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AuthorTopic: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings  (Read 1073205 times) Tweet Share

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|J|

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #225 on: November 29, 2013, 01:30:43 am »
+11
Subject Code/Name: MAST20004 Probability

Workload:  3x1 hour lectures, 1 hour tutorial and 1 hour laboratory class per week

Assessment:  4 x 5% assignments, 80% final exam

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, from 1999 to 2012 (except 2003) with the answers

Textbook Recommendation:  Fundamentals of Probability with Stochastic Processes by Ghahramani, but I did not use any

Lecturer(s): Prof Peter Taylor

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2013

Rating:  4 out of 5

As its name, this subject introduces the basic concepts of probability. If you are undertaking Actuarial Studies, you have to do this subject instead of MAST20006 Probability for Statistics. If you are not an actuarial students, you should note that the prerequisite of MAST30020 Probability and Statistical Inference is either to pass this subject or to get a H2B or above in Probability for Statistics (Probability for Statistics is non-allowed subject of Probability)

Lectures:
This subject is not divided in chapters or modules, but I like to divide this subject into some parts:
1. Defining Probability: probability axioms, conditional probability, independence, law of total probability, Bayes’ formula, discrete & continuous random variables (RVs), expectation, variance and higher moments of a RV.
2. Special Probability Distributions: Discrete distribution (Bernoulli, Binomial, Geometric, Negative Binomial, Hypergeometric, Poisson, discrete uniform distribution) and Continuous Distribution (continuous uniform, Exponential, Gamma, Normal distribution).
3. Transformations of Random Variables
4. Bivariate Random Variables: distribution function of bivariate RVs, joint and marginal pmf & pdf, conditional pmf & pdf, bivariate normal distribution, independence of RVs, transformation of bivariate RVs (including convolution theorem), expectation of function of two RVs, Covariance & Correlation, Conditional expected value, Conditional variance and approximations for the mean & variance of functions.
5. Generating Functions and Applications: probability generating function (pgf) and moment generating function (mgf), Chebyshev’s inequality, limiting distributions, law of large numbers, central limit theorem and branching process.
6. Stochastic Processes: Discrete-Time Markov Chain (DTMC)

My Opinion:
This is the first maths subject which made me completely lost in each lecture. The first few weeks were pretty easy, but it got much more difficult starting from Negative Binomial Distribution. As a result, I went to tutorials knowing nothing and ended up sitting down, looking at the whiteboard, which means I learned nothing from each tutorial. The assignments were also pretty hard (except assignment 1) and it took me all night to finish each assignment. It wasn’t until SWOTVAC when I finally understood what was going on and could use my “common sense” in this subject.

This subject relies on Taylor series, which is covered in Real Analysis and Engineering Mathematics. However, both subjects are not the prerequisites thus making those people who haven’t done Real Analysis or Engineering Mathematics a bit confused. Also, to prove some formulae, we often need to change the (in)finite sum to a closed form (eg. change of summation index, binomial theorem, Taylor expansion of exponential etc.), which is one of the major problems for many people. Also, when you start learning bivariate random variable, there will be some vector calculus involved, which is (again) not the prerequisite of the subject. I frequently found my friends having trouble not about the probability concept, but about the vector calculus concept. In my opinion, the vector calculus problem is even harder in this subject because we often deal with piecewise function.

The tutorial was 2 hours, where the last 1 hour was used as a laboratory class. I think the laboratory class was useless since they already gave you the program, and the explanation was not clear at all. Frequently the program was too complex for students who had just learned MATLAB (I have done ESD2, but I still have no idea of how the program works), thus my friends and I did not pay too much attention in almost all computer laboratory classes (although I believe that simulation using computer is very important). There was no computer test, but there was one question on the exam which was based on the concept used in the computer laboratory class.

My advise of how to do well in this subject is to clearly understand your basic probability concept. Make sure you know the difference between pmf, pdf and distribution function. Use analogy to understand your special distribution functions (eg. exponential distribution is the continuous case of geometric). After you understand what is going on in this subject, do your tutorial sheets and past exams with your cheat sheet. (You are allowed to bring a double-sided A4 paper, must be handwritten)

Overall, this is a good and challenging subject, but the computer laboratory content (especially the explanation of the computer lab sheet) should be improved.
« Last Edit: November 26, 2014, 03:05:17 am by |J| »

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #226 on: November 29, 2013, 02:59:19 pm »
+7
Subject Code/Name: COMP10002 Foundations of Algorithms

Workload:  3x 1 hour lectures, 1x 2 hour tute

Assessment:  Two major assignments, each worth 15% of the overall mark, and one mid-semester test worth 10%. The assignments are individual programming projects taking ~30 hours of work each to get full marks.

