Uni Stuff > University of Melbourne
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.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version