Workload for a first year Commerce/Law Student? (1 Viewer)

[krnofdrg]

Hello fellow Macquarie students, I am a bit concerned with the amount of workload and difficulty for the Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws program at Macquarie University. I am starting this degree next week and would like to know some of your past or known experiences with this course.

I am planning to do 4 subjects which are ECON111 (Microeconomics), LAW115 (Foundation to Law), ACST101 (Elements of Finance) and ACCG106 (Accounting for Decision Making). Could anyone also give me a review on these subjects if you have done any?


Thank you!

 

[Proteus]

I'll probably meet you in class

 

[krnofdrg]

I'll probably meet you in class

Hey mate, have you decided the transition to Mq?

I can't wait to enroll on Tuesday XD

 

[Azure]

First of all, welcome to Macquarie. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any questions.

ECON111 is a pretty decent subject and isn't really too much of an issue provided you keep up to date with the work. Basically you'll be learning a new model every week and as long as you understand the concepts behind each model, you'll be fine come exam time.

ACST101 required a little more work from me, but in the end it wasn't really a hard subject. David was a really good lecturer and he did a great job explaining the various concepts. There's a lot of testing (weekly quizzes, in class tests and so forth), so you may find this subject taking up quite a bit of your time. Tip: Pay attention to the elements part of the unit. A lot of people (myself included) wrote these off and paid the price come exam time. The elements stuff is easy and a good way to get some extra marks.

I've only done ACCG100, but apparently ACCG106 is slightly easier. I found ACCG100 a little difficult to grasp at first, but as the weeks went by everything kind of fell into place. ACCG100 had weekly homework submissions when I did it in 2010, but they weren't that difficult or time consuming. I'm not sure how things are run in ACCG106, but I'm guessing they aren't that much different. Either way, you'll be fine with this unit.

LAW115 is probably one of my favourite subjects to date. It was really fun. It's now an ungraded unit, meaning you either pass or fail. You're awarded no numerical grade for the subject overall. You're required to get full marks for all assignments, but you're also given several attempts which is quite good. It allows you to really hone a lot of your skills and try new things in your writing without worrying about the consequences. There are a few assessments, so this unit could easily take up a bit of your time.

In short, you've chosen a pretty balanced bunch of subjects for your first semester. You'll be fine.

 

[Proteus]

Hey mate, have you decided the transition to Mq?

I can't wait to enroll on Tuesday XD

Hey! That's right I've decided to take up B Com + B Law

Because of my B Econ background, I have 11 credit points from previous studies and hope I can get exemptions on some of the similar core units I've done !

E.g Accounting, microeconomics and stats (hopefully)

So.. I'm probably going to something like:

LAW115
ACST101
ASTR178 (A people / planet unit Could have done MKTG - the only commerce core I haven't done I think, but the lectures and tutes were all on days that would have made my timetable into 4 days! So I'm going to leave it for next year. I may meet some younger females too LOL)
BBA102

Might see you in law

Though I haven't decided which Commerce Major to major in :s

 

[krnofdrg]

Hey! That's right I've decided to take up B Com + B Law

Because of my B Econ background, I have 11 credit points from previous studies and hope I can get exemptions on some of the similar core units I've done !

E.g Accounting, microeconomics and stats (hopefully)

So.. I'm probably going to something like:

LAW115
ACST101
ASTR178 (A people / planet unit Could have done MKTG - the only commerce core I haven't done I think, but the lectures and tutes were all on days that would have made my timetable into 4 days! So I'm going to leave it for next year. I may meet some younger females too LOL)
BBA102

Might see you in law

Though I haven't decided which Commerce Major to major in :s

That's very good! I hope to see you in the Lecture of hopefully the tutorial if possible! Just look for a chubby Korean guy and that's me

I am starting fresh with no credit points doing ECON111, Law115, ACCG106 and ACST101! I am going 3 days a week- Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It sucks how the only days for tute and lecture for LAW115 is Monday grrr..

Have you prepared for the 24th? Done your draft timetable and Proposed form?

 

[Proteus]

That's very good! I hope to see you in the Lecture of hopefully the tutorial if possible! Just look for a chubby Korean guy and that's me

I am starting fresh with no credit points doing ECON111, Law115, ACCG106 and ACST101! I am going 3 days a week- Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. It sucks how the only days for tute and lecture for LAW115 is Monday grrr..

Have you prepared for the 24th? Done your draft timetable and Proposed form?

Haha! Sure

I've drawn up my proposed timetable and form already, so far it's Monday, Wednesday and Thursday( 1 lecture only), which I think is not too bad

I totally agree how Law115 sucks, the lecture's very early and I have no idea what the iLecture thing is about..

 

[rayy_bann]

Hey OP!

I've only completed one sem of Mq Comm/Law, but hopefully my limited experience will provide some insight into the degree/s.

Law 115- fairly moderate amount of readings and workload. However, I found it tremendously boring. I am not the one to sleep in a lecture, but this would have to be a first! It is a foundation unit, basically you need to pass it in order to continue your law studies. In saying that, they don't/and shouldn't (generally) overwhelm you with exceedingly difficult tasks. Otherwise not many would continue on. Lol!
In terms of assessments, yes, we do have to get 100%, BUT we have multiple attempts at it. We also have a group report/presentation about an issue (e.g. Human Rights etc). This is very interesting, but then again, it can come down to the group that you are in.

