B Psych, and B Sci Major Psych (1 Viewer)

tech.knockout

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When candidates of both B Psych, and B Sci Major Psych courses try out for honours years, do the B psych people get preference over the B Sci people?
Or is entry is solely on individual merit/GPA?


I phoned the psych office of UNSW and the lady said B psych get preference. Just confirming what I heard.
 

Survivor39

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I think the lecturer pick students with the highest mark.

i don't think they are going to pick a B Psyc student to do a honour with an average of 75 compared to a student with average of 85. HOWEVER, if both students achieved the SAME WAM (average mark over the entried course), it will most definitely favours the B Psyc student.
 

nifty03

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Speaking of which.. do they take ur 1st year results into consideration or it's more based on how u perform in the last few years? so which wam do they look at? total wam throughout my 3 years or my wams of last 2 years?
 

Amryllis

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If the BScience psychology major works the same way as BPsych then first year results don't count towards qualifying for honours. However, BSci people need a 75 average to get into honours while BPsych and BSci (Adv) only need a 65 average. It might be better to try to get into BPsych for 2nd or 3rd year if possible so that it's easier to get into honours if that's what you're aiming for. Also, if you don't get into honours the first time around, there's no point in repeating the course because they only count results from your first attempt.
 

Survivor39

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Amryllis said:
However, BSci people need a 75 average to get into honours while BPsych and BSci (Adv) only need a 65 average.
It's strange to me how this work. Why would B Sci people have to prove themselve and get 10 marks higher to get into the same honour compared to B Psyc people?
 

MuSaRuRWa

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Survivor39 said:
It's strange to me how this work. Why would B Sci people have to prove themselve and get 10 marks higher to get into the same honour compared to B Psyc people?
they dont do all the same subjects. b psyc / bsci adv students do more specialised courses, and hence harder ones (i think)
 

Survivor39

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MuSaRuRWa said:
they dont do all the same subjects. b psyc / bsci adv students do more specialised courses, and hence harder ones (i think)
That's not true. There's no advanced courses in psychology. In other field of science, like biology in which there are advanced course, B Sci students can choose to between the advanced version or the fundamental ones.
 

MuSaRuRWa

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Survivor39 said:
That's not true. There's no advanced courses in psychology. In other field of science, like biology in which there are advanced course, B Sci students can choose to between the advanced version or the fundamental ones.
http://www.student.unsw.edu.au/handbook/programs/3432.shtml
have a look at how in-depth psyc is taught under b psyc as opposed to bsci


besides, what we're arguing on is pointless, because none of us actually pointed out that what tech.knockout mentioned in his/her initial post was wrong.
b psyc ppl dont do an honours yr. they are awarded with hns if their performance is good in the normal 4-yr course. on the other hand, b sci students need to do an extra yr for hns
 

Amryllis

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There are no advanced courses in psychology but in first year, there is a subject called Introduction to Psychological Applications (PSYC1021) which is only for BPsych people. Because BPsych students had that extra psych subject, they have a bit of an edge in 2nd year as they've already learnt some 2nd year material (not in as much depth, of course).

People doing BPsych and psych majors do the same subjects in 2nd year. Then people can choose different areas of specialty in 3rd year.

It seems unfair that BSci people need to have much higher WAM to get into honours, but then it was originally harder to get into BPsych and BSci (Adv) so it makes sense. They already changed the system in favour of BSci (Adv) students. They used to need a 75 average to get into honours as well.
 

Amryllis

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MuSaRuRWa said:
b psyc ppl dont do an honours yr. they are awarded with hns if their performance is good in the normal 4-yr course. on the other hand, b sci students need to do an extra yr for hns
That's not exactly true. The BPsych degree is 4 years including honours, so provided that our average is at least 65, we get in honours pretty much for sure. On the other hand, BSci is 3 years so they do an "extra" year if they get into honours.

To qualify for honours, they look at your WAM for your 2nd and 3rd year psych subjects only.
 

MuSaRuRWa

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Amryllis said:
That's not exactly true. The BPsych degree is 4 years including honours, so provided that our average is at least 65, we get in honours pretty much for sure. On the other hand, BSci is 3 years so they do an "extra" year if they get into honours.

To qualify for honours, they look at your WAM for your 2nd and 3rd year psych subjects only.
i just repeated what it said in the hand bk. that "students are awarded honours based on performance" - this is exactly the same as any engg. u do ur normal degree, and if u get a certain mark they're looking for, they award u hns without u having to do any extra subjects. if u dont get that mark, ur degree is still 4 yrs, but no hns tag attached
 

Amryllis

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If you're talking about at the end of the 3rd year, then that's not true. In BPsych if you don't get the mark you can't continue onto 4th year honours. So that'd be the end of the degree.
 

biologyjenny

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ask for informations

Hello, everyone. I am planing to do B science major in psychology next year. I want to ask if i can tranfer to B psychology in the following year. ...........what is the GPA do I need? What kind of science course can i choose? What is the difference between B Science and B science(adv) that both major in psychology? Do psychology course of 1st year at B science and B psychology the same? Thanks for help. See you all next year!........hang on. If i transfer to B psychology sucessfully the following year? Can i get 65 or 75 GPA so that I can enter to the 4th year. Thanks a lot!
 

Survivor39

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hi biologyjenny. There's no difference between B science or B adv science majoring in psyc and B Psyc, except B Psyc people make themself look better by doing one more psyc subject in the first year. :D (there's no advanced courses in Psyc, unlike Biology, biochem, microbiology....you are NOT disadvantaged by doing B Science)

In B adv science majoring in psyc, you do 4 years of it including your honours. In B Science you do 4th optional year of honours (which you must do in order to be a psychologist and register with Australian Psychological Society or something.) In B psychology, they tell you what subjects you have to do and you must follow the guideline. In science, basically you just need to pick the B Psyc subjects and both degrees would be the same. There is no difference at all. For the electives, Science is more open for choices, you can choose other subjects while doing your psyc subjects, like Laws, Geology, Bio, chem..... But B Psyc electives are a bit limited.
 

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