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  No. One sample exam provided at the end of the semester, with answers provided in swotvac.

Textbook Recommendation:  Programming, Problem Solving, and Abstraction with C written by the lecturer, HIGHLY recommended.

Lecturer(s):  Alistair Moffat

Year & Semester of completion:  2013 semester 2

Rating:  4.5 Out of 5

Comments: The content was so rich and in-depth, and explained so thoroughly and in detail that it was always interesting. Learning the C language for the first half-or-so of the semester with its direct application to algorithms was at the perfect pace for covering fundamentals, with later weeks of the semester being nearly entirely focused on the study of algorithms. Alistair is an excellent lecturer, and his explanations really stick, especially those written in the book. That was one of the best parts of this course, if you needed to follow up on something in the lecture, just read that topic in the book. Or pre-read and then solidify it in the lecture. The concepts proved to be difficult to master, especially when applying them in the midsem test or exam, but definitely do-able.

The projects during the semester were a lot of fun with extremely well designed specifications. The first was to modify a pre-written integer calculator program. This involved changing the data type from a basic integer to a more complex data structure you design yourself to circumvent the limitations of an integer data type. The second was to develop from scratch a program that takes electoral candidate and vote data as input, and perform the preferential voting process to elect a winner.

Much of the applied theory is about algorithm performance and comparison, being time, space, and a lot of working with big-O notation. The most popular data structures are covered in detail, and examined is also binary representation of data in memory.
« Last Edit: November 29, 2013, 10:30:31 pm by Badoa »
2013 - 2015 B.Sci (Computing and Software Systems), University of Melbourne
Planned: M.Eng (Software), M.InfoSys
2012 English Language, Methods, Specialist, Physics, Japanese
2011 Software Development, IT Applications

buzzwith

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #227 on: November 29, 2013, 03:26:45 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: PHYS20009 - Research-based Physiology

Workload:  1 x 2-3hr Workshop/Practical & 1 x 1hr Lecture

Assessment:  Written reports of up to 1000 words each due during the semester (20%);
Class participation during the semester (5%);
Effective PRS participation and contributions (5%);
A research-project and written report of up to 2000 words due during semester (30%);
Ongoing assessment of e-Learning activities(10%);
A 2-hour written examination in the examination period (30%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, from 2009

Textbook Recommendation:  Didn’t buy a textbook, didn’t needed it (however same textbook as human phys)

Lecturer(s): Deanne Skelly

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Sem 2

Rating:  3.75/5

Although the content of this subject was relatively simple and easy, it was very time consuming in the second half the semester (compared to my other subjects). There’s a lot of little assessments throughout the semester like pre-pracs, prac reports, draft submission ect which I didn’t like as I’m not used to those type of subjects. I guess the good thing was most of the work was done during the semester and which left exam time free so you had time to study for your other subjects. Overall a decent subject which could be relaxing for most people.
« Last Edit: April 01, 2014, 05:44:30 pm by buzzwith »
2012: Bachelor of Science @ University of Melbourne

djsandals

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #228 on: November 29, 2013, 03:52:04 pm »
+3
Subject Code/Name: MUSI20161 Alexander Technique for Musicians

Workload:  1 x One hour weekly tute, 1 x One hour weekly lecture

Assessment:  2 x Online tests worth 20% each, Weekly Journal entries worth 40% total, 20% attendance and participation

Lectopia Enabled:  Nope, lectures can be very hands on and attendance is marked.

Past exams available:  No exam #woo

Textbook Recommendation:  I believe some books are recommended at the beginning of the course but aren't essential.

Lecturer(s): Robert Schubert

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 2

Rating:  4.5/5

Comments: I came into this subject having heard of people talking about Alexander Technique but not really knowing what it was.  Apparently it works better the less pre-conceived notions you have coming into it, so excuse me if I'm a bit vague in the description...

The subject begins with a study of F.M. Alexander; who he was and why/how he developed his technique.  Then you go into his discoveries of the common ways that people misuse their bodies, and learn about methods and philosophies of how to improve your use, done during class discussions and exercises.  You will each get a turn (or more) to perform in front of the class, where Robert will work one-on-one with you to help with misuses in your playing that may affect your performance.

