how that person rated me as a whole) and wrote really detailed and critical suggestions for me in my other group project for BMS2021 and I was ok with that. Heck, I believed this person does have a point in some ways, it just comes off to me that they're playing mind games and being passive aggressive, one shouldn't dismiss the message just because the messenger didn't convey it well

The other group members gave me very fair and honest reviews (mostly 4 out of 5), I gave everyone high reviews too because I don’t believe anyone should be penalised on easy peer review marks for such a terrible assessment task (yet some snake seems to think it’s OK). I suffered in the teamwork criteria because again, I had bad experiences from high school group projects and tried to steal other people’s parts to do them myself, but I feel it’s reasonable if it’s honest and not playing mind games to make me look bad in front of the lecturers. However, in future projects I will definitely trust my teammates more and delegate tasks so that I don’t steal everything and do everything myself because I do recognise the importance of teamwork and I want to respect the feedback I receive from my other good teammates. It doesn’t matter if I become a doctor or a teacher, in any profession I’ll end up doing teamwork of some description. I’m not entirely faultless in the project either, due to the various other labs, I’ve put off doing the project (same as everyone else in my group) until 2 weeks before it was due.

The only good that came out of the group project is that you can interpret it as a blessing in disguise if you want. It exposes you to how crappy certain people can be, which helps you lower expectations when you’re dealing with Karens no matter what profession you end up in.

End of semester exam: Closed book, 130 minutes for 60 multis (including some with drop down options) assessing lecture knowledge from weeks 6-12. This exam was way easier than everyone initially expected, especially given that it was closed book, otherwise many of us would’ve failed. There were like 2 hard questions from Luca’s lectures that went into a lot of detail about the theory covered in his lectures (which I wrongfully assumed to just be context, please assume everything is examinable unless specifically indicated otherwise), but it is what it is, you can only give it a lucky guess and hope for the best. Protip: in dropdown questions, if you know all but 2 of the options (say you only know 1 out of 3), for the 2 you don’t know put the same answer for both so that you’re guaranteed 2/3 in the example I’ve given instead of risking mixing them up and only scoring 1/3. All those extra 1/3 and 1/4 marks you pick up this way will boost your unit score when every single mark counts in biomed (as we say, HDs get MDs). This was the only exam I felt I aced this semester (and it’s the most objective one). Edit: now that results are out, I can safely say that there was minimal scaling (maybe only be 1 mark out of 60). Which is surprising because one’d expect quite a lot of scaling for the hardest unit in biomed as I heard it’s the unit with the most fails in previous years from my TAs.

Edit: Luca just made an announcement on the average grades on the exam, it was 69% (no cap). This is pretty surprising because this implies that the final exam was harder than practical theme test 2 (73%), which was certainly not the case for me. They also commented that the grade was consistent with past years' BMS2011 exam scores when conducted on campus with invigilation, so I think they figured out a way to stop the WAMflation from cheating which is very good news, it means you no longer have to push yourself so hard to beat the cheat
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on July 10, 2021, 07:46:07 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS2031 - Body Systems

Workload: 
2 x 1 hr recorded lectures
1 x 3 hr lab every 2nd week
1 x 1 hr (online) or 2 hr (in-person) workshop during lab time every 2nd week

Assessment:
45% total from all labs (including a 2% career development module)
15% midsem
10% endocrinology + respiratory Moodle quiz, some people called this midsem 2
30% final exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. Practice questions from past final exams provided which were significantly more difficult than the actual exam.

Textbook Recommendation:
Vanders Physiology (VERY useful for lab report write-ups)

Lecturer(s):
Julia Choate
Ari Pinar
Craig Harrison
Liz Davis

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Sem 1

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 92 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: This unit was the 2nd or 3rd best unit I ever took (surpassed only by BMS1062 and CHM1011). I used to be so bad at high school bio and homeostasis was the bane of my existence, but this physiology unit really kindled my love for the discipline with its great teaching staff and innovative teaching activities. I realised pretty early on in the semester that I can use my elective chem knowledge (specifically, Le Chateliers Principle) to help me understand all trends in physiology which I’d say was my eureka moment in biomed. I would’ve given BMS2031 a 5/5 if it were not for the final exam’s difficulty (not in terms of content, but in terms of time management).

Julia (unit coordinator) has you for the cardiovascular, renal and digestive system lectures. She’s like your kind old grandma who bakes you cookies when you come to visit, and she’s always friendly and approachable in the labs and on the unit forums. Her quirk is signing off her forum posts with “Happy X!” where X is “writing” when we’re writing a lab report, “digesting” when we’re clarifying something about her digestive system lectures and “studying” when we’re cramming for the midsem or finals.  I know most lecturers don’t answer questions in a lot of detail because they got their own research to take care of or something, but Julia really goes above and beyond in answering student’s forum questions (including my numerous dumb questions on the labs). I contributed heavily to answering other student’s question as well because it trains my explanation skills if I were to become a teacher, and it’s great short answer response practice for me. Consequently, Julia didn’t answer the student I was replying to, I wasn’t sure if she forgot to or she felt it was unnecessary because I already answered them. I was kind of hoping that she would confirm whether or not my understanding or explanation were of exam quality. On the topic of education, since a potential Master of Secondary Teaching requires 2 science sequences, I have to sacrifice 2 chem units from my electives including CHM3990 for 2 biological units, and when I learned that Julia’s education lab is taking students interested in physiology education, I figured out that it may not be a bad idea to enrol in PHY3990 with her research group in 3rd year.

Ari (assistant unit coordinator) takes 3 of the 4 respiratory lectures (the 4th lecture was replaced by an online learning module on rona). He kind of read off his slides which wasn’t like his awesome lectures in BMS1052 at all, some of which weren’t formatted correctly as the images and text boxes have clearly been moved around. As such, I had to spend quite a lot of time watching Ninja Nerd on Youtube to understand the respiratory lecture content and I believe respiratory was my worst topic on the final exam as well. However, he’s very enthusiastic on the forums, preferring to guide us in the correct direction instead of giving us the answer right away which avoids the spoon feeding pitfall. He’s more than happy to clarify aspects of his lectures that weren’t well explained and we all appreciated that very much. One day, he even emailed me to talk about something, he has 1 on 1 catch up sessions with every student in the cohort to check on how they’re going and he offered me some really valuable advice in preparing for med interviews. Like in BMS1031 and BMS1052, he saved our incompetent a*ses in the labs time and time again (not just the respiratory lab, EVERY SINGLE lab).

Craig’s lectures were on the endocrine and reproductive systems. While you do get all the info you need from his lecture slides, they’re squeezed into a tiny corner and barely visible (but they’re still there). However, he’s really good at choosing the images that tell the clearest story on his slides and his explanations were mostly clearly, although I did have to resort to Khan Academy to help me understand the female reproductive system lectures where the endocrinology associated with pregnancy and delivery were extremely complicated. The endocrine workshop ran by him was especially hilarious with his homebrew educational video.

Liz only takes 1 pharmacology lecture. It was pretty similar to the enzyme kinetics ie Michaelis Menten double reciprocal plots you were introduced to in BMS1011, but applied in a pharmacological context where you discuss affinity, potency and efficacy.

Lab assessments: I will now list everything we did in the labs and the % of your overall grade associated with each lab assessment. Overall there is a huge focus on group projects, but I didn’t really have any bad experiences with any of the group projects in this unit because I actually ended up with a good group. As with my other units, I didn’t trust my group members with doing anything in the beginning which was a source of tension, but as the semester went on, I softened and put more trust in them and sure enough, they did not disappoint me. Unlike previous physiology units (BMS1031 and BMS1052), the labs in BMS2031 were actually really good, so they must have improved the lab program from the time of the last BMS2031 review on this thread.

Career workshop on networking (2%): Basically teaching us how to take advantage of the nepotistic job market- it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. If you literally put down anything in your Pebblepad portfolio, you’ll be awarded the full 2% of your overall grade. I was also introduced to my team members with whom I’ll have to write up all group reports in the semester, as well as my TA, Nadya, who was a final year postgrad med student at Monash. Throughout the semester it was always interesting to hear about Nadya’s journey from biomed into postgrad Monash med which is the pathway I want to take myself.

Toad cardiac muscle lab (11%): Consists of a worksheet we had to hand in by the time the lab session finished (thank God no references required). The experiment investigates the effects of stretching a piece of isolated toad ventricular muscle on its force of contraction upon electrical stimulation. Adrenergic agonists and antagonists were also investigated for their effects on the force of contraction. I was in the cohort who did this lab online and the gut lab in-person (the other stream did this in-person but got to do the gut lab online). Since the worksheet was made available to us on Monday of the lab week and my lab was on Thursday, I made a head start on it and basically walked into it with the worksheet completed. I even briefed my team at 5AM on what we’re doing and what each of our job is (doing a briefing in the group chat the night/morning before the lab became something of a ritual for me whenever there’s a group assessment lab). However, there were some technical difficulties on the day which created some unnecessary panic and delays, and just like in high school bio, I was missing a few key points in my pre-prepared theoretical question responses. Nadya had to basically hold our hands throughout the whole Zoom lab, she told us that it doesn’t actually matter if we submit something 5 minutes late for this particular lab because when she was in biomed, she handed a billion things in 2 minutes late. All of those near-submission panic attacks from BMS1062 were for nothing apparently. Due to my less than stellar responses to the theoretical questions, we were only given 86.9% for the report which was only slightly above cohort average.

Human CVS lab (5%): Examines the effect of exercise and the baroreceptor reflex on the cardiovascular system (I was the test subject for the baroreceptor reflex). Assessed by a 10-multiple choice Moodle prequiz to be completed within 20 minutes which was very easy to full mark if you watched all 4 cardiovascular lectures and paid attention to the workshops thus far in the unit. There were no assessments in the lab or after the lab, but apparently someone who full marked the prequiz decided to wag the lab, and then had their mark revoked.

Water diuresis/renal function lab (11%): Examines the effect of hydration and exercise on urine production rate in human test subjects (I wasn’t allowed to be a test subject due to being asthmatic, but I was the timekeeper, data collector and team manager). AKA the peeing lab. The test subjects drank a water load and their urine were collected at 20 minute intervals and analysed for their volume and Na+ concentration. For the writeup, you’re provided with a report template which is quite similar to the CHM2911 proformas with a bunch of theoretical questions for you to answer as well as some that require you to refer to the statistically-analysed cohort data. The final report was not hard at all, we answered all the questions really well, checked our work with literature and got 94.2% (it was better than the 1st team report as we got 2 weeks or so to complete it).

Spirometry/lung function lab (5%): Taught us the basics of spirometry, helping us identify different lung volumes and showing us how obstructive lung diseases differ from restrictive ones in their presentation on a spirometer recording. I completed the online version of the lab which was made for the 2020 cohort before I came into the lab, so I knew exactly what was going on. The assessment came in the form of a 5-multiple choice question quiz on the lab content (you’ve read that right, 5 questions for 5% of your overall grade). Nadya initially trolled me by saying when she was in biomed this was insanely hard and many people got 0s for not studying for it, but all the questions were free marks. I’m not aware of anyone who didn’t get 5/5

Gut function lab (1% prequiz + 10% proforma-style report): The last lab of the semester was on determining whether your assigned piece of isolated rabbit ileum has predominantly sympathetic or parasympathetic innervation using receptor agonists and antagonists (pharmacological techniques) to support the hypothesis. Although most people had sympathetic innervation ileum sections showing up with an inhibitory effect on its spontaneous contractions, we were stoked when my group somehow ended up with an excitatory effect in contractility indicative of parasympathetic innervation (Julia, Ari and the substitute TA filling in for Nadya were all very excited as well and crowded around my table). I had to pull an all nighter on the last day of semester to finish that report off (we were given around 1 week after the lab this time), but it was worth it in the end when the results came back with 96.7%.

Workshops: While the workshops didn’t have assessments you must complete within them, a lot of the other in semester assessments as well as the final exam may potentially examine workshop content. Basically the workshops are interactive lectures where your TA is your lecturer. If they’re online (which they were most of the time), they ran only for 1 hour, but when they’re on campus they usually ran for 2. I heard these were actually optional, but I chose not to skip any and I felt that’s the best decision ever. Nadya took us through so many exam style ie application/case study questions and helped us so much with understanding and consolidating the lecture content of that week and my team really got a bonding experience in those tutorials. I must confess that I did not pay attention at all in my last ever workshop in week 12 as I was busy finalising my gut report, but then again neither did anyone else because we all follow the due today do today rule.

In semester tests: The midsem examined the cardiovascular and renal lecture, workshop and practical content (however it does not assess the water diuresis lab) and had 30 multiple choice questions to be completed in 45 minutes. The time limit is very tight so the midsem wasn’t very Googleable, but nonetheless it was open book. Now, the definition of a MCQ is very misleading, some of the more application-based questions had a billion parts to them in drop-down menus, but there were plenty of free marks to be gained from stock standard MCQs that were straight recall (those billion-part MCQs were weighed the same as single-answer MCQs). If you know your trends for cardiovascular and renal physiology (eg increased sympathetic nervous system activity= increase blood pressure, increase RAAS activity etc, increased Bowman capsule hydrostatic pressure= decreased filtration), you’ll be fine.

