Business & Economics Subject Review Thread (1 Viewer)

[ProdigyInspired]

Unit Code: ACCG100
Difficulty: Easy
Lecturer: Forgot her name. Female w/ Viet Accent.
Tutor: Fareeza Khan
Year and Semester Taken: 2017 S1
Workload: Moderate-Kind of Heavy
Comments: The subject is very easy with its methodical accounting. Recognising when to use different methods and the different formats of accounting is crucial. After that, it's not much. There is some rote content and little maths involved, but overall a very comfortable subject. Get used to learning Excel and charge your laptop before coming. During our Semester we had to use a laptop for like 9 classes for 1hour and 30mins.
Assessment Breakdown: Marked Homework (2.5%/5% each time marked: all weeks, marking is random but commonly occurs over each class, you can know when it is marked if you have friends doing earlier classes, but not always accurate), Interactive Assignment (10% total, marked every week it is done and you may have to complete a task in class in an allocated timeframe), Case Study Report (15%, may be harshly marked), In-class Test (15%, covers a variety of topics and is half the effort of the FE pretty much), FE (55%, no formula sheet, fairly straightforward test that tests you on most concepts)

Unit Code: ECON111
Difficulty: Moderate-Difficult
Lecturer: Prashan
Tutor: Mahak
Year and Semester Taken: 2017 S1
Workload: Moderate
Comments: Subject can have some confusing concepts, but overall understandable if you spend enough time on it. There are a SHIT ton of graphs and curves that you have to remember, but luckily the FE focused on the last few weeks of lectures. There is initial content for maths but later it's more about graphs. Helps if you understand coordinate geometry i.e. how they move positively/negatively. The FE was kind and gave us various questions to choose out of the contents learnt.
Assessment Breakdown: Participation in class (6%?, just answer questions at least once and notify the tutor at the end of the class, sometimes he doesn't ask and just puts everyone's name down), HW (5% total, Quizzes are given as part of homework and marked at the end of the unit, no time limit) ,Online Quizzes (10% total, quizzes answered in about 20 mins regarding lecture content, only 3 with the best marks were marked), In-class Quiz (5%, 3 quizzes in class with 5 questions, no open book), Individual Assignment (15%, questions regarding content, requiring you to draw graphs and write answers), FE (60%)

 

[thor1990]

Unit Code: ACCG300
Difficulty: Medium
Lecturer: Ranjith
Tutor: Ranjith
Year and Semester Taken: 2017 S1
Workload: Medium
Comments: Difficult final that is hard to achieve high marks in. Tutorial assessments can be hard. Make sure you do this subject in Semester 2 as it is run by a less strict lecturer and do not go in Ranjith's tutorial.

 

[BLIT2014]

Unit Code: ACCG300
Difficulty: Medium
Lecturer: Ranjith
Tutor: Ranjith
Year and Semester Taken: 2017 S1
Workload: Medium
Comments: Difficult final that is hard to achieve high marks in. Tutorial assessments can be hard. Make sure you do this subject in Semester 2 as it is run by a less strict lecturer and do not go in Ranjith's tutorial.

I thought the inclass assessments/tasks most week were hard/impossible to complete?

 

[ilikecats]

Lol Ranjith. I remember him from one summer course I did.

 

[thor1990]

I thought the inclass assessments/tasks most week were hard/impossible to complete?

Yeah some more than others which ranjith chose to count the hard ones while other tutors picked the easier ones

 

[thor1990]

Lol Ranjith. I remember him from one summer course I did.

Lol accg200?

 

[BLIT2014]

Yeah some more than others which ranjith chose to count the hard ones while other tutors picked the easier ones

I enjoyed the content but we definitely were owed more time for the exam+ assessments. Did you manage to finish the exam?

