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jamonwindeyer

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UNSW Course Reviews
« on: December 23, 2016, 12:21:21 am »
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UNSW Course Reviews

This thread is a collection of course reviews and ratings for the University of New South Wales. Only reviews can be posted in this thread;  for all other purposes, use the general chat thread or message the person who posted the review.

We encourage everyone to review any/all courses they have taken, even if other reviews for the course already exist. The more reviews we have, the more useful this collection will be! :)

Scroll down for the review template!

Note: The views expressed in these reviews are those of the authors and do not represent the opinions of the university or ATAR Notes.  Keep in mind that despite best efforts, information provided may not be accurate.

Index

Click the spoilers below to see the available reviews for each faculty (this index will be updated regularly) :)


Faculty of Built Environment


Faculty of Engineering
COMP1511 - Introduction to programming (1) (2) (3)
COMP1521 - Computer Systems Fundamentals (1) (2) (3)
COMP1531 - Software Engineering Fundamentals (1) (2) (3)
COMP1917 - Computing 1 (Old version of COMP1511)
COMP2041 - Software Construction
COMP2511 - Object-Oriented Design and Programming (1) (2) (3) (4) (5)
COMP2521 - Data Structures and Algorithms (1) (2) (3) (4)
COMP3121 - Algorithms and Programming Techniques/COMP9101 - Design and Analysis of Algorithms (1) (2)
COMP3151 - Foundations of Concurrency
COMP3161 - Concepts of Programming Languages
COMP3231/COMP9201 - Operating Systems (2)
COMP3311/COMP9311 - Database Systems (2) (3)
COMP3331/COMP9331 - Computer Networks and Applications (2)
COMP3411 - Artificial Intelligence (1) (2)
COMP3821 - Extended Algorithms and Programming Techniques (1)(2) (3)
COMP3891 - Extended Operating Systems
COMP3900 - Computer Science Project/COMP9900 - Information Technology Project (2)
COMP4121 - Advanced and Parallel Algorithms
COMP4141 - Theory of Computation
COMP4161 - Advanced Topics in Software Verification
COMP4418 - Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
COMP4920 - Management and Ethics
COMP6741 - Parameterized and Exact Computation
COMP9417 - Machine Learning and Data Mining
COMP9444 - Neural Networks and Deep Learning (2)

DESN2000 - Engineering Design and Professional Practice

ELEC1111 - Electrical and Telecommunications Engineering (2)
ELEC2117 - Electrical Systems Design
ELEC2133 - Analogue Electronics
ELEC2134 - Circuits and Signals
ELEC2141 - Digital Circuit Design
ELEC2142 - Embedded Systems Design
ELEC3104 - Digital Signal Processing (2)
ELEC3105 - Electrical Energy (1) (2)
ELEC3106 - Electronics
ELEC3114 - Control Systems (1) (2)
ELEC3115 - Electromagnetic Engineering
ELEC3117 - Electrical Engineering Design
ELEC3145 - Real Time Instrumentation (1) (2)

ENGG1000 - Introduction to Engineering Design and Innovation (2) (3)
ENGG1300 - Engineering Mechanics
ENGG1811 - Computing for Engineers
ENGG2400 - Mechanics of Solids 1

MMAN2130 - Design and Manufacturing
MMAN2700 - Thermodynamics

SENG2011 - Software Engineering Workshop 2A
SENG2021 - Requirements and Design Workshop



Faculty of Science
BABS1201 - Molecules, Cells and Genes

BIOS1101 - Evolutionary and Functional Biology
BIOS2061 - Vertebrate Zoology

CHEM1011 - Chemistry 1A: Atoms, Molecules and Energy
CHEM1041 - Higher Chemistry 1B: Elements, Compounds and Life
CHEM2021 - Organic Chemistry: Mechanisms and Biomolecules
CHEM2031 - Inorganic Chemistry: The Elements
CHEM2041 - Analytical Chemistry - Essential Methods

