hello

[uranrahabatula]

hello

[squance]

http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/courses/0032.html

From the website:

Foundation units
Students who have not completed VCE units 3 and 4 of Chemistry or Physics and/or Specialist mathematics are required to select one or two appropriate foundation units(s) from:

•ENG1070 Foundation chemistry
•ENG1080 Foundation physics
•ENG1090 Foundation mathematics

[methodsboy]

will I need to take any special courses before I start university if I have not done specialist maths in VCE. I want to do mechatronic engineering/electrical or mechanical

In the same position as you.

[squance]

does this mean Ill have to do one of these during my course time and miss out on another subject? I have just about no understanding of how units work.

You will probably miss out on an elective or something.

[jimmy999]

If you're going to Monash University, and seeing as you haven't done Specialist, then you would choose Foundation Mathematics in your first year of Engineering. What this means is instead of undertaking two elective subjects, you'll only be able to undertake one. Unless of course you did only one of Chemistry or Physics, in which case you won't be able to choose any electives.

From what I understand from Melbourne's engineering course, you do Calculus 1 which is essentially Specialist, except the only thing is you'll be 1 semester behind everyone else who did Specialist.

I'm pretty sure all other universities will follow one of these two directions for students without Specialist

[squance]

If you're going to Monash University, and seeing as you haven't done Specialist, then you would choose Foundation Mathematics in your first year of Engineering. What this means is instead of undertaking two elective subjects, you'll only be able to undertake one. Unless of course you did only one of Chemistry or Physics, in which case you won't be able to choose any electives.

From what I understand from Melbourne's engineering course, you do Calculus 1 which is essentially Specialist, except the only thing is you'll be 1 semester behind everyone else who did Specialist.

I'm pretty sure all other universities will follow one of these two directions for students without Specialist

Indeed you are correct, especially with the Melbourne Uni Engineering course - I had to do Calc 1 in semester 1 due to not having spesh.

[QuantumJG]

will I need to take any special courses before I start university if I have not done specialist maths in VCE. I want to do mechatronic engineering/electrical or mechanical

If you go to Melbourne uni to do engineering specialist maths is NOT a prerequisite to be elegible to do the degree, only methods. You will need to do maths that assumes knowledge of specialist maths, but you can do calculus 1 which will allow you you to do calculus 2 (for people who completed specialist maths with the bare minimum studyscore of atleast 27 or students who successfully completed calculus 1), then in the summer you can complete linear algebra and by second year you will be at the same level as anyone else.

As for Monash I don't really know what happens there but I'm guessing they'll have the same thing.

 It is not the end of the world if you don't do specialist maths. You just miss out on a great scaling subject and sitting two painful exams.

[humph]

Electives can be pretty much anything (they're no different than breadth subjects, except they don't have to be outside your field of study). They don't really affect your specialisation or anything.

[jimmy999]

At Monash you choose engineering electives which are:
 - Chemistry for Engineering
 - Physics for Engineering
 - Biological engineering I
 - Engineering Profession

From that you choose which subject area your specialisation is most likely to be in.

If you're wanting to do mechanical/mechatronic/electrical engineering, then you would choose Physics for Engineering

[Glockmeister]

well if you take the mechatronics engineering course (separate from the engineering course) do you still get electives. Since it's already a specialization I thought it might not. If you take relevant electives will you finish your course faster or is it like jimmy said - specialises you

not it won't effect your degree length at all. Basically, university courses are set up so that you need to complete a certain number of point. At Monash, you need to finish 48 credit points per year. Within that, there are certain core units, that everyone doing that course must do. However, for some courses there are gaps between the amount of point the core units give you and the amount you need to graduate. So you do enough electives to be able to feel whatever gap there is so you get the 48 credit points.

For Mechatronic Eng, if you look at the course map, http://www.monash.edu.au/pubs/2009handbooks/courses/3280.html

Assuming you did chem, spech and physics, you have 2 choices between the 4 subject jimmy pointed before.

[sdhains]

I wouldn't worry. Think about it. They have to design a course which is fair for the many people that go to schools which don't offer specialist maths.