The endocrine and respiratory test was 20 multis in 30 minutes and assesses the endocrine and respiratory lecture content as well as the endocrine workshop. ALL of the questions were straight recall unlike the midsem and can be looked up very easily on Google or in your lecture slides since they weren’t application-style and overly specific. You won’t be pushed for time at all so take the time to check through your answers because this is probably the easiest 10% assessment you’ll ever get in a biomed unit.

Final exam: 130 minutes for 17 multis + 7 x 14-mark short answer questions (1 SAQ per lecture + 1 SAQ on the acid-base workshop) for a grand total of 115 marks. Although the exam was open book, you’ll barely have enough time to look anything up by Google or your notes. I almost didn’t open my notes at all due to the time pressure, I had to leave a 5-marker almost completely blank in the end and didn’t get the chance to check over my answer for any of the multis, that’s how pushed for time the exam was (even more so than the midsem). To be fair, I did not do enough timed practice of the provided practice questions because of the hassle of receiving feedback via Moodle, so don’t be like me (the BMS2021 practice short answer questions provide you with the marking schemes whereas you have to send your answers through the Moodle forums for manual feedback for BMS2031). The exam questions were very fair themselves, they’re way easier than the practice short answer questions since they’re divided into more manageable subquestions instead of essay-style responses. However given the sheer amount of stuff to write down for certain short answer questions, I’d say that a more appropriate exam length would be 2hr 40 min instead of 2hr 10 min. I felt BMS2031 was my worst performing exam of this semester. Edit: results are out, after back calculating the exam score, it was indeed my lowest. I only expected 80/115 (because I only gave 2 sentence responses to quite a few 4-5 markers, but apparently it’s 96/115 from my calculations. They either scaled it up a lot or were really easy on the marking, maybe because we were marked quite strictly for the in-sem assessments, they’re compensating by being chill on the exam responses.

Edit: Julia released some feedback, from her average section values table, the average mark was 64% (74/115). Furthermore, only ~17-18% of people got HD on the exam.  I'd say there was quite a lot of scaling as opposed to lenient marking.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Professor Polonsky on July 10, 2021, 02:55:49 pm
The worst part comes from the backstabbing group members (only 1 backstabber for this project luckily). Similar to the BMS2021 group project, the team evaluation was worth 15% of the group project, ie 3% of your overall unit grade and the poster component was worth 85%. I only received 76% on the Feedback Fruits review because of one backstabber. Thankfully, we scored 76/85 for the poster section, giving me an 87.4% overall on the group project which I guess is still acceptable. They said (and even gave me a 2/5 in the fostering teamwork criterion when I don’t think anyone else in the group gave someone else less than a 3/5):

Spoiler
“Some decisions seemed to be made based on own thought which drove the poster's direction into what was envisioned by a single member rather than the whole team. Please seek to work with the team and ask for suggestions or feedback on ideas rather than implement them.”

“The lack of a 'team' feeling was very present. It would benefit greatly if you could work to identify what everyone does best and go off that rather than complete most tasks on your own. There is more at stake here than just marks and I am sure it would benefit you if you learn of the humanity behind working with a team on any set task.”

The above 2 passive aggressive reviews were written by the same person for me in the anonymous review system Feedback Fruits. Yes, there ARE some things in life more important grades, one of them being not being a dirty snake backstabber. And being one means you have ABSOLUTELY NO moral high ground over me to lecture me, judge me and labelling me as lacking humanity or empathy. I mean, bruh, I never saw you complaining about a lack of team spirit or how the project was done by one person when I was busy pulling all those all nighters finishing the project, rectifying some cases of blatant plagiarism that could’ve gotten us all of us kicked out of uni if not corrected (had put a lot of copied pasted stuff into my own words and referencing them properly) when you’re out there partying and doing God knows what. You’re probably just trashing me on the review platform with such a pretentious lecture so that my grades go down and I look like I’m a sociopath just so you get into med more easily (sorry for the rant, back on topic).

The other group members gave me very fair and honest reviews (mostly 4 out of 5), I gave everyone high reviews too because I don’t believe anyone should be penalised on easy peer review marks for such a terrible assessment task (yet some snake seems to think it’s OK). I suffered in the teamwork criteria because again, I had bad experiences from high school group projects and tried to steal other people’s parts to do them myself, but I feel it’s reasonable if it’s honest and not playing mind games to make me look bad in front of the lecturers. However, in future projects I will definitely trust my teammates more and delegate tasks so that I don’t steal everything and do everything myself because I do recognise the importance of teamwork and I want to respect the feedback I receive from my other good teammates. It doesn’t matter if I become a doctor or a teacher, in any profession I’ll end up doing teamwork of some description. I’m not entirely faultless in the project either, due to the various other labs, I’ve put off doing the project (same as everyone else in my group) until 2 weeks before it was due.

The only good that came out of the group project is that you can interpret it as a blessing in disguise if you want. It exposes you to how much of a piece of sh*t certain people can be, which helps you lower expectations when you’re dealing with Karens no matter what profession you end up in.
Dude you need to chill out. You're talking about someone giving what appears on the face of it genuine and constructive feedback that actually reflects a shortcoming (which you acknowledged) in how you go about group projects. And you're calling them a "dirty snack backstabber" when the implication of this feedback was less than 0.5% of your overall grade for your subject. 

In the workplace, you'll be receiving feedback from your managers that has promotion implications - possibly many thousands dollars a year, or even more. You might disagree with it, but sulking, getting angry like this, and calling people "Karens" probably won't get you far.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: undefined on July 11, 2021, 07:26:29 pm
Subject Code/Name: ATS2145/3145 - Japanese proficient 1

Workload:  2x 10ish minute workshop videos to watch each week, a worksheet to do each week, 1x 1h tutorial and 1x 2h tutorial each week where attendance is marked.

Assessment: 
11x 1% worksheet
Interview then essay 25%
Exam 25%
Speaking test 20%
3x lesson test 6%

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available:  No

Textbook Recommendation:  Tobira. Yes you pretty much need this book to pass since it has worksheets in it and has all the content you need.

Lecturer(s): Dr Naomi Kurata

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Semester 1

Rating:  3.8 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments: Keep in mind I haven't had any experience doing Japanese since VCE and this semester was completely online for this subject. I thought it was overall a good subject but ended up not watching any workshop videos after a few weeks since I could just learn the assessable content from the textbook and the workshops are just summaries of the textbook. I'm sure if this subject was on campus and I could actually talk to the teachers then it would be a much better experience.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: commercecapstan on July 13, 2021, 11:52:05 pm
Subject Code/Name: MKC1200 - Principles of Marketing 

Contact Hours:[/b] 1 hour tutorial every other week

Assessment: 20% STP essay, 15% tute participation, 15% mcq, 50% exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes

Past exams available: No

Textbook Recommendation: Don't buy it

Lecturer(s): Maureen Griffiths

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 1 2021

Rating: 0.25 / 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments:
pure shit unit. lecturer was dry af and most of the time read the slides word for word without adding anything useful. the STP essay (which is a 20% essay) was difficult af to research, but is good for exam prep I guess. the content was alright, but still boring as hell lol.

exam preparation was by far the hardest. the exam questions they ask are completely nonsensical and doesn't initially test your application skills. for example, a question they would ask is "what are the 5 stages of consumer decision process", which might not seem difficult, but keep in mind the exam is closed book, so you're literally going to have to remember the 5 stages. Also note that marketing has millions of different concepts, so be prepared to remember a shit tonne of info
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: commercecapstan on July 13, 2021, 11:56:07 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC1000 - Business and Economic Statistics

Workload:  2 hour workshop each week + prerecorded lectures

Assessment:  group presentation (20%?) + workshop stuff (20%?) + exam (60%)

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, on YouTube

Past exams available:  2016 and onwards

Textbook Recommendation:  Nope

Lecturer(s): Brett Inder

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 sem 1

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: D

Comments: was alright, not really a big maths wiz but the content isn't too difficult to grasp. the group presentation was a bit of a shitshow, but overall if you understand the concept visually, then it'd be a piece of cake. i personally found the exam difficult (and genuinely thought I failed it, but ended up getting a 60% for the exam, with a 70% overall score). just knock out past practice exams and you'll be fine. brett inder, the lecturer, is fantastic. he usually would post a pre-exam video which was extremely helpful as it tackled on what to expect for the exam.

my methods and further maths study score was average, but i still didn't find the topics in this unit too challenging, so should be relatively beginner friendly to non-stats kids.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on September 13, 2021, 03:49:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC4420 – Microeconometrics 

Workload:
1x 3 hour lecture per week

Assessment: 
2x STATA exercises (20% in total) – Some questions and replicating some models on STATA – not very hard but quite lengthy
1x Assignment (20%) – Includes writing a report after estimating a few models taught in the lectures – not very hard as well, but very lengthy and hard to finish, especially for those who haven’t used STATA much.
1x Final exam (60%) – Students thought it was quite lengthy (I thought it was alright tbh), but aside from that, not the hardest exam ever.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  One

Textbook Recommendation: Econometric Analysis – William Greene – only 3 (very long) chapters are needed for this unit, specifically:

Part IV:
17 – Binary Outcomes and Discrete Choices,
18 – Multinomial Choices and Event Counts,
19 – Limited Variables, Truncation, Censoring and Sample Selection.

I thought the textbooks were useful in adding detail and mathematical explanations to the lecture slides, but it’s very long-winded and boring to read through.

Lecturer(s): Professor Xueyan Zhao – she’s very nice, and genuinely cares about her students. I’m more of a self-learner, and I thought I needed the textbook to supplement her lecture slides. Her explanations were a bit long-winded but that’s okay

Year & Semester of completion: S1 2021

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 92 HD

Comments:
This unit is by and large an extension of ETC3410 – Applied Econometrics, with more models, and more weird things to consider in applied economic modelling and practice. We investigate extensions of the models in ETC3410 (binary, instrumental variables, panel data) to imperfect datasets, which are listed below:

1)   Discrete choice – when the data is one of a few choices, e.g. ratings on Amazon (which is ordered), or preference in transport (which is unordered) – we look into multinomial choice models such as the ordered probit, multinomial logit, some of their extensions.
2)   Counts – when the data is built based on a count random variable (e.g. number of hospital visits) – we look into count regression models such as Poisson or negative binomial models – and some extensions.
3)   Data from non-representative samples (censoring, truncation, limited samples) – say for example, we only collected wage information from employed individuals, or recorded any wage below $X as <$X. We use the Tobit model, Heckman sample selection models (which are extensions of instrumental variable estimation in ETC3410) and associated extensions to deal with these defects.
4)   Binary panel data – where the dependent variable is a binary choice (e.g. employment status of an individual across 2013-2021). Not too fancy.

Alongside the above we also have concepts such as efficient estimation, set identification, etc. that’s driving current econometric research where we have no definite answers to.

The unit is called microeconometrics because the models taught are usually specifically applied to microeconomic data – data that concerns individual units (people, businesses, and other microeconomic individual units), and how variables have causal effects on one another. Personally, I’m not too interested in these topics but I thought the unit was quite good in introducing advanced, open questions in econometrics that I haven’t thought of. Combining the conceptual, economics knowledge in this unit with more statistics/machine learning concepts and you’ll be a well-rounded practitioner of data analytics and modelling.

I thought the underlying philosophy of this unit is conveyed quite well – in that real-life data is often quite shit, which makes our models usually quite shit, even with some level of sophistication, and improving these models for better outcomes, instead of piling on complexity and hope for the best is an active area of research right now. Whether this unit is taught well is very subjective, but I thought it was alright.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on September 13, 2021, 03:51:48 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC4541 – Bayesian Time Series Econometrics 

Workload:
2x 1.5 hour lectures per week
3x 2 hour tutorials the entire semester

Assessment: 
3x Assignments (39%) – Questions pertaining towards the lecture slides, alongside some coding and simulation tasks. Quite typical of an ordinary econometrics unit. Not too hard but not easy too.
2x Learning Diaries (6%) – Just a record of what you’ve learnt and some reflections, pretty easy task.
1x Final Exam (55%) – Exam was quite lengthy, found it hard to finish with good answers but I thought it wasn’t the hardest paper ever.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Several

Textbook Recommendation:  Introduction to Bayesian Econometrics – Greenberg – Gives a very brief overview of each item we discuss in the unit, but not very useful beyond that. There are also some non-time series econometrics stuff that we don’t go through, and it’s quite interesting to read especially when you do the unit alongside ETC4420 - Microeconometrics, which teaches the frequentist equivalent of some of the equivalent models.