CLIM1001 - Introduction to Climate Change

DATA1001 - Introduction to Data Science and Decisions

MATH1081 - Discrete Mathematics (1) (2) (3)
MATH1131 - Mathematics 1A (1) (2) (3) (4)
MATH1141 - Higher Mathematics 1A (1) (2) (3)
MATH1151 - Mathematics for Actuarial Studies and Finance 1A
MATH1231 - Mathematics 1B (1) (2) (3)
MATH1241 - Higher Mathematics 1B (1) (2)
MATH1251 - Mathematics for Actuarial Studies and Finance 1B
MATH2018 - Engineering Mathematics 2D(2)
MATH2069 - Mathematics 2A (2)
MATH2089 - Numerical Methods & Statistics
MATH2099 - Mathematics 2B
MATH2111 - Higher Several Variable Calculus (1) (2) (3)
MATH2221 - Higher Theory and Applications of Differential Equations (1) (2)
MATH2241 - Introduction to Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
MATH2521 - Complex Analysis
MATH2601 - Higher Linear Algebra (1) (2)
MATH2621 - Higher Complex Analysis (1) (2) (3)
MATH2701 - Abstract Algebra and Fundamental Analysis (1) (2) (3)
MATH2901 - Higher Theory of Statistics (1) (2) (3) (4)
MATH2931 - Higher Linear Models (1) (2) (3)
MATH3161/MATH5165 - Optimization
MATH3171/MATH5171 - Linear and Discrete Optimization Modelling
MATH3201 - Dynamical Systems and Chaos
MATH3411 - Information, Codes and Ciphers (1) (2) (3)(4)
MATH3511 - Transformations, Groups, and Geometry
MATH3611 - Higher Analysis/MATH5705 - Modern Analysis (2)
MATH3701 - Higher Topology and Differential Geometry/MATH5700 Modern Differential Geometry and Topology (1) (2)
MATH3711 - Higher Algebra/MATH5706 - Modern Algebra
MATH3821 - Statistical Modelling and Computing (2)
MATH3871/MATH5960 - Bayesian Inference and Computation
MATH3901 - Higher Probability and Stochastic Processes/MATH5901 - Stochastic Processes (1) (2)
MATH3911 - Higher Statistical Inference
MATH5505 - Combinatorics
MATH5855 - Multivariate Analysis
MATH5945 - Categorical Data Analysis
MATH5975 - Introduction to Stochastic Analysis
MATH6781 - Biomathematics

PHYS1121 - Physics 1A (2)
PHYS1131 - Higher Physics 1A
PHYS1141 - Higher Physics 1A (Special)
PHYS1160 - Introduction to Astronomy (1) (2)
PHYS1221 - Physics 1B
PHYS1241 - Higher Physics 1B (special)
PHYS3116 - Astrophysics

PSYC1001 - Psychology 1A

SCIF1131 - Introductory Skills for Science
SCIF1121 - Advanced Science: Professional Perspective and Practice (2) (Old version of SCIF1131)
 

Template

Use the following template for your reviews (copy and paste into your reply, then fill in the gaps!) ;D

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

[b]Contact Hours:[/b]  Specify how many lectures, pracs, tutes ect. and their duration

[b]Assumed Knowledge:[/b] Prerequisite courses, or knowledge that is useful heading into the course.

[b]Assessment:[/b]  Give a rough/detailed outline of the various assessment methods, and if possible, their weightings.

[b]Lecture Recordings?[/b]  Yes, Yes but audio only, No (etc)

[b]Notes/Materials Available[/b]:  If possible, provide links to any resources available to help with the subject.

[b]Textbook:[/b] What is the textbook? In your experience, is the textbook required, recommended, or completely useless?

[b]Lecturer(s):[/b] List your lecturer(s)

[b]Year & Trimester of completion:[/b] EG - 2016/2

[b]Difficulty:[/b] Out of 5

[b]Overall Rating:[/b]  Out of 5

[b]Your Mark/Grade:[/b] If you wish to provide it

[b]Comments: [/b]
Give your comments on any and all aspects of the course (refrain from overly denigrating lecturers, keep it objective)

Here is a duplicate version of the templates without the descriptions, for the sake of convenience in copying and pasting. However, please use the above descriptions as your reference ;)

Code: [Select]
[b]Subject Code/Name:[/b] [url=][/url]

[b]Contact Hours:[/b]

[b]Assumed Knowledge:[/b]

[b]Assessment:[/b] 

[b]Lecture Recordings?[/b] 

[b]Notes/Materials Available[/b]: 

[b]Textbook:[/b]

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

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

[b]Difficulty:[/b]

[b]Overall Rating:[/b] 

[b]Your Mark/Grade:[/b]

[b]Comments: [/b]


Note: Trimesters begin in 2019.
Note2: Reviews that are shown in this colour, were taken during the COVID-19 pandemic and may not be an accurate representation for future iterations of the course.