In terms of assessment, the tests are super-easy providing you have access to the readings.  The journal is a big part of this assessment and it pays to go into as much detail as you can.  Entries are to consist of summaries of lectures, tutes and readings, and what you understand the meaning of their content to be, as well as your own reflection of practices and experience regarding the technique.  It is recommended that you write anything as soon as you can, as many people leave the whole journal to the last week (the total length of the journal can be 6000-12000+ words).
« Last Edit: November 29, 2013, 08:06:38 pm by djsandals »
OFFERING MUSIC THOERY TUTORING/ELECTRIC BASS LESSONS, PM FOR INFO.

2013-2015: Bachelor of Music - Melbourne University

2012:
English - 34 (A+, A, C+)
Methods - 37 (A, B+, A)
Further - 43 (A+, A+, A+)
Music Performance - 41 (A+, A, A+)

2011:
Psych - 36 (A, A, B+)

ATAR: 91.00

ChickenCh0wM1en

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #229 on: November 29, 2013, 04:12:36 pm »
+5
EDIT: sorry made 2 of the same subject ><

Subject Code/Name: MAST10006 Calculus 2 [dunno how to use the link things ]

Workload:  Weekly: 3 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 1 hour practical class/tutorial

Assessment: As taken from the Handbook --> "Four or five written assignments due at regular intervals during semester amounting to a total of up to 50 pages (20%), and a 3-hour written examination in the examination period (80%)."

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes only for the 11am stream.

Past exams available: Yes from 2009-2013 every semester.
Q) Prove the chain rule for _______
A) Use the chain rule
:SSSSSS

Textbook Recommendation: Hass, Weir, Thomas, University Calculus Early Transcendentals 2nd edition, packaged with a differential equations supplement from Hass, Weir, Thomas Calculus, Pearson, 2012.

Lecturer(s): Mark Fackrell (coordinator), Antoinette Tordesillas, Steven Carnie.

Year & Semester of completion: S2, 2013

Rating:  4/5

I thoroughly enjoyed this subject in terms of the content as I found it challenging but also interesting at the same time. I took this subject because I did decently well in maths in HS and did not want to take another grueling semester of physics.
DON'T buy the recommended textbook. I spent $80 for a 2nd hand copy and never used it as the stuff in the book was for higher level mathematics such as Engineering Mathematics/Vector Calculus. In the 1st lecture you are giving a green thin problem solving book, this is pretty much your Bible of what you should be able to do. The topics we learnt: Limits + Sequences (sequences was the new part of the course which many people including myself struggled with for most of the semester) Hyperbolic functions Complex exponential 1st and 2nd Order O.D.Es Calculus with 3 variables and 3D sketching etc. Personally I enjoyed EVERYTHING we learnt. In lectures, the lecturer works through the lecture book (buy from Co-op ~$13) by doing problems. You pretty much learn everything by examples. Some people loved this, but I was bored to death by this proposition so I skipped out on lectures.
The 4 assignments were really hard for me and often took me AGES/days to complete.
If you feel you struggle with maths, DO NOT take this subject. BUT if you need to take it as a pre-req and you struggle with maths, go to ALL your tutorials as they will scale your mark up to a 50/100 for a P if you go. Someone I know got 50 for Calc 2 cause he went to all his tutes but failed Linear cause he skipped all his tutes.
Tutorials were hit and miss, I personally didn't find them useful so I never went to them. Most my other peers found them useful and good as revision. I guess it's up to what groups and how your tutor is.
The reason why this subject gets 4/5 instead of 5/5 is the fact your final mark is largely derived from your performance in the exam (80%). I worked through as many papers but the night before I was pretty stressed since my essay paper was due the same day on 4th nov. The fact that all my subjects finished within the first exam week was just screwed.
The exam this year for me was extremely hard and once reason I didn't score as well as I would've liked is due to leaving these exams too late. The last question on the exam paper was a proof of the chain rule and because I didn't know how to do it, BAM instant -10 off the exam

I would highly recommended starting practice papers the end of the Mid Semester break and ask questions to the tutors/lecturers and hopefully they can answer them.
I went once to ask Mark a question and I walked out more confused than initially which turned me off from going again.