Lecturer(s): Associate Professor Catherine Forbes – a lot of people don’t like her ETC2420 unit, which she doesn’t teach anymore. But I thought she was quite good in this unit, in terms of answering questions and providing support as well. Definitely way better than ETC2420.

Year & Semester of completion: S1 2021

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 93 HD

Comments:
I think a lot of people might have read about Bayesian statistics, but are usually unclear on how to explain them. It’s not a crazy awesome statistical paradigm that everyone should follow (otherwise people would be disappointed) – but it’s quite useful nonetheless.

Bayesian statistical inference is different by inference proper, which, aside from producing estimates, include producing quantities that specify our uncertainty on the estimate itself. In traditional, frequentist methods, we quantify this uncertainty using a sampling distribution (e.g. of the mean), which is usually only true in large samples, and cut the sampling distribution to report sampling uncertainty. Instead of a sampling distribution, we define all our estimates in a Bayesian case as probability density functions, which holds true in finite samples as well. Alongside some cool properties like Bayesian updating, dimension reduction, that’s basically the crux of Bayesian statistics and econometrics. Sometimes these are cool but it’s very hard to apply stuff in empirical work, and a lot of knowledge in computing and simulations are required to do these things quite well.

This unit is an introduction to Bayesian statistics, seriously, and applications of it to econometrics/time series, specifically, we look at:

1)   Bayesian statistics in general – specifying priors, likelihoods, posteriors, and associated properties, Bayesian hypothesis testing, and complications when dealing with high-dimensional integration.
2)   Simulation in Bayesian statistics – independent, Gibbs sampling, Metropolis-Hastings algorithms – which are important because we need to calculate and simulate values for many integrals in Bayesian statistics.
3)   Bayesian econometrics and time-series – we investigate linear regression in a Bayesian setting, and state-space models (nested in a larger Hidden Markov modelling literature) within the Bayesian framework.
One can estimate state-space models if they assume a linear-Gaussian structure (LGSSMs), but if assumptions are relaxed, we can then only do approximate estimates (NGSSMs).

These things are quite cool and can only be appreciated once you do more time series stuff at a graduate level. Applications of these include factor models in macroeconomics – large models that aggregate macroeconomic variables for estimation, or even in electrical engineering/neuroscience.

If you are generally interested in time series, this unit, alongside ETC4410 – Macroeconometrics/ETF5200 – Applied time series econometrics are must dos at an honours level. Though the items taught in this unit are largely theoretical, their application in fields beyond econometrics are practically endless. State-space modelling in particular can extend beyond many concepts in the natural sciences and engineering, and skills like these are definitely transferrable and a rare find among undergraduate level topics.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on September 13, 2021, 04:06:18 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH5210 – Stochastic Calculus and Mathematical FInance 

Workload:
2x 1 hour lectures
1x 1 hour tutorial

Assessment: 
3x Assignments (30% - not sure) – I thought it were quite typical questions, and not too hard as well.
10x Weekly homework (10% - not sure) – Same as the above, but considering it was weekly, it was quite easy.
1x Final exam (60%) – As far as maths exams go, I thought the exam was very hard, and really stretches your knowledge. Knowing the textbook is quite essential.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Several

Textbook Recommendation:  Introduction to Stochastic Calculus with Applications – Klebaner – definitely a very important text because the lecturer is the author of this textbook, and he uses the content within the textbook very heavily instead of using slides or course notes (more typical for undergraduate Students)

Lecturer(s): Professor Fima Klebaner – he’s a very good and clear lecturer, clearly very experienced in teaching this unit (he’s also the author of the prescribed textbook), sets easy assignments too (the exam was a different story but it scales well)

Year & Semester of completion: S1 2021

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 98 HD

Comments:
This unit is very much like MTH3251 – Financial Mathematics, but with more of a focus on stochastic calculus and underlying theorems. I guess it can be seen as a self-contained course in stochastic calculus alongside a bit of financial maths if you have some basics in calculus and probability. In particular, we look at:

1)   Properties of Brownian motion (the most basic continuous time stochastic process – which are random variables that move through time)
2)   Ito calculus – calculus incorporating Brownian motion (Ito’s formula underlies most, if not all studies in stochastic calculus – which is taught here)
3)   Stochastic differential equations – diffusion processes (applications of Ito processes in ODEs to make SDEs and PDEs – in particular, we look at conditions for which strong solutions exist for a particular SDE, and how to find them – solutions are stochastic processes that have an explicit form that incorporate Brownian motion as well, we also talk a bit about martingales in more detail, which is relevant for a lot of theoretical work)
4)   Weak solutions to SDEs – there are two ways of estimating weak solutions when strong solutions are not available, change of time, and change of probability measure, for which we investigate them here. The crux of it is just to define a new Brownian motion that makes the SDE solvable explicitly.
5)   Applications to finance – we go through this very briefly, mainly discussion on applying the above concepts on asset pricing theorems and option pricing. These are all quite basic, but interested students can extend these concepts from these basics to complex methods – such as more complex derivative pricing, and modelling. (Applications are taught in MTH5520 – interest rate modelling where we look at stochastic calculus applied in bond markets).

I would recommend this unit compared to MTH3251, although the undergrad unit helps a lot with making this unit bearable. This unit goes much deeper into stochastic processes in continuous time and can be very interesting once you know where and why the mathematics is used in real-life applications – something the maths department doesn’t do very well tbh. The unit that is a straightforward extension to this is MTH5520 – Interest Rate Modelling, which uses stochastic calculus as well, and I find that doing MTH5210 makes the content there more bearable too, compared to a lot of students who only did MTH3251. The concepts stick easier, and it’s much more interesting that way.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Owlbird83 on November 29, 2021, 02:47:56 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHY2032 - Human physiology: Hormonal and digestive systems

Workload:
- 2h workshops weekly (except 3 weeks are 3h labs). Compulsory to attend or will miss 1% MCQ assessment.
- (1) to 2 online modules per week, each module contains ~30mins of lecture videos and questions. (takes ~6h to learn each week of content)

Assessment:  (Outline the various assessments which make up the subject and how much each counts for)
- 10x 1% group MCQ tests (IFATS) during workshops (easy to get full marks or high 90s as you have a whole group and questions are fine if you've done the content).
- 10% Infographic in a group. With the group you work with in workshops the whole sem so need to make a good impression.
- 10% Stress report. Title and abstract based on a lab.
- 15% Hormone multimedia presentation. 6 min video providing info on a hormone (not chosen).
- 10% Neuronal control of gastrointestinal smooth muscle report. Based on a lab. Creating a figure legend and title for a graph, then answering questions.
- 5% SAQ assessment. Chose from 1 of 2 questions to answer under exam conditions (timed 20mins and open book). Very useful practice for the exam as it's the same question style.
- 40% end of sem exam. 2h 10mins. 30MCQs & 6 SAQs. (10 SAQs are given but only answer 6 (spread on each topic)). Open book using a lockdown browser.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes. (But workshops are not recorded.)

Past exams available:  Given 100+ practice MCQ questions on moodle, as well as 8 SAQs with videos explaining answers (+ some more SAQ practice without answers).

Textbook Recommendation:  "Vander's Human Physiology" was recommended reading, however I didn't use it and don't think it is necessary as the lectures are very dense and contain all the info you need.

Lecturer(s):
A/Prof Craig Harrison
Dr Mike Leung
A/Prof Julia Choate
Dr Belinda Henry

Year & Semester of completion: 2021

Rating: 5 out of 5 (best unit i've ever done!)

Your Mark/Grade: will update

Comments: Give your overall opinion of the subject, lecturers, assessment etc. and a recommendation, plus anything else which you feel is relevant.
-Lecturers went above and beyond what most do. They put so much effort into creating workshops what were both fun and very useful. Each workshop contains some sort of video Mike and Craig are acting in and you need to apply your knowledge and answer questions as the storyline progresses, definitely makes it fun. Probably the most useful workshops i've had because they require you to work in the same group over the weeks so there's no wasting time being awkward and worried about others judging you at the start of each class. Also the questions you need to work on as a group are very useful for actually consolidating the knowledge and similar to the exam style questions.
-Lecturers were very organised and responsive on the forums to student questions and also understanding about adapting assignments to what is achievable without the in person lab classes. You could tell they put in a lot of work to transition from in person to online teaching.
-Because each 1% IFAT test is done in your workshop group, it forces you to keep up to date with the weekly content because you don't want your group to dislike you, which I found very useful so never fell behind.
-The weekly lecture videos are very content heavy. I found each 10 min video took around 40mins to 1h to write notes for because everything mentioned is so concise and important. Helps a lot to draw out all the diagrams of the anatomy and flowcharts for the processes, useful when you need to recall or refer to them in the workshops.
-4 topics covered: Endocrinology (wks 1-4), Reproduction (wks 5-7), Digestion (wks 8-9), Metabolism (wks 10-11).
-Cohort averages for assignments ranged from mid to high 70s, so felt like if you write according to assessment criteria you can get a decent mark.
-The assignment feedback was extremely detailed and useful. Also didn't feel like generic feedback.
-Overall, highly recommend doing this unit not only because of the interesting content but because of how well run it was and how good the lecturers were.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on December 03, 2021, 02:21:10 pm
Subject Code/Name: ETC4410/5441 - Macroeconometrics  

Workload:  1x 3-hour lecture weekly
Assessment:
1x 40% - Replication Assignment
Replicating a published paper in the macroeconomics literature, alongside some discussion and extension of results. This is quite interesting and accessible, albeit not being extremely easy. Also definitely a great plus to research and coding skills.
1x 10% - Literature Review
Providing a review for a working paper in the macroeconomics domain, which, I feel is quite interesting as well.
1x 50% - Final Exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 1

Textbook Recommendation: Lecture slides, recordings and MATLAB code are sufficient material, and there is no need for textbooks. The only book I would recommend for a deeper understanding would be James Hamilton’s Time Series Analysis, which is a graduate level econometrics textbook for PhD students, and goes into time series in way greater detail.

Lecturer(s): Benjamin Wong. Nice guy, one of the greatest and most insightful lecturers in the department. Not too chill with the content of the unit, which I feel is a good thing.

Year & Semester of completion: S2 2021

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 91

Comments:
This unit mainly concerns the econometric methods used in macroeconomic modelling, particularly within research departments of central banks, and to a lesser extent policy research institutes. Theoretically it is concerned with 1. time series modelling of aggregate (macroeconomic) variables, stuff like GDP, inflation, oil prices etc. and their movement over time, and 2. Assessing the causal effect of changes/shocks in policy and the macroeconomic environment through econometric and statistical tools. You will cover a wide range of applicable models, a large chunk of literature and definitely more comprehensive than most econometrics units:
1.   Univariate time series modelling
a.   Autoregressive and moving average models (ARMA)
b.   Forecasting and forecast evaluation
c.   Impulse response functions
d.   Bootstrap and local projection methods
e.   Structural breaks
f.   Simultaneity – and the use of instrumental variables in macroeconomics
2.   Multivariate time series modelling
a.   Vector Autoregressions (VARs)
i.   Computation
ii.   Forecasting, and conditional forecasting
iii.   Bayesian VARs
b.   Structural Vector Autogressions (SVARs)
i.   Identification schemes to assess causal effects
1.   Short-run/recursive/Cholesky’s identification
2.   Long-run identification
3.   Sign identification
4.   Heteroskedasticity identification
5.   External instruments
ii.   Application of SVARs
1.   Impulse response functions
2.   Historical decomposition
3.   Forecast error variance decomposition
c.   Trend-cycle decompositions – decomposing time series into a trend, I(1) component and a cyclical I(0) component
i.   Deterministic trends
ii.   Hodrick-Prescott filter
iii.   Bandpass filter
iv.   Beveridge-Nelson decomposition
d.   Factor modelling
i.   The use of dynamic factor models
ii.   Principal components analysis
e.   Models for large datasets
i.   Factor Augmented VARs
ii.   Large Bayesian VARs
iii.   Global VARs
iv.   Mixed-Frequency VARs
f.   State-space models
I thought this unit was really good for a few reasons, but it definitely wasn’t the easiest unit to score. This is probably the only unit that is directly related to the parent discipline of econometrics (economics), and teaches econometrics in a way that it is applicable to assess, understand, and solve macroeconomic problems. The content taught in this course is very comprehensive as well, bar some non-linear models and Bayesian statistics used for DSGE models, it covers pretty much most of what one needs to know to start off as a competent graduate at a central bank, or a research-centric job in macroeconomic consulting. One thing I particularly liked about this unit is that its assessments are very literature centric as well, and emphasises on bringing students to a level where they will be able to read more on, and understand the economics literature with greater ease (something not done in many other units).
With that being said this unit’s definitely not easy, and some might feel overwhelmed depending on their level and interest in macroeconomics and mathematics in general. I would recommend this unit only if you’re interested in applied macroeconomics (monetary policy in particular would be your best bet), and have done ETC3450/ETF5520.
At this level, macroeconomic modelling packages and libraries aren’t as well-developed compared to more popular statistical tools in software such as R or MATLAB. So coding up for the assignment can be a bit of a hassle, Ben provides MATLAB code, but the assignment can be done in EViews/Stata where macroeconomic modelling is rather complete in these software (a lot of people like R, but all I can say is that R isn’t particularly great for some purposes).
Anyways, this is a very good unit, I would definitely recommend it.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on December 07, 2021, 10:44:20 am
Subject Code/Name: ETC4400/5440 – Statistical Theory and Practice

Workload:  2x 1.5-hour weekly lectures
Assessment:
3x Assignments (40% in total) – pretty usual theory/maths based assignments. Assessor can be very harsh and holds the bar for students at a very high standard.
1x Exam (60%) – As above.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 1

Textbook Recommendation: Martin et. al., Econometric Modelling with Time Series: Specification, Estimation and Testing. This unit’s lecture slides largely follow the textbook, with the textbook going through some of the content in more detail, and more relevant example. I don’t think it is a must to have the textbook, but it is nice to read through.

