Hi, I am looking at doing a Bachelor of Science (Biology) at UNSW. Problem is... I haven't done science since year 10 due to picking random subjects and not thinking about my future at all. Will this stop me from doing well in the degree? Also, if anyone has completed BABS1201, I was curious as to how much the workload is in comparison to the difficulty of HSC biology for someone who has never done science before. Will I struggle at university because of this? Thanks.
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Need help for a science degree. (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter yurtle
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Life'sHard
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- 2021
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- 2025
I mean if you really wanna do well, I think there's some guy trying to learn the entire chem syllabus after the HSC. If you have the means to actively learn that content then you should be fine. If not, is there a bridging course? Idk enough.
This won’t stop you from getting admitted into the science degree. However, you may feel that you’re behind some other students that did HSC biology.
What are you planning to major in? This will probably determine what is important that you catch up on.
What are you planning to major in? This will probably determine what is important that you catch up on.
wait I thought he meant BSc majoring in biology or am I missing something?
Jk I can’t read…
From what friends have said, the Lvl 1 BIOS courses are closer to HSC biology than BABS course (biomolecular sciences) so idk if you’ll have problems. BABS1202 is done by a lot of people (ik food science does it) so I guess it would be new to everyone. By 2nd year everyone is on an equal footing of knowledge anyway.
I'm planning to major in biology, I just want to make sure I don't make a silly decision since I have no knowledge on it
What draws you into biology? If you have a good reason for doing it, then go for it. If it's what you want to do, then you will be able to achieve in it.
Also what are you planning to do with your degree?
I would suggest self-learning bio on your own or through a program like Unilearn post-HSC, from my experience self-learning biology (or at least on the HSC level) is fairly doable, it's just a bit tedious when you have no fundamentals because there's so much cross knowledge and links between the topics. But if you're determined, it's not super hard to at least get a basic understanding before you start uni.
I would also highly recommend picking up flashcards to help with memorising but remember rote learning through every bit of the content without understanding how to apply them is not what you want.
If you want, pm me and I can send you some textbooks and resources or even some of my notes.
I was thinking of doing veterinary science as the 'big goal' but I just wanted to pursue this degree first to gain more knowledge about animal sciences so I can finally figure out what I want to do later on. I'd probably end up self-studying like you said, it seems like the most reasonable idea instead of doing a degree with 0% understanding of biology.
If you want to be a vet, go pursue that. I understand that vet school is quite competitive so of course, it's good have backup options. I would probably recommend an animal/vet/bioscience degree (USyd has one) rather than a biology degree since it's more aligned in your interests.
The UNSW biology major looks like it errs on the ecology side of things. https://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/specialisations/2019/BIOSJ1