All in all, I enjoyed the content immensely. The resources provided (Problem solving book) is pretty much where you'll have to work from. Get those done well and you should be fine.
« Last Edit: June 26, 2015, 03:01:39 pm by ChickenCh0wM1en »
BSc (2015), MD1 (2016)
Tutoring in 2016: http://www.tutorfinder.com.au/tutors/detail.php?TutorID=78301
Chuck a PM if interested

Available for tutoring on the summer holidays for university subjects or VCe.
Also tutoring for the Melbourne uni MMIs (medical/physiotherapy interviews)

Please don't PM me for lecture slides or recordings. I don't have them anymore.

chair

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #230 on: November 29, 2013, 04:59:16 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: ECON10003 Introductory Macroeconomics

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures; 1 x 1 hour tutorial

Assessment:  2 x 10% Assignments; 2 x 5% MCQ online tests; 1 x 60% Exam; 10% Participation

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  3 were provided with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  There was one - didn't use it

Lecturer(s): Graham Richards

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 2

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Comments: I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this subject. I really enjoyed micro last semester so I came into this semester with pretty high expectations and they weren't quite met. If you get Graham Richards as a lecturer, he does take some getting used to. You may find the lecture slides to be a bit long winded and at times I personally found some explanations to be a bit too convoluted, so to combat this I recommend writing notes on each lecture just to see how the concepts interact and how he's tried to build up his explanation. I also found that the explanations of the concepts at the beginning of tutorials really helped in the understanding of what is conveyed in lectures. The concepts may seem a bit disjointed, but I found that while writing up summary notes for all the lectures during swotvac helps you to realise how they all link together.

Now onto assessments: we were given a set of practice questions for our first multichoice test and they do give an accurate indication of the difficulty to expect on the actual test. I didn't do too well on the 2nd online test, but if you know your concepts well enough, getting full marks is very achievable. With the assignments, you want to make sure you're extremely thorough with your explanations, you pretty much have to state exactly how you reached your conclusions and which concepts you've drawn from. Anything that you may consider to be relevant you should put in. It's very possible to get near full marks if not full marks on these assignments.

The exam was very similar to the past exams, Graham has a very distinct style in his exam writing. Make sure you are pedantic in your understanding of why the concepts are structured the way they are (eg. what/who supplies in the forex market and why is it sloped in that way) and you need to be extremely verbose in your explanations, much like Graham is in his lectures.

Overall I found intro macro to be really interesting and tutes were great - I had a fantastic tutor; however the lectures did leave something to be desired and because of this there were times I wasn't quite happy with the subject
« Last Edit: December 02, 2013, 05:38:49 pm by chair »

chair

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #231 on: November 29, 2013, 05:16:31 pm »
+7
Subject Code/Name: BLAW10001 Principles of Business Law

Workload:  1 x 2 hour lecture

Assessment: 3 x 15% Skills Tasks; 1 x 55% Exam (ALL MCQS)

Lectopia Enabled:  No

Past exams available:  No

Textbook Recommendation:  You definitely must have the textbook. It's going to be your bible through this subject, and you'll need it to access the etutes (or you can be cheap, like me, and buy it second hand and do the etutes for free in the law library and download the program during swotvac - you have 10 days to use it before you have to put in the code that comes with a new textbook)

Lecturer(s): Tanya Josev

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 2

Rating: 5 Out of 5

Comments: There's already been another review on this so I'll try keep repetition to a minimum. I highly recommend this subject - probably my favourite subject this year. Tanya is a fantastic lecturer and is really engaging and really brings to life what could be incredibly dull and boring concepts. When revising I recommend having both the textbook and lecture slides in front of you and notice how they've structured the topics and then writing up your own notes. For memorising the case studies (which isn't too difficult since you only need to be able to recognise and recall the rough facts), just make really terrible mnemonics, the sillier the better - trust me it works.

They've changed the way they do the assessments starting in 2014 (from what I've gathered from the handbook) with fewer skills tasks and even more weighting on the final exam.

jtvg

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #232 on: November 29, 2013, 07:50:21 pm »
+7
Subject Code/Name: BLAW30002 Taxation Law 1

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

Assessment: 30% Pair Assignment, 70% 2-hour Exam

Lectopia Enabled:  Audio File (MP3) only

Past exams available:  Yes, you can find one on the University Library website. But the tutorials and lecture examples are past exam questions.

