Some questions about uni [unsw], please helpp :) (1 Viewer)

[AnimeX]

Hi, just coming out of HSC and knowing the system relatively well can someone explain to me how uni works?

a) MATH1131 Mathematics 1A (6 UOC)
vs
MATH1141 Higher Mathematics 1A (6 UOC)


b) PHYS1121 Physics 1A (6 UOC)
vs
PHYS1131 Higher Physics 1A (6 UOC)

Some questions:

1) so is UOC like units in hsc?

2) what's the benefit of taking higher level subjects? is there any scaling factors or anything? cause say 70wam in math 1141 would be a lot harder than a wam of 70 in maths 1131, what does the uni do for this? would employers just look at wam and not the subject itself?

3) what would be the best way to get textbooks? buy them 2nd hand or what?

4) homework, how do you check the solutions? im sure there wont be fully worked solutions, so are these gone through during tutes?

5) past papers: how does this work? i hear those stories of tested content and stuff people studied and doesn't sound too good.....

6) [if you're doing commerce/engineering please explain] how do you choose your subjects? according to http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/programs/2013/3715.html
it looks like 1st year is purely engineering, this contradicts to what i've heard

Please helpp

 

[Trans4M]

1) Don't worry too much about UOC it's just how many units the course is worth. It does not really mean difficulty or anything. Most courses are 6 UOC and you need to do 24 UOC per semester for a full load.

2) I haven't done those courses but from what I heard the harder courses do tend to scale a bit. It's hard to say what employers see as they all differ. Some will look at your whole transcript while some will skim through it.

3) Yeap 2nd hand is the cheapest way to get textbooks. People usually get it from www.textbookexchange.com

4) Usually they go through them in tutorials and upload the solutions a week or two after.

5) Some courses have past papers in the library. Sometimes the lecturer takes out questions from past papers and set it as homework. It depends on the lecturer.

6) Sounds about right. My friend who did Com/Engo didn't do any commerce until 2nd year.

 

[ismeta]

I should add on, you don't need the textbook for MATH11[34]1 nor MATH12[34]1.

 

[lance687876]

l just completed my first year of engineering.
l recommend that you do not make the same mistake l did. take higher maths and higher physics. it isn't harder, you just need to learn a bit more content. plus the scaling is awesome.

you don't really need textbooks. for maths, you just need the course pack, which includes past class tests and exam papers with answers.
there are some subjects where textbooks are recommended but buying new ones will cost you hundreds of dollars, which isn't worth it when you consider that they provide you all the course material required for you to pass.

for homework.. it depends really. for maths they don't give you the worked solutions, though if you have any difficulty with the 2000 questions you can always ask the tutor to provide you with the answers.

 

[hjed]

l just completed my first year of engineering.
l recommend that you do not make the same mistake l did. take higher maths and higher physics. it isn't harder, you just need to learn a bit more content. plus the scaling is awesome.

you don't really need textbooks. for maths, you just need the course pack, which includes past class tests and exam papers with answers.
there are some subjects where textbooks are recommended but buying new ones will cost you hundreds of dollars, which isn't worth it when you consider that they provide you all the course material required for you to pass.

for homework.. it depends really. for maths they don't give you the worked solutions, though if you have any difficulty with the 2000 questions you can always ask the tutor to provide you with the answers.

In regards to the higher level maths courses did you do maths ext 2, I though that was required to do them?

 

[Thief]

l just completed my first year of engineering.
l recommend that you do not make the same mistake l did. take higher maths and higher physics. it isn't harder, you just need to learn a bit more content. plus the scaling is awesome.

you don't really need textbooks. for maths, you just need the course pack, which includes past class tests and exam papers with answers.
there are some subjects where textbooks are recommended but buying new ones will cost you hundreds of dollars, which isn't worth it when you consider that they provide you all the course material required for you to pass.

for homework.. it depends really. for maths they don't give you the worked solutions, though if you have any difficulty with the 2000 questions you can always ask the tutor to provide you with the answers.

I feel like "higher" implies that it's harder though. Is the extra content the same level of difficulty? Or is it like 2U vs 3U maths level of difficulty.

 

[D94]

Hi, just coming out of HSC and knowing the system relatively well can someone explain to me how uni works?

a) MATH1131 Mathematics 1A (6 UOC)
vs
MATH1141 Higher Mathematics 1A (6 UOC)


b) PHYS1121 Physics 1A (6 UOC)
vs
PHYS1131 Higher Physics 1A (6 UOC)

Some questions:

1) so is UOC like units in hsc?

The typical amount of Units of Credit (UOC) to complete each semester is 24, so you should do 24 UOC to finish your degree "on time". Most subjects are 6 UOC, a few are 3 UOC, and very few are 12, 18 and 24 - the last 3 are mainly for major projects, theses, placeholder subjects etc.

2) what's the benefit of taking higher level subjects? is there any scaling factors or anything? cause say 70wam in math 1141 would be a lot harder than a wam of 70 in maths 1131, what does the uni do for this? would employers just look at wam and not the subject itself?