Updated as of Reply #252
« Last Edit: May 30, 2021, 10:29:10 pm by insanipi »

jamonwindeyer

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #1 on: December 23, 2016, 01:00:04 am »
+8
Subject Code/Name: ELEC2133 - Analogue Electronics

Contact Hours:  3 Hours of Lectures, 3 Hours of Laboratory, 1 Hour of Tutorial

Assumed Knowledge: ELEC2134 is a prerequisite - You need to be really good at AC circuit analysis (Kirchoff's Law and such)

Assessment:  Mix of assignments, lab work, lab tests and online quizzes. Final exam weighs 60%!

Lecture Recordings?:  Yes

Notes/Materials AvailableELSOC provides lots of notes and past papers, and some are provided by the lecturer also.

Textbook: Sedra & Smith, Microelectronic Circuits - Useful for extra study and additional exercises, not essential.

Lecturer(s): Aron Michael

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/2

Difficulty: 5/5

Overall Rating: 1.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 85 HD

Comments:
This was an extremely difficult course for me, even with what I believe to be a strong underlying knowledge of the basics of circuit analysis. The laboratories seemed really unorganised - The demonstrators contradicted each other and the lecturer in the answers they obtained and how they obtained them. I don't feel I was taught the content effectively in lectures; the lecturer did not explain things well (in my opinion, obviously) and did not do enough exam style scenarios - Only a combination of tutorial work and lots of independent study helped me even start to access the concepts.

This course has the reputation of being the hardest course in the whole electrical engineering program - Right now, I'd say it is far ahead of any other in terms of difficulty, and this is worsened by the sub-par course structure and teaching quality that I experienced. Definitely not one to be taken lightly. It gets points for interest - You learn some really interesting stuff and go into lots of depth, which I loved!
« Last Edit: December 23, 2016, 03:11:39 pm by jamonwindeyer »

RuiAce

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #2 on: December 23, 2016, 11:08:06 am »
+10
Subject Code/Name: ACCT1501 - Accounting and Financial Management 1A

Contact Hours:  2 hours of Lectures, 1 hour of Tutorial

Assumed Knowledge: Some good skills at handling numbers is recommended, but otherwise nil.

Assessment:  Tutorial participation makes up 10% of the marks. The final exam is weighted 55%, with the remainder spread over weekly online quizzes and a mid-sem exam.

Lecture Recordings?:  Yes

Notes/Materials Available: The same past paper is offered every year for the mid-sem and finals. In general, resources are hard to scavenge for.

Textbook: Trotman, K. Gibbins, M. & Carson, E., 2016 Financial Accounting: An Integrated Approach 6th edition + Management Accounting Supplement - Necessary, as tutorial questions are taken out of it. Note that the supplement must be purchased separately.

Lecturer(s): Yongdeok Lim (LIC), Jeffrey Knapp, Radzi Jidin

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/1

Difficulty: 2/5

Overall Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 95 HD

Comments:
All students that study a degree offered by the UNSW business school must take this course. The first few weeks feel tougher than the later few, for someone like me who had no business background. Concepts are foundational and relatable to HSC Business Studies, however far more numbers are present now, requiring a calculator. It's not "about" certain concepts, it's actually demonstrating them using figurative examples.

The lecturers appeared to have changed in the next semester (not sure if it will stay the same). Between the lectures, some were better than others. This lead to people getting easily bored of this course (which damages people's marks easily), because the last few weeks of lectures were significantly more interesting. Participation in tutorials is easy provided you actually try.

In general, a WAM booster provided you're not bored to the point you don't understand stuff.
« Last Edit: January 11, 2017, 10:56:10 am by RuiAce »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #3 on: December 23, 2016, 11:18:13 am »
+10
Subject Code/Name: ACCT1511 - Accounting and Financial Management 1B

Contact Hours:  2 hours of Lectures weekly, 2 hours of Tutorial fortnightly

Assumed Knowledge: ACCT1501 is a prerequisite as it is the immediate follow-up course. The first 5 weeks of ACCT1501 are essentially 'elementary knowledge'.