 

[BLIT2014]

Unit Code: BUSL301 Aka Corps Law
Difficulty: Moderate
Lecturer: Zaman
Tutor: Julian
Year and Semester Taken: 2016
Workload: Moderate

Assessment breakdown:

20% Tutorial Participation
Do not expect to get 100% in participation, the unit convenor explained that only people who could be expected to get 100% in the end of semester exam could possibly get 20/20. Do the homework, + have cases ready. Given that a significant proportion of the class didn't do much preparation at all, it should be relatively easy to contribute. If you end up in Julian's class have a name tag on the desk so that you can ensure that you'll be remembered for contributing.Have both textbooks, and I suggest you do the readings. Even if you aren't entirely 100% about something have a go. I'd recommend that you start a study group, and go through/discuss potential solutions before getting to class.

20% Online Quizz
The hardest part was pretty much the fact that some of the questions + answers had dodgy english. I'd recomend that you do some broader readings on the judgement of cases mentioned in the lectures, and this will better equip you to answer the multi-guess questions.

60% Final Exam
Must pass final to pass course. I.e get 50% or more. No cheatsheet which made it difficult as it is a fairly content heavy subject! Look at past exams and see what tends to pop up. Do the practice multiple choice that are uploaded as a sample, they may well appear in the exam. Go to consultations such as Julian's and have prepared answers to some past exams. No negative marking so if in doubt bullshit away!

Comments:
For me personally the lectures were not really helpful. It felt like stuff that we'd done a lot in previous units already was over explained and stuff that we hadn't learnt about previously was briefly touched on. Found Julian's tutorials really helpful, and he explained the concepts in greater clarity so I actually felt like I understood what was going on in the subject. I'd also recommend that you purchase both textbooks, as the textbooks didn't always have enough information without the other one.
I found this unit challenging but throughly enjoyed the participation within class.

 

[thor1990]

I enjoyed the content but we definitely were owed more time for the exam+ assessments. Did you manage to finish the exam?

Nah not even close. Did anyone?

Worst part is I picked this as a 300 level elective but turns out it was hard. Couldn't find any easy one. So far easiest 300 level strangely has been afin353 (if anyone is looking for one)

 

[BLIT2014]

Unit Code: ACCG301
Difficulty: Moderate
Lecturer: Ranjith
Tutor: E ?
Year and Semester Taken: S1 2017
Workload: Moderate
Difficulty: Moderate. I'd lean towards it being "easier" if you performed well in the theory part of ACCG200 however time limits made it difficult.

Assessment breakdown:
Assessed Coursework 15%
The questions provided are fairly different from the homework, but at least you get a free 1 mark for doing your homework out of a possible 3 for each week assessed coursework. You'll struggle with time, so practice questions under really tight conditions.

Case Study/Research Report 20%
10% presentation (Individual) Marked on cohesiveness.
10% Case study : Use heaps of peer reviewed articles.

Class Test 15%
Google the previous class tests as a method of preparation.

Final Examination 50%
Do not have to pass final to pass course! Probably good given that no one I knew finished it.

Comments:
The practical questions were easier then ACCG200, but you aren't given enough time. Very theoretically intensive course. Probably be easier if you don't do it when this unit convenor is taking although he is a decent lecturer. I love management accounting, but I felt that I would have performed better if I had been given more time.

(Currently procrastinating on uni )

 

[BLIT2014]

Unit Code: BBA350
Lecturer: Ed

Difficulty: Easy/moderate
Workload: Medium
Readings take a lot of time. To speed summarising up just use the questions provided for each tutorial on the reading.
Year and Semester Taken: 2017 semester 2

Assessment breakdown:


Assignment 1
1000 word essay. I’d recommend you do it as “themes” and use sub-headings to structure your response. Do not forget to include the readings that he has put up. You will be required to have a minimum of x readings included from the ilearn site.

Assignment 2
2000 word essay. I’d recommend you do it as “themes” and use sub-headings to structure your response. Do not forget to include the readings that he has put up. You will be required to have a minimum of x readings included from the ilearn site.