There is a scaling factor. Whilst I do agree with you that a 70 in MATH1141 is probably harder to achieve than a 70 in MATH1131, at the end of the day, they are both the same marks and that's it - nothing more. However, in my experience (I've done the higher version for all my subjects), the scaling is very good but you do need to work hard for it. I recall in my MATH1241 exam, I literally skipped a whole question and definitely didn't get the other 3 fully correct (there were 4 questions, with many parts to them), and ended up with 88.

3) what would be the best way to get textbooks? buy them 2nd hand or what?

Don't need the textbook for MATH; the physics textbook is useful, but I don't recommend buying it. You can borrow it from the library and continue renewing it.

4) homework, how do you check the solutions? im sure there wont be fully worked solutions, so are these gone through during tutes?

Attend your tutorials. Collaborate with friends/peers. Not all questions can be covered. There are far too many questions. At the very least, most questions have answers to them. The tutor will also have consultations, as well as lecturers, and you can email them as well.

5) past papers: how does this work? i hear those stories of tested content and stuff people studied and doesn't sound too good.....

You will have access to past papers in MATH if you buy the course pack. For PHYS, the lecturer may upload some.

6) [if you're doing commerce/engineering please explain] how do you choose your subjects? according to http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/programs/2013/3715.html
it looks like 1st year is purely engineering, this contradicts to what i've heard

Please helpp

It's up to you, but you should do the first year engineering cores because they determine how far you can progress in your engineering degree. If you don't do PHYS in semester 1, you are rather screwed for engineering especially in 2nd and 3rd year. You may end up completing more of your Commerce degree than Engineering by 3rd year.

l just completed my first year of engineering.
l recommend that you do not make the same mistake l did. take higher maths and higher physics. it isn't harder, you just need to learn a bit more content. plus the scaling is awesome.

Please. It is 100 times harder than the normal/regular and hard questions. The [X] questions are on another level. There's more content and much harder concepts. Being able to do those [X] questions is the difference between mid-80's and high 90's.

In regards to the higher level maths courses did you do maths ext 2, I though that was required to do them?

It is not required for MATH1141, but for MATH1241, there will be grade restrictions. MX2 helps a lot though. A lot of the content in MATH1131 is done in MX2, so you are really expanding your knowledge in MATH1141, instead of learning it all from scratch.

I feel like "higher" implies that it's harder though. Is the extra content the same level of difficulty? Or is it like 2U vs 3U maths level of difficulty.

It is significant in MATH, not so much in PHYS. The gap in difficulty in MATH "feels" (subjective) like Year 10 Maths and MX2 - it's more of a shock factor because you see the question and you have no clue on how to even begin solving the question. But the gap in PHYS is like 2U and 3U, which is not so significant.

 

[lance687876]

D94 gave pretty good explanations but just to add-

In regards to the higher level maths courses did you do maths ext 2, I though that was required to do them?

the only assumed knowledge is maths ext 1. though most people l know that got band e4's in maths ext 1 and took ext 2 did higher maths.

I feel like "higher" implies that it's harder though. Is the extra content the same level of difficulty? Or is it like 2U vs 3U maths level of difficulty.

it's like... 4U compared with general maths dude. the concepts are much harder, but you only have to learn like 10% more. compare that to the scaling and you will realize that it is worth it.

l know for a fact that generally more people fail math1131 than math1141, and people get more HD's (high distinctions) in math1141.

 

[Thief]

D94 gave pretty good explanations but just to add-

it's like... 4U compared with general maths dude. the concepts are much harder, but you only have to learn like 10% more. compare that to the scaling and you will realize that it is worth it.

l know for a fact that generally more people fail math1131 than math1141, and people get more HD's (high distinctions) in math1141.

Even if I didn't do 4U and was mediocre at 3U?

 

[anomalousdecay]

In regards to the higher level maths courses did you do maths ext 2, I though that was required to do them?

I read this on the handbook for MATH1141:

http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2014/MATH1141.html

It says:

"Description

As for MATH1131 but in greater depth.

Assumed knowledge: Students will be expected to have achieved a combined HSC mark in Mathematics Extension 1 and 2 over 175."

So I'm guessing that MATH1141 is highly dependent on MX2 knowledge.

 

[nightweaver066]

It is significant in MATH, not so much in PHYS. The gap in difficulty in MATH "feels" (subjective) like Year 10 Maths and MX2 - it's more of a shock factor because you see the question and you have no clue on how to even begin solving the question. But the gap in PHYS is like 2U and 3U, which is not so significant.

Not sure if I agree with you here. From my experience with MATH1151 & 1251, 80% of the exam set for the finals is pretty much identical to past papers and tests basic concepts, and 20% are things a bit different that requires a bit of understanding to do. I don't think any of those questions apart of the 20% are anywhere near the difficulty of the [H] questions in the homework.

I'd expect it to be similar for 1131/1141.

I'd even say that the maths in 1st year is easier than 4U maths simply due to the fact that the questions are easier, and not much thinking is involved.

 

[hjed]

I read this on the handbook for MATH1141:

http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2014/MATH1141.html

It says:

"Description

As for MATH1131 but in greater depth.

Assumed knowledge: Students will be expected to have achieved a combined HSC mark in Mathematics Extension 1 and 2 over 175."