Assessment:  A team quiz and an individual quiz for every tutorial (excluding the first tutorial - practice week). The final exam is weighted 60%, with a challenging multiple choice section (worth 3x the marks of the objective responses).

Lecture Recordings?:  No - Instead, they have these 10-20 min clips which explain the concepts via questions more briefly

Notes/Materials Available: All tutorial questions are based off past paper questions, hence you do past papers as you go. The past papers are provided on Moodle. But there's little to no resources for multiple choice - serious scavenging required.

Textbook: Trotman, K. Gibbins, M. & Carson, E., 2016 Financial Accounting: An Integrated Approach 6th edition + Management Accounting Supplement - As opposed to 1A, generally not used at all.

Lecturer(s): Per Tronnes (LIC), Victoria Clout, Kevin Li

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/2

Difficulty: 3.5/5

Overall Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
Conceptually, equally difficult to its prerequisite course. This course aims to fill in the gaps left behind 1A, thus provide everything you need to commence second year accounting.

This was the first time since 2.5 years they switched BACK to the lecture/tutorial scheme. Note that prior to this semester it was taught in a 'seminar' style. Lectures are, in general, similar to 1A. The fortnightly tutorials are taught in "The Place" (ground floor, ASB) and put a nice emphasis on group work, that is, if you try to work with your group. Personally, I managed to make some good friends out of the tutorials.

Quizzes are usually free marks, but they're not easy per se and it's possible to mess up. Final exam was a shocker; questions that were usually in the style of long responses got condensed into multiple choices and I found myself changing my answers too often. Definitely more content heavy than 1A, but if you did well in that then you can do well here.

It is generally recommended to take 1B (if you must take it) RIGHT AFTER you do 1A. Otherwise, you forget too many concepts too easily.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2016, 03:48:53 pm by RuiAce »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #4 on: December 23, 2016, 11:28:26 am »
+9
Subject Code/Name: MATH1151 - Mathematics for Actuarial Studies and Finance 1A

Contact Hours:  2 x 2 hours of Lecture, 2 x 1 hour of Tutorial

Assumed Knowledge: It is highly recommended that either of the following are achieved given the difficulty and depth of the course:
- Across 2U Mathematics and Mathematics Extension 1: A combined mark of 140
- Across Mathematics Extension 1 + 2: A combined mark of 175

Assessment:  Spread out across online quizzes, tutorial quizzes and computing (MATLAB - to be self taught) quizzes + laboratory test. Final exam is weighted an ugly 64%

Lecture Recordings?:  Algebra - Yes. Calculus - Mostly yes, however he uses an overhead projector for hand-written working so sometimes audio only. (Note that in general, yes or no always depends on the lecturers you have for MATH courses)

Notes/Materials Available: The course pack offers all the notes required for the course, including past exam papers. However, the past tutorial papers are outdated and somewhat irrelevant, in fact, too easy more often than not. My tutorial papers are available upon request.

Textbook: Not even the lecturers recommend the textbook. Just buy the course pack and you're set.

Lecturer(s): Josef Dick (Algebra), Ian Doust (Calculus)

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/1

Difficulty: 4/5

Overall Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments:
Functionally similar to MATH1131/41, taken by science and engineering students, this course is designed in an altered and heavier format to target students taking the mathematically intense degree of actuarial studies. Difficulty is around the same as MATH1141.

The aim of first year first semester mathematics is to formalise many of the concepts just arbitrarily introduced in high school. Whilst it is possible for any exceptional mathematics student to perform well, many struggle to attain HD due to the sudden spike in abstractness in mathematics. The lecturers do look for places to give you marks, however become far more nitpicky with things like quoting the correct theorem, and setting out your proofs in a more presentable manner. Can be a struggle dealing with this course at times - lots of number crunching in algebra, and lots of cautious setting out in calculus.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2016, 03:48:26 pm by RuiAce »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #5 on: December 23, 2016, 11:34:48 am »
+9
Subject Code/Name: MATH1251 - Mathematics for Actuarial Studies and Finance 1B

Contact Hours:  2 x 2 hours of Lecture, 2 x 1 hour of Tutorial

Assumed Knowledge: The precursor course MATH1151 is a prerequisite.