Final examinations 40%*
No hints were given in the final lecture so probably isn’t the end of the world if you can’t attend them. Make sure you’ve got decent summaries of the lecture readings because you’ll need them for the essays in the exam (You will need to do 2 essays which will require you to have done the readings as the essay will list the readings that you will need to refer to)

Comments:*
I enjoyed it. If you found BUS201 easy then this should be a piece of cake. All assignments were individual and had no group components. It looks at strategy with a focus on neoliberalism, and aspects such as technical, environmental, ethical impacts. I would suggest doing the readings each week, and summarising. It’s not something that you really want to be doing at the last minute.
Probably the easiest elective to do at 300 level if you are okay at essays.

 

[Linda3958]

Unit Code: AFAS200
Lecturer: Nidal
Difficulty: easy
Workload: incredibly low
Assessment breakdown:
Midsem 20%
Assignment 20%
Homework and marking others 20%
Final 40%

Comments:
The least amount of content out of any subject ive done. 10 lectures each one is max 45 mins with most around 25-30mins. Very easy content as well. Midsem and final are both multiple choice and online. Easy to get full marks. Average for midsem was 90%. Homework submissions and marking again free marks. The negatives are the assignment is 3500 words and requires a bit of time and research. It is also marked very harshly to bring down the marks I suspect. Final grade also seemed to be scaled down presumably for similar reasons. Overall great subject done externally with minimal work. My top recommendation for a people unit.

How hard are these online tests and how do they work? Can you do them at home in your own time or is there a specific place, date and time?

 

[ilikecats]

How hard are these online tests and how do they work? Can you do them at home in your own time or is there a specific place, date and time?

I just took this in session 3 (so the course structure may vary slightly).

Online quizzes were available for 48 hours at a time. You attempted the quiz whenever you were able to during that time. From memory you had 2 hours, and about 14 multiple choice questions. Veyr straight forward.

We also had discussion forums, which again, were online for 48 hours at a time. A bit confusing to explain, but basically the tutor posts a question and you have to respond. Your mark is based upon the quality of your response, and you can see other students response.

The only other assesment we had was the final exam. This was also online. You had to start within a 1 hour window, and complete it by a certain time. You could continue from home if you wished, and I think they also organised a room on campus for those who needed it.

All assesment tasks were open book

 

[Bui Xuan Truong]

I just took this in session 3 (so the course structure may vary slightly).

Online quizzes were available for 48 hours at a time. You attempted the quiz whenever you were able to during that time. From memory you had 2 hours, and about 14 multiple choice questions. Veyr straight forward.

We also had discussion forums, which again, were online for 48 hours at a time. A bit confusing to explain, but basically the tutor posts a question and you have to respond. Your mark is based upon the quality of your response, and you can see other students response.

The only other assesment we had was the final exam. This was also online. You had to start within a 1 hour window, and complete it by a certain time. You could continue from home if you wished, and I think they also organised a room on campus for those who needed it.

All assesment tasks were open book

Was the final exam all multiple choice questions? I'm doing this unit this sem and it's said on ilearn there will be a case study in the final exam, which I'm pretty sure will make it harder to earn high marks compared to previous years.

 

[ilikecats]

Was the final exam all multiple choice questions? I'm doing this unit this sem and it's said on ilearn there will be a case study in the final exam, which I'm pretty sure will make it harder to earn high marks compared to previous years.

It was multiple choice and case study.

You are not given the questions before hand, bit you are given some general case information. The questions in this are most similar to the discussion forum ones, but they are by far the most difficult questions you'll get in the unit.

 

[Bui Xuan Truong]

It was multiple choice and case study.

You are not given the questions before hand, bit you are given some general case information. The questions in this are most similar to the discussion forum ones, but they are by far the most difficult questions you'll get in the unit.

Thanks a lot for your response

Were they lenient with the marking? (The convenor for this semester is still Mark Stewart)

 

[atang33]

Hi, I have a bit of time rn, so I m gonna make a few reviews for some units (mainly actuarial) I have done to help out future students. I will do reviews for the acst3xx units I took this semester later.

