University of Melbourne - Subject Reviews & Ratings

[QuantumJG]

Subject Code/Name: PHYC30016 Electrodynamics

Workload: 3 x 1 hour lectures; 1 x 1 hour practice class

Assessment: Two assignments totaling 20%; Final exam worth 80%  

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes

Textbook Recommendation:  J D Jackson, Classical Electrodynamics, 3rd edition, Academic Press. David J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics, 3rd edition

Lecturer: Ann Roberts

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, Semester 1

Rating:  2/5

Your Mark/Grade: 57

Comments: This was a b$&ch of a subject to be honest! I did not enjoy it at all! One thing is that doing PDE's before this subject helps when you do Green functions, separation of variables and other ugly stuff. To be able of even having a chance of getting an H1 requires you pouring heaps of time into this since each question on the problem sheet can take at least an hour. The assignments were horrible, but the exam wasn't to bad.

[QuantumJG]

Subject Code/Name: PHYC30018 Quantum Physics

Workload: 3 x 1 hour lectures; 1 x 1 hour practice class

Assessment: Two assignments totaling 20%; One poster presentation worth 10%; Final exam worth 70%  

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes

Past exams available:  Yes

Textbook Recommendation:  D J Griffiths Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, 2nd Ed, Pearson Prentice Hall 2005, E Merzbacher, Quantum Mechanics, Wiley and B H Bransden and C J Joachain, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Longmans. I personally didn't find the textbook that useful since the lecture notes were comprehensive enough.

Lecturer: Ray Volkas and Andy Greentree

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, Semester 1

Rating:  5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 74

Comments: I thoroughly enjoyed this subject. What I loved about this subject was how weird the quantum realm really is, also the lecturers are really great. What was also really good, was doing a poster presentation on a field in quantum physics and also writing an essay on a field of quantum physics. Mind you the subject was actually quite hard and you need to put in a lot to do well.

[stonecold]

Subject Code/Name: CHEM10006 Chemistry for Biomedicine

Workload:  3 x 1 hour lectures per week, 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week (commencing in week 3), 6 x 3 hour practicals throughout semester

Assessment:

• Practical reports (20%).  These are just write ups of the experiments you complete which you hand in to your demonstrator.  Sometimes they contain questions which you have to answer.  You also have to complete online prelabs before each experiment.  These prelabs contribute 2 marks to the total 10 marks available in each prac.
• Mid Semester Test (5%) which is conducted online and has 15 multiple choice questions.
• 3 x ILTs (Independent Learning Tasks).  These are online tests which are a hurdle requirement and must be completed.  They do not count for anything and you only have to attempt, not pass them.  However, the content on them is not taught in lectures and must be self learnt.  This can easily be done by randomly selecting answers, pressing submit, and then checking the worked solutions for the process/formulas required.  You have to learn this content as three multiple choice questions on the exam will test the content from the ILTs. i.e. 1 quetion from each ILT.
• Exam (75%) completed in the first week of the exam period.  You can bring in a scientific/graphics/CAS calculator into the exam, as well as an unassembled Molecular Model Kit.

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes.  All exams since the subject commenced in 2008 are available.  Solutions were provided, but they did have errors.  Exams for pre-2008 versions of the subject (Chemistry for Biomedical Sciences A/Chemistry for Biomedical Sciences B) are also available if you are very keen.

Textbook Recommendation:  The lecture notes are more than sufficient to do well in this subject.  Early on I read the recommended texts (Organic Chemistry 6th Edition by McMurry and Chemical Principles 6th Edition by Zumdahl), however in hindsight this was a waste of time as they often went into far too much detail. I ended up focusing on the lecture slides only.  The textbooks were occasionally useful for some additional problems or an explanation/definition here or there, but IMO still not worth buying.  Also, unless you really struggle with visualising molecules, you probably don't need the Molecular Model Kit.  You are premitted to bring it into the exam, but who has the time/patience to stuff around assembling molecules in that type of situation.  You are required to either purchase or download the practical and tutorial manuals and will also need a lab coat and safety glasses for pracs.

