any1 MAJORING in mathematics? (2 Viewers)

[ronaldinho]

any1 doing this major in uni? if so how is it?

interesting or challenging? and how many hrs/week...

thanks for the info!

 

[Dumsum]

Yes. It's good. Best mathematics dept in the Southern Hemisphere or so...

There aren't too many first year subjects though so you have lots of electives in first year. Generally with all science subjects you'll have around 24 hours/week in total.

I'm guessing it'd be around 18-20hrs for second year+.

 

[acmilan]

any1 doing this major in uni?

Me

if so how is it?

Good, thankyou

interesting or challenging?

Both

and how many hrs/week...

Each math subject is around 4-5 hours a week

thanks for the info!

No worries!

 

[ronaldinho]

any1 know any good websites to get more info on the course?

 

[Dumsum]

http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au
http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au

 

[withoutaface]

Yes. It's good. Best mathematics dept in the Southern Hemisphere or so...

There aren't too many first year subjects though so you have lots of electives in first year. Generally with all science subjects you'll have around 24 hours/week in total.

I'm guessing it'd be around 18-20hrs for second year+.

Best graduate/research dept perhaps. Other claims are dubious.

I'm doing 24cp intermediate and 12cp of senior maths at usyd this year. Both interesting and very challenging, definately not for those who want to breeze through uni, though personally I love it to bits. Currently doing 18cp worth (6 intermediate, 12 senior) and 12 hours a week, which isn't much.

 

[stamos]

yeah i'm not an idiot but some of the higher maths subjects do my head in

also the course is pretty much full of complete spastics

so i would only recommend you do it if you're combining with a degree where there are people who aren't socially inept

 

[blackfriday]

im in first year and im planning on a maths major. i agree, do a maths major if you're in a double degree so everyone that surrounds you isnt a total weirdo (unless you are one of those strange people who want to maths in an advanced science program).

im doing com/sci, and i like the maths more than my commerce subs.

 

[§eraphim]

any1 doing this major in uni? if so how is it?

interesting or challenging? and how many hrs/week...

thanks for the info!

Yes, I plan to specialise in Statistics and Pure Mathematics (you can also specialise in Applied Mathematics). Maths is quite enjoyable as a major as it is interesting, challenging and there is a lot of flexibility/choice in your studies.

In high year subjects, its 4 hrs of lectures and tutes spread out over the week. I'm sure you realise that Maths requires more work out of the classroom as you need to do exercises and read your notes, but that's part of the fun .

 

[ronaldinho]

do u have to do 4 unit in year 12 to be able to do maths.. or will 4 unit help u alot in uni maths...

mathematics

and y r da ppl who do the course weird in uni?

 

[withoutaface]

4u helps a fair bit, and if you can't cope with 4u you're probably not gonna do too well in the later year maths units, particularly if you take them at an advanced level (yes, this is a generalisation, I'm sure you know someone who knows someone who did 3u and is doing a phd in it, I don't care).

The people are weird because they're nerds.

 

[ronaldinho]

kk thanks for the help

 

[blackfriday]

hey how do the tutes work in later years - from the class utilisation i can see that the tute times are not up.

 

[withoutaface]

At USyd most later year units have <30 people in them, so there's only one tute. Probably similar over your way.

 

[acmilan]

hey how do the tutes work in later years - from the class utilisation i can see that the tute times are not up.

I doubt they work any differently to first year. I didnt do first year at unsw so i cant say, but from what ive seen by standing outside some of them, they're the same.

If you take higher subjects, most classes have 20-30 people (MATH2240 had 12). Ive done MATH2111, 2901, 2601 and 2130, all only had 2 tutes to choose from with about 10-15 people in them. They all had 1 tute a week. Also, class tests are often held in lectures rather than tutes. The normal level subjects usually have more tutes due to the larger number of students.

If you mean what you actually do in tutes, mostly just requesting questions for the tutor to do on the board.

 

[blackfriday]

the tute times available are not listed on the class utilisation for math3xxx subjects, so i was wondering what usually happened with allocating the tute times. theres not a lot of kids enrolled in these subjects. i know what they actually do in the tutes - its the only time of the week i open my maths exercise book.

 

[withoutaface]

Maybe they're not on there because there's only one time, so no choice about which tute?

 

[§eraphim]

For most 3rd yr Pure Maths, as there is usually <15 ppl per course they negotiate with the lecturer on Monday morning, Wk 1, the times for lectures and tutes.

For other 3rd yr subjects, the tutorial is one of the lectures as listed in the Class Utilisation website, and is subject to change. Lecturers are fairly flexible in changing around tute times or swapping around lectures and tutes if the majority of students have a clash.

You will find that in 3rd yr there are all sorts of clashes as it seems a lot of Maths students are combined with Engineering or Commerce.

 

[blackfriday]

oh i guess thats good because its flexible but bad because i might have to uni an extra just for that extra tute.

 

[Affinity]

Seraphim said this, but I must emphasise: Make sure you are there monday morning.. else your time table can be really screwed up.