curious about taking SOLA1070 as a elective (1 Viewer)

[scizor20122]

http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2011/SOLA1070.html

hi everybody
i'm a civil/mining engineering student
and I'm curious about taking SOLA1070 as a elective instead of
GEOS1111 Fundamentals of Geology
MATS1101 Engineering Materials and Chem
MINE1010 Mineral Resources Engineering ( online course of 2nd semster)
...I wish to know the difficulty of SOLA1070, is it like doing reports? exams? tests? writing tests or something ? what is it like in the class ?

 

[jblack01]

SOLA1070 is quite easy given you know a basic understanding of physics and climate change.
The first assignment was like 30 questions- mostly calculations and stuff. Nothing that couldn't be answered except for maybe the last one.
The second assignment was using a computer program, then using the results to answer short answer questions.
Can't remember the third one.
Classes are pretty boring. The lecture notes suffice and there's lectopia if you really are keen but the lecturer is a bit of a bore.
Some topics get pretty interesting...well it was for me anyway.
Final was what I expected, just losts of calculation questions. Fairly easy course if you ask me.

 

[D94]

The course is and should be inherently interesting, yet it is amazingly boring.

The first assignment is pretty much an extension on PHYS 1A. If you are decent at maths, you should be able to get 85%+. A few content based questions, some table work, but mostly calculations.

The second assignment was a bit more elaborate, using a simulation software. Mind you that if your results didn't correlate with the marker's results, they would mark you down, so you would need to tediously repeat the simulation several times to ensure your results would align (of course you wouldn't know until you get your marks back). A bit of writing involved in explaining results, but nothing overly hard.

The final exam is 50% rote learning, 50% calculations. Don't be fooled about rote learning - you either remember it or you get 0. You can't really draw back from a theory or concept to answer the question. Also, when I did it, the multiple choice section had something like 40 questions, with 50 correct answers - so some questions had more than one option. However, if you incorrectly answered it, it was possible to get -1, so that was pretty crap. The calculations are easy though, some require a bit of knowledge on how to approach the questions, the others were pretty simple.

Overall, the course was pretty easy. The lecture slides are packed with a lot of information, something like 100+ slides per 2 hour lectures for most of them (although many had a fair few images). I would recommend the course if you're keen on rote learning a lot of content on different energy sources and systems, and if you are decent at maths.