Lecturer(s): A/Prof. Craig Hutton, Dr. Spencer Williams, A/Prof. Brendan Abrahams, A/Prof. David McFadyen

Year & Semester of completion: 2011, Semester 1

Rating:  3.5/5

Your Mark/Grade: 96% H1

Comments: There were aspects of this subject which I really did not like.  It is meant to be a biologically focused fusion of Chemistry 1 and Chemistry 2.  Whilst the lecturers tried to put a biological focus on the content, a lot of the time they just went off on pointless tangents.  At the end of the day this subject is still chemistry so be prepared to learn stuff that in the eyes of many is unrelated to biology.  What annoyed me the most was the amount of content which was left out of the course.  As they are trying to teach first year chemistry in only one semester, they have to chop bits out, which I really didn't like.  I feel as if I have learnt some half baked version of chemistry.  Topics such as Entropy/Gibbs free energy, instrumentation as well as other important aspects went completely uncovered.  I don't really feel as though I can say I have properly learnt first year chemistry.  Moreover, if you are planning to sit the GAMSAT, you are going to have to learn the topics which they have left out yourself.

On the plus side, it is nice to get the chemistry requirement out of the way in one semester for some.  The assessment for this subject was very fair.  Many people complained about chem pracs being boring and unrelated to the content which was often true, but at the end of the day, it is a very easy way to pick up 20%.  The mid semester test being conducted online was annoying as there was a lot of collusion between students.  But it was very easy to prepare for by completing some of those pre-2008 exam multi choice questions.  Save the other exams for later on if you can.  The tutorials for the subject were well run, and the tute content well-prepared you for the exams.  Answers to tute problems were made available for download towards the end of the semester.  The faculty also offers several help classes run by tutors/lecturers in the Chemistry Library which I highly recommend you get down to and ask questions.  Try to go early in the semester because it will not be busy, so odds are you can sit down with a tutor for like half an hour and they will just be able to help you out.  As the exam period approaches, it gets very busy and you have to wait a long time for help, so don't leave all of your questions until then.  There are also online tutorials which you can complete which help to reinforce the lecture content.  I think they are okay and worth doing if you have the time, however they are somewhat outdated so a lot of the content in them is not relevant.  They are certainly not necessary.

The lecturers for the subject were decent.  It is pretty hard teaching a subject like chemistry, and I think they did a good enough job.  Professor Abrahams was particularly good.  He was very sincere and gave a list of content to revise for the exam.  The exam itself was pretty fair.  It consisted of 50% multi choice questions and 50% short answer questions.  It was however by far the longest exam this subject has ever had.  The content was not difficult, but it was a very long exam so you had to work fast.

Although I would have liked the subject to be more complete in terms of a first year chemistry course, I think it was a pleasant change to the type of content covered in VCE.  Whether or not you did well in VCE chemistry is irrelevant in this subject, as well as in other first year chemistry subjects.  So work hard and you will do well![/list]

[Spheniscidaphile]

Subject Code/Name: CLAS10003 Intensive Beginners Latin 

Workload: 1 x 2hr lecture, 1 x 1hr tute, 5 days a week for 7 weeks (10hrs lectures, 5hrs tutes per week). additionally, a translation passage to complete daily as homework.

Assessment:  1 final exam 30%. 3 in-sem tests, totalling 45%. 2 shorter tests, 15%, 28 daily tests totalling 10%.

Recorded Lectures:  No.

Past exams available:  No sample, but format is explained.

Textbook Recommendation:  you will need the Reading Latin Text and Grammar books. you can't get by without them, and the library won't have enough copies. There is an Independent Study Guide for the textbooks, which contains most of the answers, but it's not cheap and you may have to get it shipped from overseas.