Lecturer(s): Gael Martin. One of the best lecturers in the econometrics department. Extremely enthusiastic and holds econometrics at a very high standard. Totally worth doing her unit.

Year & Semester of completion: S2 2021

Rating: 5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 84

Comments:
This unit mainly concerns with providing advanced foundations (between undergrad and postgrad) on frequentist econometric theory, as opposed to the Bayesian unit ETC4541. We focus on the estimation aspect of econometric/statistical theory (point estimation and finding confidence bands), and assess the finite and asymptotic properties of different types of estimators (some of which include the usual OLS, or instrumental variables estimator one would have learnt in ETC2410/ETC3410 to some degree).
Every estimator introduced is expanded upon with discussion regarding why their used, their consistency, limiting normality, and efficiency properties relative to one another, alongside estimator-specific discussion regarding their properties. We start off with the most optimal (provided that the underlying DGP) MLE, then relax our assumptions to allow for some misspecification (QMLE), not specifying a distribution (GMM), parameters (non-parametric), or even an analytical solution (simulation-based estimation), and we assess what we lose, and gain in the estimation process.
We go through the following estimators, with discussion as alluded to above:
1.   Maximum Likelihood Estimation
2.   Quasi-maximum Likelihood Estimation
3.   Generalised Method of Moments Estimation
4.   Non-parametric Estimation (kernel density and kernel regression estimators)
5.   Simulation-based Estimation (mainly bootstrap)
I guess this is one of the units where, regardless of your background, you should take as part of your honours specialisation in the Econometrics and Business Statistics (EBS) department. Though I don’t think everyone should commit to research on frequentist statistical theory of this sort, this unit provides a very good, structured background on many of the techniques applied in different areas of statistics, and is general enough to give a good grounding for going through academic literature. To add on to that Gael is a VERY good lecturer/academic, which makes the unit even more worth it to do.
This unit is also definitely more on the difficult end, and the marking is not too lax as well. That’s not a bad thing considering everyone gets the marks they deserve, and I’m happy about it. Not a WAM-boosting unit I’d say, but that aside this is a 5/5 unit for sure.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on December 07, 2021, 11:05:31 am
Subject Code/Name: MTH5520 – Interest Rate Modelling

Workload:  2x 1.5-hour weekly lecture, 1x 1-hour applied class
Assessment:
10x (10% in total) flux-quizzes, not too hard, mainly MCQs on the lecture notes
11x (20% in total – best 10) weekly assignment questions, directly from the Filipovic textbook, some weeks have very hard questions, and some weeks’ questions are quite easy.
1x 10% max - forum participation marks, the more you participate, the more marks you get.
1x 60% exam – not as difficult as MTH5210 – stochastic calculus from my experience, but quite challenging and it didn’t scale too.
Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 1

Textbook Recommendation: Damir Filipovic, Term Structure Models: A Graduate Course. I use this textbook a lot, and assignment questions are directly obtained from here, so definitely worth having a look. If stochastic calculus is not your strong suit (esp. if you’ve only done MTH3251 Financial Mathematics, this is a HUGE step-up), I’d suggest reading Klebaner’s Introduction to Stochastic Calculus with Applications to get yourself up to speed with things. 

Lecturer(s): Kihun Nam. He is good. Takes time with his explanations and is quite clear. It’s hard to control the quality of students coming into the unit, and I understand that it can be hard to explain concepts from the Filipovic textbook to someone without actual stochastic calculus grounding.

Year & Semester of completion: S2 2021

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87

Comments:
This unit expands upon MTH5210 – Stochastic Calculus and Mathematical Finance as another stochastic calculus unit in the graduate financial mathematics ensemble. It is mainly theoretical, and focuses on modelling interest rates, and interest rate products (bonds, forwards, futures, options). It’s a nice continuation of MTH5210 in that we use theory from that unit to assess more detailed finance applications. Briefly, we go through the following topics:
1.   Arbitrage theory (i.e. MTH5210 refresher on stochastic calculus and mathematical finance applied to tradeable assets like stocks + some measure  theory taught in MTH3260 – Statistics for Stochastic Processes)
2.   Short rate models (we learn about diffusion/Ito processes, and model the simplest interest rate – the short rate as Ito processes)
3.   Forward rate models using the Heath-Jarrow-Merton framework (where the forward rate is instead modelled as an Ito process)
4.   Forward measures, modelling forwards and futures using short and forward rate models (this is an application to 1., 2., 3.)
5.   Multi-factor models and consistent term-structure parameterisation (where we use multiple rates to model one forward rate. This is a pretty hard topic, and it’s where I think it really gets interesting)
This is a very challenging unit. One of the hardest in the financial maths masters course I think. There are some negative reviews on how hard the unit can be, but they are mostly from students who haven’t done sufficient pre-requisite units (which I think are most important, but not explicit as a requirement) to succeed here. These units are MTH3260 (measure theory component), MTH5210, and some linear algebra would be helpful. MTH3251 is not sufficient for this course. Once that’s down I think Dr. Nam is very good, very enthusiastic about this stuff, and can explain things very well.
Personally I felt that knowledge in this unit helps with two major aspects; getting up to speed with stochastic calculus concepts, and going through interest rate parts of the financial maths literature and working papers from central banks. Surprisingly this goes well with ETC4410 – Macroeconometrics, and has been quite helpful to me when it comes to reading about monetary policy and business cycle theory. Obviously there’s much more to learn about interest rate modelling, but I think it gives you an overview of what you should read up in your graduate course.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Calebark on December 07, 2021, 02:40:17 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHY2032, Endocrine Control Systems

Workload: 
• 3 labs
• Workshop every week other than weeks where there is a lab
• 4-10 mini-lectures per week, depending on the modules for the week. They probably average about 8 minutes each, can be more or less, and are very dense so there's little superfluous information. They're very easy to follow along

Assessment: 
• 10 quizzes during workshops, completed in your assigned group for the semester, accounting for 1% each quiz. All the answers are in the lecture modules to be completed before the workshops, so there are no curveballs, total of 10%
• 2 x Lab Assessments (one was simply writing an abstract and interpreting data, one was a traditional report), total of 20%
• Group infographic on a topic given in Week 1, accounting for 10%
• SAQ test. You're given a choice of two topics, each of which has several SAQ questions from previous exams. Worth 5%.
• Multimedia presentation. You're given a hormone, which may not be covered in a lecture at all, and have to complete some research and create a video presentation as if you are a scientist presenting a hormone they have discovered or a teacher delivering it a classroom. This is the assessment where the textbook was helpful. Worth 15%.
• Exam. 2h10m (including reading time). 30 MCQ questions and 10 possible SAQ questions, of which you get to choose 6 to do. Worth 40%.

Recorded Lectures: 
• Prerecorded lectures released at the start of every week

Past exams available: 
• No. However you are given SAQ worksheets and a few hundred MCQ questions, all of which are in the exam style.

Textbook Recommendation: 
• The provided resources are very good, and you will have no need for the textbook to understand the content. However the recommended textbook, Vander's Human Physiology 15E is helpful for the presentation assignment and further reading.

Lecturer(s:
• A/Prof Craig Harrison (covers most of the content)
• A/Prof Julia Choate (covering gut physiology)
• Dr Belinda Henry (covering energy balance, food intake, body weight)

Year & Semester of completion:
• 2021, Semester 2

Rating: 
• 5/5

Your Mark/Grade:
•  HD

Comments:
• This was by far the best unit I've completed so far. While some of the content itself wasn't my favourite thing in the world, the style of lecture presentation and the workshops were always engaging. Despite the lockdown causing the lessons to change from IRL to online at such short notice, the engagement continued on Zoom, where workshops had an emphasis on interactive activities to ensure nobody drifted to sleep — there was a lot of humour involved which was a fun addition too. Some of the feedback took a while to get back to us for assessments but it was always detailed and fair. All lecturers and TAs were wonderful and happy to help, even for the most basic of questions.

The content is roughly divided into sections on Endocrinology, Reproduction, Digestion, and Metabolism.

In Week 1, you are assigned into a group of about six people in your workshop. You'll work together every week to complete the quizzes and workshop activities, in addition to the infographic assessment.

Some of the workshop activities include: completing a choose-your-own-adventure-story about thyroid hormones, solving a murder mystery involving new weight loss technologies, and completing a time-trialed puzzle adventure against other groups where the answers are hidden in activities of the female reproductive system.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Calebark on December 07, 2021, 02:40:46 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHY2042, Body Systems Physiology

Workload: 
• 31 hours of lectures
• 4 labs
• 2 workshops

Assessment: 
• 5 MCQ quizzes of lecture content, 2% each, for 10% total
• Preprac MCQ quizzes, 5 of them, 2% each, 10% total
• Practical assessments (3 lab worksheets where you have a week to complete a bunch of written questions and hand it in, 1 quiz), for 40% total
• Final exam, worth 40%. 2h10m, including reading time. There are 20 MCQs and 6 SAQ essay questions, 2 each for cardiovascular physiology, respiratory physiology, and renal physiology. Before SWOTVAC you are given a list of 36 SAQ questions to revise for (12 per topic), as it is guaranteed that 2 from each topic will appear on the exam, so it is very easy to revise for

Recorded Lectures: 
• Yes, prerecorded. Most of them don't show the lecturer or their digital pens, so when they are pointing or circling a diagram, you don't actually know what it is unless you listen carefully.

Past exams available: 
• No, but practise MCQs and revision SAQ worksheet.

Textbook Recommendation: 
• I used Vander's 5E to clarify on topics that were not explained well in lectures. However this is found in the library, and is definitely option and not required for passing.

Lecturer(s):
• Dr Lucinda Krause for cardiovascular physiology
• Dr Farshad Mansouri for respiratory physiology
• Prof Kate Denton for renal physillogy

Year & Semester of completion:
• 2021, Sem 2

Rating: 
• 2.5/5.0

Your Mark/Grade:
• HD

Comments:
• The content itself is very exciting. I particularly enjoyed the heart. Concepts learned in this class crossover greatly with PHY2032 and PHA2022.

However the lectures were overall unengaging and tedious, with about 3 hours of lectures per week. It was difficult to follow along with diagrams due to the lack of on-screen writing. The labs were more interesting, however hampered by the fact they were all on Zoom. It was made up by the fact they were more engaging, with lots of questions and back-and-forth discussions between TAs and students. The lecture notes (bar a few of the early ones) did not have too much detail, so you had to watch all the lectures to get proper understanding.

Lectures were quick catch-ups on homeostasis and ANS (basically PHY2011 revision + control of bladder and sexual response) then detailed topics on cardiovascular physiology (structure of heart and blood vessels, excitation, control of cardiac output, arterial pressure, exercise, haemorrhage, cardiovascular disease, body composition), renal physiology (structure, autoregulation, body fluid balance, regulation of excretion, kidney disease, acid base balance, reabsorption, etc etc etc), and respiratory physiology (structure of respiratory system, basic function, respiratory disorders, lung function tests, gas exchange and pulmonary circulation, distribution, transport of gases control of respiration, effects of altitude changes on respiration).. They

The MCQ quizzes were very fair and not difficult. I found the lab reports had fair marking, although there were a lot of errors in the questions (like a question asking you to refer to Figure 1 where in reality it meant Figure 2), and the majority of the feedback were copy-and-pasted references to the content.

