Commerce @ Macq - How can I PREPARE for this course? (1 Viewer)

[samcase]

Hi everyone,

I am really interested in attending Macquarie uni for B Commerce but have absolutely no experience/knowledge in commerce/the business industry.

I did General Maths for HSC.

How can I prepare for the course?
Should I study 2unit+ext1 maths?
Read books about finance? Any uni text books I should buy in advance and read through before the course starts?

I would appreciate any tips/suggestions from anyone doing the course.

Regards,
Sam Casebrook


*3/8/11* thanks to everyone for answering!

 

[VIPPER]

I'm really interested in this too, if any commerce students majoring in accounting are reading this, what level of maths do you think is sufficient for studying at macquarie? 2Unit? The macquarie website only said 2Unit General mathematics though, so I'm not quite sure.

 

[rajputsingh]

I am a 3rd year law/com (accounting) student
For me personally I didn't do Maths in the hsc and have managed just fine. Th Maths in accounting is pretty much add and subtract.

But if you are doing straight commerce accounting there is a new course called prof accounting which I believe you must do now and there is more Maths involved eg ACCG 253 is supposed to be a real bitch! And it is a compulsory unit for straight accounting students. Another Maths core subject is ASCT 101 which was an absolute bitch of a subject for me. Every class was pretty much Maths and answering equations. It was simple Maths to most eg solving algebra, differential equations and some other Maths stuff but I hadn't done Maths since year 7. If you know how to solve equations, move values, find x, discount cash flows you should be sweet.

 

[Ritz1024]

accounting = easy math, if applied finance you need atleast 2 unit math (to be comfortable with econ241, accg329...ect). Still doable if you only did general math in HS, but need to study hard.

 

[bukwow]

I graduated from macq uni with a prof accg degree, from what i think you dont really need that much knowledge in maths. I was working and studying with a friend of mine doing the same degree as her and she only did general maths in high school and i did 4 unit maths. In the end she did alot better than me in grades in uni overall. The only subjects that are maths intensive are ACST101, which i think is still taught by david westcott? (he's been there for 10 years -.-) which consists of 70% calculations and 30% theory. The main thing in that subject is that you just need to know which numbers go in the formula then its not too bad.

Other subjects aren't too bad either, as they are mainly addition and subtraction. The only subject in the entire course which i think alot of general maths people will have trouble with is ACCG253 because alot of the calculations is based on financial instruments.

 

[astroe]

The maths is alright, shouldn't be too hard if you actually try and put your mind to it.
Take a look at the courses you would prospectively need to do:

http://www.handbook.mq.edu.au/2011/DegreesDiplomas/Degree/Bachelor+of+Commerce

See the specific units?
Check out the unit guide for each of them, where it'll tell you what textbook they're using. If you're bothered, go out and buy/borrow the book to see what's up.

http://www.businessandeconomics.mq....dents/student_resources/unit_outlines_summary

 

[kaz1]

lol, you're preparing for a uni course while still doing the hsc?

 

[rowdyroddy]

lol, you're preparing for a uni course while still doing the hsc?

kids these days...
focus on your bloody HSC then worry about uni, I am second year commerce at mq major in accounting, maths is not that hard, i only struggled with acst a bit, but few days of study did me fine, and i did general maths, its more just learning and remembering formulas and shit. you will be fine.

 

[VIPPER]

rowdy, or pretty much any bcomm students, do you's have any past papers of the maths intensive subjects for b.commerce?

i just finished accounting at tafe so i've gotta wait half a year to enrol.. dunno what i should even study at uni tbh, the normal commerce majoring in accounting or the b.com-prof accg. rofl

i got pretty dismal marks in the hsc for general maths, around 58 or something shit like that. so yeah, im self studying yr8-12 myself atm. hopefully i can grasp ext.1 before uni.

 

[Atlas]

samcase and Vipper: Well done on having so much initiative!

The level of maths required will vary depending on the units that you pick. Some units will require more math than others - before picking units, I checked the handbook and unit outline etc to find out.

I was terrible at math, but the numeracy centre really helped me out - so if you're willing to put in some extra time and effort, there's certainly help out there. LOL I also visited the tutor's consult hour every single week.

Uni textbooks: you can go to the co-op website and look up the list of textbooks for each subject, you can start reading up to get a better idea of what is required - but don't buy the books now because the book required might change by the time you do the unit - just go to the library for it.

