INFO Needed: LVL 3 FIN + ECON SUBS! (1 Viewer)

[sja]

Hey guys I need some serious feedback if anyone has on the following subjects:

FIN310 -- I've heard that you just need to learn everything in the lecture notes. Any extra info?

ECON309 -- ??

ECON311 -- 3rd year Macroeconomics. What's it like compared to 2nd year?

ECON332 -- Econometric Models. ??

ECON333 -- Econometric Methods. ??

ECON350 - Money & Finance. ??
ECON360 - International Finance. ??


Thanks very much for all your help

 

[Tabris]

My 3rd level ECON units were:

ECON309 (1st sem, 2007)
ECON311 (2nd sem, 2007)
ECON359 (2nd sem, 2006)
ECON335 (2nd sem, 2008)

There is alot info and i dont know whether they will be relevant.

ECON309 Industrial organisation

Lectures - Attendence is not compulsery but in order to pass, it is absolutely neccesary. You will not understand the notes (which has Dilbert cartoons, graphs and news paper articles) or know where to focus in textbook unless u go to the lecture and make notes.

The lecturer is excellent and the teaching methods used is unlike any other economics unit.

It is like the Socratic method - asking yourself questions and guiding you with questions and making you.

The unit outline (however funny and satirical) is important and it is advisable to follow every word of it.

Tutorials - There are no tutes, but fortnightly seminars. During the seminar, you will be discussing a journal article , (which can be from 11-40 pages long). You will team up and talk with your classmates, and analyse the journal article, break it down and understand it.

The content in the journal article is no joke and they are seminal/very important articles. All seminar articles can be examinable where u will have to use the author's perspective in examining and solving a business problem.

Assessments - 15% seminar article, 25% research task, 60% final.

The Seminar article is a critical analysis, it will ask you to summarise the journal article but rather, analyse its implications, its reasoning, its perspective and view. Why is he writing this? How does he approach the problem? etc. etc. The unit outline is an excellent guide on this.

he even included a review by 4 kids on the movie "Antz" , 3 of them summarised it and one of them critically analysed it

The research task consisted of an option between 2 topics, you start from scratch without knowledge of anything about it. its a serious piece which asks for at least 8-9 journal sources (Excluding the journals printed in your materials). It asks for some originality in the 3000 words.

The final is the most important, it is the be all and end all. if u got HD for seminar and research tasks and fail final, u fail the lot and vice versa.

It will consist of problem scenarios and will ask you to apply rather than regurgitate what u learnt. Cramming isnt an option, and consistent and hard work in the weekly readings and seminar articles are essential.

Overall: A highly interesting unit that requires dedication

 

[Tabris]

ECON311: Macroeconomic Policy.

This unit challenges alot of the mechanics that underpinned your analysis in 2nd and 1st year macro. I was taught by Bill Junor and it was very interesting and tossed quite abit of the stuff u learnt earlier out the window. The convenor changed since he retired, and i dont know whether the structure would be the same

ECON335: Economics of Financial Institutions.

Lectures: 3 hour slab (no tutes) that is ilectured so u dont have to rock up at all! (except the exams)!

Very interesting unit taught by a very enthusiastic lecturer (Sean Turnell). The material is relevant and the principles and content is very relevant to the current crises. It is useful in understanding the interaction between the bank and the economy and not difficult to understand.

The slides are useful, easy to follow and comprehend. You can understand most of it without reference to the lecture, but u will miss out the Sean's good performance.

The textbook was optional since exam material is directly drawn from the slides rather than the textbook. So you can get a HD pretty much without the book. The book (from what i have read and heard) is an overkill.

Assessment structure - 20% MC, 30% in lecture essay, 50% final

The MC was like any other ECON MC u have done, the style is pretty much the same. Most people got 14+ and qutie a few got close to 20.

The essay was more like a series of short answers from prescribed readings. E.g.
What is microfinance? How is it done? What are its objectives? what has been its strenghts and sucess? or weaknesses? etc. etc.

Not difficult and most people got 14+.


Final is a 2 hour exam. Sean was kind enough to provide 7 options of which 3 must be answered. The questions are again similar to the in class exam, but shorter. Usually the answer pops straight on your head and u know what to write. He also tried to link it back to the crises, e.g. in light of the current crises....what do u think about x, y, z or how do you think it will impact of bank's etc. etc.

My experience (and my friend's) was just memorising series of dot points after dot points and expand. Factors affecting bank's liquidity - a, b, c, d, e. Characteristics of .....x, y,z. Weakness and disadvantages - a, b, c, d, e....you get the picture, its very similar to 1st and 2nd year ECON units.

Overall: an enjoyable, relevant and cruisy unit.

 

[Tabris]

As for the Econometrics unit electives, i am not a fan of maths and ECON141 was more than enough for me!

I chose something which was abit more relevant in light of Environmental policies: ECON359 Environmental Economics.

The unit is not popular (15-20 people) but nonetheless interesting and very cruisy.

The lectures was very interesting as you apply economic principles in solving environmental problems. You will be examining and applying economic principles to areas such as:

-economic valuation of res communes (common resources)
-Natural resources such as forestry and mining - optimal extraction rates etc.
-Water pricing and flows as well as property rights in water (think Darling Murray)
-Fisheries and extraction as well as governance.
-Carbon emissions and management of trading scheme (very relevant)
-basic Lagrangian methods in optimisation, e.g. price and quantity of permits, MC, MB etc.

The textbook is not 100% neccesary but may be useful to go through and some interesting cases. Also the maths guide regarding the lagrangian maths in the textbook is a must. So....goto the reserve and pick it up if ur not 100% keen.
The notes are easy to follow as well as the textbook. There are no tutes, jsut 2 x 2 hr lectures/week. No ilectures though

The exam structure is vrey simple, a mid sem (40%) which consists of short answer questions and a 60% which consists of more and slightly longer questions. They are straightforward and the answer is fairly clear cut - usually a list of a, b,c ,d ,e, when answering questions like "What are the factors of...." or "What is the impact....." "What are the strategies and methods to....."

Overall: Interesting unit that applies economic thinking and approach to solve environmental problems.

 

[sja]

Hey Tabris thanks for all your help I appreciate it a whole lot.