Overall, while the content isn't super challenging, due to the lecture style and the infrequent workshops, it's easy to fall behind unless you keep on at yourself. If you had to pick between this or PHY2032, I'd pick PHY2032. I will note that this unit was taken during COVID during a lockdown, so experiences may differ.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Calebark on December 07, 2021, 02:41:17 pm
Subject Code/Name: PHA2022, Drugs and Society

Workload: 
• 3 labs, 3 hours each (I had 1 IRL lab, 2 during COVID, so we simply viewed data for those and read about it instead)
• 1 lecture each week (about 2h per lecture)
• 1 workshop every week excluding weeks with labs

Assessment: 
• Team Project, worth 20%. At the start of the semester, you are allocated a group totaling 6 people, and are provided a list of pharmacology-related debate topics in media (should xyz be legalised for treatment of blahblah?). It's a very large assignment, and it takes up the whole semester. It is quite manageable given the amount of time you have, and the fact you have a peer mentor assigned to you (one of the teaching staff), which provides motivation to not slack off.
• 3x quizzes on each major topic (16% total), about half MCQ and half one extended SAQ
• MCQ Writing Task (5% total), you have to write MCQs for other students. This gives you marks. You can also answer questions from students. This also gives you marks. It would be impossible to get full marks as some of the hurdles require a large time commitment, but it is manageable over the entire semester.
• 3x Lab Worksheets (not a traditional lab report; some data analysis, some graphs, a lot of answering SAQ questions) + 3x pre-labs, totaling 16%
• Workshop quizzes and activites. Some workshops at the end of the session you do a group quiz. At other times, you are given activities which you get 24h to complete as a group.
• Exam, worth 25%, hurdle. Mix of MCQs and SAQs.

Recorded Lectures: 
• Live lectures start of every week so you can ask questions, recorded and posted within 24h

Past exams available: 
• No, however there are revision quizzes and SAQ questions

Textbook Recommendation:
• We are granted access to an eBook for 'Medical Pharmacology at a Glance'. It is enjoyable to read through, but I never felt the need to use it for revision itself, so cannot comment.

Year & Semester of completion:
•2021, Semester 2

Rating: 
•4/5

Your Mark/Grade:
• HD

Comments:
• Despite being a pharmacology unit, don't fear, this is not very chemistry intensive at all. The unit is divided into four themes, being Introduction to Drug Action (IDA), Drugs in Society (DS), Drugs of Abuse (DAB), and Drug Development (DD).

IDA is the most simple of all themes and focuses on how drugs act and learning a bit of the language. What is pharmacodynamics? Pharmacokinetics? Explain potency, affinity, efficacy, types of antagonism, specific vs non-specific drug action, routes of administration, factors affecting drug action, chemical mediators, etc.

DS is not a very science-heavy section at the start. This is more of a lengthy discussion of drug regulation in Australia, different reasons as to why drugs are used as therapeutics, factors that influence scheduling, and drug marketing. After that we'd get to the most commonly used drugs, such as ones to treat hypersensitivity reactions or heart conditions or contraceptions and how they work. A lot of this ties into the immune system, but they briefly touch on that, although it is mostly expected prior knowledge. This is where it starts to feel like you're really learning how some drugs work.

DAB is the section that I found the most well-taught, and is about various recreationally used drugs, concepts of tolerance and dependence, approaches to harm minimization, and a whole lot on their various mechanisms of actions.

DD is the least science-y feeling unit, but feels important nonetheless, and describes the drug development pipeline from start to finish, and touches on pharmacoeconomics.

Overall, the actual workload was not large, and was the smallest of all my units this semester. However the depth of which they expected detail for SAQ questions meant you required a solid understanding, so it would require more workshop interaction than most subjects to gain the same level of knowledge. Fortunately, all staff were approachable and easy to talk to.

The labs for this unit were very boring, but like I said, this was during COVID so it may not be representative of the actual unit. The assessment tasks had a heavy focus on application rather than memory, so you can't just get out your notes and hope to yolo towards a pass. However the teaching staff are very welcoming, and tend to stay back after workshops or (virtual) labs to answer questions. The content seems to be very applicable to anyone wishing to pursue health sciences, and it's a subject that very much can easily be tied to the real world — so while the lectures could drag on rare occasion, I found the IRL application easy to drag me back in. I'd recommend it.

Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: LifeisaConstantStruggle on December 08, 2021, 12:31:24 pm
Major: BCom (Hons) – Econometrics Specialisation 

First Year Subjects:
One 12-credit point research unit:

ETC4860 – Honours Research Project

The core coursework units are included as follows:

ETC4420 – Microeconometrics
ETC4541 – Bayesian Inference and Data Analysis
ETC4400 – Statistical Theory and Practice
ETC4410 – Macroeconometrics
ETC4460 – Financial Econometrics 2

Other elective coursework units are included as follows:

ETC4110 – Actuarial Practice 1
ETC4120 – Actuarial Practice 2
ETC5250 – Introduction to Machine Learning
ETC5512 – Wild-caught Data
ETC5521 – Exploratory Data Analysis
ETC5580 – Advanced Statistical Modelling
ETF5500 – High Dimensional Data Analysis

It is usually required for single specialisation students (in econometrics) to complete at least 4 coursework units from the Business School, with other electives approved by both the honours coordinator and the chief examiner of specific units. Joint specialisation (e.g. with economics or actuarial) students get to do 3 units each from of their specific specialisation.


Year of completion: 2021

Rating: 5 out of 5

Comments:
Background of the Major:
The econometrics honours year expands upon what you would’ve done in undergrad (see my review here), and adds a whole lot of detail to the material taught in undergrad to a point where you are equipped with advanced econometrics/quantitative skills to strive in the workplace, the ability to read and find gaps in the academic literature, and where econometrics stands in research within the social sciences.
At its current standing I think (just my 2c) econometrics can be divided into a few distinct specialisations of academic research. A lot of them are interwoven, and definitely has a lot of overlap with adjacent fields, such as economics, statistics, machine learning, etc.:
1.   Micro/applied-type econometrics: Encompasses many of the applied problems you would’ve seen in ETC2410/3410/3550, where data points come from individual people, businesses, etc. Main research output has been focused on dealing with imperfect data, research/experimental design within an economics setting, and identification issues as a result of microeconomic phenomena (keywords include set identification, discontinuity design, etc.). Research here is applied to quite a few consulting/competition roles, and public policy related to specific communities.
2.   Macro/time-series econometrics: Encompasses problems you see in ETC3450, or to a lesser extent ETC3550. Data points obtained here are usually indexed by time, and/or aggregated to some extent (e.g. GDP of a country, monthly unemployment, and more). Main research output include VAR and DSGE models, forecasting and assessing causal relationships between aggregate variables effectively, finding out effects of broad policies by central banking agencies, and more. I would say this is more theoretical and hard to grasp compared to 1..
3.   Financial econometrics: Encompasses problems you see in ETC3460, or the financial maths major in the maths/stats department. Main concerns are tradeable/non-tradeable assets, interest rates, and more. Main research output include stochastic calculus in mathematical finance, derivative pricing, assessing market indices, and ties well with macroeconometrics.
4.   Bayesian econometrics: This is basically 1., 2., and 3. with a separate theoretical paradigm. It is an emerging field of research, where its main research output includes applications and computational matters related to the econometric models we see in 1., 2., and 3.. Quite cool and interesting, and has been quite effective in improving econometric methods from what I can see.
5.   Econometric theory: Mainly assesses theoretical properties of estimators, not too well-versed in this area but items to look at include statistical theory, unbiasedness, efficiency, etc..

Personal Experiences:

This is a very good specialisation I feel, and I’ve benefitted more from this year than my entire undergraduate degree. I chose this specialisation instead of doing a joint with actuarial because I wanted to learn things I couldn’t get from the workplace (especially very academic-centric topics in econometrics and financial mathematics), and I felt that the econometrics and maths units I’ve undertaken, alongside the research topic I’ve done really allowed me to absorb way more than what I’ve learnt in undergrad.
To do this as a pure specialisation is a bit stale to me, I think. If you want to maximise your experiences I would suggest doing electives from other departments (e.g. some students I know study engineering units, I’ve done maths, and these are challenging stuff that I think would be beneficial), just to have a good understanding of what the outside world feels like. Or you can take it up a notch to do a research project unrelated to econometrics, like something in actuarial or machine learning, which are also offered under the ETC4860 umbrella.

Where I hope this would take me/where it has taken me:

The job prospects for honours graduates are quite good in Australia specifically, it’s kinda like a signal for advanced knowledge and research expertise for many industry jobs. A masters degree would be more useful for work abroad, e.g. in the Asia Pacific from what I’ve seen. Most of the students I know in EBS have offers within the first semester, which is pretty nice, and I definitely felt that this extra year has made me more confident in applying for jobs and stuff, so that’s a plus.
I guess econometrics is applicable to quantitative roles anywhere, and students generally go separate ways in government and consulting mainly (+ to a lesser extent specific business like insurance/financial services). Getting first-class is very much a pass to most PhD scholarships locally, and offers an opportunity to fast track and complete a PhD, which is quite sweet, but obviously is not sufficient for universities abroad (afaik European unis want masters degrees, and US degrees are way harder to enter, with more prestige of course). 
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ThunderDragon on December 10, 2021, 09:51:51 pm
Subject Code/Name: EAE1022- Earth, Atmosphere and Environment 2 

Workload:  3x1 Hr Lectures per week and a 2 Hr Practical Session

Assessment: 

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, uploaded onto Moodle

Past exams available:  No as there is no final exam

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required

Lecturer(s): Marion Anderson and too many others to name from the School of EAE

Year & Semester of completion: 2021, Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments: I found this unit to be quite enjoyable and well organized. If you have done EAE1011, this unit is very chill as it is essentially a repeat of EAE1011 with a bit of new content added. This did mean at times it felt a little bit repetitive and boring. I found the Geology and Soil Science content to be the most interesting and Atmospheric and Dendrocrinology to be the least exciting although that may just be my personal experience. I found Marion and all the assessments to be organized very well and everything was very clear and laid out in the rubric and what she wants.

In regards to the 5% poster, this was the one assignment where I did pretty awful due to cramming it on the day it was due so please make sure to spend at least a good few days working on it. The weekly quizzes and practical quizzes are fairly easy as long as you watch the lectures, take some notes down, and also attend the weekly practical classes. Marion runs help sessions each day so if you have any lingering questions from the prac worksheet for example, then highly recommend dropping to one of these help sessions. The infographic assignment was good as you can choose to work in groups or individually. I personally worked in a group with my friends and found that was quite a bit easier. The field trip report was altered due to COVID lockdown however if you spend a decent amount of time and follow the rubric, there's no reason why you can't score near the perfect score or get a perfect score. Overall, I did find this unit to be rather chill and I would recommend it as a good WAM booster.      [/list]
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ThunderDragon on December 10, 2021, 10:15:15 pm
Subject Code/Name: HSC1300 - Human Health and Disease 

Workload:  1x1 Hr Lectures per week and a weekly 2 Hr Tutorial Session

Assessment: 

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, uploaded onto Moodle

Past exams available:  No, but there is 1 practice exam uploaded

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook required

Lecturer(s): Dr Nazmul Karim and my TA - Susan Brewster

Year & Semester of completion: 2021, Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments: This unit was a really good introduction to the different body systems such as the Cardiovascular system, Endocrine System, Nervous System, etc. We delved into the different disorders of each body system and how to treat them such as different medications, surgeries, therapy, etc. While we only had a surface introduction of each body system, it was still a good introduction and I found the content very interesting. The one thing I wish this unit had was practical exposure but given COVID and only being a 1st-year unit, it's understandable.

The unit was organized fairly well and the lecture slides and tutorial slides had all the information required for the exam. I stopped watching the lectures because the slides had most of the information required anyway. The development tasks are very easy and essentially just a couple of questions in response to a video. The group oral was fairly easy to tho that would depend on the group you were working with. The Group research essay was a little bit more difficult given we had to include referencing and also make sure you double-check and proofread each other's parts. The exam was open book and the difficulty was quite comparable to the mock exam. There were quite a few scenarios in the exam which I enjoyed as we had to use the evidence provided to come up with an answer which in this case was a disorder. I found the Nervous System and Mental Health weeks to be the most exciting but that is most likely due to personal preference. Overall, a great unit if you are remotely interested in health or medicine and I would say with a bit of work, this could be a WAM booster. [/list]
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: ThunderDragon on December 10, 2021, 10:40:28 pm
Subject Code/Name: SCI1020 - Introduction to Statistical Reasoning 

Workload:  3x1 Hr Lectures per week and a weekly 2 Hr applied session

Assessment: 

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, uploaded onto Moodle

Past exams available:  Yes, 2 practice papers available

Textbook Recommendation:  The Basic Practices of Statistics

Lecturer(s): Soojin Roh and my TA - Tam

Year & Semester of completion: 2021, Semester 2

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 84 HD

Comments: I didn't exactly enjoy the content of this unit as I found it rather dry and it was quite boring to get through however for someone who got below a 25 study score in Methods, I still found this unit to be rather easy so this is a good unit to do for those who aren't too great at maths. The lecturers provide all the necessary information and as long as you attend the applied classes, you should be able to get close to or full marks on the Quizzes and worksheets as your TA usually goes through a decent chunk of the worksheet in class.

