December 08, 2019, 03:37:02 am

### AuthorTopic: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings  (Read 1073017 times) Tweet Share

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#### M909

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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #750 on: July 03, 2019, 10:32:24 pm »
+3
Subject Code/Name: ECON30005 Money and Banking

Workload: 2 × 1 hour lecture per week, 1 × 1 hour tutorial per week

Assessment:
Tutorial Participation, 10% (5% attendance, 5% actual participation)
2 × Assignments, 10% each
End of semester exam, 70% (Hurdle)

Lecture Capture Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 4 recent ones with full solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  A few listed in the handbook, not needed at all unless you’re really keen on monetary policy I guess. Extra reading notes by Mei are also placed one the LMS if you feel you need more of an explanation.

Lecturer: Mei Dong

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Comments: While I honestly didn’t enjoy this subject that much for most of the semester, objectively it was well run, and would be a great choice for someone with an interest in monetary policy. Most of the actual models were highly stylised and hard to relate to the real world, but there was some discussion and questions on real events, systems, and empirical evidence. The first half of the subject focused on money, then capital, lending and banks were introduced in the second half. A lot of the models stemmed from the Overlapping Generations (OLG) Model, which helped the learning process. There was also a standalone lecture on Cryptocurrency, as well as a special lecture by Dr. Gianni La Cava from the RBA which I felt was a great addition.

Although this is a macro subject, knowledge of micro is important too (particularly utility and the substitution effect), hence both Inter Macro and Micro are prerequisites for this subject.

Lectures:
Most of us already knew Mei from Inter Macro, who is a great lecturer who explains things well. Slides were helpful in the learning process too.

Tutorials:
Tutorial questions were (usually) released a few days before the lecture, and you were encouraged to try the questions beforehand. Tutorial sheets (as well as assignments and exams) followed a very set structure of 5 True/False/Uncertain questions (explanations were more important though, and some answers could be both uncertain and true or false depending on the justification), then 2-4 longer calculation and/or worded questions. Most of them weren’t too bad once you knew the content. My tutor was really good too.

Assignments:
The first was individual, but for the second you could work in groups of 1-3 people within your tutorial. However, both assignments were pretty similar in terms of difficulty and quantity, although it helps having more people to check/confirm. Despite the 2000 word total listed in the handbook, there were no word limits imposed, and you just had to answer the T/F/U and extended questions. Assignments also required a tiny bit of research. Were a bit harder than the tutorial stuff overall. The feedback provided was helpful, explaining why I’d lost marks/how to gain full marks, and even extras for some questions I did get full marks for.

Exam
At least from what I saw/heard, a lot of us found this year’s exam quite tough, and I honestly think they scaled it based on my final score. The exam requires you to be familiar with and able to use the models presented (Standard OLG, Lucas, Random Reallocation ect.) and systems (E.g. The Central Bank), as well as knowing particular key results for the T/F/U questions. There was also a question on Cryptocurrencies and the special lecture. A thorough review of lectures, tutorials should be enough to get you a decent score. The past exams helped consolidate my knowledge and refocus my study too.

#### dankfrank420

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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #751 on: July 04, 2019, 12:17:14 pm »
+2
Subject Code/Name: CVEN90049: Structural Theory and Design 2
https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/2019/subjects/cven90049

Workload:  1 2hr lecture, 1 1hr lecture and a 1hr tute per week

Assessment:
3 smaller assignments totalling 20%
Design assignment worth 10%
Exam worth 70%

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, going back all the way to 2012 – with full solutions!!!

Textbook Recommendation:  No textbook, but you’ll need to print out AS3600, AS4100 and the OneSteel sheet.

Lecturer(s): Elisa Lumantarna and Tai Thai

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating: 4 Out of 5

The subject is split up into three sections – reinforced concrete (slabs, beams, columns and pre-stressing), steel structures (beams, columns and connections) and structural analysis (direct stiffness method, moment distribution method and influence line diagrams).

Having come from STAD 1, you should be familiar with some of the preliminary concepts of the reinforced concrete and steel sections. STAD 2 steps it up a notch and teaches you how to go about solving questions using the standards (which brings it in line with industry practise). The lectures for these sections were uninspiring - not a slight on the lecturer as Elisa was pretty engaging, more in the sense that the content itself was pretty dry. They basically entailed Elisa going through the physical principles that underpin various phenomena, then pointing you to the part of the standards that you’ll have to employ to answer questions. Not much “understanding” is actually required here, it’s more of a case of knowing how to work through the mechanical process.

The analysis part of the course (taken by Tai Thai) was much more difficult in my opinion. It required the memorisation of some pretty esoteric stuff and the processes to solve for bending moments and shear were quite involved. The only real way to learn is to smash out tonnes of practise questions. Thankfully, the lectures and tutorials are stuffed full of worked examples so you should be able to figure it out eventually.

A huge positive for this subject is how well coordinated it is. Tutorial questions align well with the content taught in lectures, the assignments assist in learning, and the teaching staff are more than willing to help you learn. Abdallah (who you’ll remember from STAD 1) seemingly monitors the discussion boards 24/7 and is very helpful with answering questions relating to content or assignments. I’ve had some shockingly taught classes over my time so it’s nice to have ample resources and support there when you need it.

Tutorials:

Tutorials were pretty standard. A tutor will solve a question infront of the class while most of the students struggle to keep up. Tutors rarely to finish on time (particularly the final portion of the course), and only covered certain portions of the assigned tutorial sheets, leaving you to figure out how to do the rest with the aid of the solutions. I reckon having two hour tutorials to go over the tutorial sheet comprehensively would be much better, considering the amount of students I talked to who struggled to absorb the content at times.

Assignments:

Probably the only reason I have to give this subject a 4/5 is the assignments.

The three smaller assignments (you work in a pair) were kind of annoying, there’s a lot of work to get through for just 20% of your grade (particularly the direct stiffness one which was needlessly difficult imo). The instructions weren't that clear and there was no marking rubric, so we were unsure as to what to include. For some reason, they also seemed to mark the "discussion" questions very harshly.

The design assignment was veeeeeeeery long. You work in groups of 6, but I had some pretty useless group mates so it was up to me and another person to smash out most of the 50 page submission. Moral of the story - choose carefully who you work with. It’s only worth 10% too, which I felt was a bit unfair considering the amount of work you’re required to put in. However, like STAD 1, they’re pretty lenient with the marking though so you should do alright.

Exam:

One thing I’m grateful for is the fact that the STAD exams are relatively standard in terms of difficulty. This isn’t calculus 2 where they’ll try and trick you up, for STAD 2 you pretty much know what every single question is going to be asking you before you open the booklet.

My one complaint with the exam this semester was its length. I normally finish most exams with heaps of time to spare, but this one I was writing the whole time and knowingly had to write down wrong answers just so I could move on. They cover absolutely mountains of content in the semester (probably most I've ever done in a single unit) and they include pretty much every aspect of it in the exam. However, they’re very lenient markers in this subject as they’re more interested in your method instead of getting the “right” answer.

Overall:

A tough (and sometimes arduous) but well taught and well supported subject. You’ll be working pretty hard all semester, but the staff are there to help. Assignments are a pain in the ass but the exam is very fair.
« Last Edit: July 31, 2019, 02:55:03 pm by dankfrank420 »

#### clarke54321

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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #752 on: July 04, 2019, 09:47:25 pm »
+1
Subject Code/Name: BLAW20001 Corporate Law

Workload: x1 2 hour lecture, x1 1hour tutorial

Assessment: x2 online 30 minute multiple choice quizzes (5% each), x1 written assignment (15%), 2 hour written exam (75%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes

Textbook Recommendation: Hanrahan, Ramsay, and Stapledon, Commercial Applications of Company Law

Lecturer(s): Helen Anderson

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Unfortunately, the low rating has little to do with the actual course content. As an Arts student, who knows little about shares, capital maintenance, the difference between companies, and the roles of directors, this subject taught me all I needed to know within the scope of 12 weeks. The tute exercises, in conjunction with the assignment and the final exam, were practical problems that could sensibly be extended to a 'real life' scenario. I appreciated this aspect of the subject.