Lecturer(s): Varies

Year & Semester of completion: 2010 summer semester

Rating:  4 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 98

Comments:
   This subject should take you from no Latin, to enough Latin grammar to start translating real  (easy) texts.  The lectures focus on grammar, the tutes on reading the texts in the textbook which reinforce the grammar.  At times you know how a paté goose feels, but the tutors are very helpful and really know their stuff, so don't be afraid to ask for help swallowing and digesting all that grammar.  There are daily vocab tests, and all tests/exams are taken without a dictionary to hand, so you really have to work at mastering the vocab.

Even if you have previous language study experience, you may find it hard going at times, just because of the timetable and pace.  This subject is full on. it's doable if you keep on top of it.

5 days a week for 7 weeks. you *will* have no life. BUT, it's worth 25% EFTSL, so this would take care of some of your breadth requirements, and leave you with fewer units to do and so a lighter workload during the year. it's generally 2hrs of lecture until midday, then a tute after lunch.  You could get away with not attending every lecture, but some lectures you must attend, as the textbook won't explain the concepts for that lecture very well.

[Spheniscidaphile]

Subject Code/Name: CLAS10022 Intensive Beginners Ancient Greek A

Workload:  4hrs of lectures each day for 12 days. In addition, I spent about 4-5 hours studying and doing the homework outside of class each day.

Assessment:  final exam 30%. in-sem test 30%. daily grammar tests totalling 30%. short tests 10%.

Recorded Lectures:  No.

Past exams available:  No, but format is explained.

Textbook Recommendation:  The Luschnig textbook listed in the handbook is essential if you want to get all the homework done.

Lecturer(s): L. Mcnamara

Year & Semester of completion: 2010 winter semester

Rating:  5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 95

Comments:
   This is one semester of Ancient Greek crammed into 12 days, mostly designed for people picking up a breadth, or those who want to do Ancient Greek B in semester 2.  The assessments weren't very hard, so long as you had learned the set reading, translation and exercise homework for each day.  If you've learned Latin before, this subject will be easy, especially as the textbook is to some extent designed for latin students.  The Lecturer, Leanne, is excellent, and manages to explain some reasonably arcane grammar quickly and clearly.  I enjoyed this subject, and it was nowhere near as intense as the Intensive Latin subject offered over summer.  The only downside was that you give up your mid year break.

[Spheniscidaphile]

Subject Code/Name: CLAS20027 Intermediate Latin Language

Workload:  4 x 1hr lectures each week. no tutes. weekly homework exercises and readings.

Assessment:  Final exam 50%. mid-sem test 25%. weekly homework totalling 25%.

Recorded Lectures:  No. Powerpoint slides are presented and uploaded to lms each week.

Past exams available:  One available from library.

Textbook Recommendation:  A New Latin Syntax, E. C. Woodcock. You *need* the woodcock textbook, and access to a decent latin dictionary for the weekly homework. Ideally, this would be the big Oxford Latin Dictionary. I would also recommend a latin primer grammar for revision, such as Kennedy's (available for free at archive.org).

Lecturer(s): Dr. A. Turner

Year & Semester of completion: 2010 Semester 1.

Rating:  5 out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: 92

Comments:
   This subject focuses on advanced latin syntax, and assumes a thorough knowledge of the content of the Reading Latin grammar textbook.  Latin syntax is explained through its historical development and your knowledge is assessed in weekly english-> latin translation and parsing/syntax questions.  the exams will be more or less the same, with an unseen passage for translation, and syntax questions.

   This subject was awesome. Dr. Turner is excellent, knows the subject inside out, and imparts an good understanding of how the Latin language actually works. The Woodcock textbook is a bit dense at times, but contains all you will need for the subject, and more. I would recommend spending the time to read and re-read it, think about it, and then read it again until you understand all of the topics in it. It's not enough to just skim it.
Having said all that, I found this subject pretty hard, and spent *way* too much time on the homework exercises each week. I also feel this would have been a better subject if it were presented over two semesters and combined with some readings or more composition.

