Economics Pre-Honours/Honours (1 Viewer)

[elkedag]

I'm doing LLB/Comm and I'm thinking about doing economics honours. If I were to do economics honours, I would do that in my 6th year, although I'm not certain as to whether I would do economics honours - I probably won't if I do well enough in 4th/5th year law. And to do all the units to fulfill pre-honours requirements, I will have no flexibility in my progression.

Would I be disadvantaged by choosing pre-honours units over non-pre-honours units in terms of my marks? Or do they compensate for this in the marking so that pre-honours students are no worse off for choosing those units?

And if anyone has any experiences with econ honours, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[mreditor16]

Bump!

 

[JasonG123]

Late reply, but I'm studying a BEc/LLB in my third year and have gone through the pre-Honours stream so I can help:

I'm doing LLB/Comm and I'm thinking about doing economics honours. If I were to do economics honours, I would do that in my 6th year, although I'm not certain as to whether I would do economics honours - I probably won't if I do well enough in 4th/5th year law. And to do all the units to fulfill pre-honours requirements, I will have no flexibility in my progression.

You could do Honours in the 6th year, however it would be much better if you did it in your fourth year because it helps to go through Honours with your own cohort. In any case, your marks in 4th/5th year law will be irrelevant to your entry to Economics Honours even if you do it in your sixth year.

If you do pre-Honours then unfortunately you will have absolutely no flexibility in your progression (I think you'll get 0 electives). Switching to a BEc/LLB will give you a little flexibility since you avoid 4 core Commerce subjects, but there are some inherent advantages to being in the Business School.

Would I be disadvantaged by choosing pre-honours units over non-pre-honours units in terms of my marks? Or do they compensate for this in the marking so that pre-honours students are no worse off for choosing those units?

There will be some disadvantage in terms of marks I'm afraid. There is no formal compensation - out of all the pre-Honours units I've done only ECMT2110 scaled, the rest were simply given raw marks. ECOS2903 and ECOS3901 in particular are WAM killers, however the rest of the subjects aren't too bad and you can still do very well in them.

 

[elkedag]

Thanks JasonG123!!
Is there any value in taking the pre-honours units if you're not planning on doing honours? The coordinator suggests that it indicates strong academic performance to employers, but I remain skeptical on this point.

 

[JasonG123]

Very minimal value. Probably not worth the effort, it is significantly harder than the normal stream, especially for Micro subjects. Saying that, you could still take ECMT2110/2150 which is a good course and not too hard if you keep up with it.

 

[Trebla]

You'll definitely learn things more rigorously and properly through the pre-honours stream. I personally loved the pre-honours stream (especially 3rd year) because I'm mathematically orientated. It was a WAM booster for me because of its higher mathematical rigour.

 

[JasonG123]

You'll definitely learn things more rigorously and properly through the pre-honours stream. I personally loved the pre-honours stream (especially 3rd year) because I'm mathematically orientated. It was a WAM booster for me because of its higher mathematical rigour.

+1. I enjoyed it as well, much more than I would have in the normal stream. If you want abit more of a challenge and more interesting topics, but don't mind a slight hit to your WAM (although it's still possible to get very high marks in the subjects especially if you're mathematically orientated) then there is still some value.

 

[JasonG123]

I was going to wait for results to come out to help me decide, and now that results are out...
I got 96 in BUSS1040 and 100 in ECON1002, but I'm still not sure whether or not to do honours. My maths isn't very strong and I'm keen to avoid too much of a hit to my WAM. Any advice on this? Or as to whether the extra year of honours is worth doing?
- If I were to do it, I'd probably be doing ecos honours in 6th year because I don't exactly have an 'economics cohort' being a business school student

- And also how difficult is ECOS2903? That's one of the unit's I'm most apprehensive about. What sort of concepts / how difficult is it to pick up the concepts in this subject?
Thanks!!

Congrats on those results! You'll be in the Economics cohort because you'll start doing the pre-Honours subjects whereby all BEc/BCom/BA students will do the same subject. If you were to do Honours then the best way to do it is in your fourth year really.

ECOS2903 is tricky - the content isn't too bad but Don makes the exams tricky and there is very little support provided to you (no past exams or tutorial answers). If you don't understand something - you should go see Don asap to sort it out - it helps to understand the content well before the exam. It has a high failure rate, but that's because kids who get 70% in first year Micro and Macro do it. Given your marks and the fact that you did Maths Ext 2 you should be fine. Just keep up with the work, I know people that are maths gods that get 90+ in it.

Honestly if you're capable of those marks I don't think it'll be too much of a hit to your WAM - you could enrol in ECOS2901 and ECOS2903 next semester and give it a shot. I heard that they made ECOS2901 easier this year, so it really shouldn't be too bad. What parts of economics do you enjoy/find interesting?

 

[Trebla]

I actually found ECOS2903 to be quite easy lol. It's mostly differentiation/optimisation over and over again. But then again I did maths at uni so yeah...

 

[elkedag]

What parts of economics do you enjoy/find interesting?

At the moment, I'm most interested in adverse selection and moral hazard in insurance/regulation.

I was also considering the fact that since law requires a lot more time than economics (for me at least), perhaps it may be advantageous to choose easier comm/eco subjects so I can do better in law? And I am also considering perusing honours / masters elsewhere, if I really wanted to do honours after my degree? At the present, I'm thinking it's more likely than not that I won't be wanting to do honours by 4th year.

 

[erckle999]

. Given your marks and the fact that you did Maths Ext 2 you should be fine. Just keep up with the work, I know people that are maths gods that get 90+ in it.