Unit Code: ACST212
Year and Semester Taken: 2016 S2
Lecturer: Jim Farmer
Tutor: Jim Farmer/Poon Leung
Workload: Low
Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult

Assessment Breakdown:
40% weekly quizzes over first 7 weeks
60% finals

Comments:
A subject that is feared by many and should intellectually challenge you. This is the toughest acst2xx unit imo but still a step below acst3xx units as it doesn't have much content. This unit was run by the reputable Jim Farmer since 2002 bar 2003 and 2018. He enjoys torturing his students with his tough questions but is very experienced and is great at explaining concepts. Same goes for the legendary tutor, Poon, so make sure you attend the tutorials to clear up any confusions. Understanding the basics is key before you can tackle the harder questions.

Historically, they only ask routine questions in quizzes, its the exams that you have to look out for. Try to accumulate as many marks as you can through quizzes as you only need a pass in this unit since fortunately this isn't an exemption unit.

There are only around 2 things to remember per week, but don't be fooled, the questions they ask are not easy in the finals. In our year, there were only 19/100 marks that are straightforward in the finals. However, don't be intimidated, if you practice a lot, this unit is far from impossible. Make sure you expose yourself to a lot of relevant questions throughout the semester in preparation for the exams as cramming does not work for this unit. Time management is also important for the exams. If you do get stuck, take a deep breath and move onto the next question, come back to it if you have time in the end.


Unit Code: ACST255
Year and Semester Taken: 2017 S2
Lecturer: Chong It Tan
Tutor: Lachlan O'Hare
Workload: Very Low
Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult

Assessment Breakdown:
10% week 3 Class Test
30% Mid-Sem Exam
60% Final Exam

Comments: An unit usually taught by Jim Farmer and David Pitt who is also another great lecturer. It is very tempting to slack off as there are usually so few assessments in this unit, which isn't a good thing.

Only knowing the formulas is not sufficient to get credit+, you also need to understand how to apply the concepts/formulas to get exemption. The difficulty of deviations in this unit are nothing compared to acst3xx units and hence are mostly examinable. You only need basic statistical knowledge, common sense and basic algebraic manipulation skills to understand most proofs to understand most proofs in this unit. However, sometimes you just don't see that "trick" to prove something under exam conditions, but don't worry, as you don't need to ace proof questions unless you are aiming for 90+. Having a full understanding of the materials in the first few units is cruical as the later topics apply these fundamentals to solve problems.

I mainly referred to Jim Farmer/Leonie's notes to learn the contents of this unit. Chong It although is new, is a very enthusiastic lecturer. We could see that he really cares about our learning experience and tries his best to inspire us. Lachlan will probably not tutor this unit again in the future but he was great at explaining concepts.

For the first class test, Chong It gave too much time/too little questions. Most people were able to finish it in 20 mins when 45 mins were given and the average was 70%. The mid sem had too many questions and not even the top student could finish the paper, the average was 37% with top mark being 68% only. We were lucky that they scaled the unit a lot that year otherwise the exemption fail rate would be much higher.


Unit Code: MKTG127
Year and Semester Taken: 2017 S2
Lecturer: Sisi Yang
Tutor: Sisi Yang
Workload: Extremely High
Difficulty: Easy

Assessment Breakdown:
2 Assignments (20%, 25%) with two parts each, an essay component and an Excel component.
Mid sem (15%)
Finals (40%)

Comments: Despite the content can be interesting, I found the assignments very easy but extremely tedious. I also dislike how they force you to memorise random facts in order to do well in tests/exams. Nevertheless, its a people unit that only requires rote learning so its definitely a GPA booster given that you have the patience to grind through the assignments.

Attendance is not compulsory but I would recommend watching the lectures as the lecture notes can be stale without a voice going through them. I only went to tutorials to hand in assignments and collect assessments as they just read off the solutions for the tutes questions.