Assessment:  Spread out across online quizzes, tutorial quizzes and computing (MATLAB - to be self taught) quizzes + laboratory test. Final exam is weighted an ugly 64%

Lecture Recordings?:  Calculus - Yes. Algebra - Audio only (lecturer uses blackboards)

Notes/Materials Available: The course pack offers all the notes required for the course, including past exam papers. However, the past tutorial papers are outdated and somewhat irrelevant, in fact, too easy more often than not. My tutorial papers are available upon request.

Textbook: Similar to 1A, however the textbook wasn't even brought up this time round.

Lecturer(s): Denis Potapov (Algebra), Thanh Tran (Calculus)

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/2

Difficulty: 3/5

Overall Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 90 HD

Comments:
Same as first paragraph of MATH1151, albeit now with MATH1231/41. Note that MATH1251 learn two topics that the other two courses do not - functions of several variables, and double integrals

The aim of first year second semester mathematics is to take the now formalised concepts and start applying them to methods in mathematics. The shift in emphasis has resulted in a trend that students finding this course easier than the previous (however definitely not always the case). Only some knowledge of MATH1151 calculus is required for MATH1251 calculus, but all the algebra (excluding probability - used in ACTL1101) should be known here.

A step up in abstraction occurs in algebra, but a step down happens in calculus.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2016, 03:49:10 pm by RuiAce »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2016, 11:49:34 am »
+10
Subject Code/Name: MATH1081 - Discrete Mathematics

Contact Hours:  4 x 1 hours of Lecture (painfully disgusting), 2 x 1 hour of Tutorial

Assumed Knowledge: MATH1131/41/51 serves as a corequisite. It is recommended that a combined mark of 100 was achieved between Mathematics and Mathematics Extension 1. (Whilst not specified by the school, a combined mark of about 140 is the corresponding value to between Extension 1 and Extension 2)

Assessment:  Four online quizzes as with MATH1131/41/51, however no more computing component. The final exam is weighted a massive 80%!

Lecture Recordings?:  This semester, half yes half audio only

Notes/Materials Available: The course pack offers all the notes required for the course, including past exam papers. However, the past tutorial papers are outdated and somewhat irrelevant, in fact, too easy more often than not. My tutorial papers are available upon request.

Textbook: None, but the following textbook has been recommended: Franklin and Doud - "Proof in Mathematics". Not really needed, but a good read, since tutorial problems have been taken out of here.

Lecturer(s): James Franklin, Peter Brown

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/2

Difficulty: 3/5

Overall Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 91 HD

Comments:
Unlike MATH1xx1, success in high school mathematics has generally no impact whatsoever on success in this course. The course places an emphasis on clarity in mathematics, requiring far more carefulness with setting out proofs, as well as the more computational and algorithmic side of mathematics. Whilst students majoring in mathematics need to take this course, the main focus is therefore to people studying a degree offered by the school of CSE.

Abstractness is essentially the same as for linear algebra, but in a different manner. Whilst some computer scientists are still hammered down by this course, in general they like it TREMENDOUSLY more to how they feel about MATH1xx1. The course is designed to be more friendly towards them.

The huge weighting on the final exam speaks for itself; consistency is key but relatively speaking, a greater focus towards the end will be required here.

This course, on the other hand, sometimes hammers down on people who are good at maths otherwise. It is nonetheless a 'fun' course to take, and many interesting things are taught here, which usefulness is far more than what meets the eye.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2016, 03:49:29 pm by RuiAce »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #7 on: December 23, 2016, 12:30:54 pm »
+8
Subject Code/Name: ACTL1101 - Introduction to Actuarial Studies

Course overhauled in 2017.

Contact Hours: 2 hours of Lecture, 1 hour of Tutorial on lecture topics, 1 hour of Tutorial on R software

Assumed Knowledge: MATH1151 is a prerequisite for this course. It is expected that you are good at handling matrices, integration and especially probability and statistics.

Assessment:  An open-book weekly quiz served free marks, but people seemed to get anxious all the time so this may be abolished. Other than that, a mid-sem and an assignment is included. Finals are weighted only 40% - this will not happen for second year ACTL courses and onwards.