JasonG123 famously got a band 6 in Maths Extension 2 without even knowing the formula for the triangular numbers. If he can pass, so can you!

 

[JasonG123]

I actually found ECOS2903 to be quite easy lol. It's mostly differentiation/optimisation over and over again. But then again I did maths at uni so yeah...

I agree - once you understand it it's very easy. But alot of people without strong maths backgrounds go through the entire course not understanding it or only get it after the mid-sem. In retrospect ECOS3901 is much much madder than ECOS2903.

At the moment, I'm most interested in adverse selection and moral hazard in insurance/regulation.

I was also considering the fact that since law requires a lot more time than economics (for me at least), perhaps it may be advantageous to choose easier comm/eco subjects so I can do better in law? And I am also considering perusing honours / masters elsewhere, if I really wanted to do honours after my degree? At the present, I'm thinking it's more likely than not that I won't be wanting to do honours by 4th year.

Fair enough. But the pre-Honours units in second year really aren't bad at all, probably still easier than a Finance major at Usyd - it's really in third (and fourth) year that it becomes much harder.

Do you know what you want to do after uni?

JasonG123 famously got a band 6 in Maths Extension 2 without even knowing the formula for the triangular numbers. If he can pass, so can you!

Don't take my crowning achievement away from me pls.

 

[pHyRe]

do you need to do the prehonours units to do honours? obviously there are certain compulsory courses like ecmt2110 and ecos2903 but if you did well in the normal econ units would you still be allowed to do honours?

also, im considering doing the prehonours courses. i'm majoring in maths, so would that help much in ecos2001/02 or would it help a lot more in the prehonours streams marks wise?

 

[JasonG123]

do you need to do the prehonours units to do honours? obviously there are certain compulsory courses like ecmt2110 and ecos2903 but if you did well in the normal econ units would you still be allowed to do honours?

also, im considering doing the prehonours courses. i'm majoring in maths, so would that help much in ecos2001/02 or would it help a lot more in the prehonours streams marks wise?

You need to do the pre-Honours units to do Honours at Usyd. You can still probably do Honours elsewhere without having done some of the pre-Honours subjects, but obviously some econometrics and calculus will be very useful for Honours at any university.

You can join the pre-Honours stream in third year if you do well in ECOS2001/2002 (80+ average), but this is not a route I would recommend if you can help it. Most people who do this seem to struggle too much with the maths in third year units (although given you're majoring in maths this may not be a problem for you). If you're considering doing Honours then there is no harm in doing the pre-Honours units, ECOS2902 is quite easy and ECOS2903 will be good for me if you're a gun at maths.

Your math major may help a little for the pre-Honours units, but keep in mind that alot of the maths may seem trivial to you in econ if you're a maths major, especially in second year.

 

[pHyRe]

You need to do the pre-Honours units to do Honours at Usyd. You can still probably do Honours elsewhere without having done some of the pre-Honours subjects, but obviously some econometrics and calculus will be very useful for Honours at any university.

You can join the pre-Honours stream in third year if you do well in ECOS2001/2002 (80+ average), but this is not a route I would recommend if you can help it. Most people who do this seem to struggle too much with the maths in third year units (although given you're majoring in maths this may not be a problem for you). If you're considering doing Honours then there is no harm in doing the pre-Honours units, ECOS2902 is quite easy and ECOS2903 will be good for me if you're a gun at maths.

Your math major may help a little for the pre-Honours units, but keep in mind that alot of the maths may seem trivial to you in econ if you're a maths major, especially in second year.

Ahh okay, cool thanks! Won't be doing ECOS2903 as MATH2070 is a prohibition for that and I did MATH2970.

might enrol in ECOS2901 though and see how it is. But most likely will just do ECOS2001 as I'd really like econ units to pull up my WAM as a lot of other subjects have and will pull it down.

 

[JasonG123]

Ahh okay, cool thanks! Won't be doing ECOS2903 as MATH2070 is a prohibition for that and I did MATH2970.

might enrol in ECOS2901 though and see how it is. But most likely will just do ECOS2001 as I'd really like econ units to pull up my WAM as a lot of other subjects have and will pull it down.

ECOS2901 isn't really a WAM killer - it's not too hard to get a distinction. So may be worth it to keep the Honours option open.

 

[pHyRe]

ECOS2901 isn't really a WAM killer - it's not too hard to get a distinction. So may be worth it to keep the Honours option open.

was hoping to get closer to a HD in that one, 80+ at least

 

[JasonG123]

was hoping to get closer to a HD in that one, 80+ at least

I got 80+ without having done the maths pre-requisite. You'll be fine.

 

[vanillafudge]

How did you find ECOS3901, 3902, 3903 and 3904??
Also what ECOS3000 subject did you choose?

Thanks

 

[JasonG123]

I didn't do any ECOS3000 level subjects because I did all of ECOS3901, 3902, 3903 and 3904. In terms of ECOS3000 level subjects I think they're all relatively easy compared to the Honours subjects but just avoid any subject taught by Don.

For the pre-Honours units:

ECOS3901 - Quite a difficult, make sure you understand the content well before the final. Average was 62.
ECOS3902 - Final was very generous. David also helps you out with a couple assignments where everyone did well. Average was 75.
ECOS3903 - Decent amount of work throughout Semester, especially using STATA. But course is very interesting and easy to do well in if you put the effort in.
ECOS3904 - Assessments throughout the Semester were easy, final was harder. If you only want to do one of 3901 and 3902 and you're not interested in working for the RBA, do 3901.