I don't recall learning any transferable skills from this unit and I found the unit boring by the end of the sem. I just scraped a 85 for this unit which is very lucky considering all I did was identifying patterns in their past papers.

 

[atang33]

Unit Code: ACST306
Year and Semester Taken: 2018 S1
Lecturer: Jiwook Jang
Tutor: Barry Sun (Student Tutor)
Workload: Very Low
Difficulty: Difficult

Assessment Breakdown:
20% Assignment
20% Mid Sem Exam with one A4 allowed
60% Finals with one A4 allowed

Comments: The assignment is basically free marks, around 75% of the class got 100% for it in my year. It asks straightforward questions and it is easy to eliminate any possible errors by checking with your classmates. You must look out for the exams as the gap between the lecture notes and exam questions is big. The lecture notes make this unit seems like an 100 level unit so don't be fooled. The tute questions will allow you to consolidate your understanding of the fundamentals before you are prepared to tackle past papers. The tutor usually just go through tute solutions in class which is provided after class anyway, so there's no reason to go unless you want to ask questions.

There is a "trick" in almost every exam question and it is almost impossible to identify the trick without seeing the question being done before. Luckily, Jiwook usually recycles these tricks from previous years and he provides the solution to every past paper on iLearn. Some questions that might have similar wordings to questions from tutes/lecture notes but actually requires a different approach because the context is different. It can be tough uncovering the reasoning behind the "trick" in some past paper solutions as he does not provide very detailed explanations in the solutions.

For some topics, he goes through a lot of example questions taken from past papers. The questions he shows in class is usually considered as trivial or easy-marks in exams and only require simple application of formulas. Therefore, make sure you can at least do those questions in exams to maximise your chance of getting an exemption for this subject. In my opinion and judging from the historical trend in marks, the mid sem is relatively harder than the finals. His lecture notes and tute questions seem to come directly from the recommended textbook. If you are really keen on topping the class, maybe you should have a look at the textbook.


Unit Code: ACST356
Year and Semester Taken: 2018 S1
Lecturer: David Pitt (First Half)/Jackie Li (Second Half)
Tutor: Jacie
Workload: Low
Difficulty: Difficult

Assessment Breakdown:
5% Assignment in Week 3
15% Mid Sem Exam with one A4 allowed in Week 7
10% Assignment in Week 12
70% Finals with one A4 allowed

Comments: The only unit out of the 3 acst units this sem that I kept somewhat up to date with. The content appealed to me because almost everything taught is accompanied with examples that can be related to a real-life scenario. The notes are comprehensive and are easy to follow. Both lecturers are engaging (especially David). I did not go to many tutes because the tute solutions provided are detailed enough.

The first half of the unit is basically STAT272 revision + parameter estimation techniques which were mostly introduced in STAT271. The second half of the unit is all about applying the statistical materials from the first half. A big part of the second half investigates the distribution of the aggregate claim size (sum of all claims in a single policy over an unit of time).

David commented that our mid-sem exam is the easiest paper he has written since he started teaching this unit (around 15 years ago), yet our results are disappointing (average mark is only 57%). I do agree that our mid sem paper is quite straightforward compared to the other 10 past mid sems I have done. The questions that are viewed as not straightforward often have a "special" starting point which is tough to identify unless you have seen a similar question before. In our finals, the questions are equally split between the 2 lecturers, i.e. David and Jackie wrote 50 marks each. Everyone found Jackie's part tough (especially Q6 and 7 for those interested) as the methods of approach to some questions are quite unconventional. As always, the best way to prepare for exams is to do past papers.


Unit Code: ACST358
Year and Semester Taken: 2018 S1
Lecturer: Xian Zhou
Tutor: Kenny Mok
Workload: Low
Difficulty: Difficult

Assessment Breakdown:
10% Take-Home Quiz
30% Take-Home Mid-Sem
60% Open Book Finals (Only hardcopy and no bags)

Comments: The lecture notes are jampacked with technical language that can be hard to understand at times. The fact that Xian goes through the lecture notes at a blazing speed does not help either. He finished the entire course in 11 weeks. Luckily, you don't really need to understand every detail in the notes to be able to solve typical questions. Unlike 306 and 356, there isn't a big gap between the tutes and exams. The exam questions are actually quite similar to tute and mid sem questions. Therefore, you should focus more on learning how to do typical questions instead of spending too much time on the notes.

