Heavy introductory unit that throws you straight into source analysis. Lots of readings, and covers several historical time periods and therefore requires your absolute attention and interest. Lectures were captivating and informative. Tutorials were a little repetitive.

I had very high hopes for Age of Empires before I began studying it. The content looked incredibly interesting, and I was extremely fascinated by the Empires we were investigating. However, the unit was not as good as it could have been. One of the lecturers merely read word-for-word from powerpoints, whilst the other took frustratingly long each week to deliver the content, which meant we often ended up missing parts of other empires too catchup the last week- completely missing the Dutch and French Empires. Moreover, often depth of knowledge was forsaken for breadth of knowledge, and as such I felt as though we really didn't learn enough about: Byzantium, Spanish Empire, Islamic Empire, Dutch Empire, French Empire and English Empires. Carolingian & Mali Empires, as well as the Vikings were a little unnecessary, and the Mongolian Empire was, to my disappointment, not focused around Genghis Khan's empire, but rather the Mongol-Turks. However, I must give the course credit where it is due, as when it was interesting it was VERY Interesting. The Byzantine, Islamic, Spanish, Dutch, English and French Empires were all quite interesting to study, as well as the lessons on the Renaissance and Reformation. Additionally, the assessments were quite good for the unit, with a lot of room for free choice allowed within each assessment, as well as the assessments being good tools to prepare us for later assessments within the history department. The Sources I had to examine for these assessments were all quite interesting, and the Final Essay Question was not only fair, but somewhat fun to write. I found the marking for this unit to be quite fair, and my tutor was very competent, and nice. I would recommend this unit to future students, but I would warn you that at times it does not meet your expectations.

This course is so fractured and un-focused. I honestly feel like I've learned nothing. The complete opposite of HSTY1001.