One of the biggest issues with this subject is the calibre of tutors. I honestly had to attend three different tute classes within the first 1.5 weeks to find a tutor that would help answer the tute questions properly. Knowing how to interpret and apply the law to these tutorial questions is absolutely vital to succeeding in the assignment and the final exam. So, it is important to find a tutor, who is more interested in solving the problems at hand rather than listening to the sound of their own voice.

My second issue with this subject was the marking. For the written assignment, I spent a fair bit of time fleshing out the issues and writing a proper legal response. However, when I received my mark it was a P. If it hadn't been for the encouragement of those around me to appeal this mark, I probably would have conceded to my essay as being an 'average' attempt. But I eventually contested the score to find that an error had indeed occurred. This took my mark to an H1. So, essentially, don't be afraid to question a mark if it seems off.

Compared to PBL and Free Speech and Media Law, this subject is treated very similar to an actual law subject. Therefore, the amount of content is quite a shock. However, if you dedicate a few hours every week to sorting out the law and issues, you should be able to build up a firm foundation. This isn't a subject that you can cram for with a written exam worth 75%. A proper understanding of the Corporations Act is needed to pick up on the issues embedded in the factual scenarios.

Ultimately, it's a real shame that the internal workings of this subject were poor. Put that aside, and the content was presented clearly and the LMS page offered various resources (ie. past exams, sample assignment and a subject guide) that were quite helpful.
« Last Edit: July 04, 2019, 09:52:42 pm by clarke54321 »
BA (Linguistics) + DipLang (German) I University of Melbourne
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#### walnut

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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #753 on: July 05, 2019, 12:27:53 am »
+1
Subject Code/Name: KORE10001 , Korean 1

Assessment:
Written work in Korean, 600 words (25%),
Two oral assessments, total 800 words (20%),
A cultural discovery project, 800 words (15%),
A 2-hour written examination, 1800 words (40%),

Lectopia Enabled: No

Past exams available: No

Textbook Recommendation: Ewha 1-1 Korean textbook and workbook

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Okay, if you're wanting to do Korean just because you're interested in Kpop or Korean dramas do NOT do this subject. This is honestly not an easy subject and you really have to spend time and effort in order to do somewhat well. Personally, I found that it was crucial to be able to write in Korean before starting Korean as from the second lesson onwards you're already forming sentences and learning heaps of vocabulary. So I'd recommend having a solid foundation of the Korean alphabet and being able to read and write Korean before starting this subject. Also as Korean is an alphabet- the writing system is much like the English spelling system so it honestly would take only a day max to do the above suggestions.

As there are 2 spoken assessments-  I'd recommend singing Korean songs whilst reading the lyrics in hanguel (not romanisation pls). Also, doing this as you start Korean will really help, because the pronunciation is so important and its very easy to slip up. Reading the lyrics in korean is also very beneficial, as especially in the exam there is ALOT to read, so if you increase your reading speed it'd help you greatly with time. I'd also recommend watching Korean tv shows just to get the hang of how the sentences are structured and how the words are pronounced. Additionally, as there's just so much vocabulary, I'd recommend making a quizlet for all the topics covered.

Classes: Honestly the content was relatively interesting, but pretty fast paced. However I found that too much time was spent on learning about the significant historical Korean figures, it would've been better to utilise that time to practice our speaking skills.

Assessments: Most were hard but doable, as long as you understand the grammar and vocabulary it's honestly not that difficult to pass at the least. However, one of the orals in particular would be incredibly difficult to score well in if there was no assistance given, as we had to write a whole paragraph on a Korean historical figure. The thing is, you have to remember that this is meant to be beginner Korean, but this assessment was asking us to talk about warships, or in my case turtle ships, weaponry, shields which are NOT covered in the textbook.

Exam: Okay, the exam was difficult. The amount of vocabulary that we were expected to know was more than what was included in the textbook and as no dictionary was permitted; let's just say that there were quite a few unknown words. Basically, what I'm saying is that you need to know about basically every word that is mentioned in class, because they can put anything into that exam so just keep that in mind. Also for the exam you really have to know your sentence structures well, because well, in this years case, we had to write a whole whopping paragraph (300 characters) on a significant Korean historical figure. Although we had to do that in one of the orals, I personally think that it was a bit unfair as we were not given any warning and was told that the most we had to write would be 2 sentences. Yeah, its safe to say that I'm pissed.

tldr: do this subject only if you have a genuine passion for Korean because the workload is substantially heavy.

« Last Edit: July 06, 2019, 09:50:55 am by walnut »
you become what you study- Anonymus

#### MONOPOSTOtm

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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #754 on: July 05, 2019, 02:00:44 am »
+1
Subject Code/Name:
COMP10001 Foundations of Computing

Three one hour lectures and two non-mandatory tutorials of one hour each. Tutorial one is in a class setting where lecture content is revised. Tutorial two is going through course content with tutors roaming around in a computer lab.

Assessment:
30% Projects (x3)
10% Mid-semester test
10% Grok worksheets (A tailored version of khan academy)
50% Final exam

Lectopia Enabled:
Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:
Yes, 7 exams with solutions and a few more without.

Textbook Recommendation:
None needed.

Lecturer(s):
Tim Baldwin and Nic Geard as well as some guest lecturers.

Year & Semester of completion:
2019 Semester 1

Rating:
5 out of 5

93

This is a very well taught subject.
Lecture content is useful and engaging, however, most of the actual LEARNING of python is likely to be done through the grok website.
Every week, two "worksheets" will be assigned online to be completed. Some have questions that are likely to take time to think about or wrap your head around, so try to get them done well before the deadline.
Projects are also to be completed through the grok website, in a similar vein to the worksheets. The difference being that project's questions will all relate and lead into one another to eventually form a bigger system.
This subject does ramp up in difficulty quite quickly, the first time you're introduced to a project, it'll probably seem really intimidating, but with enough time committed, they can all be done well.
As long as you've been keeping up to date on the worksheets, the mid-semester test should pose no problem.
Going through old papers for the exam and brushing up on python syntax on grok is also very useful.
2018 ATAR: 97.55
2017: Biology [37] | Chinese SL [36]
2018: English [40] | Methods [40] | Specialist [33] | Physics [36]

#### clarke54321

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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #755 on: July 05, 2019, 02:17:36 pm »
0
Subject Code/Name: LING20011 Grammar of English

Workload: x2 1 hour lectures, x1 1 hour tutorial

Assessment: x2 problem solving assignments (worth 25% each), x8 tutorial exercises (worth 10% in total), x1 written exam (worth 40%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes

Past exams available:  A sample exam was provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  Student's Introduction to English Grammar, Huddleston & Pullum, 2005 Cambridge University Press

Lecturer(s): Peter Hurst

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating:  4.5 Out of 5

Whether you are a Linguistics major/minor student, Arts student, or a student from a different faculty altogether, Grammar of English is an excellent subject choice. While the Secret Life of Language might help you for the first week or two of the subject, no previous linguistics experience is necessary to score well in this subject. What I did find helpful, however, was the background knowledge of a second language. If you are a native speaker of English, learning the grammar fundamentals can be such an abstract process. Therefore, if you have something concrete to compare the grammar to (like a second language), the content is made much easier to digest.

Peter is a highly knowledgeable lecturer. He explains the concepts in an understandable manner, and is willing to stop and answer any questions during lectures and tutorials. While his 'spontaneous questioning' approach to teaching the content may seem confronting at times, it really does force you to question whether you have understood the content.

The assignments, tutorial questions and exam are all intimately related. In terms of difficulty, the tutorial questions provide the fundamental basis for what are quite difficult assignment questions. While the exam felt more like the tutorial questions, the multiple choice questions were very tricky (about 8 different options, where more than 1 answer might apply). The good news is that all assessments correspond nicely with the lecture content. This means that if you diligently attend/listen to lectures, there should be no surprises.