Textbook Recommendation:  Principles of Taxation Law + Fundamental Tax Legislation 2013 Thomson Reuters - you must have both textbooks all throughout the semester. Tax law, like any other law, changes from time to time. So next year's would be the 2014 version.

Lecturer(s): Sunita Jogarajan

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2 2013

Rating: 4.75 Out of 5

Comments: This is a breadth subject usually taken by Accounting students who wish to gain accreditation, but there are also a lot of non-Accounting, non-Commerce students who are taking this subject. I recommend this subject because it's a very useful subject regardless of course. Sunita handles the subject very well, and the tutors are all great, too. You'll really learn a lot (there are quite a number of topics to learn) but you need to work really hard. The readings are usually long especially for Fringe Benefits and Capital Gains, but if you master the textbook, you'll definitely receive a good mark.

That said, if you're going to take this subject, at least try to attend ALL lectures and tutorials because in this subject it's hard to be tangled up in topics that are almost always interconnected. Also, tutorial problems are a very good way to know how to write answers to tax problems for the assignment and the exam.

The mid-semester assignment is done in pairs and is due Week 7. It's basically a 2000-word tax advice to a hypothetical tax problem. It's kind of hard to get full marks because your answer must be very, very comprehensive and detailed to the core; however, because of the word limit, you and your partner need to determine which aspects are important. I think that's where the students are assessed. The average grade here was H2A.

The final exam is 2-hour OPEN BOOK exam, with 30 minutes reading time for the 2 exam questions. The exam questions are quite long and complex, but if you religiously answer all the tutorial/past exam questions over and over again, you will find that the questions are quite manageable. This is a time-attack exam - write as many things as you can - that's why the textbooks will probably be less handy than you think. The thing is to make a really good summary of your notes. With a good set of notes, you'll be able to avoid wasting time by referring to the book every now and then. Also by exam time you would have memorised all statutes and cases by heart.

All in all, I highly recommend this breadth subject basically because the knowledge you'll gain is very useful. It's not an easy H1, though.

chysim

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #233 on: November 29, 2013, 07:58:27 pm »
+5
Subject Code/Name: GEOM20015 Surveying and Mapping

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lectures, 1 x 3 hour practical

Assessment:  Major Practical Assignment (3 separate components) - 70%, 2 hour exam - 30%

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, 4. No solutions provided.

Textbook Recommendation:  None

Lecturer(s): Cliff Ogleby

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2, 2013

Rating:  3 out of 5

TL;DR: A well taught subject with heaps of practical fieldwork, but the subject can take over your life if you get stuck with a below par group.

This is a subject that – although I did well in it – was pretty gruelling and stressful, mainly due to the excess of practical group work.

The assignments and fieldwork themselves are generally pretty fun and reasonably easy to follow, especially if you have already done Mapping Environments, which is not a prerequisite but should be. They feature something sorely lacking in my uni experience so far: hands on fieldwork. This makes it a nice change from most other subjects, but the three hour practicals can drag on a bit.

Cliff is an excellent lecturer and all lectures are recorded. Lecture attendance is severely low (about 10 people turn up out of 120) but the lectures are quite important to listen to and understand to avoid being hindrance to your group.

The best part of this subject is the tutors. Kenny, the head tutor for both this subject and Mapping Envs, is probably the best tutor I have had so far throughout my course. He's a nice, helpful dude that explains content well and attempts to ensure that all groups are up to speed. He is also very reasonable and willing to give extensions if need be. The other tutors are also helpful.

The total contact hours in the handbook estimates about 120 hours for the subject all up. Given the practical work is worth 70%, this equates to about 85 hours of group work, and that's probably realistic. So, if like me, you are the only one in a group of three that knows what you are doing, you pretty much end up with 100 hours of work to do over the course of the semester for the project, which is obviously far from ideal.

The project itself is to make a fairly complicated digital terrain model of the university oval. You'll first do horizontal levelling, then use \$10000+ total station to do a horizontal traverse and detail field survey, then manipulate this data with AutoCAD Civil 3D. If this sounds pretty complicated, it's because it is. If you have average to crappy group members like I did, these assignments can be pretty stress inducing and life consuming.

Probably the worst part of the subject is the lack of instruction AutoCAD. The program is not available on any of the computers on campus and you need a decently spec'ed Windows laptop to run it properly. The extent of teaching the software is basically limited to "here's some YouTube tutorials, now make me a complicated model." Pretty poor but I'm sure this will improve, as this was the first year of them using AutoCAD instead of LisCAD.

