Grade: H1 (82). Coming from an average unimelb student who usually gets a Pass or H2b for computing subjects, I can’t tell you how much I loved this subject. Info20003 is composed of business case studies and using simple programming like SQL. Assignments are pretty easy to get high in, as long as you understand concepts during tutorials (and a little chatgpt helps a lot). First assignment is drawing diagrams based on a case study , with no coding. Second assignment involves SQL coding, which u can do by guess-and-check the outputs or chatgpt. Third assignment is a quiz that u can get fairly high in if you do many repeated exercises for it. The exam is very theoretical, and in my semester it was open book on campus. I would recommend to print out all the tutorial solutions (even the earliest tutes), since most exam questions cover the smallest details mentioned in the tutes. Overall, the staffs (even the lecturers!) are very active on the Ed Discussion, giving lengthy answers to our questions instead of those short answers like “Your working is wrong here”. Nah man, they actually show you the right working by typing it out. Love how passionate the staffs are in this subject, it is what makes this subject really interesting and fun.

Grade: H1 (91) Well organised subject that I can't really complain about, to be honest. The lectures were admittedly all prerecorded and from 2020, but to be honest it doesn't really matter since it's not like the content has changed or anything, and the lectures do the job, with Renata being a clear lecturer who provides good tips to remember content and answer questions. There was only one tutorial a week, and to be honest the tutorials were kind of hit or miss in terms of the actual content covered, in the sense that some weeks it was insanely easy questions and other weeks they were good with stimulating questions. The tutor I had (Prashansa) was really good, so if they are still teaching when you do it I definitely recommend you to attend their tutorials as they were great since they provided notes and explained the content really well. I feel like the first half of the course is definitely the most difficult part, with ER Modelling and SQL being covered. The questions surrounding these topics could actually be tricky and time-consuming at times. Query optimisation and processing seemed daunting at first content-wise, and as another review mentioned, if you are someone who hasn't taken FoA and FoC, you may find it a bit alien as a breadth or elective student. However, the questions turned out to be quite formulaic (literally, like you legit just plugged numbers into formulas), and the harder question variants are covered in the practice exams and tutorial sheets, so you can just memorise how to attack the hard variants and you'll pretty much be fully prepared for any question they can throw at you with no zero issues. I felt like there was a decent amount of support provided, there were regular consultation sessions provided, and the tutors answered questions frequently on the ED forum. There are three assignments, and 10 weekly quizzes as coursework. The weekly quizzes ranged from super easy to straight up stupid. It was a very frequent occurrence to have some insanely niche theory question asked in the quizzes, that if you did not pay attention to slide 35 line 47 then you would end up getting it wrong. But overall, the quizzes didn't count for much so it didn't really matter, like I straight up didn't do one of the quizzes and I also failed another, and still did well. The 3 Assignments consisted of the first one which was about ER modelling (modelling a database basically and how things are connected), SQL and a query optimisation assessed quiz. The ER modelling assignment was actually kind of tough, mainly because of how subjective it is. Thankfully, the markers were lenient and didn't just take marks off if you didn't match the sample solution, instead they marked on how useful your model is in answering the business rules. The second SQL assignment was actually kind of easy, if you do the labwork for SQL they provide then you will be well equipped to answer it. The final assignment was a quiz on Qjuery processing, and it was also fairly straightforward, I literally only did the practice quiz as preparation and did well. In terms of the exam, the exam I would say was definitely a step above in difficulty, but a good thing was that 3/4 was multiple choice for us, so this meant that it was possible to get some questions right that you might not have if it was short answer. The SQL component of the exam was quite tough and based on the SQL assignment you do, so I recommend practicing and reviewing that assignment before your exam. Overall, If you have done well in the computing subjects before this, then I can't see why you can't do well on this either. I found the ER modelling and SQL components of the subject to be interesting a bit, since they were more practical, but the second half, especially with some of the theory stuff about NoSQL databases, database backups, transactions etc. to be quite a bit of fluff, wishy-washy and really boring. At least algorithm theory is interesting, database theory is actually insanely boring. Like bro I don't care about the Star Schema and data warehousing.

Decent subject. Lecture materials are generally well-written. Though my biggest issue is how it also needs to cater to breadth students as well (which I guess can't be helped). This becomes most apparent of an issue when actual understanding of algorithms is required (for query processing and optimization, that is). And this is deliberately not delved into. As a computing core, though, I wish they would at least give us more. Not that the subject was too easy or anything, just that more would simply be beneficial to the actual core students, and would actually be more intuitive and easier to understand.

Had high expectations for this subject but didn’t find it as interesting or practical.

Great subject! Super practical, covers all the necessary fundamentals, content is interesting and digestible. A H1 in this subject is definitely not too hard if you do all the set work. Also a great skillset to add to your resume ;) Tutes were useful, lecturers were passionate. Would definitely recommend.

The subject seems to have changed drastically since around 2017. This new version of INFO20003 is well structured, with content that leads on well from one lecture to the next. The assignments are relevant and quite easy to do well in. The tutorials are great, good to reinforce learning from lectures. The tutorial/lab solutions are highly detailed, with key concepts covered and questions explained thoroughly. There is an abundance of material and resources to consolidate your learning. One gripe is the content can get a bit dry, especially around query processing/optimisation. At this point the questions become simple calculations requiring problem solving skills. Overall as a subject I've had no regrets taking it and am happy to have taken it in its current state as it is a very well run and important subject. SQL is a key skill to have in the workforce.

I can't help but find many of the reviews here to be quite unfair, although they are for different semesters, so perhaps the subject has changed dramatically. Database Systems is very different to previous subjects in the standard computing major. If you've gone through Foundations of Computing, Foundations of Algorithms, and Design of Algorithms, don't expect a natural continuation of those subjects (no surprises here, it's an INFO subject, not a COMP). Database Systems covers Entity-Relationship modelling, SQL, and a variety of theory about the nature of databases. Another reviewer has mentioned that the content is quite dry. While this is somewhat reasonable, the value of the content being taught is apparent throughout the subject. The assignments are well-structured and the feedback is well above anything I have ever received. No 15 word comments on TurnItIn - I received long, detailed rubrics and comments, which were much appreciated. Alan is an excellent tutor. The subject coordinators have clearly put a great deal of work into the tutorials and labs, although admittedly I did not do most of them. Learn from my mistakes.

I think the subject has improved this semester compared to previous years. It's okay overall, and if you work hard it's definitely possible to get an H1.

How well tutors explain stuff differs a lot so try to get yourself into a good tutor’s class. How they mark also differs(for ER Modelling).

Very poorly coordinated, pretty much.