Lecture Recordings?:  Yes

Notes/Materials Available: A bunch of past papers were posted on Moodle; some more can generally be found by asking actuarial students in older years (ASOC is a tight bunch).

Textbook: Sherris, Principles of Actuarial Science - Good if you make good use of it. But because it is so old and has no formatting whatsoever, it was too painful for me to read and I gave up after a while.

Lecturer(s): Benjamin Avanzi

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/2

Difficulty: 4/5

Overall Rating:  3/5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
There is a wide variety of things taught in this course. Being a legend among actuaries, Benjamin has taken action to reduce the content, but this course is inevitably going to be a bit over the place. The course is definitely introductory - whilst mathematics is definitely involved, it isn't outrageous yet and most calculations are kept to a reasonable difficulty. Can be a bit painful to study due to this nature of being over the place. The direct consequence of this is that there are heaps of methods that you need to remember.

The introduction of the R tutorials add one extra annoying contact hour, but pays off. Any actuary will need some skill in computing to stand out in modern society, and this is one way to get it going.

(I have to break a guideline and talk about the lecturer here: If you ask many people in my cohort they may evoke hatred for Benjamin. But if you ask ANYONE else, they'll say he is the best, which I believe.)

(This course does NOT contribute to obtaining Part I exemptions. Note that CT2 is fulfilled by ACCT1501, ACCT1511 and FINS1613, and CT7 is fulfilled by ECON1101 and ECON1102. You may only commence fulfilling other CTs in second year. For reference, CT stands for 'Core Technical'.)
« Last Edit: August 28, 2017, 09:36:44 pm by RuiAce »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #8 on: December 23, 2016, 01:19:28 pm »
+9
Subject Code/Name: ECON1101 - Microeconomics 1

Contact Hours: 2 hours of Lecture, 1 hour of Tutorial

Assumed Knowledge: Nil, but I've heard that knowledge of Preliminary (Year 11) economics is beneficial. General maths skills would also help.

Assessment:  20% of the marks are free because you just have to play through a game to get them. Other than that, essentially every mark counts, because the 15% weighting quizzes are out of 15, and the 50% weighted final exam is 50 multiple choice.

Lecture Recordings?:  Yes

Notes/Materials Available: Extremely limited. Usually gotta count on higher years having scavenged hard enough.

Textbook: Dobrescu et. al., Principles of Microeconomics - An online textbook written by the lecturers specifically for this course. You will need it. Note that it also comes with some video recordings.

Lecturer(s): Scott French (LIC), Alberto Motta (Other lecturers include Peter Nichols, Sarah Walker)

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/1

Difficulty: 1/5

Overall Rating:  4.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 96 HD

Comments:
By nature, economics builds upon itself. This course is somewhat hard to self-learn, but regardless of how you learn (I seriously liked the lectures) you find that everything links to each other. It is not content heavy, and is in general, regarded as the easiest of the first year business courses.

This course is mandatory to all students undertaking a degree offered by the UNSW Business School, with the exception of B Information Systems.

Some courses are nice to give free marks, but I haven't seen them "as freely" as here. All you're doing is playing a game, and it actually helped me understand economics concepts better. The final exam is a bit of a shocker because it shows you how difficult multiple choice is, but for many people it still isn't hard enough to push them out of an easy HD.

This was my favourite course. It was the first time I loved something over my life-long passion for maths.
« Last Edit: December 23, 2016, 03:51:41 pm by RuiAce »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2016, 01:29:58 pm »
+8
Subject Code/Name: SCIF1121 - Advanced Science: Professional Perspective and Practice

Course removed in 2017 - All students now take SCIF1131, which was overhauled.

Contact Hours: 2 hours of Discipline Stream, 2 hours of Graduate Attributes

Assumed Knowledge: Nil

Assessment:  Split evenly across the two. Each have 5% devoted to participation. The discipline stream varies depending on which discipline you chose (e.g. biology). Graduate attributes feature a classmate biography, followed by an interview with a scientist video task. NO exam.

Lecture Recordings?: N/A due to nature of this course.

Notes/Materials Available: N/A. You have to find your own materials for all assignments.

