Science Subject Review Thread (1 Viewer)

Azure

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Welcome to the Faculty of Science subject review thread.

The aim of this thread is to allow students to offer feedback on the units they are studying/have studied.

Reviews should be made in the following format:


  • Unit Code:
  • Difficulty: (Easy/Moderate/Difficult)
  • Lecturer:
  • Tutor:
  • Year and Semester Taken:
  • Workload:
  • Comments:
  • Assessment Breakdown:

In order to find a particular subject review within this faculty, simply click on the "search thread" function and enter your unit code.



Good luck with your studies.
 
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thor1990

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Unit Code: CBMS101
Difficulty: Very Easy
Lecturer:Marie Nelson
Year and Semester Taken: 2014 S1
Workload: Low
Comments: 6 Labs worth 15% and it is very easy to get 100% for this, online quizzes 15% also easy to get 100%. Midesemester and Final just do past papers and a D should be easy in these. Even for non-science background students easy Distinction
 

torky

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Hello every body here.
I have an accept from maquarie to complete master in electronic engineering .
I would to know what about this major in MQ is it hard i want to communicate with students in same major HOw i can.

Thanks
OH sorry how i can find the answer on my questions i am new in the chat.
 

TrentsUnicorn

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Unit Code: PHYS140
Difficulty: (Easy/Moderate/Difficult): Moderate
Lecturer: James Downes, Jason Twamley, Mark Wardle
Tutor: Jason Twamley
Year and Semester Taken: 2015, session 2
Workload: Seems easy, but it's best to revise all semester or else it'll get shit hard just before the end
Comments: They don't really give you any indication of what they expect in the final exam; the labs are completely irrelevant to the rest of the unit content, the quizzes only test one small area of the 3+ chapters of content each week, and tutorials focus on those same areas. The final however it on topics totally unrelated to the ones looked at in class, so it makes it very hard to revise.
Assessment Breakdown:
-20%: 8 of the best results from weekly quizzes held in tutorials
-20%: weekly 3 hour lab sessions
-15%: mid semester exam on weeks 1-4 content
-45%: final exam mainly on weeks 5-12 content (with some concepts from earlier weeks)
 

ilikecats

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Unit Code: ISYS114 (Introduction to Database Design and Management)
Difficulty: Moderate
Lecturer: Varied each week/topic and day/night lectures. Included Deborah, Charanya, Yifan, Stephen and Mehmet.
Tutor: Charanya
Year and Semester Taken: Semester 2, 2015.

Workload: Moderate. 2 hour lecture and 2 hour tutorial/practical per week. Some weekly homework questions to be done online (easily answered from the textbook or lecture notes), and assessments throughout the semester which can take extended time depending on your prior knowledge.

Comments: Depending on your prior knowledge about the topics covered, it can be really easy or really hard. I came in with very little knowledge (I didn't have to complete any Isys or Comp units prior to this also), but I found it was easy to keep up with the content if you attended the tutorials. I rarely listened to the lectures as the timing didn't suit, but I did read over the slides and make notes. The assignments can be a bitch because you have a short time frame to complete them after learning the material. Two of the assessments also require access to specific software, so this can be a pain to access closer to assignment deadlines. They don't give extensions because the server was busy. Also, some assessment instructions can be vague and require you to make a judgement call and justify your answer. Actually a really poorly run unit. The UC didn't seem to know what was going on and people posting on Ilearn got some ridiculous replies. The overall vagueness and disorganised nature of this unit was very frustrating, but it can be interesting and enjoyable if you like this sort of thing.

Assessment Breakdown:
  • Assessment 1: Database Modelling - 18%: Reasonably easy, but vague instructions. I did much better than I thought I was going to because of the whole "justify why you did this". There isn't a single right or wrong way for most of the tasks, and you need to listen to learn how to use the software the way they want.
  • Assessment 2: Database Queries - 17%: Basically writing SQL queries and hoping they work. Easy to pass, but difficult to get full marks (You aren't taught every single thing you need to complete the assignment, so you'll need to do more research to get full marks). This is the assignment many people had connection issues with because you needed to use a specific software with a specific connection to work on it, and 250 people plus one guy spamming the host server to try and get an extension is bloody annoying.
  • Assessment 3: DB Issues & Topics - 10%: Your in a group (pick somebody that shows up to tutorials) and have to present on a topic. No two groups can have the same topic, so make sure you show up and pick a good topic. Easy to do well, but also peer marked, so actually engaging with the class and not getting your facts wrong helps.
  • Homework Submissions - 10%: Easy questions, usually 4 per week. Can do them in <30 minutes easily. Have to be submitted by 9am Mondays, so don't forget. Never actually specifies how many there is to complete, but all are marked. So don't forget them.
  • Final Exam - 45%: Covers the entire unit. 50% is multiple choice, 50% is questions similar to the assessments. You need to "functionally demonstrate" you can do all topics, so it isn't a straight 50% pass the exam pass the unit thing, but they don't specifically say this.
 