I found that the textbook was kinda useful but they provided PDF files of each week's questions that are relevant so it isn't awfully necessary to purchase the textbook. The exam itself was a little bit difficult however it is similar in difficulty to the mock exams so if you do them a couple of times, you should be fine to do well. [/list]
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 29, 2021, 01:39:25 pm
Subject Code/Name: CHM2922 - Spectroscopy and Analytical Chemistry

Workload: 
2 x 1 hr recorded lectures
1 x 3 hr lab in 8 weeks
1 x 1 hr workshop

Assessment:
30% total from all labs
20% midsem
3 x 3.33% topic quizzes
40% final exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. Practice questions presumably from past final exams provided in workshops which were significantly harder than the actual exam. One mock exam each for Jie's and Toby's sections (the only 2 examinable on the final exam) were provided and these were also considerably harder than the real one.

Textbook Recommendation:
Principles of Instrumental Analysis 7th edition (I used a 2nd hand copy of 5th edition and it was more than enough. Not absolutely necessary, only got it cuz I got a steal on it)

Lecturer(s):
Mike Grace
Jie Zhang (unit coordinator)
Toby Bell

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Sem 2

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 95 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: The lectures in the unit are very disorganised except Toby's section. You start off with 4 weeks with Mike, who lectures UV-Vis, analytical chem terminology, AAS/AES, separation techniques ie chromatography and stats in analytical chem. Mike's lectures consistently go overtime, we're supposed to have 2 hours of lectures a week but we get 2 x 1.5 hour lectures. This isn't helped by the fact that he recorded an extra hour's worth of miscellaneous "online videos" that are also examinable, giving us ~3-4 hours of lectures to watch each week. He's quite good at explaining things though, however it's often not immediately clear what's actually assessed from his lectures. He sometimes indicates verbally in the lectures that something isn't assessed, but some other complex equations are on the slides as well that turn out to be only there for context. Mike's more than happy to clarify what's assessed and what's not on the discussion forums though.

Jie takes you for mass spec, Nernst equation, potentiometry and voltammetry, basically anything electrochem. His explanation style can be quite confusing and I had to resort to Chem Libretexts to supplement his lectures. The slides are also unclear and it's often difficult knowing what exactly you learned just from revising lecture notes. The mass spec, potentiometry and voltammetry lectures are very theoretically heavy, so memorisation is key. You must also know your Nernst equation and Faraday laws of electrolysis to survive.

Toby has you for the last 4 weeks of the semester, covering fluorimetry, IR, Raman and gas analysis. These lectures are very well taught and Toby was even better in the workshops. This lecture block is the most maths and physics heavy in the unit, I'd say knowing VCE maths methods is enough for this unit.

Labs: Almost all of semester 2 2021 was during Melbourne lockdown 6.0, so all labs were online (and were initially very poorly organised eg expired Zoom link and missing model results). I’m expecting this to get better when CHM2922 moves back on campus. We listened to the TA explaining how the analytical instrument we were meant to use works, including info on how to interpret their outputs. Then, we were given sample raw results via Excel spreadsheets and we were expected to process these results to answer questions on a proforma (including graphing and performing correlation etc). Some weeks were team oral presentations and the TAs went really easy on us for those. In the weeks where you have to submit a proforma, they were also marked very leniently, but they do emphasise the importance of significant figures and take marks off for improper rounding. There are also two half-weighed labs which were termed introductory exercises which are supposed to help you understand how lab works. Not every group will use every instrument, but you should use most from the following list: gas chromatography, HPLC, AAS, fluorimeter, IR, Raman, UV-vis, F- ion selective electrode, anodic stripping voltammetry. The Moot Court from previous years didn't run this year, not sure if it will be brought back next year.

Midsem: Closed book test, 50 minutes for 50 marks all on Mike's section (UV-Vis, AAS, chromatography and stats). Midsem content is not examinable on the final exam. It was not very difficult, but you need to be very careful with time management since there’s no dedicated reading time. Although as mentioned previously, the online content is examinable, I reckon 80%+ of the marks came from the main lectures. The vast majority of questions are in short answer format and a lot of the marks were from calculations, the rest are from theory. The midsem does examine some very detailed aspects of the lectures, but I think they were pretty lenient on marking theory (explanation style) questions. To study for these, I think the best way is to attend those weekly workshops where you go over an exam-style question with a prof. It really helps you with reasoning away each step of the working out and nailing the explanations for theory questions.

Moodle quizzes: These 3 quizzes are open book and open time on each of the 3 lecturer’s lecture blocks. You get 2 attempts at each of them. You also get given these quizzes in “tutorial mode”, which is a non-assessed quiz with the same question bank as your assessed quizzes. To prevent us from copying the answers from the tutorial quiz into the assessed quiz, the lecturers used random number generators. Pretty easy to full mark as long as you understand how to do questions from the tutorial mode.

Final exam: Closed book, 130 minutes for 120 marks divided evenly between the electrochem and spectroscopy lecture blocks (weeks 5-12 content). It was a mix of typed short answers, handwritten calculation questions and multis worth varying amount of marks. The exam was very fair since it was a lot easier than the mock exams we were given. In the revision lectures, Jie actually told us point blank what will be on his section of the actual exam, so make sure you attend those. While Toby didn't give away any parts of his exam questions, he did hint at what kinds of trick questions will be on the actual exam. However, I do have a complaint about Toby's section. Some multiple choice questions are probably better off as short answer questions since they're worth multiple marks and have working out associated, that way if we make a mistake we won't lose all the marks for that question. Like the midsem, I actually found the weekly workshops more helpful for exam prep than the lectures themselves, although I'd still recommend watching lectures.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 30, 2021, 10:40:19 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS2062 - Introduction to Bioinformatics

Workload: 
2 x 1 hr recorded lectures
1 x 3 hour workshop in 10 weeks of the semester

Assessment:
5 x 2% theme tests
10% MAT 1 (genetic disease patient brochure)
15% MAT 2 (genetic disease patient website)
7 x 4% workshop result sheets
2% career development program
35% final exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. One mock exam provided.

Textbook Recommendation: Lehninger’s and Albert’s, you should have these from previous units but they weren’t as helpful in BMS2062.

Lecturer(s):
Various

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Sem 2

Rating: 2 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: The unit is very well organised (with some serious flaws) and despite the computer science sounding name, this is just another biochem/molecular bio unit. You’re just exposed to how to look things up in NCBI databases with BLAST, which is basically a search engine for nucleotide or peptide sequences. The lectures in this unit are divided into 5 lecture blocks: central dogma (3 lectures), gene sequencing (3 lectures), gene expression (3 lectures), protein synthesis (5 lectures) and protein structure (8 lectures). The content which can be pretty dry at times extends on BMS1062 and BMS2021.

Theme tests: Let’s get the negative out of the way first. The theme tests were supposed to be formative assessments that forced you to be up to date with the lectures, but the lecturers actually made them worth marks in order for us to take them seriously. The way theme tests worked is that there is a section of MCQs worth 1 mark each, a section with an EMQ (applications based MCQ based on a prompt) or two worth 2 marks each covering that theme’s workshop content and a section with 3-5 EMQs on lecture content. You are given an hour long window on certain Monday afternoons to do these and once you start, you get 25-30 minutes to complete them. Theme 1 test was very easy. Theme 2 test was a massive difficulty spike (I only got 42% on that one), but it didn’t contain too many unreasonable questions (one of the EMQ’s correct answers had a typo in it, so I chose another option cuz I thought it was a trick question. It later turned out that we were penalised for the typo, another kid in my workshop group remarked that it penalised the more astute students). The 3rd theme test was a disaster. We all thought we did very well and suddenly half the cohort including me realised that we failed (I legit got 47%), it turns out that in the lecture EMQs, if you misunderstood the first part of the question, you would get the rest of the EMQs wrong. The unreasonable thing about the question is that we were never taught in the lectures how to interpret the provided diagram in the amount of detailed required for the theme tests and once we get that 1st lecture EMQ wrong which was based on that diagram, we’d get 0 on the rest of the EMQs since everything builds upon that answer. When I wrote a post on Stalkerspace and the Moodle discussion forum rationally explaining why I think the test was unfair and why I’m very concerned about failing the unit since the exams are reportedly in a similar format, many people echoed my sentiments. Past students of BMS2062 indicated that the theme tests were equally bad in their days. An anonymous student gave me a lecture on the Moodle forums implying that I was being disrespectful in my posts, essentially snitching on me. One of my mates in a higher year level did tell me that it’s a better idea to email the lecturers directly in the future instead of posting on the Moodle forums and Stalkerspace (although they found nothing rude with both my posts), so in hindsight I could’ve been more professional and I will take this into consideration in the future, but it still feels like sh*t being stabbed in the back by one of your classmates. Biomed gunners which I've encountered since 1st year are the main reason why I’m considering becoming a high school teacher over a doctor now, if I get into med, I might get stuck with questionable people for the next 10+ years of medical training. I never saw this BS in my chem units, everyone in the chem group chat has each other’s backs and we all legitimately like supporting each other. Anna, one of the unit coordinators, addressed my concerns. She told me that the tests may extend the scope of the course beyond the content delivered in the lectures cuz all theme tests were open book and we had access to the internet. Theme tests 4 and 5 were very reasonable though, their extensions in scope were challenging enough to develop our application skills, but not as crazy as theme test 3.

MAT 1: You’re asked to produce an informative brochure for patients with a specific genetic disease and their families. They allocated the genetic diseases based on the last digit of your student ID, and I was lucky enough to end up with phenylketonuria (PKU), which is one of the common genetic diseases well documented in scientific literature. The word limit is 600 words (including in-text references) and this is a strict limit, so no +/- 10% leeway. For the brochure, you’re supposed to focus on how mutations on a nucleotide level contribute to the disease’s pathogenesis, this encompasses the scope of the themes 1-3 lectures. Although I tried to simplify the language as much as I could, I still got marked down half a mark for my language being too complex, this was a common occurrence within cohort. Generally, the TAs were lenient on the marking (my TA was Mariah Csolle, she’s awesome, try to be in her group if you can). You must include at least 1 relevant original figure/diagram, I find Biorender to be a great tool for this.

MAT2: The 2nd major assignment you’re given is to make a website on the same assigned disease in MAT 1 using Google sites, no coding experience required as you’re just dragging and dropping elements. The website has more of a focus on lecture themes 4 and 5, so we’re looking more at how the protein itself is dysfunctional due to amino acid changes and how that causes the genetic disease. The word count is increased to 900 including in-text references (again, strict limit) and you may only have up to 5 pages (including the home page) on your website. You must also include an “interactive visual element” to your website. This can be an animated GIF or a video of you talking and annotating a self-made diagram (I used Biorender for this as well).

Workshop result sheets: During workshops, your TA will take you through how to use various bioinformatics tools and you’re provided with proformas to fill in along the way. They are due for all workshop streams at 8PM Friday and there is a grace period of 9PM Friday (if you hand it in between 8PM and 9PM, there’s no -10% late penalty, but after 9PM the dropbox won’t accept submissions anymore and you get an automatic 0). Very easy to full mark or near full mark and you can usually complete them within the 3-hour workshops (these typically only run for 2-2.5 hours though).

Final exam: Open book, 130 minutes for 65 multiple choice questions of equal weighing. All lecture and workshop content are assessed, with 15 marks allocated to the workshops and 50 marks allocated to the lectures. The questions were similar to the application style EMQs of the theme tests (yes, those dreadfully double weighed ones), but they were nowhere as bad as those ones. For almost all multi-part questions based on the same prompt, if you misunderstand the first part, you can still get most marks on the subsequent parts unlike the theme tests. The lecturers promised that the mock exam was very similar to the actual exam and they didn’t lie. Although I felt the real exam was ever so slightly harder than the mock exam, this can be attributed to the fact that I had multiple attempts at the mock exam. I ended up finishing half an hour early, having extra time to check my work, although there are still some questions that were difficult. Overall, the exam was actually enjoyable. An issue with the unit is the lack of SWOTVAC support from the lecturers. According to someone in the BMS2062 group chat, this is because the lecturers who taught BMS2062 have moved on to other teaching commitments and can no longer answer our questions. If what I’ve heard is true, I can respect this since I’m aware many lecturers might be taking on honours or 3990 students over the summer break, but an announcement informing us to get our final questions in before the lecturers are no longer available would’ve been nice. There’s a silver lining, since we’re forced to collaborate to find the answers, I found myself explaining things to others more often than I ever had during the semester, which consolidated my own understanding. This is Feynmann’s study technique in action.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 31, 2021, 07:50:10 am
Subject Code/Name: BMS2042 - Human Genetics

Workload: 
2 x 1 hr recorded lectures
1 x 2.5 hr lab every 2nd week or so

Assessment:
6 x 1% prelabs
7 x 2% lab summary quizzes
15% lab test (midsem)
10% genetic counselling project
10% model organism group oral presentation
45% final exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. No mock exams either but practice questions provided.

Textbook Recommendation: Don't remember which book/s were prescribed, you can easily survive the unit without it.