Textbook: N/A

Lecturer(s): Graduate attributes - Sue Schibeci. Math discipline stream - Pinhas Grossman

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/1

Difficulty: 1/5

Overall Rating:  1.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 84 DN

Comments:
This course was free marks, but was dry for me. Graduate attributes was really just talking about general life skills e.g. interview preparation, ethics. The assignment for the discipline stream was too broad; nothing specific.

It's not necessarily a bad course. But definitely not my cup of coffee. It's also hard to describe because it's completely different to what you're used to at university, AND it changes too often.

This course is one of two options that all advanced science students must take (unless they combine with engineering and have done ENGG1000). The other option is SCIF1131.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2017, 11:05:01 am by RuiAce »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #10 on: December 23, 2016, 03:31:57 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: COMP2041 - Software Construction

Contact Hours: 3 hours of lectures, 1 hour of tutorial, 2 hours of lab

Assumed Knowledge: All programming languages used are taught from scratch, but they assume basic programming knowledge. COMP1917 or COMP1921 are the prerequisites.

Assessment:  Final exam is worth 60%, two assignments worth a total of 30%, with the remaining 10% assigned to lab work.

Lecture Recordings?  Yes (there is an online stream)

Notes/Materials AvailableThe CSE website has a heap of resources for the course. There is also usually a course forum.

Textbook: Useless - Lots of recommended reading but everything you could need is Google-able

Lecturer(s): Andrew Taylor (woo!)

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/2

Difficulty: 3/5

Overall Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 84 DN
Comments:
A really fantastic course; the lab work is interesting and you see the practical applications immediately. Any course where the final assignment is building a website is fantastic in my books. The content is easy, but mastering the languages and developing your problem solving skills is the hard bit, and that is a continuing challenge. You get out exactly what you put in. Andrew was an awesome lecturer too! :)
« Last Edit: December 23, 2016, 03:43:29 pm by jamonwindeyer »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2016, 03:55:57 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: ELEC2142 - Embedded Systems Design

Contact Hours:  3 hours of lectures, 1 hour of tutorial, 2 hours of lab work

Assumed Knowledge: The prerequisites are ELEC2141 and COMP1921/COMP1917, but basically, you just need to have done a bit of programming. No actual assumed knowledge is taken (though some of the initial topics are rushed since they were covered in 2141).

Assessment:  Final exam is worth 60%, a lab test worth 10%, a mid sem exam worth 20%, and 10% for lab work.

Lecture Recordings?  Yes

Notes/Materials AvailableELSOC provides notes and past exams

Textbook: None prescribed, but there are several recommended. I never used them though.

Lecturer(s): Dr. Chamith Wijenayake

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/2

Difficulty: 3 out of 5

Overall Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 81 DN

Comments:
This course is interesting on paper, learning about how microprocessors handle tasks and such. At times it is great, but coding in assembly can get really tedious when you aren't doing anything exciting with it. The content isn't hard, but there are lots of intricacies that can trick you when you are coding solutions to problems. The lab exam screwed me big time; the final exam (theoretical) was actually quite nice so it balanced.

A lot of people get scared of this course because of coding in assembly, but it's really not as bad as people say!! Having complete control over what gets done is really cool, even if the specific applications in this course are a bit 'dry.'
« Last Edit: February 18, 2019, 09:04:54 am by jamonwindeyer »

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #12 on: December 23, 2016, 04:08:40 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: ENGG1000 - Engineering Design and Innovation  ELECTRICAL STREAM

Contact Hours:  3 hours of lectures, 2 hours of lab work

Assumed Knowledge: None

Assessment:  Totally depends on what stream you do, but it will usually be mostly based on an engineering report, and assessment of your project

Lecture Recordings? May depend, but I did not have them.

Notes/Materials Available: Depends on stream.

Textbook: None.

Lecturer(s): Depends on stream, I had an Industry Rep from Cochlear as my lecturer for the ELEC theory sections.

Year & Semester of completion: 2015/1

Difficulty: 3/5

Overall Rating:  2/5

Your Mark/Grade: 87 HD

Comments:
This is a course where you pick a stream, get into a group, and engineer a solution to a design specification. For ELEC, it was a self-driving car (scale working model). It had to be able to automatically respond to lane markings and traffic lights and such.