The exam was pretty straightforward. Going on my marks for the project, I must have pretty much aced the exam to end up a final mark of 90 (my best for any subject, ever).

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this subject due to the high volume of practical work (and the subsequent dependence on group members), but it would be a breeze if you had a good group as most of the content is pretty easy and very familiar for any who have done Mapping.
« Last Edit: June 25, 2015, 02:05:28 am by chysim »
UoM | Bachelor of Environments (Civil Systems): 2012-2014 | Master of Engineering (Civil): 2015-2016 |

Feel free to shoot me a PM pertaining to getting to M.Eng through the Environments course, or the Envs/Eng courses in general.

djsandals

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #234 on: November 29, 2013, 08:04:19 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: MUSI20002 Impressionism to Postmodernism in Music

Workload:  1 x One hour weekly tute, 1 x One hour weekly lecture.

Assessment:  3 x 500 word assignments worth 10% each, due throughout the semester, 1 x 2000 word essay worth 50% due in latter part of semester, one hour listening test during exam period worth 20%.

Lectopia Enabled:  Don't think so but lecture slides available on LMS.

Past exams available:  No.

Textbook Recommendation:  Reader available at co-op.

Lecturer(s): Sue Robinson and Linda Kouvaras

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 2

Rating:  4/5

Comments: First up, if you are not in the slightest bit interested in experimental/avant-garde 20th century music, stay away from this subject.  If you can tolerate it but aren't really into it, perhaps select a different history subject.

This unit covers art music of the 20th century.  Composers studied include Debussy, Satie, Stravinsky, Webern, Shoenberg, Berg, de Falla, Boulez, Stockhausen, Messaien, Bartok, Cage, Riley, Reich, Adams, Berio and many other various post-modern composers/musicians.  Most of the content relates to each composer's musical philosophies and their contexts as well as techniques they used.

The assessment consists of 3 assignments due every 3 or 4 weeks.  Each week in the reader there is an assignment question and you must choose one relating to the past few weeks.  They aren't too difficult providing you relatively scrupiously look through the relevant reading and you know Chicago style fairly well.  The listening test consists of being played 4 out of 12 works from various composers you have studied.   You have 15 minutes for each work to write down as much as you know about it, roughly about a page's worth.

I enjoyed this subject and found it relatively easy but as I said earlier you need to have a certain taste for the avant-garde.

« Last Edit: November 29, 2013, 08:10:15 pm by djsandals »
OFFERING MUSIC THOERY TUTORING/ELECTRIC BASS LESSONS, PM FOR INFO.

2013-2015: Bachelor of Music - Melbourne University

2012:
English - 34 (A+, A, C+)
Methods - 37 (A, B+, A)
Further - 43 (A+, A+, A+)
Music Performance - 41 (A+, A, A+)

2011:
Psych - 36 (A, A, B+)

ATAR: 91.00

jtvg

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #235 on: November 29, 2013, 10:55:43 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: SOLS10001 Law in Society

Workload:  2x 1-hour lecture, 1x 1-hour tutorial
NOTE: Hurdle requirement minimum 75% tutorial attendance

Assessment:  10% Group Report (+500 word report summary), 40% Mid-term Essay, 50% Take-home Essay Exam
NOTE: I believe for Semester 2 2014 they will change it to 50% Mid-term Essay, 40% Take-home Essay Exam

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes with screen capture

Past exams available:  N/A

Lecturer(s): Dave McDonald

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 2 2013

Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Comments: I had no idea at all about this breadth subject but I gave it a try (the schedule fits well on my timetable). I find it very interesting because the subject matter is quite confronting - topics include terrorism and torture, female genital mutilation, payback, child sexualisation, same sex marriage, etc. Nevertheless, it challenges the mind to question your point of view on the role that law plays in society.

There are about 3-4 cases per topic, which Dave summarises pretty well. The group report is easy peasy - providing a 10-minute summary on the cases of the assigned topic including the group's insight. Tutorials are very interactive and if you really like to speak your mind - this is a good subject for you.

The midterm essay (2000 words) requires extensive research about a certain topic (you choose that topic from a given list). The final take-home essay (1500 words) is done during the exam period and is just like the midterm essay except you don't have to do much research. These essays assess on how well you identify the main issue, and how you construct and explain your arguments.