BLIT2014

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Unit Code: ISYS104
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate
Workload: Moderate
Lecturer: Mansour? Kristy?
Year and Semester Taken: 2015, session 1

Comments:
Lectures for the most part finished within an hour rather then the two hours that were timetabled. Incredibly boring and lectures that may be worth skipping. Don't buy the textbook, it is not worth purchasing at all! Don't expect to walk into the final exam and be able to answer all the questions, as part of the content wasn't taught or appeared in textbook/lecture slides. In saying this, it is fairly easy to get a distinction/high distinction if you bother putting the work/effort in. This unit is probably a minimum of a credit if you put in a bit of effort.

Tutors/Lecturers were very approachable if you get stuck and require help.

Assessment Breakdown:
Diagnostic Quiz 2% Written in class
Assignment-1 7% Excel
Mid Semester Exam Written in class
Assignment-2 7% Microsoft Access
Use a windows os and download Access rather then using VM as it can get slow/hard to save your work.
Practical Exam 20% On Excel/Access
Final Exam 50% (Don't need to pass final exam to finish course)
 

thor1990

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Unit Code: ANTH106 (planet unit)
Difficulty: Very Easy
Workload: Moderate
Lecturer: Guy Threlfo
Year and Semester Taken: 2015, Session 3

Comments:
3 hours of lectures a week which is a bit more than a normal subject but they are hands down the most interesting lectures i've ever listened to. It's all about drugs e.g steroids, cannabis, tobacco, the pill etc. Content is very easy and you don't really need to write notes as the powerpoint slides are very comprehensive. The lecturer Lisa is also very quirky and there's constantly guest speakers e.g police or Ayahuasca experts. Midsemester and Final are very easy, both are multiple choice and ONLINE so you can have your notes write in front of you and control F everything and google stuff. No maths or difficult questions, answers are straight from the slides. You could easily get 90%+ in these exams. Negatives of this subject, there's a 35% essay which requires doing a bit of reading and work and its an essay so a little more subjective and hard to get very high marks. Also 2 to 3 questions out of each of the final and midsemester require you to have done the prescribed readings. There are a lot of readings 450 pages for the semester, but even if you do none you can still easily get a high distinction in these exams and its just for those extra marks you need to do them. I would do it in summer school as the assessment structure is better than S1 and S2 and also no tutes, so everything is external. No textbook. Overall probably the easiest subject i've done and definitely the most interesting.

Assessment Breakdown:
Midsemester Quiz 30%
Essay 35%
Final Exam 35%
 

Papercutter

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Spent my first yr (2016) doing PHYS 140/143 and Math 135/136
Math dept at MQ has been run like a well oiled swiss made clock - Lectures are engaging and deep. Quiz / assignment results are entered into iLearn quickly and feedback is swift.
That sounds promising. I look forward to math classes at MQ next year :)
 
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That sounds promising. I look forward to math classes at MQ next year :)
Terrific :) Try and spend a few weeks revising your Ext Math in Jan/Feb, you'll find first yr Math a little like going over old ground but with deeper analysis, proofs and a little extension beyond... Good luck with your results!

2nd yr Math was a little hit & miss with lecturing styles but the department itself is really great. Terrific support is offered whenever a student reaches out, should they need it.
 

Papercutter

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Terrific :) Try and spend a few weeks revising your Ext Math in Jan/Feb, you'll find first yr Math a little like going over old ground but with deeper analysis, proofs and a little extension beyond... Good luck with your results!

2nd yr Math was a little hit & miss with lecturing styles but the department itself is really great. Terrific support is offered whenever a student reaches out, should they need it.
Yep I will do that, thanks for the tip! I had a look at the specific course structure for my degree and it only has one maths unit: Statistical Data Analysis - STAT171.