One of the biggest keys for success in this subject is learning how to justify your answers. There are several 'tests' that are applied in this subject to identify forms/functions, which are important across all the assessments. While Peter repeatedly goes through these tests in the lectures and tutes, it is essential that you learn how to formalise your explanations. The tutorial answers provide great templates for this. So, after every tutorial check to see whether your answers are similar to those posted on the LMS.

The only thing I can really fault with this subject was perhaps a lack of clarity with what was expected in the first assignment. I lost several marks for not being detailed enough in some explanations. However, this was corrected in the second assignment, where examples were provided.
BA (Linguistics) + DipLang (German) I University of Melbourne
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#### clarke54321

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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #756 on: July 05, 2019, 03:56:22 pm »
+1
Subject Code/Name: GERM20007 German 5

Workload:  x1 2 hour language seminar, x1 1 hour conversation class, x1 1 hour cultural studies class

Assessment: x1 MST (15%), x1 oral presentation (5%), x1 written vocabulary work (5%), x1 in-class test for cultural studies option (12.5%), x1 presentation for cultural studies option (12.5%), x1 written exam (40%)

Lectopia Enabled:  NA

Past exams available:  None

Textbook Recommendation:  Anne Buscha and Szilvia Szita, B Grammatik. Leipzig, Schubert Verlag.

Lecturer(s): Daniela Mueller is the subject coordinator.

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2019

Rating:  4 Out of 5

Contrary to previous reviews, German 5 was a very enjoyable subject. The reasoning behind this difference probably comes down to the changes made to the subject in 2019. There are no more lectures for this subject, but instead a conversation class and a cultural studies option. The cultural study options all seemed extremely interesting. They consisted of Deutsch lernen durch Deutsch lehren, Tragic Heroines in German, Intensive Grammar, and Road Movies.

In relation to the language seminars, a new theme packet would be released every 3-4 weeks for every new topic. Every week you cover a new text, which you read as a class and answer comprehension questions about. There is also a new grammatical concept that is introduced. Unfortunately, the grammatical concepts are fairly fundamental; leaving little scope to improve your written German. The grammar includes adjective endings, prepositions, and different clause types.

The conversation class provides a break from the abstract and less conversational notions of German culture. During these classes, you are exposed to a range of everyday, conversational contexts and accompanying discourse markers. The practical nature of this class is therefore useful if you are planning to finish at German 5 and travel to Germany to work or study in the future.

For the cultural study options, I chose the Learning by Doing option. You essentially learn the different teaching methodologies and pedagogues behind teaching German as a foreign language (all in German, of course). After developing this theoretical knowledge, we were then able to prepare and conduct an actual teaching session in front of the class. While it seems daunting, you are only teaching for 10 minutes. The student-driven focus in this class therefore made for very entertaining teaching sessions. And while this option is great if you intend to become a German teacher in the future, it is equally as valuable if you are wanting to learn more about your own preferred learning methods.

The exam for German 5 is fair. It tests all the weeks of the language seminar, focussing predominantly on the texts studied, the grammar introduced, and the relevant vocabulary.

In conjunction with the somewhat rudimentary grammar tested, my only other issue with this subject was the vagueness surrounding assessment. At times, the LMS failed to make it clear what was exactly expected of you.
BA (Linguistics) + DipLang (German) I University of Melbourne
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#### beaudityoucanbe

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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #757 on: July 06, 2019, 10:21:05 am »
+2
Subject Code/Name: BLAW10001 Principles of Business Law

Assessment:
On-line Quiz (1) Multiple Choice Individual 10%
On-line Quiz (2) Multiple Choice Individual 10%

End-of-Semester Exam Multiple Choice 80%

Lectopia Enabled: yes

Past exams available: no, youre given 1 practice exam with solutions, not a past exam

Textbook Recommendation: Recommended: Lambiris and Griffin, First Principles of Business Law, 2017/10th edition (‘FPBL’)
Must buy - you are required to learn cases which are only available in the text book, there can be as many as 20 in a week or as few as 5
You might be able to get a second hand copy (just dont rely too heavily on the textbook, just use the cases)

Lecturer(s): Tanya Josev (Lecturer) and Will Phillips ("tutor")

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Semester 1

Rating: 3.5/5
I hated not having tutorials, youre left in the dark not knowing what you know cause youre given no questions. Other than that a 5/5 subject

Subject Outline:
First few weeks give you background info, the very basics of the origin of law, how law is made etc
Focus of the subject is contract law, you spend 4 weeks on this (how its made, whats in a contract, breaches, remedies)
Then you get into Tort Law - specficially negligence

Lectures:
Brilliantly taught, Tanya is extremely knowledgable and explains everything very well. Great lecturer.
She goes through content for, usually, the first hour and also links it back to cases in the textbook (which you should buy)
After the break, youll go through a "tutorial". You have a very short fake case and she will ask questions about it linked with the content you just learnt. There was a decent bit of participation (2 or 3 people wanting to answer, and theyre always different)

Tutorials:
This is what i hated about this subject. There are none. To be fair, since all assessment is multiple choice, i see how theres no need for them. I personally like to have questions to complete and get feedback and see how well i am understanding the content rather than waiting for the assessment to see if im doing well or understand nothing.
That being said, you have access to Will, the PBL Tutor. You can send him questions about anything but he wont respond to questions like "hows a contract made?" - you have to ask "specific" questions like "whats thw dofference between x and y". He will give you incredibly detailed answers and is very usefull. He also wants you to explain what you understand/think.

Assessments:
1st quiz - 100% theory. All questiona have 4 answers and can be easily answered, especially with good notes. Some questions were based on legislation. I finished with about 20 minutes remaining

2nd quiz - 20% theory, 80% casee. This was hard. Read all the cases you have learnt so far before starting. Have all the cases easily accessible (in word document). Majority of questions are longer, giving y9u a short scenario and will ask "which case will the defendant (or plaintiff) rely on?" And 4 cases are listed. If you dont know them, you will struggle with time. I had a word document of all cases summed up in 2 lines of facts, 1 of the judgement/outcome. Searching for cases made it easier and quicker. The time constraint makes this hard and sometimes wording can be tricky. Some questions were based on legislation. I JUST managed to finish in time

Exam
Mixture of questions based on legislation, theory and cases.
I found the legislation questions the harded because you really have to focus on the wording. The answers look identical but are vastly different, the first 5 were legislation so i skipped them and finished it later.
Questions were similar in style to the quizzes, some were cases, some theory etc.
You get to bring in a double sided typed or handwritten "cheat sheet". 4 size font is actually very easy to read. I managed to squeez my cases on one side and my notes on the other side. You may refer to it a decent bit (to make sure youre thinking of the correct case) but the notes side was pretty much left untouched. There were a few tricky questions to distinguish h1s, but if you can make solid notes you'll be fine.

Mark 85% overall, not an overly difficult subject - incredibly interesting though

#### GirRaffe

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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #758 on: July 07, 2019, 09:09:44 pm »
+2
Subject Code/Name: ECON10004: Introductory Microeconomics

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

Assessment:
1) Online MCQ 5%
2) Assignment 1 10%
3) Assignment 2 15%
4) Tutorial participation 10%
5) Exam 60% (hurdle to pass)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, many. The course has changed a lot over time though (it got a lot harder in my opinion) so don't bother doing anything more than 2 years back. The course was also changed in 2019 to include/exclude some topics, so make sure you double check with the tutors/lecturers before going on a wild goose chase.

Textbook Recommendation: There were textbooks but I didn't buy it? (it was my breadth lol)

Lecturer(s): Phil McCalman, Tom Wilkening

Year & Semester of completion: 2019, Semester 1

Rating: 3 Out of 5

Assesment marks: MCQ 7/8 (H1), Assignment 1 53/60 (H1), Assignment 2 47/60 (H2A), Tutorial 10/10 (TBC), Exam 30/60 (TBC) - yes I bombed the exam, more on that later

This is my breadth so I put very minimal efforts into it (I do science, way too many contact hours with my core subjects to have time for it) but regardless it was still quite an enjoyable subject. I did VCE Economics and there was indeed a LOT of overlap, but the exception was that there is a LOT more maths involved. The hardest level of maths involved I'd say would be derivatives and understanding graphs.