Although some may feel that the subject matter goes against their principles (some people feel that way) this subject does not aim to change one's beliefs. Rather, the aim is to enhance critical thinking and instil open-mindedness. I recommend this subject for everyone.

chysim

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Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #236 on: November 30, 2013, 06:27:04 pm »
+3
Subject Code/Name: ENGR20003 Engineering Materials

Workload:  1x 2 hours lecture, 1 x 1 hour lecture, 1 x 1 hour tute

Assessment: MAST style assignment - 15%, 1 Group Report - 15%, 50 minute MST - 10%, 2 hour exam - 60%

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, several with solutions provided

Textbook Recommendation:  There are several prescribed, but none are necessary

Lecturer(s): Elisa Lumantarna and several other guest lecturers

Several.

Year & Semester of completion: Sem 2, 2013

Rating:  3.25 out of 5

TL;DR: Well-lectured and interesting subject with relatively easy content that is somewhat let down by the dryness of it's tutes.

This is a subject that covers a fairly basic range of engineering materials in fairly minimal detail. Overall, it has generally been considered an easy H1 by past students, but most (including me) seemed to find this year's exam a bit harder than years past. That said, I got a H1.

Elisa is the unofficial subject coordinator for Eng Mat. She gives the majority of the lectures and outlines the assignment and tutorial schedule. She is a very good lecturer and excellent at answering questions and visualising her explanations with diagrams. She is also extremely quick (to the point of creepiness) to answer emails.

The lecture material is generally interesting and will be familiar to anyone who has completed Constructing Environments. There are separate sections on steel, timber, concrete and masonry and essentially an extended aside on Materials Chemistry run by George Franks as well as an Eng Mechanics refresher on elementary stress and strain. All of these lectures are pretty good and explained well, but the sequence in which they are presented jumbles up the content. i.e. because of the imbalanced lecture lengths (a 2 hour and a 1 hour), you will have a lecture of a completely different subject in between two lectures on the same subject. e.g:
• Mon Week 3 - Stress and Strain
• Tues Week 3 - Materials chemistry pt. 1
• Mon Week 4 - Steel pt. 1
• Tues Week 4 - Materials chemistry pt. 2
This disjointed method of presenting content somewhat inhibits a coherent and intuitive understanding.

However, the worst part of this subject is by far the tutorials. I don't know if it was only my tutor, but he would literally talk for an hour and do any calculations on the board with little attempt to engage with the students. Eventually I decided I could spend that hour far more productively and stopped showing up. Usually I'm not the sort of student that skips tutes, but this one was so useless and attendance wasn't even marked. None of the content is complicated enough to cause any issues by skipping these, and extensive solutions to all tute questions are provided anyway.

Assessment
MST focusses on the literally the first two weeks of lectures on elementary stress and strain and Mohr's circles. This should be an easy H1 for anyone who had been paying attention, especially those that had come across this already in Eng Mech.

The first assignment was essentially a maths style assignment about materials chemistry. George goes over examples of each of the questions his series of lectures so it is another easy H1.

The second assignment is a 10 page optional group report (i.e. you can do it individually or in a three man (yes man; this is engineering) group of your choosing) that involves observations, structural sketches and calculations of loads acting on a building on campus. This takes a bit of time but is actually and pretty interesting and enjoyable project.

The exam is pretty easy as well, though a few random questions came up that I wasn't quite prepared for and it seemed they made a conscious effort to make it more difficult than years past (where most would reportedly leave with 30-60 mins to go).

Another complaint of this subject is the lack of urgency in timely marking and giving feedback. MST and assignment results consistently took ages to be returned.

Overall, this is a somewhat interesting subject that is well lectured and well resourced, and it should be an easy one for any engineering major.
« Last Edit: May 24, 2015, 01:41:13 am by chysim »
UoM | Bachelor of Environments (Civil Systems): 2012-2014 | Master of Engineering (Civil): 2015-2016 |

Feel free to shoot me a PM pertaining to getting to M.Eng through the Environments course, or the Envs/Eng courses in general.

chair

• Victorian
• Posts: 23
• Respect: +13
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #237 on: December 01, 2013, 11:37:54 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: MKTG10001 Principles of Marketing

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

Assessment:  10% Individual Assignment; 30% Group Assignment; 60% Exam

Lectopia Enabled:  Can't Remember

Past exams available:  Nothing

Textbook Recommendation:  Bought it didn't use it, it's pretty useless. Most people didn't need it

Lecturer(s): Bryan Lukas

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 1

Rating: 3.5 Out of 5

Comments: I am fairly apathetic towards this subject. The content isn't too challenging and if you stay on top of things it should be a breeze: useful if you want to do a quick and fairly easy breadth; even better news if you're doing it because you have to for your major. However, don't underestimate this subject because it's quite easy to miss the point entirely if you don't follow the lectures.