Wouldn't have minded more math units but that's okay :)
 

STUDENT K

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Anyone done ISYS100 ??? I have enrolled for it in the first semester next year, and i am not really sure what to expect... :)
 

thor1990

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Unit Code: MATH130
Difficulty: Easy-Medium
Lecturer:Elena
Year and Semester Taken: 2017 S2
Workload: High
Comments: 3 assignments worth 10% each and it is very easy to get 100% for this (you can use technology to solve most of the questions), Tutorial homework 20% best 8 of 10. Also easy to get 100% (you can use technology to solve most of the questions). Final exam is 50%. I would say its medium difficulty. Just do all lectures and homework and you will find it not too bad. A D should be easy for this subject and a HD for students who did 3 unit or 4 unit in high school or like maths. Downsides of this subject, workload is high. 4 hours of lectures a week and lots of content covered.
Do the subject in semester 2 as the semester 2 convenor seems to set more manageable final exams.
 

BenHowe

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I'll do my stat and math subjects for year 1

Semester 1

Unit Code : MATH132 (Mathematics 1A advancded)

Difficulty : medium

Lecturer: mixed, one for calculus and one for algebra

Year and Semester Taken : 2017 S1

Workload: Normal (relatively speaking)

Comments: 3 assignments worth 10% each, 1 class test 10% and final 60%. Assignments and class test were easy. There is a general trend with the maths department, they re-use questions from previous years without changing them at all!!! Past papers/tests are key! The unit itself was a minor extension of 4u maths just going into proofs and some basic theorems. Getting a HD is not difficult. The unit itself is all about laying the groundwork for math133. Although if you hadn't done 4u you might have some difficulty.

Unit Code : STAT171 (Statistical Data Analysis)
Difficulty : moderate
Lecturer : Suzanne
Year and Semester Taken : 2017 S1
Workload : moderate
Comments: There were 2 assignments 2 tests and a final exam i think. I struggled initially with this unit because there are 2 or 3 in class tests (I don't remember) but the marks/min is really high, so make sure you prepare. Again content is re-used from previous years so past papers are key. Lecturer v nice and genuinely wants you to succeed. Note this introductory stat unit is for actuarial students. It is a co-requisite with ACST152. I wouldn't recommend taking it unless you are doing acst or at least MATH133. Although Suzanne pointed out someone got an atar of like 66 and got 84 in the unit so if you work hard who knows?

Unit Code : MATH133 (Mathematics 1B Advanced)
Difficulty : Hard
Lecturers: Mixed
Year and Semester Taken : 2017 S2
Workload : reasonable
Comments: 3 assignments 10% each, 1 class test 10% and 1 final worth 60%. This unit picks up a lot from 132, since it is all new content and uni maths. It goes into the proof of all the multi variable calculus and the algebra stuff. You should keep on top of things but getting a HD is defs possible with a bit of work and then eventually a lot of past papers. It's important though you understand the material.

Oh when I refer to workload my baseline is: pre-read lecture slides, attend/watch lecture, tut q, re-do tut q with solutions each week.
 

Papercutter

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Unit Code: BIOL114 (From Organisms to Ecosystems)
Difficulty: Easy
Lecturer: Bruno Buzatto
Tutor: Simon, Gabriel et al.
Year and Semester Taken: 2018 Session 1
Workload: Very much manageable. There are two lectures each week, but they can get very fast-paced and content-heavy. Many of them include a guest lecture which tends to take up nearly half the time. You actually won't get tested on the guest lectures BUT in the final exam, you must be able to write about one of your choosing; there is an entire section dedicated to that. Just make sure to keep on top of the examinable content and you'll be fine.

Comments: Very enjoyable and engaging unit. I highly recommend it to any student studying a biology/science-related course. The lecturer is very enthusiastic and passionate, and puts in a lot to make the unit as fun as possible. Students are well-supported and provided with resources to help them in their learning. They also give really good and constructive feedback on the mid-sem test and assignment.

Assessment Breakdown: Weekly pre-prac and lecture quizzes are easy marks. There is a major assignment (report on a scientific investigation done in the practicals) that forms a considerable part of the course. In terms of exams, there is a mid-semester one done during a lecture, and of course the final exam after Week 13. They are very lenient particularly with the exams as you get to choose a set number of questions from a selection.
 
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BLIT2014

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ACCG355 Information Systems for Management
Year and Semester Taken: 2018 S2
Lecturer: Mansour
Tutor : Ed
Difficulty:*Easy
Workload:
Extremely light: If you want to pass or get a credit
Light : Credit or distinction
Lightish/Medium: Distinction/High Distinction.

