Commerce at UNSW (1 Viewer)

j somers

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Hi
Can someone please tell me what the cut off for commerce at unsw was this year. May be a stupid question but cannot find it on the net or in any of these forums. Thanks in advanced
 

chewy123

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95.xx in 2008 I think, we won't know the cut-off for 2009 until after the main round.
 

Gloves

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a friend of mine is doing engineering/commerce at unsw and he only got a high-80's uai.
 

moll.

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HSC Plus is a good thing - no matter what starry-eyed James Ruse students might think, UAI isn't the only way to test aptitude for a degree.
True, but I hardly think it need be done in the ASB on English and Maths scores. Far more relevant would be Maths, Business Studies and Economics scores.
 

seremify007

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True, but I hardly think it need be done in the ASB on English and Maths scores. Far more relevant would be Maths, Business Studies and Economics scores.
Maybe the focus isn't necessarily on what's relevant but a desired shift in the demographics? Come to think of it, plenty of people who do Commerce now did no Commerce type or related subjects in high school.

That being said, is Maths, Biz Studies and Eco really that relevant to a Commerce degree? After all, everything gets taught all over again and to a very different standard than high school.
 

moll.

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Maybe the focus isn't necessarily on what's relevant but a desired shift in the demographics? Come to think of it, plenty of people who do Commerce now did no Commerce type or related subjects in high school.

That being said, is Maths, Biz Studies and Eco really that relevant to a Commerce degree? After all, everything gets taught all over again and to a very different standard than high school.
They're entirely relevant. Or at the very least far more relevant than english.
The UNSW courses which roughly correlate with the HSC economics and business studies courses (Micreconomics 1 + Accounting and Finance 1A) also go much further than the HSC courses in the length and breadth of study. Combined with the fact that they're teaching us in 12 weeks what took two years in high school, it is little wonder that my friends who didn't do the HSC courses are slowly falling behind.
Oh and two- (if not three-) unit maths is assumed knowledge for my first year courses, so it is relevant.
 

seremify007

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They're entirely relevant. Or at the very least far more relevant than english.
The UNSW courses which roughly correlate with the HSC economics and business studies courses (Micreconomics 1 + Accounting and Finance 1A) also go much further than the HSC courses in the length and breadth of study. Combined with the fact that they're teaching us in 12 weeks what took two years in high school, it is little wonder that my friends who didn't do the HSC courses are slowly falling behind.
Oh and two- (if not three-) unit maths is assumed knowledge for my first year courses, so it is relevant.
The point I am making is that doing well in those subjects in HSC does not necessarily improve your ability to do well in university. IMO having done Eco in HSC and doing reasonably well, it acted as a hindrance because after the first few weeks of Macro and Micro, you presume that you are going to breeze through and end up neglecting the subject and falling flat on your face at the end. Maybe not so much in ECON1101 because it is largely a recap of the HSC course, but for ECON1102 I was literally shitting myself in the final.

As for the level of maths required for B Comm, as far as I can remember, there was nothing in QMA/QMB which required you to have done anything in high school. QMA was all about present value/discounting cash flows which is more dependent on your ability to interpret the bloody crazily worded scenarios as opposed to the mathematical calculations behind it. Maybe QMB is a bit tougher since it introduces a bit more maths and concepts but it's nothing which they don't teach you in the course anyway.

In summary, even now to this day in 3rd year, I have found no real significant benefit of doing relevant subjects back in the HSC. Sure it might make grasping the initial concepts a tad easier in the first few weeks of the core subjects, but it is not significant enough to make you a better student than the rest or necessarily improve your attractiveness to employers. If anything I would be embarassed to say I had done these subjects in high school before because it creates the impression or expectation you will do well in them since you have experience... and unfortunately this may not always be the case (either that or maybe I am just really thick^^).
 

wrong_turn

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jace you are in fourth year. stop lying to the lil kiddies =P
 

Vagabond

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Agreed with Jace to an extent..

I was arrogant after the first few weeks of macro and thought it'd be HSC repeaters.. Didn't touch it rest of the sem... Then woke up and realised the course took some seriously weird turns right before the final ... remains my worst uni mark to date .... and I was on a HD going into the final LOL.

Though having said that I think doing similar courses in highschool has one obvious benefit....

If you've never studied economics or anything business-related before how are you to know you want to do a commerce degree?

Also I have a pretty strong conversational knowledge in economics developed by discussing things in class in highschool.. my teacher was good and always talked about current trends etc... which was great. In uni, lectures aside you get very little exposure to this so you end up learning textbook theory moreso ... which is pretty crap unless you're working and gaining that 'up-to-dateness' elsewhere...

*inserts marketing spill for Big 4 FS auditing*
 

Studentleader

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The point I am making is that doing well in those subjects in HSC does not necessarily improve your ability to do well in university. IMO having done Eco in HSC and doing reasonably well, it acted as a hindrance because after the first few weeks of Macro and Micro, you presume that you are going to breeze through and end up neglecting the subject and falling flat on your face at the end. Maybe not so much in ECON1101 because it is largely a recap of the HSC course, but for ECON1102 I was literally shitting myself in the final.

As for the level of maths required for B Comm, as far as I can remember, there was nothing in QMA/QMB which required you to have done anything in high school. QMA was all about present value/discounting cash flows which is more dependent on your ability to interpret the bloody crazily worded scenarios as opposed to the mathematical calculations behind it. Maybe QMB is a bit tougher since it introduces a bit more maths and concepts but it's nothing which they don't teach you in the course anyway.

In summary, even now to this day in 3rd year, I have found no real significant benefit of doing relevant subjects back in the HSC. Sure it might make grasping the initial concepts a tad easier in the first few weeks of the core subjects, but it is not significant enough to make you a better student than the rest or necessarily improve your attractiveness to employers. If anything I would be embarassed to say I had done these subjects in high school before because it creates the impression or expectation you will do well in them since you have experience... and unfortunately this may not always be the case (either that or maybe I am just really thick^^).
I agree with Vaga and Jase. In microeconomics generally the person who does the best in the first year has never done economics before says the lecturer at UWA.
 

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