If this course was put in the 2nd year, after we actually learned some things about circuits, then I'd have been much happier with it. But as it stands, you are thrown into a problem you have no idea how to solve, and then you are taught how to solve it in a very rushed way while solving it. It doesn't feel like a deliberate problem solving exercise using things you understand; it feels like a desperate scramble to learn just enough to put together even a basic solution, and even when you have it, you only have a loose understanding of how it works. Too soon, and too rushed. I heard from a distance that they almost expect groups to fail to meet the spec, and it felt like that.

That said, engineering something from scratch is fun. There is group work, which is both a positive and a negative (there is always one person who doesn't contribute). You can do well if you document your processes well. That's what I took away from it more than anything - How to document a design process. I forgot everything I learned about electrical circuits, which seems like a massive waste of time.

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #13 on: December 23, 2016, 05:24:30 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: MATH2099 - Mathematics 2B

Contact Hours:  4 hours of lectures, 2 hours of tutorials (split evenly between Stats/Algebra), and then 1 hour of stats lab)

Assumed Knowledge: First year math is the prereq, but really, not that necessary. For Stats, no assumed knowledge, they literally go through how to find means and medians again. For Algebra, they'll assume you can do matrix arithmetic and will race through the concepts you did in 1st year (about half the algebra course is old content).

Assessment:  Final mark is the average of Stats mark and Linear mark. For both, the final exam is worth 60-70%. Stats does the rest through online quizzes, and mid sem exams (theory and lab). Linear spreads the rest through fortnightly quizzes in tutorials.

Lecture Recordings?  Stats yes, but linear only had audio (David uses the physical blackboard, not a camera)

Notes/Materials Available: ELSOC has notes available

Textbook: Useless; no one referred to it ever.

Lecturer(s): David Angell for Algebra, Scott Sisson for Statistics.

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/2

Difficulty: 3 out of 5

Overall Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 88 HD

Comments:
The Stats stream was quite difficult; lots of new concepts and all quite theoretical. Formulas are disgusting, thank goodness for the provided sheets in exams. Scott was a great lecturer, but I feel like he had to rush to get through everything at times. Lots of work in Matlab, which is similar to Maple from first year math subjects (and a little better imo). Really, really interesting content though. The final exam is easy to prepare for because it is almost always the same format.

The Algebra stream was much easier, because half of the course was revision of first-year theory. The latter half of the course was more difficult, but not as difficult as the Stats stream. David was a fantastic lecturer, he did a heap of worked examples, and moving quickly through the easy stuff meant he could move slowly when needed. A little dry at times, but a good balance in the difficulty. The fortnightly quizzes force you to keep up with the content (but having a quiz due every fortnight can be really nasty when other assessments are due).

As the last math course for many engineers, this was a nice finale.

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Re: UNSW Course Reviews
« Reply #14 on: December 23, 2016, 05:35:38 pm »
+4
Subject Code/Name: ECON1101 - Microeconomics 1

Contact Hours: 2 hour lecture, 1 hour tutorial

Assumed Knowledge: None

Assessment: 50% final exam, 30% tutorial quizzes, 20% Playconomics (a video game based on economic principles - Surprisingly easy, and literally a guaranteed 20% because all you have to do is finish it)

Lecture Recordings?  Yes

Notes/Materials Available: -

Textbook: Definitely required, you can buy it with Playconomics to make it easy. It was written specifically for this course.

Lecturer(s): Sarah Walker (there is a team of lecturers over several streams)

Year & Semester of completion: 2016/2

Difficulty: 1 out of 5

Overall Rating:  5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 92 HD

Comments:
I took this as an elective - This is a really enjoyable course - Also the easiest course I've taken. 20% of the marks are literally free, most people I know who actually gave a damn in this subject got either a D or a HD. Playconomics is actually surprisingly enjoyable as a game, it's not a chore to play, just do it periodically to avoid massive all nighters near the end of semester to finish. The content is very interesting (though if you did HSC Economics, probably a bit repetitive), and although there is math involved, it's not hard. If you did alright in Year 10 math, this will be fine for you.

Sarah was good as a lecturer, but in the end I found it easier to self teach from the textbook (not difficult, the textbook is fabulous).

I highly recommend this as a Gen Ed. Not too difficult conceptually, so it won't take heaps of time away from more difficult courses from your stream, but very interesting nonetheless!