[Edmund]

Subject Code/Name: UNIB20008 Drugs That Shape Society

Workload:  2 x 1hr lecture; 1 x 1hr tutorial (compulsory)

Assessment:  1000 word assignment (25%), Online quizzes and tutorial attendance (15%), Final exam (60%), Magistrates Court trip

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with and without screen capture

Past exams available:  No, only sample questions

Textbook Recommendation:  Stephens, T & Brynner R, (2001) Dark Remedy: The Impact of Thalidomide and its Revival as a Vital Medicine, Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, Massachusetts ISBN 0-738-0404-8

Lecturer(s): Various

Year & Semester of completion: 2010 Semester 2

Rating:  1.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H2B

Comments: This subject basically covered everything you could discuss about drugs. There were four main topics - alcohol, opiates, penicillin and thalidomide. I've attached the subject outline to give an idea on how the course is structured. For each theme, there were one or two lectures discussing the basic information of the drug, as well as its social, historical and legal issues. Here's a rather interesting quote from the handbook:

Lectures will provide basic information about the processes leading to the development of the drugs, their mechanism of action, the historical context of their impact on society, and how this has been handled legally. Tutorials and small group work will allow students to discuss and debate the issues raised and to put them into the context of their own experiences.

When it says basic information, it really does mean basic. They tell you obvious information like 'Don't drink alcohol because it is bad". The only lectures that were interesting were the law ones where they touched on the legal issues pertaining drug use.

Tutorials were an opportunity to discuss and expand material covered in lectures. A tutor (a later year student) was there to facilitate discussion. So the quality of the tutorial session depended on how well everyone discussed issues. There were times when people didn't care so you wouldn't learn anything from that session.

There was also a Magistrates Court visit where you have to attend court at some point during the semester and fill in a sheet. This is handed in during a tutorial which contributed to the tutorial mark.

The exam was essay-type which requires you to pick 4 questions from a choice of about 5.

Overall, I thought the workload was light but the subject was badly put together (throwing bits of information together to make a subject). It was expensive as well ~$1,000. If I could go back in time I would definitely choose a different subject. Hope this review helps anyone intending to do this subject.

[Edmund]

Subject Code/Name: PHYS20008 Integrative Human Physiology

Workload:  3 x 1hr lectures; 1 x 2hr CAL sessions fortnightly

Assessment:  Lecture attendance/PRS (5%); CAL (15%); 2 x MST (30%); Final exam (50%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture

Past exams available:  Yes, lots

Textbook Recommendation:  Human Physiology by Silverthorn

Lecturer(s): Various

Year & Semester of completion: 2010 Semester 2

Rating:  5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H2A

Comments: This subject is one of the prerequisites for a Physiology major and postgraduate health science courses.  It covers the basic Physiology concepts required for third year Physiology subjects - cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory, muscular, renal and some neurophysiology. The lectures were engaging and interactive. Attendance is compulsory and is worth 5% of overall marks. You will be required to lease a PRS clicker at the start of the semester for about $10. You will need this to record lecture attendance and participate in 'poll-the-audience' style questions during the lecture which makes it so fun.

   

The fortnightly CAL sessions involved working in a group of 3 to complete a question sheet or going through a computer program. At the end of each session there will be a past exam question which you will complete. Your demonstrator comes around and gives a mark for it.

