No HSC Biology (1 Viewer)

[ashllis92]

I was reading through all the different majors in the science handbook to give mean idea what I could study and what sort of subjects I should think about doing next year to keep my options open. Most of the ones I thought sounded pretty interesting said maths, chem and bio in first year. Thing is, I haven't done bio at all this year so I was wondering whether or not I should have a quick look through the HSC course to get a vague idea of what most people would know or if the courses are pretty basic anyway and so it should be relatively easy to pick up?

 

[runnable]

All my friends doing Science did not do Bio during their HSC.

 

[missanonymous7]

Yeah, HSC bio isn't really essential prior knowledge, even for the first-year bio courses. I did HSC bio, but a lot of the more important stuff gets covered again by the lecturers anyway so that everyone's on the same page. You might just have a slightly steeper learning curve. It's not like chemistry, where if you plunge into first-year courses requiring previous chem knowledge, you'd have a very, very difficult time if you hadn't done any chemistry beforehand.

 

[Tim035]

Yeah, HSC bio isn't really essential prior knowledge, even for the first-year bio courses. I did HSC bio, but a lot of the more important stuff gets covered again by the lecturers anyway so that everyone's on the same page. You might just have a slightly steeper learning curve. It's not like chemistry, where if you plunge into first-year courses requiring previous chem knowledge, you'd have a very, very difficult time if you hadn't done any chemistry beforehand.

QFT.


If you really wanted to get some basic knowledge down pat, you could go over basic cell anatomy (where the nucleus, mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum etc.. are) + DNA structure. But it's not necessary, the lectures are fairly decent and taught at a rate where it's not hard to grasp hold of the major concepts.

 

[TehAzner]

Yeah, HSC bio isn't really essential prior knowledge, even for the first-year bio courses. I did HSC bio, but a lot of the more important stuff gets covered again by the lecturers anyway so that everyone's on the same page. You might just have a slightly steeper learning curve. It's not like chemistry, where if you plunge into first-year courses requiring previous chem knowledge, you'd have a very, very difficult time if you hadn't done any chemistry beforehand.

I would agree with that. A similar comparison would be the HSC subject of Economics. Lots of people who are studying Commerce at University may not have taken Economics and still get Ds/HDs. They have a slight advantage, but as always, university is a place where anyone can excel.

 

[Will Shakespear]

You might be better off without HSC Bio because it gives a bit of a warped and illogical view of the science

 

[Tim035]

You might be better off without HSC Bio because it gives a bit of a warped and illogical view of the science

Are you referring to all the stuff on ethics with transgenic animals that you learn?

 

[Will Shakespear]

Are you referring to all the stuff on ethics with transgenic animals that you learn?

no it's just the structure of the course, like they group the circulatory system in animals with vascular tissue in plants, because "they both use water as a medium"

well there's not many uni departments of "things that use water as a medium-ology" is there?

 

[Tim035]

no it's just the structure of the course, like they group the circulatory system in animals with vascular tissue in plants, because "they both use water as a medium"

well there's not many uni departments of "things that use water as a medium-ology" is there?

Lol I actually remember that - Going through the dot points, writing up all these notes on plants and then suddenly it says something along the lines of 'give 4 reasons for the importance of water as a solute in the mammalian vascular system'

Blueprint of life was fairly logically ordered.

Disease and health, I remember having to learn Koch's postulates and pasteurization


Ahh good times....

 

[tmahendradatta]

physics and chem>>>>>>>> bio. you don't need bio.

 

[ashllis92]

So I actually asked this question at the info day last Tuesday and the guy said it was better that i hadn't studied it at all because the HSC Bio course was shit (well, I paraphrase but you could tell he wanted to say that) so I'm not worried at all now

 

[tmahendradatta]

lol; it wasn't a tall asian guy at the medical science stall was it?

 

[ashllis92]

I don't really remember but I have a feeling he was caucasian, why do you ask?

 

[tmahendradatta]

Cause a buddy and I were at the medsci stand. He is pretty blunt normally. I would've been surprised.

 

[ashllis92]

i think i did tlk to him about medsci, he just said dont do it because you wouldnt like it, you should do adv sci coz theres more flexibility...

blunt yes but i appreciated it!

 

[Ostentatious]

HSC Bio = First Year.

Nothing to worry about.

 

[Lydia_88]

1st year bio teaches so much more than hsc biology. It provides you a different insight of the subject...