Content
Topics covered were:
- Demand and supply (and market equilibrium)
- Elasticity (includes cross-product elasticity)
- Welfare (consumer and producer welfare)
- Government intervention (taxes, quotas and property rights)
- Externalities
- Firm theory (short and long run)
- Different types of markets (perfect, imperfect, monopoly, monopsony)
- Price discrimination
- Game theory (simultaneous and sequential games)

If some of these sound familiar to you then you're probably right - yes they're exactly the same as VCE Economics. For those of you who didn't do VCE Economics (or have forgotten) the first part of the course is basically just teaching you that in a perfect world everyone is rational and seeks to gain the most economic benefit for themselves. From this, basic economic models of demand and supply are formed and consumers/producers react accordingly to different events (e.g. if the price is higher there would be less people wanting to buy and more people wanting to sell - most follow this simple logic).

The next part of the course teaches you how to measure the collective benefit of consumers and producers, and how the government 'intervene' with the market in order to produce a more desirable outcome or boost welfare. The reason why they do this is because of externalities - or spillover costs or benefits to third parties who were not originally involved in the trade (e.g. pollution).

The second last part is firm theory (yuck). I found this part the hardest and dryest part of the course - most of it hinges on the fact that firms wants to maximise profits, but there were so many graphs involved which made it really confusing. At the end of the day, the concepts all made logical sense but there was a lot of drawing and interpreting graphs and it is really easy to get them mixed up (e.g. AVC and ATC sounds very similar, but they mean different things - average variable cost and average total cost) The only interesting bit about this part was price discrimination, which is where firm charge different prices for different consumers. Really makes you think about the world and how it operates.

The last and my favourite part of the course would have to be game theory. If you've ever heard of the prisoners' dilemma it is basically that, but explored in depth. My absolute favourite part of the course because it is without a doubt applicable to other areas in life, and it does help you think more strategically and clearly in situations of doubt.

Lecturers
I had Tom and never went to any of Phil's lectures. Tom has an engineering background so he does an absolutely brilliant and methodical job of explaining concepts, and even tells when you don't really need to learn something (because it is only a secondary explanation for the concept being taught, and that if you don't understand it you can just 'throw out' the second explanation).

Assessments
I found the assignments to be fine, though typing up mathematical calculations were a massive pain. They were both based on concepts covered in lectures. The second assignment was a lot harder than the first, but the lecturers gave a lot of helpful hints about it. There were also assignment 'consultation' sessions that you can go to if you are stuck.

There was also a practice text for the online MCQ, and also a lecture-style review session before the actual test. I found the review session particularly useful as not only was it explained why a/b/c/d/e was the right answer, but also why the other answers were wrong. For the actual test I highly recommend doing a 'cheat sheet' because I found it extremely helpful to just have one page of crucial information right in front of me.

Tutorials
Huge pain in the backside having to attend them. While they were easy marks, I felt that most of the time they were extremely slow and because NO ONE wanted to answer any questions there was no actual discussions involved. I think you could miss one or two tutorials before it affects your tutorial marks, and you could also do a 'replacement' tutorial but would have to discuss it in advance with your regular tutor.

You were also assessed on whether or not you attempt the pre-tute questions on Top-Hat (doesn't matter if you get it correct or not). Top-Hat was an online platform newly introduced this year, and I disliked it very much. You have to pay for it in order to access it at home, but there some free-access zones like Ballieu, FBE and The Spot. Don't spend any money on it and just do the pre-tute questions before class like I did. Pre-tute questions takes about 30 minutes if you actually try, and 2 minutes if you just put in random answers. Just make sure that the pre-tute questions aren't actually closed when you're doing them, because this means that it will show up as 0% attempted and you will lose tutorial marks for it (I had to email my tutor because she kept closing them the day before my tute and when I did them before my tute my attempts were not counted).

Exam
The exam was extremely hard this year and it ended being scaled up. The MCQs were reasonable, but the short and long answer sections covered topics that were only touched on in one lecture (for example, monopsony, competitive fringe). Even if you really enjoyed this subject and had a solid understanding of most of the concepts in this subject, you will just have to pray to the Gods that the exam covers what you're good at. Looking at past exams you will understand what I mean - it really is a mixed bag in regards to what they focus on, and it heavily depends on the year. But like I've said at the beginning, don't go back any further than 2 years because the scope of this subject has really changed. I think I did a 2016 exam and it was mostly about concepts and explaining concepts, as opposed to what it is now which is drawing graphs and interpreting graphs.

Final Thoughts
I have always liked economics and this subject certainly didn't ruin my love for it. However, if you are looking for a WAM booster breadth, this is NOT it. If you are doing this because it's a prerequisite, pray to all of your God(s) that your exam will not be hard (but it most likely will be hard). If you are just genuinely curious/interested in economics, I would recommend just googling some of the topics I mentioned and satisfying your curiosity that way instead of ruining your WAM.
2016-2017: VCE - Vietnamese | Chemistry | Methods | Specialist | Literature | Economics

2019: Bachelor of Science @ University of Melbourne
SM1 - ECON10004, BIOL10004, MAST10007, CHEM10009

#### huy8668

• Victorian
• Posts: 9
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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #759 on: July 10, 2019, 11:49:28 am »
+2
Subject Code/Name: MAST30020 Probability for Inference

Workload:  Weekly lectures x 3, tutorials x 1, assignments x 1 (total of 10 assignments). Assignments consist of problems to complete and a summary sheet to write up.

Assessment:  30% Assignments and 70% Exam

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture etc.

Past exams available:  Yes, 2 past exams with solutions. We were given the 2012 and 2013 while the lecturer discussed the 2017 with us together.

Textbook Recommendation:  Alan Karr - Probability. It is ok, it gives a different perspective and aid with independent learning.

Lecturer(s): Konstantin (Kostya) Borovkov

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Semester 1

Rating:  5 Out of 5

This review is aimed towards those who have completed MAST20004 Probability or MAST20006 Probability for Statistics. I will try inform readers as much as possible regarding the content of the subject while attempting to keep it relatable (I reckon just bombarding you with abstract and possibly unfamiliar terms is not so helpful). After all, this is also an opinion piece as well as an objective review so my opinion and experience in the subject will be ubiquitous throughout the review, too.

You will find that the words ‘rigor’ or ‘rigorous’ will be used very often to signify how the author simply has poor vocabulary and knows no better word. More importantly though, it is to emphasise the fact that Probability for Inference is much more rigorous than Probability and really should not be taken lightly as a ‘repetition of Probability but a bit harder’. Please also note that the word ‘probability’ is used in many different ways: Probability is the subject MAST20004 Probability, probability can also be a field of mathematics or a function. It should be obvious to readers what the author means though (hopefully).

An intuitive feel for what the subject is about
Probability for Inference (PFI) can be thought of as a more (surprise surprise) rigorous and ‘purer’ (in a mathematical sense) of MAST20004 Probability.  Though both are introductory courses to probability, one focuses more on the computation and ‘applied’ side in second year Probability while in third year PFI, topics are rigorously constructed from the ground up. Proofs are also the main focus of the subject, instead of computations. As a result, students often find PFI much more difficult due to the rigor that they are not used to seeing in a seemingly very ‘applied’ maths course. In terms of topics covered, some covered in Probability like Moment generating Functions will not be covered in PFI and conversely, PFI will introduce some new topics such as Characteristic Functions. Of course, there are still overlapping topics as they are both introductory courses, just taught from different perspective but do not be fooled in thinking that you won’t have to spend a good amount of effort for the topics you’ve already done in Probability, as the newly introduced rigor will really catch students off-guard on these seemingly elementary topics.

