Re: Subject Reviews
This thread is great. I thought i'd contribute something seeing as how i've been reading some really helpful reviews on some of the subjects i've chosen to do next year.
***EDUF1019 Human Development and Education
Ease 10/10
They gave us the exams questions beforehand so we had to prepare. All the information needed was provided in the reader.
Lecturer 2/10
Jean Ashton is a nice enough lady, but she wasn't much of a lecturer. Her lecture notes were very bland and many people stopped attending her lectures. I didn't even use any of the stuff off the lectures for my exam.
Interest 7/10
Except the ICE component which deserves a 0/10 as it was a massive waste of time
Overall 7/10
A vast improvement from the terrible EDUF1018 subject I did the semester before. Human development was much more straightforward and easy to follow. Where EDUF1018 was all over the place, jumping from one unrelated topic to the next, EDUF1019 was very logical in its structural manner. The only things I disliked about EDUF1019 were mainly a) its lackluster lectures and b) the ICE component of it. Totally unrelated to the main bit of the course. It should have been a separate subject. Also, it was absolutely too much effort expected for 10 measly % of the overall mark.
***ANHS1602 Greek and Roman Myth
Ease 7/10
There were a lot of myths/names to rememeber. After a while you start getting confused/muddled by them. There were weekly quizzes during tutorial periods on the week's readings and they can get annoying, but you will get used to it. On the up-side though, the quizzes really helped jog my memory and thus I wasnt it so much of a panic come exam time.
Lecturer 6/10
Prof. Csapo seemed very very into his area. His lectures were intense and detailed imo, and I found it hard to concentrate during his lectures. The lecturer for the Roman part was much more easier to follow. I didn't feel obliged to attend this lectures since the textbook was king for this subject. You *need* the textbook for this subject.
Interest 10/10
I love Greek myth and I really enjoyed this subject. Anyone who finds Greek/Roman myth fascinating should definately give this one a go.
Overall 9/10
It was a lovely, well-thought out subject. If you persist throughout the semester, keep up with all the readings and what not you will definately have a fun time.
***RLST1002 History of God
Ease: 5/10
It was extremly difficult for me to follow some of the topics covered in this subject. It's quite an extensive unit, covering major past and current religions in a matter of weeks. It was a good thing the exam was a multiple choice, because I don't know how I would have survived if they asked for essay responses.
Lecturer 3/10
I found that on a whole the lecturers were hard to follow. Given they were lecturering on such broad, dense topics, many of the lecturers were way too fast and full-on in their explanations of things. I suppose they couldn't help it. They know so much, and want to convey so much to us in just 2 measly hours. The only topics I could follow were the ones where I had a sound prior knowledge of. That is why I would only recommend this subject to people who have a good understanding of at least one or two religions covered in this unit.
Interest 5/10
I find this one too subjective to judge. It all depends on whether you have an interest on the religious traditions that will be covered. More likely than not though, you will find some blander than the others.
Overall 6/10
The major essay is king in this subject. Do well in this essay and you should get an okay mark in the end. Choose something you're most interested or knowledgeable about and hit it. Multiple choice Exam was pretty straightforward. The rest of the marks went to tutorial participation and presentation.
***SCLG1002 Introduction to Sociology 2
Ease 7/10
Lecturer 7/10 (except for that quantitative guy who deserves a 1/10. i avoided all his lectures except for the first and last ones)
Interest 7/10
I found the subject went from interesting to boring. The beginning stuff on consumption, culture, celebrity, community etc was all fun to learn about but it ended on a bad note with all that stuff on learning how to do sociology. The ending I found was both confusing and dry.
Overall 7/10
It wasnt a hard subject I suppose but it was bad enough to put me off from choosing another sociology subject, at least for the time being. I was annoyed with the confusion over the course readers. They made us buy 3' 'parts'. The second one was paper thin and consisted only of journal articles you could retrieve yourself on the internet. I didn't buy the 3rd part because I found most online. The exam was pretty straightforward. 4 parts covering the 4 main areas of the subject.