The first assignment was a 1000 word essay analysing a recent marketing concept (that we've studied) of a company of our choosing. You're walked through this process, they even gave us a workshop detailing exactly everything they're expecting us to write it; essentially handing us the expected structure of the essay. Easy marks if you're paying attention.

The second assignment was horrid for me. We had to recreate a Marketing Plan for Bank of Melbourne. Because this is a group assignment, change your tute to a time with friends you, even if it's a bit more inconvenient it'll be worth it considering the alternative is potentially getting put into a group where there could be people that are lazy and unmotivated.

The exam was out of 60 and had 15 short answer questions. This is pretty much regurgitating lecture content verbatim, so make sure you cram hard and memorise the content thoroughly. Bryan Lukas likes to speak to his slides a lot so often the bare lecture slides won't be sufficient in your revision (ie. consult the notes you've been taking on what he's saying during the lecture)
« Last Edit: June 04, 2014, 04:45:32 pm by chair »

chair

• Victorian
• Posts: 23
• Respect: +13
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #238 on: December 01, 2013, 11:54:02 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: ECON10005 Quantitative Methods 1

Workload:  1 x 1 hour tutorial; 2 x 1 hour lectures

Assessment:  3 x 10% Assignments; 70% Exam

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, we got about 6 with solutions

Textbook Recommendation:  Forgot the name: see the other reviews. It's quite handy, I would recommend having it

Lecturer(s): Christopher Skeels & Mike Pottenger

Year & Semester of completion: 2013, Semester 2

Rating: 4.5 Out of 5

Comments: This subject can be hard to grasp conceptually, but once things starting to click, the subject becomes fairly straightforward. Make sure you engage in tutorial discussion (the "pink" sheet questions are deliberately written to promote discussion) as it is a really valuable opportunity to reinforce or clarify your understanding, often slight nuances are important to realise. Even if you're generally shy and keep to yourself, you want to be willing to engage in discussion and don't be afraid of being wrong, rest assured a lot of people in the tute also have no idea of what's going on either.

When it comes to the assignments they say you can work in groups of up to 4 people (must be in the same tute). Because I had a particularly bad experience with group assignments last semester in another subject I was really hesitant in joining a group so I did all 3 assignments myself and it's quite a lot of work. However, it forces you to really know your stuff as you don't have the option of simply letting other group members do questions you don't understand. Getting near full marks if not full marks is very achievable, even if you're doing the assignments by yourself. If you do join a group, make sure you do the entire assignment yourself, or at least make a decent attempt at completing it, as it means that you can check answers to see if everyone in the group got the same result - it also ensures you're on track and keeping on top of the content in the course.

You have plenty of past exams to practice with and they will be a good indication of what your exam will be like. However, I don't think consequential marks are given (particularly in hypothesis testing - if you get the hypothesis wrong then you don't get any marks because "you're not testing what the question's asking you to test") so make sure in those multi-step questions that you don't make mistakes early on.
« Last Edit: June 04, 2014, 04:40:59 pm by chair »

vcestudent94

• Victorian
• Forum Obsessive
• Posts: 419
• Respect: +36
Re: University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings
« Reply #239 on: December 02, 2013, 04:05:30 pm »
+3
Subject Code/Name: MAST20026 Real Analysis

Workload:  3 x 1 hour lecture per week and 2 x 1 hour tutorial per week.

Assessment:  6 Assignments (20%) and a 3 hour end of year exam (80%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes. 3 given during exam period, initially with no solutions until a few days before exams (I think due to requests from students).

Textbook Recommendation:  There is no prescribed textbook for this subject but I think there is a reading list in the lecture notes if you're enthusiastic.

Lecturer(s): Deborah King - A good Lecturer, explains things clearly with lots of examples.

Year & Semester of completion: 2013 Semester 2

Rating: 5 Out of 5