Some informations on the topics covered in PFI
Probability spaces: Here we introduce the tools required to quantify a random experiment such as different type of sample spaces, indicator functions, σ – algebra, events. A few items in this list are familiar to students of Probability though most are new. We then rigorously introduce the function P⁡(⋅) which we call a ‘probability’ and discuss its elementary + advanced properties like continuity, monotonicity, Borel – Cantelli Lemma.
Probabilities on R: Now that we know what the function ‘probability’ is, we can talk about a specific probability, one defined on R (it’s actually defined on B(R) but I’m guessing you probably don’t care, yet, right?).
Random Variable/Vectors: arguably, one could say that probability is the study of random variables (RV) and random vectors (RVec). This is why we introduce it here, in a rigorous fashion of course as it is what this subject revolves around. We will look at different properties of RV’s and Rvec’s (which are just the higher dimensional version of RV’s). Once done, we can introduce the concept of independence between events. Now, this is probably the right time to introduce order statistics as this subject. After all, this is Probability For Inference (meaning there will be statistics will be built on the probability foundation we’ve laid) and this is where statistics start to enter the game.
Expectation: This is the first tool for playing around with RV’s (and Rvec’s of course).
‘Of course, it is just a repetition of expectation in second year probability and so students should probably just not worry about it and chill. Hey, maybe it’s the perfect time to catch up on other subects’ – is what I would like to say. Except that… SORRY!! DO NOT MAKE THIS MISTAKE. What you’ve been introduced to in Probability are just computational formula, not the definition of expectation. Here, we rigorouly define expectation and discuss its properties and applications.
Conditional Expectation: Similar to expectation, one should be very careful as this is a very different animal compare to one introduced in Probability. In fact, the problems you see here in PFI regarding conditional expectation is completely different from those in Probability.
Oh and conditional expectation has a nice geometric interpretation as well, btw.
Some applications to Statistics: Now that we’ve got all the tools we need, it is time to apply them and application to statistic is our first stop. Topics from MAST20005 Statistics like Sufficient Statistics, Neyman – Fisher Factorisation, Maximum Likelihood Estimators will be introduced (don’t worry, you do not need to have done MAST20005 Statistics before hand). Here though, we will prove them, instead of just focusing on the computational side of things. Other topics introduced include Bias Estimators, Efficient Estimators and its uniqueness, Rao – Blackwell Theorem.
Convergence of random variables: To those of you who did not enjoy MAST20026 Real Analysis (it is a prerequisite), this topic can be a nightmare. This is probably the most ‘analysis’ part of the course. Meaning, we analyse RV’s as a function just like how we did with ‘regular’ functions in MAST20026 Real Analysis. Basically, one can have a sequence of RV’s which will converge in different ways to something as the sequence goes on forever. This is however, just a tool. The main focus are the applications of these, namely the LawS of Large Numbers, the Law of Small Numbers.
Characteristic functions: If you enjoy computations then this topic is for you. Oh but do not forget the rigor in your computation 😊 (whatever that means). Here we are introduced to the powerful tool of Characteristic Functions (ChF) which are the older brother of Moment Generating Functions (MGF) and Probability Generating Functions (PGF). These ChF guys are guaranteed to exist (unlike MGF) and works even if the RV is not discrete (unlike PGF). The purpose of introducing these guys is to aid us in proving convergence of RV’s as the RV’s are very much married to these ChF. They go hand-in-hand together, almost.
Further applications to Statistics: Finally, we revisit the MLE, introduce a new concept of Empirical Distribution Function (EDF) and discuss its properties. Not much to say here other than the fact that the last few slides aren't examinable.

Lectures and lecturer
The lecturer, Kostya has written his set of slides for the entire course which he makes available at the beginning of the course. This means that we have access to the whole course lecture material from the beginning of the semester. The slides are quite informative and really, almost all of what you need to know is on there.
The lectures follow a conventional format of the lecturers going through and discussing his slides. Recordings were available, fortunately and I made extensive use of it.
Personally, I find that Kostya is a quite humorous and knowledgeable lecturer and he stands out from the other lecturers thanks to this humour that he provides in the lectures. I also quite enjoy his philosophy on studying, which I was luckily able to find out about through our conversations in his consultation. Both he and Ai Hua enjoy sharing their philosophies with students. Generally, they’re pretty cool people to be around, especially for students.

Assignments and tutorials
There are 10 weekly assignments in addition to the weekly tutorials.  Regarding tutorials, some of the questions require experience to tackle from scratch while some are more manageable. Unlike most other maths subjects, tutors go through all the questions during tutorials from start to finish. Regarding assignments, each assignment consists of a couple of questions, which were not too lengthy. Together, the assignments account for 30% of the subject marks. Opinions on the difficulty were mixed, some students find to be rather arduous to work through while others find it ok. Depending on your style, you may wish to tackle the assignment alone or in a group. Together with the assignments, you also need to complete a summary sheet, which you have to summarise the weekly content of the lectures.
In saying this, I acknowledge that there is a popular opinion where students find the sheer volume of the assignments to be too much work. There are just too many assignments that students need to complete and some even say that one assignment in Probability (which there were only like 4 for the entire semester) did not take as long as one assignment in PFI to complete. I personally find the bolded opinion to be almost always true, though in Probability, we have to attempt problems from the booklet as well and there are no booklets in PFI so it equals out. I think it is just Kostya's way of making sure that students work on the material regularly. Now, do these 10 weekly assignments really prove to be a huge workload for students? I honestly find that this is not the case. Tutorials are provided with solutions so it is only a couple of questions per week that we have to complete. Most of the work comes from understanding the lecture material, I reckon, not the assignment question.
Exam
The exam is quite a typical pure maths exam, with lots of proof questions and some computation questions. I hate to say this but one cannot really judge the difficulty of the exam because it really depends on the amount of resources you’ve put in during the semester. All the topics are examinable, except for the last maybe 5 – 10 slides. The first three questions follow a certain format and the questions get unpredictable onwards. It is a lengthy exam and of course, you need good speed and accuracy in order to finish it without making too many silly mistakes.
One could find the exam quite fair if one spent quite a bit of time studying the material while others may find it extremely difficult as they could not give a fair share of their time to the subject. Long story short, the harder + smarter you study, the better you do. Question is, what is studying smart?
I’ve been trying to answer this question for a very long time now, and to avoid making this review too long, the short generic answer I can personally give is that do not spam exams and learn exams for revision. Revise the lecture notes and tutorials and assignments, rather. Exams should be employed but only as a ‘sharpening tool' and not a replacement for the knife making machine – lecture notes, tutorials, assignments. In addition, please do not make the mistake of predicting exams. I’d love to go on but this is digressing. Please shoot me a pm should you like to discuss these studying techniques. I’m very interested!
Final thoughts
All I can really say is that PFI is a very similar animal to Probability and yet, incredibly different. One could say that PFI is much more difficult but it is best left for the current students of the subject to judge it for themselves. Like most subjects, if you spend resources and have good studying strategies, you’ll find the subject ok. On the other hand, if you do not have a quite strong maths background nor studying strategies, for example, you’ll find that this is a nightmare. To do well in PFI, you’d need to put in a lot of work but this is also the case for Probability. Likewise, it is not too difficult to score above a 70 in PFI either, provided that you put in an honest effort. Of course, one might initially find PFI to be seemingly more difficult due to the rigor but like most things, one eventually will get the hang of it and things become much more manageable.
Personally, I put in quite a bit of effort into this subject and in hindsight, I found everything to be quite fair. Frankly, I knew the material (lecture slides, tutorials, assignments) quite well. However, it took me the first few weeks to get the hang of everything which made my few initial assignments suffered quite a bit. Thankfully, things eventually clicked and I worked even more diligently as the semester progresses, putting me at a 27/30. On the exam, although frankly, the questions were doable if given enough time, my lack of exam experience did not allow me to complete them all within the given constraint, giving me a final grade of 88/100.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2019, 03:08:29 pm by huy8668 »

#### tiffanylps09

• Posts: 10
• My dream is to pet all the puppies in the world.
• Respect: 0
##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #760 on: July 17, 2019, 05:59:39 pm »
+3
Subject Code/Name: PHYC10005: Physics 1 Fundamentals

3x 1 hr lectures & 1x 1 hr problem based per week,
8x 2.5 hr pracs & 10x weekly homework assignments throughout the sem

Assessment:
Practicals 25%
Ten weekly assignments (10 x 1.5% = 15%)
3-hour written examination in the examination period (60%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture.
** the lecturer does demonstrations during the lecture that you might not get to see if you watch at home

Past exams available:  Yes, 11 past year papers, however for some of the older exams we were only provided short answers w/o the explanation

Textbook Recommendation:
Textbook : Optional /
Green Handbook : Used for Pracs & Tutes (or you could just print them yourself) /
Blue Lab Book : They make you buy it to write your reports in.