So I'm guessing that MATH1141 is highly dependent on MX2 knowledge.

That's what I though. I got an e4 in ext 1, but didn't do ext 2. Do people still think the higher maths course would be accessible to me?

 

[anomalousdecay]

That's what I though. I got an e4 in ext 1, but didn't do ext 2. Do people still think the higher maths course would be accessible to me?

It would be.

Just grab an ext.2 textbook, look at the components of MATH1141, and have a look at the type of stuff you can get.

This is for MATH1131:

http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2014/MATH1131.html

I suggest that by looking at that, you do some work on Complex Numbers, Graphs, Integration, Mechanics and Conics from the ext.2 syllabus.

Also, do some ext.2 past paper questions on these topics.

If you can do those, then you will be fine.

I got 180 as a combined mark, so I'll definitely choose MATH1141.

 

[D94]

Not sure if I agree with you here. From my experience with MATH1151 & 1251, 80% of the exam set for the finals is pretty much identical to past papers and tests basic concepts, and 20% are things a bit different that requires a bit of understanding to do. I don't think any of those questions apart of the 20% are anywhere near the difficulty of the [H] questions in the homework.

I'd expect it to be similar for 1131/1141.

I'd even say that the maths in 1st year is easier than 4U maths simply due to the fact that the questions are easier, and not much thinking is involved.

I was talking about the tutorial problems not the final exam. 1131 students just do R and H questions, whereas 1141 students also do X questions. Those X questions were significantly harder as I explained before.

 

[RG11]

I was talking about the tutorial problems not the final exam. 1131 students just do R and H questions, whereas 1141 students also do X questions. Those X questions were significantly harder as I explained before.

hey, so are your marks heavily dependent on your ability to solve the hard "[X]" questions?

 

[D94]

hey, so are your marks heavily dependent on your ability to solve the hard "[X]" questions?

Nah, I got 88 and I could only solve maybe 30% of the X questions. Pretty much my marks came from being able to do all the other questions without any problems.

 

[anomalousdecay]

Nah, I got 88 and I could only solve maybe 30% of the X questions. Pretty much my marks came from being able to do all the other questions without any problems.

As the bolded above.

Also to note, your final exam performance is key as ultimately if you can answer all the standard questions with no problems you should be fine.

I made a lot of really terrible mistakes in the standard questions in my MATH1241 exam and didn't do as well as I wanted in it. Still got a good mark for it but just missed out by my aim and capability by a bit.

 

[RG11]

thanks guys, and anomalousdecay thanks for your reply to my pm.

 

[kalstar]

The typical amount of Units of Credit (UOC) to complete each semester is 24, so you should do 24 UOC to finish your degree "on time". Most subjects are 6 UOC, a few are 3 UOC, and very few are 12, 18 and 24 - the last 3 are mainly for major projects, theses, placeholder subjects etc.


There is a scaling factor. Whilst I do agree with you that a 70 in MATH1141 is probably harder to achieve than a 70 in MATH1131, at the end of the day, they are both the same marks and that's it - nothing more. However, in my experience (I've done the higher version for all my subjects), the scaling is very good but you do need to work hard for it. I recall in my MATH1241 exam, I literally skipped a whole question and definitely didn't get the other 3 fully correct (there were 4 questions, with many parts to them), and ended up with 88.


Don't need the textbook for MATH; the physics textbook is useful, but I don't recommend buying it. You can borrow it from the library and continue renewing it.

Attend your tutorials. Collaborate with friends/peers. Not all questions can be covered. There are far too many questions. At the very least, most questions have answers to them. The tutor will also have consultations, as well as lecturers, and you can email them as well.

You will have access to past papers in MATH if you buy the course pack. For PHYS, the lecturer may upload some.


It's up to you, but you should do the first year engineering cores because they determine how far you can progress in your engineering degree. If you don't do PHYS in semester 1, you are rather screwed for engineering especially in 2nd and 3rd year. You may end up completing more of your Commerce degree than Engineering by 3rd year.




Please. It is 100 times harder than the normal/regular and hard questions. The [X] questions are on another level. There's more content and much harder concepts. Being able to do those [X] questions is the difference between mid-80's and high 90's.

It is not required for MATH1141, but for MATH1241, there will be grade restrictions. MX2 helps a lot though. A lot of the content in MATH1131 is done in MX2, so you are really expanding your knowledge in MATH1141, instead of learning it all from scratch.

It is significant in MATH, not so much in PHYS. The gap in difficulty in MATH "feels" (subjective) like Year 10 Maths and MX2 - it's more of a shock factor because you see the question and you have no clue on how to even begin solving the question. But the gap in PHYS is like 2U and 3U, which is not so significant.

All your questions answered right here.

 

[Nevnevenvnev]

Nah, I got 88 and I could only solve maybe 30% of the X questions. Pretty much my marks came from being able to do all the other questions without any problems.

Hey, so you did get an HD in MATH1241 right?. Because right now I'm doing MATH1141 and I feel like there are just so much complicated stuff that I cannot do, and I feel like I'm having panic attacks because the past paper questions are so much more challenging than 1131...