ECON111- Since you did HSC Economics, you should be generally fine with this subject. However, there are some new concepts and graphs which are not present in the HSC, in which you need to learn. This is usually in the later chapters. Apart from an assessment task and some weekly online quizzes, you just have to be consistent and stay on track with your work. Making sure you understand the concepts in each week's lecture. I found it to be easier than writing-based subjects such as Marketing because you just need to understand and it'll be easy for you to remember/memorise the concepts.

Overall workload and difficulty of a subject is subjective depending on what you aim for in your uni grades. I know some people who found the workload to be light, whilst I found it excruciatingly time consuming. In the end our grades were similar.

On an irrelevant note, I'm doing ACST101 next sem too!

 

[Azure]

Hey OP!

I've only completed one sem of Mq Comm/Law, but hopefully my limited experience will provide some insight into the degree/s.

Law 115- fairly moderate amount of readings and workload. However, I found it tremendously boring. I am not the one to sleep in a lecture, but this would have to be a first! It is a foundation unit, basically you need to pass it in order to continue your law studies. In saying that, they don't/and shouldn't (generally) overwhelm you with exceedingly difficult tasks. Otherwise not many would continue on. Lol!
In terms of assessments, yes, we do have to get 100%, BUT we have multiple attempts at it. We also have a group report/presentation about an issue (e.g. Human Rights etc). This is very interesting, but then again, it can come down to the group that you are in.

ECON111- Since you did HSC Economics, you should be generally fine with this subject. However, there are some new concepts and graphs which are not present in the HSC, in which you need to learn. This is usually in the later chapters. Apart from an assessment task and some weekly online quizzes, you just have to be consistent and stay on track with your work. Making sure you understand the concepts in each week's lecture. I found it to be easier than writing-based subjects such as Marketing because you just need to understand and it'll be easy for you to remember/memorise the concepts.

Overall workload and difficulty of a subject is subjective depending on what you aim for in your uni grades. I know some people who found the workload to be light, whilst I found it excruciatingly time consuming. In the end our grades were similar.

On an irrelevant note, I'm doing ACST101 next sem too!

This makes me feel like such a nerd.

 

[rayy_bann]

How coincidental. I was on the macquarie university facebook page wanting to buy books from people- and i think i found OP . Lol judging from the course choice/ethnicity and hsc subs. Random.

 

[Proteus]

Hey man, I am so determined / excited that I even bought the two prescribed texts today!! How'd you find everything OP?

 

[krnofdrg]

How coincidental. I was on the macquarie university facebook page wanting to buy books from people- and i think i found OP . Lol judging from the course choice/ethnicity and hsc subs. Random.

Yeap, i am Benjamin Chung. I probably spammed like half the page hahaha

We are doing ACST101? Do you know if we have to buy both textbooks or not?

 

[krnofdrg]

Hey man, I am so determined / excited that I even bought the two prescribed texts today!! How'd you find everything OP?

I'm buying ECON111 second hand for $50 off this person, RRP was like $100-$140. I just need to buy ACST101, ACSG106 and LAW115 ... It sucks because if I buy of the coop bookstore, it's going to be around $300-400.

 

[MrBean1561]

Yeap, i am Benjamin Chung. I probably spammed like half the page hahaha

We are doing ACST101? Do you know if we have to buy both textbooks or not?

You only really need the techniques book - "Mathematics of Finance"

The other one "Financial Markets" or w/e it's called isn't necessary, in fact I never used it when I did ACST101.

 

[Azure]

To be honest I didn't even use the techniques book either, but it's good to have it as a back up just incase. You could definitely get by without the elements book.

 

[krnofdrg]

But you know I am terribly bad at Maths (In fact i got around 77 for 2u maths), so I need a book that is very good at explaining the concepts and you know etc. So you are sure Mathematics of Finance is good enough? Thanks btw!

 

[rayy_bann]

Yeap, i am Benjamin Chung. I probably spammed like half the page hahaha

We are doing ACST101? Do you know if we have to buy both textbooks or not?

Hey! Yeah I'm planning to buy both cause I i try to convince myself r that I will be somewhat secured by buying them xD Plus you may want to refer to another source apart from the lecture notes to get a deeper understanding. All to their own, as some people have stated that we don't really need it.

 

[ameher]

Hey! Yeah I'm planning to buy both cause I i try to convince myself r that I will be somewhat secured by buying them xD Plus you may want to refer to another source apart from the lecture notes to get a deeper understanding. All to their own, as some people have stated that we don't really need it.

Yer you don't really need the book. When i did it i referred to it maybe once or twice out of the 13 weeks. The rest was just using the great lecture slides for both the techniques and the elements. But learn the elements. Really emphasise that, easy marks to be had.

 

[ameher]

But you know I am terribly bad at Maths (In fact i got around 77 for 2u maths), so I need a book that is very good at explaining the concepts and you know etc. So you are sure Mathematics of Finance is good enough? Thanks btw!

Oh and trust me your level of maths will be fine for the subject. So don't stress.

 

[rayy_bann]

Yer you don't really need the book. When i did it i referred to it maybe once or twice out of the 13 weeks. The rest was just using the great lecture slides for both the techniques and the elements. But learn the elements. Really emphasise that, easy marks to be had.

Hi! From your experience and perspective, is elements hard to grasp and memorise? Some say its what has let them down with their grades, whilst a large portion of others say they are 'easy marks'.