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Semester 1

Rating:  2 of 5

**This subject was compulsory for my major (Animal Health) / I have a love-hate relationship with Physics having dropped it in Year 11 thinking I'll never have to do it ever again. HAH.

Lectures: I went to the first few but then towards the end of the semester I just couldn't be bothered.
Some of the lecturers try to make it exciting with demonstrations and stuff which are funny to watch at times.

Tutorials: They were okay. I attended most of them to catch up on stuff since I didn't really go to lectures.
I had Jame as my tutor, he was cool and funny. He does a short explanation at the start of the tute then let's us just do the exercises on our own. So if you want help with a specific question, ASK cos he doesn't explain any of them unless someone asked.
**the guy also baked us cookies one time, it was nice

Assignments: Easy with the help of google and the option to practice until you get it right.

Practicals: The worst part of the whole subject.
Firstly, out of the 12 weeks in the semester, 8 weeks you'll have a Physics Prac. Compared to the 5 in Biol 10004 and 6 in Chem 10003, just that alone made a lot of people hate it so much. Including me. The Pracs are draining and most times the content of the Prac has not even been touched on in lectures. So, you go in knowing close to nothing and if your demonstrator wasn't great at explaining the concept, you and your partner(s) are on your own. This was what happened to me. My demonstrator was new and very inexperienced. My partner and I had to just refer to the handbook and try to work out how the concept worked. Having to do that AND physically do the experiment (which it tends to consist of multiple sections) AND write out a report AND draw diagrams AND print out results AND identify limitations etc. I dreaded each Prac and my scores started off pretty bad, but hey, it got better towards the end. My advice would be to really look at the experiments before going in and understand how to explain the physics behind each of them. OR you could just get a demonstrator that really helps you out with the concepts.

Exam: So back to the point I made about me not really catching up with lectures. (I ended up only reading lecture slides)
Physics had really dropped to the bottom of my priorities. I was spending all my time studying for other subjects that by the time it came to 2 days before the exam, I had my first uni burnout. Looked at the practice exam and just couldn't be bothered with them. I ended only actually completing 1 out of 11 of the past years (all by myself, no peeking at answers). The day of the exam, I had to wake up before dawn sit a 8:30am exam. At that point, I had completely given up. But, when I opened the exam paper to attempt the questions, my first thought was "Damn, this is easy". Now, I'm not saying that not studying for an exam is good but, I honestly was so surprised. I was expecting to be completely screwed over but I ended up being able to answer every question to an extent. My advice would be not to aim to complete all the past years as some of the questions are basically repeated over and over. I think determining what kind of questions that always appear will really help. Also, the physics department had revision sessions during swotvac which I did attend to at least make an effort to not fail the subject. It was basically a crash course that summed up the whole semester. That was useful.

Final Words:
I definitely did not enjoy this experience. But I guess the exam made up for it. To whoever who attempts this subject, I wish you all the best. And if you're like me and don't have a choice, don't stress, you'll meet loads of people who are the same and you guys can become friends through the mutual hate for the pracs YAY. If you need more detailed advice, feel free to message me.

« Last Edit: July 17, 2019, 06:02:56 pm by tiffanylps09 »
2018 : VCE
EAL | Maths Methods | Chemistry | Biology | Environmental Science | Indonesian 2nd Language
2019 : BSci @ UoM
CHEM 10003 | BIOL 10004 | PHYC 10005 | MGMT 10002
CHEM 10004 | BIOL 10005 | BIOL 10001 | ANSC 10001

#### kekedede28

• Fresh Poster
• Posts: 1
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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #761 on: July 17, 2019, 09:19:34 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: FINA20006: Painting Techniques

Workload: The intensive teaching period goes for 6 days, Monday to Saturday, 9:30am - 4:30pm with an 1 hour lunch break at 12:30pm. Hand-in for the folio and visual diary is 10 days afterwards.

Assessment: Folio of work completed during class and 2 x painting done during your own time (80%), and visual diary (20%).

Lectopia Enabled: N/A - no lectures! Painting all day everyday.

Past exams available: N/A - no exams either!

Textbook Recommendation: There's no prescribed textbook but there are some recommended books given in the subject guide at the beginning, which I guess would be helpful to read? Everything is taught by your teacher though and they're more than happy to answer questions so you don't need to get anything.

Edit: Oh! There's a supply pack and material levy you have to pay for though (~\$150 in total). You could probably buy the supply pack yourself (the material levy is the 'stuff for everyone' that they give you) or use supplies that you already have at home but it's artist-grade stuff in the pack and since they buy everything in bulk, you get awesome high quality stuff at an absolute ripper of a bargin!

Lecturer(s): Various professional artists take the classes. I believe most of them are seasonal or teach one term and don't teach the next so it varies greatly.

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Winter. It's run during most of the teaching periods though - Semester 1 and 2, June, Winter, February and Summer - but get in quick cause the subject is quota'ed and places fill up fast.

Rating: 5 Out of 5

Comments: Really loved this subject. The teaching staff were helpful and incredibly helpful (there's even this sit-down to check on your progress/ask 1-1 questions mid-way through), and you really improve at the end of it whether your were a total beginner or advanced because you're just thrown into it doing painting 8 hours a day. It's a breadth subject for all courses bar Fine Arts and they assume no painting knowledge so anyone can do it.

The subject is essentially broken down into projects and you work through them during the teaching period.
- Project 1 is the visual diary. You ideally should work on this as you're doing the paintings and it should be filled at the end. It should track your 'creative process' and how you got to your final painting, and this is how they mark it. Take heaps of pictures of everything, research different artists and paintings, and do little random experiments testing out brushwork, a certain colour scheme, blending technique etc.

- Project 2 is one tonal painting of a paper sculpture (which may be as a simple or complex as you like). You do thumbnail sketches to test out different compositions and a tonal drawing to prepare beforehand. This is done using oils on wood - they'll guide you on how to prepare a wood panel for painting.

- Project 3 is two geometric abstraction paintings done in acrylic on wood, one in class and the other at home. You're introduced to colour here so that's the main thing you should be focusing on. Don't go crazy complex with your design - this is abstract art remember and something as simple like white on white could be considered an excellent painting.

- Project 4 is two still life done in oils on wood (one in class, one at home). You basically get some objects and paint it. Choose simple objects.

- Project 5 is an appropriation of two paintings from the NGV's permanent collection. On the 4th or 5th day you'll visit the NGV as a class and the teacher will guide you through some paintings talking about technique and whatnot (you'll have to take notes during these to put in your visual diary). You could choose from them to appropriate but my recommendation would be to go back during the lunch break (it's right next door) and find the simplest paintings to use (check out the contemporary section). This painting is done in oils on canvas - you'll learn how to prepare a canvas in class.

My main advice for this subject is to be don't slack off. You'll have homework every night during the teaching period and that's mainly stuff to add to your visual diary - do it - and the subject doesn't lie when it says intensive because you have a lot to do in a short period of time. Use the class time wisely, keep up with the work and don't waste the 10 days you have after the teaching period (esp. cause most of them are in oils which take forever to dry - bringing in like 3 wet paintings to submit is gonna be hard lol). Overall though, really fun and rewarding subject and would totally recommend it to anyone looking for a breadth to do.

