Okay, this is the Handbook for Mechatronic Engineering "major":
http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/plans/2014/MTRNA13710.html
This is the Handbook for the "program":
http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/programs/2014/3710.html
The program indicates the Typical Units of Credit per semester is 24 UOC. You must complete a minimum of 192 UOC of relevant courses. This obviously breaks down to 4 years. For the great majority of courses that UNSW offers at undergraduate level, they are 6 UOC each. So that means typically, students undertake 4 courses per semester.
So, you need to choose 4 courses in Semester 1. You can't pick courses that require a prerequisite. For example, Maths 1B requires you to have done Maths 1A.
If you look at the major web page, it says the following:
Choose ONE of:
MATH1131 Mathematics 1A (6 UOC)
MATH1141 Higher Mathematics 1A (6 UOC)
And ONE of:
MATH1231 Mathematics 1B (6 UOC)
MATH1241 Higher Mathematics 1B (6 UOC)
And ONE of:
PHYS1121 Physics 1A (6 UOC)
PHYS1131 Higher Physics 1A (6 UOC)
Plus these following 2 courses:
ENGG1000 Engineering Design (6 UOC)
MMAN1300 Engineering Mechanics (6 UOC)
And ONE of:
COMP1911 Computing 1A (6 UOC)
COMP1917 Computing 1 (6 UOC)
Plus choose 2 electives from the Year 1 Elective List
You have the option to choose:
- Maths 1A or Higher Maths 1A;
- Phys 1A or Higher Phys 1A;
- ENGG1000 since it is available in Semester 1;
- COMP1911 or COMP1917 (it states COMP1917 is preferred); and
- two electives from that list - it will indicate which semesters are available.
You cannot choose:
- Maths 1B or Higher Maths 1B because (Higher) Maths 1A is a prerequisite;
- MMAN1300 since it requires MATH and PHYS (and so it is normally done in Semester 2).
So from the list of courses you can choose from, there are at least 4 courses you can choose from. However, you are in luck because the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering publishes recommended or sample plans for you to follow:
http://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/mechanical-engineering/mechatronic-engineering-program-outlines
The Mechatronic Engineering plan can be found here:
http://www.engineering.unsw.edu.au/...iles/uploads/BE_Plan_3710_MTRN_Basic_2013.pdf
You are not required to follow that plan as is; I would recommend you to do COMP1917 (or COMP1911) in Semester 1 rather than Semester 2, then push back that elective to second semester or even second year, depending on how you move things around and which first year engineering electives interest you.
But I guess since it is a new plan, the majority of commencing students will follow that plan and do COMP1917 in Semester 2 and not as many in Semester 1, so it may be better because of that. However, getting COMP1917 done alongside ENGG1000 is good because the workload of COMP1917 is polarising compared to ENGG1000, so it complements it well. It's your choice.
Also consider your timetable options. If you select a course, for example MATH1131, it has "
Further Information: See Class Timetable" in the blue box. Click on that link and it will redirect you to the timetable options.
The other method is to go to Class Utilisation:
https://my.unsw.edu.au/classutil/ This updates more frequently (but not immediately).
There are also timetabling apps available such as
Rectangles,
Octangles,
Circles etc. But bear in mind that these are not official and may have errors. You may be better off using that as a guide, then manually making your desired timetable.