I am trying to decide whether to do advanced (CHEM1911) or specialist (CHEM1991) Chemistry 1A at USyd.
- How much more work is specialist when compared with advanced?
- How much more do I have to attend campus to do specialist, and would it be a bad idea if COVID-19 comes back and everything moves online?
- If you (or had friends) who did either one, what was it like balancing it with other units and were the exams actually harder than standard stream?
Thanks in advance
I haven't done the exact courses since I went to UNSW, but we also have Chemistry 1A and Higher Chemistry 1A courses.
The higher level of courses usually just means you do some extra content the normal level subject doesn't. Exam is a bit harder because of those extra questions but most of the core content is the same.
You will have to look at the timetable if there is more classes for the higher level, but usually there isn't it's just the lecture content goes more in depth.
Usually these higher level courses you find for chemistry, physics, maths are for people where their degree requires it. For example, people doing a major in those areas will be required to do the higher level course. For everyone else it is optional to do it. Generally speaking I would advise to just do the normal level one unless you are someone doing a major in that area (where it's required) or you are someone who is highly curious in that subject area and wants to learn some extra stuff.
If you aren't doing a major in that area and it's like your degree just requires you to do one or two chemistry subjects, then there isn't much benefit from doing the higher level. You could instead use that extra time on focusing on subjects relating specifically to your major and/or use it for other areas like getting a job/working, social and sports activities.
If you are doing the major in that area though it would be beneficial to do the higher level because you will most likely gain a more indepth and complex understanding of the content, which may be helpful for understanding things in future chemistry courses you do in year 2 and 3 of your degree.
I say that above because uni is a bit different to high school. In high school you want to ideally be doing the highest level subjects if your ability is up to that standard because it can benefit you in terms of the scaling of more difficult subjects if you are good at them. At uni it's not really the same, you can still get high marks like high distinction or distinction doing the normal level course with less workload and there is little to no scaling between the different levels.