 

[sean1990]

im a 3rd year law/ commerce (finance) student. I did 2 unit Maths- not brilliant at it but I got through.

the maths involved is not difficult but its application is. there are some units which contain some very difficult maths, so I would definately suggest doing 1 of those maths courses the uni offers- i don't think it'd be a bad idea, Maths123 or something like that.

the harder maths units are- Acst101- not hard but some difficult application, ACCG252 or 253- 252 is much harder.

Besides that, it will depend what area you want to go into. It would not be a bad idea to maybe flick through a HSC business studies textbook and have a look at the core subjects such as marketing, economics basics, management etc.

I think any prep you do will be beneficial but its not essential.

 

[Azure]

Look to be honest with you, you really don't need to go that far and prepare ahead of time.

Most first year commerce subjects are pretty easy (BBA102, MKTG101, ACCG100 especially) and you should be able to tear them without any prior study.

With that being said, if your heart is absolutely set on reading in advance then you can always type the unit code into google and look around for the Unit Outline. This will list the planned subjects that will be covered on a week by week basis as well as the text book used this semester.

A word of warning though - textbooks change all the time and when you actually enrol in the given subject you may find yourself having to buy another textbook.

In terms of actual mathematics, I don't really think you need to do anything to prepare. From my experience, everything is taught to you as you go along. Everything under the commerce umbrella has pretty straight forward maths except for finance (which really isn't THAT hard anyway). You could always take a maths subject as an elective (I think they count towards your people/planet unts) if you really feel you need it.

 

[Ritz1024]

I'll run you through bcom- prof.accg.

econ111 - high school math algebra and there is some simple calculus. But no point self study calculus unless you plan switch to econ

acst101 - plug the numbers to formula, easy

stat170/171 - accg student always choose stat170 eaiser than 171, high school general + 2u stat. Acturary student choose 171 but of course if you want something harder than do 171.

accg252/253 - i'd 252, but i do know is that 252 need way more math than 253. 253 more on theory.

rest of units pretty much either theory or simple math.

 

[VIPPER]

hey guys, as we're getting near the UAC end-year dates, i'm unsure of what to choose to put as a higher pref. for macquarie

I want to be an accountant but there are two courses I might be interested in,

B. Comm - Prof Accg.
B. Comm majoring in accounting

what's the difference between the two? would it be better to just do a regular b. commerce majoring in accounting?

 

[Atlas]

hey guys, as we're getting near the UAC end-year dates, i'm unsure of what to choose to put as a higher pref. for macquarie

I want to be an accountant but there are two courses I might be interested in,

B. Comm - Prof Accg.
B. Comm majoring in accounting

what's the difference between the two? would it be better to just do a regular b. commerce majoring in accounting?

Did you want to choose other electives within commerce but not related to accounting?

There is more information here: http://www.businessandeconomics.mq....business_economics_degrees_by_name/accounting The professional accounting options satisfies the requirements of the CPA, ICAA etc.

 

[honsaw]

I'm thinking of doing BCommence - professional accounting. What is the difference between Bcommence and Prof accounting?
I didn't do math as well.. so does it mean i will stuggle? do i need to take a bridging course?

 

[honsaw]

How many subjects do you need to study for the first year?

 

[Atlas]

How many subjects do you need to study for the first year?

It's usually 4 units a semester - so it should be a total of 8 for your first year. You can choose to do more or less units each seemster.

About the difference between the B Comm and the B Comm Professional Accounting - you can compare what is studied by looking at these two pages:
1) B Comm - Professional Accounting: http://www.courses.mq.edu.au/2012/U...ce+-+Professional+Accounting#WhatYouWillStudy
2) B Comm: http://www.courses.mq.edu.au/2012/Undergraduate/Degree/Bachelor+of+Commerce#WhatYouWillStudy

 

[Azure]

I'm currently doing the Bachelor of Commerce - Professional Accounting.

The difference between that and a standard commerce degree is that the former offers a much deeper study into the field of accounting. The degree is referred to as a "tagged degree" and as a result there are no majors because your area of study is accounting. In other words, it's sort of like a specialist degree. This can be a good or a bad thing depending on what you want to do with it.

In terms of preparing, I didn't even do maths in year 11 and 12 and I'm doing fine. Really, the only demanding subjects are STAT170 (which is really poorly taught at MQ), ACST101 & ACCG253. You will still get through them if you simply turn up to the lectures and tutorials and keep up to date with the material. If you feel that you need extra assistance in building up your maths skills, there are units available that you can take (math123 for example). Math123 is also counted as a planet unit, so that's a double win for you.

 

[MrBean1561]

To add to what Azure said about math skills, you can also go to the Numeracy Centre for assistance with anything you don't understand. (Hell that's one of the main reasons i passed ACST101 )