For the final exam, study the lecture notes very thoroughly as everything in them will be examined. They could just take numbers of a diagram and make you fill them in - easy marks for anyone who remembers such as this
http://vce.atarnotes.com/forum/index.php/topic,34453.msg360716.html#msg360716  It was a short answer question so you had to do this in about 12 minutes

[Peedles]

Subject Code/Name: PHYS20008 Human Physiology 

Workload:  3 x 1hr lectures; 1 x 2hr CAL sessions fortnightly

Assessment:  Lecture attendance/PRS (5%); CAL (15%); 2 x MST (30%); Final exam (50%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Alot of Practice Exams

Textbook Recommendation:  Silverthorn, D.U., Human Physiology: An Integrated Approach 5th Ed., 2010 - Pearson

Lecturer(s): Dr Genevieve Morris, David Williams, Charles Sevigny and Arianne Dantas

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1 2011

Rating: 4.5 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H2A (75%)

Comments: I felt the need to write this review because this year the Exam has changed drastically. As of 2011, lecturers have decided that since Human Physiology is a pre-requisite for many of the graduate health science courses, the exam will be adapted to suit. In past exams, there has been alot of flexibility as students are able to have choice (from a selection of questions) in the questions that they want to answer. The exam has now been set up in a way where there are no longer MC questions and no longer any choice with questions. All questions must be answered and all material covered in lectures/CAL is assessable. (Although, the questions are still similar to the past exams (Short Answer Questions), so it is still a good reference)

Here's the structure of the exam:
INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS :

SECTION A:  Cardiovascular system & Respiratory system
Short Answer Questions. Suggested time - 30 minutes. 25% of total marks. All questions are of equal value.
Answer both questions in the space provided.

SECTION B: Homeostasis, CNS, autonomic NS & endocrine; Digestion & Reproduction
Short Answer Questions. Suggested time – 30 minutes. 25% of total marks. Answer THREE (3) of the questions in the space provided.

SECTION C: Neural Integration, Muscle & Kidney
Long Answer Questions. Suggested time 60 minutes. 50% of total marks. Answer THREE (3) questions in the space provided.

Therefore, it is integral that you do not fall behind. Although, the 2 MST are there to motivate you to keep up to date anyway. What I didn't like about the exam was that, they didn't put point allocations for each question so it was kind of hard to determine how much detail you had to write down.

What i would have done differently? I think maybe doing the Past Papers during the semester as each topic was covered (Past MCQ would have helped for the MST's) and practicing answering short answer questions in detail. I felt that leaving Past Exam Questions to the last minute when I was under the stress and tiredness of having studied other exams caused me to be more focused on getting them done rather than trying to go through each question logically and methodically. This was probably my downfall in the exam. Finally, contribute more to the Discussion Boards and make use of your fellow eager beaver peers.

In addition to the CAL sessions that Edmund mentioned, the subject now has fortnightly MCQ submissions and Blog Discussion which formed part of the 15% CAL grade. The MCQ involved making up a question relevant to the most recent lectures; which I think lecturers used to stock up on good PRS questions for the prospective PHYS20008 cohort. The Blog Discussion (open for a week) involved the Lecturer posting up a Past Examination Question (which they felt was problematic) whereby your CAL group(s) and Demonstrator will then discuss the question. It is also a good forum to post up any queries. Completion of the MCQ and Participation towards the blog form part of your fortnightly CAL assessment grade.

I don't think Human Physiology was a difficult subject to grasp. Although I feel that this subject has set up more hurdles for students to pass in order to achieve a H1 (Hence, all the more reason to keep up to date). I know alot of people who got there Final Result and received a lower score than they expected because of this. Overall, the content made sense, extremely relevant to the workplace (prospective) and enjoyable. 

[Russ]

Subject Code/Name: UNIB30002 Global Health, Security & Sustainability 

Workload:  2 x 1 hour lecture, 1 x 1 hour tute per week

Assessment:  1000 word OpEd piece (30%), 3000 word essay (60%), tutorial participation (5%), oral presentation on a week's readings (5%)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes

Past exams available:  No exam!

Textbook Recommendation:  You need it in order to do your oral presentation, but you could probably get away with photocopying your selected readings from someone else. It has material that's useful for the OpEd but not essential. It's a good starting point for your essay but you're not allowed to cite it.

Lecturer(s): Tons. Subject covers so many areas that there are probably 20 different lecturers

Year & Semester of completion: Semester 1, 2011

Rating:  3/5

Your Mark/Grade: H1

Comments: Redacted. PM me if required.