P.S If anyone is super shitty with maps like me and gets lost to the teaching workshop on the first day lol, the simplest way from the tram stop on the Flinders Street/NGV side is to cross the road from the tram stop, walk left to the the big road, turn right and walk down that big road until you see another big road, turn right and keep walking until you see a big 'Gate 5' sign - turn in and then you're there! There are quicker ways but just in case you're lost and late on the first day lol.

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Okay, one small gripe about the subject: the oil painting part was essentially a bare-bones introduction to oil painting. You're taught all the technical, unique things about oil painting like odourless mineral solvents, alkyd medium and rabbit-skin glue but then you don't even get to see let alone use them... I guess it's for OH&S reasons but it was kinda disappointing nonetheless.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2019, 09:49:51 pm by kekedede28 »

#### AlphaZero

• MOTM: DEC 18
• Forum Obsessive
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• Is "heterological" a heterological word?
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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #762 on: July 28, 2019, 09:21:05 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: MAST20009 Vector Calculus

- Three 1-hour lectures
- One 1-hour tutorial

Assessment:
- Four written assignments (5% each)
- 3-hour written exam (80%)

Lectopia Enabled: Yes, but only the main document camera.

Past exams available: Yes, lots and lots, some with answers.

Textbook Recommendation:
The lecture slides is available at the Co-op book shop. The lecture notes are online too, but I definitely recommend getting the book. It comes with a printed booklet of the problems sheets too. If you want more material to read, Vector Calculus by Marsden and Tromba (really any recent edition) is great, especially for those who prefer a higher level of mathematical rigor.

Lecturer(s):
Dr. Christine Mangelsdorf

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Semester 1

Rating: 4 out of 5

MAST20009 Vector Calculus is really the first subject that combines students coming from both the first year accelerated stream and the main stream, and is a must for students who wish to pursue applied maths, pure maths, physics or mathematical physics. The subject essentially takes what you learn in first year into higher dimensions.

The subject is broken into 6 sections.

Section 1: Functions of Several Variables
This section looks at limits, continuity and differentiability of functions of several variables (rather non-rigorously), as well as the chain rule for multiple variables. It also introduces the Jacboi matrix (derivative matrix) and the Jacobian for change of variables later, and also the matrix version of the chain rule. You will also look at Taylor polynomials for functions of several variables and error estimation. Locating critical points and extrema of functions will be revisited and you'll be introduced to Lagrange multipliers which are applied to optimisation problems with one or more constraints.

Section 2: Space Curves and Vector Fields
This section revises concepts from Specialist Maths / Calculus 1: parametric paths, and its properties such as velocity, speed and acceleration, as well as arc length. Concepts such as the unit tangent, unit normal, unit binormal, curvature and torsion are also seen, along with the Frenet-Serret frame of reference of a particle travelling on a path. In vector fields, you will look at ideas such as divergence, curl and Laplacian. Studied is also an informal look into flow lines of velocity fields and other useful things used later such as scalar and vector potentials.

Section 3: Double and Triple Integrals
This section is pretty self explanatory. Here you will learn how to evaluate double and triple integrals and put them to use against some physical problems (such as finding volumes, areas, masses of objects, centre of mass of an object, moment of inertia, etc). This section also discusses 3 important coordinate systems (polar, cylindrical and spherical) before finally diving into change of variables for multiple integrals.

Section 4: Integrals over Paths and Surfaces
Here, you will learn about path integrals, line integrals and surface integrals and apply them to some simple physical problems such as finding: total charge on a cable, mass of a rope, work done by a vector field on a particle, surface area of an object, flux, etc.

Section 5: Integral Theorems
The previous 4 sections build up to this. Finally, we have the required theory to understand the whole point of the subject. Here, you will use and apply Green's Theorem, the Divergence Theorem in the Plane, Stokes' Theorem (a basic version of it) and Gauss' Divergence Theorem, which make your life so much easier. You also get to apply some theory regarding scalar potentials and conservative vector fields studied in section 2. Some direct applications of the integral theorems include Gauss' Law and the continuity equation for fluid flow (latter not examinable). Those who are studying physics might want to look into Maxwell's equations for electromagnetic fields too (these are not examinable).

Section 6: General Curvilinear Coordinates
Here, we get to generalise some theory regarding coordinate systems. This makes our lives easier when dealing with a coordinate system that you may have not studied before, such as oblate spheroidal coordinates. Some connections to concepts back in sections 1 and 3 are also drawn.

So, what do I think of this subject?

Lectures
As a student who came from the accelerated stream, I can say this subject is markedly easier than AM2. From what I've heard from some mates, the pace of the subject is much like Calculus 2 and Linear Algebra. I personally felt that the subject was a bit slow. We spent so much time in lectures on just performing calculations rather than looking at the theory in any sort of depth. It got to the point where I didn't want to attend lectures because it just got so boring. (Like, yes, I think we know how to integrate $\sin^2(x)$ with respect to $x$. Other than that, Christine is a great lecturer and is very easy to understand.

Assignments
There are 4 of them and they are incredibly tedious. They're not hard at all. It's just a calculations fest. The questions basically consist of more tedious exam questions. Eg: here's a region, calculate its area. It's really not hard to full score the assignments. Just pull up Wolfram Alpha or use a CAS to check your calculations. Be careful to justify everything and be wary of direction and cheeky negative signs.

Tutorials
These are the best classes. You just get a sheet of problems and you complete them in small groups on the whiteboard while the tutors watch over your working and make any necessary corrections. I had a great tutor, and since I had my tutorial classes on Friday afternoons, it was a pretty small class and we had great banter. Nothing much else to say (other than "Will, you're a legend").

Exam
Like most MAST subjects, it's 3 hours and worth 80%. There are an insane amount of past exams available. Do as many as you can. Doing well in this subject is about practice.
Inactive until late December

2015$-$2017:  VCE
2018$-$2021:  Bachelor of Biomedicine (Human Structure & Function) and Applied Mathematics, University of Melbourne

#### Shenz0r

• Victorian
• Part of the furniture
• Posts: 1875
• Respect: +407
##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #763 on: October 17, 2019, 03:04:10 pm »
+3
Subject Code/Name: MD4: MEDS90025: Transition to Practice and MD Research Project 2

Assessment:
MDRP2
Progress Reports (3 short reports, submitted at 6 week intervals, accompanied by supervisor reports), throughout semester (10%) Note: 10% if all 3 submitted, 0% if < 3 submitted.
Literature review, 5000 words, due mid-semester (week 11 of 22 week subject) (30%)
Journal-style monograph describing the research (suitable for peer review, with author instructions), 4000 words, due at end of semester (40%) [Hurdle requirement]
Poster presentation at Student Conference 4, 1500 word equivalent, end of semester (10%)
Supervisor evaluation, end of semester (10%)
Satisfactory standard in professional behaviour, as demonstrated by observed Professional Behaviour Assessment [Hurdle requirement]

TTP
Situational Judgement Tests, written, 2 x 80 minutes, during term [Pass/Fail]
Satisfactory performance in simulation exercises  (basic life support), during term [Pass/Fail]

Vocational Selective
Safety and Quality Improvement Project Plan, 1000 words (eg. patient safety, infection control, clinical audit), during term [Pass/Fail]
Supervisor report (using structured report form), end of term [Pass/Fail]
Case Based Discussion, 2 x 30 minutes each, during term [Pass/Fail]

Trainee Intern
Case Based Discussion, 2 x 30 minutes each, during term [Pass/Fail]
Multisource feedback (coordinated by supervising intern) using structured feedback form, x 2 (one at the end of each term) [Pass/Fail]
Log Book - satisfactory completion of clinical tasks as specified in each rotation
Applied Clinical Knowledge Test, 2 x 2 hr MCQ exam, end of term [Pass/Fail]

Year & Semester of completion: 2019

MDRP2
Depending on the project as well as your supervisor, this can either be extremely relaxed or intensive. The main aim of the project is to give you an opportunity to conduct your own research project that you can potentially present and publish. While some students do have the opportunity to go to conferences, sometimes you simply won't be able to due to the nature of your project. Many people continue on with it as junior doctors, so don't be too discouraged if you don't get those chances yet.
Every person will have their own unique experience with this subject, but the most general advice I can give is to be familiar with your topic, regularly communicate with your supervisor (or your team), actively maintain your curiosity and ask questions, and try to be as independent as you can. Since this does take up the first six months of the year, I would encourage you to still go onto the wards and get some clinical exposure - otherwise you will be severely deskilled by the time interviews and TTP come about. Some clinical schools run several clinical skill tutorials throughout the term, but not all do.

