STAT2011
Ease: 4/10
Challenging subject. Although it was pretty manageable until week 7, it got impossibly confusing and difficult after that week. imo this unit requires continuous effort and hard work throughout the semester, otherwise finals will be a nightmare. However, assessments overall were pretty ok/easy if you kept up with lectures and tutes.
Lecturer: Michael Stewart 6/10
Michael is a very knowledgeable lecturer but his lectures could have been structured better. The way in which they were structured greatly inflated the perceived amount of course content, causing a lot of panic towards the end of the semester. However, Michael was really approachable and his consultations were really helpful in clarifying course content.
Interest: 8/10
This unit explored constructing appropriate statistical models involving random variables for a range of modelling
scenarios and accessing the goodness of fit of these models. Some of it is hard to grasp, but when you finally get it, it's pretty interesting stuff
Overall: 7/10
STAT2011 stressed me out the most this semester, but when all the pieces fell in place and I started to understand the course material, I began to enjoy this unit. But don't pick this unit if you are looking for an easy elective.
PSYC2012
Ease: 9/10
Basically revisits MATH1005 content. The research methods part is a minor component of the unit, and recaps experimental design, eg, independent and dependent variables, true and quasi experiements, etc. The only potentially tricky topic is ANOVA which was covered towards the end of the semester. Highly organised unit, plenty of revision quizzes and extra practices were available on Blackboard on a regular basis throughout the semester. There was very little time to complete the in-class quizzes but they were open book. Mid-sem and finals were multiple choice.
Lecturer: Dan Costa (9/10), Ilan Dar-Nimrod (3/10)
Dan is a great lecturer, explains concepts very well and is quite funny too!
On the other hand, I had a hard time staying awake in Ilan's lectures, they were dry and boring.
Interest: 8/10
Research methods part was boring, but I liked the stats
Overall: 9/10
Overall a highly enjoyable and interesting subject, would recommend as an easy elective if you've done an introductory stats course before.
BIOL2021
Ease: 6.5/10
Course content is extremely interesting, but this unit is let down by poor organisation. Assessment information was only released to students close to the deadline (we only got our final exam format during stuvac) and some assessments did not seem relevant to the course at all (eg invertebrate collection which took up too much time and effort and was not fun at all). Some prac sessions were also highly distressing and we were not warned about them until the actual prac started. We had to pith a toad during one of the pracs
Some final exam questions also did not seem to have been covered by course content.
Lecturers: Dieter Hochuli 8/10, Matthew Greenlees 6.5/10, Stephen Simpson 10/10, Frank Seebacher 8/10, Ashley Ward 9/10, Murray Thomson 9/10
Standout lecturers for me were Prof Stephen Simpson (he only gave 2 lectures on animal nutrition but he explained the content super well), Ashley Ward (lectured on Animal Behaviour, really interesting stuff) and of course Murray Thomson (though he spoke really quickly).
Interest: 9/10
A very interesting subject! Thoroughly enjoyed all the lectures.
Overall: 6/10
A great unit let down by extremely poor organisation.
BIOL2023
Ease: 7/10
Online quizzes were part of the assessment but you could also use them for revision. The virtual slidebox was really handy for revising for the prac exam, in addition to all the other online material. There were plenty of resources available to us for revision and all the lecturers were happy to answer any additional questions we had. I felt very loved in this subject
Lecturers: Murray Henwood 8/10, Deborah Barton 9/10, Rosanne Quinnell 8/10, Charles Warren 8/10
All lecturers were clear in lecture delivery and explained course content in an engaging manner.
Interest: Started 6/10, ended 8/10
What I enjoyed most about this unit were the plant anatomy pracs which started from week 8 of the sem. There was a lot to do in the 3 hours but it was really fun sectioning plant material and looking at them under a microscope.
Overall: 8/10
A highly-organised subject (opposite of biol2021) with great lecturers and exciting prac sessions! Would recommend this unit