[gongchan]

Subject Code/Name: PHRM30008 Drugs: From Discovery to Market

Workload:     Contact Hours: 3 x one hour lectures per week (total contact hours: 36) Total Time Commitment: 120 hours

Assessment:      Continuing assessment 10%    Mid-semester assessment 20%    A 2 hour examination in the examination period 70%

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, one provided (subject began last year), past questions from other relevant subjects also provided. However, no past midsemesters available.

Textbook Recommendation:  None prescribed.  Recommended:Pharmacology, Rang et al., Churchill Livingstone, 6th edition, 2007 OR Principles of Pharmacology, Golan et al., Lippincott, Wilkins & Williams, 2nd edition, 2007. Not really "needed"; I didn't look through them last semester.

Lecturer(s): (could have missed some) Michael Lew, Tony Hughes, Ross Bathgate, Alastair Stewart, Gary Anderson, Peter McIntyre

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Semester 1

Rating:  4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H1

Comments: This subject is required for a pharmacology major. It goes through some basic pharmacological principles in more depth than Pharmacology: How Drugs Work (level 2), and talks about the drug discovery process. The "continuing assessment" consists of online multiple choice tests with a lot of time to look up the answer if you don't know, and a lot of people get full marks on them (or close to it). The midsemester test had a lot of time pressure (and all essay/short answer), and the average mark was 50% this year. The final exam also had no multiple choice and was all essays, and you had to choose 6/7 topics to write on. However, it was less pressured for time than the midsemester.

[gongchan]

Subject Code/Name: PHRM30009 Drugs in Biomedical Experiments 

Workload:  Contact Hours: one x 3 hour practicals per week plus two x 1 hour workshops per week (total contact hours: 60) Total Time Commitment: 120 hours

Assessment:      Continuing assessment of practicals during the semester (40%);    Mid-semester assessment (20%);    A 2-hour written examination in the examination period (40%).

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  Yes, one midsemester provided, one exam. (out of two previous semesters)

Textbook Recommendation:  Course Manual (Provided) (no cost). No textbook prescribed or recommended, although pharmacology knowledge from theory subjects will help.

Lecturer(s): (not complete) Michael Lew, James Ziogas, Graham Mackay, Alastair Stewart, Peter McIntyre

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Semester 1

Rating: 3 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: (Optional) H1 (barely)

Comments: The subject is a practical subject, available in semester one and two, and compulsory for the pharmacology (biomed or sci) major. Compared to some other practical subjects (from what I hear) it is pretty laid back (not assessed each week), but sometimes pracs can be up to 4 hours long. The midsemester and final exam in semester one felt harder than last year's ones which we had for practice. They can sometimes throw strange questions (non multiple choice) to do with hypothesis generation etc. That said, to do reasonably well in the exam doesn't really require that much hardcore knowledge.

[gongchan]

Subject Code/Name: BIOM30002 Biomedicine: Molecule to Malady

Workload:  Contact Hours: Three 1-hour lectures per week plus two 1-hour tutorials per semester (note: the tutorials are a timetabling artifact; they are just spots to make up for lectures due to the tests, because they wanted to keep 36 total "learning" lectures I guess). Total Time Commitment: 120 hours

Assessment:      2x Intra-semester tests (20% each) at around weeks 5 and 9;    3 hr written examination in the final examination period (60%). (note: There are 6 themes. Two are assessed in each midsemester in MC format (4 out of 6 in total), but in the end of year exam the last two are assessed for 1/3 of the exam mark in MC format (ie 20% of total like the midsemesters) and the rest is a choice of short answer questions for 4 themes out of 6)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture.

Past exams available:  None, but sample short answer/essay questions given.

Textbook Recommendation:  None prescribed.

Lecturer(s): Various

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Semester 1

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H2A

Comments: It was quite interesting to learn about 6 major types of "maladies". Like the biomed cores from second year onwards though, it was not easy, although a lot of people received H1s on the midsemesters.