Assessment Tasks:

Assessed coursework 30%: (Group presentations)

For the most part, we were unable to choose groups. See if you can get a large group of your friends in the class in order to decrease the likelihood of getting dodgy group members. However, after the first couple of weeks, you may get put with more capable people so it is not entirely in balanced. You get 40 minutes or so to research, and put together a presentation (most groups used google slides as it is easier to collaborate with) and then present to the class. It is 3 minutes for presentations, and it is important not to go over by more than a few seconds (put a stopwatch timer on, so you can know when to stop) as you will be penalised. Ensure that only a max of three people present and you are strict/notify individuals when it is time to move on. It is a presentation, so avoid reading notes or straight of the presentation slides. If someone struggles with English/concepts do their slides for them (and write up what they were planning to say, and if possible help them write their presentation speech) as this should maximise your marks.

Warning certain tutorial activities topics may not have been covered in lectures of the previous/current week so don’t be surprised if this happens. Each assessment task is worth 3% each week.


Case Study/Report 20%: Individual

A nicely formatted business report, with appropriate headings and sub-headings that looks readable should be part of your focus. Put page numbers, and a content page to make it nice and presentable. If you do the content page in word, you can make it when you click certain parts of the content page it will go to the appropriate section. Important to look at the rubric. Ensure that you have the minimum number appropriate number of sources (and more) and try to find per reviewed journal articles. Acknowledge background sources (such as the case study) by writing background source/peer-reviewed source as this is part of the rubric (check) when I did it, and many individuals were let down by this.

Final Examination 50%:

Go to or listen to the lecture that contains information regarding the final exam. Take that into account when choosing which areas to focus on. Part of the exam is comprehension type questions (that you are meant to interweave course knowledge) into so unless you don’t turn up to tutorials and ignore the lectures or the week that tells you what is in the exam) then you are likely to pass. The content did not seem difficult but a small number of non-IT individuals within the class at time seemed to struggle with the concepts. If you aren’t sure exactly what the question is asking write out your assumptions, then bullshit away (I did this in the exam a few times, and it seemed to have worked so I’d recommend doing so if you placed in this situation).

Comments:
It switches between Mansour and Blount, as the lecturers/unit convenors. Both are meant to be decent lecturers, and ilecture option will probably be available. Staff are very helpful with respect to explaining anything you are struggling with. As a non-IT background student I used the textbook, which is available for free on the Macquarie library (download a chapter a day) in order to do well in certain areas of the course which I wasn’t acquainted with.

You will require ACCG250 as a prerequisite, and it is a similar subject in respect to what is expected from you i.e no IT coding, and more theoretical rather than practical. It is 300 level commerce, science and Information technology unit so if you are looking for one then this is a decent one (for people who find ACCG250 fairly easy that I have spoken to also did decently in this one). Note it is an accounting code but no accounting knowledge is required whatsoever!
 
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BLIT2014

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Unit Code: ACCG250
Difficulty: Easy
Lecturer: Mauricio Marrone
Year and Semester Taken: 2016 S1
Workload: Medium
Assessments:
Assessed Coursework (35% )
- 10% online quizzes based on Xero(Three OQ)
- 25% in class assessment.
=> It is open book so I recommend that you buy the textbook and have access to the internet.
=>Over explain everything for example when identifying a risk explain why it is a risk.
=> Go to PAL, have lecture slides available and it may be beneficial to read the chapter before class.
Report (15%)
Get a good group otherwise you are in a whole lot of bother.
Presentation - Video(10%)
Individually marked (practice speaking to the camera, and a lot of marks are given to "Visual Elements".)
You will have to complete the task in the same group
Final Exam (40%)
Most of the multiple choice were from the textbook so I recommend that you go through your textbook multiple choice (at the back of each chapter).
Take it nice and slowly, you have more then enough time!
Comments:
The lecturer is fantastic and makes it enjoyable to attend. PAL is also available for this subject, and can help you gain the technique needed to receive full marks in the assessments. I recommend this subject if you are good at conceptual subjects, have decent comprehension skills and have the rare ability of common sense. However people who struggle with English and found that they were really good at early accounting units may not find this an enjoyable experience.This is probably the "easiest" accounting level at 200+ level, and well worth undertaking. My tutor was really good and explained the concept well to.
 

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