I would recommend going to Kenny's tutorials as he is quite helpful, showing you the efficient and ideal approach to each question. The solution provided does not have much explanation so it is best to attend tutes. One problem I had with the earlier tutes is that the materials covered has not been covered in class yet. Therefore, it demotivated a lot of students from attending tutes (including me) as we would need to read ahead in order to attempt the tutes. I am not sure if this was true for later topics as I didn't attend any after Week 3 or so.

The take-home quiz consisted of 8 MCQs, with negative marking in place to ensure that random guessing will yield 0 marks on average and we were given 2 days to complete it. They are tricky but the answers can all be found inside the lecture notes. The take-home midsem consisted of 8 MCQs + 4 long questions, we were given a week to complete it. The same negative marking system for the MCQs is in place for this assessment. The finals used to contain MCQs but they removed them since 2017 and placed them in the take-home midsem instead which makes the finals less frustrating to deal with.

There is a trend of him recycling questions from previous finals in the finals paper but sadly the solutions to past finals are never released. Everything in this unit is quite computationally intensive, so writing and calculation speed are important in the finals. During the exam, I wrote as fast as I could, did not refer to my notes much, yet I left 4 marks blank and only had time to write the required expression to evaluate for some.

 

[Stuzul]

Unit Code: AFIN312 (Capstone)
Year and Semester Taken: 2018 S1
Lecturer: Lorenzo Casavecchia
Tutor: Maggie Sun
Workload: High
Difficulty: Difficult

Assessment Breakdown:
15% Quizzes (one 5%, one 10%)
30% Major Assignment
55% Finals with one A4 allowed

Comments:
Great Subject, definitely one of the harder finance subjects though. Major Assignment required you to really know your stuff and have done boatloads of research in order to get good marks. Final exam was easier than previous finals, . Going off my mark, I'm assuming it was scaled quite a bit.
Pro tip for the assignments: get on a Bloomberg terminal and download professional analyst reports to get a feel of what they think the key price movers are (relevant for most mac finance subjects in 3rd year)


Unit Code: BBA315
Year and Semester Taken: 2018 S1
Lecturer: Con Korkofinkas
Workload: Moderate
Difficulty: Difficult


Comments: The worst part about this unit was that it was all over the place. The lecture slides weren't concise and messy, despite the content not being (IMO) that hard. Would not recommend as an elective.

 

[BLIT2014]

ECON110
Year and Semester Taken: 2018 S1
Lecturer: Marjan
Difficulty:
I found it Easy others found it "Moderate".
Workload: Light/Medium

Assessment Tasks:
Online Quizzes:
These were untimed so you could have your textbook/notes open whilst doing the Quiz, and you don't have to worry about running out of time.
Narrative Interview Assignment:
600-800 words interview on someone you knows experience of an economic event. I would recommend that you look at the rubric, and prompt the person to make comments that relate to your course material specifically.
Mock RBA Assignment:
Video (Done in a group) 5%
Report ( Written sololy) 10%
Although the report is written individually your group will be expected to come to a similar conclusion in each of their reports so will need to discuss assumptions.
Tutorial Engagement/Participation
I think we got marked for turning up, and each week the tutor would check that at least one person per group had done an assigned homework question. I presume that was how we got the participation mark as I am unsure if the tutor actually knew our names.

Comments:
Majan is a terrific lecturer and if she is running of the lectures, I suggest that you attend hers. As an economics enthusiast I throughly enjoyed the course, and found it more "academic" then microenomics principles. The challenging economic maths is not introduced yet in the course. Most people would find it helpful to buy the textbook. Would also recommend that you attempt the homework before class.