I guess you don't really have a choice with this subject though; if you're in biomed you have to do it, but if you're outside biomed, you can't do it at all. The choice has already been made for you .

[gongchan]

Subject Code/Name: MAST20026 Real Analysis with Applications

Workload:     Contact Hours: 3 x one hour lectures per week, 1 x one hour practice class per week, 4 x one-hour computer laboratory classes during semester Total Time Commitment: Estimated total time commitment of 120 hours

Assessment:  Ten to twelve written assignments due at weekly intervals during semester amounting to a total of up to 50 pages (20%), and a 3-hour written examination in the examination period (80%). (no multiple choice)

Lectopia Enabled:  Yes, with screen capture, however, the lecturer does a lot of working out on the whiteboard which is not recorded.

Past exams available:  Yes, about four, but as someone else on is thread pointed out, only one for this subject was useful because for some reason the lecturers all seem to teach different stuff for this one subject. The lecturer gave us plenty of practice from Accelerated Math 2 past exams though.

Textbook Recommendation:  None prescribed

Lecturer(s): Barry Hughes

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Semester 1

Rating: 5 Out of 5 (in terms of interest if you like math, but don't expect it to be easy!)

Your Mark/Grade: H1 (barely)

Comments: As stated by someone else on this thread, this subject goes into the deeper and more fundamental levels of mathematics. It's very rigorous. It's also way harder than calculus 2 and linear algebra, so I wouldn't recommend it as breadth or an elective if you found those difficult.

I found the depth that this subject went into was quite interesting, although like the other reviewer of this subject, I was frustrated with having to explain almost every minor detail in my working. For instance, you can't just use L'Hopital's rule by saying (0/0) or something without saying f is continous, g is continous bla bla bla, and can't just say the limit of 1/x as x approaches infinity is 0 without further explanation.

The labs were not assessed, but somewhat useful.

[gongchan]

Subject Code/Name: MAST10007 Linear Algebra

Workload:  Contact Hours: Summer Semester: 6 x one hour lectures per week, 2 x one hour practice classes per week, 2 x one hour computer laboratory classes per week.
Semester 1 and 2: 3 x one hour lectures per week, 1 x one hour practice class per week, 1 x one hour computer laboratory class per week
Total Time Commitment: Estimated total time commitment of 120 hours

Assessment:  Summer semester: Five written assignments due at weekly intervals during semester amounting to a total of up to 25 pages (10%), one 45-minute written computer laboratory test held at the end of semester (10%), and a 3-hour written examination in the examination period (80%).

Semester 1 and 2: Ten written assignments due at weekly intervals during semester amounting to a total of up to 25 pages (10%), one 45-minute written computer laboratory test held at the end of semester (10%), and a 3-hour written examination in the examination period (80%).

Lectopia Enabled:  I think so (never used it).

Past exams available:  Yes, >4

Textbook Recommendation:  Prescribed text: Elementary Linear Algebra Applications Version (H. Anton and C. Rorres), 10th edn, Wiley, 2010. (not required). There were course notes which you are supposed to fill in during lectures available at the bookshop.

Lecturer(s): Prof Peter Forrester

Year & Semester of completion: 2011 Summer

Rating: 4 Out of 5

Your Mark/Grade: H1

Comments: This subject is mainly covering the use of matrices in many different ways. I thought it was pretty easy, although that said, I did do well in math in high school. In summer, I got 3 lectures a day for 2 days a week, and for 6 weeks. The first several lectures were quite boring, because the lecturer taught a concept and then did heaps of examples which were slightly different from one another, where you'd expect to "get" the concept on the first example (although that said, I guess not everyone is strong in math). It got better as the semester progressed.

I personally found the labs to be the most difficult part of this subject, due to the coding involved, but very little knowledge of it (apart from quite basic commands) is required for the lab test.