PMCV Internship Match
This will be quite a stressful part of the year for you, so it's best to get started early. The Postgraduate Medical Council of Victoria (PMCV) is responsible for matching you with health services that you've preferenced. There is an excellent explanation into the process here.
Unlike other states, the Victorian match is merit-based. Different health services will have their own requirements and weighting, which can include:
• Z score
• Cover letter
• Standardised CV
• Interview (video vs. panel vs. MMI)
• Clinical reference
• Non-clinical reference
My advice would be to get started on your cover letters early (late March-early April) and definitely do not forget your interview preparation. Most interviews are conducted in early-mid June, and the match results are out in July. Most people try to use their research supervisor as a reference, but be careful about who you pick as you cannot de-nominate them. You should pick someone who you are pretty confident will give a good reference, and they must have clinically supervised you. The more recent the reference, the better. There is also no "gaming" the match as it runs similar to the GEMSAS and VCAT matches. Go to the information sessions of all the health services, and then draw up a list of what hospitals you want to go to, but do not fill up your preferences with hospitals you're not likely to get into as you'll run the risk of being unmatched. Always put in more applications than you need to avoid being unmatched - 8-10 at minimum. I found that "Marshall & Ruedy's On Call" was an extremely helpful book in giving you a structure on how you'd approach  clinical scenarios that you're likely to encounter. It's also a great book for internship as well.

Transition to Practice
For the last half of the year, you'll finally be back on the wards. There will be a couple of weeks of lectures at the beginning where you revise everything that you've probably forgotten over the years. You'll be allocated a medical term, a surgical term, and then an elective that you can do wherever you'd like.

I would emphasise that unlike MD2/3, this is not a time when learning clinical medicine is your biggest priority. You are not just a medical student observing in the background anymore - you are the trainee intern. Try to stick around the intern as much as possible, because you are going to be doing their job next year and it's worth picking up skills that'll be helpful when you start working. Learn how to document properly, actively seek out opportunities to put in drips or catheters, practice referrals and handovers, help out with admissions and write discharge summaries - try be an active team-player. Develop good work etiquette (AKA being aware of behaviours that piss people off or make life for other people harder) and communicate often with your team. Observe how your intern manages the constant interruptions to their workload. See how they update friends and family of an unwell patient. Ask practical questions as this is probably the last chance you have before you're thrown into the deep end as a junior doctor. Be aware of what guidelines and resources you can refer to. You don't have to know everything (and you won't), but try read up on common things that'll pop up on your ward so you 1) can understand what's happening and 2) are able to somewhat come up with a plan (rather than always needing to defer questions from patients and nurses to your intern).

The team will involve you more as you're a final year medical student, so you will be allocated some jobs to do, but also remember to always liaise with the team on things you're not sure about. You are also not a slave - you're not being paid to do all of the intern's boring paperwork, so it's a fine balance to strike. The more enthusiastic and proactive you are, the more opportunities you'll be handed, and the team is usually way more accepting if you'd like to take a few days off. Do not be that guy who only shows up once in the middle of ward rounds, doesn't come in for the rest of the term apart from when they need to get something signed off, and as a result has no idea how to function properly as a junior doctor. I would usually try to let the team know what I wanted to do early in the term so that when an opportunity came, they'd let me know. Make sure that you're being supervised appropriately and counter-sign all documentation with the intern

I was usually off by lunchtime everyday. You do not have to go overboard and stay back to ridiculous hours though - as a general rule, once the other doctors tell you to leave, there's probably not much for you to do (and you're not being paid for the mundane jobs either). That being said, I think it's better to be on a busier ward.  Gen Med would be a great medical term for learning how to do bread-and-butter referrals and discharge planning of complex patients, while clearing out jobs in the middle of a 6 hour ward round. In surgical terms, you should probably stay and help out the ward intern rather than always going into theatre (especially if there will be too many people scrubbed up in theatre already). Try and attend pre-admission clinic (where patients are assessed for any perioperative issue) - it's a bonus if you can do the history, examination and fire off some investigations to chase too. That being said, if you do go to theatre, definitely practice putting in some urinary catheters, and if you are scrubbed in, ask the fellow/registrars how to close the wound.

You'll realise that many of the jobs that an intern does can get quite stale and menial after a while during the day - until you go on a cover shift. Arrive in the afternoon for a cover shift once a week, and chances are you'll probably hold the pager and you can practice prioritising, assessing patients and answering any questions from the rest of the covering nurses. You'll feel more like a doctor, and it's a nice break from all the discharge summaries you'll begin to hate doing. I'd highly recommend doing covers as much as you can.

While there is an accreditation examination at the end of the year, most people pass without needing to study quite intensively. As long as you're familiar with MD2/3 knowledge, you don't need to be constantly studying throughout this year. Teaching MD2/3 students both on the ward and in class is a great way of refreshing content you should probably know. After your day has finished, go and relax (as your interns will probably tell you!)

(As a side note, it's a great idea to be actively involved in teaching more junior medical students, because you'll have to learn how to juggle/prioritise both work and teaching responsibilities as a doctor anyway. Remember how common it is as a medical student to feel discouraged when the team forgets your presence and doesn't teach you? Or that you always feel like you're in the way? By being involved in their education, it's a good opportunity for you to practice being a mentor and role-model, as it'll be expected of you as you climb up the medical ladder)

Finishing medical school is the first step in a very long pathway. Of course, you don't need to know the ins-and-outs of recognising and managing every Zebra condition you've been taught, but it is expected that you know how to manage basic, common conditions and that you are safe by ruling out life-threatening causes and recognising when you need to escalate for more help. This is the time to try step up from "just the medical student" to being a trained medical professional who is allowed to have a voice and opinion on what is in the patient's best interest. Next year, you will become a doctor that your patient and team has to trust, so this is an important time to try gain some more responsibility before it becomes expected of you.

That being said, this is also your last chance to really relax before you begin full-time work, so make the most of it after you've developed a good relationship with your team. And finally, congratulations on attaining your medical degree!
« Last Edit: October 17, 2019, 03:08:35 pm by Shenz0r »
2012 ATAR: 99.20
2013-2015: Bachelor of Biomedicine (Microbiology/Immunology: Infections and Immunity) at The University of Melbourne
2016-2019: Doctor of Medicine (MD4) at The University of Melbourne

#### foodrawrocicy

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• Posts: 1
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##### Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #764 on: October 24, 2019, 07:27:01 pm »
+1
Subject Code/Name: LAWS10005: Food Law and Policy

Workload: 1 x 1.5 tutorial and 1 x 1.5 lecture per week. Classes don't run the week when the reports are due and class time is used for individual consultations instead.

Assessment: Attendance and participation (10%), a stakeholder analysis on a food issue (30%), and another report, same everything except the issue's different (60%).

Lectopia Enabled: Yup.

Past exams available: No exams for this subject!

Textbook Recommendation: Weekly readings are available online. There's also extra readings provided every week if you're keen.

Lecturer(s): Professor Christine Parker and a bunch of guest lecturers.

Year & Semester of completion: 2019 Semester 2

Rating: 7 out of 5