GOVT1104 Intro to Political Science (1 Viewer)

[Qpal]

To those who have done this, what were your thoughts on the unit? Would you recommend doing it? How is it in terms of content/ease?

 

[gleeek]

The content was relatively easy to grasp, although at times abstract. I scored a final mark of 83 without overly studying. Just make sure that you do the readings and understand the key concepts. In terms of being content heavy; 8/10. In terms of ease 7/10.

 

[Qpal]

Thanks! Are there any other first year GOVT subjects you'd recommend?

 

[_traveler_]

WorldPol and Geopol.

Worldpol has Gil. People are going to tell you that the class is boring and blah blah. But! He is a good teacher/lecturer. His no BS attitude provides a good learning environment. This subject is fundamental for IR imo. I'm not quite sure what they teach in 1104 but I'm sure there is some cross-over in terms of content.

Geopol has John for S2 and a new lecturer for S1. John mumbles A LOT. Now this is not to say that the subject is bad. The subject is broad enough to give you a really good feel of IR. The subject takes a multi-dimensional approach towards teaching as it shows you all the influential factors of an event. In addition to this, its pretty fun cause you get to learn a bit of everything ranging from environmental politics to space politics. First couple of lectures will be boring as it goes over some historical stuff though.

 

[Qpal]

What are World Pol and Geopolitics like in terms of assessments?

 

[_traveler_]

What are World Pol and Geopolitics like in terms of assessments?

Worldpol is 1 essay proposal and 1 main essay based on the proposal and 1 multiple choice exam

Geopol is 1 mini essay 1 main essay 1 exam.

Worldpol exam is ezmode as long as you go to the lecutres. Geopol requires you to actually do the readings. Nonetheless, both are good choices. and exams of this style are going to be pretty usual with big focuses on readings.

 

[Qpal]

Thanks for the info! Am currently deciding between Geopol or Auspol for first sem, or Geopol or Intro to Pol science for 2nd sem. Still a bit apprehensive towards geopol though- I heard the reader for it is 600 pages long! The content does look quite interesting and useful though

 

[_traveler_]

Thanks for the info! Am currently deciding between Geopol or Auspol for first sem, or Geopol or Intro to Pol science for 2nd sem. Still a bit apprehensive towards geopol though- I heard the reader for it is 600 pages long! The content does look quite interesting and useful though

Yeah the 600 page reader... about that, realistically speaking you just have to skim most of it. There are also the mini quizzes which are random in tutorials that test you on the readings. Half the time you could probably have some input into tutorials based on what you read on the news. So you probably wouldn't have to do all the readings during the semester. Most of the time if we didn't do the readings in time we would just base it on what we learnt on the lecture to fill in the blanks of the quiz.

If you're actually interested in Auspol then I would say do it. However, if you're not too sure then I think Geopol is the way to go as intro to polsci is probably very similar to worldpol.

 

[Qpal]

Yeah, I think I'll take up geopol for first sem and intro to polsci next sem Any tips on how to do well in geopol- besides putting in hard work-? One of my friends who did it said that hardly anyone in her course got a distinction because it was so hard (although this was roughly 5 or 6 years ago and I'm sure some changes must have come to the unit since then)

 

[_traveler_]

I actually bombed the essay but actually came back in the exam. The exam tends to be the hardest for students who don't actually keep up with the readings and don't keep up with current affairs in the world. Readings are the most important for geopol as they'll be central in the exam. I'm not quite sure if this will be same format as you're doing it in semester 1. I looks like they have a new lecturer for the semester 1 (John being in S2).

Also.. grades aren't anything unless you're trying to transfer into law. 70-75 avg during your first year is fine. The key thing is to show that it continues to rise. This allows people to see that you can improve and all the other employable traits.

 

[Rayzaa]

Hey, sorry to chime in but I was wondering if you know what the Intro to Political Science course is like? There isn't a lot of info about it online - I'm debating whether to choose it or Geopolitics for Semester 2. Thanks!

 

[_traveler_]

Its pretty vague. Apparently people prefer it to Worldpol (mainly due to Gil). I'm not quite sure what it's about but I do recall it has a lot of crossover with Worldpol eg: Polsci theory where it crosses over. I would think that both courses are theoretical but one is more actual theory about politics and the other is theory about IR eg: theories on actual interaction between objects and the different levels of focus on specific objects within their theories (eg: is the state the centre of IR or are individual key players?).

That's just my interpretation on what some people have told me.... so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Rockmelt]

Yeah the 600 page reader...

Does the reader change year by year or is that something I could buy 2nd hand off someone? Seems like a shitload of unnecessary printing.

 

[_traveler_]

Does the reader change year by year or is that something I could buy 2nd hand off someone? Seems like a shitload of unnecessary printing.

It will change by year and change by lecturer. They have two different lecturers for each semester. I would recommend buying it as they do update it with content. Readers I generally woulds say buy as they're not too pricey compared to textbooks which is a no no for me generally.

 

[Rockmelt]

Ahh okay, fair enough. So Geopol/Auspol are doable without the textbooks?

 

[_traveler_]

Ahh okay, fair enough. So Geopol/Auspol are doable without the textbooks?

Never done Auspol but Geopol has no textbook. Geopol only has a reader and reader is a must for all subjects.