ATAR Notes: Forum

Uni Stuff => Universities - Victoria => University of Melbourne => Topic started by: Mintk on January 14, 2017, 03:14:52 pm

Title: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: Mintk on January 14, 2017, 03:14:52 pm
Hi, I'm a future UoM student (hopefully :))) and ofc, as an eager student, I wanted to form my timetable.
I was looking at all the possible breadth subjects I could do, and all of them seemed sooooo interesting..!!!!!
Could you share some insights in what was the best breadth you've ever done? (it could be as exotic as African dance XDD No judging allowed!)

Thank youuuuuuu <3
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: Orb on January 14, 2017, 04:02:13 pm
Wellbeing Motivation and Performance. Pretty sure I wrote a review about it :)

Not the best for grades but the one of the best in terms of teaching structure, course and content!
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: vox nihili on January 14, 2017, 06:05:52 pm
Language breadths are amazing fun. YOu get so much out of them and they're fun to learn :) I did Spanish, which was very bueno
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: spectroscopy on January 16, 2017, 12:52:13 am
yea i second language breadths. theyre usually pretty fun and its something useful to learn. at least at level 1 it's definitely fun. i did chinese and although it was easy in chinese 1 and kinda easy in chinese 2, by the time i got to chinese 3 (i had done pretty well in chinese 1 and 2) the pace became wayy too much for me and they stop being cruise-y, fun, useful, and pretty easy to do well in, and become very very serious subjects with alot of content. I would definitely do at least level 1 of a language and see how you like it
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: chameleon7 on January 19, 2017, 09:29:31 pm
I completely agree with languages being an awesome breadth option; especially in first year.
I undertook Russian language from scratch-with no prior knowledge or ability to even read the alphabet (let alone write it)-and I can honestly say that it's the subject I most looked forward to throughout the year in my first year of science.
I found that taking a language as my breadth for science satisfied the social aspect of going to university; you don't get much time to talk to people between lectures, and people generally take certain groups of subjects together (physics+math, chemistry+biology etc, though these are just generalisations that I'm aware of), so if you've got friends taking different subjects you probably won't run into each other as often as you'd hope.
Anyway, Russian language is really easy to pick up; everything is straight forward and you're assessed on content directly from the textbook, plus if you ever have any problems, the head of the department and the tutors from Russia/Ukraine/Belarus are always happy to spend time with you whenever you need to and are ace at replying to emails asap.
It's an extremely difficult subject to fail; 50% of the assessment comes from a fortnightly assignment of basic q's (same format as the textbook), and the other 50% comes from a 10% oral exam and 40% written exam in the exam period.
In terms of handing in homework, and even the exams; the coordinator and tutors are super lenient if you've been sick or if you're a bit behind; you can get an extension without a mark deduction, and there's even a choice of exam times available (several sittings of the written exams) in the exam period which are particularly great for science and biomed students, as most of the science exams are in the first week of exams.
If you just do the homework and learn the vocab as you go, you shouldn't have a problem getting a good mark  :)
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: Mintk on January 21, 2017, 06:04:09 pm
OOohh okay, thank you all!!
I've decided to undertake Chinese 01 and 02 as a breadth. 8) 8) 8)
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: RKTR on January 21, 2017, 06:18:08 pm
intro microecons
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: dankfrank420 on January 21, 2017, 06:38:54 pm
intro microecons

If you're looking at a commerce-ey breadth I'd have a look at intro macro too. Personally found it far more interesting and easier than micro.
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: RKTR on January 21, 2017, 07:10:48 pm
If you're looking at a commerce-ey breadth I'd have a look at intro macro too. Personally found it far more interesting and easier than micro.
ah i've used up my lv1 breadths. do you know anything about inter micro?
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: dankfrank420 on January 22, 2017, 03:29:15 pm
ah i've used up my lv1 breadths. do you know anything about inter micro?

Nah sorry, nothing more than what I've read about in the AN review.
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: sjayne on January 22, 2017, 06:36:55 pm
ling10001 the secret life of language!!!

I loved every second of this it was brilliant.
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: literally lauren on January 24, 2017, 11:12:25 am
^ seconding Secret Life as being a brilliant elective or breadth subject for Arts/non-Arts students alike!

Also (I know you've already chosen your breadths, but just ftr) would recommend choosing some intensive subjects as breadths like Auslan and Visual Communication (held in June) since it frees you up throughout semester and feels way more efficient than 12 weeks of stretched out content :'D

Genetics and the Media was also a really enjoyable subject imo if you're into the interdisciplinary humanities+science-y stuff.
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: QUADRATUS on January 24, 2017, 11:41:27 pm
Sports Coaching is definitely the best breadth subject out there
easy and really enjoyable
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: gettingthrough on January 31, 2017, 09:36:03 pm
i did african music and dance! it was the best breadth i did so far. the assessment was pretty fair as ong as you studied for it and put in an effort and the classes were super fun and enjoyable!
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: thelolcat on February 05, 2018, 05:37:46 pm
Language breadths are amazing fun. YOu get so much out of them and they're fun to learn :) I did Spanish, which was very bueno

Hey! I know this is a dead thread but I had to ask, what exactly do the oral assessments entail? I’m kinda afraid of public speaking and was wondering how they go? And also what do you think of the difficulty of the language assessments?

Thanks so much if you reply! (I interested in taking up Spanish 1 too)
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: vox nihili on February 07, 2018, 10:36:24 pm
Hey! I know this is a dead thread but I had to ask, what exactly do the oral assessments entail? I’m kinda afraid of public speaking and was wondering how they go? And also what do you think of the difficulty of the language assessments?

Thanks so much if you reply! (I interested in taking up Spanish 1 too)

They’re a short interview in sem1. Really simple, not worth a lot. Expectations are low too

Same thing in sem2 but there’s also a presentation. The presentation happens in sem1 but in English. In sem2 it’s reallt broken Spanish. Everyone has a bit of a laugh and it’s surprisingly enjoyable in the end
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: tashhhaaa on February 09, 2018, 08:34:07 pm
Wellbeing Motivation and Performance. Pretty sure I wrote a review about it :)

Not the best for grades but the one of the best in terms of teaching structure, course and content!

This.
I just finished it in the summer program and while that was great it was over quickly and I almost wish I did it during semester

Teaching staff are some of the most passionate i've encountered at uni and everyone got something out of the course. Highly recommended
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: EragusTrenzalore on February 17, 2018, 09:09:30 am
yea i second language breadths. theyre usually pretty fun and its something useful to learn. at least at level 1 it's definitely fun. i did chinese and although it was easy in chinese 1 and kinda easy in chinese 2, by the time i got to chinese 3 (i had done pretty well in chinese 1 and 2) the pace became wayy too much for me and they stop being cruise-y, fun, useful, and pretty easy to do well in, and become very very serious subjects with alot of content. I would definitely do at least level 1 of a language and see how you like it

I'm starting first year Biomed this year and will be doing Chinese 3 and 4 for breadth. What exactly made these subjects more time consuming?
Title: Re: What breadth did you enjoy the most in UoM???
Post by: samuel011 on February 20, 2018, 02:44:59 pm
I really enjoyed Australia in the Wine World as a summer intensive - it definitely isn't a free H1, but it is highly possible to do very well if you dedicate and commit yourself to learning as much as you can during the week, and you learn a lot of very interesting things about wine. No prior knowledge of wine is required,  and they don't just say this to attract students, making the subject accessible to almost anyone, barring those who cannot consume alcohol.