Lecturer(s):
Various

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Sem 2

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: If you think this unit just goes over different genetic diseases, then buckle up cuz all of VCE genetics get covered in the 1st 2 weeks. Since this unit has changed a lot since Sine reviewed it (a lot of the dev bio and biochem aspects were removed), I’ll list the lectures below. All lectures were delivered very well and were very interesting in my opinion, but I heard my peers complain about the lectures confusing them and making concepts harder to understand. If I had to choose something to change, I would probably remove some gene sequencing lectures cuz they overlap too much with BMS2062.

Week 1: Autosomal and sex-linked inheritance patterns
Week 2: Non-Mendelian inheritance patterns ie epistasis, codominance, incomplete dominance etc
Week 3: Genetic counselling and gene mapping
Week 4: Gene sequencing techniques
Week 5: Model organisms and transgenic technologies
Week 6: Bayesian analysis and complex diseases (including some population genetics)
Week 7: Continued discussion of complex diseases
Week 8: Epigenetics and personalised medicine
Week 9: Sex determination
Week 10: Chromosomal aberrations
Week 11: Chromosomal aberrations continued and population genetics
Week 12: Evolutionary genetics

Prelabs + Lab summaries: Labs were online tutorials due to being conducting during lockdown 6.0, they were the lowlights of my experience and I’d think they’re more fun on campus. As with Sine’s review, the labs get really repetitive as you’re just doing fancy Punnett squares all the time. Two lab summaries did not have an associated lab (introductory lab + Bayesian analysis), but the rest do (lab summaries are open-time Moodle quizzes due 24 hours after your lab session ends). The prelabs are to be completed by the start time of your lab session and they examine lecture content associated with the labs. They are usually Moodle quizzes with 12-15 questions and there’s an 1 hour time limit once you start it. Both are very easy to full-mark. If you're ever stuck, Rose (lab coordinator) and Fran are both very helpful on the Moodle forums.

Midsem: Closed book + invigilated lab test, 60 minutes for 50 marks on the lab content up to week 6. It was one of the harder tests we had to sit in biomed and many of us didn’t finish it. A lot of calculations are involved and you’re NOT provided with a formula sheet. Although the lectures aren’t explicitly examined, being up to date with them really helps consolidate what you learned in labs. Just make sure your probability theory knowledge is solid and avoid arithmetic errors.

Genetic counselling project: This is sort of an open book midsem that asks you to apply your knowledge of the first 3 weeks of lectures (+ the Bayesian analysis lecture). It’s divided into section A (3%), section B (4%) and section C (3%). Section A involves using bioinformatic tools to determine what mutation has occurred and what genetic disorder is present based on a nucleotide sequence, then annotating your hypothetical consultand’s family tree with genotypes based on their phenotypes. Part B is a letter to the consultand where you adopt the role of a genetic counsellor and attempt to inform them about their disease and fulfil the other genetic counsellor duties as outlined in the week 3 lectures. Part C requires you to construct a pedigree from scratch from another patient’s verbal description of how the trait runs in their family. You are then asked to fill in a Bayesian analysis table. The project as a whole is very easy to score well in, the only pitfall is not addressing the criteria sheet in part B.

Group oral: We were randomly assigned groups and a model organism as topic. Our task is to pitch our given model organism as the best one by outlining their advantages and discussing future directions in research to overcome the disadvantages. My group was given:

Spoiler
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PLKdaqwLDFzI_YOMGAwzZKi0aHRHHXd5/view?usp=sharing

If you have the choice (our cohort didn’t), choose the mouse cuz the advantages and disadvantages are painfully obvious. There was a Feedback Fruits peer review at the end, you only lose marks if your group members were VERY unhappy about your performance (giving you <75%). Most people did very well on the oral, my group pretty much finished preparing by the end of the midsem break (make sure you use it wisely). A lot of your marks came from asking good questions and answering other student’s questions. However, some audience members couldn’t get the hint that we don’t want to answer a question since it pertains to rats, not mice, and persistently asked the same question over and over again despite our explanations. Since we were parroting our responses for their particular question, we probably embarrassed ourselves. Our group repaid the favour by asking them a very difficult question that they couldn’t answer (but it’s still based on something they said in their presentation), but we asked easy questions to the other groups since they were being nice to us as well.

Final exam: Closed book, 130 minutes for 115 marks (46 MCQs and 69 marks worth of SAQs. There were supposed to be 2 MCQs and 3 marks worth of SAQs for each of the 23 lectures, for the most part this is accurate, but the exam did not adhere to it strictly at all times. Additionally, the lectures weren't examined in order. The SAQs aren’t essay style questions, they’re fill in the box questions, some with words, some with numbers (calculation questions were present in the SAQs but you’re only allowed to write down your final answer). You WILL be rushed for time, so make sure you aim for a mark a minute. The MCQ section was pretty challenging as it examined very obscure parts of the lectures. The SAQ is very reasonable, except for the fact that there were quite a few typos that rendered the questions unsolvable. The BMS2042 exam was weird in that when I finish it, I thought it was very easy, but when I got my final mark back, I was both disappointed and baffled at why my exam mark was so low. I’d recommend using the lab summaries to guide your exam study, since the exam was very application based and the style is quite similar to the lab test.

Initially, the lecturers told us that no practice exams will be provided since the 5 “Check your understanding” MCQs after each lecture were already adequate practice. After some students insisted on having more resources, they gave us another practice quiz composed of past exam questions (it was very indicative of actual exam difficulty). They also set up a Peerwise system for us, it was less useful than the one in BMS2052 cuz quite a lot of the student-generated questions had wrong solutions. This reminds me of being sabotaged in high school (people teaching others in study groups incorrect facts). If you see incorrect Peerwise questions, always report the question and include your reasoning for the real correct answer, that way other people won’t be mislead.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Billuminati on December 31, 2021, 12:27:03 pm
Subject Code/Name: BMS2052 - Microbes in Health and Disease

Workload: 
2 x 1 hr recorded lectures
1 x 2 hr lab

Assessment:
5 x 5% postlab quizzes
5% for 5 Peerwise questions
10% midsem
20% build a pathogen group project (15% report + 5% peer evaluation)
40% final exam

Recorded Lectures:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. 2 mock case study sections + 120 practice MCQs provided

Textbook Recommendation: Don't remember, didn't buy

Lecturer(s):
Various

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 Sem 2

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 86 HD

Comments:
Overall impression and lecture content: The unit is your typical microbio + immuno unit. The lectures were nothing special and pretty bland TBH, although the content of the week 5-6 lectures on immuno were fascinating (Mark made memorising antibody serotypes fun with analogies). Another highlight would be the rabies lectures in week 11 (might be biased cuz I'm a Walking Dead fan), the content was great but the delivery wasn't very memorable. The unit was the 2nd most memorisation intensive unit I have taken, rivalled only by BMS2011.

Labs: As with other 2021 sem 2 subjects, all labs were conducted remotely as Zoom tutorials where your TA takes you through a PowerPoint and then send you into breakout rooms for activities. Every 2 weeks or so, you have a postlab quiz due. These have a 30-min time limit and involve around 20 marks worth of assorted questions on the previous 2 weeks or so of labs/workshops. Question types include MCQs, dropdown MCQs and short answers. It's very easy to score well in these lab quizzes since the TAs mark your SAQs very leniently.

Midsem: Closed book, 50 minutes for 48 marks covering the lecture and lab content of weeks 1-6. 24 marks were straight MCQs whereas another 24 marks come from EMQs which are drop-down multipart MCQs. Each week is allocated 4 MCQs and 1 EMQ (each EMQ has 4 questions requiring a dropdown answer). The provided practice quiz was easier than the real midsem (which examined some nitty gritty details, memorisation is definitely needed), the best resource to use is the Peerwise platform. It's a website where students submit their own MCQs (more on that below) for other students to answer. Despite the announcement that labs are assessible, I don't think there was lab content.

Peerwise: You are required to write 5 exam style MCQs on 5 different weeks lecture contents, the specific weeks are assigned to you randomly at the beginning of the semester. Easy 5% of the unit grades, only people who forgot to submit a MCQ by the due date lost marks for this.

Group project: The build a pathogen report is my main issue with this unit. It has a strict 2000-word limit (including in-text references) and you work in groups of 4. The task is to design your own bacterial pathogen (with 4 virulence factors) drawing on your knowledge of bacteriology acquired through the week 2 lectures. You must also demonstrate your knowledge of each step in the process of bacterial pathogenesis. A self-designed figure was also required, again, probably a good idea to do it by Biorender. Although my team worked really well, we only got 80% for the report. When we looked through the assessors comments, it's apparent that they have very high standards (although not unreasonably high) and don't tolerate ambiguities in your explanation very well, so make sure you check everything carefully and be as specific as possible. They're also super strict on formatting the references properly. The assessors also seemed to be experts in bacteriology since they picked up on theoretical errors that escaped us when we were editing our report. A few weeks before the report was due, you got to meet one of the assessors (not necessarily the one marking your report) and have them give you feedback on a verbal outline your report (they're not allowed to see your draft). They asked you many good questions that helped us identify gaps in our understanding, but since they didn't correct the draft, we lost many marks on the little things that we can't summarise verbally.

Final exam: Closed book, 130 minutes for 2 sections (mark allocation is kinda weird, will detail below). Section 1 (worth 25% of the exam ie 10% of your final mark) is identical in structure to your midsem, except it covers lecture + lab content from weeks 7-12. Different from the midsem, the questions on it were easier than the mock MCQs/EMQs provided for revision.

Section 2 is 4 SAQs (with subparts) worth 12 marks each covering lecture and lab content from weeks 1-12. Subsequent subparts are designed to be harder than the earlier ones. It is worth 75% of the exam grade ie 30% of your final mark. Each SAQ is based upon a case study and involves a stem. You must be able apply your knowledge of everything you learned in the unit fluently and in an integrated manner, since within each SAQ, concepts from several different weeks can be examined, even in the same subpart of the question. The provided case studies mock exam were significantly harder than the actual exam, when we attempted the practice questions, we all thought we were going to fail. The weird exam format made it hard to study using a consistent format. Since the course is very content heavy, many of us naturally resorted to studying using memorisation based study techniques eg Anki and Peerwise, but the huge emphasis on application on the exam caught us out in that we've been studying the wrong style of questions all along. In terms of depth of knowledge examined, both sections of the exam didn't examine as many details as the midsem.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: hairs9 on January 12, 2022, 11:05:43 am
Subject Code/Name: CHM1052 - Chemistry 2 advanced 

Workload:
One 1 hour workshop per week, one 1 hour lab most weeks. It was done online so would have been about a 3.5 hour lab in person.
Plus roughly 2 hours of online lecture content to watch in your own time

Assessment: 
10 weekly quizzes worth 1% each(total of 10%)
Lab work worth 35% in total, includes 7 prelab exercises(worth about 4%) and 6 lab reports(although one is split into 2 parts)(worth the other 31%).
Final exam worth 55%

Recorded Lectures:
Yes, only way to access lectures was via recordings. Some recordings were from previous years.

Past exams available: 
Yes, 2 practice exams were available

Textbook Recommendation: 
Chemistry Atoms First, and Chemistry 4e. Both are available online, neither were particularly useful. The prereadings have textbook pages for reference but they aren't really necessary. 

Lecturer(s):
We had 8 lecturers overall.
There were 6 lecturers delivering the CHM1022 content(one per 2 weeks) and 2 lecturers giving the CHM1052 content(one per 6 weeks). The CHM1052 lecturers also attended our workshop for their area, and Sara Kyne also helped out at the workshop throughout the semester.

CHM1022 lecturers:
David Lupton-Weeks 1/2(Introduction to organic chemistry/aromaticity)
Sara Kyne-Weeks 3/4(Chemical detectives/stereochemistry)
Philip Wai Hong Chan-Weeks 5/6(ketones and aldehydes/acids, esters and amides)
Drasko Vidovic-Weeks 7/8(introduction to transition metals/compounds and complexes)
Stuart Batten-Weeks 9/10(ligands/crystal field theory)
Victoria Blair-Weeks 11/12(colour and magnetism/bioinorganic chemistry)

CHM1052 lecturers:
Joel Hooper-Weeks 1-6(organic chemistry)
David Turner-Weeks 7-12(inorganic chemistry)

Year & Semester of completion:
2021 semester 2(all online)

Rating: 4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 89 HD

Comments:
This subject was very well-run. I appreciated the clear separation between the 1022 and 1052 content, as well as how the workshops were run. I found them well-paced and generally went through most of the content that was a little more tricky. Personally I lost interest about the second week into the unit, with the organic content being a bit different from high school and I found it both difficult and a little dry. The labs were done online, and I don't think they were adapted very well. Joel took the first 6 weeks, which was organic chemistry. He was pretty good, but I preferred David Turner's style of using powerpoints with the answers to help go through everything. David is an entertaining character, and he helped make inorganic chemistry more engaging. My least favourite week was week 12 but that's probably because I read the word 'bio' and tuned out. But it seemed to have a lot more content than the other weeks.
The assessment was pretty good, definitely a step up from 1051 with having to do an actual lab report, but overall pretty fair and not too much of a workload.
My main recommendation is to try to engage, make sure to ask questions in workshops(if you're confused, I guarantee other people are too) and just to keep up with the content. Don't go in expecting things to be like high school, organic chemistry especially introduces some difficult concepts and ignores other ones that were seen as important earlier.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: hairs9 on January 12, 2022, 12:00:27 pm
Subject Code/Name: FIT1008 - Introduction to computer science

Workload:
Online prerecorded lectures that are roughly 2-3 hours a week
One 2 hour workshop, one 2 hour tutorial, and one 2 hour lab a week.

Assessment:
4 solo pracs and 3 collab pracs worth 2% each(so 14% overall)
2 interview pracs worth 13% each(26% overall)
Final exam worth 60%

Recorded Lectures:
Yes, lectures were only recorded and at least some were from previous years

Past exams available: 
Yes, about 4 available, some with solutions.

Textbook Recommendation: 
There were 3 textbooks "recommended" but none were really needed.

Lecturer(s):
Maria Garcia de la Banda took the first 7 weeks and Brendon Taylor took the last 5.
Pierre Le Bodic was the main subject coordinator and also took majority of the workshops. Brendon Taylor and Alexey Ignatev took some of the others, and there were other staff also hanging around.

Year & Semester of completion:
2021 semester 2(all online)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 100 HD

Comments:
I enjoyed the subject a lot. It's clear they've had to make a lot of changes to help people be able to pass and to make the subject better run and a lot of those have been helpful. The first 3 weeks are based around MIPS, which isn't the most exciting thing in the world but hey, coding is fun and it's not too difficult. It did help to give a better understanding about what Python actually does, which I think ultimately made me a better coder. The majority of the unit is around abstract data types and how to implement them. Definitely felt like overkill at times(we had to learn how to program a list) but was still interesting.
The workshop was a bit slow at times, but it was uploaded so I could go through at my own pace. It was definitely helpful for understanding how to implement things, and a lot of the times, the pracs were very similar to workshop exercises.
I found the tutorials to sometimes be useful but could be very slow paced. They did help to fix any gaps in learning from earlier subjects.
The labs were where we did our assessment for the week. I appreciated having the time in class to do it, but my class was only a day before it was due so I needed to start ahead of time, just so I wouldn't get stuck. The solo pracs were usually pretty nice. I didn't enjoy the collab pracs as much because it involved working in a group, which was often very complicated. The interview pracs were the most difficult, basically being like a coding assignment. It was often very hard to figure out the instructions and nothing was clarified except in the forums. It was very chaotic overall.
To do well in this unit, start your pracs early, ask a lot of questions, read every post in the forum, dispute marks you disagree with, and use all the resources they provide you.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: hairs9 on January 12, 2022, 12:57:50 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH2032 - Differential equations with modelling

Workload: 
Three 1 hour lectures and one 1.5 hour applied class per week

Assessment:
6 quizzes worth 2% each, 4 assignment quizzes worth 2% each, 1 midsemester exam worth 20%, 1 final exam worth 60%.

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:
Yes from 2014 and 2015.

Textbook Recommendation: 
None required

Lecturer(s):
Ngan Le took the first 6 weeks, which were on ODEs and Mark Flegg took the last 6 weeks, which were on PDEs. There were also recordings available of parts of Jerome Droniou's previous lectures on ODEs.

Year & Semester of completion:
2021 semester 2(in lockdown)

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 94 HD

Comments:
This unit was not well run. There were a lot of issues with cheating in the past and as a result of trying to combat that, we ended up with a much worse and unfair unit.
The assessments were mostly done in class. This had some perks, as it meant there was less to do outside of class. However, because classes ranged from Monday to Friday, people who took the Friday classes had 4 extra days to understand the content. The assessments also meant the classes were cut shorter and there was less time to complete the actual questions.
The assignments were very strange. We were given a prompt with some information and basically had to prepare everything we could to answer some multiple-choice questions. Once again, these quizzes were done in class so some people had a lot less time than others to complete it. The quizzes also had the problem of answers being in a certain format, and with only 5 minutes to do the questions, if you didn't use the right format, you were screwed.
There was not a lot of communication between the tutors, with some allowing notes for the assessments and others not.

In terms of the content, the ODE half was pretty interesting and at a good level. Jerome's parts of lectures were very useful and made Ngan's seem redundant, as she went through the same content(albeit a little slower and less put together), only adding a couple of examples. The PDE half was very strange to me, as it felt like there wasn't a lot of procedural content(eg how to solve equations etc), and instead we were just studying the same three equations over and over and over again. It seemed like anything we learned was only used in a specific context. Mark spent a lot of time doing long-winded examples that I didn't find particularly useful. A lot of his explanations were also very confusing to me.

Biggest advice is to read the notes and get a Friday applied class. Also, don't use Chegg or cheat in any other way(which you shouldn't be doing anyway) because Mark will hunt you down.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: hairs9 on January 12, 2022, 02:33:29 pm
Subject Code/Name: MTH3051 - Introduction to computational mathematics

Workload:
Three 1 hour lectures and one 1.5 hour applied class per week

Assessment: 
11 x applied class participation/problem task worth 1% each for a maximum of 8%. The task is to be sent in before the applied class(does not have to be correct) and you have to go and participate in the applied class to be counted.
12 x weekly quizzes worth 2% each(20% in total, only the best 10 are counted)
4 x assignments worth 3% each
Final exam worth 60%

Recorded Lectures: 
Yes with screen capture(all over zoom)

Past exams available: 
There was a sample exam that was also our week 12 quiz so was included in our assessment.

Textbook Recommendation:
No textbooks are required, but I believe you could buy a paper copy of the notes if you needed to.

Lecturer(s): Janosch Rieger

Year & Semester of completion: 2021 semester 2(all online)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 HD

Comments:
This was both my favourite subject and my most stressful one. The main topic covered were errors, solving linear and nonlinear systems using algorithms, data fitting, and using types of data fitting to help do various mathematical things. Basically, a lot of learning how computers do things that we know how to do manually.
Janosch was ok. He explained things very visually, often using various drawings to illustrate his point. There weren't always a lot of examples though, and it was harder to try to apply the content to actual questions as a result. I found that generally going through the notes helped. The content was surprisingly theoretical but the theory was interesting. There were a lot of proofs involved, but we were only expected to be able to replicate a few of the shorter ones for the exam.
In terms of the assessment, the applied class participation was basically a free 8%, which I was very grateful for. The assignments weren't too hard if you've ever done coding before(and I think from next year you need to be able to anyway). The marking scheme was basically "if the code works you get full marks, otherwise 0 for the question". It was good if you did everything right but annoying if you had one slight mistake in the code. The quizzes were very annoying to me. They were done at the end of the week, before applied classes, which meant you had to try and have a grasp of the content with little opportunity to ask questions or practice questions. I thought having 50% of the insemester mark being based on your understanding of work before you had a chance to look at it properly was a little unfair. What was most annoying was that there was negative marking involved. Every quiz had at least one "tick the box" style question in which you had to tick all the correct answers, but if you ticked an incorrect one, you'd lose marks. For example, if there was 2 correct answers and you ticked one correct and one that was incorrect, you would get a 0, despite having some understanding. Was not a great system. The negative marking also applied to the exam, which sucked but at least by then we were used to it.
Biggest recommendation is to ask a tonne of questions whenever you get space, don't just settle if you don't understand something. And also, make sure you test out your code before submitting.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Geoo on June 19, 2022, 09:58:37 pm
Subject Code/Name: French Introductory 1 - ATS1061

Workload: 
1 x 1 hour tutorial
1 x 2 hour tutorial
1 x 1 hour grammer lecture (online)
1 x 1 hour culture lecture (until week 1-8) (online)

Assessment: 
Language assessment 1 = 12%
Language assessment 2 = 15%
Culture assessment = 25%
Listening assessment = 8%
Weekly activites= 5%
Oral test = 15%
Final assessment = 20%
All of these were take home assesments. They were untimed, and were suppose to take 100 minutes, but most times you would need a little longer.

Recorded Lectures: 
All the lecutres were recorded in 2020, and are still used. 

Past exams available: 
No, as there are no exams for this subject.

Textbook Recommendation:
 Alter Ego+ A1, Méthode de français
You do use the textbook alot in class, for listening activites and reading comprohension. I didn't use it much outside of class however, and didn't use the online portal that I had access to from the textbook,
They also recommend a workbook, which I did findhelpful, but it was hard to keep up with as the workload increased during the semester.

Lecturer(s):
Jessica Chakowa

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2022

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 83

Comments: I had a lot of fun with this subject, and thought it was an great introductory to le launge de français. I thought the lectures were very informative, although a bit slow so I did put them on 1.5x speed without an issue. Jessica was fantastic, she really cared about the students, and was always happy to answer questions. The 1 hour tutorial is mainly talking about what the grammar lectures covered, and going over listening comprehension. Sometimes they are helpful, but other times they didn't feel like the greatest use of time. Tutorial 2 was the more action packed one. It was 2 hours of speaking and writing activities, along with more reading/listening skills. The biggest weakness of this subject is the lack of opportunities to actually speak, once we get over the roles we play, we only speak french for around 10 /15 minutes total out of the 2 hours sometimes.
The assignments were on the easier side, although the reading comprehension was relatively difficult as you had to look up many unfamiliar words. All assignments were take home except for the oral, which was 5 minutes of talking French with your tutorial 2 teacher. I believe they may be returning to in class tests in the coming semesters, but nothing is confirmed. The rest was a listening section, writing section, and just so many verb conjugation exercises.
This was a nice break to my other subjects, and I do plan to carry on. If I had any advice,  know your verb conjugations, they catch up with you very quickly, do all the weekly study activities, even the noncompulsory, and try to involve French activities in everyday life.
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Commercekid2050 on July 12, 2022, 01:25:05 pm
Subject Code/Name: MGF1010-Introduction to Management 

Workload:  1 hr of Lecture (Was not really a lecture just reading some article and making notes)
                               2 hrs of tutorial

Assessment:  20% for weekly individual quizzes and team worksheet- Not too bad were always related to the article which was to be read that week
                                     10% for individual essay skeleton. Assessment was due in week 4, it was not too bad it was just. a page where we had to outline how we would do our essay
                                    40% Essay- This was relatively hard we had to write a 1,500 word  essay
                                   30% Team Report- This was possibly the best assighment win the unit. We had to make a 1,000 word report. We had to write a report on how or what owner of a failed business had to do to save their business.

Recorded Lectures:  No lecture

Past exams available:  No exams  :)

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook, though we got a pdf version of books each week for particular topic

Year & Semester of completion: 1 semester 2022

Rating: 3 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 66 (C)

Comments: Not the biggest fan of the unit. It is a compulsory unit in bachelor of business. The unit though was not too tough but the content was sometime really dry. The asseuesnt were also not the greatest especially individual essay where the topic which was given was really ambitious. The content which was mainly taught in the unit were fine but as said earlier it sometime got really dry. It was also pretty bad that there were no lecture so it was mainly self taught. The good thing was the fact that there were no exams for the topic
Title: Re: Monash University - Subject Reviews & Ratings
Post by: Commercekid2050 on July 12, 2022, 01:46:12 pm
Subject Code/Name: ACF1100 - Introduction to Financial Accounting 

Workload:  2 hrs of lecture
                               2 hrs of Tutorial

Assessment:  3% Quiz- Was for week 1 to week 4 topics mainly covered theory for the accounting topic
                                    10% Manual Assignment- Was a really good assignment we were each given a business and transaction related to that business. We had to record those transaction and make 10 column worksheet, balance sheet and income statement for the business in excel. It is one of my favourite assignments.
                                   10% Xero Assignment- Similar to manual we have a business and we have to record business transaction but in Xero accounting software.
                                  12% Mid Semester Exam- Did not find it too bad. Though the exam was pretty long for it to be only for an hour.
                                  15% Group Assignment- Was a fun topic had to use different accounting ratios to understand if people should invest in the business (had to also make a video presenting it)
                                 50% Exam- Was pretty difficult exam. I know many people had struggle in few questions.

Recorded Lectures:  Yes.

Past exams available:  3 Practice exams. From 2 semester of 2020 to 2 semester in 2021

Textbook Recommendation:  Financial Accounting: Reporting, Analysis and Decision making. The book is must as tutorial question generally came from the book

Year & Semester of completion: 1 semester 2022

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 92 (HD)

Comments: This was honestly a great unit. I really enjoyed this unit with generally all the topics being interesting though in some case it can be dry. Though the topic thus go towards ice Accounting it would be beneficial to have done it as the lecturer goes towards the topic relatively fast. The unit is also generally recommended for Accounting majors.